The Waiting Man

Playing around with carpet samples this evening... kindasorta starting to think about maybe dreaming of a vague plan to, one day in the future, definitely consider the possibility of preparing an open-ended strategy for potential implementation, in due course, of hypothetical steps towards the forming of an idea geared towards eventually getting new carpet throughout WaitingManor... Sometime

Or not

A couple of the mat-sized samples do feel rather luxurious when stood on in bare feet... Mmmmm

One of only two nights in this week. Coming up ~ Dinners, a show, trivia quiz & an acoustic session optimistically being referred to as a rehearsal. Must dust off the Matron

And so the great tidy-up begins, now that I only have a few free days left before work starts. All the little things that need doing, need doing NOW, instead of when I get around to them

Wafflers Committee tonight, always good for entertainment, if not actual committeeing. Pity it's about a 30-40 minute drive home... Bed

Welcome to the Sanatorium... No, not the place where they make Weet Bix, but the place where sick people try to keep themselves busy in betweeen bouts of coughing & soiling handkerchieves, napkins & sleeves

Or, at least one of us does. So far, I remain as healthy in body as I could expect... though it's usually only a matter of time before an infection gets ambitious & greedy & spreads to whomever else is within reach. That'd be me, then

And here in WaitingManor, there is a lack of the proper medication, at the moment, for coughs & colds... I drank the last of the good scotch a couple of days ago

But, as I always say... Any infection that can fight its way through my blood/alcohol defence system & survive deserves to get me. So bring it on, my little whateveryouareacocchus...

Some time in the early hours of the morning, it started raining. And hasn't stopped all day

No complaints ~ we didn't have anything to do that required glorious sunshine, so we tripped through a couple of markets, had a coffee or two, then I dropped the Loved One off at her Mother's as she had to work tonight

Our DVD/VCR player is dying... I got about halfway through Iron Man this evening before everything froze & refused to move. This is happening with pretty much every DVD we put into it &, as usual, fixing it would cost about the same as buying a new one. I'm looking at getting just a DVD player with better sound options when my weekdays become workdays, so will try to coax the sickening machine to copy the last few videos onto DVD before it gives up the ghost completely

It is Wednesday, right?

The early part of the week has blurred for me due to a lack of itinerary. The next two days are distinct because they have things for me to do

Maybe I'll have something interesting to write about after that...

Not as hot today as expected, but still warmer than Summer's generally been up 'til now. Here on the coast, we had a southerly breeze & occasionally wind for most of the day

Another domestic day ~ washing sheets'n'shirts, clearing kitchen cupboards, then heading out to re-stock them & pick up supplies for a stir-fry dinner... the body was crying out for crunchy green things (& not the green things we cleared out of the cupboards!!)

A couple of movies from Foxtel this evening:~ The Adjustment Bureau & The Adventures of Tintin. Both okay in their ways, but I don't think we missed anything by not seeing them in a cinema. Glad we watched them, but don't need to see them again

I'm sure I used to go out on Saturday nights... I'm sure we will again, but it makes fiscal sense to raise the drawbridge & not venture far from WaitingManor when times are fiscally tough. I sent out about a dozen job applications over the last few days & have only had one automated reply... which was a rejection

Ah well... Chin up, chest out, soldier on...

A cooler day, with the midday temperature fifteen degrees less than yesterday...

Surfin' Bird*, our orphaned Grey Butcher bird turned up this morning & it was business as usual, feeding him worms, crickets & fending off the local magpie tribe who wondered why they don't get these treats. He seems unaffected by yesterday's heat, though I did introduce him to the bird-bath in the back yard, by picking him up & carrying him over to it, whereupon he splashed around happily for a few minutes

*Because everybody knows that the Bird is the word!!

