glory day

I’m just not a fan of weather

Honestly it doesn’t seem fair that someone who has a documented inability to cope with summer should also be unable to cope with winter.  Especially in Sydney, where the high temps of summer and low temps of winter aren’t really that far apart.

You can tell it’s winter because Mr Puss has foregone his usual nesting places and is sitting near the heater.  If it’s possible to sit any closer to the heater please let him know:

Thankfully he has finally abandoned his efforts to sleep on top of the heater.

Cairns zoo

Ceecee’s main goal on our trip to Cairns was to see and hold a koala, and in the cafe we found this little sweetie:

The zoo has a strict policy that koalas may only work (eg, hang out in the cafe and pose for photos) half an hour a day for no more than two consecutive days at any point.  Obviously this punishing schedule does take it out of them:

I think Ceecee was quite disappointed the koala didn’t pee on her, as we’d told her they often to that to tourists.

My main goal at the zoo was to see the crocodiles.  I find crocodiles fascinating in that killing-machine, dinosaur-DNA, please-don’t-let-them-eat-me kind of way.  Look, they’re hanging out and smiling!

I particularly love it when the crocodile lies there with his mouth open, waiting for something to hop or slither in there:

See?  Nothing to be frightened of there.

It was a very hot day, so the kangaroos lounged:

It was actually quite sad to see the kids running around trying to feed the kangaroos, and the ‘roos just going ‘nah, too hot’.  Prima donna kangaroos.

I saw a cassowary!

SUCH strange creatures.

Also there was a red panda:

and after we all died of the cute we had lunch and were revived.

Op-shopping from the volunteer side

I volunteer at a local op-shop for a few hours a week.  I started volunteering three years ago when I was recovering from a long illness – I was feeling better than I had for a while but still not ready to go back to work.  The op-shop I volunteer for is attached to a shelter aimed at re-homing cats.

I thought I had heard all the annoying things people say to op-shop workers:

• Do you want to buy this dress from me  – it’s only $35!!  [NO.  We are an op-shop and are totally reliant on donations.  Also I wouldn’t buy that raggedy pink satin dress for $2, let alone $35.]
• If I buy it and then I don’t like it can I get my money back?  [NO.  Have you even been into an op-shop before?  Sure you can bring it back but we won’t be giving you any money for it.]
• Can you order me this item in a different size/colour?  [NO.  Again really, you’ve never been into an op-shop before?  We are totally reliant on donations, and while it sucks that you can’t find that item in the size/colour you need, we can’t help you there.]
• Can you check out the back to see if there’s anything else like this?  I can watch the till while you’re gone!  [NO, and I am NOT STUPID!]
• Are you just charging me this much because you think I’ve got money? [NO, I was charging you $10 for a full dinner-set because that is a fantastic price – would you say that to the folks at KMart who would charge you four times as much?  I find this whole conversation very confusing.]

And I thought this was the full list until yesterday when I was asked:

“Why are you following me around?  Do you think I’m going to steal from you or something?”

To which my honest [albeit unspoken] reply was “Dude, I’m just futzing with the scarves and didn’t even really register you were there.  But with the unprompted reference to stealing?  Yeah, I’m going to be watching you now.”

Until I started volunteering I had no idea that people would steal from an op-shop.  But they do!  Blanket statement: IF YOU SHOPLIFT FROM MY OP-SHOP YOU ARE A SCUM-SUCKING PIECE OF SHIT.  Also?  You are taking food from the mouthes of tiny, tiny kittens.

Volunteering at this op-shop is awesome and boring and irritating and rewarding, sometimes all in the same hour.  Before I started volunteering I assumed that the customers would be students and hipsters looking for cheap vintage clothes – oh and actually me, because I’ve been an op-shop customer since I was 7 (my nanna used to work at an op-shop).  But in reality we have people who can’t afford to shop anywhere else, people looking for bargains, people who are ethically opposed to buying new things – a huge cross-section of the inner west.

I know some of our customers are in dire financial straits.  Many of our customers suffer from addiction problems and/or mental health and/or social problems.  Seriously, for some of them the contact they make with an op-shop worker might be their only social interaction for the day.  Yesterday a woman started chatting with me about various things – teapots, indoor plants – and because I was in the middle of doing something else my side of the conversation was pretty much limited to the “uh huh, oh really!” type of comments.  When she left she said “thanks for letting me talk”.

