Eleri

Marie et malade

2008-08-06T22:12:00.003+10:00

This is what I made on the weekend.
Well, actually, the first photo is what I used to make the stuff in the later photos. They came from Sara's garden. Sara doesn't much like grapefruit. Nor marmalade. In fact, she thought these were lemons. We're past that now, and we know they're grapefruit.

I chopped them into quarters, and cut out the pips and the centre pith bits, and popped those extra bits in a bowl with a bit of water. Then the remaining yummy grapefruit bits I sliced and sliced and popped in another bowl with the rest of the 4 litres of water.
And then I waited for 24 hours while they soaked.

After the waiting, there was bringing the water and grapefruit to the boil (pop the water from the pips and the pith in, as this is what will help make it set - something to do with the pectin in the pith and the pips, apparently).
And then there was boiling for an hour.
After which, I was allowed to add the sugar.
6 kilos!!! To 2 kilos of grapefruit! Yes, you wouldn't imagine you could fit it all in the jars, would you.

Anyway, then there was more boiling and waiting and watching it looking volcanic.

Bubble, bubbleAnd then there was lots of pouring and mess (after about a million years of stirring and watching and waiting and testing to see if it would test using the back of a wooden spoon and also some drops on a plate every so often).

And then we had marmalade in jars!

Christmas Crackers and the jokes that lie within

2006-12-21T11:20:00.000+11:00

Yeah, OK, I know that Australians call them "bonbons" (madness, I tell you).
Now, Christmas crackers are a bit of a tradition. I had no idea where they came from until I started writing this post, but now know that they are a British tradition (hurrah!), invented by a London confectioner called Tom Smith in 1847. Apparently they were a development of his bon-bon sweets, which he sold in a twist of paper (hence why they are called bon-bons in Australia although, I put it to you, they're not sweets any longer, so why call them the same thing?!) Anyway, more exciting historical information here.

Now, I am actually most interested in the jokes that come with crackers as, typically, they're just rubbish. Not only can you not remember them positively the moment after you've read them, but the reaction is never a laugh, and always a groan. Can cracker-makers not afford decent jokes?
Well, that was what I thought until an anomoly last night, when we were round with the lovely Beks and had eaten our rather delicious pancakes with bacon and eggses and maple syrup (Beks was hilarious when her sugar rush kicked in and all she could do was stare, googly-eyed!).
And we discovered a funny joke in a cracker!!!
Well, actually, this was when Ed arrived to pick me up (he is rather lovely, as Wednesday is Stitch and Bitch night, as we all know, and therefore can be Girls Only). (Not that he was the joke, although he did make some very funny comments.)
Let me put this into perspective. The couple of the jokes read:
Q: Why did the cow have a bell?
A: Because her horn didn't work
Q: What do you call a chicken in a shellsuit?
A: An egg

Anyway, Ed's masterpiece was:
Q: What do ghosts eat?

A: Ghoul-ash

Hilarious!!!
Can we up the calibre, cracker-makers, please? The stakes have been raised!

Making a Wedding Quilt for the Mollicas

2006-12-12T22:53:00.000+11:00

So I made a quilt for Cathy and Matt to celebrate their wedding, which was on Saturday 25th November, 2006. I chose creams and whites, with a beautiful butterfly detail as Miss C loves her butterflies.
In progress:And complete:

Oooh, kimono

2006-12-12T22:13:00.000+11:00

Isn't it pretty?! I found it in the Made In Japan shop a few weeks ago when I went shopping with Lara. They sell all sorts of beautiful things including antique kimonos and, given Ed and I were going to Ed's work do, and his work do was themed "countries", how could I resist?
Photos of me in the kimono and Ed as a Canadian Mountie my be forthcoming if we can get some...

And for Beks' Birthday

2006-12-06T14:28:00.000+11:00

We went to Lynch's, which is an extremely delicious restaurant on the Domain Road, and is a baby- and mobile-free zone (sorry for all those of you who can't bear to be parted with them). In fact, the first time we went there, this baby- and mobile-free policy caused uproar amongst our set (goodness knows why, as not one of us had a baby at the time, and all of us could quite easily have switched off our mobiles for 2-3 hours. Well, maybe the boys couldn't have done so without some sort of withdrawal symptoms, but really). Now, though, blase does not begin to describe it.
So, Julianne and Pete and Michael and Viv and Hugo and Beks and I (the Significant Other sadly had to go to play football in Albert Park), all had just a wonderful and relaxing chatty evening.
For eats:
Entree: Julianne and I shared the positively delicious classic spiced calamari with Vietnamese salad and nuoc nam
Main: I selected the oven roasted new season lamb rack with asparagus, olive and tarragon jus
Dessert: Pete and I shared the special Sticky Date Pudding, and we tried the Bombe Alaska as they brought another because poor Viv and Julianne's souffle collapsed (the kitchen was sooo embarrassed and Julianne had a giggle because she always makes the most delicious souffles and they *never* collapse apart from one occasion, which she can tell you all about herself!)
It was all super fun, and Viv gave Beks a tray of the most gorgeous mangoes and I am to make mango ice cream for S&B session tonight - more yummies.
No pictures this time, sorry! Will remember to take some next time.