Otherwise, a quiet domestic day. Dinner with Brother & Sister-in-law at a Paddington restaurant, but home relatively early

According to the weather bureau, Sydney is supposed to have escaped the brunt of the east-coast heatwave... If that's the case, then I pity the rest of you, because today was the first real sweltering beast of a day we've had in this town since the start of the season

And, of course, we were out & about in it for a while. Firstly to the Addison Rd markets in Marrickville, ideally to pick up some proper smoked salmon &/or trout fillets, artisan bread & other treats, but came away with only the bread, as well as some dried mango slices. Then to Rozelle Markets where we did our overflowing book & DVD shelves no favours but regret none of it. Then Birkenhead Point Centre for... well, nothing we went there for & in fact came away empty handed ~ a rare occurrence when we go shopping together

Back home & out of the heat in time to see Australia win the cricket, be vaguely domestic & a little lethargic, then a light dinner, House on DVD & some ice cream before bed... which is now

Back in 1997 I was in a car crash

At a 'T' intersection, a teenage girl decided that the 'Give Way' sign in front of her meant that other cars had to give her right of way. I was driving along the 'top' of the T & therefore actually did have right of way... right into the side of her car. Accusations & abuse were directed at me by the girl & her family, however the police disagreed with their assignation of culpability & charged her with various offences

My right knee was slammed into the firewall of the small car I was driving & has, intermittently, never been the same. A few times a year, it will begin to ache, give off heat, swell & become painful to walk on. A couple of doctors have so far failed to identify the problem ~ mostly because I take two Nurofen Plus when the ache starts & it goes away... for months at a time

It started again a couple of days ago, so I followed my prescribed method & waited for alleviation... Didn't happen. Last night the pain was enough for me to disregard the warnings about taking "too many" Nurofen & downed five of them... first three, then another two an hour later. Even then, I had to sleep in our spare room, as I needed to stretch my leg out, then roll over & try another way, then... you get the idea. Eventually I fell asleep & the worst of the pain has subsided this morning, but it's still there

All this while I'm trying to stick to a walking regime designed to shed the American excess. It doesn't help!!

Aarrgghh... the cough that makes your head hurt... the aches in every part of you that moves... the lethargy... the shivering in the small hours of the morning. Yes, it's the 'flu & we both have it

Brought home by the Loved One from her workplace, we've spent the day trying to figure out which of her incompetent cow-orkers shared it around & how best we can kill them. She caught it just in time to stuff up an extended weekend of plans & I inherited it yesterday afternoon ~ which should make her feel better, as the only way to get rid of these things is to pass them on, but not yet... judging by we two shambling pieces of wreckage wearing a path between bedroom, bathroom & lounge

Eliot, the Time-Share Cat... who's been sharing more time with us lately than her other (at least) 2 households

The downside to having a food bowl in the kitchen is that the local birdlife have discovered it... I've been busy evicting magpies as well as currawongs all day... not to mention an orange tomcat which I caught spraying the kitchen door to claim sovereigncy... & having to be on guard against my sister's miniature Schnauzer & his white fluffy friend who come around to chase Eliot & sample whatever food the other interlopers haven't scoffed, snaffled or scatted

Back to work tomorrow... for a quiet time

Okay... okay... So, something other than just token photos from the Flickr page

Current rumour, unfounded opinion & just plain scuttlebutt has it that my employers will close the doors of my branch at the end of the financial year. They haven't said anything about it, but it's an open secret that they've tried to sell it off to competitors & any other vaguely interested parties in the last few months & have had no takers

It would be a relief, but it will be annoying as L-SP & I have just booked our flights to & from the U.S. for September & it would be nice to have even the less-than-ample income this job provides up to the departure point. But as L-SP says... "We'll deal..."

Eliot the Time-Share Cat has begun spending more time inside WaitingManor as the weather turns colder. Her favourite routine involves coming into the computer room when I'm having my last, late-night potter around the 'net, jumping demanding to be lifted onto my lap, falling asleep on it, then claiming my chair when I go to bed. Then coming to our bed at about 2am, usually by climbing on top of me, tenderising whichever body part she wants to sleep on with her claws & complaining every time I want to roll over. Then, at about 4am, she lets me know it's time to let her out. Then, at about 5.30am, she bangs & yowls at the door to let me know it's time for first breakfast. Second breakfast is usually demanded just as I'm trying to get out the door & head to work... for a rest

Actually the colder weather means that not only Eliot uses me as a warm resting place, but so does L-SP, leading to my current description of myself as 'A Pillow of Society'

And on that bum note I think I should...

The end of another working week & here I am at home while Long-Suffering Partner does a bar shift on Oxford St tonight... on Mardi Gras Day. I bless her, I thank her, but I do not envy her.

