Tuesday, March 17, 2015

4 years 1 month


Little bit late with this one. I’ve had a bit of an attack of life. This will be pretty short.



I have had a funky chest infection since the beginning of the year. So that is a (UN) fabulous 12 weeks. I have now got the ‘only comes in a pack of three’ antibiotics and a change in breathing management medication because I needed oxygen when I go to my Dr appointment yesterday. I’ll be back again tomorrow for review and to see where we are going from here. I have a respiratory specialist referral.

On the mental health front I am doing well and have a follow up right before exams to make sure everything is tip top and in good condition. The plan is then to be dumped by my lovely Dr. There is something satisfying about being dumped by specialists!


Moving on, I have joined BTAA (Brain Tumour Alliance Australia) I think I mentioned that last time. I have also re-joined LiTES (Ladies in Technology Engineering and Science) and joined the School of Natural Sciences Social Committee. I’m really looking forward to things this year.
I have been reassessing where I am going from here. I haven’t made any decisions and plan to keep going down the path I am on. I have a back-up plan and as of this morning, a few more options to look into.

We have been approved for our home loan! That means so very many things for us. It is a dream we have had for years and almost given up on achieving. It means stability and not having to worry about finding another rental in employment situations get uncomfortable. It means if something is broken we can fix it. We can put things on walls where we want them! First order of business before moving in will be getting new carpets.



One of the things that came up in conversations was the decreasing interest (not really the right word) for people to get involved or help people out. There was a time when if a local family had a death in the family or an ill family member or a new baby etc., people in the neighbourhood would pitch in and make casseroles and mow yards, do laundry, whatever needed doing. People supported and were involved in groups like APEX, Lions Group and Rotary. There were chook raffles and things to raise money for charity and no one seemed to bat an eyelid. It seems now there has been a decline in ‘community spirit’ for lack of a better description. People won’t support charity unless they have a personal experience or a family member which will benefit from the work that charity does. There seems to be a waning interest in community groups. Is it a generational thing? An economic thing may be? Or is it the rising ‘entitlement’ attitude?

I am a bit of a people watcher. I have been watching the other people on buses recently. There are more and more young people who will not stand up and give an older person a seat.  People are pushing and shoving and being rude. They ignore other people around them and their needs. There was a young man in a motorised wheel chair the other day trying to get onto the bus, the driver had to tell everyone to clear a space for him to get through and to make room in the wheelchair space for him. She ended up refusing to move the bus until they had let him through. Yesterday morning there were a large number of school kids who got on the bus and started filling it front the disabled seat back. An old frail lady got onto the bus and none of them got up to give her a seat. I did. Yesterday evening on the way home, the bus filled up pretty quickly. There was an elderly couple who got on the bus and a young woman shoved past them and plonked herself down next to me. The elderly lady found a seat for her husband behind me and was left standing. I asked this young person to let me through and gave the elderly lady my seat. I am really becoming more and more discouraged by the way people treat each other and most importantly (at least to me) who they treat the elderly or disadvantaged in the community.

Monday a pair of young women from Sweden I think, were having trouble with the go card top up machine not wanting accept cash so I paid it for them. A young man waiting to catch the same bus as me this morning asked about 20 people this morning if they had a dollar they could give him to catch the bus. He quite genuinely had the rest of the fare. I gave him the money and he got on the bus and was quite genuinely nice. He was one of the few who got up to give an old lady a seat further along in the journey. If we don’t care for those around us and take the time to consider someone else, how can we expect people to meet our needs in the same situation? I would like to think that if any of our children were short a dollar to get home, that someone would help them. I hope that if any of the older members of my family would be treated with respect and concern.

There are of course things that give me that bit of hope. There was young man who helped a very old lady to cross the road. He held his hand up to stop traffic from hitting her after the light had turned green for them. There was a school girl who hopped out of line and went tearing down the bus stop to catch the head scarf of a young muslin lady who had been adjusting it. There are good people in the world. There are people who would give their last dollar to help someone out if they needed it. I hope that is something that will return to our society. A genuine smile can make a huge difference to another person’s day and you may never know who it was you impacted or how profoundly.



Be present in the world. Grab it with both hands and help those you can. A smile costs you nothing and we all have one to share.


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