Maitland Weekend.

I took 2 days off work, so it was a long weekend. JK and I went up on the Countrylink XPT on Wednesday afternoon. I've never gone to Maitland that way, and always wanted to. It's good, because although it is more expensive it feels more special, like a holiday, rather than a commute. The train goes to Brisbane. It had a lot of families on it. This is the carriage number.

I did cross stitch on the way up, which is a benefit of having lots of space and a tray table.

It was rather rainy for 2 days straight. It didn't matter much because we drove around, but it's just not as relaxing as soaking up sunshine. On Thursday we went to Pokolbin. We went to a winery shaped like a barrel of wine, but didn't get service, so hopped straight back in the car and drove to Tempus Two, which we've been to before, and it's very well laid out. First we went to the Smelly Cheese shop. This orange cheese is actually a slightly blue cheese. It was DELICIOUS. We bought 3 different cheeses.

Then we went to the tasting part. We got service, tasted about 7 wines. I was surprised that I could actually taste the difference, and pick up the things that were apparently there. I bought a wine that really does taste like lychees.

Then we popped over to the shops at Hunter Valley Gardens. I've never gone in the gardens, but the shops are not bad. There is a chocolate shop, a paper shop, kitchen shop, cafes.

Friday, we drove to Maitland, went to an op shop where I got doilies, wandered through the art gallery for half an hour. Then we went to Morpeth and had sandwiches for lunch, browsed the shops, especially the upstairs art gallery which has really nice painting for sale, and had flavoured chai.

The weekend also included JK sewing an apron, I made a pear crumble, we did Jillian, went for a walk, ate at Billabongs buffet, and watched some Blackadder II and Big Bang Theory.

Saturday was sunny! In the afternoon we drove down to a train station on the Central Coast, and caught a normal train home.

It's a lovely trip in the daytime.

The bridgeless pylons are my favourite part.

Elementary.

A trailer for Elementary, the American TV take on Sherlock Holmes. There can't be too many remakes of a good thing, I generally think. If it departs too much from the book, hopefully that is for the sake of better television. If it gets shown here, I'll watch it with interest. I wouldn't compare it to the excellent BBC Sherlock, but will it be as good as The Mentalist? The Mentalist already basically is Sherlock Holmes in American procedural crime show form. Patrick Jane is like Holmes, with powers of observation and trouble being human. Red John is Moriarty, evil nemesis, unknown serial killer with a network of fans. Lisbon is Watson and the CBI is Scotland Yard. Anyway, Elementary. I can see why they cast Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes. He's starting to look like Hugh Laurie, which is a big improvement, and his accent makes him sound clever. Americans will like that. He seems to have copied Adrian Monk for quirky detective acting (Monk is another Sherlock Holmes, actually) He has tattoos, which is a little bit try-hard. The nice thing about BBC Sherlock Holmes is that he is modern and cool without being a bad boy—smart is the new sexy, or something, they said.

See, I'm picking it apart already. I do hope it is enjoyable.

My weekend | book craft #2.

I had a rather lovely weekend, despite the fact that I woke up in the dark on saturday morning because it hurt to move my head. A few weeks of neck tension suddenly escalated in my sleep into a tight lock. I took a lot of neurofen and tried to do some physio stretches, and 2 days later it is a lot better. In other news, I was browsing tea in T2 Newtown, bumped a table behind me piled high with teapots, and a teapot fell off and smashed. Splendidly. People really stare at you when you smash a teapot in T2. The staff were quick with a dustpan and very understanding (read: I didn't have to pay for it, and it's probably a fairly common occurrence given the way they build such rickety towers from tea and crockery).

Remember this? It was over a year ago. Feels like 3 years ago. I've had a pile of books with holes cut in the covers sitting around doing nothing! I did progress a little bit, I managed to drill and glue string through the back cover in such a way that it holds the book shut and can hang on the wall. I did that to 2 books and got bored. Now I have finally finished them! I wrote them in the diary and ticked them off on Sunday.

I used tiny screwdrivers to bore holes in the back. Glue a piece of string inside the back cover.

Thread it through, there is the string to hang it on the wall.

Measure it so that there is enough to hang off a hook, then pull it through flat so that that length, when glued to the inside of the front cover, allows the book to open only an inch. So you can open the book to slip a picture in it, but it is held shut when you hang it on the wall.

It's very tricky. Hot glue gun dries the strongest and fastest, but obviously I burnt myself, and it's awkward because you have to glue carefully into a 1 inch gap.

I put cards in the books. Just nice cards and notes people have given me, which matched the colours.

I didn't know where to hang them, eventually I went for the hall. It already had 3 hooks so that saved sticking more up. I need one more hook and 2 books are still empty frames, but at least they are on the wall, not a pile on my todo list.

Braces update.

