Medieval Madness
17/03/2013 12:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaMedieval Madness
Saturday was the day of the much anticipated medieval festival. This is a must attend event on the serpent calendar ever since discovering it by accident way back in 2006.It was the best April Fool’s Day ever. Since then along with the odd cancellation it seems to have slowly slinked back in time to mid March. But it’s been jinxed ever since getting an ankle twisted on the way to this event back in 2010. Got to thinking about that today. Had booked the day off ages before the event so there was no need for the usual mad rush to the bus in order to be at the mad house for a 3pm start.
Back then had a good 500 plus hours of sick leave already accumulated. Got the dodgy ankle treated by the St John Ambulance mob who attend pretty much every public event. They had issued some pink little form. In spite of hobbling to the goblin office in a state obviously incapable of work and with this pink piece of A4 paper as written evidence, this was deemed as insufficient. Only a medical certificate signed by a doctor would be considered acceptable evidence as incapacity to work. Never mind that there’s at least a week’s wait to get a doctor these days. All those happy thoughts resurrected themselves in the emerald serpent skull today.
At least this time there was no need to put in a request for the day off several times and several months in advance due to the complete incompetence of the teflon coated cockroach in charge of the roster.
This year was going to be a bit different in that their usual 10-5 schedule would be tweeked for a 9pm finish. Most peculiar indeed thinks the serpent. But that means a quick peek at the so called international student festival before slinking down to visit the oldies. Last year this student thing was also on the same day. Turned up at 5pm and it was all over. So got there early and discovered that it was not worth the bother. Even the so called Global Food Village was a nonevent and the munchies were certainly not at student friendly prices. The plan was to spend about an hour there before going down to the medieval fair but it was so boring that it was worth making a deviation to the state library for a free 20 minutes on their express computers. The main purpose was to read emails and take a quick peek in Livejournal land. But Livejournal had turned into Deadjournal on this particular occasion. So no luck there
Since there was no decent affordable munchies at the so called student festival it was time to slink down to Annalakshmi which is not only kosher and very tasty but conveniently located very near the Supreme Court Gardens which is the site for the medieval festival
Had been a bit off the rails when catching the bus and Northbridge was no better. The nuttiness lingered all day and just could not shake it off. Knew exactly a year ago the festival would be on today and had been sort of looking forward to it but in this state of mind it was going to be such a waste. But as the alternative was to stay hiding under the blankets having a pity party, decided to go anyway and just hope to find some way to shake off those pesky Dementors.
Turned up just after 2.30pm. Normally would be there by 11am at the latest even without the need to rush off to catch the bus but the new finishing time had changed everything. It turned out that most of the stall holders started packing up after 5pm so will keep that in mind for next time
Objectively seen it was much bigger and better and twice the price to get in. There were the usual array of folks in gorgeous costumes and endless swords and sandals dramas. Did not see the displays of chain mail this time but there seemed to be more horses and camel rides than usual
Some new additions were the wishing well and the stocks where miscreants could be seen with a sign proclaiming their crime such as drunkeness, debauchery, disobedience, witchcraft, heresy or Izzie’s favourite - the village idiot
There was even a very hungry dragon. Must be a vegetarian as all it had to eat were boring bales of hay
Spent quite a bit of the time slinking about the edges sitting on park benches just watching. A bit like back in 2010 when due to the dodgy ankle had bugger all alternative. This time could walk perfectly well but was feeling just so claustrophobic, clumsy and generally jittery.
