The Waiting Man

A visit to the Rocks district in town, on a rainy day. Close to the Circular Quay wharves & that Bridge...



And also home to the Museum Of Contemporary Art, which is obviously outgrowing its walls...



Inside, there's a wonderful collection of works by Deborah Kelly



We also had a yum-cha-style lunch/brunch at Sergeant Lok - a restaurant housed in the former 18th/19th century police station in the Rocks. I daresay the food is better now than it was back then... We certainly enjoyed it & plan to go back for their full degustation menu

Cap it all off with a nice roast beast dinner & our Rugby League team winning convincingly up in Queensland & you have a pretty damned good day!!

Dinner with that rarest of things, last night - a former flame that L-SP likes & encourages me to maintain contact with

The restaurant was pretty good, in a cool, inner-city kind of way - sort of contemporary Lebanese/Turkish & was nice enough... a little over-priced by our standards, but if you can't splurge every now & then... It was really nice to catch up with our globe-trotting, soon-to-be Mother to 3 cats - she says 2, we know it will be 3!! Her sardonic, slightly cynical, but ultimately humanitarian world view matches ours. Recently returned from Japan, it's a relief to know that she didn't need to self-isolate, or anything... having travelled by plane, not by cruise ship... so neither do we!

With all that in mind, L-SP & I were wondering, during the drive to work this morning, why it is that we aren't panicking, or even too worried, about Covid19's gradual, but inexorable spread. Why aren't we rioting in supermarket aisles over rolls of toilet paper, or hand sanitiser & throwing cans of soup at other shoppers?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but even if you get this virus, the chances of dying from it are nothing like what they are for the 'flu every year, or the national road death toll every year, deaths from domestic violence every year... or (even in Australia) shooting deaths every year... or fatal stabbings... Every year

The cynic in me wants to think that, just because the vast majority of virus fatalities have been "older" people, the baby-boomers in power are getting worried. They certainly don't get worked up like this about diseases that kill children... Nobody closes borders & cancels public gatherings during 'flu season. And certainly the US Administration hasn't done anything about all the children who have died in mass shootings this year... & it's only March...

... Well, maybe...

Last night we went out for dinner with 2 long-time friends. They're our burger/chicken/not-quite-fast-food-but-almost dining companions & Belle's Hot Chicken was the chosen venue. L-SP & I have been there before & enjoyed it, so were happy to recommend it for our fast-food foursome. Last time I was there, I had my chicken pieces 'Really Hot', which was one below the hottest level, appropriately named 'Really Fuckin' Hot' &, while it burned a little, it was quite tasty & certainly not the hottest thing I've ever eaten. But...

Last night, having been reminded by L-SP that I'd enjoyed the 'Really Hot', I went there again. My male counterpart ordered the 'Really Fuckin' Hot', as he's an enthusiastic chili hound. One difference was that there was now a higher heat level available, perplexingly named 'Sex Panther', after an off day in the Marketing Department, methinks.... Before too long, our chickens arrived. My friend got straight into his RFH & within 20 seconds was red-faced & starting to sweat at the eyebrows, but to his credit, kept going, with the aid of a nice 4 Pines ale. I picked up my first piece of RH...

... & within 20 seconds was red-faced, sweating from the eyebrows, had hiccuped from the heat & was further into my beer than my friend was. His wife took great delight in taking a photo of both of us, as evidence of our alpha male pretensions coming unstuck. Then my nose started bleeding...! This wasn't actually chili related, as it had bled earlier in the day, due to the headcold I've been nursing along for a few days... but it did provide an excuse to head to the bathroom & get the hell away from the devil bird for a few minutes. By the time I returned, our friend was onto his last piece &, while still red-faced & into a 2nd beer, was showing no signs of stopping. So I started my 2nd last & ordered another beer for myself too...

Some time around then, I had an epiphany... While wondering what the hell I was doing to myself, I realised I didn't actually have to do it at all & decided to finish the 2nd last piece & just... stop. To their credit, our friends didn't give me any grief for it (pretty sure one of them didn't have the breath, or lip/tongue co-ordination anyway!), so we paid the bill & made a beeline for the ice cream shop!!!

I had about 3 hours of good sleep, before heading for the toilet at about 2am, then again at 2.30, 3.15 & 3.45am. Around 4am, my nose started bleeding again, then by 5am Bella figured I was awake, so began her morning interruption schedule - wanting to be let out, wanting the heater turned on in the loungeroom, then wanting breakfast. My darling little cat has no idea how close she came to being put in the ground with her late sister... Off to work at 7.15am into the first day of school traffic...

The only way I can describe how I felt today was a food hangover... Nausea, headache, lethargy & the resultant impatience & extremely low bullshit threshold... with lots of water. LOTS of water... & more visits to the bathroom. L-SP reported that my friend who, let's remember, had the next heat level up from me, had suffered no lasting effects. I think I hate him a little right now...