Devotion to Duty

2006-11-30T12:48:00.000+11:00

So, on 25th November this year, the lovely Cathy married the lovely Matt. Now, for most people, their wedding day (apparently) is extremely busy, but what did they find time to do? Vote! Devotion to duty in the extreme!
Check out the pic of Cathy on her way (courtesy and probably copyright--all credit to them--of the Herald Sun in their photo galleries).

Isn't that sensational? I'm all for voting, even in the UK where it isn't compulsory, so credit to them for bypassing the option of the postal vote.

Talking of which, *how* long are they taking to verify the votes??? Beks is beside herself with anticipation, and I'm not sure how much longer she'll hold out before exploding! Hurry up vote-counting-people! Provisional counts (for those of you who are interested) available here.

Ma bicyclette est jolie

2006-11-29T14:02:00.000+11:00

Today the girls made excellent purchases, with Sara getting a bicycle helmet, Sam picking up her newly-serviced bicycle, and me getting gloves and these really cool reflectors . Cleverly, they're made by a local Melbornian, and the panniers have been shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Design Awards: City of Melbourne Sustainabiliity Category. Check out the site and the panniers.
There may be photos of us looking tres chic on our velos tomorrow :-D
In the meantime, enjoy the fact that, a while ago, Eddie somehow found me spokeydokes!
Look how shiny and cool they are! I look well flash on the roads now, and no excuse for anyone hitting me (or, as Jim The Hippy pointed out, although I'm a moving target, I'm easier to see and therefore easier to hit... He's always helping!)
There may need to be photos of the shininess tomorrow, if I can stay awake long enough to photograph them in the dark. I wonder whether I can get some more so Sara feels much cooler than she currently does in her new bicycle helmet?

Out with the old; in with the new!

2006-11-28T09:38:00.000+11:00

We have a new settee!
All very exciting, and comfortable, which is an improvement on the poor old futon, which is looking very sad and bedraggled these days. Sad, old, saggy futon (below), has been with me since 2002, when Michelle Regan moved out and bequeathed it to me. Since then, many people have slept on the futon including [commence futon hall of fame] me, Leah, Rosie, Jenny, Ben, Michelle #2, Mike, Lisa, Ed, Sian, Lara, Andrew, Beks, Andrew #2, my Mum and Dad. All of whom, for many years, stated that the futon was quite, quite comfortable until my Mum and Dad's most recent visit earlier this year. Having slept for lengthy periods of time (up to a month) on the futon of glory over the last 5 years, and having extolled its virtues to me many a time, this year they finally said "Gosh, the futon's not very comfortable" and "I hardly slept a wink last night" and other such things. So Ed and I went shopping and the result (of many hours' hard labour traipsing through shops and sitting on settees) is below in all its chocolatey brown yummy leather comfortable goodness!

Knitting Frenzy

2006-11-23T09:24:00.000+11:00

This would probably be quite a normal entry, only today I saw a site which gives you a pattern to knit a womb. There's a *really* strange picture of it hanging in a tree.
You heard me!
The lovely Micki (who currently has a broken hand, so I popped round yesterday to do shopping and carrying and unpacking) and I were casually chatting, and I mentioned a knitting pattern Sam had shown me to knit a hat somewhat like an Arthurian Knight's chainmail headwear. Check out Sam (on the left) in the one her Grannie knitted for her, which arrived yesterday.

Anyway, Micki told me about the knitted womb then (bizarrely, on the same site). Now, how bored do you have to be to not only come up with the concept, but also to make the pattern???!!!

See the cuddly pink womb here (image and pattern copyright of the designer and the website):
Who wants one?!