Last time I put a ruler in my mouth, I thought the gap was 2mm, but Hayley thought it was 3.5. Now we both agree it is 2mm. My teeth don't fit together properly at the moment which means things have moved, also. So yay! Getting closer. I'm not sure when I last measured otherwise I would be calculating the speed of progress. I guess it's about 0.3mm a month. My invented end date (Christmas) is looking slim... I really don't still want them by my 29th birthday. Give me just one year of my 20s with good teeth, please.

Costume Party.

I had a costume birthday party on the weekend. I kind of groaned when I got the invite. The trouble with costumes is that I don't have a default costume I can use, so I usually do a lame half costume, because I object on principle to buying a novelty outfit for one event. But I should just sew a good Jane Austen outfit, cos I'd like that, and I could use it for these things.

Anyway, I had the happy thought indeed of going as Audrey Hepburn. I have a black dress and black high heels. I know someone else who did Audrey recently so I borrowed some accessories. And that's a costume! Tacky accessories that can go over the top of something you already own. I spent $15 and bought some fake peals and tiaras. I had spare tiaras which I let other people wear as well.

It was a fun night, because 99% of people really got into the costume thing. There was Kevin Rudd, Grease, Buddy Holly. It was very effective. There was the best salt and pepper squid I have ever eaten, it was not one bit rubbery. The birthday girl also came as Audrey Hepburn, so I made the ultimate faux pas at a costume birthday party, but whatever.

Curtain thingy.

I did sort of accomplish this on Saturday. This is the falling out bracket.

 

This is a new bracket I put in. It's a close fit but not the same. It looks weirder, but it's not falling out so that's good. I realised now that I really only needed to replace the red things that grip the screws, probably. I have kept the old bracket and I will put it back on before I move out.

New double bracket.

Just beyond the point of no return is a good time to stop and have a rest.

I'm kind of glad that I got into sanding my chest of drawers last weekend, immediately after I thought about doing it. It saved a lot of time pondering about it and putting it off. Think, decide, do, before the novelty wears off. Don't wait until the iron cools down, as they say. Now I've done it, there is no turning back! But unfortunately I'm not in a brilliant state of mind at the moment, I've been sick, sun-deprived, emotionally up and down for 3 weeks, and I'm feeling negative about STUFF, so the small extra mess of emptying out all my clothes from my drawers is making me feel less in control. And, now that I'm researching the stain and varnish thing, it might actually be too cold to dry this weekend. Needs to stay above 10, and forecast minimums are 9 and 8 overnights. So instead I will put the handles back on and put my clothes back in, and give it a rest for a while before I tackle stage 2. I think I'm going to have a cooked breakfast and show myself that I love me with bacon this weekend, and also get back into Jillian.

Tallboy makeover.

Saturday and Sunday were beautiful days. In the morning I walked to Bunnings, bought sandpaper, and then around the middle of the day I spent 2.5 hours or so sanding. The first day was discouraging, because I thought a sander would just scrape the lacquer off in 2 goes, like icing off a cake. I had to buy coarser sandpaper on Sunday and also one specifically for removing paint, and then I had more success. But still, it was really slow going. Sanding is slow, that is its nature.

Here is the before, the shiny orange honey colour:

This is the result I got on Saturday with medium coarse sandpaper. The sander had a bag so it contained a lot of the dust, but I did it in the bathroom to contain the dust as much as possible. Unfortunately it amplified the noise. Sorry, neighbours. Anyway, this was discouraging because all my work only got half of it off.

This is the finished result on Sunday with coarse sandpaper. I'm much happier.

I'd say there is still at least 10% remaining I could take off, but I hope this is good enough.
This is the sort of brown I wish it to be when I stain it.

Before I did this work, I had to remove all the stuff in the drawers and put it into green bags. Actually seeing the bottom of the drawers was an interesting experience. This is a shot of the sock drawer after I took out the socks, stockings, ribbons and bangles. Quite interesting treasures. A 1964 australian penny, a blue rock, a leather papoose baby necklace, chopsticks, my first watch. The undies drawer was even more interesting and a lot deeper, there were old greeting cards and my red P licence and about 4 lost prescriptions and a bird whistle and a ponytail of hair and some tiny photo frames and more.

I'm looking forward to eventually putting back the things that should be in the drawers, i.e. clothes, and then have fun sorting/throwing out the rest.

Friday round-up.

For a very annoying reason I have cancelled my debit card. I travel very light, purse-wise. I keep things simple. I only had one money card. It bought things online, it got money out of ATMs. I had memorised the number so I could use it without physically looking at it! And as I was cancelling it over the phone and heard the words "7 to 10 days" until the new card comes, I realised I would have to live on cash until then, and wondered how much cash I have. The answer is $58. That's good, I can buy food without borrowing from my flatmate. I have 3 travel 10s already, which although not redeemable for cash mean I don't need to buy one this week. I can hopefully afford the stuff I want from the hardware shop for my DIY weekend. I probably better not buy a magical strudel, but I can still go and have a look. I wonder if I should get a credit card.

