It’s certainly a different world, one in which we have yet to work out what ‘new normal’ means. With members in many different localities, experiences have no doubt varied; but the common themes may be care, concern and resilience — while hoping that others are safe and well.
Hopefully you are doing better than this in turbulent times
Best-laid plans for travel, visits to children or grand-children, social gatherings whether happy or sad, these have all been turned turtle and swept downstream like lost paddles in the mighty Goulburn River.
However, the Solstice has passed and the days are getting longer. Years at the Academy taught us adaptability if nothing else, and reports here suggest you are certainly exercising those capabilities well.
We still can’t put up the NODBAL counter, because the start-date for Absence of Lock-down is quite unknown.
The late revered Owen Matta probably could have given us a formula from his Nav table to calculate the probabilities. In his absence, we might ask Terry to recite the Schrodinger wave equation since that is said to be a ” … wave-function which predicts analytically and precisely the probability of events or outcome”.
This web-site is not intended to look like or displace your ravings on Facebook and such social media. However it could be time to connect with a short report.
Professors working on the Rennie-Watson NODBAL Predictor Function
Send a paragraph or two regarding your ‘new normal’, how you have managed, or any personal or family reflections, developments or problems.
To start the ball rolling, here’s a bulletin from the Maccamob:
Some will know that our daughter Alison was promoted to GPCAPT last December, and has been studying at CDSS this year. She managed to return home to QLD before all the COVID lockdowns began in earnest, and studied remotely from there until June, when she returned to Canberra and back to CDSS in person.
She now has a posting for 2021, when she takes up the role of Officer Commanding, P8 Poseidon Sustainment Office. This will include responsibility for the new MQ-4C Tritons when they arrive. Naturally, we are very proud of Alison’s achievements.
Congratulations to Alison and the Maccamob.
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That golden image above is in fact a disguised representation of:
15 Course News and Views 
Sorry to hear of the neuritis and other problems Wayne. Best wishes — and play on, Blue Hills
Life has been somewhat topsy-turvy these past six months in the Talbot household.
Jane has been working from home for her 3 days per week at CSU, and as to be expected, she has been noticing previously satisfactory aspects of our house, in which we have lived for 16 years, and which she now perceives as unsatisfactory and wants corrected, like changing some doors, and doing a kitchen renovation. Due to THE shutdown, tradesmen have been difficult to organise, and so I have needed to do more than my competence would recommend. With the reorganisation and staff cuts at CSU, Jane’s position will not be known until late August.
As luck would have it, in late January I contracted a severe case of brachial neuritis, a nerve disease of no known cause, and no known cure. It is said to go away on its own accord in three months to three years – how encouraging! It has persisted for over 5 months now, sometimes bearable, other times reducing me to an incoherent whimpering soul in agony, trotting off to emergency at Bathurst hospital only to tell me that nothing can be done, other than some extra strong analgesics which might take to edge off the pain. In practice, that means reducing it from 10/10 to perhaps 9.8/10, but eventually it does subside, for the same reason that it goes the other way – no-one knows. I have been offered morphine, which has no effect on nerve pain, but I take it anyway for the placebo effect. Next week I have an appointment with a neurosurgeon to correct nerve impingement at the C3/C4 joint, and an appointment with a neurologist who will do I know not what. The upshot of all this is that the pain impairment has reduced me to a useless piece of furniture, of no particular use or value to anyone.
I have continued to research my latest literary project, a study of the mind-brain conundrum in the context of evolution. This has meant acquiring texts on neuroanatomy and neurology in general, which have to be read in conjunction with a medical dictionary, as the terminology and some concepts are new to me. Sadly, there is less genuine science than offered, most being little better than pseudo-science and neuromythology. Still, it is fun refuting the nonsense being perpetrated by the medical fraternity.
Jane and I had a 35-day Pacific cruise booked with a sailing date in early April, but that was cancelled. As we had also booked a 105-day round the world cruise for June 2021, we opted to take an FCC (Future Cruise Credit) for the $21K we had already outlaid. My confidence in the virus situation has diminished over time, so we have agreed to cancel the 2021 cruise, and attempt to reverse our previous decision on the FCC, and request a cash refund instead. We are yet to be apprised of how that will work out.
After 4 years of class action, Volkswagen have finally agreed to a settlement over the Dieiselgate scandal. The Government will get $150M, just for having their nose out of joint, but the real victims will have to share in a mere $115M, such is the nature of justice in Australia. The amount that individual motorists will receive will vary depending on factors such as the type of the vehicle and its age, however the range of settlement payments per vehicle, calculated in accordance with the method developed by lawyers acting for the applicants, is estimated to be approximately AU$1,589 to AU$6,554. I have no idea of the settlement for my 2010 Tiguan, but should know by the end of September.
So, that was the six months that was.
The demise of our good friend, Staff, has diminished me more than I would have thought. I did not know him that well, but somehow, the attachment was strong, just as it was with Lynton Sifford. Perhaps the reminder of our own mortality is at play. In terms of the Corona virus lock down, it hasn’t really affected us much at all. I always carry a pharmaceutical prescription in case I am stopped to give a reason for travel, but other than that, we have hardly noticed, other than in the news, where the stupidity of people continues to sadden me.
You have my permission to publish this account in serial form as it suits, but as yet, I have not found a method of incorporating music. The theme from “Blue Hills” might be appropriate.
Cheers,
Wayne (on behalf of Jane who might have penned it differently, and shorter)