40th birthday blog.
3 Oct 08 Friday: So I left Perth at 10am in a fresh 5 degrees and landed in Sydney at 4pm in a stifling 37 degrees. A bit of a culture shock for those of us on the plane still dressed for winter. I had one of those rather freakish arrivals that almost never happen – you know – where you seem to get off the plane in the first group of people, you get to the luggage carousel just as your bag comes past, you get to the taxi rank and you are second in the queue. Lovely.
So it was straight to Keith’s Pyrmont flat to freshen up and change for the lovely harbour dinner cruise he had organised. First we met up with Sue Ann and Trevor who had come up from Melbourne for a couple of days and were staying in a nearby hotel, then we all strolled across Pyrmont Bridge (still waiting for the heat of the day to drop) and down to wharf 1 where we discovered Alison and Joanne had already found Mim and Sue (popping in from Dubai for a school reunion!) – how they all worked out they were friends of mine I will never know!
We boarded the MV Sydney 2000 – a lovely big boat. Our dinner table was right up the top and near the front and we had a big boardwalk outside the dining area for viewing the incredible lightning storm going on in every direction, not to mention all the stunning sights of Sydney by night.
Our waiter Jimmy popped the cork on several bottles of champers to greet us and this was soon followed by us discovering the delish cocktail menu!!!! We enjoyed a scrumpscious 3 course meal followed by a divinely rich moist chocolate cake courtesy of Keith. Fortunately he forgot to buy 40 candles – we would have burned the boat down!!!!
We journeyed all over the harbour – under the bridge several times, parked in Circular Quay for a while to let some passengers off, before finally heading back to Wharf 1 in Darling Harbour around 11pm. We were the last off the boat.
It was so lovely to share my night with friends old and new and dear to me.
We parted ways and all strolled back to cars or hotels or flats in the hot summer night rain.
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4 Oct 08 Saturday: The actual 40th !!! Keith and I went to Pancakes Harbourside for breakfast before being picked up by Alison for the drive up to the Blue Mountains. For quite a way we were in torrential rain and I don’t know how Alison could even see beyond the car bonnet. But someone must have known it was a special day cos as we got to Katoomba the clouds parted and the blue skies appeared. We went to Echo Point for piccies at the Three Sisters before having a lovely lunch in a cute art deco café called Paragon.
We then continued the drive to Jenolan Caves. My last visit here was in 1971 so you can imagine I don’t have a whole lot of memories of the trip. I loved the skinny windey cliff side road. At one stage we encountered a stream of tour buses making their way back to Sydney (thank goodness!!) and we had to back up to a layby to let the buses get past. It was hilarious watching a certain breed of tourists trying to reverse their hire cars. Who knows how on earth they get licences in their own countries – reverse is obviously not a requirement !
We checked in to the gorgeous historical Caves House and found our lovely rooms before heading off for a first cave tour – Chifley Cave. As all the big buses had left already the tours were nice and small with just the hotel guests. Besides myself, Keith and Alison there was just another couple on this tour. It was a lovely cave and I managed the stairs so so.
Then we dined in the Caves House restaurant. I had a pumpkin soup then a yummy dish of field mushrooms with fetta and parmesan and pesto.
At 8pm we joined the Ghosts Myths and Legends tour. At first I thought I would be ok on this one as I knew the caves were well lit etc. But when I realised they were handing out massive security guard torches and mining hats with lights I began to wonder. Then the guide confirmed there would be no lighting in the caves for this particular tour.
We headed up a series of staircases up the inside of the Grand Arch before getting to a stairwell down into the caves. I say stairwell but to be honest it was more like a ladder! I realised pretty quickly I couldn’t manage the torch and still hold the banister with two hands. The panic attack soon followed. I told Keith to catch up with the rest and let them know I wasn’t following.