I have the longest cold ever. Day 10. Being sick is gross. And depressing. Everything about the middle of winter and being sick and everything is depressing, I'm so tired of myself.

Hamish and Andy's Euro Gap Year was on again last night, I have to say this series is really funny. A lot more natural and witty and Hamishy than the US series, which was full of bad sound quality and awkward interviews etc. It took me ages last night to even notice that there was a live audience, because it felt more like they were only talking to me. And the stunts last night were particularly good. And I like puns. Gap Byear, lol. I really lold.

lol had become a big thing in the office this week. All of a sudden we think it's funny. It's my default response to everything now. I wasn't even listening to someone properly and I replied "ha ha, lol, lol."

Pining over pine.

"Get rid of it, Jess. Pine has no place in this loft. It's the wood of poor people and outhouses," — Schmidt, New Girl.

I have to say Schmidt has good lines. He is sort of a cross between Barney from HIMYM and Sheldon from BBT. Half sex-obsessed yuppy half OCD grandpa.

I am planning a bit of home repairing this weekend. I was going to wait until the curtain brackets fall right out of the wall, but now I feel like I need well supported curtains in my life. Also, I'm pretty sure that if I walk to Bunnings and then walk a bit further to Clovelly I will find a magical strudel shop. I anticipate that fixing curtain brackets in a concrete wall will be really frustrating, but magical strudel will more than offset that.

And while I'm at it, I would really like to sand back my chest of drawers and re-stain them so that they look nicer and more matchy. They are 20 years old and are neither nice nor matchy, the lacquer having been sun-tanned into a vibrant shiny orange. However, while it was ok to paint in the lounge room, I don't think that sanding is an indoor activity. Possibly I could do this out the back driveway on a nice day. Someone might own a sander I can borrow. This will involve a lot of planning. Maybe I could just get rid of it, and have fewer clothes or better storage in my wardrobe. Buying a new one is out of the question, new ones are very very expensive and also will make all my other furniture look old and daggy. So, I'm pondering the limits of my DIY capabilities.

Well now! I have found someone with a sander to lend me! And it has a bag to collect dust, so possibly I could do this in the bathroom. Or potentially having a DIY furniture restoration party with A on the weekend, if we can find a vehicle to transport our "vintage pieces" to the garage of the house she is sitting. Otherwise, the bathroom sounds like a goer.

Supernova, super congested.

I went to Supernova (pop culture expo) to help Karen with the Kinds of Blue table in artists ally. It was my first Supernova and it was quite an experience. Thousands of people, and thousands of people in costume. George came in her Princess Fiona get up and lots of people were impressed and took photos of her. It's quite nice being in a place where total strangers in silly clothes are happy to pose for photos for each other. It was a genuinely fun and friendly day.

I still had a cold, though. My nose was quite handicapping. I used a dozen hankies and a lot of tissues and serviettes and a packet of soothers and a lot of hand sanitiser also. When I got home at night, my head was so tired I couldn't tolerate being in the living room with the lights on and the tv noise, I had to sit in my room in the dark with the door shut and a cup of tea. I've never felt like that before. I would have gone to bed at 8 o'clock if I hadn't been waiting for the washing machine to wash all my hankies for another day of nose-blowing.

Photo Recap: Oxford streets.

The area of East Oxford reminded me of parts of Goulburn: cold with small working-class buildings of a certain age, frozen gardens, but very narrow streets. I seem not to have taken any photos which is a shame.

We walked into the central area along the road the next morning. Oxford has a lot of bicycles. So mane. This is the main commute route for students, so look at all the bikes.

Then everywhere you go there are bikes leaning against fences or parked in giant racks. This is part of the Bodleian I think.

The outside of a college on Broad Street.

There must have been thousands of them. This is Broad street, containing some bike racks, an Oxfam shop where I bought a cardigan, the Bodleian Library at the other end, and that light patch of road near the cafe chairs is where Latimer and Ridley were burned.

Which looks like this.

I loved the streets of Oxford, they were very interesting to walk around. I'm a big fan of a thing called the Small Streets or Walkable Streets movement, and places which were built before cars are wonderful for walking. There are streets that are charming:

Bustling shopping streets:

And streets that were strangely deserted. You walk up some tiny lane and find a whole cobbled street being hardly used at all. Wedding photo paradise.

Braces update.

Some of you ask, so here is the state of my mouth.

