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Every day, as I visit shops and go to medical appointments and just wander around, I see people of the Chinese race and always wonder, do they come from China or are they from Singapore or Taiwan or are they Koreans or Japanese or from somewhere else. Brisbane is a pot-pourri of the human race now and so many of the faces that pass me are not European in their origin. I’ve said before that I love this diversity and I feel my life in Australia will be much richer for it. We are located next to Asia and it could even be said that we are just the biggest island in Asia and that the idea we are a little continent in our own right is just a British conceit. Now we are becoming more obviously Asian by welcoming our fellow Asians to join us and transform us.

Much more relaxed and confident than I once was, it is easy for me to greet people with a, Where are you from? It is a good conversation starter and is brightening my days. Occasionally I will meet a mainland Chinese and say, Ni hao. Over the past few days I have clearly overheard some people speaking putonghua (Mandarin) and said, ‘Qing wen, nimen shi Zhonguo ren ma?’ (Hello, are you Chinese?). I had a nice little interaction with a couple in the Centrelink queue and a male student through this question.

I do miss China and my friends there and I hope that I will make some Chinese friends in Brisbane and that they will encourage me to continue with my putonghua and even improve it. When I get into my new home in a week’s time I will set a study programme and try to improve the basic knowledge that can build into conversational ability when I have the opportunity to talk with Chinese people.

The Brisbane bus service is excellent! What a difference from the last time I lived in Brisbane, twenty years ago. In those days it was common to get on a bus and ask what the fare was to your destination and be met with a surly response from a driver who seemed to think you should know how much in advance and have the correct change ready so he could rush on his way. These days the drivers are really helpful and never give you the feeling they are in a hurry. I have seen them get out of their seat to help disabled people and young women with prams. The other day a woman gave the driver her baby to hold while she loaded her pram. The buses have special platforms at the front where luggage or a folding pram can be stowed. Next to those platforms is a row of seats that fold down to make a wheelchair space and there is also a ramp that can be lowered at the front door so a wheelie can mount or dismount the vehicle. I noticed today that there is a special bell that warns the driver that a wheelie wants to get off so he can get the ramp ready. Passengers are encouraged to leave the front seats vacant for the aged and infirm. Drivers drive carefully, without the sudden acceleration and braking that used to throw the passengers around in the past. Congratulations to Brisbane transport for an amazingly effective training programme that has resulted in passengers feeling as though they have been given priority over the timetable. Intelligent improvements to the roadways with lots of exclusive bus lanes has greatly increased reliability of arrival times too. And it is wonderful to sit on a bus again with no one lighting up a cigarette to pollute my air. Wuhan people, just sit and wish you were here!

I have not written lately as I have been very sick but now I am not so bad. Soon after I arrived back in Australia I booked myself into a hospital where they found my heart condition had become much worse. The doctors would not let me go home for nine days, until they had my blood pressure, heart rate, sugar levels, and the level of a substance called warfarin into the normal range. They looked at my heart through a high tech machine and measured its action then told me my heart is operating at one fifth normal efficiency. That’s scary guys! I am going to be the most co-operative patient in the world from here on and take all of my pills every day, eat only healthy food, drink only healthy drinks (even water!) and walk and walk until my heart begins to function more normally and even after that take really good care of myself for the rest of my life.

The main effect on my life is tiredness. I am always at least a little tired. I have found myself a place to live and will move in but I have to ask family members to carry everything for me. I’m just not capable of doing it. If I lift something that would have been no trouble a couple of years back I find myself puffing and panting and having to sit down to get my breath back. There is no way I can take part in carrying furniture up stairs.

Fortunately I have an excellent family who are not only going to help me set up my new place and bring utilities (trucks) and trailers (no not caravans to live in, you Americans, box thingies towed behind a car to carry stuff), but they are giving me so much stuff I wonder where I am going to put it all. What a great new start I will have as I settle in to Australia again.

Australia has a great though often criticised Social Security system and I am eligible for disability support. It is basic but can sustain a person. My hope is to pick up work through the internet and earn as much as I can from home. I am not able to do full-time work but as my health improves through my new lifestyle I should be able to take on more, in stages as I become capable of maintaining the effort.

This blog might make some of you feel a little sad as I have been having a difficult time, however, I am on track for a better future. I will continue to blog and let all my friends who drop in here how I am going. Also I will blog for fun, giving comments and observations of what I see around me and what concerns me or gives me joy in the world.