The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

A new year is the perfect excuse to prune the list. Just over half way there by now. Pity that the new version contains rather more than 50 items (67 actually)


Lurking in the Lair 6/12

2.Be self sufficient in herbs and vegetables
(06/08/08 The potatoes are progressing nicely. There's sage, bay leaves and garlic. But no basil and Izzie is a basil junkie)
(09/11/08) Added lots of tomatoes, basil and chilis
(24/11/08) Lettuce sprouting nicely and peanuts too
(02/01/09) All the tomatoes are still green but now there's baby gourds and pumpkins
(08/03/09) Tomatoes been and gone. Now there's basil, sage, oregano, a handful of figs and a lot of grapes
(03/04/09) Just planted cauliflower, broccoli, celery and rhubarb seedlings. Here's hoping the snails don't snatch them before the serpent does
(27/04/09) Added garlic and chives to the collection.
(22/05/09) The kale is coming on nicely and the oranges will be ripe any day now. There's more than enough fruit and herbs to keep a hungry serpent happy and the vegies are not doing too bad either so will consider this one done and dusted
4.Install 2 rainwater tanks for the garden
(the leaflet with prices is sitting next to the phone. All the Izzie needs to do is make that call)
(03/04/09) Finally made that call - delayed due to the usual lack of funds. They will be sending quotes next week
(01/05/09) The plumber came for a peek today and the complete quotes for installation and everything should be in the mail next week. It's then a case of getting the nerve to sign on the dotted line)
(12/05/09) Rang the plumber to place the order and paid 25% deposit. The evil deed is nearly done
(21/05/09) The tank has been delivered and connected and is now online.
The goal did state 2 tanks but it was cheaper and more efficient to get one big one instead so will consider it completed
5.Create a Circle Mandala garden (07/07/07 laid sawdust on some of the paths)
7.Grow 12 varieties of poisonous plants
Wormwood
The wolfsbane seeds are still sitting in the freezer waiting for winter
11.Find a way of getting the essential oils out of oranges and eucalyptus
12.Lure galahs and corellas to lurk around the Lair

Out and about 5/12

14.Visit One Tree Hill (Orcland) at Full Moon
15.Organize itinery for 2010 Grand European Tour
16.Visit Tasmania
20.Go whale watching in Albany
21.Stay overnight at Rotto

Goblin Business 9/12

25.Do the Izzie taxes online (taxes done and big juicy refund cheque arrived but not online so it doesn't count)
Last week (24 October 2008) finally went to the ATO website to download their evil software but met an unexpected obstacle. So unless the idiots at the Evil Empire bring in Mac friendly software between now and October 2009 this one rates as a big FAIL.
26.Finish CV
27.Apply for 12 jobs
28.Start Chartered Accountant registration and study
29.Earn 20% of income from other than work sources
Got our second rent payment 22/02/09. So far so good
30.Pay $40,000 off house
31.Write a will
32.Finish making Snowflake Bear
33.Buy 4 bookcases (7th August 1 bookcase as a present ... 1/4)

Geekish Things 12/12

37.Find and learn five free open source software programs
38.Learn Linux basics
39.Get a new Preciousss ( we don't really need one but we wants one)
40.Back up important files at least once per month (last complete backup 11th June 2008)
(last backup of document files and new music files - 8th August 2008)
(last baby backup 30th December 2008)
(last complete backup 16th January 2009)
(last baby backup 3rd April 2009)
41.Learn to use a graphics tablet
42.Sort out and watch DVD collection
(Got them all in the one place but not watched any of them yet .... 31st August 2007)
43.Sort and put all computer related stuff in one place
44.Find 101 nice things to say about Bill Gates
45.Invent an alphabet
(06/06/08 Chosen which sounds/letters to include. Next step is choosing the order before finally turning to the main game which is inventing the squiggly bits)
46.Translate the numbers from 0-144 in an Izzie invented language
47.Translate the Babel text also
48.Design a font

