The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

Izzie has been slacking on the squiggling front. Still slinking and lurking in Cyberia but lately been distracted by the delightful temptations available at one very decadent watering hole.

( The Kafir's Keg )

It began as an ordinary day in Dursleyville. It was crisp, crunchy and sunny. Just perfect weather for wearing a quirky grey poncho from the op shop.

So while there were plenty of dramas at the day job, I did not expect them to continue after leaving the building. By then it was nearly 4pm and the skies had gotten grey and overcast. It did not look like suitable walking weather and certainly not the sort for sitting in a park listening to the birds or reading the latest instalment of ratty badness from James Herbert. Decided instead to catch the train to the city, drop into the bottle shop to get something for Father’s Day and get back to the Lair within the 2 hours that the train ticket was valid. After all there was lots of seeds and weeds at the Lair to be planted and watered.

It’s a nasty poky bottle shop owned by one of the big 2 supermarkets. I normally never darken the door of the place unless there are special offers advertised because it is usually ridiculously expensive.

But a bottle of reserve port and a big juicy South Australian red from a reputable brand name for $35 was a very good deal indeed and I was half expecting that they would be all sold out.
Soon I was wishing they were. For when I’d stored the stash safely in my back pack and went to pick up my green frog and turtle adorned shopping bag from the floor before leaving the store, I suddenly realised that it had simply vanished. Not of its own accord I am sure but with a bit of help.

( Rat bags and sneaking thieves )

Izzie's seriously cranky and crabby and a total slacker on the squiggling front. A new month and a new beginning has not got off to a good start

Saturday and Sunday were reasonably good. Went to the Subiaco farmer's market which is held in the grounds of a 100 something year old primary school. Lots of trees and beautiful old buildings. But unfortunately the place is infested with children so pottered off to the crazy old hippie permaculture gardens next door and the old church converted into an op shop for a bit of peace and quiet
Had frequented this location a lot in November armed with a netbook and a book of H P Lovecraft stories from the local library. So did the same again for the sake of nostalgia and was duly inspired with ideas for a title and characters for this November's nano novel. Pity that it's still pretty plotless

Work is also fairly good on the weekend. The goblins and monsters aren't there and then there was the elephant in the room. An interesting evening at Petunia's to look forward to.

Last year the ma joined the masochists for the Dry July charity fund raising event. This involves giving up booze for a whole month. But being Aussies, - the assumption is that people will cheat so for every drink you pay an honour fine of $25.
This year she suggested that the serpent join too. No harm in trying we thinks and it certainly beats doing it for Lent
The Izzie has a policy - "Always keep your word" but the small print adds "Never give it"
The ma did not think that the tipsy serpent would last and maybe she still thinks that a glass or two got gobbled but Izzie is not admitting it.
Obviously there's no point in not cheating if the aim is to raise money for charity but doing the whole 31 days without cheating - making the commitment and sticking to it is also a matter of honour, keeping one's word or whatever one calls it
And was so looking forward to gobbling a glass or two at midnight over at the ma's place
She'd decided not to wait until midnight but the serpent was being a stickler for the rules. No point in lasting the whole 31 days only to give up within a cats' whisker of the finish line

In the end, we were both too tired to stay up for the witching hour. Too tired to gobble the bottle and too tired to potter about in Cyberia. But was still happy with the achievement of lasting the whole 31 days and not being tempted by the dozen bottles in the broom cupboard under the stairs
In some strange way - it was sort of like last year's national novel writing month. It is the things that you invest the most time, energy and commitment to that you value the most not the things that you can just go into a shop and buy - even though having the money requires the commitment to earning it and saving it. But somehow it is not quite the same

So there's Izzie looking forward to coming home from the house elf job on Monday afternoon, scrubbing the scales and then sitting in the garden soaking up the sunshine with a glass or two of red. It was nice but not as nice as anticipated. But what was so strange - within an hour or so was totally zonked and slinked off to the serpent basket at the ungodly hour of 6pm and slept pretty much straight through until 10pm.
And then felt cranky and grumpy the next day.
Decided to wait until much later on Tuesday to try a tipple and this time only one glass not three. The effect was much the same. No crankiness that time but the happy serpent state soon evaporated at work when finding out about a whole pile of cheapskate nastiness going on. But that's for another post.

So since there's a feast of Gruen Nation tonight with lots of evil adverts from the campaign trail, will stay away from the bottle of red until then in case the same thing happens again

Still got to think of how much to give to this cancer charity since the whole point of the annual event is to raise money rather than detox the livers of the nation.
The ma is going to give the amount she would have spent on booze for the month if she had been drinking but that is a bit too generous thinks the Izzie.

So now needing to work out if the sudden onset of crankiness since yesterday is to do with the booze or just a bunch of crazy hormones on the rampage.
The next two days should provide some evidence

Izzie sounds like a real bitch saying this (Hello Aci!!!) but we are finally convinced that there is really a glut of red wine and oh it is so so much fun plum picking. You know things are good when you don't have to fork out silver sickles by the dozen or six pack but even terrible twins count for discounts. Lots of Vintage Cellars' specials only require you to buy two bottles to get discounts amounting to almost two for the price of one. Whether you would ever be dumb enough to pay the original price is another matter but it is a great way to taste otherwise unaffordable drops.

Like a few weeks ago they had 4 bottles of Jacob's Creek for 25 silver sickles. Jacob's Creek is boring everyday stuff but that is a damned good price.
Missed out last week on Maglieri shiraz which is never ever on discount - 2 bottlies for $$20 when they normally cost that each. They have a reputation as veritable inkpots. Unfortunately, was unable to conduct scientific research to prove this hypothesis due to lack of sample material. Lots of rich bitch pisspots snatched it all before Izzie had a chance.
While one store had Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet for $$10 instead of the usual $$15 (which only idiots pay for it when Rawsons - the cheaper label is often better) another had the usually wimpish Robertson's Well stuff for 2 bottles for 20 silver sickles. No harm in trying - would NEVER dream of paying the normal $$18 so called single bottle price. We only regrets that we did not taste these two bottlies bought on the way home from work before going to downtown Dursleyville to get the Koonunga Hill for $$9 if you buy 6. Had both of them for drinkies this evening. One is just so so much better than the other. Robertson's was not the usual watery sludge at all but a most thick and delicious plummy little number.
Definitely worth snatching another 6 bottles or so. Still musing over which bottlie is worthy of a winter solstice/ full moon party. (Wonders what Dolores would drink) So so much choice these days. Tasty tasty morsels indeed. Such a joy to be able to get inkpots for ten silver sickles. Last time that was usual was about ten years ago before the evil nasty Robert Parker told all those Americans about Aussie wines. The frogs in France can keep their flinty farmyard fragrances - Izzie just wants fruit and ink and lots of it.
*Slinks back to the Well for more plummy pissssshedness*