Once I regained my senses I made my way slowly down the outside stairs into the Grand Arch. I then spent a few hours wandering around some empty caves. Everyone was either on night tours or asleep so it was just me and the bats! I discovered a setting on my camera that let the self timer give you 30 seconds before the first shot – then it took 5 shots. So I wandered around taking self portraits in the caves. Then I found a dark path to the lake. It was so peaceful – nothing but the crickets and frogs. I did some more self portraits and strolled until the path got too muddy.
Then I wandered back to the hotel to see if the night tours had finished. Found Keith and Alison and heard all about the 2 hours of stairs!! Alison said it nearly killed her and there was no way I would have made it !
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5 Oct 08 Sunday: Woke to a lovely cool drizzley foggy morning. Did I mention Caves House is totally surrounded by the mountains and caves. It feels like you are cut off from civilisation – even your mobile phones have no coverage and the rooms have no TVs ! Its like a little piece of paradise. And the showers are heavenly – really hot and powerful – essential after a day of caving!
We had a huge buffet breaky in the dining room before joining the Imperial Cave tour. Again another small group of about 10 with the obligatory 2 annoying child tourists with utterly no imagination. The guide deserved a medal for how he dealt with them.
The Imperial was unusual in that it almost looked fake. It had really flat floors and winding corridors.
After lunch we joined the Orient Cave. This time it was a huge group of 27 as the tour buses had arrived by then. Heaps of seriously ignorant people with revolting ignorant children from various countries who did nothing to enhance their reputation as tourists. The poor guide could barely be heard over the din of people who were so rude they refused to shut up.
I do recommend for future visits that the tours before noon and after 4pm are preferable. During the part of the day when the tour buses are in, go for a bush walk or a stroll around the lake or have a really long leisurely lunch.
By this time the muscles and feet were really feeling the pressure of so many stairs and bad quality sneakers. But I was keen to have a look at the lake that I glimpsed in the darkness of the River Walk the night before. So while Keith set off for a big bush walk, Alison and I set off for the several kilometres stroll around the lake/river/falls etc. In my bag I carried a little photo of my family and I on a rock with a waterfall in the background from January 1971. I did my best to find that same rock again – without any luck. It was a stunning yet agonising walk! The feet and legs screamed the whole way!
We returned to the hotel to freshen up and relax in the bar with some well earned cocktails then dine in the yummy restaurant again – this time I had potato and leek soup followed by a giant chicken mornay voulevant.
Keith went off to bed but Alison and I weren’t yet tired so I showed her the Nettle cave I had explored the night before and we returned to the lake for some night photos before wandering up some mountain side paths to take photos of Caves House from higher up. Then we wandered around the house exploring different rooms. We found a cosy little room with a TV and comfy couches that we collapsed into and discussed some future holiday plans. We were entertained by a rather drunk young girl in the next room who had discovered a piano, and tho drunk – she was very talented. Playing Alisons favourite piece from The Piano and my favourite piece from The Man From Snowy River – freakily without us even requesting them!
Then it was time to find our rooms and collapse into aching heaps of sleep.
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6 Oct 08 Monday: After a big breakfast we checked out and started the long drive back to Sydney, arriving around 1.30pm. Keith had been unwell all night so we dropped him off at his flat to sleep and Alison and I went to Harbourside for lunch. Then she headed home and I went back to Keith’s with some tummy medicine for him and made him some soup. I spent the night on his spare futon.
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7 Oct 08 Tuesday: Early in the morning I got an sms from that days lunch date saying they had missed their flight, so I had a free day. Keith was not well enough to go to work so I hung out at his place and helped him pack his stuff for moving.
In the afternoon I met Alison and we checked into the Star City Apartments. I usually stay in the hotel part so I had never seen the apartments – very nice indeed. We had a big kitchen and lounge and 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
We got dolled up and then went down to the Thai restaurant and met Wayne, Michael and Laura from Sydney and Stuart and Steven from Melbourne who we had discovered on Facebook were all multiple Priscilla goers!!