Bookish Bits 12/12

49.Reread "Gödel, Escher, Bach"
50.Reread "Animal Farm" (started 24/01/09)finished 22/02/09
51.Reread “1984”
52.Read the Potter series again from start to finish
(Philosopher's Stone - 27/11/07 to 07/12/07)
(Chamber of Secrets 08/12/07 to 31/12/07)
(Prisoner of Azkaban 02/01/08 to 06/02/08)
(Goblet of Fire 07/02/0 to 06/06/08)
(Order of the Phoenix 21/06/08 to ......)
53.Read "Lord of the Rings" from start to finish without skipping all the boring bits
54.Read “This Perfect Day”
55.See all the Matrix movies
56.Read 12 science fiction/fantasy novels (1 March 2009........3/12)
1- Dante's Equation - Jane Jensen ... finished 7 June 2007
2 The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho 22/02/09
3 Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury 01/03/09
57.Read “M C Escher – Visions of Symmetry”
58.Finish reading “Against the Gods”
(18/04/09) Finally picked up where we left off many moons ago)
59.Learn to make handmade paper
60.Make at least one handbound book from scratch – paper and all

Sybil Says 7/12


62.Recognize 12 or more (Zodiac) Constellations
(1 Scorpio 28 May 2007 ..... 1/12)
(2 Saggitarius 27 May 2008 ...... 2/12)
(3 Libra 6th June 2008 ..... 3/12)
(4 Virgo 2nd July 2008 ...... 4/12)
(5 Capricorn 6th August 2008 5/12)
(6 Aries 31st October 2008 6/12)
(7 Taurus 31st October 2008 7/12)
(8 Cancer 1st November 2008 8/12)
(9 Gemini 27th January 2009 9/12)
(10 Leo 3rd March 2009 10/12)
65.Design a tarot deck
(The Queen of Cats has sent Izzie the most seriously snaky sourcebook of ideas ever 29/05/08)
(Got several blank card decks each with 100 cards 06/12/08)
(General ideas for each suit and rough drefts for the first and last of the 22 Major Arcana 22/01/09)
66.Learn the properties of the SEP field
67.Learn to use it and other protective shields
(Desperately seeking such useful devices since the latest dementors' visit this week 16-20 March 2009. Found some good stuff and it is now a case of learning and using it)
68.Do the 13 steps in Leslie Kenton's “Journey to Freedom”
69.Do 3 random acts of kindness each day for 101 days straight
71.Reread the Izzie green spiral notebooks from 2002
(02/01/08 Started with January 2002)

Serpent Snacks 7/12

75.Bake sourdough bread at least once (10-12 March 2009)
76.Find and make 10 recipes with chickpeas
(2nd August 2007 Chickpea curry 1/10)
(12th February 2008 another improvised curry 2/10)
(17th July 2008 Chickpea and Tomato stew 3/10)
(8th September 2008 Hummous and felafel 5/10)
(6th March 2009 Moroccan spiced chickpeas 6/10)
(27th April 2009 Cabbage and red chickpea stew 7/10)
77.Learn how to cook at least 10 Juicy Beetroot Cafe dishes
(21st January 2009 split pea dhal 1/10)
(3rd February 2009 pasta salad 2/10)
(15th May 2009 cauliflower cheese 3/10)
80.Make dark chocolate moon truffles
82.Make garlic soup
83.Make DIY Dukkah and Zaatar
84.Make Mango and Chai Lassi (the basic beginners version but it still counts 27/01/09)

Odds and ends 5/12

85.Adopt a Buchling (or even better - Become One)
(Buchlings are utterly adorable one eyed creatures obsessed with books who dedicate themselves to one writer and learn all their works word for word. We thinks that Anthony De Mello or Douglas Hofstadter are the most likely candidates for adoption)
89.Master the Dark Art of Feng Shui Sabotage
(Been reading some very interesting books about Feng Shui itself. Some silly and some sensible. But the motive for this goal no longer exists as the bitch who inspired it is no longer boss at our day job)
90.Make a Hexen- Ecke in our Garden of Arcane Delights Finished this one sort of by accident. The mullein, mugwort wormwood and tansy are going crazy and are apparently essential ingredients in any self respecting evil witch's garden 01/05/09)
91.Make a frog pond
93.Design a quilt (bought a gorgeous quilt book from a second hand book sale 13/10/07)


