This is the sweetest victory of all.

Gotcha Mr Rabbit!

On election night in Australia Lenny sent me an SMS telling me how depressed he was at the likely outcome. I replied along the lines of  ‘Courage my son - I am not conceding defeat until Julia does’.

Well...many moons later...after many Bison have crossed the great plains....Julia has not only NOT had to concede defeat - she is actually finally in a position to form a government. A shaky one admittedly - but a government nevertheless. 

What a wonderful outcome. 

Not for the result in particular but because it will make the Coalition supporters, the tub-thumpingly religious, the gay bashers and the sundry sludge and detritus that make up the far right in Australia - incandescent with rage. I will so much enjoy watching the vitriol dripping from the fangs of the Troglodytes who are at this moment feverishly writing to all and sundry about this travesty which had delivered power to (gasp!) an unmarried woman who will live in (shriek!) sin in the Lodge and not only that she is a (shudder!) Atheist. 

I might add that this will not be the first occasion on which sinful behavior has fowled the Lodge. Some Australian Prime Ministers in the past had a reputation for taking their girlfriends back to Lodge and rogering them senseless (while their wives were away of course - common decency prevailed here). 

The added bonus is that we will get Broadband Internet suitable for a modern country and we may one day get some action on climate change.

Turns out that I need separate glasses for reading and for the PC. WTF? When I took my Doctor’s prescription to the Glasses Man he changed it to reading. That’s OK  but perhaps he should have told me. 

I have now ordered a new pair for PC work so in the not too distant future I may be able to use the PC with both eyes open.

In the meantime Rozalin has made an appointment for me with Electrode Man  on Friday morning so we shall start delving into the recesses of my tiny brain. 

Oh and yesterday Rozalin (she is marvelous!) arranged for me to see Tooth Man who fixed my front tooth (remember I chipped it). Well he thinks he has fixed it but wants me to come back in November to see if we need Root Canal. 

Oh I don’t think so! I had one of those once and it was not something I ever, ever wish to do again. 

And finally for today - in the Religious Tolerance Department (Religion Poisons Everything section)

“The pastor of a Florida church planning to burn Qurans told CNN Tuesday while the congregation plans to go through with the action to protest the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States by al Qaeda, the church is "weighing" its intentions.

Terry Jones, pastor of Dove World Outreach Church in Gainesville, Florida, who was interviewed on CNN's "American Morning, said the congregation is taking seriously the warning from the U.S. military that the act could cause problems for American troops.

"We have firmly made up our mind, but at the same time, we are definitely praying about it," said Jones said.”

Oh yeh - praying - that always helps. 

Please note that we are dealing here with the “Dove World Outreach Church”

My Doves are more peaceful than your Doves and if you don’t believe me I will send them over to shit on you and peck your eyes out!

They will attach electrodes to your head

Winter is coming! 

I have my new glasses and it has made things a little better - but not much. The prescription is still not right and I am  not sure how I can actually get one that works. 

I can read newspapers very well with the glasses but using the iMac is still difficult. 

I have tried various distances from the screen and different fonts - it’s a mystery.

Anyway I am sure that my eyes are just one factor in the long and tawdry history of my migraines so today I went to Dr Mordor to ask him to send me to a specialist.

He tried to cheer me up by telling me about some of his clients who spent years trying to get rid of migraines without result. 

Undaunted I battled on and prized from him the name of a clinic or something - I am not sure what yet but I think it’s attached to a hospital.

He said they would attach electrodes to my head and run brain scans and do all sort so other things and he was sure they would be able to help me.  

I just cannot wait for this as I am well over the non-stop migraines. 

I have tried everything else including cutting out all the foods to which I am allergic. These include chocolate, cheese, wine, biscuits, bread and anything else with any sort of nice taste or texture.

I basically now live on corn husks and distilled water and still get migraines so clearly there is something other than food. 

On a much happier note - I now have an iPad which I must say is the coolest piece of equipment I have ever owned. 

I am not sure what I am going to do with it but I know already that I cannot live without it. 

Actually - for what I do - it is perfect for travel and that is what will be going with me in future. It does everything that I need a PC to do but it is just so cool and so elegant that I cannot bear to be away from it for more than 5 minutes. 

I said to Cate that it was a replacement for my PC when I travel and she said ‘does it do mail merge?’

Mail merge?

(Thinking......when did I last need to do mail merge when I was traveling?)

Well actually it does. I have download Pages for iPad which gives me a word processing suite with...you guessed it... mail merge.

So I am exploring this wonderful machine and downloading lots of useful Apps including essential ones such as ‘2,000 Essential German Words’. 

I shall report further on this technological marvel.

And in the meantime:

A New York City man who leapt 40 storeys from the rooftop of an apartment building has survived after crashing on to a parked car. 

The car owner says the jumper survived because he kept rosary beads in the car. Or maybe because  they make Dodge Chargers out of cardboard. 

Not much one can say about that. 

It's our Anniversary

Market Day - Chioggia.

It’s our second anniversary today. We arrived in Vienna on 2 September 2008. 

However I still do not have my new glasses and have constant migraines so will delay the celebrations - and blogging - until I feel a bit better.