The Life and Times of Peter Green
Archive: 13 July - 27 July 2020
"I'm Still Here"
July 13thMelbourne's Southbankâs Australia 108 is now officially the tallest building in the southern hemisphere by floor height. Some amazing views of Melbourne from the top level.Your typical cold and windy Melbourne Winters day . I wonder if our cold weather is helping the covid virus to spread. We light the fires early at Ailsa Craig, keeping the house and us snug. 21 people now linked to NSW Cross Roads Hotel covid outbreak. The hotel never asked patrons for ID or paperwork. I bet this number grows, seeing how it is a haunt for truck drivers. I make a sour lemon cake from the lemons off our tree , somehow I ended up with neon pink icing which looked rather disgusting , but it tasted really nice. So we close our eyes when eating it. I hear from some of our mates in Florida today. They have just had 15,300 cases today of Covid 19, the largest infection of any USA state. Meanwhile Victoria has had a jump in numbers, 177 today. I know compared to Brazil, USA, India it's nothing but for Australia that is a noticable jump. It most certainly is a second wave. July 14thwe head to the office and plane down the secondary door, which is now our main door. I had to rewire all the security hardware around it but managed to do so. The Winter weather had swollen it so it only closed 99%. Mark ventures down and finishes the job, some frustrated handy man must be hiding inside both of us , as we seem to excel around such jobs. A tiny bit of work on office paper work and what needs to stay and what needs to go. Naturally all our band archives stays!I see "The Palace Letters" have finally been released. They will be fascinating reading around "The Dismissal" - an appalling moment in Australia's political history where the Queens representative could sack a Prime Minister voted in by the people. Thumbs up to Jenny Hocking for pursuing this in the high court and getting them released from the national archive. "The New Mutants" movie looks cool. Out late August. Some of the cast etc will be on the panel at Comic-con @ home. July 15thMarks birthday is coming up on the 27th, still working out what to get him. Maybe a birthday box full of necessities. Lots of cool little gifts that he will appreciate.He has somehow hurt his foot so I get the "Happy Feet" foot bath out. I think I put too much gel in as the bubbles got higher and higher. A small wind storm arrived and this giant bubble creation took off-up into the air above Kalorama -looked fantastically freaky. I bought some Epsom salts too for the foot bath and admired the retro packaging. July 16thI order some black face masks, we have a box of emergency masks but the black look great and a bit specialised. The company that makes them must be flat out, 10-14 days till they arrive , and they are local. I know it will take longer- they will be swamped.I decide to cut my hair really short. I've been managing a few laps around Kalorama oval and I keep getting my fringe hitting me in the face, so snip snip snip. Plus a bit of a dye job- dark copper brown. Thanks to Mark for tidying up the back, lucky i trust him- he could of snipped off all of it. We managed to get one of the last Woolworths delivery spots for the day. Insanely 6-9 at night. They arrived at 10.30 PM! The poor driver looked frazzled, Woolworths are drowning in home deliveries. Surprisingly they had 99% of everything we ordered. July 17thMy 1 hour a week escape this morning- needed 2 buy a couple of supplies, post a birthday present and my "1 coffee a week" from Montage. You know you live in a beautiful area when the bus driver pulls over , hops out and takes a few photos at the Five Ways Lookout. I was the only person on the bus -so totally fine with it. He's one of the regular drivers, a really nice chap. That made me smile.All the shops at Olinda are empty. I feel sorry for them. It has that apocalyptic feel , only a few humans left. I do see a few stray dogs which was odd...! No tourists at all, which is great -health wise. It's excellent that the Victorian government has re-vamped the old Peter Mac cancer hospital and fitted it out for extra Covid beds and equipment. My friend Chris sends me an estate agent alert, Paul Hester's old house at Elwood is up forsale again soon- they expect it to go for $5 million. They mention Paul in the advert- that triggered a few memories. We had fun at that place. July 18thA bit of chainsawing -more wood off the big fallen tree limb. After that chopping and stacking, our wood supply is lasting but I do want to ensure we have enough in case it's along drawn out Winter. Our fires are burning every night , Ailsa Craig is keeping us warm and protected.JB have a Bluray sale on, so Mark grabs the last season of "Big Bang Theory" on line. JB tells us it could take 3 weeks for delivery which is crazy. I was a tiny bit rattled by the Covid numbers etc today, only for a short time. It does take a lot to get me panicky, thankfully ok again, but it has been a long time since I had such feelings. I'm sure there are many out there that have these depression moments for much longer. I decide to sink into a deep warm bath tonight. I have a chat to Laura on my phone. Decide we both need a "dare" for tomorrow.! We'll see, we'll see Miss Laura. HA! July 19thThe Victorian Government announced this morning that people in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire will need to wear masks when going outside during lockdown. The new rule will be enforced from midnight Wednesday and a $200 fine will be issued for those caught not wearing a mask. A bit of a jump today in Covid numbers in Victoria. 