There’s been just far too many otherwise wonderful occasions ruined by being in this state and being unable to snap out of it. And this was yet another to add to the list. The same thing happened last time. This time was supposed to be different. After all there was no caffeine and no cane toads to ruin the mood but still managed to stuff it up. It wasn’t even particularly hot on the weather front
Did manage to catch the book binders stand before they started packing up around 4.30pm and did a good job of resisting temptation for those Halcyon mob with the gorgeous ribbons, brocade and assorted hand made papers. Still got a stash of their stuff from the last two years and not made any books or things with it so acquiring any more was a definite no no. Same with all those stalls with the seriously gorgeous leather bound journals with hand made paper. Still got a few back in the Lair from previous years and learned from recent attempts to actually use them instead of just hoarding that they do not like emerald ink. It seems a shame to desecrate such gorgeous blank books with awful biro scribbles but it is either that or leave them blank. The hand made paper is simply too course for fountain pens
But there was one temptation that could not be resisted. Not been to any of the Farmers markets in ages due in large part to the sizzling hot summer weather on most Saturdays. The ma is desperate for a fix of garlic as she has exhausted her supply and it will soon be planting time
Most of the supermarket garlic is nuked Chinese shit. Would not feed it to one’s worst enemy. Since they trashed the market many moons ago local garlic is generally hard to get and quite expensive. The Subiaco farmers market had gorgeous peppery local purple stuff for $16-$17 per kilo and it is not waterlogged like the stuff in the supermarket
But the Izzie went to the stupid student festival instead of the farmers market so was empty handed. That was until discovering a stall at the medieval fair selling garlic and chestnuts. These people are from Donnybrook down south and they had big 500 gram bags of Russian garlic for $5 each. Not from Russia of course but just the variety. It’s also known as elephant garlic and is known for its large cloves and rather mild flavour.
Had only been talking to the ma this morning about the new Diggers catalogue with two whole pages of the most wicked looking pink and purple cloves. There must have been a good twenty heirloom varieties to choose from. But they are not cheap and most importantly of all they are not allowed in to the Wild West of Oz. The quarantine and customs Nazis have banned them because of course they threaten the very existence of this state so unlike Monsanto’s mutant wheat and canola. Seems they have no problem with that muck at all.
So Izzie grabbed 3 bags - one for us and two for Petunia. At that price can take the chance with planting most of them. Apparently Russian garlic has a gorgeous purple pom pom flower. Also added a bag of chestnuts. Used to see them all the time at the markets in Autumn when living in Germany but had never tried them.
Sunday will be a day devoted to Green Goodness. The Zoo has some grand Evergreen Garden day and being a member is the perfect excuse to potter along for a peek. Here’s hoping the Dementors don’t tag along too. Their infernal presence is ever so draining and tiring.
The Coursera maths homework did seem to scare them off on Friday but unfortunately the magic vanished after a visit to a supermarket. It seems that is their preferred lurking ground.
So for the day that’s in it - here’s a toast to exiled emerald serpents everywhere ;)
Saturday was the day of the much anticipated medieval festival. This is a must attend event on the serpent calendar ever since discovering it by accident way back in 2006.It was the best April Fool’s Day ever. Since then along with the odd cancellation it seems to have slowly slinked back in time to mid March. But it’s been jinxed ever since getting an ankle twisted on the way to this event back in 2010. Got to thinking about that today. Had booked the day off ages before the event so there was no need for the usual mad rush to the bus in order to be at the mad house for a 3pm start.
Back then had a good 500 plus hours of sick leave already accumulated. Got the dodgy ankle treated by the St John Ambulance mob who attend pretty much every public event. They had issued some pink little form. In spite of hobbling to the goblin office in a state obviously incapable of work and with this pink piece of A4 paper as written evidence, this was deemed as insufficient. Only a medical certificate signed by a doctor would be considered acceptable evidence as incapacity to work. Never mind that there’s at least a week’s wait to get a doctor these days. All those happy thoughts resurrected themselves in the emerald serpent skull today.
At least this time there was no need to put in a request for the day off several times and several months in advance due to the complete incompetence of the teflon coated cockroach in charge of the roster.
This year was going to be a bit different in that their usual 10-5 schedule would be tweeked for a 9pm finish. Most peculiar indeed thinks the serpent. But that means a quick peek at the so called international student festival before slinking down to visit the oldies. Last year this student thing was also on the same day. Turned up at 5pm and it was all over. So got there early and discovered that it was not worth the bother. Even the so called Global Food Village was a nonevent and the munchies were certainly not at student friendly prices. The plan was to spend about an hour there before going down to the medieval fair but it was so boring that it was worth making a deviation to the state library for a free 20 minutes on their express computers. The main purpose was to read emails and take a quick peek in Livejournal land. But Livejournal had turned into Deadjournal on this particular occasion. So no luck there
Since there was no decent affordable munchies at the so called student festival it was time to slink down to Annalakshmi which is not only kosher and very tasty but conveniently located very near the Supreme Court Gardens which is the site for the medieval festival
Had been a bit off the rails when catching the bus and Northbridge was no better. The nuttiness lingered all day and just could not shake it off. Knew exactly a year ago the festival would be on today and had been sort of looking forward to it but in this state of mind it was going to be such a waste. But as the alternative was to stay hiding under the blankets having a pity party, decided to go anyway and just hope to find some way to shake off those pesky Dementors.
