Reg and Hazel Porter

We have moved

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:46:00 +0000

We have actually moved house, we moved 3 weeks ago very nice and quiet. The house we sold had a contract on it 12 days after we put it on the market which was not bad. A couple of weeks before we moved out, when the contract had run its course we had a Sold notice put over the sign also at the same time next door to us decided to put their house on the market, (with another Real Estate company) all of a sudden our sign in front of the house disappeared, now this was not children playing around because they would have gone for both signs. We where told some time ago that this does happen with some Real Estate agents, ( it does not look good if you are trying to sell a house and the house next door has already been sold by another real estate company.) We had the sign replaced again the following week with an old sign just in case this was repeated. Guess what the second one disappeared and the sign next door still stood proudly in front of their house.

Spiders.

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:50:00 +0000

This is the second post I have put on today. To most Australians these are familiar spiders. My reason for writing about the spiders is because a lot of people that do not live in Australia have a morbid fear of the insects and snakes that we have here. My cousin rang me on sunday night from England and one of his comments was had I seen an snakes on my sons land ( They have just had a house built on acreage). We have lived in Australia now for 35 years and I will have to say I have never seen a snake around our house or anywhere close since we have been here. The closest to anything poisonous I have seen is redback spiders, these are poisonous. I uncovered one only last week in our garage a rather big female I must admit I did dispose of her but like most things if I had ignored her she would have run away from me. Perhaps the most daunting of Australian spiders is the Huntsman this is mildly toxic but it is a big spider and has the speed of a greyhound.When ever they get into our house, we usually find them on the bedroom ceiling just as we lay down to go to sleep. I say this has the speed of a greyhound but not as fast as my wife when she realises there is a spider in the room. The spiders have never seem to worry me but then perhaps up until now I have probably been a bit over confident.

On the move again.

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:47:00 +0000

We are on the move again we put the house on the market last thursday after being in here just 16 months. The inside of the house is entirely different now to when we moved in.We are now looking to go into an over 50s complex not a retirement village. Some of the houses we have looked at have more space inside than our house at the moment and this one is not small, the owners of one house we saw had named their house THE TARDIS. There is just one thing now and that is the simple thing of selling it.

Please read the insructions.

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:40:00 +0000

Last night 11/8/2008 I noticed our dog had developed a swollen face being a Sheltie her nose is normally rather small and pointed this had swollen, so we went through the motions of trying to get a Vet, one that is open after normal hours. We found one that gave us some information over the phone he reckoned she had probably had an allergic reaction to an insect bite and to go to a chemist and get some antihistamine the product was called Phenagan this is for children, so at 10.30 pm I drove 25 kilometres to get some from a chemist that stayed open until 11. o clock. As I said this product is for children so read carefully the instructions on the side of the box.

Break and enter

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:22:00 +0000

Late yesterday afternoon Hazel and I took our daily walk with our dog.The usual thing is we leave the house by way of our garage locking up behind us and shutting the garage door by using the remote control I then hang the door keys on my belt loop. On returning home 30 minutes later my keys had disappeared from my belt I still had the remote control but no keys which meant I could get into the garage but to gain entry into the house itself I the had to get through one wooden door and one security door. We did by the way have another set of keys they were in Hazel,s handbag safely inside the house. We backtracked along the route we had taken to search for the keys but to no avail and by now it was dusk. the only thing I could think to do was to break in through the doors. The timber one was easy the security one I had to rip from the door frame using a crow bar or as they call them in Australia a wrecking bar. Trying to replace the security door today from our local hardware shop I found was going to very expensive and as the very helpful man in the shop said next time you break into your house just smash a window it works out a lot cheaper. The other part of the story was a young man had already found our keys on the road and having a local real estate phone number attached to the key ring we both had the same idea and phoned them, the result, one returned set of keys.

Mentor

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:27:00 +0000

Just over a month ago I got in touch with an organisation that teaches people (over 50s) how to use
a computer or to learn how to get more from their computer
The idea of this work which is volunteer by the way, is not to teach someone from scratch, unless they have never used a computer before, but to help them to get more skills to better use their computer.I put in for teaching, and to my surprise was accepted. I am going to be partnered up with someone (one to one) that just hopefully wants to learn another skill. The first person I get will probably turn out to know more than I do. There is only one way to find out. Keep you posted.

Modern Technology.

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:47:00 +0000

Last week tuesday the 22-1-08 to be exact I went to the hospital in the evening because I did not feel too good I had some grumbling chest pains and because I had a double bypass in dec 2000 I knew that the pains I was getting where not indegestion pains. To cut a long story short I was kept in and I stayed there for a week. I had an angiogram on the 7th day and this is the second one I have had in 8 years since I have had heart trouble. The point I want to make here is the way modern technology has gone now you can find out virtually anything you want to know with the touch of a button. Modern surgery now can be and is less invasive. The things we can do today that we could not a few years ago can when you think about it be mind boggling. Electronically you can buy, sell, order, pay, reference anything you can possibly think of, you should never have any excuse these days for losing your way, keep in touch with anyone no matter where they are. Keep in touch with someone whether they want you to know where they are or not. If you went on holiday years ago you would send cards back to family and friends saying, having a good time wish you were here, now if they are interested enough they can be there, they not only hear first hand what you are doing but they can also see what you are doing. There is always a downside to anything and one is the way some idiots use the modern marvel, the mobile phone.