The Final Five 4/5

97.Begin a business from home (06/07/07 obtained a home business guide book from small business centre)
98.Sort out our munchies hoarding problem
(January 2008 20 days of not buying munchies)
(February 2008 13 No munchies days)
(March 2008 19 No munchies days)
(April 2008 15 No munchies days)
(May 2008 20 No munchies days)
(June 2008 18 No munchies days)
Got the rest of them listed until the end of December but will post the numbers some other time

100.Find five things to be thankful for each day
101.Finish everything on this list
Not finished but replacing with something more realistic, specific, measurable and useful
100 Keep credit card balance under $$600
(In the black since 15th August)
(No longer in the black but still well under $$600 03/11/08)
(Finally back in the black and intending to stay that way 17/12/08)
(Still back in the black. So far so good 21/03/09)
(The goblins are still in their box. It's becoming a habit 01/05/09)
101 Do one Livemocha lesson per week
(most recent lesson 10/06/08)
Guess this last one counts as a complete and total FAIL

Last edit Friday 22nd May 2009

The Big Yellow Beast is turning up the volume. Looks like yesterday is the official start of the summer sizzle. Yesterday it got to 37 something celsius but the afternoon sea breezes came in and cooled everything so beautifully
Today is different. 38 was predicted and it got to 39. Right now it's about 30 minutes to sunset and it's still 35 outside

Tomorrow they are saying 37 and New Year's Day 39. Izzie's special Serpent Day on Friday drops down to 35 but it's going to be humid. A dry 39 is infinitely preferable to an icky sticky 35

A bit miffed about Friday but it was hotter last time and lots lots earlier. Christmas was a total stinker. This year in contrast was absolutely gorgeous. The most beautiful Christmas weather since 2001
And this time at least, the Izzie's Enron hedge fund mitigates some of the misery. Just short of 6 kilowatts for the day and only 20 short of the big one megawatt for the year. Will have reached the megawatt milestone some time on Saturday

But it's the runs of sizzlers that's the true test of the serpent's green gardening thumbs
It's still too hot to go outside to do some serious watering. But the drip lines are preventing the really bad casualties

Strangely, the pumpkins love the stuff. It's the local Oz banksias that are doing badly. The proteas are not too impressed either. Just goes to prove that if Izzie breaks her 'no perennial plantings after 21st September' policy, then there's a price to pay

So that's the simple explanation why the recently absent serpent is posting so prolifically in Cyberia. it's simply too sizzly to be slinking.

The new moon is on the rise which is supposed to be seed planting time. But Izzie's learned from last year. Will be at the ma's place tomorrow evening and returning to the Lair on Thursday. And in this sort of weather, even such a short absence is as good as a death sentence for sensitive seeds

Will soon be time to potter outside and read all the meters for the year. Could always do it tomorrow morning but if it slips this serpent's mind will be too long a gap until the first evening of the new year

And then there's some long over due backups, juice for the pipsqueak and the new 101 list for 2009 with all the completed things pruned out. With 1 item needed to be completed every 10 days to stay on schedule, there should be around forty left on the list not the sixty plus or so that there actually is. But then again, without the list, there'd be a lot less done even at such an abysmal completion rate

Petunia never misses a chance to enquire about Izzie's new year's resolutions. Needless to say she knows nothing about the list. So instead of promising to lose 10 kilos or something which is what she wants to hear and is also most definitely NOT on the list - Izzie says that the big resolution for the year is to get pregnant! Aside from commenting that it looks like that one is 3/4 complete, it usually puts her back in her box

Well. Time to slink outside to water the weeds and read the water, gas and electricity meters as well as the bright little box of sunshine

Too busy watching business at the Beijing Bird's Nest for a proper post. So it's just the perfect excuse to take a peek at that very large Izzie To Do List

Just been doing the obligatory monthly back up. Nice even numbers.

So just been thinking - there's important stuff and urgent stuff. Not necessarily the same things and then there's also the fun stuff

So the most important items on the list are

2.Be self sufficient in herbs and vegetables
4.Install 2 rainwater tanks for the garden
28.Start Chartered Accountant registration and study
29.Earn 20% of income from other than work sources
30.Pay $40,000 off house
31.Write a will
40.Back up important files at least once per month
60.Make at least one handbound book from scratch – paper and all
65.Design a tarot deck
100 Keep credit card balance under $$600

The most urgent include four of those as well as some others

26.Finish CV
27.Apply for 12 jobs
28.Start Chartered Accountant registration and study
31.Write a will
40.Back up important files at least once per month
98.Sort out our munchies hoarding problem
100 Keep credit card balance under $$600

Such a pity that the combination of most urgent and important things are also among the most boring and the subjects of some serious procrastination

21 Done and 80 left to go.

Figures it's time to post the list of leftovers as motivation to get at least something done during our next two weeks freedom from house elf slavery since the Izzie wasted so much of the first week in pointless pity parties and amorous adventures with dementors

So - here's the rules

101 Things in 1001 Days


"The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part).