Thinking about it, this isn't the first adverse reaction to hot food I've had recently... just the most extreme & memorable. So maybe it's time to retire my asbestos-coated digestion while there's still some coating left, as it's clearly wearing thin. No more chomping on chilis straight off the vine, no more hot sauces with death or disembowelment-related names proudly displayed on the kitchen shelves & dining table, no more beef or chicken vindaloos at the local Indian places... on 2nd thought, some of those aren't that hot, really... Maybe I can still have those...

Watch this space...

For those who don't, or won't, take climate change seriously, here's some really bad news

Chocolate could be "extinct" after 2050

By which time I'll be 83 years old & chocolate will probably be the only pleasure I could enjoy regularly - teeth or no teeth. So this is serious people!!

Given the Donald's documented affection for McDonalds chocolate shakes, this is the news that should hit home for him... provided nothing (or someone) else hits him first

By now, the Loved One & I should know better than to aim for the conventional... it never works out for us

On the other hand, when we have a mad or ill-conceived or relatively unplanned idea (like "Hey, let's drive across the USA with no booked accommodation!!) it all goes swimmingly

Therefore we should have known that arranging a special dinner-for-two to celebrate our Six Month Semi-Anniversary was never going to conform to expectations... We'd decided on a Spanish restaurant in town that we hadn't been to in a while, but retained fond memories of atmosphere & food quality. Firstly, parking was the usual nightmare, then the waiter showed us to a table behind a large group of large people with their chairs so far out I couldn't squeeze into my spot. So we moved to the back of the place, next to a pair of young women who were telling themselves & anyone in earshot (which was a number of us) that they were having a "Girls Night Out... Boo Ya!!"

It then took quite a while to attract a waiter's attention, but once we'd ordered, the food began arriving fairly quickly ~ including a garlic bread we hadn't asked for, but whatthehell... The first couple of courses were tasty, but it all fell apart when a wrong dish arrived & we were assured it was the right one. It wasn't. From there... well let's just say the pork belly was salty as hell, the garlic prawns made up in chilli what they lacked in tenderness & the idea of dessert was quickly quashed in favour of paying up & getting out

An attempt to visit a favoured Gelataria was thwarted by traffic & lack of parking, so ~ of all places ~ we wound up at our local RSL Club for cake & last drinks, accompanied by three different football games on the screens & all the attendant, well-lubricated fans. On a whim, we decided to visit the Poker Machine Lounge & 'gamble' some of the money we'd allocated to our special night...

And so, of course, this is where it all went right... walking away with a $25 profit on the evening. All down to the Loved One's skill with the 10 Credit button, but credit where it's due, I say.

On this evidence, maybe we'll celebrate our first year a day, week, or month late. Trust me... it'll be a better time

An abortive attempt this evening to participate in a new trivia night, as our regular one from last year will not be back

As we will not be back to tonight's venue... too crowded, too trendy... & the trivia had a 'Seinfeld' theme ~ my least favourite US comedy of the 90s & now endless syndication, so I was never going to be an enthusiastic contestant anyway. Dinner then became Priority 1, so on one of our group's recommendation, we trooped down to Chinatown & into a restaurant specialising in different flavours of fried chicken. The soy sauce-flavoured one was great, the plain one was a bit bland & the hot'n'spicy'n'covered in cheese was possibly a bit over the top... but we ate it all anyway

Work experience continues. Haven't sold anything yet, so it's all theoretical until I can test my memory & improv skills

So, Filipino food... Quite tasty in fact. Goes well with coconut water

Waiting... waiting for employment news, good or bad. Either is better than nothing

Well, the good news is that last night's Indian meal had no after-effects. No Gandhi's Revenge, no Delhi Belly, no Black Hole of Calcutta. Nope, naan of those...

Now... Of all the dozens & dozens of jobs applied for over the last few weeks, I had one interview for a sales role I really wanted & I had a phone interview for a part time counter-monkey job that I only went for as a worst-case-scenario liferaft. As cruel Fate would have it, I have a second interview for that one... never heard back from the one I wanted. O fortune, how you mock me!!

No matter how strange you think your life is... Nature can always go one better...

Now we know where the expression 'Sick as a parrot' comes from ~ Darwin.

We played Mini-Golf with some friends on Friday night, at a course not far from Warriewood Beach, so the air was misty with sea-spray &... mist. There were people on the adjacent driving range who had no hope of seeing where their shots were landing... One of those lost photo opportunities as I had no camera of any kind on me... Bugger! By turf-out time at 9pm we'd only done half of the second nine-hole course, but were quite happy to repair to the nearby Hog's Breath Café for a late dinner. Note to self: Order 'Medium Rare' next time, as my rare steak was a bit underdone... even by my bloody standards.

Rozelle Markets today... See what books & trinkets we decide we can't live without...

I don't think I'll ever eat again...

After a Mothers Day buffet lunch with my Mother & Grandmother, as well as my sister & uncle, we were stuffed ~ & still had dinner with my L-SP's Mother this evening to contend with, which was meant to be another buffet affair (!!??), but was changed to dinner at a favourite Italian restaurant where, typically, the servings are generous & the food is beautifully done. No... I'm not telling where it is... we had to wait for a table tonight & it would only be worse if everyone else found out about it.

Now ~ home, with belts unbuckled & noble thoughts of gyms & exercise...

... Yeah, right...