More Melbourne highlights

From the cold, harsh climes of London, I can reminisce on the rest of my holiday in my home town:
- seeing Beowulf in 3D at the IMAX - woah!
- discovering I love the retro styles of Quick Brown Fox and spending lots of money there!
- Christmas with the extended family with loads of awesome presents and conversations
- Noticing how much everyone has grown or changed
- seeing some dear friends who I miss heaps
- playing with my cousins' cute spoodles (spaniel x poodle)
- meeting all the babies in my network (well, almost all of them)
- visiting fave haunts - Brunswick St., Acland St., and Smith St.
- being bought a ticket to a mystery event which turned out to be a Hari Krishna performance night. Needless to say we didn't stay long ;)
- being inspired by a new friend's art and cult collectibles
- pointing out places I'd been to for Ben everywhere we walked and describing the memories they evoked
- getting a shiatsu massage at the Japanese Bath House in Collingwood
- an intimate NYE with Gary and Barb and a few choice friends - with cocktails, boardgames and karaoke!
- drinking wine by the Yarra in Fairfield with my cousins
- eating sweet, ripe mangoes on a daily basis
- doing some bar-hopping on our last night in town and discovering some new funky bars: Horse Bazaar, The Toff, and The Workshop
- Yum Cha on our last day with my loud but lovable family :)

Needless to say it was a very special time with lots of great people and delicious food. Needless to say I don't miss the heat and I've started a health kick to recover from the excess consumption!

(photos forthcoming...)

Melbourne highlights so far

- eating my Mum's delicious egg-lemon soup after a tiring plane journey
- going through all my clothes, shoes, DVDs and wines
- latte!! real, tasty latte, made properly!!
- seeing my brother and sister-in-law's new house (and having house envy)
- wandering through the city streets, checking out old bar haunts and wondering if they've changed
- playing bingo at the Terminus with the old Sensis techie crowd (and extensions)
- variable weather - hot one day, raining the next
- seeing 'Eagle vs. Shark' at the Nova on Lygon St.
- eating a pack of cheese twisties - yum!
- watching Ben rock out on my brother's Guitar Hero game
- hearing Aussie accents everywhere
- just hanging out at home with family

God bless Terry Pratchett

...who assures us that he is not dead, but is only suffering from a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's. Bless him for being such a cheerful bugger! And may he write loads more books while he can! :)

Human milk - add 30p!

This was a sign in my local coffee shop this morning. I looked at it, and looked at it again, and then I asked about it. The guy said, somewhat condescendingly, that it was a joke. Ok, I'm an idiot. But it did make me wonder for a moment there...

The frost has descended

Ah the English Frost. It made its first appearance of the season this morning. I should have known - this week it's been just that bit colder and the wind that much icier. As I left the flat this morning, the first thing I noticed was the little park and playground in our square all frosted over, icicles twinkling in the sunlight. Beautiful! God only knows where all the squirrels are hiding - I just hope the little munchkins are warm!

Counting the days!

It is now 4 days till we take off for Melbourne! I can't decide what I'm looking forward to the most - spending Christmas with my clan, catching up with friends, showing Ben 'my' Melbourne, seeing the Myer Christmas windows, having a summery and BBQ-themed festive season, or eating food that's full of flavour.

I still have my head buried in this project, and won't be surfacing till the last minute on Friday. Haven't even thought about packing, but I am determined not to take much, and do lots of shopping to bring back instead - the pound to Aussie dollar exchange rate is still sweet! I also need to write a few Christmas cards for people over here (I've succumbed... the guilt is too great) before I go.

I'm very excited... I can't wait! :)

Favourite new muso

In the last month or so I have been introduced to the concept of 'filk' aka 'geek folk'. It is highly amusing. Through Neil Gaiman's blog I have discovered Jonathan Coulton who writes some very funny songs of this genre, and even does a cover of Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" (beats me why I've always liked that song...). Check out his listening suggestions! (Warning: if you listen to this at work and laugh out loud people will give you strange looks. I'm used to that but you might not be).