Cross them off as you do them, and add the dates. Include the date you started the list and the finishing date.

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as new year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic.
1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities."


( The Izzie 101 List )

Finally - a progress report on the infamous 101 list

Supposed to have been doing this once a month at New Moon time but the inner serpent has been seriously lazy

But 29th February is just the excuse we need to make up for the errors of our ways

So - in progress for February 2008

36.Toss 10 things for 101 days
Some serious decluttering going on

40.Back up important files at least once per month
This one's been on steroids. Due to losing everything not saved since our backup of 02/01/08 before the Great Crash, been seriously vigilant on this one and backed up the whole Izzie user folder once with absolutely everything in it including iTunes, all piccies and documents. Also backed up the more mundane stuff several times too

52.Read the Potter series again from start to finish
Finished reading "Prisoner of Azkaban" on Wednesday 6th February
Started reading "Goblet of Fire" on Thursday 7thh February

65.Design a tarot deck
Working on the general outline so far - what symbols to use for the four suits, general colour scheme etc. Not yet gotten to doing individual cards yet

71.Reread the Izzie green spiral notebooks from 2002
Got to the end of February. And here the nostalgia ends. Or rather yesterday as there was no 29th of February back in 2002. As of tomorrow, the recycled calendar moves from 2002 to 2003
The one day that stands out from that year was Thursday 20th March - the day that GWB and his minions invaded Iraq and within two months declared "Mission Accomplished"

76.Find and make 10 recipes with chickpeas
12th February 2008 another improvised curry 2/10

98.Sort out our munchies hoarding problem
17 days of not buying munchies. Not bad but should be 12 or less like last month

Completed for February 2008

The Big one - several bottles of bubbles worth
3.Install solar panels and connect to grid
Got the panels put up on 14th February and due to a stuff up, did not get connected to the grid until Saturday just gone

8.Reduce water usage to 50% of water bill from 2006
Bill arrived 07/08 usage was 160 kilolitres for 180 days
That's 40% of 06/07 usage and 60% of 05/06 usage so we'll consider this goal achieved

Yessss. It seems to have taken centuries but we are there at last. As of midday today - exactly 10 years and 1 day since first setting serpent eyes on the Lair - the evil green creature is now selling sunshine to Synergy - the local electric co.
Took just over one hour to clock up our first kilowatt.

Yesss. The electrician did turn up - just afer 8 or so. Was perfect timing as he handed over the bits and pieces and the Izzie signed all the bits of paperwork to keep the government goblins happy and all signed sealed and delivered by 1.30pm which meant it wasn't a last minute rush to work
Such a waste of a glorious day going to work. Been such wonderful weather since Monday and been so so enjoying it

Finally got to gobble the bottle of bubbles this evening - toasting to the sun by the light of the almost full moon

Will be most amusing indeed to see the reaction of the Dursleys. Izzie's kept this grand project totally top secret from our muggle associates. Mind you - one of the oldies across the road was particularly chatty on Monday. She was just dying to know what that thing was on the roof - looked too big and flat to be a solar hot water heater
Funny thing is - the critter is not visible from the garden at all - the most you can see is the thin edge of the frame holding the panels. It can only be seen half way down the street and unlike a neighbour's solar water heater stuck up like a sore thumb on the east side of his roof in order to be facing north, left ours facing west. That meant reducing its efficiency but a 12% loss is not too much in comparison to the alternative of unadulterated north facing ugliness.

