Since we don’t live by politics alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
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Amazing … Frist for me …
I was doing a bit of a tidy of those parts of the shelves one rarely sees and found a tin of pears that you’d only open post-armageddon — labelled “best before August 2007″.
Watched the cricket … most engaging. Hughes avoided hitting a catch to the arc from keeper to gully. Got into double figures. Hit some boundaries in front of the wicket. Amazing! Mind you, he should have been out caught behind in the strangle down legside after a faint touch of the glove before troubling the scorer. The Kiwis didn’t demand UDRS presumably because they thought his was a gift wicket and didn’t want to waste an appeal. Convincing the opposition you’re rubbish has an upside! Who knew?
Rain came. Not so amazing.
I can’t see why there could be anything wrong with those pears that wasn’t obvious. If the coating on the can broke down there would be rust. If the syrup turned to alcohol the can would be bulged out but the contents would be fun. If the alcohol had then turned into vinegar there would still not be any pathogens.
But if you’re like my wife, the date means they are binned.
Watching this
“Armed Chinese Troops in Texas!”
Toy reindeer antlers for the grandsons, who Lapped them up.
In the thick of making sauce for presents and then some for us. The smell has wafted into every nook and cranny.
Unfortunately blowflies also love the smell, so have had to batten down the hatches and buy shares in Mortein.
On holidays a fair distance from home, looked up (via email) a regular LP commentor and organised a meet-up. A most pleasant morning tea ensued, and if zie wants to disclose zie may, but right now am respecting zir privacy.
The restaurant recommendation for lunch was spot-on, btw.
Started well, finished not-so-well.
My westbound train was cancelled, and was replaced by a car to Helidon.
The train eastbound, however, was over an hour late, which meant that my lazy working Sunday went for ten-and-a-half hours.
And then things turned out really bad.
I discovered that my car keys were missing.
So it was a $60 taxi-ride home to get the spare key, and then scrounge a lift back to work to get the car.
It was nearly midnight when I finally got to sit in the car and start the long drive to Helidon. Two hours later, I was looking through a darkened railway yard for a black car key, hoping that I wouldn’t be bowled over by 2,500 tonnes of westbound train rolling through Helidon at 50km/h.
I didn’t get hit by a train.
And I didn’t find any car keys.
It is now 4.17am, and I have just got home.
Work on Monday starts at 9.30am.
I’ve had better Sundays…
Yes, there was a bit of superficial rust on the can, Salient, but otherwise I imagine the contents would have passed muster in an emergency. I don’t foresee such an emergency, and so Mel Gibson-scenarios rejected, we binned it.
@terangeree, that’s a shocker of a Sunday. Commiserations.
Yes Terangeree. Bad days happen. I was in the backyard of my daughter’s house yesterday when a friend of hers set fire to herself with a metho spill. She’s ok – 18% burns and currently in an intensive care unit. Strange how old training just turns up when you need it. Water, lots of it, played constantly over the burns probably minimised the burn depth. The Paramedics were superb. Had better days, though.
akn, that must have been most distressing for all of you. She’s got a rough few months ahead of her in burns recovery.
Been raining steadiky in Armidale for a week with constant threat of thunderstorms which is why I haven/t posted for a while. Its like living on Venus here.
Antway, spent the wqeekend reading Winthrop Jordan’s White over Black. 1969. Enthralling.
Have new magnifying glass. Gopod for reading books but not for online. Failure to coment etc because I can’t see very well. February can’t come quick enough. Otherwise, I am getting stronger every day.
Paul Burns said:
Have you tried adjusting the zoom level at the bottom right of screen on the taskbar?
Or just CTRL and + to enlarge, CTRL and – to make smaller again. I’m probably telling you things you already know, though!
Glad to hear you’re on the up, Paul.
What a shocker of a day, Terangeree. Hope you find your keys and have only good days henceforth.
akn, hope your daughter’s friend is OK. Our accountant and his daughter were both very badly burned a couple of yeas ago when his boat engine exploded while on holiday.
They spent only a few weeks in the burns unit at the RAH and both fully recovered with no permanent scarring or other disabling injury.
Hopefully, given the great leaps forward in burns treatment, your daughter’s friend will have the same positive outcome.
@ Tigtog @6 — I’m so glad, I had a great time too. Cake recipe on its way shortly : )
Terangeree sounds very typical of Mercury Rx. Direct again on Weds.
Yes indeed. I have very great respect for people who work in the burns unit. I did six months and found the complicated dressings exhausting.
Paul Burns: good to hear from ya
So happy to hear you are on the mend Paul Burns.
Seem to spend most of my time mowing or whipper snipping, being overtaken by the urge to use that product that will give me some respite.Massive hail and rain on Saturday evening ensured that Sunday was spent yet again digging trenches to drain water from sheds.
Of drought and flooding rains indeed.
Re reading posts. Problem is not the size of the type which I have quite large, but that it is faded to a very dull grey which is hard to read. Also can’t see to use the cursor to make replies very well. Sometimes takes me several minutes to manipulate it. Still, not long now and I’ll be okay.
teragaree,
though I couldn’t read all of it. the burns story is a shocker.