Sometimes I find it hard to strike the balance between working on behalf of the charity (ie, getting the best price possible) and doing my best for the customer’s needs (which might have nothing to do with a commercial transaction).

~~~~~

Here Mr Puss sleeps in a most uncomfortable manner:

He wanted to sleep in the sideboard.  It meant nothing to him that the sideboard was covered in piles of junk, perhaps that was part of the appeal.

33 - 7. Bah.

So we went to the SFS to watch the Highlanders play the Waratahs on Saturday night.  It was freezing cold and raining, and sadly we had seats in row A – right down the front and not under cover.  We did the traditional “sit on some covered seats and hope the rightful ticket-holders have decided it’s too cold to come out” manoeuvre and that worked out well in the end.  Luckily the Waratahs aren’t exactly a hot ticket item at the moment.

For the past decade the Highlanders have been at the back of the NZ teams – last year they won only three games - and nobody was expecting anything much from them this year.  Nobody, that is, apart from me and David – we keep on supporting them, season after season, in the hope that this year will be different.

And they got off to a surprisingly good start, winning games against much better opposition, so we were mentally booking our tickets to the final and in my case planning a celebratory tattoo.  Then the wheels fell off, they lost a couple of must-win games and our chances going into Saturday’s game were mathematical at best.

The Highlanders chose Saturday night to showcase their inability to pass a ball, inability to catch a ball and inability to make up their damned minds what to do with the ball when by some miracle they actually had it.  So not the glorious victory we’d hoped for, but hell, they’ll probably finish 8th on the table, so it’s one of their best years in ages.

And once the Super 15 is over it’s the international season, and this year it’s the Rugby World Cup in NZ.  Can the All Blacks finally win another Cup?  Or are we doomed to choke yet again? [please don’t choke, please don’t choke]

And it rained and I was cold

Tonight we went to watch our beloved Highlanders play the Waratahs.  Sadly the Highlanders were not victorious in this instance. 

I’m sure I’ll write more about the game later, but here’s an action shot:

where the Highlanders’ scrum is about to be taken apart.  Honestly, the scoreline didn’t reflect the relative abilities of the two teams, what can you do.

I realised that I worked a hard (HARD) day of charity retail and didn’t reward myself by posting a photo of my cat.  Here he is:

Go on, give him a pat if you think you can get away with it!

In which I confess hatred for eels and ambivalence towards possums

I hate eels.  Loathe them.  Slimy little fin-laden skulkers!  Years ago I was swimming in our creek and omg an eel touched me and I virtually levitated onto dry land.  Hate.

Here the loathsomeness of the eel is partially ameliorated by the cuteness of the ducks:

Mind you it’s hard work maintaining the rage against any species when you realise their birthing plan consists of “dive into the marine trenched then explode” although so far I’m managing.

I found out about the reproductive habits of eels while at Tarzali Lakes, an organic fish farm south of Cairns.  Although it’s an operating fish farm they have put aside some land as a platypus reserve.  We saw a platypus in the wild – a very uncommon sight (there are no photos because a platy in the water makes a cheetah look a tad sluggish).

Also at Tarzali Lakes they raise redclaw, and this little sweetie wanted to come home with me:

although NO THANK YOU DO NOT WANT as I prefer my lobster with a lot more butter.  Also cooked.

Earlier in the day we had seen the Great Curtain Fig Tree:

Curtain figs are also known as strangler figs, which is apt as they basically take over their host tree.  Nature can be so ill-mannered.

We also saw the Green Ringtailed Possum, which is apparently very rare and very cute:

Parenthetically I find Australian attitudes towards possums to be quite funny – in New Zealand they’re regarded as a pest and clothes made of or incorporating possum fur are considered eco-friendly*.  I know the situation is not really the same here, as many possums are native to Australia but still, it’s one of those trans-Tasman differences.

*David once asked me how they shear the possums.  Umm, yeah.  “Shear” them.

Trade winds

Winter is definitely here, and I’ve celebrated by sitting on the couch watching L&O re-runs and drinking wine.  Now it is time to face the Consequences of my [in]Actions as the laundry pile is the size of a small car and I believe there my be hitherto-undiscovered animal species in the lounge.

I had so many amazing experiences over the past two months – Cairns, the Easter Show, the pacific cruise – and it has taken me a few weeks to settle down to normality.  I mean normality is great as it often involves cocktails, rugby, parties and conga-dancing cats, but at the same time it also involves winter, laundry and a cat who eschews his [clean] litter box for no apparent reason.

So to distract myself I’m going to remember Cairns.  In April Ke, Ceecee and I went to Cairn for a few days (De was supposed to come but she was suffering some sort of hideous plague).  This is the view from our hotel:

which I know doesn’t really look that exciting, but it was the weather, the smell, all of it.

And here’s where we spent quite a bit of our time:

Can I just say that swim-up bars are perhaps the greatest invention in the history of the world?  You’re in the pool, you’re drinking wine.  What about that is wrong?

We stayed at the Novotel Cairns which was really lovely – oasis swimming pool, close to the Esplanade, nice staff.  I’d recommend it to anyone visiting Cairns and actually I recommend everyone visit Cairns.  Although the town and surrounds have mainly recovered from the recent storms and floods tourism numbers are still down.  So yeah, we weren’t tourists, we were much-needed helpers on the road to Far North Queensland’s economic recovery.

Coming soon: crocodiles, turtles, red pandas, koalas and kangaroos.  And a snake.  Also eels.