So after a lovely dinner we met Keith in the bar and headed to our front row seats for the first preview of the new encore season of Priscilla. Jeremy Standford had moved on from the role of Tick – after 2 years in heels he went in search of some manly roles! In his place we had Todd McKenney. I was looking forward to seeing how Todd interpreted the role as I have seen him in so many shows over the years.
As it was his first preview it was more about finding all the right places on stage and running the incredible race to change costumes between scenes. There wasn’t a lot of emotion in his lines but his singing voice was in fine form – and what a magnificent pair of legs he has (and if you could see some of his outfits you will realise why the legs are on display!!).
Speaking of magnificent legs – it was nice to see the divine Mark Hodge up on stage again (the one I danced with in Melbourne in April!!). It is the general consensus among us fans that he wins “best butt and thighs” on stage !
After the show we all met up for cocktails in the Glo Bar.
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8 Oct 08 Wednesday: Today I met Sue E from Dubai for the day. I was so thrilled that a school reunion had been conveniently timed for my birthday week, which meant she would be in Sydney this week. The last time we caught up was at her sons wedding in Feb 2007. So we wandered across Pyrmont Bridge and down to Cockle Bay to dine at Baia – one of my favourite Italian restaurants in the area. After much wine, food and gossiping, we wandered around darling Harbour and watched a busker creating giant bubbles. We strolled back to Star City and hung out with Alison before heading off to front row centre Priscilla night two.
I was thrilled to share my favourite musical with Sue who has always adored the film. Todd was settling nicely into the role of Tick and directed his entire opening number (I’ve Been to Paradise But I’ve Never Been To Me) right to us. Tony Sheldon was his usual talented self. He has made Bernadette his own and when he does the same in London’s West End next year the reviewers will say “Terrence Stamp who ??”. Daniel Scott was his usual brilliant self – I have never seen this guy miss a beat or a line. He never seems to have an off night. I pointed out the legs of Mark Hodge to Sue and she was suitably impressed – in fact I think she asked why his shirts were so much smaller than all the other boys! Hehehe they are not – he just fills them out better!!
We went back to the hotel room and then Alison and I walked Sue across Pyrmont Bridge to her hotel. Along the way we looked for somewhere for a late meal to no avail – so we ended up ordering room service at Sue’s hotel ! Then Alison and I walked off the meal across the bridge and back to Star City.
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9 Oct 08 Thursday: Alison had planned a surprise for me today and she did well to keep the secret for several months. It turned out to be a morning play at the cute little Ensemble Theatre over at Kirribilli. Such a tiny theatre settled among some incredible real estate – gorgeous view of the harbour! The play was “Wrong Turn at Lungfish” and it starred a fave of mine John McTernan of Cop Shop and GP fame. The play was written by Garry Marshall (of Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Pretty Woman fame) and was set in a hospital room. McTernan played a newly blind dying patient with a nasty temper. Only a student nurse is prepared to deal with him and a young woman who comes to read for him harbours some ulterior motives. The cast of just four kept up some great New York Bronx accents and all put in a great performance.
I haven’t really been in such an intimate theatre since I saw The One Day of The Year many years ago. Similar situation where there was no actual stage and the audience are just a couple of feet from the actors.
After the play we went to Pancakes on the Rocks for a nice lunch.
Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for, you guessed it, another front row centre fix of Priscilla ! I am sure by now poor Todd thought he had a stalker on the front row as he had to yet again direct his opening number down to us!!! The whole show was really tight. A great performance by everyone. A bit of a scarey moment when a drunk woman climbed up on stage during the final number before intermission and started stumbling and dancing across the stage. Collette Mann, resplendent in a cute Austrian outfit pulled out all stops channelling her character Doreen from prisoner as she bailed up the drunk and held her against the speakers on the side of the stage until security took her away. Go Collette !!!!
