Train walking

I was going to travel to Sunbury on a regional VLine train for the most important reason that I could. It was a twenty minute wait at Sunbury before a return VLine train arrived to return me to So Cross Southern Cross Station, enough time to buy a take away cup of coffee. I've been there before and the more astute of you may remember when Ray and I visited and brunched at The Jolly Miller. 

Oh damn, why didn't I check on my phone app. The train is leaving from Platform 2B. I would have left the 58 tram a stop later, had I known. Now I had to walk 300/1000. The train was sitting there but people were standing around outside the short train's doors. I stood with them and they clearly knew something I didn't. I noticed the door open button was illuminated so I pressed it and the door opened. I was quickly told I could not board by staff. 

Staff, then public announcements, then screens said the train is defective and a substitute train would leave from Platform 5A, which meant another 300 metre walk back, plus about 100 metres to the train door at Platform 5A.

It was clear to me that the train would now leave 15 to 20 minutes late, thereby meaning I would miss the planned train back to the city. 

I did not want to walk another half a kilometre and hang around in Sunbury for an hour because of a missed train and said to myself, damn it. This was supposed to be a pleasure trip and it is not turning out to be pleasurable. I am going to Corner and Bench in Bourke Street for one of its delicious warm chicken sliders with coleslaw, along with a nice strong cup of coffee. The more I use Southern Cross Station, the more I am hating it. 

I have so many photos to use for posts, but I just keep writing. I like writing.

Phyllis returned on Monday evening. I told him that it was not acceptable that he had not paid his rent and that I hated having to mention money, and that I don't want to have to mention it again. At 9.30 the external door closed and he was off somewhere. He returned with noodles and the rent money at 10. I will guess he went to the new Woolworths Metro supermarket that has opened near. I have checked it out and it is almost as large as a normal supermarket. Brilliant, but I guess it will mean the closure of one of the two IGA small supermarkets nearby.  I went to bed at 11 and Phyllis was busy cooking away. There is now a huge bowl of cooked noodles in the fridge now but as it is nearly 10pm, he has not returned from work. 

9.45 Phyllis has returned and immediately the gas hot plates went on, and it was pasta not noodles that he cooked last night and he is very busy making some kind of pasta dish. I tasted it and it is very spicy. 

While I'd like you to focus on my writing, we had a fabulous rainbow here a couple of weeks ago, so if you are bored with my writing, this is your consolation prize. 

Phyllis fun

Ok, I don't want to make it hard for young lovers or maybe they are truly just great friends who sleep in the same bed and natter away constantly. I will call the friend of Phyllis, Kosov because it is close to his name but sounds a bit old Eastern European, thus disguising his south Indian identity. Putting my firm foot down with a hard hand and before my goat gets up my nose, did not work. Kosov is beguiling and it was difficult to say no to him when he asked if he could stay a third night this weekend past. I am quite happy for him to stay, but that wasn't the agreement I entered into with Phyllis. It is all about fairness.

I have decided if Kosov stays the night, the cost each night will be $20. I've also told him he can stay one night a week. The cost to me is minimal, a little extra hot water when he showers, (actually rather a lot of hot water when he showers. He must be a very dirty boi). I have a suspicion that some of his clothes have been washed here too. But just his presence here has an impact, as they are both in the kitchen cooking away and chatting to each other while I am a couple of metres away here at my desk and trying to concentrate.

Kosov spent over half an hour sitting on the floor grinding spices with a mortar and pestle. Why? There are shops to buy such things already ground. But he was clearly enjoying himself as he ground away with great enthusiasm. I asked him if I could take this photo. The photo is 'not available', sorry.

Phyllis has asked me if I could take him to Point Ormond. The car park was just over our five kilometre Covid lockdown exercise limit, and so we did breach the limit about once a week. Post lock down, Ray and I visited and walked up to the trig point or whatever it is. Phyllis wants Instagrammable sunset photos at Point Ormond. Sunset is now 18.09. That means driving in evening peak traffic. Maybe he will forget about it. I've travelled there by public transport. Perhaps I should steer him in that direction. 

A friend of Phyllis is returning to Nepal. He has been invited to stay with her for two nights and party, so he is away. I will guess he will only stay one night. He hasn't paid this fortnight's board money. I hope I don't have to remind him. 

