Mistletoe and Wine

The festive period so far has mostly been work for me - Christmas day produced the largest amount of wasters I think I've seen in my career. Who would go to A&E on Christmas day to ask for their ears syringed? Or a pimple? The Logan locals, apparently. Been off for a few days now though which is good, but back to work Thursday and Friday - no idea what Hogmanay will be like but fortunately I finish at a decent time (half six) so fingers crossed all the drunken scrappers won't have started knowcking lumps out of eah other by then.

Weather is still hot with tropical showers pretty much every evening. It's only actually about 30 degrees but very humid. Also put down some insect killer which has killed all the ants.

Not really much else to say - work has taken up most of the last few weeks. Still skint but gradually reducing my debts back home.

My phone died the other week as well which is a pain. My contract is with 3 mobile, who took the phone back in, said it won't be ready until the new year (probably), and gave me the shittest replacement I have ever seen. I can barely make calls with the damn thing. Will have to write a strongly worded letter or something.

Baby blues

Writing in the evening for a change. As usual not been up to much except for work. That being said I have more exciting chat than usual, owing mostly to my brother's and his wife Tisa's fertility. Iona Campbell (as yet, I have not been informed of any middle name or Chinese version) was born on Thursday 2nd December (now that I think about it, was it the 2nd?), but as yet the bastard still hasn't sent any pictures of my latest niece. I am building up something of a collection of them, this being the third in about fifteen months.

Have been off for the last few days but the most I've achieved has been going to the Brisbane Brass Christmas Day Out, which was at the Australian Woolshed a few miles from here. I think the idea was that it being a summer's day, an outdoors event would be a good idea (the place is basically a park with a few tourist attractions like a shop, a water slide, and apparently sheep-shearing. Because that's so Australian they don't do it anywhere else in the world, or something.). This plan was foiled somewhat by me bringing the weather with me, and it proceeded to piss down all afternoon with everyone huddled under a small marquee-type thing which was too small for the number there. I left satisfied though as I had some filled rolls with sausage and steak.

The shop there was wonderfully twee with all sorts of crap – the Aussie version of the shops which sell the see-you-Jimmy hats and tartan everything that they sell on the Royal Mile. I can't think of anything my parents would like better so that might be where I get my christmas shopping (not as in, I can't think of anything they'd like, so I'll get this; more that if they had a choice of anything in the world, they'd opt for something bizarre, à la the flying ducks my mum used to have on the living room wall).

Work's been quiet. Have had to apply more thought to the free consultations I give Ryan when he calls as he doesn't trust the Jakarta medical community – not a particular surprise seeing as the for-profit work there seems to consist of doing every test and procedure available regardless of the need for it. It's obviously pretty hard to diagnose things over the phone and I have to assume that the doctors there know what they're doing, but the evidence so far is fairly overwhelmingly against any real competency. Although I suppose the other option is that I disagree with them because it's me who's incompetent.