But while it's quite possible not to notice the panels unless you are looking for them, the strange red and black box underneath the meter is a bit harder to miss
It's a bit embarrassing really. Japanese panels and a German made inverter.
Oz just ignored all that gold just floating around in the sky and the rest of the world grabbed it instead and now sells it back to us

Izzie's keeping those fingers crossed for the time when Oz will copy the clever tricks that those other places used to get the solar ball rolling - namely paying suppliers to the grid 3 to 4 times more than the going rate per kilowatt in order to encourage demand. It certainly worked
Now that green is flavour of the month, it won't be too far down the road.

Now that we've sorted out the sun, next item on the evil green agenda will be those rainwater tanks and some big bags of lupin mulch

Oh and of course to tick off that list - probably the most expensive and complicated thing that was on it

Such a novel concept to do business with a company who turn up when they say they will and charge less than expected.
Right now, there's a man clambering about on the rooftop directly above Izzie. Here's hoping that the ceiling won't fall down while he's at it

Is strange to see some one pottering about up there - two stories high as if it was a bunch of paving slabs on the ground. Just being up there would be enough to scare the Izzie without even dreaming of doing anything.

Just as well we got up extra early at 7am and had time to unlock the gates and give the place a general tidy up. Was just starting on the leaves on the driveway when the installation man turned up at 7.30 with his ladder and one very big box of panels and assorted little bits and pieces

Of particular interest, when he was looking through his bits and pieces of paperwork, seen the invoice and instead of the $4,200 or so we were expecting, the number was a rather lower $2,990. Now that would be the icing on the cake.
Will wait till he hands over the bill before ringing the bank to get the money transferred. So it looks like we can take out the original expected amount and use the difference to put towards that credit card bill

Will most certainly be slinking off somewhere later to get a bottle of bubblie to celebrate our first step on the road to energy independence and evil greenness
Today it's electricity and tomorrow it will be water on the agenda

Oh and a big thanks to cat_irix who is sort of indirectly the inspiration and motivation behind it all
Those solar panels had been on our To do list for a long long time. But then she introduced us to the 101 things in 1001 days project. So suddenly the dream had itself a deadline
And now nearly ten years after living in the Lair but only 9 months on the List, this pie in the sky has finally landed itself on the rooftop

Yesss. Such a snailish procrastinasting serpent. Supposed to have been posting updates at every new moon since starting and this is probably the only post keeping to that schedule

Progress is slow and steady and definitely less than the one item every ten days pace required to finish the list on time
But the Izzie did make rather a demanding list almost with the intention that it is very unlikely to be all completed but to even manage half of it would be to be achieve a lot more than would be the case without it

There are a handful of serious procrastination items such as CV writing and looking for goblin jobs that are still on the very very long finger and other things that cost lots of time or money or even both
But there's one item that's been on the agenda for at least 5 years or so but with no date or deadline, it just remained a dream. But that is until now
Izzie returned to the Lair last Monday to find a bright shining brand new white gadget where the old black bomber electricity meter used to be
This is the second last obstacle in our grand green project to convert the Lair into a power plant. The government rebate of $$8,000 has been pre-approved as well as approval from the local electric co for its renewable energy buyback scheme with a new export meter as proof. The only thing left now is waiting in the queue for installation.

And on the garden front, a most unexpected surprise. Vernon and Petunia were slinking about and sniggering at the Izzie Lair last week but they were doing more than looking. Turns out the ma had brought along her camera and filled it with lots of digital piccies of weeds, walls and assorted oddities including the little patch of banksias. Been peeking at the piccies on her computer today. Only problem is, it is so ancient that the usb ports are stuck way at the back so the Iz will have to resort to bringing over our Preciousss to Privet Drive and downloading the piccies from the camera itself and hoping that they take up a bit less space than the ridiculous 5-6 mb per piccie that they have reached on her own computer

The Izzie sister in Amsterdam is considering hiring some landscape artist to do a backyard blitzkrieg at her place so the ma took these piccies to send to her - probably less as an example and more as a warning - the Izzie's Lair being as unDursleyish as it is possible to be.
But we thinks she's just jealous of those big fat purple artichoke flowers that look like thistles on steroids

Been another glorious sunny day in Izzieland. Not a hissy fit to be found. It so so helps to have gorgeous sunshine and crisp crunchy breezes. Nothing like humidity and stickiness to induce a fit of snarkiness.

Not much planned for the day. Firstly the usual Friday morning public speaking meeting followed by a slink in a nearby park while listening to a very interesting discussion on the topic of common sense.

