Suzy McHale’s Diary: 2019
Events of note for this year: It started with a very sad and unexpected event, the untimely death of my cousin Ian Reilly, found dead in his Sydney apartment on 3/1. Uncle Brian wrecked his car in an accident in Richmond on 11/4, and could no longer drive after that (and also became very frail). I was gifted a new bicycle on 20/4. Uncle John passed away on 7/7. In August we were transferred to the National Broadband Network. Michele came to stay from 11/10 to 14/10.
January
Thursday 3/1
Aunty Hilda rang Dad this morning with some upsetting news: my cousin, Ian Reilly, was found dead in his apartment in Sydney. No suspicious circumstances – a seizure was the cause of death, is the initial verdict from the police who were called and found him. He was always frail and had retired from his Tax Office career and was living on a pension. He was the same age as me, and, like me, had never married or had children. I had not spoken to him in many years, I think not since we were teenagers in the 1980s – and I never will be able to now. His older brother Kevin has gone up there to take care of various matters. His younger brother Phillip lives in Perth, and Aunty Hilda and Uncle John live in Tasmania (Uncle John has dementia), as does Kevin (he visited here briefly on 18/12/2017 – see my 17/1/2018 entry).
Now I will have to reluctantly update my family tree records – the first death in my generation.
Friday 11/1
Forgot to mention that Mum had another meltdown/temper tantrum before dinner on Saturday 29/12, about me of course. I have no patience to deal with her hysterics, and am not changing to please her. The storm passed by the next day and things got back to mostly normal (for us). (Last time this happened was on 19/7/2016.)
May
Sunday 5/5
Have not written here in a while – didn’t realize how much time had passed! I have been doing some writing in a Tiddlywiki journal in another folder.
Main event since I last wrote was that I was gifted a new bicycle by Mum! On Saturday 20/4, Dad took me to a local bike shop (99 Bikes at the corner of Patterson Road and Nepean Highway), and I saw one that was reasonably affordable and similar to what I wanted: a basic drop-handled road bike. I have had enough of heavy clunky mountain bikes – my old one is nearly 30 years old (bought in 1991) – and getting it fully serviced with necessary parts replaced would probably cost nearly as much as a new one.
Alex, the sales assistant, was quite helpful; he had some trouble though getting a size small enough to fit me! (Extra-small, as it happened – 44 cm.) The brand is a 2019 Pedal Pursuit (Archive.org backup link), matt black in color with some blue trim; serial number is R050040484.
The drop handles will take some getting used to – the aqua-and-white $700 bicycle I bought way back around 1990 or so was a similar road bike, but I unfortunately sold it to my husband-in-law, Chris Perona, when I thought I had lost interest in cycling, and it now seems to have vanished.
Bicycle was $404 – discounted as they were selling little of that size! I was measured as 158 cm, so sometimes it pays to be short :-).
Admittedly, it is probably not the most practical choice (a hybrid or commuter bike might have been better), but, damnit, I wanted a proper bicycle and the road bike is that, in my view. (But one really needs more than one bike for different conditions and purposes :-)). I instantly fell in love the moment I gave it a test ride, and it is wonderful to ride in comparison to my ancient MTB – I am not struggling to push along nearly 20 kg! I can go much further and faster.
In March, Dad increased my weekly “pocket money” from $50 (which it has been for years) to $70 – much-needed as everything is so expensive! I buy a few groceries and other items, and most of it has gone. Wish I could get a disability pension, but the miserable mean Liberal government has made this near-impossible.
Federal Election takes place on Saturday 18 May; like many I am weary of politics and politicians. I will vote Labour as usual.
Me with my first road bike (an aqua-and-white Malvern Star Triathlete) after riding it to Heather and Craig’s home of then, 25/12/1990.
Me with my second road bike, 30 April 2019.
July
Monday 8/7
Uncle John passed away yesterday in Tasmania at 11 a.m.. He had been ill with dementia for a few years, and was on continuous morphine for pain in the last few weeks, so his passing was probably a mercy. He was born on 21/11/1937, so he was 81 years old. I had not seen him in a couple of decades – when they visited our house on 20/8/2003 enroute to moving to Tasmania from Townsville, Queensland.
Timothy Perona and his girlfriend Rebecca visited my parents’ home briefly on Tuesday 25/6; they are staying in Melbourne (arrived from Queensland) until Saturday. They all went out to the Bentleigh RSL for lunch.
October
Thursday 24/10
Another big chunk of time has passed since I last wrote! I have been riding my new bicycle a lot, mainly to Chadstone SC or what is now my regular route north up Tucker Road → west down North Road → south along Beach Road → then back up Dendy Street then Patterson Road and to home, which takes a little over one hour. I like to get a look at Port Phillip Bay and the different colors the ocean takes on depending upon the weather (today it was a nice bright teal blue).
Michele came to stay from Friday 11/10 to Monday 14/10; she departed on Monday taking the Skybus privately-operated bus service to Tullamarine Airport.
Dad, Mum and Michele in the backyard, 14/10.
Selfie, me, 12/10. I had my hair trimmed on 16/9 at Hair World in Southland SC. The woman cut off a bit more than I intended – it is now a little above shoulder-length – but it will grow again. I can still (barely!) braid it. I have lost a lot of hair in the last 3 or 4 years due to weight loss and it is now quite thin and brittle. It is, however, easier and quicker to wash, at least.
Today has been the first hot day of the season, around 34°C or so.
The modem for our National Broadband Network connection was delivered and installed in August (Saturday 3/8). We connected to the outside Internet OK! My iPad connected with no issues. Had some trouble getting a wireless dongle to work with my desktop PC – it did not detect one Dad gave me, and would not connect with the second he had, but turned out all I had to do was restart the PC and it has picked up the Internet OK. So all is well – for now (the network rollout has been notoriously trouble-plagued).
November
Wednesday 20/11
I neglected to mention that Dad bought me a new digital TV (HiSense 24P2) on 4 April. (My old TV – a birthday present in 2009 – had long been having trouble picking up some digital channels when tuning it, so Dad went out this afternoon and unexpectedly bought me a new one.) Yesterday, however, it stopped working! The standby light was showing but it did not power on. It has a 3-year warranty, so Dad called and a new TV will be delivered within a few days – it is not worth trying to repair the malfunctioning one; unfortunately the norm with products now.
My 49th birthday took place on Saturday 9/11; I received some money (always needed!).
Hot tomorrow, to reach 39°C.
I rode my bicycle to Chadstone SC and back yesterday and today (I usually go 1-3 times a week), so am rather tired! It is much easier on my new road bike, in contrast to my struggling along on my old mountain bicycle – I have not ridden the latter since being gifted with the new bike.