Fri 01: Spring in the Valley commences. Happy birthday to Peter Gillett-Payne (one of Tracey and Troy's half-brothers). Took Witt to Centrelink, then dropped into Number 5 to say hello to Mum and Ian. Via number 72 - Dale was home. Tracey was there in body (asleep).

Sat 02: Early start to the day - up around 0630 (6.30am) - didn't get home until around 1900 (7pm). Yes - it's Spring In The Valley time - when hordes of 20-something youngsters descent on the Swan Valley to drink and drink and drink. I was never that bad!

Sun 03: Troy headed to Joondalup today to meet up with a mutual friend - max., former of Balladonia Roadhouse. I was tied up until mid-afternoon, so I was unable to attend.

Mon 04: Witt flew back to Thailand (Perth -> Kuala Lumpur -> Bangkok -> Udon Thani to spend two weeks with his ailing grand-mother. Very tired after getting up at 0330. Early night tonight. Sleep in until lunchtime (I hope) tomorrow. Perth is expecting a maximum of 31ºC on Friday this week.

Tue 05: I was hoping to sleep in this morning - but didn't. Just as well - Troy was snoring his head off at 7.18am (when he was supposed to be up at 7am, getting ready for work!). He made it - but left his work keys at home - so I had to drop them off to him. Weather is mild - but I am very tired lately. Low blood sugar? Maybe it's time for a test. No news yet from Witt - he should have arrived in Udon Thani - after spending last night in Bangkok.

Wed 06: A perfect day today. Slept in. Woke without an alarm clock wanting my attention. I had a doctor's appointment for 1100 (11am) so I could renew my F class (bus driving) licence. A bit of good news - an endorsement on my driver's licence that I wear prescription visual aids (glasses) may be removed as my eye-sight is satisfactory without glasses.

Thu 07: Troy asked me (at the start of this week) to get today off work so we could attend an auction in Bellevue (WA). It's the monthly WA Police Impounded Vehicles Disposal Auction. Unfortunately, Troy's boss is away today and Troy is 'essential personnel' - so he's unable to attend. Today, I had no intention of bidding for anything - it was purely a 'look and see' mission. There were some real bargains - including a VN Holden Commodore - identical to the one owned by Troy, except this one is dual fuel (LPG & ULP) for $300. Home to unwind before a hectic weekend of Spring in the Valley celebrations. Good news for travellers today - the $AUD reached 98.8c against the $US. It's not just a case of the rising Aussie dollar - the US dollar is crashing down! For many years - the rate was 40 Thai baht equals $US1. Now it is below 30 baht to the $US1.

Fri 08: To say that today was a frustrating day is an understatement. I did manage to get the housework done (floors vaccuumed and mopped, washing up to date); I did manage to complete some paperwork which has been buging me for 3 months. The main reason I blanked out today on my calendar and made it a ME day was to catch up with my daughter - who I thought was going to let me down - but she arrived at 2000 hours (8pm) and we got a lot done in 1 hour.

Sat 09: A good sleep last night - and I was up before my alarms went off at 0615. Helped out with Spring in the (Swan) Valley 2010 celebration - instead of drunken teens and 20-somethings decending on Valley wineries, breweries and distillaries over one weekend in October - the event is spread over the whole month. Personally, it's like being in Northbridge (after dark) with the sun shining.

Sun 10: Today is an auspicious day (so I have been told). Very lucky in Chinese culture ... it's 10/10/10. At 10.10am - I checked my watch. Nothing special happened. I remember 23:59:59 on 31 December 1999 ... now THAT was much more interesting. Did we save the world by rewriting all those lines of code - or was the Millenium Bug over-hyped. Maybe we will never know. Early to bed tonight - early to rise. There's a lot happening this week.

Mon 11: One third of October is over. Some months race by - this is one of them. That means that Christmas is just around the corner. Not that it means much at the moment. Witt is a Buddhist, my children are grown up. I am a grandfather to a one year old - too young to appreciate the scary man in the red suit. A pleasant but tiring day today. Early start tomorrow - but an early finish. I want to try to get to visit the folks at number 5 - depends if I have a good sleep tonight.