That was followed by a visit to the city centre and a bit of pottering around before getting the bus home at 1pm
Was looking forward to an afternoon snooze in the garden but it would probably not be possible since we were expecting visitors at 3.30pm. Instead spent the time reading permaculture garden books and looking over the various government application forms and brochures for solar panel rebates.

The original plan was to ring City Farmers on Tuesday afternoon to order straw and stuff for the garden. Would get them to bring it this afternoon so we could get started on some proper no-dig vegie patches and finish smothering the front lawn with straw.
But the phone rang before we had a chance to make any calls. It was one of the sales reps from The Solar Shop. They had a stand at the Royal Show last week. No one was there at the time but they did leave a list for folks to express interest. The Iz had provided contact details and a preferred time of Friday afternoons.
Guess we could have suggested next Friday instead but the inner serpent voice hissed - oh that's just procrastination at work.

So agreed to make it this Friday at 3.30pm. Really, there was no reason why the straw couldn't still come on Friday but it would involve a bit of juggling and would be a bit rude to be dividing attention between the two different people. That meant picking Tuesday afternoon for the straw. It would be nice to go somewhere exciting after work on Tuesday to celebrate the start of 3 weeks holiday but it was better to stay at home on Tuesday than to waste a whole day on Wednesday. Would not be an issue if these folks had an online site to order and pay for stuff - then would not have to be there.

So, was just an ickle bit miffed when the Solar panel man rang at 3.30 to say he was running late and would probably make it for just after 5 or so. Bummer. So ended up with neither a snooze nor the straw. Should have known better than to believe they would turn up on time
He rang again at 5pm to say he was on the way and it would be about 30 mins. He once again apologized for being late. But this time the Izzie asked why he didn't ring as soon as he knew he was going to be late. But apparently he had. Around 10am or so and a few times since. Was out so never did get those calls. And after 1pm he did not ring again because he had been busy with customers

So, it seemed quite kosher and reasonable. Guess that's where having a mobile number comes in handy. Well he did turn up 30 mins later and was very nice and efficient. Apologized again for being late but not in a grovelling pathetic sort of way - just a plain straightforward polite way.
But the bit that really did impress the Izzie - apart from actually going up and measuring the roof and getting compass directions and stuff, the company had a brochure listing all the various varieties and wattages of photovoltaic panels with all the technical details - but most importantly of all - the total price including installation, inverters and all those other costs.
So you could make comparisons and be able to enter a contract knowing what the final cost would be with no hidden extras.

Had googled other solar electricity providers but could never find this exact and most essential information anywhere on their websites. Turns out that this mob did not have it either but they did say that you could get it by asking. They did have prices of individual components listed but not the whole package. Suppose you cannot be too specific as competitors as well as customers would be most interested indeed.
Had come to the conclusion from following stories in the paper that builders doing new projects and buying in bulk could get one kilowatt systems for around $3,000 after govt rebates but the more usual retail price would be double that.

So, been slinking through the info he provided as well as reading all that government stuff. Izzie hates the Rat and his friends but that's no reason not to take advantage of the fact that they've doubled the rebate per watt for solar panels if you connect them to the grid

So, if we don't find another excuse to procrastinate - will set us back 6,000 silver sickles plus another 300 for a twodirectional electricity meter.
Being rational, it's hardly worth the trouble since the Izzie electricity bills would not even be $$500 for the whole year. But the idea of having an independent clean and green electricity supply and bestest of all selling our surplus back to the grid, now that is more interesting. And in Izzie's case, the surplus will usually be more than half of what the panels would produce.

He'll send us a quote early next week. Hopefully will have been able to get other quotes in the mean time. But one good thing - at least they've been around a while. Problem with government grants and stuff is that it brings all sorts of fly by nighters out of the wood work looking to make a quick buck. Usually what ends up happening is that the original price goes up by just under the amount of the rebate so in the end far less good is done than originally intended

It is such a strange strange feeling to have such a wishful thinking and far off distant goal to be so concrete and so near to becoming reality. Sort of scary
Needless to say, haven't mentioned a word of this to the ma. Can only begin to imaginge the whingeing and naysaying she will indulge in. Or who knows - maybe she will want one too.

The Serpent's Sunshine Scheme