Work-a-holic

Due to a series of poorly planned swaps and my over generous nature today is the first day off work I've had since the weekend we moved into our new house.  This is where holding down two jobs (even if one is only two shifts a month) is becoming a real strain on my quality of life.  Yet I cannot risk giving up my work in Epping all while I continue to lack any job security at the Alfred.  This may be about to change as another permanent position has recently been advertised and so once again I applied, the interview for which I had on Thursday.  Like last time however, I did not find out I even had an interview until the morning of the day it was to be held, only this time it turned out to be a couple of case studies rather than a full blown interview.  Plenty of other people have applied, and it is only one position, so I am not getting my hopes up, but this is the third interview I have had since I started working at the Alfred, so if I don't get it this time I need to seriously start to reconsider my future there.

Anyway, for now I am still at the Alfred and one of my biggest problems is to sort out my new longer commute.  Barnadi has taken it upon himself to drive me, originally to Northcote station but more recently all the way to work in the mornings, but I still have to make my own way back.  The options are:

1. Tram then Train (+/- Bus)
2. Tram then Tram
3. Bus then Tram

The first option worked quite well at first, with an express train to Watsonia that arrived just in time to connect with a bus to take me the last little bit of the Journey home.  After the first couple of days I found I missed the express train and so missed the connecting bus, rather than wait for the bus the only option is to walk the remaining distance.
Option two takes a lot longer as the tram is frequently held up by traffic and has more stops than the train.  The tram does come a lot closer to our house and stops just outside Narai Thai so I can pop in to see Barnadi on my way home, and for that reason I am preferring this option for now.
The third option is one I haven't tried yet, but the public transport Victoria journey planner website does indicate it is the quickest.  The downside is that buses are very infrequent and so although the journey itself may be the most direct it will actually take longer with the amount of time I will waste waiting for the bus.

Still work and getting to and from it were the last things on my mind today, today was all about enjoying the new home.  Barnadi has been very busy these past couple of weeks getting everything set up to his own unique tastes.  He is quite keen to get some new furniture to replace some of the IKEA items we purchased when we first arrived in Australia, so today we invested in a new dinning table and chairs as well as some new shelves for the 'Library'.  As well as inside the house we also have lots to get for the outside, with a big front and back garden to look after so a trip to Masters later and we now have a spade, a rake, a saw, shears, secateurs, a step ladder and a hose pipe.  What we still don't have but quite desperately need is a lawn mower.

Our most exciting purchase for the day was Lili and Lilo our two new goldfish.  We haven't dared get any fish for a while after the tragic short lives of Bronzefin and Coppertail, but it seemed right to get some new fish now we are settled in the new house, lets hope they have a longer and fuller life than their predecessors.

Dead fish

From the highs of celebrating our first Christmas in Australia, it is amazing how quickly everything can unravel.  The day was off to a bad start when I came downstairs to find Coppertail had passed in the night.  It seems the shock of moving home was too much for him after all.  Barnadi then burried him with his brother Bronzefin under the lemon tree.

The second piece of bad news came at work when I was phoned by the Staff Clinic with a piece of very unexpected news.  It seems at some point in the last year I have become exposed to someone with TB and I am now infected with Latent TB.  In a way I should look at this as good news, as if I hadn't started work at the Alfred, I would never have had the blood test and I may have lived with this hidden disease for years without even knowing about it.

To put everyones mind at rest, latent TB is not contagious and I am in no ways unwell at present, but between 5-10% of people with latent TB will go on to develop the full infection if left untreated.  The gold standard of treatment is 9 months of isoniazid which has a 92% chance of success, but it is 9 months of treatment, and due to the risk of liver toxicity also means 9 months of abstinence from alcohol.  Other treatments do exist but efficacy is not so good.  I do not have to make the decision just yet as I wont see the doctor until next week.  It just goes to show the BCG vaccine was a waste of time, a scar and an unusual patch of arm hair and I still got TB.

Tragedy

Barnadi has always lived with pet fish, in the UK we had a cold water aquarium in which a variety of goldfish had lived.  The longest lived of them all was Goldie, at 10 years old she was still doing well when we left if not a little grey.

It was time therefore Barnadi decided that we start a new fish tank here on our balcony, we had the container ready, a sprinkling of multicoloured gravel along the bottom, all we were missing were the fish.  Yesterday we went up to the petshop on St Georges Road and chose our fish - two 'colourless' goldfish.  While carrying them to the till Barnadi noticed one had a white spot and was worried it might be sick so we swapped them for two fresh ones.  Although they are described as colourless they are actually a brownish colour.  One had a longer tail and a reddish shine to it, so we called him Coppertail, the other had a more yellowy tinge and so we called him Bronzefin.

To begin with both fish took a while to get used to the new surroundings, and hid underneath the plants at the bottom, occasionally coming out to chase their reflections around the edge of the tub.  This morning however they both looked more relaxed, and even came to the surface to feed when I gave them their breakfast.  But it was a short lived improvement, at least for Bronzefin, as when I got home from work today Barnadi informed me that one of the fish looked sick.  Indeed Bronzefin seemed completly paralysed, lying on the bottom of the tank, only his mouth moving.  Within a few hours he stopped breathing altogether and poor Bronzefin was no more.

Coppertail still seems quite active and we can only hope that Bronzefin did not die of anything contageous, for it would be a real tragedy to loose both our fish so soon.

Poor Bronzefin, may he rest in peace.