Juanita and the kids have made plans to go to Tasmania for Christmas. I have to be the bad guy and say it is not going to happen. It could, but there is no way I think we should be spending that kind of money for a trip when we have so much else that needs to be done. The biggest issue is the cost of traveling. We cannot take the plane as we will have no transportation when we get there and mainly, we will not have a powered wheelchair for Maeghan. If we are willing to get a normal wheelchair, then we might consider it.
Driving is out of the question. First, I don't think the car will take that kind of trip. By then, it will have 200,000 kilometers on it and it is not holding up as it is. Not that there is anything wrong with the car but it is starting to make some noises that it did not used to make. The breaks might need work and possibly some other essential things. Since we only have the one car, anything that happens to this one will leave us stranded with no way to carry Maeghan's wheelchair anywhere. That is one of the causes of the problems, her wheelchair is so heavy and we carry it around in this car everywhere. It does wear on the brakes and the transmission and the shocks and all kinds of other things, so we need to be careful with how we use it from now on. That is one of the things we need to save our money for, another car.
The biggest problem with going to Tasmania is the cost to drive there. Petrol is right around $2.00 a litre. It is expected to go to about $2.50 a litre when the government drops its subsidies in September. Too much to go into but during the last election, they halved the excise tax on petrol to lower the costs. It was supposed to drop the price of petrol by 22 cents but of course, the petrol companies did nothing and the price remained the same. But you can be sure, when the price brake ends, they will be sure to raise the price by the 22 cents it was supposed to go down and the price is expected to keep going up before then anyway, so $2.50 is the low end of what they are projecting by the end of the year.
That makes petrol for a driving trip to be right around $1200, if not more. $400 there and $400 back, plus the driving while we are there and the price in Tasmania is already $2.50 a litre. So driving is not really an option. Maybe the government will continue the discount or maybe they will come up with something else, but I doubt they can sustain this kind of revenue loss they are experiencing now. Prices have to go up soon, it is just a question of how much and how soon.
The boat price has also gone up and is even more during the holidays. Maybe $1500 for us to take the boat. That's comparable to plane tickets but that leaves us without a car. Can we rent one for cheaper than the petrol price. Probably, but then we are without Maeghan's wheelchair and we will have to pay for accommodation which we will not have to do if we had our car and take camping equipment. Not that I want to camp but it would be cheaper than motel rooms.
All and all, an expensive trip that we just do not have the money for if we are going to try to save up for a new car, which we need. Plus, on top of all that, our rent has gone up, or will as of August. $50 a week. That's a big jump. Juanita has already told our boarders that they have to pay more. I am not sure they will and if we lose them, we can no longer afford to live there. I think they are going to move out, possibly move in together but as they tend to hate each other most of the time, that probably won't happen. Anna will move in with her boyfriend when he comes back from overseas. No telling when that will happen and he does not have a place of his own, but they might pool their resources and find a place. I will be glad to see Adam go but we cannot afford to live without his rent, so I tolerate it.
On top of all this, or in addition to this, William is dead set against going back to school next semester. He says he will find a job. Not that he has actually looked for a job but he says he will find one soon. It does mean he can pay rent like the others but we get a support payment for him which is more than what he would be able to pay in rent, so we will lose money when that happens. It has to happen at some point but when it does, I am not sure what we can do. William is planning on moving in with his friends but there is no way he is ready to do that. He might try it but I know it will not last long and he will be back, so we have to maintain a room for him when he does.
Maybe everything will work out. I really do not want the kids to move out but it has to happen sometime. I am not well enough to keep taking care of them and Juanita is no longer capable of it. I tell them I have ten more years, or eight now, for them to get settled and on their own before they will have to start taking care of me. It's all a big joke but I don't think they realise just how serious I am about it. I cannot keep up this pace for much longer. I work too much doing jobs that I am not physically capable of and it cannot continue that way. I have to take a break but since I am sole support for this family, I can't. Even this trip they are planning, even if we can figure out a way to pay for it, it means I will be off work for however long we are gone and we will receive no income during that time. I little pay from the government but no where near enough to live on and certainly no where near enough to support a trip and we have to come back. If I am gone, I get replaced, and there is no guarantee there will be work for me when I come back. I need a break. When I have a day off, I have to spend it taking care of or entertaining everyone. I have to cook for them, and I have to do all the things around the house that need doing and then I have to sleep, which I only do for about 4 hours a night. I am tired. I want to be able to turn it off. I want to be able to not be responsible for everyone and not be the sole provider of support to all these people. I need a break.
Did I whine enough yet. Have I made this so much of a burden that even if anyone ever reads this, it will be long after I am gone and it will make no difference one way or another. I suppose I have to move on and keep going. It's my lot in life. Not a lot but it's a life.
Maeghan is almost finished with her art class. She says she is going to take classes for her diploma in child services next time. She will be going to school in Caboolture so it will be much closer. She has started complaining about not having any friends but I am hoping with her being closer to home, she can find some friends at school that she can hang around with. Her friends in town are only there when she is in class. She cannot stay and hang out with them since it will be dark when she gets home and she is not allowed to ride her chair around in the dark. I don't care what she has to say about it, she will not be riding down the streets in her chair after dark. I don't need that kind of worry. So, even if she wants to hang around with the people she goes to school with, she can't since it is so far from home. I am hoping it will be better being closer.
Her diploma will get her the chance to work in the office part of child care, so she does not have to spend all her time standing and helping the children. Or so that is what she says she can do. I am all for it. I am not sure she likes working with the children as much as she used to but if she can do this, she will have some time with the kids and time away from them to do other work. I don't really know how it all works but I am hoping if works out for her. She seems happy to do it, or resigned to do it. Not sure which it is at this point but it will be a job and having a diploma will help, even if she doesn't do child care.
I told William about an opportunity to do council work through the school but he said no way. He said he wants to get paid and this is work experience type thing so he doesn't get paid. I told him it would look good on his resume but he still said no. He has no idea what it takes to get a job but maybe I am wrong and he can find work doing something, even if he doesn't like it.
It is going to be a hard beginning for both of them. Me losing my job four years ago destroyed any help I was going to be. These cheap jobs I have been doing since then have not allowed me to build any type of savings for them or even a sound footing for them to move out from. It just keeps getting worse. Sad to say, but if I die, they get a lot more money than I can provide them while I am living but even that will not be enough for them to get started in life, plus they would have to do it without me, so that's a drawback. And my super keeps losing money due to that pandemic and other things going on in this country, so while my money for retirement goes down, the insurance payout still goes up. It would be good for me to be able to leave that for them, but I would have to die first, so that is not an option.
I am being asked to do a lot of work now, so I have to be going. Too much work here lately and I am not sure why. This used to be an easy job but now, they expect results, or they actually have problems that I can actually solve so I spend a lot of time doing stupid things but it makes them happy so they keep asking for more. Now, I don't even get a break while I am here. On a good note, actually I have forgotten what a good note is, on another note, the cafe is open. I thought it had closed for good but apparently, it has reopened this week after being closed for a month. So I had a bad cup of coffee but a good piece of cake for lunch. It was cold outside but I managed. Really strange for it to be cold this time of year. I did not think it got cold in Queensland.
Have to go. I leave in a few minutes and of course, they want me to do things before I leave. Always last minute at this place. I think they sit around and plan it that way.
So, until next time
Later
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