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10 October 2008 Friday: After a nice sleep-in I met Rachael for a long lunch at Lanzafame in the Star City complex. Very nice pizza ! Then she went back to work and I headed to harbourside where the Colorado store was having a sale and my feet were in dire need of some sturdy comfort. Found a nice chunky pair of walking shoes for a good price. Then I wandered over Pyrmont bridge to Pitt Street. Felt a little weird as I walked beneath the location that the gorgeous Mark Priestley had fallen to his death a few weeks earlier. I gave a few moments thought to when I saw him on stage as Benjamin in The Graduate back in 2001 and how much I have enjoyed his talents in Changi and All Saints.
I was looking for an Angus and Robertson bookstore as I had a gift voucher to use. I headed to where they use to be located only to find a Borders. It felt rude to ask the guy at the information desk where his competition was located ! So then I started the wild goose chase journey to find A&R. All the way back to Town Hall and underground where I finally find the well hidden store. Selected my books then started the walk back to the hotel. I must mention here than my feet and calf and thigh muscles were still in agony from the weekends caving !
So I had a rest and a quick Subway for dinner before Keith arrived to go to Priscilla – yes the usual seats and yes Todd was even more convinced I was a stalker! I had sent a card to stage door today explaining that I wasn’t !!!!! Honestly – just a fan of the whole production.
Another great performance by everyone. I got hit in the chin by the champagne cork during the bus christening scene ! An interesting souvenir to keep in the vase full of ping pong balls.
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11 Oct 2008 Saturday: Met Shane for lunch at Lanzafame (pizza again) then hung out in my room gossiping and having a good catch up. Then he went home and Alison, Keith and I got dolled up for opening night of Priscilla. We dined at Lanzafame and watched the pink carpet arrivals. A lot of trannies in their best gear !!
Then it was off to our slightly off centre front row seats for the show. Being opening night it was like all the previews rolled into one – everyone put a spot on performance on – no glitches, some changes to scenes and lines tho. Big standing ovation. I hit the mark with a streamer throw. Usually my streamers at things never quite make it to the stage – but this one just flew beautifully across the stage and over Todds shoulder whereupon he got well tangled in it ! My arms ached from a week of applauding!
Many cocktails and drinks later we discovered the joys of ping pong balls in the hotel kitchen ! It’s a photo you have to see to believe.
After long gossips on the balcony, we put Keith to bed on the big sofa and crashed out in our respective rooms.
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12 October 2008 Sunday: After checking out of Star City Alison and I dined at Pancakes Harbourside for brunch then she headed home while I headed to Keiths place to help him with the last of the packing etc. We took a taxi full of his stuff to his new place – so I got to see the lovely new carpet and gorgeous Cadbury purple walls. Then it was time for me to get a taxi to the airport and make my way home to the real world. Sigh. I hate the end of holidays. All the photos from the trip can be seen here: http://albums.phanfare.com/karina
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26 October 2008: Sunday.
So - the plans today were going to be - a bit more decluttering for the garage sale, followed by a late afternoon 80s concert at a nearby pub.
Where did it start to go wrong ?
Was it when I went to get money out at the petrol station this morning and discovered I had $30 till payday - not enough to cover entry to the gig and buy a single drink.
Was it when I decided as part of the decluttering I would pop down to the shed and empty out a huge box of candelabras - discovering they were all covered in old wax - deciding to put one in the oven to see if that would melt the wax off ?
Yep that was where the day went wrong.
I felt I was really organised. I made a nice shelf of foil to catch all the wax as it melted. I didnt close the oven door so it didnt get too hot in there. I kept a vigil instead of allowing meself to get distracted elsewhere.
The wax went thru a gap in the foil, it melted directly onto the electric element, IT CAUGHT FIRE! Flames in my non-gas oven ! Big flames ! Smoke everywhere thru my entire apartment. Thank god I didnt have an annoying smoke alarm to alert the neighbourhood of my stupidity.
