Yup....retirement sucks! plus 2011 plans

there's only so much gardening and learning Italian I can do every day before I become stir crazy and recovery from a day's hard training is only marginally better for not being at work.

So the answer is...I've accepted a long locum job from Nov 22nd to the end of January..6 hours a day max and hours flexible and negotiable.  Same place of work although at a sister campus and same type of job..but just the clinical work..nothing extra....yay!

The veggie garden, which is flourishing despite hail, single figure temps and my black fingers (the tendency to weed the seedlings and leave the weeds is a skill I'm trying to lose)....anyhow these first 2 pix are what the site used to look like

then with the help of cat and son it started to take shape

and more recently

first edible crop..Cos lettuce  aka by some... rabbit food:

Italian...progressing but frustratingly slow..the brain just isn't  the sponge it used to be.

Training..actually going well although mostly track based at the moment with 2 sufferfest sessions on a Tuesday and Saturday..puke-worthy fast stuff that is giving my aged body a real jolt.  Haven't thrown up yet but am getting closer.

2011.... 
June 30th...fly out
July...........Italy and UK..European road and track champs if they are on in July..
August......Masters week in Deutschlandsberg and Road worlds in St Johann then the Dolomites
Sept 12....fly home 

and for those of you who have read right to the end yet another word for the day/blogpost....

Polynesia (n) Loss of memory in parrots 

It's official!

Yup! it's official that:

1. I have black fingers...nothing seems to be growing in my veggie patch except for weeds.  For example what I had thought was a potato seedling and which was lavished with special attention is looking more and more like a dandelion and of the bits of green that have emerged where  I planted ~100 carrot seeds 3 weeks ago, only 1 looks like a carrot..I think the others are all grass or oxalis .
2. Retirement is  not for me...well not yet anyway..so I'm going back to work for 6 weeks starting on November 22nd.
3. I'm not osteoporotic..a fall on the track yesterday proved that, although I'm just a bit stiff and sore today.

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a refund from the Taxation Office, which lasts until you realise it was your money to start with

Wow! a blogless month!

Seen and giggled over from the Alternative dictionary, Washington Post style:

Abdicate:  To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach!

So what have I been doing this past month?   in no special order

• riding my bike-back training
• creating a vegetable garden
• trying to learn to use my smart phone and once I learn how to get pix from there to here you'll be bombarded with proof of the veggie patch
• planting and weeding...all that squatting has to be good for my hip flexibility
• killing slugs and snails
• learning Italian..gotta keep the brain healthy
• Master road nats..2 gold, 1 abandon (road race)
• watching the World  Road champs in Geelong
• watching the Commonwealth games
• weight training
• catching up with friends
• getting bored
• buying a new computer, a dishwasher and a digital TV - retail therapy for the above
• sort of looking after Phil following his fractured hip ..."sort of" 'cos despite being retired I retain the characteristics of a Physio...what pain?? I feel no pain, and he for his part totally ignores all my  professional advice.

Recent signs of rapidly approaching dementia:

• I got new SRM speed sensors for track and road bikes and took ages to work out why they wouldn't work...I'd put them on wrong way round.
• I changed the cranks on my training bike from compact crank 50/34 set up I'd used in Italy back to the SRM 53/39 set up and hopped on the bike to ride to Fed Square to watch the start of the men's world road race.  It wasn't until I tried to move into big chain ring that I realised that to complete the task, I also had to shift the front derailleur up......
• I've lost my keys so many times in the past week I'm thinking of getting a homing device on them

 Plans are afoot for next year...I'm looking at a few weeks in Italy..Cinque Terra, Tuscany and Veneto interspersed with competitions on road and track as and when I can find them.  I have to make some plans fairly soon as early bird offers are finalising.

Pix to follow..not only am I still learning the phone, this new computer lacks my photo library....

Finally..and I hope this link will work....here's a utube type 15 second laugh out loud vid. 

What this recently retired "lady" has been doing these past few days

Gardening

this is an example of "before" and was over a fairly large area of our 1 acre garden. It was here that I found  and killed the tallest dandelion and the largest thistle ...EVER!

and a few days later..a work in progress..and yes, I'm stiff and sore.....

yup, you're right a veggie garden in the making and there's enough room for 3 more like this one..but...start I'm not biting off too much quite yet.

