Melbourne

I’ve had 3 days of eating very too many desserts. No regrets.

Gee I hope the fires don't actually reach Ararat and Stawell, that would be awful.

It's supposedly a warm night out here where I am but compared to last night in the hotbox I'm positively loving it. Lovely balmy breeze. Just nothing but the sound of insects chirping and the wind through the trees, no humans anywhere near, no lights, no electricity (though maybe annoyingly for trying to break bad habits, some phone reception...)

Ted is enjoying this warm weather by snoozing on the terrace. I am happy he feels comfy and safe enough to snooze outside. 🙂

The winds! THE WINDS!!

Here comes the change!

Work is over for the day & I finally have two days to myself, yay! Time to start catching up on all the cleaning and gardening I need to do...

Christmas is nice, but it is a bit hard to fit everything in when you don't have any time off and I have fallen a bit behind on a few of those not completely vital chores.

Perfect time to go for a walk. Cool breeze just kicked in.

20% PH surcharge for dinner is criminal. Lucky the food was really good, and I was sitting outside as the cool change hit.

This is from Bing's front page.

RIP air quality :/

Time to close the windows.

Made some Pad Thai for dinner....turned out great.... recipe called for garlic chives I used garlic shoots.

OMG they're garlicky as hell. I love garlic but wasn't ready.

RIP anyone that talks to me over the next 24 hours

Ended up leaving Melbourne at 10am (after doubling back realising I'd left my wallet and hat at home). Made pretty decent time just pedal to the metal to Albury now another longer break just past Yass. Just 1.5 hrs more after this. Caught up with the fire news and it looks farked. So many people love Halls Gap though I have every confidence it will come back even if it gets hit really hard this time

Mmmm more lamb for dinner with coleslaw.

Last night I had a really nice dream. In it I was in a happy and loving relationship with someone who cared about me. It didn't even last that long, but in the dream I felt like it had been longer.

I've been thinking about it all day. She didn't even have a face, I just remember hugging her and thinking about how comfortable I was.

One of those not-nightmares that feels like one in retrospect

So I think the time has come to get into BBL. I have adopted the Melbourne stars because... Melbourne, stars, and green. And they are playing right this minute.

BBL fans am I going to regret this adoption? A cricket team is not just for Christmas, I know...

Gypsy has come for a visit. The cats are unimpressed.

Ok now for a positive comment. Visited the grandma's house and she had a guitar amp in her garage that must've belonged to one of my cousins back in the day. It was very dusty! She insisted I take it, so now I have an amp with overdrive yay!

Sometimes good things happen when you're not looking for them :)

Christmas day report 2.

That cousin who totes disrespected me last week. 🙄

Started talking about all of us going on holiday with him to Ireland.

This is after he said the bus tour operator on his last holiday was boring and would point out the most boring things, like ancient ruins of monasteries

and I said I'd be "Stop the bus!" and would be excited to see the ruins of the places where monks worked to save western civilisation after the fall of Rome.

To him the tour would be seeing places where some of his ancestors ( the men ) came from . I truly would not have enough eyes to roll.

Talking with him yesterday was a good exercise on how a very average sexist copes with talking to a woman who is not cowed by him and is way smarter and knows stuff better ( not perfect, just better ) The copium was spread thick.

"That's just your opinion."

changes subject

starts to get passive aggressive

appeals to other people

Christmas day report.

Some of you may remember me writing about my BIL who is a hoarder and for whom we spent a lot of energy and time cleaning up his house and yard. Weeks of horrible disgusting dirty work.

He does not have much furniture, nearly all that he has he inherited from his dad, just like he inherited the house. And he does need to replace his kitchen and bathroom .

So I organised a nice big gift card from ikea to him as a present. Just to get him looking at the website or in the actual store as well as getting something that could make his life better.

He opened the present. He was furious.

It seems to me he was counting on cash so that in our usual cash gift exchange he would come out even. Take into account he doesn't make any meaningful contribution to xmas dinners or any fam celebration, he usually comes out ahead.

I had no idea he was that much of an unredeemed Scrooge.

This year I’ve ended up with some chocolates that I really like, some of them a little different from usual like orange slices coated in dark chocolate and peanuts coated in dark chocolate and a lot of Lindor chocolate.

I think I’m almost relieved this year not to get a Cadbury favourites box.

I think it’s the least favourite of any chocolate boxes i like to get because I hate what’s in them.

Oh and also got a box of shortbread biscuits, oohh they’re so good.

The wind is really picking up out there.

All the leftovers, and everybody wants Chinese lmao.

I need to brag - the trip to the shops ended up being absolutely worth it: I scored a puffer jacket for a grand total of $6.40. Now I'm extra ready for Japan and can put the rest of the money I thought I'd need to spend on a jacket towards Mofusand goodies!

Given how bad the wind looked on the forecast, I can happily say I’ve ridden in worse.

Down at my mates for Chrissie leftovers and their salads are the bomb. Surprised I was able to have a full late lunch given how my gut felt this morning.

Now time for some online shopping, methinks.

Hope everyone is having a nice Boxing Day!

Anyone interested in doing the Hobart to Hobart with me next year? We just float around on a boat in Hobart and sink some piss. If asked we claim we finished really early.