It's 5 minutes to midnight right now. By the time I finish this post it will be Aug 31, the last day of winter. What a winter it has been, a real wood fires a'blazin' one. Even today I was out scrounging some dry firewood courtesy of a couple of days of warmer temps and wind and no rain. Even some blowies came into the house. Rain came back this evening and cold and showers forecast tomorrow.
I have been picking variegated pittosporum (tenufolium garnetti) every week since starting on it mid April. I have exhausted supply at home, at the farm, and my other Gembrook sources, I have arranged with my last site to do my last pick tomorrow. These people have been ever so kind to let me pick their hedge once a week for about the last two months. I found it by sheer good fortune. I was picking my trees one day a few months ago when a chap walked past and stopped for a yarn. We'd talked before, he walks regularly from where he lives to Gembrook to catch the bus to where he works part time. Explaining to him that demand for this particular pitto is high had him tell me there's a similar type in a hedge between his house and his neighbour and I was welcome to come and get some if it was useful. Was it ever! He gave me his phone number, I followed up when mine at home ran out, he introduced me to his neighbour and it has helped us enormously to survive the winter struggle to make ends meet. The demand has not stopped, nor for the mixed bunches of foliage and flowers we do, we've been busy right through.
I'm glad it's the last tomorrow. I'll tell the wholesaler that's it for now, the pitto has to regrow through spring and summer. Talking of spring, it's well under way. The magpies are warbling strongly at dawn, the kookas are laughing their heads off, and the male blackbirds have been fighting and tumbling in the hellabores, oblivious to me picking flowers. If I was a cat it would be easy catch. There's a lot of new growth on trees, shrubs and field/wild flowers and the glorious aromas have begun with much to come in coming weeks.
Have had some more luck on the footy punt, $121 collect on a $2, 8 game multi today (Would have been $430 on a $5 one if North Melbourne had won). I invested a total of $22 on 4 $5 multis and one $2. Last week I collected $105 for $20 outlay. But the funny story I want to tell, which is probably what prompts me to sit here posting after midnight, is a good win I had on the neds last week. As I have said I'm a small time punter, $1 each way usually, and a few 50 cent trifectas. I put $1 on a horse that was 50/1, with a power boost I got $71. When I checked my balance it had gone down more than I thought so checked my bets and saw that I must have clicked 1 in the value box, gone to check odds on other account sites, gone back and must have clicked 1 again so I had accidentally bet $11 instead of $1. You guessed it, it won and I collected $781 for my $11. You don't reckon I laughed out loud.
My sore feet have settled down, I'm in good health, feeling fit and well. Will need to be with the move from our house to an as yet unknown address in a couple of months. I'm hopeful that now the pitto has finished I can put my mind to finding a place to rent and starting packing and cleaning up. I'm glad that I've been AF since 5 January. I'm enjoying being full time sober and clearheaded, I think it good I was off the grog during this Covid ordeal, I may have taken solace in my sherry, wine, and whatever weekend habit to numb out the media nuttery and cold weather. My target now is 12 months AF. Should not be a problem. It's been great to realize I can enjoy life without the need of the alcohol buzz.
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