www.flickr.com

nothing because it has to be connected to my computer to work, grrr


prawn cocktail crisps

pilchards on toast (you can get pilchards there but they just don't taste the same)

decent tv

jaffa cakes

Greggs pasties

proper beer (as in Black Sheep, or Timothy Taylor's Landlord, or Cwrw Haf, the list goes on...)

Friday, January 30, 2009

Urgh

I like our new bathroom. For one thing, it's actually a bathroom! With an actual bath! It's only a tiny one, I would have to sit up a bit, or bend my legs and have cold knees but it means that in the winter I can actually go up, light some candles, pour a glass of wine, take my book and have a lovely bubble bath :) I can't wait for cooler weather!

Our bathroom also has a sink, and a toilet and as far as they go it's pretty standard.

However it has no windows due to the fact it's in the middle of our home which is one of several terraced houses in a complex (called a unit over here). Anyway, to compensate for this, the designers though that they would put in a skylight about 1ft square to let some natural light in. A brilliant idea you might say, and so it is. We have a grill ( with about 1cm wide holes) in our ceiling and a window in the roof.

We also have a bird eating spider* that lives between the two.

The only comforting thing about the fact that this damn thing is HUGE is that it can't get through the grill because its body is so big. I am not amused.

*shudder*


*actually, it's not a bird eating spider because a little bit of research shows that that is native to South America. Nevertheless, it sounds impressive and as I don't know what kind of huge monster it is, bird eating it will remain.

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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Lazy lazy me

Ok, so once again I've been thinking of all these great posts and witty observations and completely failing to make them.

What can I say other than sorry?

The last couple of weeks have been quite good actually. We've settled quite well into our new abode and it's really feeling like home now.

Graham recently took me to a shop that they have here in Cairns, it's only a little shop and it's irritatingly named (for crying out loud Australia, it's quite simple - if it's on a stick, it's a lolly. If it's not, its a sweet. It's not difficult!) but it's heaven for an ex-pat like me. I refer, of course, to the British Lolly Shop (see what I mean). I was so happy I didn't know where to start! I was amazed and overjoyed to find that you could buy redcurrant jelly there (and I made Graham go out and buy a lamb roast for dinner just so I could have some) and I got some aniseed balls and proper fudge. They were all out of prawn cocktail crisps but the lovely lady assured me that they would get some in in the next delivery so I feel another trip coming on soon!
I also had a bit of a nostalgia dvd weekend (while Graham was away of course, he would never have put up with it if he were there!) a little while ago because I was just killing time in Sanity (sort of like HMV) waiting for keys to be cut when I spotted High Society for only $10.00. And then I spotted The Sound of Music for $20.00. Bargain! Consequently, that particular Sunday was spent cleaning the house with The Sound of Music on. I'm sure my neighbours loved my singing...

It was Australia Day long weekend this weekend just gone and Graham dragged me out in the boat at some awful hour of the morning - mind you, it does mean I get fantastic sunrise pictures so I can't complain too much!

In compensation for this, on Sunday we drove to Cape Tribulation for a day out. I've been wanting to do this for a while as it's a lovely drive and there are all sorts of things that you can do. Not that we really did any of them, mind you, but we know we want to go back when we've got a boat and spend the weekend fishing and maybe do the odd crocodile spotting trip.


I had a lovely moment though when we were driving down one of the few straight spots on the road, deliberately made windy so that people don't drive so fast, when the van infront of us stopped and we could see, crossing in front of a car coming the other way, was a cassowary and its chick. It's the first one I've ever seen and it's a big bird! Unfortunately the van infront was full of backpackers and despite the fact they had all the time when it walked in front of them to take pictures, they stayed there until it had disappeared into the bush so I only got a really dark picture of it. It made me rethink bushwalking though, you would not see the thing until it was nigh on top of you and you really do not want to be on foot in close vicinity to a cassowary in a bad mood!

We also went to Mossman Gorge which doesn't really give much impression of being a gorge but was very pretty nontheless.


Finally, because I have to get back to work, the last bit of excitement in our life recently was Cyclone Charlotte crossing the coast up on the other side of Cape York* and dumped a whole heap of rain down on us which, happily, coincided with the king tides for the year so our little village of Yorkeys Knob (yes, it's true) was flooded in for a whole day. Ooh excitement!


It did mean, however, that I got some quite good pictures of waves and stuff :)



*for those of you interested, it crossed near Kowanyama from the Gulf of Carpenteria which is not, in any way shape or form 'near Cairns' as apparently reported by the Guardian at the time - that made us chuckle
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Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Christmas time

Christmas is an odd time of year for me. I love it, I really do. I love making up the Christmas tree and having all the presents under it. I love the formality of our Christmas at home with the champagne at around 11am with the opening of the presents and the fire blazing in the living room. I love being told to be careful with the good china because it's older than I am. I love eating so much I can't move. I love setting fire to brandy to pour over the Christmas pudding. I love Christmas cake and smoked salmon and cucumber on cream crackers (Jacobs of course) for supper. I love the feel that it's freezing outside but I'm nice and warm and wrapped up inside. I love having my family around me.

This means that the last 4 Christmases have been really quite hard for me. It's very hard to do really Christmassey things when it's 32 degrees outside. This Christmas we had a bbq outside and spent most of the day in the pool at my parents-in-law's house. We'd just moved house in early December and it took a little while to get organised, added to the fact that my husband is not big on the whole Christmas thing, so there was no tree, no decorations. We had cards up all over the place but that was about it. It's just not right here. Not right at all.

Graham, bless his heart, understands how difficult I find this sometimes and at around 7pm on Christmas day looked at me as I said goodbye on the phone having been passed round my entire family for a quick chat (even to my 3yr old nephew who was very excited about his playmobile lighthouse) and wordlessly held his arms out as I collapsed sobbing into a very loving, comforting and understanding hug.

Next year, I want to go home.

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