Being thoroughly exhausted by the festivities and merry-making of the Christmas/New Year season, I requested to have this Monday off work as Annual Leave. The day was a success in the sense that I did absolutely nothing and rested myself in every possible way (I even ate soft food).
A couple of highlights from my day: I went to the Southside Tea Room in Morningside, a grungy little establishment bordering on hipster and located only two minutes’ walking distance up the road from me. There, despite the sweat dripping off my face, I denied the waiter’s offer of a cold drink and ordered coffee instead. Now, I love this place with a fairly sizable portion of my very sizable heart, but this jury is clear: the coffee is consistently shite. To be fair, I believe this has more to do with the actual coffee blend used than the waiter’s technique of making it.
I also ordered a breakfast burrito and this made up for the less than this drink put a sizzle in my pants performance of the coffee. It had chorizo (my favourite), mexican black beans, avocado, tomato, cheese, sour cream and a fried egg. It was topped with sour cream, red onion, diced tomato, a sprinkle of pepper and a wedge of love, I mean lime. It was as big as a tall man’s shoe, and I couldn’t finish it all in one sitting. However, a favourite habit of mine lately at restaurants and cafes is to ask for a doggy bag – waste not, want not!
After having a read and updating my Facebook status I paid, and the guy at the counter randomly started up a conversation about haunted houses and I suggested that they should host a ghost story-telling competition there one night. Alas, I am behind the times – they already did that for Halloween! I left feeling slightly disappointed that I had missed out on such a fun night.
At home, I settled in with two good books – “Beyond 2012 – A Shaman’s Call to Personal Change and the Transformation of Global Consciouness” by James Endredy, and “Susan at School” by Jane Shaw. Susan at School is part of the Susan series of books written in the 1960s and passed on to me by my mother, whose name is also Susan. The books follow the misadventures of the loveable Scotch school-girl, Susan Lyle, who goes to live with her cousins in London whilst her parents are abroad. There, her natural curiosity and penchant for “helping” lead to many comical, trying and heart-warming situations. “Susan at School” tells of Susan’s first term at St Ronan’s boarding schools with her cousins Midge and Charlotte, and the many scrapes and triumphs she encounters.
At 3:30pm this afternoon, as I was heating up the remainder of my burrito, the world seemed to go dark as a massive storm loomed over Brisbane. I enjoyed reading curled up on the couch with the air conditioning oozing sweet coolness into the room, whilst outside Mother Nature’s oppressive heat reached boiling point and erupted with heavy rain, lightening, thunder and wind.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in a slightly less self-indulgent manner – giving a lift to my house-mate whose train was delayed, taking a few calls from friends, doing my washing, watching the storm, journalling, imagining that I was communing with a gecko, playing rhyming games with my house mate, and discussing hilarious and implausible scenarios involving me pretending to be blind and dumb and attempting to get my favourite dog who happens to look like a guide-dog into an office space.
And then blogging! That’s pretty much it. Here are some photos for your enjoyment.
Julie x