Hey Fran you could have had your can of pears zapped with radiation to kill the pathogens at your local nuclear reactor. Bet you did not think of that
Huggy
Paul, perhaps the contrast setting on your monitor could do with some adjustment if the text appears so faded – I find that makes a huge difference for me.
Hi, tigtog.
Thanks. Will try that, but I think its the cataracts. The TV and DVD are faded too and I see everything in a bit of a mist. But come Feb all will be well, more or less.
Sadly, I don’t have a local nuclear reactor, which is why I didn’t think of it.
Fran, I’m sure I remember an article in the September 1956 edition of Popular Mechanics that gave step-by-step instructions for building a nuclear reactor in your back yard.
Problem solved!
Wasn’t there a chap a little while back in Sweden who wanted to build one in his kitchen?
Postscript: my keys were found in Toowoomba, so after work this morning (5.30am), I took a long drive to get them, and played “tourist” in the Lockyer Valley on the way there and the way back.
Oops. Stuffed the quotes tags.
Fran@26, Tim@28: You are thinking of the radioactive boy scout.
The problem with irradiation is that although it kills the bugs, it may not degrade the toxic chemicals that they have produced, so while unsafe pears would cease to be infectious, there is no guranatee that they would become safe!
Andyc
I don’t think HB was being serious, and I responded in kind
I loved Going Postal last night. Without offering spoilers, let’s just say this was a very well-executed rendition of a Terry Pratchett story.
Going Postal plays with melodrama, fantasy and ‘steam punk’ to produce something reminiscent of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in its look and feel. The story arc is engaging and the humour and tongue in cheek understated. They must have spent large on the costume and sets and the composition of shots was simply fabulous.
If you missed last night, it would be worth catching it up for next week.
Back in Canberra after a couple of weeks in the US and NZ for conference season. Spending the day in front of my computer working on my thesis. Have a hard deadline of February 10 for submission, as I have a new job at (the corrupt!) CSIRO immediately after that. Lots to do between now and then so expect it will be a quiet Christmas this year!
What are the rest of you doing for Christmas? Anyone heading away somewhere nice?
Oops, didn’t realise that this wasn’t the current Lazy Sunday! I’m going to blame Fran for bumping an old thread.
Might cross-post once the new one comes up.
Very down today. Something I’ve worked on for years has been trashed.
I was supposed to be back in Japan this weekend, Jess, but instead I am not and the beloved is disappointed (it would have been a weekend trip which saw me arrive in Fukuyama just in time to begin the long journey back to Brisbane). I think I’ve figured out a way to combine the planned granny-flat for the in-laws with the long-overdue rejuvenation of the garage (that is, if the Brisbane City Council allow construction of a self-contained two-storey garage).
Flat tyre yesterday.
Helen, that sounds serious. Was it an idea or an object or a person who got trashed?
Have entered seventh month of suspension on full pay from my employment. Some sort of record I suspect. I’m hoping for a suitable conclusion soon partly because of the entertainment value of how this situation arose.
In the meantime I’ve relocated from city to bush just at the time of my life when it suits me. Sometimes material circumstances limit options but this doesn’t mean that limited options need to restrict opportunities. Life in the bush suits me. More room for authenticity in the people that often slides over into deep eccentricity. Still, if you’ve money in your kick and a decent attitude to people then there are fewer obstacles to all kinds of freedoms.
Geez Terangeree – not having much luck on the auto front this week! You have my commiserations.
Helen: Sorry to hear you’re down.
Is ‘it’ fixable, or trashed for good?
Good grieve, three misadventures in a row (@35-37), my sympathies all-round. Terangeree, I hope it happened in a not too difficult place. Helen, one can only take a few of those hard knocks in live. Do it justice – grieve well and grow stronger from it. Akn, welcome to the Country Club and the infectious treasures of authenticity and eccentricity. Does the suspension looks like a blessing in disguise? Still, no forced change is easy, how does the family cope?
Could not agree with you more Fran re Going Postal.
The last two weeks my health has improved remarkable, so I am flat out preparing the Doomstead (we affectionately call it ‘Yambunga’; Muluridji name for ‘The Camp’) for the Wet.
Fixable? Maybe. I hope so.
ootx, thanks for your concern. The whole situation is an undisguised blessing. The kids reckon its fine – I’m on a train line from Sydney, they like the bush and enjoy seeing me behave as if the future is worthwhile.
Are you familiar with Xavier Herbert? Sounds like your in that country.
Akn, having lived in Mango and now residing in Tobacco Town, I can picture myself as a background character in a Thea Astley novel. Although I have never knowingly met her, some of my friends still grumble about her borrowing THEIR eccentricity for a character in one of her novels.
Today Xavier would not recognise Redlynch, now a suburb of Cairns, where he lived. As Thea is reported to have said: “Sadly, the north has changed. As we say up there: beautiful one day, developed the next.
Well Ootz, may the days of the red north be remembered. Doesn’t get better than living in a town called Mango!
Anthony remember, originally the north used to be black, and sometimes it’s raining in Mango!