An Auspicious Ending
01/01/2011 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaSo here we are neer the end of the first day of this new year. So far so good in spite of being rather hot and also setting the very bad precedent of being the first time working on January 1st and 2nd since 2002. Working 6.5 hours and spending not a single cent - maybe it's a good start. Hard to know at this early stage. Even managed to spend just over an hour walking although doing exercise and getting rid of several spare tyres are nowhere to be seen on the serpent list of New Year's resolutions
Due to being at work today meaning that there would be no opportunity for a long snooze to start the year, decided to tweek the usual New Year's eve routine.
Normally like to get up reasonably early, water the weeds and catch the bus to Fremantle to visit Dymocks bookstore for the annual 20% off everything sale followed by a visit to the old lunatic asylum then off to Cottesloe for coffee crawls and sunset by the beach
So instead of being out and about around 8 or 9am, did not leave the Lair until midday and first paid a visit to Petunia in order to leave over work clothes and some bottles for the midnight feast
Ended up staying 90 minutes or so rather than the 30 originally planned. Hit the road just after 2pm and the grand plan was a quick peek in that bookstore before heading off to the Cottesloe cafes for the last squiggles of the year at 3.30pm
But in spite of the offering in store being sadly lacking and outrageously expensive, still managed to waste the best part of one hour in there before finally catching the bus.
The Oz zloty is now above parity with the US greenback but that still does not stop the local bookstores charging twice the marked US price.
The Fremantle store usually has a wide selection of strange new age stuff and tarot decks. But not yesterday. The fugly plain vanilla Rider Waite decks were a ridiculous $33 for the basic version with no books or accessories of any kind and the bright shiny Tarot of Vampyres was a disgraceful $$49.95. Even with the 20% discount it would still be cheaper to buy one single solitary kit from Amazon (postage included) and nothing else and have a reasonable amount of change left over. For the full $50 you could get two of them from Amazon
And as most folks do not order one single item but a bunch of things to reduce postage costs per item, it's little wonder that the Oz book stores are doing so badly.
Even with the 10% GST, there's no excuse at all for such outrageous prices
In the end, did not get to the cafe strip until 5pm and everything was closing. Most annoying indeed but no one to blame but a slow sluggish serpent who spent too much time farting around in book stores looking for nonexistent bargains
So went straight for the beach. It was hot but not horrid and there was a cooling sea breeze. It was wonderful walking along the shore watching the waves and seeing the sun slowly moving towards the horizon
Sunset was seriously strange. There was not a single visible cloud about but there was a very strange almost invisible mist on the horizon. The sun became orange, then reddish pink and the bit directly over the horizon just faded into oblivion leaving the top section still glowing brightly
Then it too became all fuzzy and disappeared. Very different to the usual large yellow glowing ball of light that sinks slowly with the top of the circle being the last part to disappear
Picked up a little stone lying on the beach to squiggle some spirals and the number 2010 three times and watched as the waves came in and then eventually one would be large enough to wash away all the foot prints and serpent squiggles
In keeping with the planned theme for the new year, did not put this special stone in a pocket for posterity but tossed it back into the water.
While then emptying a shopping bag of the sand that had blown into it, a copy of a local magazine - Nova fell out and the wind picked it up and blew it further up the sand. Was not fast enough to catch it and watched it flying in the breeze. Felt bad for being a litter bug but it is paper and will eventually decay into something useful
There really is something enchanting and hypnotic about watching the waves especially just around sunset. Spent so long down on the sand that there was no time left for a picnic so the bottle remained unopened and the bag of nibblies uneaten.
Another lesson learned - no need for a bottle and a pile of stuff for a picnic. The most important thing is the sun, the wind, the waves and the sand and the ability to remain in the present moment.
Apparently the latest end of year ritual in New York is to write down all the things you want out of your life for the following year and put the paper in some huge shredder. Such a cute idea but it is most likely nowhere near as magical as squiggling them in the sand and watching the waves reduced them to meaningless bumps in the wet sand
Due to weather and other circumstances, missed out on most of the serpent astronomical rituals involving this particular beach. It was particularly upsetting to not be able to go there for the solstice just over a week ago.
It really is a most powerful place for recharging the batteries and putting one's place in the world in proper perspective.
Then got to sleep in the tent over at Petunia's place. It was lovely, cool and breezy. Got up at 5 the morning to be greeted by the itsiest bitsiest curliest crescent moon.
