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izmeinaIt is time to return to normality as far as that is possible when the mercury is around 37 celsius just about every day.
Monday included a quick visit to the usual coffee strip after work and returning to the Lair on the two hour bus ticket before an afternoon snooze in the Lair. When it cooled down sufficiently, slinked out in the garden to catch up on watering and to add more pruned branches of the most miserable and shrivelled macadamia tree to the bin. Petunia can turn her tree prunings into mulch but the serpent does not possess such a useful gadget so into the bin they go.
It is still too hot to plant the big kilo packet of sunflower seeds or the assorted packets of basil, sage, oregano and other herbs.
Petunia’s sweet potato plant is the only thing thriving these days.
Today was supposed to be somewhat more adventurous. Had left the broomstick at work so would be taking that back to the Lair which had the added advantage of being able to snooze without clock watching as the grand plan was to go into the city around 4pm to visit the state library, the steampunk festival gardens and to watch the dismantling of the decadent Spiegeltent near the gorgeous urban urchard. Their macadamia, olive and fruit trees are big, fat juicy and very healthy looking. It is embarrassing and painful to even contrast and compare
But the main purpose of the visit was to stock up on Rawsons Retreat at the Woolworths bottle shop. Today was the last day of their $5.55 single bottle specials and even cheaper if you got six
From the very start of the day, it was one bad omen after another. Firstly the lanyard with the collection of house keys broke at 6 in the morning. It was lucky they fell on the ground outside where we could see them. They could have got lost anywhere on the way to work and would then be locked out of the Lair.
Then we were short staffed and there was the stupid monthly staff meeting. Izzie had an agenda of her own especially prepared and once again in spite of everyone being completely pissed off with the goblins, hardly anyone bothers to speak up but just sits there listening to lies and insults piled on top of each other.
But that is a story for another day. It was struggling with the black bike helmet and getting back to the lair only to realize the blue bag was missing. This bag contained amongst other things the bike chain and lock, the filthy green striped rag that is the house elf mark of enslavement, two pay queries brought along to the meeting as part of our agenda and a magazine with the schedule of the upcoming writers’ festival. Most likely left it near the gate where the broomstick had been parked. Will need to check tomorrow.
So scrubbed the scales and finally hit the snooze button. The theory was to wake all bright and refreshed around 3.30 or so and be on the 4.15 bus to the city. The reality was that waking up at 4pm felt even more tired and more miserable then before hitting the hay.
Another 60 winks till 5pm proved to be no more useful. By this stage Woolworths was no longer on the agenda. Could not justify spending over four silver sickles on bus fares as doing the two hour return on one ticket would be just too rushed, just the thing a psycho serpent does not need
So it was off to the local shops instead. It was the last day to buy some very decadent shower gels at half price. They come all the way from England but they are much better than most of the Chinese muck on the market these days.
Coles had their pesto on special as it was near its use by date. This stuff is seriously addictive and much better quality than most of the branded varieties which are a bit too generous with vinegar and cheap and nasty varieties of olive oil
The place is completely infested with Easter bunnies, chocolate eggs and hot cross buns. They usually start stocking the hot cross buns during the first week in January.
Since Izzie is such a slacker and still has not got around to making a second batch of ginger beer after the first lot broke its bottle, went and got some Buderim ginger syrup and soda water for a quick fix. Nearly died of shock the other week in the bottle shop after looking at the new range of boozy ginger beers most of which were imported and none of which were less than six silver sickles for a 500ml bottle. The stuff is as cheap as chips to make so some is making big fat boozy profits.
At this stage accumulated four or five plastic soda water bottles as well as dark brown cane sugar, ginger powder and some packets of yeast. Will not experiment with the fresh stuff until we master the art of slavishly following the original recipe. But still cannot seem to get motivated to stir up a starter.
Noticed that Coles was doing a clearance on the big bottles of vanilla flavoured Coca Cola. The original is vile enough without adding even more fake rubbish. When ordering lemon drinks at the festival bar, had to make sure they had none of those foul diet versions. Sugar is bad enough but aspartame is even worse.
Buying yogurt is even more of a nightmare. There is such a cultural assumption that sweet is good and fat is bad. Even many of the Greek yoghurts have sweet sickly flavours like vanilla and honey. One can be sure that it’s never real beans which are far too expensive and most folks think the black dots are fly droppings instead of possible proof of authenticity
Anything yogurt like with so much as a teaspoon of sugar and less than 5% fat the Izzie will not even look at. Jalna and Mundella are the best of the mainstream stuff.
There’s a better chance of getting real vanilla icecream in Aldi than in any Coles or Woolies here in Oz. Even their cheap and cheerful icecream on sticks had little black specks of real vanilla in them.
Will stay away from the shops tomorrow except to get a bottle of bubbles or two. Here’s hoping that the local university’s orientation day is on with all the freebies and stuff. Will also take the chance on checking out their art gallery to see the new collection of bugs and creepy crawly spidery things as part of the arts festival
Monday included a quick visit to the usual coffee strip after work and returning to the Lair on the two hour bus ticket before an afternoon snooze in the Lair. When it cooled down sufficiently, slinked out in the garden to catch up on watering and to add more pruned branches of the most miserable and shrivelled macadamia tree to the bin. Petunia can turn her tree prunings into mulch but the serpent does not possess such a useful gadget so into the bin they go.
It is still too hot to plant the big kilo packet of sunflower seeds or the assorted packets of basil, sage, oregano and other herbs.
Petunia’s sweet potato plant is the only thing thriving these days.