So now while I await the smoke to clear and the oven to cool down enough to clean and scrape away all the bloody wax (before I am ever game enough to cook in it again!) - I have loaded the photos to my phanfare album for you to see how silly I was today!
Meanwhile - just to taunt me - I can actually hear my old fave band from the 80s playing a few streets away :(
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9 November 2008, Sunday.
Well after several months of rifling through cupboards and drawers and opening boxes that have sat around unpacked for 5 years, and lugging stuff upstairs from the carpark storage shed - finally everything is ready and sorted for my garage sale ! yeayyyyy.
Now as I dont have a garage it isnt a traditional sort of sale. Instead I have listed everything in a photoalbum online with picturs and details and pricing and people can contact me to pay for and collect the items.
So please direct any perth friends here: http://albums.phanfare.com/forsale and tell them to pass the link onwards. It is all in aid of Karina owning a lot less STUFF !
Cos I have decided if Karina owns less stuff then Karina is less stressed about making life changing decisions like moving to other states etc. So BUY BUY BUY!
What else. As I mentioned in my birthday holiday blog - I was suffering a lot of aching feet problems during the trip - and I realised it had actually started in mid September but as usual I kept assuming it was something that would go away. When I returned from Sydney I noticed the main was mostly in the left foot. It was really affecting my ability to walk and the stroll to work had extended out by a further 10 minutes. The throbbing continued thru the night too.
Anyway I went to the doctor 2 weeks ago and he took about 20 seconds to diagnose plantar faciitis and heel spurs before booting me out with no further assistance ! Gotta love how much money they can make in 20 second consultations !
So I did my own research and asked around in the friends and family email list. Its seems gel inserts in the shoes is what most are recommending, and a visit to a chiro and anti-inflammatories. So I got the inserts and I already had the anti inflams. No money for chiro right now but I will try to get to one soon.
Found these pics online that pretty much explains it! "Pain often here" is really all it needed ! Is this all part of turning 40 I wonder ? Everything falls apart from here onwards ?
Hmmm so what else is going on. Well I finished a big project last week. I moved all my photos from 25 big bulky photo albums into 8 small neat index card boxes and threw out all the old albums. I did my best not to distract myself by falling into the trap of gazing at the photos as I did the job each night after dinner - but I encountered so many that didnt have names, locations, or even dates on them that another project will now have to be digging out the diaries and matching photos to dates etc. Someday!
It was nice to finish the project tho - the big bulky albums have always been a milstone for me. Always taking up so much room in bookshelves and cabinets. The nice neat boxes take up a lot less room and are nicely organised etc.
And yesterday I went back down to the shed and emptied several big boxes of books and LP records straight into the garbage bin ! None were what I would consider to even be sellable in a garage sale so I chucked the lot ! I have reboxed one box of books that I couldnt bear to part with - all my childhood books - the Enid Blytons, the Nancy Drews, The Abbey Girls, the Donna Parkers, the What Katy Dids, The Lousia May Alcotts, The Ann of Green Gables books. And a lot of cute paperbacks that were important to me in my early teens. They are all old and battered but far too special to ever throw away. So I have reboxed them and put them on the highest shelf in the shed.
I also unpacked a giant box of stuffed toys. brought most of them upstairs to add to the garage sale pile and kept just a few treasures like my big Holly Hobby stuffed doll from the mid 70s, and my mums doll from the 50s. I put them in a smaller box and re-stored them
There is still one mystery large box down there. Nothing is written on it but its weight tells me it has to be more books so I will make that next weekends task to suss out its contents and make more decisions. Today my feet were so sore from 30 trips up and down the stairs that I just needed a lazy day of replying to emails and updating websites etc.
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23 November 2008, Sunday
So another weekend of decluttering. On Saturday I decided as I had advertised my giant entertainment cabinets for sale that it was time to empty them and get accustomed to life without them. I designed them back in 2002 and had my then neighbour build them for me. They were designed to hold EVERYTHING. But naturally life changes. I designed drawers for video tapes and low and behold - DVDs took over. I designed a record cupboard, cassette drawers and cd drawers. A space a for a big stereo player, a big heavy tv, and all my photo albums that weighed a tonne.