Voting: Gunpowder, treason and plot

2006-11-17T13:28:00.000+11:00

You may be aware that the day for Australian elections is at hand. In fact, it is on Saturday 25th November, at all council election posts near you. Find out more here. (In fact, if you aren't aware, and you aren't even registered to vote, SHAME ON YOU! Go! You should vote and then, depending on the outcome, you will be entitled to rant about the state of politics. Go on! Go now!)
Anyway, moving slightly back to the point of today's theme, I was faced the other day with an A4-sized landscape piece of paper stuck at eye-level to a lamppost on Fitzroy Street in St Kilda. Normally faced with enormous billboard-type things slung on lampposts well above my head with hideous photographs of local election candidates, I was somewhat surprised to note that the theme of the poster was also in fact about elections. In fact, it said:

VOTE 1: Bring back Guy Fawkes' Night Party

And, indeed, who can argue with that? I too would like to see the return of Guy Fawkes' Night, if only for the excitement of a nice roaring fire to warm your fingers and toes at the beginning of a November with strangely atypical (I am assured by stalwart Melburnians) weather (I refer you to the snowfall just a couple of days ago, which was more snow than they had in the Snowys the whole of last season), and a few nice fireworks (I have grown to like them since my younger days, when I am told I hid my face in her shoulder and muttered "Me no like'm the bang ones, Mummy"). I have to wonder what their other policies are, but I think perhaps they might have featured highly in my list of parties, were I eligible to vote. For those interested in the history of Guy Fawkes, check this out.
For those of you with a lyrical bent:
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see of no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Want to make your own policies? Check out the inspirational Policy Generator. Or simply make up your own - someone, somewhere, will vote for you!

Children of the Night

2006-11-10T16:27:00.000+11:00

I love this work. Coco-Mac on the Noise site.
My fave has to be this one. She looks like she needs taking home.
I wonder whether I could make one...?
I am feeling all crafty after the lovely Julianne (mother of Beks) went through an entire drawer of old fabrics last night while Ed and I were over for dinner, and she gave me masses of bits and pieces. Goodness knows where I am going to store them all! We won't know where to put our toesies now, what with all the pins and bobbins and scraps and scissors.
There will have to be much crafting and giving-away in the coming weeks/ months I think.

I did a bad, bad thing

2006-11-03T16:37:00.000+11:00

Today I went shopping at lunchtime with Cathy and Sam so that Cathy could buy a fascinator from Hannii (horrible website, divine clothes) to wear with her gorgeous pink oriental/ prom style frock from Ink to Derby Day on Saturday.
She came away with the fascinator and a rather lovely short jacket to wear with the dress (incredibly the same fabric, yet a completely different shop!).
I came away from the trip with not one dress, but two (these girls are almost as much of a bad influence as Lara):
One from Alannah Hill called He Drives Me Crazy, and one from the nicolangela range in a fabulous teal....
*sigh*
Alas for my bank account, though. Ed is going to have kittens when he sees the cc this month!

The Vagaries of Coffee

2006-11-02T09:34:00.000+11:00

How do you like your latte? Milky consistency, or creamy consistency? I mean, the lattes I have drunk in my time (and forget about the actual coffee here, because that could well have been burnt or muddy or out-of-date) have varied endlessly from the weakest skimmed milk pap to the creamiest yummiest thick goodness that I like. In between, of course, I've had coffees that professed to be lattes, which were actually flat whites with a bit of cappuccino froth on top, and flat whites with a bit of something on the top which I *think* was milk, but may just have been a bit of scum, and various other things which may not actually have been coffee at all... My vote goes to the creamy latte, please and thank you, so now I am pleased that the new barista at the Arkibar actually makes them just right.

Now Jim, on the other hand, had all sorts of issues with macchiatos (or macchiatoes?!), when in Sydney. This was because in Sydney they have no idea what a *long* macchiato is. So he had to tell them every time how to make a long macchiato, and every time they still got it wrong. (Mind you, this could also be because, in general, as everyone knows, the coffee making in Melbourne far surpasses and coffee making in Sydney). Poor Jim. He is *so* relieved to be back in Melbourne!

Ah, yes, daylight savings

2006-11-01T23:47:00.000+11:00

You would think that it would be quite simple if someone sends you an invitation to a bbq on Saturday night stating that it's to celebrate Tim's B'day (although actually that was two weeks ago) and Daylight Savings, to make it to the bbq you have to go to the following day on time. You would think that might mean that you remember on Sunday (or even on Saturday night) to change your clocks.
But no, we blithely went to bed at 2pm (after a fantastic bbq celebration involving homebrew, sausages, red wine, local beer made from wattle, and yummy things called Clinkers*).
And then we blithely awoke at 12, and quietly assessed the possibility of an overhang (Eleri: no; Ed: yes).
And then we texted Beks to say "Oh, sorry, just woken up - will be at your bbq by 2pm".
No problem, we thought, so we had a shower, we got dressed, we pottered around and sorted ourselves out and then toddled along to the bbq.
Only to discover that there were only about 8 people left, and that the bbq (horror!) had been both cleaned and put away, and that we had missed the raffle** and everything!
We strolled through and said "Hi, sorry we're a bit late" and everyone looked at us and said we were *very* late, and we said "Ah, but surely not, for look, it is 2pm, and we said we would be here at 2" [yeah, ok, we were being a bit over-triumphant at our getting-up achievements].
At which they all collapsed, said "I told you so" to each other, and then "Ah, but no, because look, it is actually 3".
And we said "Oh".
Mind you, then we ate yummy chocolate chip biscuits made by Gayle, and lovely apple and cinnamon cake# made by Beks, and also met the lovely Paul Vout (who seems to be positively the nicest and most genuine politician I have ever met). So, vote for Vout.

