The knock at the door

We slept in this morning only to be woken by a knock at the door.  It was the parcel courier from Australia Post.  I leapt from bed dressed in my birthday suit and ran to the front door.  The courier was knocking and calling out “Is anyone there?”.  If you don’t promptly collect the package the courier will depart as he has a tight schedule.

Well I grabbed the doorknob of the front door and gave it a quick twist only to feel a “crunch” and be left holding a wobbly knob in my hand. (obviously I need to cut back on the breakfast Wheatbix).  Now the door was locked with no knob on the inside. 

This resulted in a frantic sprint to the back door whilst simultaneously attempting to get both legs into a pair of shorts (don’t want to frighten the neighbours……. or their dog!) unlock the back door and run through the garage to open the electric roller door where I met a somewhat amused courier driver.

After breakfast I made a trip to Bunnings for a new door lock.  Of course the current lock is so old (1986) that it’s no longer in stock.  The replacement is stainless steel rather than the original brass……. and it wasn’t an exact fit!  Out with one of the recently sharpened chisels to widen the recess in the doorframe and the barrel hole in the door.

I even managed to fit the lock with sufficient accuracy that the door no longer rattles in the wind.

On the way home from Bunnings I stopped at two chemists and obtained a price for them to fulfil the two prescriptions the doctor has given me.  Australia isn’t like the UK; you have to pay for your medicine; albeit the cost is subsidised.  One chemist quoted me $50 and the other $79.  It pays to shop around! 

The quarterly house electricity bill arrived by email this morning.  Total owed was $49.85.  We had used $0.38 of electricity.  The balance of $49.47 was the service charge (ie, the cost of being connected to the grid).   It’s not hard to see why I’d like to build a lithium battery and wave good bye to the utility company.