Miscellany

• I'm still looking for the cable for my camera.  The photos I took on holiday aren't great but I'd still like to get a few of them up.  

• Looks like I really will be getting a speeding ticket.  Haven't received it yet but I did get my bill from the car-sharing place and it included a five euro administration charge for processing a fine.  What happens is that they are sent the fine (based on the car registration plate) and then forward it to me.  So I assume it will turn up in the post in the next day or two.  So my unblemished record ain't quite so unblemished anymore.  

• Today I booked a couple of tours for my two days in Kuala Lumpur in December before I continue to Sydney.  I'm toying with the idea of buying a Backtracker Pass to use when I'm in Australia.  My sister will be working for the first ten days or so that I am there and I'm considering taking the twelve or so hour train journey up to Brisbane.  Although I'm not going to try anything mad like fitting in a tour of the entire continent in the three weeks I have, it would be kind of nice to visit a different town in a different state and Queensland really is supposed to be completely different from New South Wales.

• Still haven't gotten any preserving done but am slowly managing to get my apartment sorted out.  It's in a bit of an in-between stage at the moment so actually looks worse than ever but I can see that it's getting there at least.  I bought a new ceiling light from a colleague who recently moved house and another colleauge knows an electrician who she's going to ask to come and fit it for me.  I want to take down the light in the hall that doesn't work, put the one currently in the sitting room into the hall and then put the 'new' one up in the sitting room.  The organic tomatoes are running at 5 euro per kilo this year, which is very expensive.  I'll do my best to get as many of the soup/juice tomatoes as I can (around 3 euro a kilo for those slightly damaged tomatoes).

• I managed to get up early and go swimming on Thursday.  I bought a ten-visit chip straighaway so now I have to make an effort to go or it'll just be a waste of money.  I'm even more out of condition than I thought. I've never really swum as sport, always more just paddling around for fun but even so it was pretty bad.  It took me over twenty minutes to swim up and down the pool ten times, and it's not a very big pool.  My back was complaining a bit too after the first one or two although it loosened up after that.  And I did feel more relaxed and looser in general for the rest of the day.  I'm going to the doctor on Tuesday just to get a check-up and make sure he checks out my ankles, which have developed a tendency to swell.  I don't think it's anything more than heat and my weight but no harm to get blood tests and a general check-up.  I need to ask about vaccinations for Malaysia and Australia anyway. 

That's all for now.  Although I'm fairly sure I have forgotten to mention the couple of things I had in mind when I sat down to write this post, I suspect that with my memory being the way it is, I may never get them back now anyway.  Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend.

Edited to add: I remember one thing I wanted to mention.  I recently bought a slow-cooker from someone who was returning to the States and selling everything she could.  Anyone have recommendations for a good cookbook for slow-cooker (also called crockpots)?  I'd be especially interested in one that covers very basic stuff, like just cooking beans or chickpeas on their own to later use in a salad, for example (there was no manual with it).