However, I did make on time to The Chocolate Buddha to meet up with Rhino Rita to give her a little rhino brooch made by Klei, and have extremely yummy Age Dashi Tofu, Teriyaki Beef, Seared Tuna in lime and bamboo shoot salad, and a glass of wine in the evening, and then we looked at pictures of the snow leopards at Taronga Zoo in Sydney - yay!

*Clinkers: Oh my god. They said "want a clinker?" I said "want a what?" They said "just try one" so I did. Yummy sugary chocolate-y goodness.

**Raffles happen at money-raising events for politicians. In my opinion, in the extremely safe seat of Malvern, Paul needs all the help he can get. Besides, check out his cute smile in this photo.

# Must get the recipe.

Holidays

2006-10-09T09:03:00.000+10:00

Last days of holidays are always somewhat amiguous. Sad because you are leaving family and friends, relieved to be heading home, dreading the long trip back, or thinking of your nice comfy bed, delighted to be going back to friends and the warmth, or unhappy to be returning to work, thinking of giving the cat pats, or thinking of how sulky the cat will be and for how long...?
Tomorrow the PUs arrive for a day of fun (D has come all the way from Saudi!) and an evening meal with Ed's PUs and Nan at the local Chinese (might as well get the Chinese meals in while we can, and why finish the holiday with healthy food, when all the diet and exercise regimes can start on Thursday when we're back?!).
Still, plenty of photos coming up for you guys in the next few days. See you all soon...

Confirmed: Eleri does not enjoy being trapped in lifts

2006-08-29T09:24:00.000+10:00

I was fairly certain I was scared of heights and I know I am nervous of small spaces. I put this down to… hmmmm, no, no idea. Anyone? I do remember being bundled in a duvet by Laurence and a couple of his friends in Korea (I can’t quite remember why, but I am sure it seemed like a good idea at the time) and giggling like mad til I couldn’t breathe properly, but apart from that, just generally not good with confined spaces.

So today it all started quite well with excellent waking up and breakfasting and getting ready and going into work. Then the plans changed and I was to head to Canberra this afternoon instead of tomorrow morning, and so I raced back home to throw a few things in a bag (probably not the things I *actually* needed, but hey) only to discover half-way home I had left my keys in the office. Much scrambling ensued to jump off the tram and head back to the office only to get in the loft with 4 complete strangers and promptly discover that the lift was flatly refusing to do a thing.

The lifts in the Hertz building are, let’s be honest, not the most fabulous in the world at the best of times. We should remember that it has taken (at the last count) 2 months to completely renovate one of the lifts. (In fact, I seem to recall the sign on the lift said something about the escalator [Ed. ?!) being out of service for improvements.) There are three lifts, so we live in hope that they will all be suitably improved (and perhaps turned into escalators?) by Christmas 2006. In all three lifts, and particularly Lift 1 (the one furthest from the main entry door and closest to the bizarre enormous and disfiguring mirror), which it has often been necessary to encourage into closing its doors by leaning hard on one door with both hands and pushing, whilst also using one foot to push the other door away from it, as if you were Samson holding the pillars away from each other and preventing them from collapsing, although perhaps with more jerky movements and tutting.

The renovations to the lifts leave a little something to be desired. Hitherto a boring and grey design, with mirrors on the walls from waist height, and a bar (for no reason I can discover unless it be to perch on whilst waiting for the lift to take you at snail’s pace to your level) and generally gloomy lighting as though you needed nothing to entertain you whilst in a lift (after all, lifts are simply Between places, taking you from where you’ve been to your next important destination in a very Woods from The Magician’s Nephew sort of a way, except less calming and with fewer pools). Lift 1 is now a boring elegy in browns with these tall and narrow mirrors in each of the four corners in just the wrong places so you can’t check your hair when it’s a windy day, and certainly can’t touch up your lippie. Indeed, the back wall is perhaps slightly more interesting in that it is horizontal and very narrow stripes in shades of brown which look like corduroy, although sadly they are not touchy-feely.

Anyway, Lift 1 declined to move. All was fine and dandy (apart from the minor oh god, do you think I will make the flight? moment and chuckle with the peeps in the lift). Until the Fine Company decided it would be an excellent plan to discuss all the most horrifying lift stories they had ever encountered, and how they thought it would be hours until we were released.

