What’s the fuss?

I don’t get the fuss about recycled water. I’m sorry, am I missing something salient? Any recycled water would be scrubbed until it was fresher than anything that came from a spring!

Do we really need a referendum or symposium to discuss it?

C’mon Canberra - make the ruling and lets get on with it. I doubt the masses would be able to tell the difference anyway.

And while you’re at it - uniform daylight savings rules please and lets get rid of the central time zone…

Big Brother Dilemma

You see I’m a fairly parochial one-eyed supporter of all things Western Australian so naturally I should be supporting Jamie - from Perth - in the BB06 house - but I just like Camilla so much that it has to be her. Go Camilla!

Bend it like Groover

We were out in the Swan Valley today for a bit of carpark soccer… we always travel East so we get that chance at some gravel rash just to spice it up. Check out Groover’s bendy leg action - you thought him a mild-mannered-consultant - we know him to be Rubber-Man! No. Not that kind of rubber.

Check out these hot 40-year-olds (and one near 40)… bring it on! But how is my timing for giving up alcohol. Yes that’s right that is NOT a typo - giving up alcohol. At least for the time being.

Yes I did have a big night at the Must Wine Bar on Monday night (though surprisingly hangover free) but the real reason behind my abstinence is the fact that I noticed I was counting down the minutes to 5pm every night. Imagining cooking dinner with a glass of red or white by my right hand. Not even waiting til Groover got home to open a bottle. Not a good look.

So since Tuesday I’ve been alcohol free. It won’t last forever - just until the cravings go - I just need to prove to myself I am not an alcoholic. What was that they said about denial? :)

A very good store

Today I checked out my friend Marshall’s new enterprise - The Good Store. The idea behind this neat shop is that everything for sale shall be of great design - and it should actually work!

So often you see beautifully designed things that turn out to be drawer clutter or simply ornaments because they simply cannot do what they say they can do. Not at The Good Store. Think of it as a very useful present buying shop.

I first discovered Marshall’s intentions while he was working with me. I happened across him - in a suit - talking to customers at my local shopping area. I was vaguely out to lunch on a day off so I didn’t really get what he was doing - but his guilty reaction to my innocent - Hey Marsh what are you doing here? alerted me to a mystery.

Very soon we were ensconsed in Leaf - drinking tea and viewing his logo concepts. I thought it was a brilliant idea and it certainly explained why he kept asking where I bought things.

That was a year ago. The Good Store will probably open tomorrow and can I urge you to check it out. I’m going to write out a “Goodie” list and leave it at the store so should the need arise to buy me a gift you can just ask Marsh.

My transaction today was the first through the new till! How exciting!!

Marsh - I think your store is very… er… good.

You can find it at Shop 2, 363-367 Albany Highway - just up the hill from the Broken Hill Hotel.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Last time I was selecting books down at my local library I spied To Kill a Mockingbird on the return trolley and having never got round to reading it, I picked it up.

My impressions previously mostly stem from seeing an Eisteddford style dance routine at one of those school spectaculars on TV - in other words - pretty sketchy - somehow the whole Mockingbird thing had passed me by and now - nearly aged 40 I felt I really should read it.

A duty book if you like.

Well I got out five or six books and of course this one was left to last - after two other paperbacks that I picked up in between as well. I knew a worthy read was in front of me but somehow reading a Pulitzer Prize winning novel and a novel voted best novel of the previous century by American librarians did not encourage me.

It felt a bit like school.

But eventually I had nothing left to read and the library were about to send me a reminder so I picked it up.

Can there be a greater pleasure than a well written book? Easy to read. Thought provoking. Brilliant word pictures. I don’t think I want or need to see the film. Exquisite.

Why is it that I think of prize winning books as hard work? It can’t just be my Patrick White experience.

Anyway if you haven’t read it - read it.

And if you want to hear what a mockingbird sounds like - listen here

Hair today gone tomorrow

Yes another six weeks has flown by and I have once again had my hair cut. I did threaten to cut it really short just to where my roots had grown in grey - that’s about an inch short all over. I say grey - do I really mean silver? Yes. I do.

Anyway Groover threatened to divorce me and then said he’d just say I was recovering from a dire disease. I said he would look very bad if he decided to divorce me because I was sick.

So my hair is shorter and redder and well, I like it.

I’m gearing myself up to start cleaning the house. I might have to buy a pair of earrings to get myself in the mood.

Dilemma

Do I pop into the shops on the way home to pick up some fruit and veg before I pick up the kids from their holiday program or after?

