Too Hot To Come To Work

Melissa had done little to help, I see, when I get into work this morning. Oh, that's okay, I think, whatever. I can get it all done on my own.

A bit later I find out that she didn't come into work on Friday due to the extreme heat risk. (remember it was 40 degrees on Friday) It is her horses, she has horses, and she has to be home on the off chance that she has to evacuate them if there is a bush fire.

Queen of the day off, I tell you.

Just A Day Off

The Australia Day long weekend holiday.

Australia Day, Labour Day, Anzac Day, Easter Day, Xmas day, I can honestly say, they mean nothing to me.

When I am working, they mean time off from work. When I am not working, they mean absolutely nothing.

Hot Night

I slept like a baby, last night. Although, I sleep like a baby every night. But, last night, the over night minimum was 32 degrees. Yesterday, it was 40 degrees and today it is forecast to be 44 degrees.

We have air conditioning in our bedroom, but we only use it on unbearable nights, like last night. We used it last night, the first time we have used it this summer. We try not to use it for environmental reasons. And truthfully, despite some hot nights, last night was the first time I really felt like I needed it. So, I slept with my doona over me. Lovely.

The thing I love about living in Melbourne is that there is always a change and at 4pm it is forecast to drop 20 degrees in 20 minutes, from 40 to 20. Lovely. Can't wait for that, the relief is normally exquisite.

It's Hot Outside

It's hot outside, farcken hot!

Buddy and I sat in front of the fan all day. Buddy snored, stretched out behind me, harrumph. I didn't. 

I settled in to watch Julie and Julia, which I bought earlier in the day for $1 at cash Converters. Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, what is there not to like.

I bought Accidental Tourist, too, for $1. It's a movie I saw years ago, which I remember I loved. It had a lovely house, a great design sensibility, if I remember rightly.

40 degrees today, hotter tomorrow, they are forecasting 44. Still, it is summer, you know, you were expecting frosts, perhaps? (I'm trying hard not to be a whiny little bitch, you understand.)

Bud and I are happy in front of the fan.

Pill testing is a no brainer, but spineless Australian politicians would rather be re-elected than save lives. They pigheadedly pursue their failed war on drugs and people die.

When Is A Lie Not A Lie? When It Is Sesame Balls and Ginger Soup

I was up at 7am. I ate muesli and drank coffee.

Sam was up at 8.30am. When he asked if I had eaten breakfast I looked him in the eye and said, "No I haven't."

Oh yes, I'm bad, yap, yap, yap, yap, yap.

He made sesame balls in ginger soup

The lie was perfectly justified in my mind to get sesame balls and ginger soup. I'd sell my grandmother - the one that drank a bottle of brandy and smoked a packet of Kool cigarettes a day and not the grandmother who was a property developer, you understand - to get sesame balls and ginger soup for breakfast.

I made coffee.

Lazy Saturday

Tra la la, it was a gorgeous day. Nothing much planned. The sun shone, we wore shorts. It was nice being up early, the cool morning air was gorgeous.

We took Buddy to the dog park early.

A couple of people sitting on cafe tables out on the footpath said hello to Buddy by name. The nice lady with the 2 Border Collies, said she had just been talking about him to her breakfast companions and then there he was sitting next to the two who were most interested in him, putting his head on their legs and getting pats and loving every minute of it all. A bit further along a young woman said to her breakfast companion, “There’s Buddy.” I didn’t quite recognise her, I sometimes don’t if they don’t have their dogs with them.

“Buddy is more social than we are,” I said to Sam. We laughed... because it is true.

Then we did a longer walk around our suburb, the big block around where we live. It is a nice walk when the streets are relatively empty and the tourists haven’t arrived as yet. That is the thing about living in the inner suburbs, you get invaded by people from the outer suburbs on a daily basis, during the weekend.

We walked into the CBD for lunch and ate Eastern and Central Asian food. Noodles and Skewers. Yum. Lots of lamb. Gotta luv lamb.

Of course, Sam wanted to go to the drone shop in Melbourne Central, so I sniffed around JB HiFi while he did that. The drone shop is like a secret I haven’t been let in on.

We came home and took a nap on the lounge room floor listening to music. Well, I was on the floor with the big orange cushion. Sam was on the couch. The sun shines, the warm air blew through the French doors. A couple of hours passed. I wondered if we were just being lazy, but then I dozed off and didn’t give a shit.

I was woken by Buddy running out the back and barking at the next door neighbours who were having some sort of get together with friends. It is lovely to have an afternoon nap though.

We took Buddy for a second walk. Just to the park and back. Sam has been reading about how much exercise Bud should have and just taking him to the dog park, which is only a couple of streets away isn’t enough, so when we have the opportunity we take him for a bit more.

The dopes with the unfriendly bull terrier were there so we didn’t stay long. These idiots take their unsocialised bull terrier to an off-lead dog park and then abuse the people whose dogs are off-lead when their dogs come near their aggressive dog. For as long as I live I will never understand some people. Where is my “People… not a fan,” t-shirt. They were there again today, so we didn’t stay long.

We ate stir-fried noodles for dinner.

We watched Breath, a book that I loved. The film was okay.

I Scared A Disabled Girl In Smith Street, Yes, Very Proud.