150 more infected compared to yesterday so that is a bit of a worry.We ran out of bread, so I'm baking it today- no way am I heading to the bakery. So I do a little bit of bread baking when I climb out of bed. We have quite a lot of flour so prepared for such things during this pandemic. I have an rather fantastic chat to Miss K in Pittsburgh. Lots of laughs, which was good for us both. Such a big heart, she has surprised us with 2 Rolling Stones Covid 19 face masks. Just what the Dr ordered considering the new rules happen in a few days time. July 20thWe eagerly watched "Lost On Everest" on the National Geo. channel last night. I've always been excited about the Mallory/Irvine 1924 climb/attempt to the summit of Everest by these 2 incredible men. Almost 100 years ago- and without all the modern climbing assisted things. In May 1999 the search team found George Mallorys mummified body. So this latest attempt was to try & find his climbing partner Andrew "Sandy" Irvine. No one knows for sure if they were the first to reach the summit of Everest. Team member Noel Odell says he spotted them on the 1st or 2nd 'step' just below the summit and then obscured by blizzard. Their oxygen tanks were discovered a few years later just below the first step. The 2 mystery items- a photo & a camera could hold clues. Mallory took a photo of his wife & said he would place it on the summit-when his body was found his jackets contained a lot of personal stuff but no photo. Did he make it & place it on the top of the world? The camera- a Vestpocket Kodak was never found -there was hope Irvines body might have that with it -and if any images of success might of survived on film. I won't spoil the ending-if they found the second body. But this was one really cool documentary, worth checking out.July 21stHappy Birthday to our mate Trudi. We wait till the afternoon before we phone and sing! Yes Mark sang, he must really dig Trudi as he rarely ever sings. We held off in case Australia Post somehow managed to get her present to her on time. You'd think 5 working days was enough but no not in a Covid world. Maddies 7th birthday is coming up so I'd better mail off her present 2 weeks before!I get so over people that talk about Covid like it is the flu , and don't even know how Covid is found during the several types of test. Either stupidity or some sort of denial. So weird, & so absolutely nutty. The conspiracy kooks are keeping me amused. The Startrack courier arrives and takes away the first Modem , so that's out of our hair . The new super Modem is free so we are happy about that. My Bowel cancer test arrives from the government. We are so fortunate we live in a country that does these and for free. Such a good thing, I can't believe some people are so hesitant and stupid not to do these. They could save your life. I wonder if countries like American and England send these out to their citizens every few years? July 22ndFrom midnight tonight we all have to wear our Covid masks. Miss K emails me that the Stones ones are stuck in Japans transit area, and our sexy locally made black ones have not arrived yet . So boring old masks but they will keep us safe and no $200 fine.Avocado smash and my super dooper Tomato and bacon soup. We have the last of the home made chocolate cake. Marky gets a 2nd birthday present, trying to give him a present every day leading up to his birthday. The final season of Big Bang Theory on bluray arrives, we haven't watched the last season yet so that will be fun during lockdown. It really didn't take too long to get here, so a surprise. July 23rdI had good intentions of getting up early and heading down to Montrose. I had to visit the chemist and to buy a food item that Woolworths didn't have in stock. Thought I'd run into Petite Maison and hope they have something nice for Maddisons upcoming 7th birthday. They did, this really amazing heart necklace plus a ceramic tealight burning house. So mailed them off with a card- a bit limited this year but still it's really nice-hopefully a keepsake. I noticed that every single person was obeying the Coviod mask rule. Great to see. gerry at the Montrose Post Office- such a lovely bloke, mails off Maddisons birthday gift, he rushes it and manages to get it onto the australia post pick up truck in lightening speed. Thanks Gerry, an awesome post office.The treasurer basically says Australia is financially fucked. Whatever happened to Josh and SlowMo's bragging that the budget will be in black? Now there is a