In some ways, 21 year old Phyllis is very clever, but without puffing myself up, he doesn't have life experience and I have to tell him and show him things.

"Andrew, can you stop saying, thank you"

"Phyllis, it is my culture".

I had to learn hugs in my older years. I still struggle with hugging. I wasn't brung up to be a hugging person.

"Aw, thanks, Andrew". And then Phyllis gives me a big hug in thanks.  

Now he is away and not 0.1 metres away, it is my opportunity to change my Grindr profile to something innocuous and see if he is on Grindr when he returns and is 0.1 metres away.

The Age Pension

I contacted the company Ray used that for quite a bit of money will take away all the paperwork pain of applying for the old age pension in October when I turn 67. 

Details were provided to the company over the phone with a document to sign and return, and a couple of other matters. 

It was easy, except I needed a Centrelink CRN, a Customer Relationship Number? I know nothing of this. I haven't had any Social Security contact since 1979 when for a couple of months, I received dole money. 

It didn't take too long for the call to Centrelink, our government social services department, to answer but I was not visible on the system. For the hour and a half I was on hold, with the pleasant lady checking in every five minutes to reassure me I was in her queue to identify me, eventually, it happened and I had my brand new CRN. 

As I was on hold I dusted most of the lounge room.

The good news is I will receive a part age pension and best of all, the concession card, giving me considerable reductions for so many things. Medications will all drop to about $6 per month, instead of the the maximum of $30 I now pay. Most of my medications are around $10 but one does cost $30. The savings by having the card are huge. 

I was feeling financially insecure but now, I feel a whole lot better now I know I can get the concession card. 

"Phyliss, why are you washing that crockery by hand?"

"I have the time Andrew and it will save you money by not using the dishwasher so often."

"Phyllis, the dishwasher has to operate every second or third day. Your crockery can go in the dishwasher. There is plenty of crockery in the cupboards. The constantly running hot water sink tap as you hand wash dishes costs me money". Lordy, I've experienced this before with an Indian friend who would not use a dishwasher. I feel dishes are cleaner if they have been washed in a dishwasher, rather than hand washed in a sink and then dried with a tea towel, or in the case of Phyliss, paper towel. My goodness, how he can go through paper towel and tissues. Neither cost much, so no real problem.   

A niggly old man

YP indicated a strong opinion that The Boarder needs a proper name, so if you refer back to Sunday Selections, you may understand why I will call him Phyllis. 

Phyllis surprised me on Sunday morning when he said he was going to church and would it be ok if he brought a couple of friends back for a meal. What? Church? What me cooking a Sunday roast pork? 

Of course he did the cooking and I bet he attends St Francis' church in the city. His two female friends were polite and respectful. They all spoke the same Tamil language as Phyllis does. Sometimes they would speak between each other in English. One of his friend's name was the capital city name of Peru, easy to remember. The other friend, not so easy. 

Generally, it is working well having Pyllis here but there are a few things that annoy me, and I will probably speak up about them at some point. They are so trivial, but they are things I just keep noticing. Ray and I were very set in our ways at home and we verbally or silently agreed on things after being together for 45 years. 

Here is the list:

I am happy with doors open, doors closed and doors ajar. I am not happy with doors half open/closed. 

The bathroom for Phyliss is also my laundry. Why is there always water all over the floor after he showers and even shaves with an electric shaver?

Phyliss came with kitchen stuffs. A plate or two, a bowl, couple of cheap dessert spoons. Some pots and pans, a timber cutting board, a couple of chopsticks and a knife or two. I have a perfectly good set of cutlery and crockery, without hand painted periwinkles. I don't want these extras in my drawers and cupboards. There is no need for them. I can't imagine that there aren't enough frying pans for all needs in my cupboards. I am not an unreasonable person. If there is something he has that I don't, of course he can add it to the cupboards. His rice cooker being one example. 

The door issues I will address by adjusting the doors once he is out. He will notice the doors. 

The wet bathroom floor is an Asian/Indian thing. No prob. It is his bathroom and I just need to access the washing machine/dryer and the laundry cupboard. 

The crockery/cutlery/pots and pans matter, I will discuss with him and make him see common sense. Whatever extras he has that are already here, can be stored in a cupboard. 