I was walking home down Smith Street and a girl was walking towards me. I moved closer to the window, so she could go passed me, but then so did she move closer to the window. I had my headphones in listening to U2 and didn’t think much of it. But, I wasn’t giving her any ground. I stuck to the window and so did she. Then we were coming face to face. Neither of us giving ground. Stopped. I pulled out my left earbud and then, suddenly, she was apologising to me, and she was clearly mentally disabled. She seemed scared and intimidated and confused by my actions, right there in front of me. A small, scared lamb, she scurried around me. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said.

I suddenly felt like a bastard. She kept apologising. I winced inside.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

She went into Subway, still apologising, I got the distinct feeling to get away from me.

Oops.

Day Off

"Thank the universe," I said. I sat down in the lounge room with my coffee this morning.

"For what?" asked Sam. He was getting ready to leave for work.

"A day off, finally," I said. "How many weeks have I been filling in for the Queen of the Day off, I ask you?"

"One," said Sam deadpan.

"It feels as though I have been working all year without a day off..."

"It was a week."

"I am sooooooo exhausted, I can't begin to tell you..."

"You did 2 extra days," said Sam. "Two days, don't be so dramatic."

"I'm going to enjoy today."

"It is going to be 37 degrees."

"Oh," I said. "I thought you told me it was going to be 30 degrees all week."

“It is summer,” said Sam. “What can I say?”

Still, I don’t have to go to work, I thought.

People are Stupid

When I walk home, I come to the pedestrian crossing in Lansdowne Street. I never have to push the button, it is easy to cross, I hardly have to wait a minute. Just wait for the cars, and cross, don’t be scared.

I often watch people walk up to the pedestrian crossing, push the button and then just stand there waiting for the green man, with no cars coming from either direction.

They might as well stand there with their mouths open.



The other day, I watched a guy walk up to the same pedestrian lights and push the button stopping all of the cars.

He then turned around and waited for his wife and child to catch up, who were still making their way out of the Fitzroy Gardens.

By the time his wife and kids got to the pedestrian lights, the lights had changed back to green.

Complete oblivious to the cars driving down Lansdowne Street he pushed the pedestrian lights again, stopping all of the cars once more.

Oh yes, I know I am a bit of a pedestrian crossing Nazi, like I am a lift Nazi, but really? Come on. Give it some thought, don't just drift through life dribbling out the corner of your mouth.

Monday Off

Melissa didn't come in, apparently, she wrecked a tyre and couldn't drive home. Really?

Whatever? I'm already working so, as I said, whatever?

Maybe, I just don't take enough days off? But then, I only work 3 days so I don't have to take days off.

Our boss, apparently, is pissed at Melissa taking so much time off already, and then she says she can't get to work because of a bad tyre. Really? She doesn't have a spare tyre?

Queen of the day off.

Drones and Dogs

We went to the country and flew the drone with Buddy. Yes, Sam has a drone. Everything just lately has been about drones.

Buddy barked at it with its first couple of launches, woof woof, after that it was just ears up, head tilt, and his usual laid back disposition.

Like a giant mosquito helicopter, it lifts straight up off the ground. Suddenly, up high, hovering overhead.

Turn, turn, and then straight off across the blue. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Until it is hard to see in the distance. A speck in the blue yonder. The electronically controlled mosquito, buzzing somewhere overhead.

Turn, turn, and back again. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Straight back.

The drone followed us around the old golf course, it has a setting to do that automatically. It was a gorgeous day, the sun shone, the sky was blue. There were lots of people walking their dogs.

I thought someone might object to our flying mosquito, I thought some of the dogs may have reacted, but none of them did. Some of the guys asked questions, not of the dogs cared.

There was some problem with the camera stabiliser, so all the footage has a ripple effect to it, but Sam has since fixed that.

It takes gorgeous footage. Be that as it may, I still don’t really get the point of them. It is just a toy, really.

The Queen of the Day Off

I had to work all week because Melissa, the queen of the day off, had taken the week off, so I had to work all week.

You know, if I want to work full time, I'd get a full time job, I think, as she asks me to work for her. "Yeah, sure," I say.

Then she reminds me of the next couple of weeks she is taking off over the next few months.

I smile nervously.

"You okay to work for me?"

"Yeah, sure," I say. I can feel my jaw clenching as I say it. Grrrr.

What can you do?

I know, first world problems. And if I don't like it go and work somewhere else, I hear you say. Well, that is what Sam would say, did say, so I have to whinge here.

In The Heat

42.5 (for our American friends 108.5) degrees in Victoria today. Total fire ban. Extreme bush fire warning. And you just know that there is a guy somewhere with a box of matches in one hand and his dick in the other hand.

2019

Life isn’t always fair, it goes by quickly, it’s sometimes hard, but it can also be joyous and you should always be yourself.

Back to Work

Back to work, sad face. The time off has been great, but here I am, my holidays have come to an end.

I only have to work one day, it is true. Right about now I think why wasn't I organised enough to take this day as leave? Stupid me. The things you think when it is too late.

We didn't do much, as I ran into Guido the last day of working last year and I got a bag of pot, so we didn't do much, much to Sam's chagrin. 

The plumber dug up the front yard and fixed the storm water drain, and Sam and I put all the brick paving back down again, so we did that.

Buddy got walked every day, twice some days.

And here we are, 15 minutes and I have to get in the shower to get ready for work. Yay!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. I hope you all have a lovely 2019