Today was supposed to be somewhat more adventurous. Had left the broomstick at work so would be taking that back to the Lair which had the added advantage of being able to snooze without clock watching as the grand plan was to go into the city around 4pm to visit the state library, the steampunk festival gardens and to watch the dismantling of the decadent Spiegeltent near the gorgeous urban urchard. Their macadamia, olive and fruit trees are big, fat juicy and very healthy looking. It is embarrassing and painful to even contrast and compare
But the main purpose of the visit was to stock up on Rawsons Retreat at the Woolworths bottle shop. Today was the last day of their $5.55 single bottle specials and even cheaper if you got six
From the very start of the day, it was one bad omen after another. Firstly the lanyard with the collection of house keys broke at 6 in the morning. It was lucky they fell on the ground outside where we could see them. They could have got lost anywhere on the way to work and would then be locked out of the Lair.
Then we were short staffed and there was the stupid monthly staff meeting. Izzie had an agenda of her own especially prepared and once again in spite of everyone being completely pissed off with the goblins, hardly anyone bothers to speak up but just sits there listening to lies and insults piled on top of each other.
But that is a story for another day. It was struggling with the black bike helmet and getting back to the lair only to realize the blue bag was missing. This bag contained amongst other things the bike chain and lock, the filthy green striped rag that is the house elf mark of enslavement, two pay queries brought along to the meeting as part of our agenda and a magazine with the schedule of the upcoming writers’ festival. Most likely left it near the gate where the broomstick had been parked. Will need to check tomorrow.
So scrubbed the scales and finally hit the snooze button. The theory was to wake all bright and refreshed around 3.30 or so and be on the 4.15 bus to the city. The reality was that waking up at 4pm felt even more tired and more miserable then before hitting the hay.
Another 60 winks till 5pm proved to be no more useful. By this stage Woolworths was no longer on the agenda. Could not justify spending over four silver sickles on bus fares as doing the two hour return on one ticket would be just too rushed, just the thing a psycho serpent does not need
So it was off to the local shops instead. It was the last day to buy some very decadent shower gels at half price. They come all the way from England but they are much better than most of the Chinese muck on the market these days.
Coles had their pesto on special as it was near its use by date. This stuff is seriously addictive and much better quality than most of the branded varieties which are a bit too generous with vinegar and cheap and nasty varieties of olive oil
The place is completely infested with Easter bunnies, chocolate eggs and hot cross buns. They usually start stocking the hot cross buns during the first week in January.
Since Izzie is such a slacker and still has not got around to making a second batch of ginger beer after the first lot broke its bottle, went and got some Buderim ginger syrup and soda water for a quick fix. Nearly died of shock the other week in the bottle shop after looking at the new range of boozy ginger beers most of which were imported and none of which were less than six silver sickles for a 500ml bottle. The stuff is as cheap as chips to make so some is making big fat boozy profits.
At this stage accumulated four or five plastic soda water bottles as well as dark brown cane sugar, ginger powder and some packets of yeast. Will not experiment with the fresh stuff until we master the art of slavishly following the original recipe. But still cannot seem to get motivated to stir up a starter.
Noticed that Coles was doing a clearance on the big bottles of vanilla flavoured Coca Cola. The original is vile enough without adding even more fake rubbish. When ordering lemon drinks at the festival bar, had to make sure they had none of those foul diet versions. Sugar is bad enough but aspartame is even worse.
Buying yogurt is even more of a nightmare. There is such a cultural assumption that sweet is good and fat is bad. Even many of the Greek yoghurts have sweet sickly flavours like vanilla and honey. One can be sure that it’s never real beans which are far too expensive and most folks think the black dots are fly droppings instead of possible proof of authenticity
Anything yogurt like with so much as a teaspoon of sugar and less than 5% fat the Izzie will not even look at. Jalna and Mundella are the best of the mainstream stuff.
There’s a better chance of getting real vanilla icecream in Aldi than in any Coles or Woolies here in Oz. Even their cheap and cheerful icecream on sticks had little black specks of real vanilla in them.
Will stay away from the shops tomorrow except to get a bottle of bubbles or two. Here’s hoping that the local university’s orientation day is on with all the freebies and stuff. Will also take the chance on checking out their art gallery to see the new collection of bugs and creepy crawly spidery things as part of the arts festival
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no subject
Date: 2012-02-22 08:09 am (UTC)Sometimes sleeping just makes me feel worse, too :( Then I'm tired AND cranky and it takes me ages to get over it.
I've got all the stuff to make ginger beer as well and need to a kick to get started! I keep telling myself, once the weather cools down, but that's probably just an excuse. I should really get onto it.
Have fun at the uni! They usually have some good cheap food (often veggie, too!) on offer.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-22 02:04 pm (UTC)Most of the munchies on offer at the uni were disgusting sickly sweet 'energy drinks', packets of chips, instant noodles or 'Roadies' snack thingies which they seemed to be almost throwing at people
But George's Kebabs is as reliable as ever and amazingly there were no queues. Silly Izzie really must visit Curtin more often as it is only a 15 minute walk away.
So many seeds and so long to wait to plant them out. It looks like the macadamia tree is definitely on Death Row. Will not give it the chop though until this time next year. Should be pretty obvious by then if it is going to survive or if it has gone to the big bad nut house in the sky
PS Izzie is so so enjoying Mr Sheen's hissy fits. He really does have an overinflated ego.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-23 08:48 am (UTC)How disappointing - we used to have some seriously good traditional student fare at these kinds of things - lots of felafel and general hippie food (as well as your standard sausage and buns etc).
I'm sorry to hear about your macadamia tree... perhaps a year of respite from pruning and some TLC might bring it back from the brink?
I've not heard of him described as Mr Sheen, but it's PERFECT!! Haha.