Nine MSM

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:20:00 +0000

This is just a quick post but can anyone tell me does Britney Spears own channel nine because every day, and I mean every day her name is mentioned on Nine MSM.

What's in a name.

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:23:00 +0000

My name is Reg. Yes you say, easy to write down, easy to spell, No. I have on a lot of occasions been asked how my name is spelt. When I worked full time, some five or so years ago a lot of my work was telephone work, order placement and checking on order availability. I received some faxes on four different occasions with my name spelt Wredge , Redge, Rich, and best of the lot Rage. I do not know but I assume about 7 to 8 million Australians renew their Rego every year. The name Reg also seems to have a comical connotation for instance . If you watch The Bill the character Reg Hollis is often treated as not being the full quid. John Cleese played a union official in biblical times named Reg in The life of Brian, and in the television series Goodnight Sweetheart the policeman Reg is treated as having a screw loose. One well known personality was once quoted as saying "with a name like Reg Dwight I was not going to go anywhere," so he changed his name to Elton. I will excuse any Kiwi for calling me Ridge.

One in a million.

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:39:00 +0000

The gentleman above is Don, he featured in a program last night called RPA. If you are Australian you will know it is about people for one reason or another have been patients of the RPA hospital. This gentleman suffered from from a rare medical condition that goes by the name of Insulinoma. This is caused by a tumour on the pancreas, and it is life threatening as Don found out. My wife had this condition, it started in December of '91 and we went through a very stressful year of fits and blackouts not knowing what was wrong. Our doctor sent Hazel to see a specialist in Brisbane who at the time insisted Hazel had developed epilepsy, and who at one time became rather irate when we questioned the epilepsy angle. After having one very bad turn in October of '92 I had to take her to Ipswich hospital, she was not going to come out of the fit that she was in. After about 2 weeks in Ipswich she was sent to the PA hospital for further tests. The outcome was a surgeon by the name of doctor Hartley did an exploratory operation on Hazel, he found what he had suspected, an Insulinoma the size of a pea. I have never seen anyone come out of an operation instantly cured. Apparently people with this condition are one in a million. I have been telling Hazel this ever since we have been married.

Happy child

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 03:27:00 +0000

Watch this with a straight face.

You have found our Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:24:00 +0000

I have a nephew Paul and his wife Sylvia coming over from England to Australia for a holiday in January of next year. It's a holiday of a lifetime was the way Paul put it, he also asked me what a Blog was. I explained and told him how to get onto ours. If you are reading this Paul you have found it.

We are not alone

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 04:50:00 +0000

Anyone from Hertford UK reading this post and seeing this picture will recognize it as the Shire Hall in town. They perhaps will also know that there is a live webcam on a building opposite, The building is the furniture shop of Marshalls . The camera faces west toward Parliament Square . I visited the Discover Hertford website this morning, the time here was around 11 o,clock so the time there 2 or 3 o,clock in the morning. You are watching the pictures on camera in real time. A lonely figure walked down the road in a westerly direction Unknowing and why should they need to know that they where being watched by someone on the other side of the world. As you may know if you have read my blog that I originally come from the Hertford area, I might have even known that lonely sole. You never know who is watching you at any time of the day or night. If you are being watched, it might even be someone you know.Very eerie.

Replacement ?

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 04:44:00 +0000

We had a local computer technician in to fix our computer this morning (Monday). We had an infinite loop problem, which he fixed. While working on the machine he opened it up to ascertain if there were any loose boards or components inside, he realised when looking into the machine that the processor chip was a Celeron 2.4 GHz which our computer verifies when you look into the Systems Properties, on the outside of the case it has a small manufactures sticker proudly advertising that the computer contains a Pentium 4 processor to be precise a 2.8 GHz. Now I have to admit that we brought the computer from Harvey Norman in Oxley on 22/2/2004 I might add that the set was not cheap. A year later we had to take the computer back for a USB ports problem. This was fixed in a week and I was told that another motherboard was put in. The computer then was still under warranty so there was no payment to make also there was no paperwork for me to ascertain what work had been actually done. I got in touch with Harvey Norman 1/10/2007 and they verified that I did at one time take the computer in and a replacement motherboard was fitted. An explanation was offered that somebody could have stuck that particular Pentium sticker on the outside. the same sticker that was on it when we bought it, that was partly the reason why the computer was expensive in the first place. The moral of this story, check for yourself when you have anything repaired, especially computers.

Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 06:48:00 +0000

Today is Steve and Donna's third wedding anniversary.
Congratulations

Things Come in Three's

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:36:00 +0000

Two weeks ago Hazel and I both received letters informing us that we had some money coming to us. The reason was that we were both in the same superannuation plan when we were working and apparently there had been a problem in calculations at various times resulting in us being owed some money to the tune of $1500.

