Sydney September/October 2022.
With the warmer weather, the snakes are coming out of the wetlands to sun themselves. Walking with Karen and Annie on Sunday morning, we took a wide berth around a 2 m venomous red bellied black snake and 50 m further, found a sleepy python enjoying the sun next to the path.
A day after the ascension of King Charles III, Australian larrikins were at it again – I received an email with a new version of our $5 note, which until now, featured the late Queen Elizabeth II.
On the 21st September we celebrated with Evan, Karen’s 34th birthday at their flat in Redfern with Michelle, who had just returned from her hikes through the Redwood forests of California.
Around the same time, the new 6.25kW solar panel array was installed on the roofs of our townhouse and garage. The contractors were fast, as their teams completed the solar panel installations on four townhouses in our complex in one day. Some more townhouses followed in the following week, proving that our initiative to change the bylaws to allow solar panel systems was timeous.
The Manly Jazz Festival was on again this year and the weather gave us a welcome break on the 25th September to enjoy the bands on five stages in the streets of Manly. There were also roving groups playing music.
After a test drive of the new BYD Atto 3 electric vehicle, we took delivery of our new car on the 4th October. The car drives well and we are charging the battery with our new solar panel system during the days we don’t need to drive. The range is about 420 km on a full charge, but so far, we haven’t used more than 8% of the charge in a week. We have yet to try the fast DC public chargers which can charge our 60.5kWh battery from 20 to 80% in 45 min.
The next day Annie took Michelle to the airport for her next assignment, this time for UNICEF in Fiji, for the next year. On the way back, she dropped off Karen’s car in Redfern and came home by bus. In the meantime I re-arranged all the sh*t in the garage to fit in the mid sized Atto 3, SUV electric vehicle.
The following week was a busy one for us retirees – how exciting! Monday 10th, started with my appointment at Royal North Shore Hospital, Nuclear Medicine department to review my progress four months after completing radiation therapy for prostate cancer. The oncologist was satisfied with my Prostate Specific Antigen test which had come down from a value of 5.8 to 1.3 and expects a final PET scan in June 2023 to confirm the all clear.
On the Wednesday, we celebrated this result by buying a new 40” smart TV to replace our ancient 34” analog TV which our friends were laughing at. It is a bit of largesse, as we never watched TV for six years and now we only watch the 6pm news to check the weather forecast at the end of the news broadcast. We are readers and thoroughly utilise the local Mona Vale library.
Thursday evening Annie and I gave an audio visual presentation at RMYC about circumnavigating the world in their safety series. We spoke about weather and route planning, navigation, safety measures, maintenance and breakdowns on extended voyages, illustrated with maps and photos from around the world. The 45 minute presentation was well received and resulted in 45 minutes worth of questions.
The following night we attended a show by the American stand up comedian Arj Barker, who our girls introduced us to about 10 years ago. Barker has enjoyed success in Australia for a number of years since first appearing at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2000, and presently resides there. He really understands the Australian idiosyncrasies and is a laugh a minute.
The sailing season opening day at Royal Motor Yacht Club was on Saturday 15th October, with all the pageantry and a sail past which is synonymous with its royal status. It was good to catch up with old friends and enjoy champagne and canapés at 10 in the morning, resulting in a Nana nap in the arvo.
After three weeks of charging our Electric Vehicle from our solar panels at home, for driving around Sydney, we did our first longer trip to the country at the end of October. We had to drive to East Maitland near Newcastle, to do a pre-settlement inspection on an investment property we bought. This was a good opportunity to check the distance we could travel on a fully charged battery. The owners manual indicated a potential range of 420 km.
Starting at 95% charge and driving at 110 km/h, we covered 320 km on the return trip. We arrived home with a 10% charge (43 km), indicated on the onboard computer. We are happy with this, as the over the air software updates received via the car’s internet modem, stated that the first long trip would determine driving style and various parameters for the longer term.
On this new tech for old brains note, we say cheers until next time!