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izmeinaWhat a year of doom and gloom. The serpent has a rather more boring and mundane existence but some inner creature still manages to make mountains out of itsy bitsy mole hills
It's strange how different things look without constant television news stories or online feeds about stuff going on in the world.
In fact the rather lazy serpent has gone almost into hibernation staying away from newspapers, books, Cyberia and pretty much everything but work and the serpent sack
There's still the thin line of Radio National - the last link with civilization and the outside world. Been lots of stuff from the recent Writer's Festival. Was unable to attend due to the recent ridiculous dramas at work.
The old days of accumulating one hour off per twenty worked in addition to normal holidays are long gone. We did get the trade off in extra money but were not given a choice. Most folks wanted to keep the extra days off but the goblins couldn't be bothered. Keeping the staff happy is just not even on their radar
Those days were perfect for such occasions and the old management were very efficient not just in approving requests for time off but actually letting you know within a week or two of a request
Nowadays you put in an application for holidays five months in advance and you have to keep pestering them to find out if the time off has been approved.
Needless to say, some of the folks at the book binding classes are also into reading them too and were regaling the serpent with stories of just how wonderful the festival was.
There was tons of stuff about crime writers and creating convincing villains but she had been to none of those
Last week went on the prowl for materials for the last two weeks of the book class. The Leather Shop was high on the list of must visit places for interesting stuff.
Had already got a piece large enough for an A5 sized book but needed some leather string to go with it.
Should have taken it as a bad omen that the place happened to be shut for a funeral. So next stop was Jacksons art supplies for some straw board. Was shocked at how expensive the stuff was. Cardboard on steroids. Not just the price but the size. The pieces were larger than A1 and most definitely not bus friendly
Made do with some small pieces of A3 mounting board instead. Not quite as heavy duty but it would have to do.
Then had the inspiration of going to the state library and their discard bookshop. There one could get second hand hard back books for 50 cents or so. A very cheap way of getting raw materials which were obviously suitable and already in a convenient precut size
It's strange looking at a book as an object rather than a container for words and information. Just to make sure that they would be used for the intended purpose - got one in Dutch and another in Hungarian so there would be no temptation to read it and no guilt and slicing and dicing the covers from the page
But could not buy just one or two. Ended up also with a book on fairy tales and another fascinating book about art history.
Pottered past the train station's Angus and Robertson bookstore. They are now in liquidation and this is one of the two stores that will be closed. Everything was 50% off and the inner vulture just had to look. It was pretty useless. At prices like $$54 for the hard back versions of the last two Potter books and $$30 something for any random crappy paperback, it is hardly any wonder that they went down the gurgler. With the Oz zloty at parity with the US greenback, only the very dedicated or lazy would bother with the boring mainstream Oz book stores with their outrageous prices and uninspiring stocks
Interestingly though that the little independent stores are still doing quite well - the ones that have unusual books and actually stock the stuff that customers request. Most of them seem to specialize in science fiction or romance novels and one with the intriguing title of "Love and Hate" does romance and crime/ detective/murder stories
Today went stalking for more pretty papers and stuff after an unsuccessful venture on Friday. One last chance to work on a bunch of half finished projects to be completed on Thursday morning
Was supposed to be folding up stacks of paper and sewing them together this afternoon at one very nice local cafe but managed once again to stuff up the grand plans
Maybe more luck tomorrow. Will see what the day job at the mad house does to sap the serpent soul before deciding on any grand plans for the afternoon
But until then, it's time to potter off to catch the "Midnight Meat Train" ;)
It's strange how different things look without constant television news stories or online feeds about stuff going on in the world.
In fact the rather lazy serpent has gone almost into hibernation staying away from newspapers, books, Cyberia and pretty much everything but work and the serpent sack
There's still the thin line of Radio National - the last link with civilization and the outside world. Been lots of stuff from the recent Writer's Festival. Was unable to attend due to the recent ridiculous dramas at work.
The old days of accumulating one hour off per twenty worked in addition to normal holidays are long gone. We did get the trade off in extra money but were not given a choice. Most folks wanted to keep the extra days off but the goblins couldn't be bothered. Keeping the staff happy is just not even on their radar
Those days were perfect for such occasions and the old management were very efficient not just in approving requests for time off but actually letting you know within a week or two of a request
Nowadays you put in an application for holidays five months in advance and you have to keep pestering them to find out if the time off has been approved.
Needless to say, some of the folks at the book binding classes are also into reading them too and were regaling the serpent with stories of just how wonderful the festival was.
There was tons of stuff about crime writers and creating convincing villains but she had been to none of those
Last week went on the prowl for materials for the last two weeks of the book class. The Leather Shop was high on the list of must visit places for interesting stuff.
Had already got a piece large enough for an A5 sized book but needed some leather string to go with it.
Should have taken it as a bad omen that the place happened to be shut for a funeral. So next stop was Jacksons art supplies for some straw board. Was shocked at how expensive the stuff was. Cardboard on steroids. Not just the price but the size. The pieces were larger than A1 and most definitely not bus friendly
Made do with some small pieces of A3 mounting board instead. Not quite as heavy duty but it would have to do.
Then had the inspiration of going to the state library and their discard bookshop. There one could get second hand hard back books for 50 cents or so. A very cheap way of getting raw materials which were obviously suitable and already in a convenient precut size
It's strange looking at a book as an object rather than a container for words and information. Just to make sure that they would be used for the intended purpose - got one in Dutch and another in Hungarian so there would be no temptation to read it and no guilt and slicing and dicing the covers from the page
But could not buy just one or two. Ended up also with a book on fairy tales and another fascinating book about art history.
Pottered past the train station's Angus and Robertson bookstore. They are now in liquidation and this is one of the two stores that will be closed. Everything was 50% off and the inner vulture just had to look. It was pretty useless. At prices like $$54 for the hard back versions of the last two Potter books and $$30 something for any random crappy paperback, it is hardly any wonder that they went down the gurgler. With the Oz zloty at parity with the US greenback, only the very dedicated or lazy would bother with the boring mainstream Oz book stores with their outrageous prices and uninspiring stocks
Interestingly though that the little independent stores are still doing quite well - the ones that have unusual books and actually stock the stuff that customers request. Most of them seem to specialize in science fiction or romance novels and one with the intriguing title of "Love and Hate" does romance and crime/ detective/murder stories
Today went stalking for more pretty papers and stuff after an unsuccessful venture on Friday. One last chance to work on a bunch of half finished projects to be completed on Thursday morning
Was supposed to be folding up stacks of paper and sewing them together this afternoon at one very nice local cafe but managed once again to stuff up the grand plans
Maybe more luck tomorrow. Will see what the day job at the mad house does to sap the serpent soul before deciding on any grand plans for the afternoon
But until then, it's time to potter off to catch the "Midnight Meat Train" ;)
