Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

Bowel scans are all the go

There is a real feel and smell of rain in the air. The wind is making the power lines out the front sing. It only does this from certain directions, and needn't be very strong.

It makes me think of times I've been on ships in the early morning. A quick trip topsides to check that it's a grey dawn is sufficient to convince one to scuttle back down in the direction of the galley with its comforting warmth and the smell of fresh toast and sizzling bacon.

But there's no smell of toast and bacon here. The rest of the household is still asleep, and it's already nearly 6:30am - still pitch black outside. Even Milly the pup has gone back to her bean bag bed.

Because I'm usually first up, Milly insists on accompanying me. I don't turn the light on so she puts her nose against my heels and we do a shuffle together to wherever I'm heading in the house first. We move together as a single unit and I dare not take a back step for fear of treading on her.

She's growing quickly, and has learned how to dominate the cats. She'll single one out and give it a 'cuddle' by lying on top of it. The cat's don't seem to protest very much, and don't put their claws out. When they've had enough they simply drag themselves to freedom and take up a higher vantage point. They look as if they'd like to say, "Darned pup!"

Today my wife has been cajoled by the primary school headmaster to be a time keeper at a school swimming carnival in Fremantle. That put an end to my plan to visit a nearby oriental store and buy some bulk spices. I particularly need some garem marsala for my curries. I've finally learned how to do a decent curry which everyone else will eat.

Alas, my wife is not a curry cook. Her idea of a curry is to toss everything into a single pot and add a bit of Keen's curry powder - not too much in case the ingrates complain of the taste, and certainly no chili or salt. She won't even add chili to Chili con carne in case it offends their taste buds. However, she's very good on sweet stuff and can knock up things like tasty chocolate cakes in a flash.

Food is becoming expensive in the supermarkets and there's less of it. I'm thinking particularly of chicken. There' s much less of the fresh pre-packaged lines on offer than this time last year, and what's on offer is dear. I reckon it's well over a month since we cooked chicken at home. We used to have it one or two times a week.

I'm off meat entirely at the moment. I decided I was tired of eating the stuff. I'm purging my body of 'toxins' for a while. I'm going to become a pasty-faced Vegan until I can't stand it any more. Well not quite a Vegan, I'll still eat the occasional egg and put milk on my cereal.

Coincidentally, we two oldies are participating in a screening program for bowel cancer being organised by the Rotary service organisation. The self-administered screening kits are available from local pharmacists for $6. One of the requirements is a meat free diet for a few days before some stool-smears are taken. The kits are then sealed and returned to the pharmacy for dispatch to a lab. Eventually a notification of the results comes through. The Western Australian info link is http://catchcancer.org.au/index.html

A google search for Bowelscan should turn up links for other areas.

© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.

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Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write at least couple of million words. Zzzzzzzz!