Twisted

Two weeks of the serpent holidays gone and it's been an unmitigated stuff up and waste of precious long service leave.

Spent the first week being brain dead and totally neurotic as well as extremely tired a lot of the time. There's probably a connection there somewhere
Tuesday was looking up. The hot humid sticky weather had cleared and it was a fresh, bright and breezy day. Got up feeling all happy and cheerful, looking forward to the day and not the least bit neurotic or miserable
But it did not take long for a return to the scheduled programming. Started with the bus ride from hell. The new buses are like bucking broncos at a rodeo - especially at traffic lights or basically at any time the driver uses the breaks. Used to think that it was because all the drivers were grumpy jerks but soon noticed that an unusually high percentage of these gas buses were truly awful but not the old ones
The long and the short of it was getting to our destination feeling like the old grey cells had been used as a punching bag or that the bus was on a gravity defying mission from NASA

Should have stuck to the original plan of using the two hours on the ticket to go straight to the university to spend the whole afternoon there before going to a public lecture at 6pm. It's a gorgeous place and with lovely lush gardens and cafes nearby. But that was too reasonable and logical. The idiotic inner beast decided instead to stay in the city, go to a cafe there and get some Happy Hour sushi before catching the bus shortly after 5pm.
After nearly 30 mins on another gas bus stuck in a traffic jam, was well and truly neurotic and agitated when finally making it to the lecture theatre 5 mins before the start of the talk

Wednesday was a much better day. Was feeling quite content and creative and spent a good two hours in a gorgeous quirky cafe with a beautiful garden, coffee and cake for $5, loos and lots of newspapers and magazines. And even free wireless internet. And bestest of all, there must be some magical child repellent force field around the place. There's never any squealing kids there at all, well at least not when Izzie goes lurking there

Friday was another visit to Sculpture by the Sea at the beach. Was back to the crazy old cranky self. Was planning our return visit today for the equinox sunset.
Yesss. The gods laugh when serpents make plans
But the big highlight of the holidays was to be yesterday's annual medieval festival in the city which has not been held for various reasons since 2007
Was thinking that it would be so so nice for a change to be able to spend most of the day there and even dress up for the occasion instead of having to rush off around 1pm in order to catch the bus to work


The grand plan was to stay there until 3pm and then get the train to Subiaco - an old suburb with weekend markets and lots of coffee shops and not too far out of town.
Slinked around in some very pretty gardens on the way down to the medieval fair. Went for a drink at one of the water fountains. Tripped on the corner where the grass meets the paved slabs surrounding the fountain and the next thing the clumsy serpent is on the ground with a sprained ankle
Hobbled down to the festival anyway and ended up spending most of the day having to sit on park benches and watching most of the duelling and sword fights from a distance. Lucky that we had a juicy copy of creepy Lovecraft tales on hand and figured that starting the one partly set in Western Australia might be an appropriate one.
The old foot was not really hurting while sitting down but was a right royal pain when trying to walk.
Did manage to get a peek at some of the chain mail, swords and spinning. Some clever creatures were using a stick with a CD on the end saying that it is just the perfect weight and size. The more conventional old wooden spindles were there too
There were lots of jesters, mad monks, The Grim Reaper and other assorted crazy people. It was almost like a tarot deck come to life.
Did find the stall from 3 years ago with very beautiful journals made with embossed leather and handmade paper. Most have Celtic Crosses, spirals and old interlaced Moroccan style patterns on the cover. With the criss cross stitching on the spine, they look they would make a perfect Dark Grimoire.
And then across from their stall was the very tempting Halycon mob with their exquisite silk and embossed papers, beads and broaches. The beads were the big thing on the day because a lot of these medievalists make their own costumes.
So all this beautiful paper and ribbons, it's time to finally get started on some book binding and decorating. And some seriously twisted scrap booking

In the end, came across the St John Ambulance first aid station and they put an ice pack on it and wrapped it in a bandage.
After a coffee, then hobbled off to get the bus to Petunia's place. Was half expecting countless lectures on how this wouldn't have happened if you weren't so big, fat and clumsy etc etc
She did mention the F word once but did not harp on and on and on about it

Funny. Got to thinking - it was pretty annoying being stuck most of the day sitting on a park bench watching the world go by and having to forget about today's plans of visiting the beach for the sunset. Turned out all cloudy in the end
But actually enjoyed yesterday more than last Saturday when the legs were perfectly functional but the old grey cells were all haywire.
That's one thing you can say about physical pain - it forces your mind to remain more in the present instead of constantly running off all over the place awfulizing

It's just such a bummer that it happens in the middle of our holidays. Will be back at work on Saturday so will most likely be better by then
Izzie's got 20 zillion unused sickies but ends up twisting her ankle in the middle of some very precious long service leave
Maybe it's a message from the gods to stop being such a bag lady and carrying around too many things. Was beginning to suspect that maybe all the things in the back pack plus all those excess kilos of blubber is what's really making the Izzie all tired and cranky
Time to be like the pink and fluffy bimbos and carry nothing that cannot fit in a black handbag

So that's the gossip from Grannie Izzie. Now it's time to hobble down the stairs to watch V and to hope that tonight's episode is the one where Diana the Leader indulges in some tasty rat snacks
Still thinks the 80s version was much spookier and scarier.
The evil tentacles of H P Lovecraft seem to be everywhere lately

Twisted

Two weeks of the serpent holidays gone and it's been an unmitigated stuff up and waste of precious long service leave.