But stereos have shrunk, TVs have grown in width but not in height, the cassettes have died of old age, and its time for the majority of the record collection to go. Meanwhile the massive collection of photo albums have been reduced in size and volume by moving all the photos to index boxes.
And the more I look at the housing ads for the east coast - the more I realise giant cabinets will just not fit.
So I spent Saturday emptying the contents of the cabinets and moving them into the garage sale zone, then moving the buffet cabinet into its new location where it awaits the arrival of a new TV. The big old TV was far too heavy for me to lift into place so its on the floor ! best viewing is if I lay on the couch!
The new telly arrives on Wednesday - woohoo. My first ever flat screen wide screen HD digital wotsit techo thing. A 37 inch panasonic LCD. I know people think I should have gone up in size - but honestly everything over 40 inch just looked too giant. I also got the new panasonic HD DVD recorder with 250 gig HDD & twin tuners !! I will be able to record two stations at once while watching a 3rd ! I will also be finally able to access the digital channels and see what all the fuss is about. The last item in the midweek spending spree was a Canon scanner that does slides and negatives so I can check off another project off the To Do list and get some archiving and restoring done. Will start off with some slides from the 60s that Dad sent over. After I clean the mould off them ! eeeek.
Today I woke to a whole lot of bruises and painful neck and shoulders from moving all the furniture. So I selected one of my less strenuous projects to complete today. I pulled out all the firemen calenders from the 90s and early 2000's and scanned them all into the phanfare albums. Now the big pile of calendars can be binned (hmmm or ebayed ??) and that creates a whole empty drawer !!!!
What else is happening out there in the world ? Well in the background I can hear the opening beats of the Billy Joel concert playing just two streets away. If the rain goes away I will wander down the street to have a better listen.
Meanwhile, with all the publicity for the new Baz Lurhman film Australia - one would think the world had only just discovered the talents of Hugh Jackman ! Honestly world - some of us have been raving about the man since his very first TV show Correlli back in 1995. Actually some of us have been raving about him a little longer than that - like since 93-94 when he use to serve me tortellini on half price Tuesdays at Valentino's as he worked his way thru drama school. He was more full faced then but still adorable. Who of us imagined he would become the chiselled masterpiece that he is today! And as we watched him fall head over heels in love with Deborah Lee each week on Correlli we adored him even more - for proving he was a real man who wasnt afraid to fall for a full figured talented older woman.
So I thought I would do a "then and now" pic. Then as a rugged prisoner in Correlli 13 years ago, and now as the quintessential ocker in Australia.
And he can sing and dance too ! And he is a libran (I am just a few days older than him). Sigh.......... we do breed a talented crop here.
29 November 2008, Saturday.
So - on Wednesday the big new telly arrived. Am very glad I didnt choose anything bigger than 37inches. The delivery man was barely able to get it around the corners at the top and bottom of the stairwell ! So I spent the day dragging the monster out of its giant box and dragging it across the floor before hefting it up onto the buffet cabinet. Thankfully the new DVD recorder weighed nothing at all ! Then I had a bit of a read of the very thick instruction manuals. Hmmmmmm. After a bit of guesswork I plugged everything in in the right places first time !
Turned on the telly and it asked what state I was in - well technically I was in an exhausted state but that choice wasnt there so I selected WA ! before I knew it there it was programming itself without me touching a button. And low and behold when I switched on the DVDr - because the items are both panasonic - they started introducing themselves to each other and setting their clocks and tuning stations etc - all by themselves! Seriously - If I sat there much longer I am sure they would have made me a cup of tea! Gotta love todays technology.
So there was bugger all on TV due to rating season being over. So I pulled out Season 3 of ER and popped in a George Clooney fix to test out the nice new big screen. YUM !
