I’m off to the tropics next week… bring that on. The temps here in the ACT are plummeting right now, and I’m over it. The worst bit is that my ducted heating has decided to conk out on me, which I’m particularly annoyed about about given my real estate agent’s dismal track record of getting it serviced. I told her months ago that it was due for one, and as usual she never got around to lining up an appointment.
Well, anyway, now she wants me to be home on Friday so someone can come round to look at it before I head off for two months. She says it would be considered hazardous to put it off (what, it wasn’t a hazard before now?). Why this Friday? If I’d known this was going to be so inconvenient, I’d have just shelled out myself for a heating system service. Canberra people, tell me what you think – is being a tenant here more irritating than it is in other necks of the woods?
Okay, I realise I’m coming off a bit crazy. It’s just because two months is a fair while to be away from home, and I’m running around like a headless chook to make sure everything is organised. Then there’s all the preparation I’m meant to be doing for the project… do I have all the studies on tropical fungi that I might need? Probably not.
Another question: where the heck are we staying? The accomodation still hasn’t been properly ironed out. My biggest concern, ironically, is whether it will have air conditioning. Canberra, be jealous. This is not a matter of personal comfort, though, so much as storing our specimens at an appropriate room temperature. The project is, unfortunately, not sufficiently well-funded for us to have access to state-of-the-art storage equipment.
So, yeah – my mind is currently dually occupied by heating system repairs and air con. So much for my fascinating life as an environmental scientist!