Spent the first week being brain dead and totally neurotic as well as extremely tired a lot of the time. There's probably a connection there somewhere
Tuesday was looking up. The hot humid sticky weather had cleared and it was a fresh, bright and breezy day. Got up feeling all happy and cheerful, looking forward to the day and not the least bit neurotic or miserable
But it did not take long for a return to the scheduled programming. Started with the bus ride from hell. The new buses are like bucking broncos at a rodeo - especially at traffic lights or basically at any time the driver uses the breaks. Used to think that it was because all the drivers were grumpy jerks but soon noticed that an unusually high percentage of these gas buses were truly awful but not the old ones
The long and the short of it was getting to our destination feeling like the old grey cells had been used as a punching bag or that the bus was on a gravity defying mission from NASA

Should have stuck to the original plan of using the two hours on the ticket to go straight to the university to spend the whole afternoon there before going to a public lecture at 6pm. It's a gorgeous place and with lovely lush gardens and cafes nearby. But that was too reasonable and logical. The idiotic inner beast decided instead to stay in the city, go to a cafe there and get some Happy Hour sushi before catching the bus shortly after 5pm.
After nearly 30 mins on another gas bus stuck in a traffic jam, was well and truly neurotic and agitated when finally making it to the lecture theatre 5 mins before the start of the talk

Wednesday was a much better day. Was feeling quite content and creative and spent a good two hours in a gorgeous quirky cafe with a beautiful garden, coffee and cake for $5, loos and lots of newspapers and magazines. And even free wireless internet. And bestest of all, there must be some magical child repellent force field around the place. There's never any squealing kids there at all, well at least not when Izzie goes lurking there

Friday was another visit to Sculpture by the Sea at the beach. Was back to the crazy old cranky self. Was planning our return visit today for the equinox sunset.
Yesss. The gods laugh when serpents make plans
But the big highlight of the holidays was to be yesterday's annual medieval festival in the city which has not been held for various reasons since 2007
Was thinking that it would be so so nice for a change to be able to spend most of the day there and even dress up for the occasion instead of having to rush off around 1pm in order to catch the bus to work


The grand plan was to stay there until 3pm and then get the train to Subiaco - an old suburb with weekend markets and lots of coffee shops and not too far out of town.
Slinked around in some very pretty gardens on the way down to the medieval fair. Went for a drink at one of the water fountains. Tripped on the corner where the grass meets the paved slabs surrounding the fountain and the next thing the clumsy serpent is on the ground with a sprained ankle
Hobbled down to the festival anyway and ended up spending most of the day having to sit on park benches and watching most of the duelling and sword fights from a distance. Lucky that we had a juicy copy of creepy Lovecraft tales on hand and figured that starting the one partly set in Western Australia might be an appropriate one.
The old foot was not really hurting while sitting down but was a right royal pain when trying to walk.
Did manage to get a peek at some of the chain mail, swords and spinning. Some clever creatures were using a stick with a CD on the end saying that it is just the perfect weight and size. The more conventional old wooden spindles were there too
There were lots of jesters, mad monks, The Grim Reaper and other assorted crazy people. It was almost like a tarot deck come to life.
Did find the stall from 3 years ago with very beautiful journals made with embossed leather and handmade paper. Most have Celtic Crosses, spirals and old interlaced Moroccan style patterns on the cover. With the criss cross stitching on the spine, they look they would make a perfect Dark Grimoire.
And then across from their stall was the very tempting Halycon mob with their exquisite silk and embossed papers, beads and broaches. The beads were the big thing on the day because a lot of these medievalists make their own costumes.
So all this beautiful paper and ribbons, it's time to finally get started on some book binding and decorating. And some seriously twisted scrap booking

In the end, came across the St John Ambulance first aid station and they put an ice pack on it and wrapped it in a bandage.
After a coffee, then hobbled off to get the bus to Petunia's place. Was half expecting countless lectures on how this wouldn't have happened if you weren't so big, fat and clumsy etc etc
She did mention the F word once but did not harp on and on and on about it

Funny. Got to thinking - it was pretty annoying being stuck most of the day sitting on a park bench watching the world go by and having to forget about today's plans of visiting the beach for the sunset. Turned out all cloudy in the end
But actually enjoyed yesterday more than last Saturday when the legs were perfectly functional but the old grey cells were all haywire.
That's one thing you can say about physical pain - it forces your mind to remain more in the present instead of constantly running off all over the place awfulizing

It's just such a bummer that it happens in the middle of our holidays. Will be back at work on Saturday so will most likely be better by then
Izzie's got 20 zillion unused sickies but ends up twisting her ankle in the middle of some very precious long service leave
Maybe it's a message from the gods to stop being such a bag lady and carrying around too many things. Was beginning to suspect that maybe all the things in the back pack plus all those excess kilos of blubber is what's really making the Izzie all tired and cranky
Time to be like the pink and fluffy bimbos and carry nothing that cannot fit in a black handbag

So that's the gossip from Grannie Izzie. Now it's time to hobble down the stairs to watch V and to hope that tonight's episode is the one where Diana the Leader indulges in some tasty rat snacks
Still thinks the 80s version was much spookier and scarier.
The evil tentacles of H P Lovecraft seem to be everywhere lately