After mentioning to Phyliss that in his first ten nights here, his friend had stayed here for seven nights, his friend disappeared but returned last Friday. I invited his friend to stay the night in my bed. I thought by inviting him, I was in control. He did stay and went on his own merry way the next day, with a shake of the hands and 'see you next week', whatever that entails. A one night stay each week is ok with me. It is odd. They sleep in the same bed and quarrel like an old married couple, at the ages of 21. 

So, no regrets, all good, and stops me thinking so much about my sadness at times. 

My drawers

You may think it is over the top, but Ray and I liked the way our cutlery drawer was organised. What we didn't agree about was what cutlery should go where. I maintained it should be as you set the table, that is forks on the left, knife and then dessert and soup spoons on the right. Ray insisted his way was correct. It was not an argument worth my energy to engage in, so it was as Ray liked it. 

A few weeks ago I changed it to how I thought it should be, but then when emptying the dishwasher, I was putting the cutlery in the wrong place. I am used it now. I do not know why The Boarder needs his own spoons and teaspoons. He uses my cutlery at times, and I don't want his tinny cutlery in my drawer, with its nice solid and weighty cutlery.  

Ray's incorrect arrangement.

My correct arrangement.

The Boarder's cheap additions to the drawer. 

People of Gaza, Ukraine, Central Africa and Israeli hostages, I really wish you will have in the future something like this to concern yourselves with.  

The Boarder Report

So far, so good. He is a nice and polite guy. I don't find him sexually attractive, so that is also good, and lordy, I doubt he would find me so at my age.

I was strongly advised by various people to not let him move in until after my weekend away in Torquay, but he was desperate. I am an old gay man. I've done the lot and been around. I've known so many people from so many countries. My instinct was correct. Nothing bad happened. 

He bought an electric rice cooker and I don't want anything more on the kitchen benches. He found space in the linen press cupboard where rarely used appliances are stored. He cooks and then cleans up. Thrice he has left curries for me to eat, but the third was too hot to enjoy.

We have chats at times but he is away a lot during the day, working, studying and socialising. All care and no responsibility. 

What I did see was a huge spike in electric consumption while I was away. I could tell he had used the oven, and that will crank up the bill but I reckon heating, although he seems to like his room on the cooler side. I can't imagine being away in the near future, so that is a one off. I offered him a low power usage plug in heater for his bedroom, as he likes his door closed and so doesn't receive the normal apartment heat, but he decline and said he like the cool. 

For the first two nights his friend, with my permission, stayed with him. While I offered the spare room to the friend if he could make up the bed, he declined and they slept in the same bad...just as friends. Whatever, the friend was very easy on the eyes and he sent me a message a few days later thanking me for allowing him to stay. 

Yesterday I attended a clinic where my head wound dressing was removed and the skin graft had taken nicely. I just need to apply paraffin to the edges of the skin. What? Kerosene or something like that? A nurse (I trust nurses more than doctors with after care advice) said, 'Don't worry about it. I'll give you a tube of ointment to use', and she did. My thigh from where the skin was taken is still sore, and after the bandaging was ripped off (ouch), it look red raw and nasty, but everyone seemed happy with the progress. I'll be back there next week for more attention, but until then, I still can't shower. 

May I add that all my procedures, two colonoscopies, two melanoma surgeries eighteen months apart,    have been under our national health care system and cost me nothing at the point of use, and were generally done in a timely manner. I do hear stories of horrendous waits for things like hip and knee replacements, but gosh, the system works well for me. Because of various reasons my hernia surgery has been delayed after a scan where something else was discovered. Yesterday I received a pre surgery appointment, and as Deb pointed out today quite eloquently, I will be answering the same old questions, but I will be given a bit more information. 

In the afternoon I went in to town to see a daffodil flower display. I love that the heads of you northern hemisphere types are momentarily confused. I just saw on the tv news there were 26,000 daffodils. They are for sale in a plain vase and will raise 2.6 million dollars for charities. The daffs were selling like hotcakes and must be adorning desks all over Melbourne City.

The Boarder says he says hello to Ray Bear each morning. 

He arranges his muesli bars nicely. I've slowly been advising him about the best way to live here. He takes notice.  

He threw this jar and decorated it with a copy of a similar jar. He gave it to me. How sweet. 

He has a little collection of cars and wanted to display them somewhere. I suggested this shelf near the front door where they will be seen. He fiddles with them and adjusts their positions at times.