Commence extreme sensitivity to heat (had to discard scarf and jacket and did mad pacing and circling like a trapped animal) and complete failure to be able to breathe from Eleri and a rather terse “Would you all please just stop: you are not helping”.
Commence rather bewildered rabbit-in –headlight startled and pitying looks from all Lift Buddies. And silence, thank god.
Although all I could then hear was my crazed breathing, which I had to regulate by closing my eyes and doing breathing more out than in, and pretending I was breathing into a paper bag like you do with asthma (I think) and desperately trying not to think about frantically trying to prise open the doors with only my bare hands.

Well, the lift eventually moved and I think I scared my Lift Buddies suitably, so all was well. I think we were trapped for maybe 10 minutes, although it felt like about 4 hours. I am fairly certain now that I am not the calm, controlled and measured person I thought I was, but am in fact closer to the scared and panicked hysterical woman you always see in films tearing their hair out and screaming and needing a slap (as glasses of water are hard to come by in stuck lifts).

Beks said at least there wasn’t a pregnant lady in the lift who went into labour. Mind you, she also then said that she had a dream about my boyfriend last night in which he was knitting a pashmina. Which is possibly more likely.

Anyway, I am now safely ensconced in a hotel in Canberra (the hotel has no lifts that I have seen) and am trying to work out a way for the Hertz building to change its structure and policy so I can use the stairs. Goodness, it’s only 3 flights up, so I could make it! Unfortunately, the doors to the lifts are fire escape doors, so if you use them you set of a fire alarm. Very bad if you are trying to get exercise and do more steps.

Sam said at least there was no-one jumping up and down in the lift at the time, and then promptly told me about the time she was stuck in a lift when this happened and that at the same time there were people in the lift farting and it was so revolting she had to lie on the floor to get fresh air!

See, feeling better already – mental note: take Whoopee Cushion into lifts at all times.

Currently taking bets on whether the remaining two lifts will have been completed by Christmas.

Do you want a degree?

2006-06-30T09:09:00.000+10:00

Well, let me think about that... No, I don't think I want another degree; I think I am perfectly content with the degree I have. What irks me is this:
"Anonymous" has posted the following on my site:
Anonymous said...
Hey! Very Nice! Check out this website I found where you can make extra cash.It's not available everywhere, so go to the site and see if you can find something. I found something and makeand extra $900 a month! http://www.degree-programs-online.info/extramoney.htm
2:13 AM, June 30, 2006
All very well, one might say, if one is excited by the prospect of a degree obtained online. Now, I *may* be wrong, but I am guessing this is perhaps an automated post, or at least a post put up by an anonymous person who is pretty much like an automaton. I may also be wrong in assuming that the degrees they purport to distribute by programs online are dodgy.
Question: did they *really* think that, if I had published a post about establishing a worm farm, that I would then go "oh, well, if they start the comment with 'Hey! Very Nice!' [please note the excessive use of upper case], I would then go 'Sure, I'll click on this link' without knowing anything about it oh, and caring even less!
Not only that; put your damn name on the comment.
Apparently they did.

The cheque is in the building

2006-06-29T23:05:00.000+10:00

Planet Properties has sent the cheque. Now we see whether it will bounce... Watch this space.
Also, is it me, or is the fact that the cheque is dated 10th June, the letter is dated the 17th June, and it arrived today, weird?
Not only this, but the cheque is for $137.50, which is $50 less than the amount they withdrew from our bond... amounting to the quote they gave us for cleaning the blinds at the property which were "a little dusty" (according to them). They have still failed to provide us with the receipt for cleaning the blinds.
Not that any one of you will be surprised by this.
Apart from the cheque actually arriving - that is surprising.

I may have to put a photo of the cheque and the letter here later.

Triops

2006-06-26T21:01:00.000+10:00

My Ickle Sis does some cool things as part of her now-almost-finished PhD. She also, due to hanging out with some strange biology/ chemistry types with beards, also comes across some rather excellent things.
This week's excellent thing is discovering a whole new type of pet: triops. Check out the freaky things in the picture to the left!
Apparently these things are way cooler than Sea Monkeys (you remember, you get them in a packet, just add water). Triops hang upside down when they feed. I am hooked - Ickle Sis is maybe buying some for her boyf, Ian, as a present. I am thinking Ed needs some as a way of weaning him off the worms.
Talking of which, check out www.thewormman.com He sells triops! And hermit crabs, and all sorts of weird thingies! And people buy this stuff too! You can get kits to grow sea monkeys [sea monkeys on Mars???] and triops in your own home (if you're brave enough to tackle sea monsters in your own house, and some of the oldest living prehistoric creatures. Oh, the species is the oldest, not the actual ones you will have - they will live between 20 and 90 days apparently, although they can also double in size every day, which is kind of scary.... what if they didn't stop?! :-O).
Oh, wait! Did I mention they have 3 eyes?! They are sooo cool!