Yesterday, Hazel received a parcel which contained 10 DVDs which she had won entering a competition in the Take 5 magazine. They say things come in three's I am wondering what the third one will be.

Happy Anniversary Reg and Hazel

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:45:00 +0000

Today marks the 44th wedding anniversary of Reg and Hazel.

From all the kids, Happy Anniversary.

Australia Post Checks

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 05:52:00 +0000

In these days of bombs and drugs being transported all over the world in packages, and any other means of concealment people go to a lot of trouble to try and thwart detection either by customs or even Australia post. Both these organisation are good at picking out concealed contraband. What, you might be saying is the point to my blog.

I am now 65 and retired and a week ago I received a parcel through the post from the Government to take part in a program for the detection of bowel cancer. The parcel contains a DIY kit which you return when completed. For anyone that has not seen one of these kits I will let you try and figure out what I have to do. The contents with some addition are then sent back in a prepaid pre addressed package. I am wondering if postie always knows what he or she is carrying on their bike.

We're Back

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 08:46:00 +0000

Sorry we have been quiet of late. We have finally moved into the new house. There are still a few things to do to the house but it's feeling more like home now.

We have changed e-mail address, you can now contact us at reg.hazel@bigpond.com We are on a limited cable plan so the internet doesn't get used as much as it used to.

Tonight is Reg's last day at work. It's still a few weeks till his 65th birthday but I think he is pretty happy finishing up tonight. Now he and Hazel have many years of retirement to enjoy.

Laurie & Jessica have decided that they will be heading back to England for holidays at the end of 2008. They plan on spending about 5 weeks visiting family back home.

New House

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Sun, 13 May 2007 00:56:00 +0000

In previous blogs I have mentioned that we were selling our house. We have finally sold and pictured above is the house we have purchased. We are downsizing although this is a 3 bedroom house with a double garage. I will be retiring in 2 months time and will have something to do in my spare time. A friend of ours a couple of years ago brought her own house and has slowly transformed it from a house she paid $212,000 for to one she could now easily get $300,000.

Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 05:24:00 +0000

As of yesterday 10-3-2007 we have been resident in Australia for 34 years, this is now longer than we lived in Britain. We have seen a few changes in those years. we lived in Annerley in Brisbane at first and can still remember the south east freeway had got as far as crossing Cornwall St. The Annerley Woolworth store did not have air conditioning just large ceiling fans. Queen St in town did not have any pedestrian Mall, and if you went to the botanical gardens you went in to town not Mount Coot-tha. We moved from Annerley to Sherwood and 6 months later we were visited by cyclone Wanda, for one week at least we did not have to worry about cleaning the windows the house had disappeared completely.We have since moved 3 more times. Even as I write there is another move in the pipeline.

Very helpfull

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:36:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago we had our computer taken away to be reformatted, to get rid of a virus problem, after we got it back we found we had no sound.The motherboard we have on the computer is an Asus. Going through the Asus website we tried a few times to download a Sound Max program, but it would not install, it could not find the driver. Checking the forum pages it seems that this is a common problem with XP, and quite a lot of people where trying to find a solution to the same problem. One of the posts on the forum mentioned his trials of trying to get the program to work and asking for assistance, just two posts down the same person had sifted through Google and come up with a Sound Max download, he tried it and it worked. After reading this we tried the same thing and it does indeed work, we have sound. Our motherboard is a P4S800-MX. The download installs the driver with the program we found it, as he suggested on Google by typing in AD1888 zip.

Reassurance

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 11:31:00 +0000

A little reassurance goes a long way. Two weeks ago we awoke to find we had blocked toilets, this was just downstairs, upstairs was ok probably due to gravity. After deciding that the pipe outside was blocked we got a plumber in. One hour and $190 later the sewerage pipe was unblocked. The plumber informed us that it was indeed a tree root and that the amount of worm he used to unblock it meant the blockage was not only well away from our property, but well away from the neighbours as well. This could only mean that it was on council property.

Last week Hazel rang the council about another matter and while talking to the lady on the other end decided to find out where we stand if the blockage happens again (which it will do).The lady assured her that the council have a policy that they will attend to any request within 25 days. So be reassured that if you are sitting in xxxx you will only have to wait 25 days at the most.

Update house.

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 10:30:00 +0000

We seem to be having some interest with the sale of the house. Up to now we have had 3 people looking through, and have caught the same one's at different times driving past for another look, all since Christmas.

We had a call from our son Steven from Vietnam where he and his wife are on holiday. The call was with a webcam that his brother Laurie had brought in Taiwan whilst he and family where on holiday. Laurie brought 3 for $12 each (Australian). The reception was very good considering he was using a laptop as well.

At last some interest

noreply@blogger.com (Reg & Hazel Porter) — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 13:24:00 +0000

After having the house on the market for 2 months and having no prospective buyer looking at all, in the last two days we have had two inspections, one after the other, perhaps thing are looking up at last. Because we had no interest for a while we let things slide just a bit. Have you ever tried putting things back to their original pristine condition in 2 hours flat,it can be done but you have to work at it.