operation – Melbourne Loft

I know I’ve been strangely absent this past month. It’s only because I have so many things going on at the moment.   I have been balancing a busy workload as well as a few other personal things.   I kinda knew something was not right over the past couple of months, so in November I will be getting another operation on my hip to try to repair it again.   Hopefully this time I will come out of it a bit better.   At least this time I know what I’m going to be in for.
I’m also in the middle of negotiating to buy another property here on my street in Melbourne. I’m still not sure if it’s the right thing to do.   But I’ll write more about that once all the numbers work out.
I didn’t get the book deal for my photography after all.    But that’s okay.   I will continue to work at being a better photographer and maybe someday I will publish my own book.
And the big trip to Europe is coming up!   I’m travelling there with my mate Chris.   We have finally booked everything and will take off in the middle of October to London, Paris and Berlin.   I imagine lots of beer drinking in Berlin for Oktoberfest…    even though the centre for that is Munich (?).
And the last piece of news is that Loft 2 is finally getting a dishwasher!   I’m piling up the dirty dishes in anticipation of it’s arrival.   No more stacks of dirty dishes around the kitchen.   I was going to buy one when I moved in here with Jake, but I always thought I wouldn’t stay here long.
So that’s it…   a quick update. I promise I’ll post more often with all these little projects coming up.

I’m not sure which hurt the most this past week… my hip or my hip pocket.   I’ve been paying the high level of health insurance possible for the past 23 years and last week I had my first trip to a hospital.   With all the fees (and the bills still seem to be arriving) the following is who paid what of the $5833.99 bill.
Medicare (Govt) $1040.65
Health Fund    $1096.80
Phillip                  $3696.54
I could have had it done for free in a public hospital but I would had to have waited a much longer time (like years).   I was really surprised by the breakdown of the costs. I always thought that my health fund would pay for everything.   I pay around $2600 a year for my health fund and usually make around $300 worth of claims each year.   It really makes you wonder whether it is worth having.
The photo above is the entrance to the Mercy Private Hospital in Grey Street, East Melbourne.