lesson, don't brag your mouth off before something happens. Why do politicians always do that , in the end it just comes around and bites you on the bum when it doesn't happen. I let a local friend know that Telstra are taking a big chunk off our phone biills up here because of the Telecommunications stuff ups- as they should, 3 weeks is way too long for them not to fix up the problems they caused. July 24thI start work on the volcano for MIMs stage set, paper mache again, I mention to Fen and Miss K that the flour water glue looks way too much like SNOT for my liking. I have to work the volano structure as it looks a bit like a clothes mannequin .... but I will shape it etc. I am enjoying this arty project, who knows when Sis and Maddison get the chance to visit but this is probably more therapy for me - art clears my head especially during such trying times. A few hours later and I'm chopping wood with Marky- he admires my axe skills. OK I sharpened the axe yesterday so it's nice and sharp. We chainsaw another section off this huge fallen tree limb. So the dwindling wood pile has a bit more added- again.I love that our electricity bill was in credit. A Big thanks to the lady at Origin that changed our plan and gave us a better deal. We were her good deed for the year that is for sure. I find this very cute birthday card for our mate Allie - hopefully have a chat on the weekend which is always fun. Marky is excited as our friend Allison and our mates Giles & Fenella birthday cards arrive- two fantastic cards. He's feeling the love. Maybe he can feel me, eh love? Oops who wrote that. What a naughty boy I am. I pick a bunch of flowers from our garden for Markys birthday present for today. Still trying to get him something every day for his birthday week. July 25thPeter Green is Dead! OK not me, the Fleetwood Mac founder- and it's all over the news-of course the Emails etc flood in. Most tongue in cheek. Paul Hester singing "I'm Still Here" rolls around in my head. RIP PG!A lot more Covid outbreaks at aged care homes- it must be terrifying for some of them , not only the fear of dying because of this virus but also seeing friends around them die. I'm so glad my Mum refuses to ever go to an old peoples home. Hoping when it's her time she'll go peacefully in her bed at our family home. She did tell me once she'd prefer me to hit her in the head with a brick rather then going to an old folks home. Well Mum that's not so peaceful!!! A brick! Couldn't she of requested her son send her on her way in a more nicer manner. I have to say I think Victoria's nursing staff are amazing. I sleep in today, Banshee was awake most of the night, wanting to climb under the blankets, sitting on top of me etc. Maybe it was her new vegetarian cat food that triggered off such strangeness. So not much sleep so what the hell I slept in. We watched "Ready or Not" - an American Horror Comedy movie. We both loved it, Aussie actress Samara Weaving the newlywed that is basically hunted down in this amazing mansion by her new inlaws as part of the families wedding night ritual for Satan. July 26thBongo Skyhooks Birthday and Mick Jaggers too. Mick's now 77 years old, how incredible is that, still so fit.We watch "Scarface" movie from the eighties, such a classic, and it was a really excellent transfer. Great cast, and filmed so well. I'd forgotten how long it was. 3 hours! July 27thHappy Birthday to the amazing Mark Goulding. My best mate-despite us celebrating on another Covid birthday I plan to make it a fun day.I'm up very early and sneak off to Olinda to buy a few groceries and most importantly a large lemon tart birthday cake that the girls at Olinda bakery have specially made for him. So kind of them. I pick up a few birthday cards and presents from the post office. My NSW family pissed off that they sent a birthday parcel by Express "next day" delivery a WEEK ago and it still hasn't arrived. OK we expect delays because of you know what, but that is pathetic. Australia Post certainly are not lowering the delivery prices and they should- such a shit service. I'm home and Mark is already awake, the endless phone calls have woken him. What a day, so many awesome calls till about 10.30 at night. Each time the phone rings I just laugh , our friends are amazing and it makes his day. Sorry to a few who didn't manage to get through. Lovely food for dinner and Miss Banshee wears a birthday hat- not the happiest cat expression! Big thank you - Jennifer and MIM, Laura, Kevin, Wendy C , Trudi, Mary, Wendy & Doug, Kim & Andy, Fenella and Giles, my Mum, Kiersten, Peggy Alison C, Alison B, Merelyn & Maz, Greg Mac, Allen , Kaz and Pip and probably some others that we missed out on mentioning- thanks for the calls . As I type this the 150,000th American has died from Covid 19. The infections worldwide are climbing and you can feel rather useless around it. We are just taking it day by day , in many ways attempting to live in a Covid world and at the same time find other ways to make our day fulfilling. To all the diary readers, please stay safe. Love from the Mountain PG |