Tue 12: What did Scottish poet, Robert Burns say about the best laid plans of mice and men ... I had one of those days today. Fortunately - I am okay. Very tired and aching - so an early night tonight. I was planning on getting a lot done this afternoon and evening (things like the laundry, house-cleaning and visiting) but it was not to be. I have a busy day planned tomorrow - fingers crossed, please.

Wed 13: I got a lot done today. Up at 0800, did the washing and hung it on the line, did the dishes (that Troy has been promising to do), vaccuumed and mopped the floors. Handled two deaths - the electric kettle and the drinks fridge. Kettle was replaced at Woolworths. I looked around for another fridge and Ed the Fridgeman came up with a nice Phillips 350lt cyclic model. It will be delivered tomorrow. Twice today I was annoyed with telemarketing calls - do I have added my home and mobile phone numbers to the Australian government's Do Not Call register. You can easily register online (takes about 2 minutes). You get a confirmation email and you are safe' for 5 years. Good stuff. Dinner at number 5 with Mum and Ian. Delightful meal and good company. Came home to one of those magical moments. My grand-daughter Ada walked up to me and gave me a hug and a cuddle. There are those moments in your life which will live with you forever - that was one of them. Thanks, Ada.

Thu 14: Sleep in today. At least I tried - but nature called and the sun came up - so I was up early. A pleasant enough day - dropped over to Willeton, then off to Claremont and finally Trigg Beach. A pleasant day in the (mild) sunshine. Saw Ron (in Mirrabooka) before having an early dinner at the centre's Food Court. Dropped into number 72 to catch up with Tracey (who has a headache). Home to unwind and have an early night. I have a neck ache - nothing serious (I hope).

Fri 15: Very broken sleep last night - call of nature at 0200, then trouble getting back to sleep. Too much on my mind. Tried counting sheep - but they turned into lamb chops (which I love - but Mum says they are too fatty. I am 93.1kg at the moment - at least 3kg more than I want to be right now. Diet is about right - need to exercise - that's the other half of the equation. Going to be a busy weekend - so an early night tonight.

Sat 16: A long day for me - spring-cleaning and shopping by Troy. He went and bought himself another bed - but also had a productive day cleaning out our garden shed. It now has a floor I can see and room to move inside. I went through Troy's 'out' pile and couldn't fault his choices. Tracey is due to visit tomorrow to clean out her old room.

Sun 17: A sleep in today. Aching left shoulder from gear-changes due to driving a manual vehicle for a change. Troy did his bit and fixed a sprinkler, tidied up his throw out / rubbish pile and got his washing pile down to a manageable level. Some confusion over the $AUD1 which reached parity with the $US1 yesterday. It's taken a long time to get there - a spokesman from ComSec tipped the Aussie dollar to peak at $1.02 to the $US1 - but this article says it should reach $1.10 to the $US1.

Mon 18: Very warm day today. Over 30ºC is warm for me. The AUD is stil flirting with parity with $US - interesting to follow it. Not that I have any spare cash to invest in anything at the moment. Every dollar is spoken for.

Tue 19: According to my Diary, Witt was due to fly back into to Perth this morning. I got up early. checked Flight Stats and found the flight was only 5 minutes early ... after 2 hours, no Witt - and the flight arrival removed off the Arricals Board (indicating all passengers from the flight either cleared by Immigration and Customs - or detained), I did a panic. I phoned Customs and an officer took Witt's details - 5 minutes later the Customs officer and I met face-to-face - no Witt! I drove home - and sent a pile of SMS to his Australian and Thai mobile phones. An hour later - I got a message back. Witt was in Udon Thani and will arrive in Perth tomorrow - in 24 hour's time. I unwound by driving to watch the boats at Royal Perth Yacht Club.

Wed 20: Picked up Witt from Perth International Airport, then attended auction in Welshpool with Troy. Troy bought himself a nice Canon digital camera. I bought a fabric rug for my room.

Thu 21: Witt was stil asleep when I headed out of the house around noon. Dropped back in around 1700 hours (5pm) and he was awake - had caught up on his mail (post and email), had tidied the room and was his usual organised self. I went out again (twice in one day) and got home late. Everybody asleep. Checked my email, updated my Diary and went to sleep.

