Passwords and other ways of frittering away time and effort...

It has been a while since I posted. I could blame this sad omission on age and decrepitude, but perhaps, I think hopefully, I could blame the increasing waste of time spent on managing passwords. How to waste time and increase the already too high levels of frustration and confusion.
I do try to be organised. I really do! I write things like passwords down, and try hard to remember which is which. I reset a password only yesterday, and this morning it did not work, and I am sure it was not because I made a typo. Ah me, ohime!

If only I had a secretary! Surely that would help? I certainly need a gremlin exterminator!

And in the meantime, a tax return is due. I have spent time which otherwise might have been far more pleasurably and productively spent, in going through piles of documents. Yes, I know they should be neatly arranged in folder, and never ever allowed to hide themselves in miscellaneous piles. I am guilty on all counts.

I discovered no one had sent me a group certificate! Gulp! Why ever not?  I rang my tax person's firm, and was told that they can get all the required information all by themselves! Who knew? Not me! I spent some time on the phone yesterday with some of the relevant authorities, seeking to ascertain why they had not sent me the forms and the information. I am still confused, but when I talked to the tax agent, all became much more simple (thank heavens!) They will take care of it all.

Look, I would hate to have more complicated finances...And I hate the paperless society.
Although, having just sorted out my messy papers into a more rational and organised system (I hope) let me hope that not only is virtue its own reward, but things might be easier in future. And my chief tax advisor and I have talked and it seems all might be well.

But I realise the real reason why we reproduce... it is so the offspring can come to our rescue, in a loving, kind and tolerant way. And, of course, you realise that the real reason to have secretaries and staff is to avoid having to do all these things yourself.

I think I need now to go out for a restorative coffee.

There is a party across the lane...

There is no point trying to get to sleep so far tonight. The pop music in the party in the house across the lane will keep going thump, thump, thump loudly enough to a) keep me awake, and b) make me rather irritable. Perhaps I should retaliate by playing an opera at top value, but I daresay those at the party would not notice.

The new neighbours are very pleasant. The house is new - rebuilt, as the old house was completely decrepit and had to be completely demolished.  A very old lady lived there, and eventually died. the house was sold, and then resold, and then completely demolished, and now there is a new house. As their party is sufficiently noisy to keep me awake, I am playing Handel's Ariodante, but am not concentrating much. One hopes that if it is background noise, you do not need tho concentrate, but somehow absorb it, and let it percolate into one's musical memory.That is the theory, anyway.

A friend and I went to see a film yesterday, of the opera Il Trovatore, which I love. The production featured rather elderly singers. Azucena and her 'son' Manrico both had greying hair.  And as Leonora proceeded, so as to take her vows to become a nun, I could not help noticing that she had pink nail polish on her fingernails. However, it is a fabulous opera, with glorious music, so I can excuse the pink nail polish. However I do not really like the transposition of a different period, from the composer's idea to yet another theatrical bright spark's new, improved and modern version. Often such productions do not work. This one did not, but the music is glorious.

In other exciting news, the tree across the road has fallen down. And this morning, there was a car parked across the entrance to the school, which rather impeded entry and exit. Sporting events take place at the weekend. Possibly there was some growling going on about entry and exits. I live in interesting times....

This afternoon friends and I went to another film. What a social whirl. And I am soon to go to Adelaide, with a friend, to participate in the Adelaide Festival. Wot larks...! More Handel. Oh yes, I can certainly cope...

After Christmas

Christmas was spent away, in my birth city, with family. It is a large family and the two children who live there are very far apart, so it takes more than an hour to get from one to the other. Depending on the traffic, of course. It had been my hope to contact old friends, but I did not manage to do so, what with family commitments and not having a car. I did see my oldest friend and her husband, as they live not all that far from my younger daughter.

We have been friends since we were five. Our parents were close friends, and Mary and I went to the same school, for the entire twelve years. Her mother died when Mary was five, and her father died when she was in her early teens. Her aunts then looked after the orphaned family.Mary is probably the person who has known me for the longest time, and whenever we see each other, conversation and laughter never flag, and nor does the affection and love between us. Even though I have lived in other cities since I was first married, and thus visit rarely, our ties and affection endure and flourish.
Back home now and the weather is doing its January heatwave effort, so being outside is not a good idea. Especially for people with fair skins.

Not much happens this month, so there is time to read all the newly acquired books. I finished another wrap for the refugees, in mauve and purple, edged with turquoise, and it is rather nice. The local market is open at the weekend, and there are lots of secondhand dvds and books to buy. The streets are livening up. It is a very pleasant and friendly area around here, lots of smiles and greetings and casual conversations. It is becoming quite hot, so I float around in loose clothing, contemplate my navel, read, and listen to lots of music. My choir recorded a CD late last year, and I have just played it again, and it is indeed rather good. Say I, modestly.

And as for the murders, violence and intolerance far, far away, I recall sadly the words of the great Tom Lehrer: there are some people in this world who do not love their fellow men, and I hate people like that!