Worrrrms

2006-06-26T20:39:00.000+10:00

We went to an amazing series of seminars run by our local council (City of Port Phillip) a while ago, and one of the free gifts was either a) a bokashi bucket, b) a compost bin or c) a worm farm (oh my god, there is are global worm farming consultants). Now, faced with those choices, who wouldn't choose the small wriggly things?
Ed has gone slightly strange about the whole thing, though. He couldn't take it home the first night (as he had, in a very green and sustainable living sort of a way, walked to the seminar), so he had to get Micki to worm-sit the worms. When he went to pick them up, he brought them home and set them in the garden. A couple of weeks later, when I had returned from the UK, he started muttering about them every day, about how maybe did I think they might be a bit cold? I, somewhat understandably, had not a clue, so patted him kindly on the head and sent him off to get some more chocolate (for me, not the worms). Anyway, a couple of days later, turns out the worms have a blanket...
Ed had gone all the way to the charity shop to buy the worms a blanket!
Now he has gone one step further, and the worms are inside in the kitchen under the blanket! I think they'll be warm enough now...
So all we need to worry about now is them getting too hot, or feeding them too much, or overloading them with citrux fruit (god, don't you just hate too many mandarins?), or, heaven forfend, losing them somehow... like this girl did:
http://www.43things.com/things/view/240556 (thanks to my Ickle Sis for that link).
Fingers crossed we don't come home one to day to find all our little squiggly preciouses have flown the nest!
(PS. is anyone else slightly weirded out by the fact my boyfriend is so worried about the worms he bought them a blanket and brought them inside???)

Planet Properties

2006-05-09T11:19:00.000+10:00

Do you think they have called? Pah. They said they would call on Monday this week, and it is now Tuesday.

Planet Properties - It would seem it is too good to be true.

2006-05-05T12:45:00.000+10:00

Emma called earlier today and said "Oh, there isn't enough money in the owner's account to draw the cheque, so we will have to wait until Monday/ Tuesday and we will keep you informed." I asked her how much it would be for and she said it would be for $137:50. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but that isn't the whole amount - they seem to be missing $50. Would that be the same amount as the amount for cleaning the blinds, which they still haven't sent us a copy of the receipt for? I may have to pass this over to Ed again... he is the strong one - I am the polite and retiring one.

Planet Properties - Is this too good to be true?

2006-05-05T11:59:00.000+10:00

Many of you will recall the palaver of us living in Petersham under the reign of Planet Properties estate agents (Varying from inept to idiotic to plain morons, imho and experience).
Having moved out nearly 3 months ago, the agents claimed money from the bond for flea treatment (weird, as there were no fleas when we left, and certainly no fleas when we arrived in our new place, so don't quite know how we managed that) to the tune of $137.50 and $50 for cleaning the blinds (which were damaged by damp, and therefore not our responsibility to fix).
We took all this in good faith and were just pleased to be out of there, until we faced continual refusals on the part of Nick Arena to forward copies of the receipts to prove they'd actually done the work.
Anyway, after much to-do, the lovely Emma (very helpful, and my impression is that she gets to clear up all the mess made by everyone else) gave me a call to tell us that we were going to be reimbursed for the money they had claimed from the bond as they still hadn't done the treatment, and the tenants had confirmed that they were not having any problems, and they wouldn't be able to perform the treatment now anyway, as it was so long since we had moved out it would essentially be unethical. They are going to draw a cheque today to send us the money. A longer version of this story is available on request :-D

Could this in fact be the longest encore in the world ever?