Actually, on reflection, stupid question.

Cold Morning

It’s 1.3 degrees which for those of you who know Perth know that that is very cold for our neck of the woods. Oh yes I know it’s nothing for you Northern Hemisphere types!

Parky! That’s what this weather is and I wish I had thought to put out my puffy jacket last night to wear.

Well the school holidays have continued into the second week and you’ll be relieved to know that my children are not going to be sitting abandoned at home for the rest of the week. I’ve booked them in for two days at YMCA holiday care and they are spending one day with the Abstar and another day with Aunty M. The Y is a new thing for us and we’re just checking it out gently this holiday.

What I want to know is - are there holiday camps these days? I remember going on camps all the time as a kid. A week on Rottnest here (didn’t bathe for a week and I stank on return… I was a kid!!), a horseriding camp there (learned my lesson and bathed this time) - they were great fun although I don’t remember the food being much chop.

The one camp I didn’t go on - but wished I had - was a horseriding camp on Rottnest. They don’t have horses there anymore. I can remember the McG kids used to go often and I remember being quite jealous.

Of course when I was growing up, Rottnest was a reasonably cheap holiday and we used to spend a week or two on Rotto every summer staying in Pine or Starfish or one of those other little chalets with salt water showers and family meals with the McGs. We used to bring all our linen and groceries over and it was quite a big packing job with lots of cardboard boxes.

We used to have at least one big fishing expedition on the reefs at Cathedral Rocks and K and I used to plan an annual “ride around the island” which included picking up some quokka bread at the bakery and much poring over the map to decide where we would stop and rest. We always went clockwise round the island ending on that HUGE hill near the golf course that isn’t there any more.

Nowadays it’s a lottery to even get accommodation for one family - let alone two - and then it’s an expensive holiday in lets face it pretty basic conditions. Still I think the kids miss out on the freedom I took for granted thirty years ago.

500

This weekend we went south and had one of the most relaxing weekends I have ever had.

Got down there late afternoon on Friday and I immediately turned around and completed the most efficient shop I have ever done. Usually I buy all sorts of crap that never gets eaten but this time I bought exactly what we needed and no more. There was a satisfying few items that made the journey home with us. For some reason I bought 300ml of cream. Why? Probably to stick on the cereal I didn’t buy and it is lucky for my waistline that I did not. I also brought home 1 onion, 2 lemons, 2 pears, 1 apple and half a pack of carrots. The fruit and carrots didn’t make it home consumed as they were by my hungry children who didn’t get to stop at a roadhouse on the way home.

Then on Saturday with the rain blown past us we wandered the block (5 acres) planting out the 40 trees and shrubs we had bought on the way down. Next time we will be more organised and pre-order early. Still I’m sure the banksias, hakeas and eucalypts will thicken the bush up nicely. Again, next time we’ll do it differently as I think the kids were a little overwhelmed by the task once “out there” with spade. A production line might be more efficient and easy on us all.

The rest of the day was spent lazing around the wood fire, occasionally stoking it or sitting on the decking soaking up vitamin D and reading. We played Poleconomy (I won by a mile) and I taught the kids 500 (which as you know is a little like bridge) and we enjoyed a family dinner and cards to follow.

I’m loving the fact my kids love to play 500 now.

The next day dawned clear and bright again and we slowly got ourselves into gear. I made Groover go to town to buy me the Sunday Times - what a happy front page it was - and we tidied up before hitting the road.

We decided to check out the Plunkett home on the way back - I could live in this house I think - then headed further south to the Mystic Maze near Nannup. We spent an hour or two running around bushes - it was a lot of fun and SurpriseGirl (my daughter) and I beat the boys to the middle.

We got home in plenty of time to watch PY beat the other contestants handsomely on The Einstein Factor. Sweet.

Would we vote for a fat prime minister?

I’m thinking not.

Sorry Mr B if you want to win the confidence of the Australian public get yourself on “The Biggest Loser” regime toot sweet.

Yes it is fattist but look at the evidence my dear.

John Howard, President Bush, Tony Blair - all trim and taut (if not necessarily terrific) and leaders of their countries.

I’m not saying it’s fair or that it’s a measure of his intelligence, I’m just saying that the Australian public is superficial and takes people on face value. They might not say it but inside a little nasty script will be running “If he can’t manage himself, how can he manage the country?”

Having said that I reckon Kristy and Wal should probably run for their local seats…

(and in answer to your question - no I haven’t lost weight recently oh and yes here is the link to my Ron Klinger interview)

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