It's looking good. I had a new elastic put in today, to pull on the inside of my teeth. It's already popped out of place twice, but hopefully the good work will continue apace. In the last 2 months there has been noticeable shrinkage of the gap, with a small gap opening up BEHIND the slow-moving tooth as further evidence. So I'm making up end dates for myself now. Maybe the end of the year, maybe by my 29th birthday. Depressing to think about so much of my twenties in braces. But apparently my smile is wider, and ultimately I'll learn to eat on both sides of my mouth evenly and have no more jaw pain. 10 years of one-sided eating! Wow, both-sided eating will be good. Jaw been sore this week, so I'm focused on the good reasons now, not the length of time taken to get there.

Photo Recap: To Oxford!

When we first got there it was late afternoon and our B&B was in East Oxford, so we just headed out and walked along the river, right up to the head. It was lovely. And there are big fancy boat sheds on it for the rowing clubs, and we saw people training, rowing up and down while their coach rode a bike along the side of the river and shouted at them. Rather exciting, actual Oxford rowing! But I didn't have my camera that day so I missed the rowing for you. Here is some boat sheds at a fork in the river.

Here is a big boat up at the head. Most of the houseboats were very small though. Like caravans but longer.

The river was so tranquil. I suppose the water level is very constant compared to Australia.

Punts, of course! I missed taking a photo of boys climbing over them and going punting because Oxford was the one place I didn't like looking like a tourist. I don't know what it was about Oxford, but I would have preferred to be there visiting friends or something, because I felt sort of like an invader. It's because Oxford isn't really a tourist place I guess, it's a functioning educational and cultural place. I think it would be a better place to be if there was a reason to be there, ie, study. More on that later.

But Oxford was a beautiful place just to walk around the streets and river. Plenty of photos to come!

Upfashioning jeans.

I have 3 pairs of jeans, which is too many. They are all blue, so it's not even like one is a black pair for fancy things. I have tried really hard to get a dark grey or black pair, only to take them home and realise they are exactly the same blue. I recently bought a $20 pair of skinny ones, to wear under boots, and since then my wide ones seem almost useless. So my favourite pair, which has the waistband at the right hight and extra long legs seemed ripe for some alteration. I had nothing to lose since they already have a mended knee from the scooter accident. So I put them on and folded the flares in and pinned them with safety pins. I don't have a mirror but I think they looked ok. I just sewed straight down from about the knee. Tried them on and wore them for a while before I cut off the excess flare, because you can undo sewing but not cutting. Ta da, old fashioned jeans are now new! And no money spent. I've deecided to not buy any clothes until the end of the year.

Photo Recap: things we chanced upon in London.

So this is a collection of things randomly seen, which I didn't plan to see, but I would have if I had thought about it.

This is a building with a sign that says Gracechurch Street. I was regularly overjoyed to see a common street sign in a place written about by Jane Austen. I would quote lines from Pride and Prejudice at my brother whenever we found one: "Her other uncle is in trade, and lives in Cheapside!" 

This is a bin and a lamp post with the logo Seven Dials on it. That's one of my fav Agatha Christie books, but in fact this has nothing to do with the book. It is however a very charming area in Covent Garden, an intersection with 7 spokes off it. This is where we saw the musical Matilda. Covent Garden was the coolest place, I think. Trendy shops, walkable streets, just not enough cheap food. Sydney is so much better for cheap restaurants, as far as I could tell.

This is a pretty area of Hyde Park. Most of Hyde Park is just huge flat grass, rather barren, the sort of place you take dogs to run around, not what I was imagining, which would have been an English formal garden or something like this with flowers.

This is outside Hyde Park, in front of Wellington's house, I forget the name, and near Wellington's arch, and some horses paraded by. We followed them to Buckingham Palace. It was so strange.

This is the palace, through the fence, with a marching band. It was mainly luck that we got there at the right time.

This is it, the guard is being changed right there! It took forever so some people had actually got bored and left by the time they did this bit.

On another day, at the tower of London, I had my photo taken with the Duke of Monmouth. We chatted about stuff. He got his head cut off later on. Interesting fact, he arrived in England at Lyme Regis, where we went later, and has a beach and things named after him.

Inside the White Tower, I was delighted to find a garderobe, which is a toilet. It drops into the moat/lawn. The only disappointment was that it didn't have coathangers in it like I read about in Discworld.

We chanced upon M&Ms world, which was really tacky and a lot bigger than you would think a shop that sold M&Ms would be.

We didn't go inside Sherlock Holmes's house, because there were long queues and after all he isn't a real person who lived there, it's just the house number that is literally significant. It's above the door. Notice the policeman in a proper helmet. They all wore those! Amazing.

Trafalgar Square Olympic clock, on 100 days. Nice round number!

The thing this recap is missing is the tardis at Earls Court station. Cannot find that photo anywhere. But imagine me, with suitcases, pretending to travel in the tardis.