2006-05-02T12:44:00.000+10:00

On Sunday evening, we went to The Forum to see Xavier Rudd play. Before that, we dropped into the local Duke of Wellington for a swift cheeky half... sorry, pot (for those of you who are not Australian, this is like a half a pint, only smaller, and is specially designed to look like a thimble (see, thimbles again) in anyone who is not a midget's hands). Unfortunately, I can't search for a link to the Duke as work has blocked all sites to do with... well, everything, it would seem. (Perhaps understandably, if I am searching for a pub during my lunch hour, some might argue.)
Anyway, the Duke is apparently a Melbourne institution, and is the starting point of most people heading to the MCG for an afternoon (or evening) of footie (Australian Football League). Ed and I were welcomed into the pub by the all-too-familiar smell of stale spilled beer and ageing vomit, and passed the closed bar on the left to head to other bar. At the other bar, having squuezed between some lurching idiots, I ordered my two pots, to be promptly accosted by another lurching idiot, who was, by some way, the most drunk person I have been chatted up by in a very long time. We had a nice chat about where I was from, who I was with, whether I'd been to the footie, and how dodgy the result was between the Saints and the Doctors (look it up, man! It was dodgy!). On reflection, perhaps my comments about the dodgy results were not too well made, as he was wearing red, white and black (the colours of the Saints), but he was clearly in that stage of concentrating so hard to actually stand up and form sentences of more than one word, that co-ordinating his eyes to focus and his brain enough to understand what I was saying was probably too much for the poor fellow, and I made a sharp exit beneath the smelly armpit and outflung arm of another drunkard to the (relative) safety of the other room and Ed.
Where we had rather a lovely 15 minutes of discussing the merits of the pub, and the fact it was definitely a beer pub rather than a wine pub, as the bar where we had ordered had no wine glasses, and the other bar (the closed one) had only three! Ed promptly christened that bar The Wine Bar.
Anyway, meeting up with Jim, we headed off to rather delicious Thai place along Russell St (apparently crack central? and also home to lots of gangs? You heard it here first. Hah.) where we ate yummy food and drank lovely iced tea.
And then we headed back to The Forum. Which is, quite distinctly, one of the most amazing buildings in Melbourne. It is neo-Gothic on the outside (OK, I am blantantly making up the architecture names here, but it has gargoyles and everything on the outside, so it must be neo-Gothic, alright?!) with amazing gargoyles and a superb tower with vaguely Islamic style windows, topped by an enormous dome with lights on it (see, extraordinary). You must just remember to look up, as the front entrance and whole of the lower floor is quite bland in comparison. Once inside, it's almost neo-Classical with elements of Art Deco (see, making it up), with beautiful statues, Art Deco lamps and candelabra, and the most gloriously blue ceilings with tiny lamps, so when lit up it looks like a night sky. I wandered around with my mouth open for quite half an hour once inside, pointing and going "wow" inanely.
The support act was someone called Karus (or something) and was ok (had a set of lungs on him, I can tell you), although we were a little confused as we had been told it was a hip hop support act, and he was more country and western yee-har, only less so.
After he'd gone, some security dude from Camp Sovereignty came on stage and spoke at length about the "unfinished business", "unresolved issues", genocide and stolen land, and then a group of Aborigines camp on stage in their loincloths and tribal paint and performed some excellent dances. And then an older dude who was positively enormous and had the most gigantic and amazing beard that could have harboured entire flocks of birds did sensational impressions of animals on the didgereedoo (or ukade in Aboriginal, I believe). He was excellent. (Maybe more on this later).
Then Xavier Rudd came on and played for about an hour with a really cool mix of mellow and upbeat tunes. The lights went down and we all cheered for an encore and he came back on and played No Woman, No Cry. Now, in my humble opinion, all versions of this other than the original should actually be banned, so this was not a good start to the encore. A couple more extremely mellow songs went past and my feet are hurting a little, but it's cool, cos I know it's not going to last forever. However, he continues playing. And playing. And playing. The songs become more and more dull (they are way beyond mellow and interesting now), and then he decides to play a version of Let it Be (this should also be banned), and we finally get to leave the establishment an hour and a half later! The dude has played a longer encore than first set - what is the go with this? Plus, he'd played all his good tunes in the first bit, and just nicked a couple from other people in the second bit!
Now, I'm not saying he's not a great performer - he is - and he was clearly having an amazing time on stage, but he really needs to sort out his play list, or write some more good tunes or something. Most amusing parts of the second bit were his stories. One story (bearing in mind he's quite a mellow dude) goes that there was a sacred hill in QLD, and it was invaded, and the original dwellers eventually stood up for themselves and said "OK, you try to come up here again and we'll stick spears in you." Pacific, man.
Next time: quite while you're ahead!

Anyway, question for you for today is: How long was the longest encore you have ever seen?

The Vibra-Gym

2006-04-28T16:55:00.000+10:00

Did I mention the extraordinary establishment at the end of the road where I work? It is called a Vibration Training Studio. Abbreviated catchily to The Vibra-Gym. I would write a witty blog about it, if my hands were not holding my sides and I were not laughing so much I had stitches. I will put the photo up shortly.

Restricted Viewing

2006-04-19T09:49:00.000+10:00

More excitement I forgot to mention. When I went to post the evil rabbits blog the other day, Blogger.com had blocked my site! Not work, oh no, but Blogger itself had identified my site as being a potentially less than salubrious site. I mean, I had been planning (clearly) for many months to open up any manner of items on the page to porn sites, selling children into slavery, identifying ways to overthrow governments, and in fact, probably also listing places to go to get weapons of mass destruction. The Two Thimble Technique is clearly but one of these weapons, btw.