Learning a language

As well as being Farmer Jane, I'm also learning Italian.  One to one and was told that what I got through in my first 2 hour  lesson was the equivalent of what a group would do in half a term.  It helps that I know a bit of French, German and Swedish and that I spent 7 weeks in the country unknowingly absorbing words, emphasis and pronunciation.  My next class is later this week, then there'll be a bit of a gap which will allow me to consolidate my learnings.....

Hospital visiting

This I could quite do without, but at least Phil is coming home in 2 days time and I can finish this particular chore.

Road national this coming up weekend...something I'm totally unprepared for and will have to hope for long standing fitness to come to the fore.....

Yet more road signs

  Working out EXACTLY what these 2 were  advertising occupied me for quite a few kms

(shot through the windscreen and a great speed and no I wasn't driving!)



which?....a sex shop or a  sexy souvenir shop

I was sad to discover  a bimbo is a baby boy

and finally we've all seen them...directional signs that clearly give you wrong/contrary distances, but these 2 push the boundaries more than somewhat.  Found at a T junction they are about 10m apart. 

Aaaah!  Italy, I just gotta return next year.

The trip home

Cheers!

the "last AND final" (this quoting a PA announcement in San Fransisco) part of my holiday has been and gone, all I have left are jet lag, great memories and a tiny bank balance.

After Austria I drove to Geneva, parted company with my car and flew to Manchester as part of the requirement of my Round the World ticket..I loathe Heathrow and so opted for Manchester since it was was the next best option. In the 60's I trained and worked in close neighbour and equally grimey Liverpool and so wanted to get back to that "dirty old town" to see how it had changed.  It had and it hadn't...the general lay out was the same although some streets were pedestrianized  but sadly the place was filthy..the pavement was so disgusting that  nothing would persuade me to use the 5/6/10 second rule for dropped food.  The museums at Albert Dock on Slavery and the work of customs were fantastic.

The Liver birds (pronounced to rhyme with "I've") are still sitting very,very statically where they always have..on top of the Liver building...legend has it they flap their wings when a virgin passes by.

Here's a closer pix of  this fabled and smart bird  just to see what it  looks like...

 I had hoped that the 88 euros the Swiss charged me for my bike, cos it was an oversized article of luggage was a one off...but no...UK charged me 135 pounds to get across the pond to the US and then THEY charged me $US 200 to get it home.  The weight was not an issue..just the size..and the need to make money. Am freighting them next year...it's bad enough travelling with them, but having to pay extra for the privilege....forget it.

My stay in San Diego had  to be shortened from 7 days to 36 hour to allow me to  get home to ensure Phil's recovery from his # neck of femur was managed in the best possible way.  He arrived in the rehab hospital the day before I got home and was about to be assessed by his Physio when I went and saw him on my way home from the airport.

So for 36 hours I met up with track

and road buddies

and had a great time..the weather was very kind although here is proof that  California isn't always sunny

one of the trips was to the Wild Life park section of the famous  San Diego Zoo where one of the many great sights was this deer taking it's courage in both hooves  challenging a rhino for first go at the feeding trough ...brave or just stupid?

I'm not sure what the highlight of the 36 hours was: meeting with friends, the hike, the zoo but honourable mention just has to given to the following....

• an "extreme" rated ride in a Kawasaki buggy to see a horse..beautiful horse as you can see from the pix... but the ride...well that was something else!
• actually getting to see a road runner. (heard the coyotes..just HAD to see a road runner).

The flight  home was fine and I even scored an upgrade between Auckland and Melbourne.


So that's it folks...I now have to settle into the life of a retiree:
? book club?
? gardening?
? flower arranging?
LOL!   

One thing's certain, I'll be spending many hours  planning for next year's adventures.

Random signs

USA.....San Diego to be precise where  bunnies are literate and avocados do not sprint

Switzerland..where apparently poverty has resulted in a campaign to encourage people to eat  twigs and logs

UK..where this sign outside Liverpool Lime Street Railway station tells it as it is

and finally Italy..La Bella Italia where street traders of  all types of luxury goods such as  "Gucci" are allowed to carry on their trade unmolested by officialdom and yet.......

guess it's lucky my skill level in detecting fake goods is so high

 just checking, 'cos my eyesight's not very good.... can you see any??..maybe they're just around the corner, over the brow of the hill perhaps??