Fri 22: *%^&#@ telemarketers!!! I have had the same mobile phone number now for at least 10 years - but even though the number is registered with the Australian Government's Do No Call Register - I am still getting telemarketing calls - usually at very inconvenient times. I reported today's caller - and I hope they are reprimanded - public stoning, beheading ... okay - maybe something harder. I know I can be too soft at times.

Sat 23: Sunshine, blue skies - a lovely day to be out and about. Unfortunately, all this fine weather has had a dramatic effect on flows of rainwater into Perth's dam catchments - the lowest in recoded history - about 5% of normal flow. Perth people are currently restricted to watering their gardens one day a week. I think theres going to de a lot of dead gardens by the end of summer - which hasn't even started yet!

Sun 24: It's just gone 1900 hours (7pm) as I update today's Diary® entry. This weekend is now almost over. It's a blur. Then again - getting home and into bed at 0230am today - then being up and out at 0700am does that to you. Early night tonight. This is shaping up as an 'interesting' make-or-break week - I have a lot of support from family and friends - so hopefully I have some good news to report back to you by the end of this month.

Mon 25: Physical work is beyond me at the moment. Partly because I haven't exercised in a while, mostly for health reasons (I dread to think what a heart-stress test / treadmill test would reveal). Today was mentally exhausting. It was 1 step forward and 2 steps back - just when I thought I was getting somewhere - along would come another burst of emails and phone calls. Witt got out of cooking tonight by declaring today was the 'unhealthy day of the week - so we dined on KFC.

Tue 26: If I find a fault with anything, I will not hesitate to complain - whether it's a product or a service, I will contact the supplier/distributor/seller - who-ever it takes to make my point. Equally - and this is very important to me - if service above and beyond what I expect is received, it is only fair that the person involved gets an honourable mention. In today's case, it's Thumbs UP to Landgate. Landgate is Western Australia’s primary source of land information and geographic data, providing the accuracy Government, business and individuals rely on. Landgate provides Western Australians with easy access to location information including: property details, titles, valuations, property sales reports, maps, aerial photography; and satellite imagery. I sent an email to their Customer Service centre - received a phone call less than 10 minutes later and a helpful email with the links I needed 5 minutes after that. Top marks. Thanks. I downloaded the 2 titles I needed in 2 minutes - and had them emailled to me seconds later.

Wed 27: Strange weather in Perth. yesterday at 1800hrs (6pm) it was 29ºC. Witt actually complained that it was 'hot' in Perth. Today - much cooler - very cloudy, a bit of evening drizzle. An interesting day - busy in the morning, quieter in the afternoon - then a burst of activity - then time to wind down. Viv bid for a few cartons of wine (expecting to win up to 5 cartons (a dozen bottles in each carton). Instead - she won the lot - all 30 cartons. Not bad for a non-drinker - red wine or white wine anybody? I probably have one or two drinks (maximum) a month.

Thu 28: An unusual day in Perth today. I noticed light rain (drizzle) last night, but Barry said it was raining heavily when he left for work around 0600. An hour later, when I woke Troy, there was no eal evidence of much rain. Perth has very sandy soils which do not retain water. Not like some of the clay soils I have seen in other parts of the world. I think Witt is having second thoughts about staying in Perth - he promised to give Perth another 2 weeks - then he will commit to either staying here or returning to his home country - Thailand.

Fri 29: Troy and I both had an early start to the day. I was hoping to get more done today - but it was not to be. A meeting this afternoon was brief - and went well.

Sat 30: Up early again today - the sun gets up 4 minutes earlier every day (at least until 21 December. Perth's 21st annual Pride Parade in Northbridge tonight. I went with Witt, Tracey and Dale. Parking was a breeze - parked 2 blocks away in Stirling Street. Very smal crows - only 1 deep at the barriers - parade was okay - but not very professional - people come from all over the world to see Sydney's effort. Come on Perth, lift your game! Dinner in Northbridge after the event. Malaysian food - reasonably priced.

Sun 31: Halloween tonight. Slept in until 0900. Checked my email, chatted with a few friends on Facebook. Did the dishes, while Troy cleaned the kitchen. I am struck a deal with Troy - I mowed the back lawn - leaving him to mow the front lawn. Our lawn edger has a fuel leak which we can't track down the source - so I will be taking it to the local small engine repair shop tomorrow.