Excitement

2006-04-19T09:43:00.000+10:00

Last night was very exciting after Body Balance: Ed sat on the computer all night, and I hid under the blanket on the settee away from the cold. Great.

Rabbits

2006-04-12T16:05:00.000+10:00

Someone has brought an evil toy rabbit into the office. it is about a foot high, white fur, long floppy ears and now for the really evil thing about it. It plays Rockin' Robin and bounces up and down, only not in time with the music. Why would you bring something like that into the office? Why, indeed, would you want to buy the thing in the first place?
I am now plotting the best way for the evil rabbit to meet its maker. All suggestions welcome.

The Two Thimble Technique

2006-04-11T12:58:00.000+10:00

In a recent creative stint whilst my Mum was in town, I made a quilt. My Mum, to be fair, provided me with a) all the pieces of material already cut up, b) a whole pile of guidance, c) pretty much bought all the equipment for me for my Birthday (Happy Birthday to me!), and d) also the motivation to actually finish it. Quilt now finished and winging its way to (grateful - well, they'd better be ;-)) recipients in the UK.
One of the things my Mum gave me was a book on quilting, called The *New* Sampler Quilt, by Diana Leone. Full of exciting tips and tricks, it takes you through how to make various components to create a sampler quilt (i.e. one which demonstrates many techniques, not dissimilar to an embroidery sampler).
Casually flicking through this (yes, I have become a quilting addict, have commenced my 2nd quilt (lovely corals and creams in French toile), have a third project waiting in the wings, and have just also promised to make a quilt for Beks (which, incidentally, will be an extremely thrifty quilt as it is going to be made from all her scrap bits of fabric - we are meeting this evening to plot styles and patterns)), I noticed much on thimbles.
Now, I am not a fan of thimbles - they hinder my work, I can't get to grips with them at all, and they really just seem to get in the way. The sentiments of thimbles in Peter Pan I can totally agree with (Wendy gives Peter a thimble, as she believes thimbles are kisses). However, the small metal things you wear for sewing? Nope, I just don't get it - they simply get in the way and I lose all control over the needle and end up with a higgledy-piggledy mess.
Anyway, this book recommends all manner of thimble-goodness, including purchasing 2 thimbles (I ask you? Two thimbles? Surely one is perfectly adequate? But, apparently not. Oh no, you should purchase two thimbles so that you can wear one in the summer and wear the other in the winter. Yes - that is so that, when your fat Tory fingers (as Beks sweetly put it earlier) swell to the size of German sausages in the heat of the summer, you can use the larger of the two. Now, I don't know about you, but surely your fingers don't swell that much? (Although, you could also argue you needed 2 engagement/ wedding/ other rings, if you were going to be heartlessly mercenary about this!)
Perhaps the winter thimble should have a wool lining to ensure your fingers stay warm in the cold weather? Perhaps the summer thimble should have built-in air conditioning, or ice packs to ensure you don't get to sweaty?

But wait! There is more! This is not even yet the Two Thimble Technique!

Oh no, the Two Thimble Technique (may it be blessed in the hearts of hand-quilters for ever more) was created in 1975 by the world- (and, can one assume, with such prowess as this clearly demonstrates, galaxy-) venerated Michael James. I know you are just gagging to hear what the technique is ;-) So I will quote (courtesy Diana Leone).
"Two Thimble Technique
This technique is a very good method to learn, as you can quilt very fast, form very small stitches, and the underfinger does not get sore. [Ed. the image shows a thimble on the middle finger of each hand - one hand below, and one hand above the quilt.] The needle touches the bottom edge of the thimble on theunderhand. The bottom thimble pushes the needle back up into the quilt. Michael James introduced the two thimble technique [Ed. surely this warrants capitalisation?] in 1975. Practice this method and you will quickly become an expert."
Well, you heard what the woman said! Go! Practice! Quickly become an expert!
Or spend your entire time either unpicking the guddle, or picking up the blasted thimble from the floor.
...
Ah, I see where I have been going wrong - I have been wearing my summer thimble in the winter; it is too large for this time of the year, and I should swap to the smaller of the two!

The Melbourne Blog

2006-02-16T09:36:00.000+11:00

So, a couple of things have prompted the new blog.
I had to move from the sunny msn space as I was running out of space to blog (hence the sparse nature of the entries in recent times, although you can view the exciting photos there still).
As Ed and I were moving to Melbourne from sunny Sydney, we thought maybe we should have a new blog to reflect the new residence.
We'd love for you to join us on this magic carpet ride in Melbourne (for at least a year).
P.S. In the tradition of Melbourne, this new blog had to be black.