Busy morning today. First I got a taxi out to Osborne Park to drop my old LG dvd recorder off for repairs. Its 3 year warranty expires on Thursday so it can get one last repair in before I work it to death on the video to dvd transferring project! The taxi driver waited for me while I dropped it off and then he drove me over to Bunnings in Inglewood. I told him not to wait - cos who ever gets out of a Bunnings in "a few minutes" haha.
So several hours later I got another taxi home laden with tools. A cordless drill, a jigsaw, drill bits and saw blades, and shelf supports in different sizes.
I am a toolgirl !
After last weekend where I decided I could live without all my big cabinets, well it was soon established that I can only live without 2 of them. The third was was actually serving a purpose ! Dammit. So after a bit of thinking I decided that I will fetch back the cabinet that held the stereo and cds from the garage sale pile and allow it to serve its purpose again. And then I decided that my "precious personally designed and hand made" cabinets are really just a big pile of purple MDF that is perfectly recyclable. So I am going to pull the photo album cabinet apart (and hope that my carpenter only used screws and no glue!) and cut some shelves out of it to attach to the side of the stereo cabinet to hold some vases and other big ornaments. And then while I am feeling adventurous I will also attempt to make a shelf unit to attach to the buffet cabinet so I can put ornaments and things above the TV.
There has always been someone in my life that did these kinds of handyman tasks for me over the years but as most of you know that person has removed their presence from my life - so its time for me to work out how to use things like drills and jigsaws all by myself! Who knows what I can do until I try. And the hospital is only a $10 taxi ride away!
I am probably being optimistic about my talents here but at least I now own the tools so I cant use the excuse of not having anything to do that job with.
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30 November 2008,
Sunday 12.50am
I was just about to go to bed when I
read the sad news that the man who
selflessly gave Sydney, Australia and
the world, this magnificent piece of
architecture, has passed away
yesterday at the age of 90.
Rest in peace
Joern Utzon
You made an entire city identifiable
around the world via a memorable icon and for that you will be forever remembered.
My tribute is one of my own photos that I took on a winters day in 2007.
30 December 2008, Tuesday.
Can it really be a month since I last posted a blog ? Blimey where do the weeks go ?
December went quickly (apparently). The first couple of weeks were at work and obviously nothing exciting happened there - tho the bully returned from leave so life has returned to its anxiety ridden state. It was nice to be rid of that for a few months.
I started my months holidays on Dec19 and tried to distract myself from the fact that I wasnt in Sydney that weekend farewelling Priscilla - the show that has given me great happiness over the past 2 years. Strangely enough - on the exact night - as I played the soundtrack loudly - there was a massive 30 minute fireworks display viewable from my balcony - no idea what the occasion was but I decided it was just for me !
So I have spent my holidays doing lots of chores along the decluttering and minimising lines. Both VCRs are hooked up to both DVD recorders and ploughing through the stack of video tapes merrily. Meanwhile I and fixing most of my fansites online and going through old magazines and tossing them. Also cutting shelving to size to fit my bookcases, and designing a hutch and shelf to add to the buffet cabinet for the new tv and dvdr.
Until this week the weather had been perfect - lovely days of 25c and cool nights. That all changed yesterday when the first of a week long heatwave hit with 36 to start us off and the prediction of 39 and over for the rest of the week. So on went the aircon and I guess it will stay on all week !
Yesterday Loz and Mrs H and I braved the heat and had a delicious lunch out at the Chocolate Factory in the Swan Valley, before popping in to Lancaster Vineyard to taste and buy some yummy wines and cheeses.
Today I braved the heat again and strolled to the post office to pay all those nasty bills that come due at this time of the year (so rude !) and grabbed some grocerys and some enormous purple grapes to quench my thirsty sweet tooth.
So - not much else to report to date. If you didnt recieve my End Of Year Message by email you can find it HERE.
See you all in the new year !!
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