Not much to report this week, which is absolutely fine after the tumult & stress of the last one. We're all fine, it's been raining a lot, Eliot the Time-Share Cat is fine... & we went to see Aphex Twin last night.

As far as I could tell, he didn't play anything that I recognised ~ no 'Come To Daddy' , no 'Windowlicker', not even anything off 'Ambient Works Vol 1'. In fact, as far as I could tell, he didn't actually play anything at all... there was a head & occasional black-clad shoulder visible behind a mesh video screen where a laptop & other machinery were set up & through all the smoke, lights & lasers, he could be sometimes seen to put on or take off a pair of headphones. It was like watching a Tax Accountant at work during a thunderstorm.

The music was unfamiliar, yet recognisable as Aphex Twin (very distinctive sound & style), but I was hard-pressed to remember any of it as we drove home & I'm even harder-pressed now. Which isn't to say I didn't enjoy it at the time... I most certainly did & it almost made up for sitting through two hours of anonymous DJing from a couple of unannounced, ill-lit & mute blokes standing & occasionally bouncing behind a technology-strewn table at the front of the stage.

Maybe I needed to be 'on' something...

So tonight ~ dinner & a movie... well, a DVD... for one.

A progress report & a bit of a catch-up.

After limping around on my sofa-damaged foot for a week now, I'm relieved to report that there doesn't seem to be any structural damage among the myriad bones, sinews & tendons which hold me upright most of the time. The bruising took a day or so to come up, but when it did, the colours were spectacular ~ all purples, reds, black'n'blues & I swear there was some green in there. A matching smaller set bloomed on my left foot too, which obviously didn't want to feel left out of the story. My foot (feet!) only really hurts now when I've been wearing my work boots & standing/walking/lifting/carrying for much of the day, making me appreciative of the cliché of the man coming home from work & taking his boots off... it's the best part of the day!!

We saw Kings of Leon last night, out at the old Toxic Dumping Ground at Homebush. I've never really had much of an opinion about them... don't dislike them, but don't really find them that great either. I was surprised how many of their songs I knew though... & even more surprised to enjoy one I'd never heard:~



Caleb the frontman/lead singer has all the stage presence of a dead fish, a 'Pass' Certificate in Arena Crowd Banter ("Hi Sydney... It's good to be back in Sydney... Y'all having fun?...Sing along Sydney!!") & the band aren't the most energetic & mobile bunch, despite the lead guitarist channeling Jimi Hendrix at one point & playing guitar with his tongue, but my award for best musician on stage went to the bass player for some really inventive basslines & a sound that cut through the typical arena concert bottom-end murk.

Rewinding a few weeks, I went to see Robben Ford's latest venture ~ Renegade Creation at the Factory Theatre in Marrickville with my latent Musical Foil.



Interesting to see Robben stretch out from his normal jazz/blues turf, but I'm not entirely sold on the overall result. A little too much gratuitous soloing from all players & too little of it was really interesting to put up with the other ten minutes of solo that wasn't. Thank god the bass player only took one solo though... it was one of those 'As-many-notes-as-I-can-play-in-the-high-register-because-I-really-want-to-be-a-guitarist' polytonal things that isn't so much a solo as an interruption. I really wanted this band to be something other than the usual thing that happens when you put a bunch of Session Players in a rehearsal room together & occasionally it was, but mostly... it wasn't. Six out of Ten.

A Domestic Duties day today ~ feed the Time-Share cat...



... laundry, vacuuming, re-organising the spare room & other general stuff. All to be done as barefoot as possible.

I had him... I had him right there, stuck in the 'humane' mousetrap...

And the slippery little bugger got away.

I don't want to talk about it...

Okay, well maybe a little.

The trap in the kitchen looked like it had been sprung, but felt too light when I picked it up. As I turned it over to check, our unwanted guest stuck his nose out of the now unsecured trapdoor & scarpered, apparently none the worse for wear after his stay in the peanut-butter baited trap.

So at least we know the 'humane' part of the description is accurate. Now, about that 'trapping' business...

I only hope this hasn't proved to be a memorable lesson for our errant rodent, meaning he won't go near the traps again