But went back for another snooze even though sunrise was hardly more than 20 minutes away. Izzie is a nostalgic creature preferring to say goodbye to the last sunset of the old year and to bury it properly rather than to send out the welcome party for the first sunrise of the new year
After the next few days of 40s if the forecasters get it right, will be well and truly tired of the nasty big yellow beast in the sky before the first week of the new year has bit the dust
Due to being at work today meaning that there would be no opportunity for a long snooze to start the year, decided to tweek the usual New Year's eve routine.
Normally like to get up reasonably early, water the weeds and catch the bus to Fremantle to visit Dymocks bookstore for the annual 20% off everything sale followed by a visit to the old lunatic asylum then off to Cottesloe for coffee crawls and sunset by the beach
So instead of being out and about around 8 or 9am, did not leave the Lair until midday and first paid a visit to Petunia in order to leave over work clothes and some bottles for the midnight feast
Ended up staying 90 minutes or so rather than the 30 originally planned. Hit the road just after 2pm and the grand plan was a quick peek in that bookstore before heading off to the Cottesloe cafes for the last squiggles of the year at 3.30pm
But in spite of the offering in store being sadly lacking and outrageously expensive, still managed to waste the best part of one hour in there before finally catching the bus.
The Oz zloty is now above parity with the US greenback but that still does not stop the local bookstores charging twice the marked US price.
The Fremantle store usually has a wide selection of strange new age stuff and tarot decks. But not yesterday. The fugly plain vanilla Rider Waite decks were a ridiculous $33 for the basic version with no books or accessories of any kind and the bright shiny Tarot of Vampyres was a disgraceful $$49.95. Even with the 20% discount it would still be cheaper to buy one single solitary kit from Amazon (postage included) and nothing else and have a reasonable amount of change left over. For the full $50 you could get two of them from Amazon
And as most folks do not order one single item but a bunch of things to reduce postage costs per item, it's little wonder that the Oz book stores are doing so badly.
Even with the 10% GST, there's no excuse at all for such outrageous prices
In the end, did not get to the cafe strip until 5pm and everything was closing. Most annoying indeed but no one to blame but a slow sluggish serpent who spent too much time farting around in book stores looking for nonexistent bargains
So went straight for the beach. It was hot but not horrid and there was a cooling sea breeze. It was wonderful walking along the shore watching the waves and seeing the sun slowly moving towards the horizon
Sunset was seriously strange. There was not a single visible cloud about but there was a very strange almost invisible mist on the horizon. The sun became orange, then reddish pink and the bit directly over the horizon just faded into oblivion leaving the top section still glowing brightly
Then it too became all fuzzy and disappeared. Very different to the usual large yellow glowing ball of light that sinks slowly with the top of the circle being the last part to disappear
Picked up a little stone lying on the beach to squiggle some spirals and the number 2010 three times and watched as the waves came in and then eventually one would be large enough to wash away all the foot prints and serpent squiggles
In keeping with the planned theme for the new year, did not put this special stone in a pocket for posterity but tossed it back into the water.
While then emptying a shopping bag of the sand that had blown into it, a copy of a local magazine - Nova fell out and the wind picked it up and blew it further up the sand. Was not fast enough to catch it and watched it flying in the breeze. Felt bad for being a litter bug but it is paper and will eventually decay into something useful
There really is something enchanting and hypnotic about watching the waves especially just around sunset. Spent so long down on the sand that there was no time left for a picnic so the bottle remained unopened and the bag of nibblies uneaten.
Another lesson learned - no need for a bottle and a pile of stuff for a picnic. The most important thing is the sun, the wind, the waves and the sand and the ability to remain in the present moment.
Apparently the latest end of year ritual in New York is to write down all the things you want out of your life for the following year and put the paper in some huge shredder. Such a cute idea but it is most likely nowhere near as magical as squiggling them in the sand and watching the waves reduced them to meaningless bumps in the wet sand
Due to weather and other circumstances, missed out on most of the serpent astronomical rituals involving this particular beach. It was particularly upsetting to not be able to go there for the solstice just over a week ago.
It really is a most powerful place for recharging the batteries and putting one's place in the world in proper perspective.
Then got to sleep in the tent over at Petunia's place. It was lovely, cool and breezy. Got up at 5 the morning to be greeted by the itsiest bitsiest curliest crescent moon.
But went back for another snooze even though sunrise was hardly more than 20 minutes away. Izzie is a nostalgic creature preferring to say goodbye to the last sunset of the old year and to bury it properly rather than to send out the welcome party for the first sunrise of the new year
After the next few days of 40s if the forecasters get it right, will be well and truly tired of the nasty big yellow beast in the sky before the first week of the new year has bit the dust