Turned up just after 2.30pm. Normally would be there by 11am at the latest even without the need to rush off to catch the bus but the new finishing time had changed everything. It turned out that most of the stall holders started packing up after 5pm so will keep that in mind for next time
Objectively seen it was much bigger and better and twice the price to get in. There were the usual array of folks in gorgeous costumes and endless swords and sandals dramas. Did not see the displays of chain mail this time but there seemed to be more horses and camel rides than usual
Some new additions were the wishing well and the stocks where miscreants could be seen with a sign proclaiming their crime such as drunkeness, debauchery, disobedience, witchcraft, heresy or Izzie’s favourite - the village idiot
There was even a very hungry dragon. Must be a vegetarian as all it had to eat were boring bales of hay
Spent quite a bit of the time slinking about the edges sitting on park benches just watching. A bit like back in 2010 when due to the dodgy ankle had bugger all alternative. This time could walk perfectly well but was feeling just so claustrophobic, clumsy and generally jittery.
There’s been just far too many otherwise wonderful occasions ruined by being in this state and being unable to snap out of it. And this was yet another to add to the list. The same thing happened last time. This time was supposed to be different. After all there was no caffeine and no cane toads to ruin the mood but still managed to stuff it up. It wasn’t even particularly hot on the weather front
Did manage to catch the book binders stand before they started packing up around 4.30pm and did a good job of resisting temptation for those Halcyon mob with the gorgeous ribbons, brocade and assorted hand made papers. Still got a stash of their stuff from the last two years and not made any books or things with it so acquiring any more was a definite no no. Same with all those stalls with the seriously gorgeous leather bound journals with hand made paper. Still got a few back in the Lair from previous years and learned from recent attempts to actually use them instead of just hoarding that they do not like emerald ink. It seems a shame to desecrate such gorgeous blank books with awful biro scribbles but it is either that or leave them blank. The hand made paper is simply too course for fountain pens
But there was one temptation that could not be resisted. Not been to any of the Farmers markets in ages due in large part to the sizzling hot summer weather on most Saturdays. The ma is desperate for a fix of garlic as she has exhausted her supply and it will soon be planting time
Most of the supermarket garlic is nuked Chinese shit. Would not feed it to one’s worst enemy. Since they trashed the market many moons ago local garlic is generally hard to get and quite expensive. The Subiaco farmers market had gorgeous peppery local purple stuff for $16-$17 per kilo and it is not waterlogged like the stuff in the supermarket
But the Izzie went to the stupid student festival instead of the farmers market so was empty handed. That was until discovering a stall at the medieval fair selling garlic and chestnuts. These people are from Donnybrook down south and they had big 500 gram bags of Russian garlic for $5 each. Not from Russia of course but just the variety. It’s also known as elephant garlic and is known for its large cloves and rather mild flavour.
Had only been talking to the ma this morning about the new Diggers catalogue with two whole pages of the most wicked looking pink and purple cloves. There must have been a good twenty heirloom varieties to choose from. But they are not cheap and most importantly of all they are not allowed in to the Wild West of Oz. The quarantine and customs Nazis have banned them because of course they threaten the very existence of this state so unlike Monsanto’s mutant wheat and canola. Seems they have no problem with that muck at all.
So Izzie grabbed 3 bags - one for us and two for Petunia. At that price can take the chance with planting most of them. Apparently Russian garlic has a gorgeous purple pom pom flower. Also added a bag of chestnuts. Used to see them all the time at the markets in Autumn when living in Germany but had never tried them.
Sunday will be a day devoted to Green Goodness. The Zoo has some grand Evergreen Garden day and being a member is the perfect excuse to potter along for a peek. Here’s hoping the Dementors don’t tag along too. Their infernal presence is ever so draining and tiring.
The Coursera maths homework did seem to scare them off on Friday but unfortunately the magic vanished after a visit to a supermarket. It seems that is their preferred lurking ground.
So for the day that’s in it - here’s a toast to exiled emerald serpents everywhere ;)
