I woke early, checked a little bit of social media (I've pretty much dropped off Twitter, am skimming FB, and mostly watching Insta), went down to Freshwater Beach. Was there by 7:45 and it was already madhouse trying to park.
12 hour parking on a public holiday? Basically, bring your stuff and you can stay all day near a beach, with a cafe, grassed area to run the kids, and a couple of council BBQs? Yeah, Australians love a summer picnic.
As someone pointed out during a Change The Day debate a couple of years ago on FB (he's actually a Change The Day proponent), one of the barriers is that the end of January is a really great time for a public holiday in Australia: right at the end of summer holidays, a kind of last hurrah for your average suburban family, on a day that is less likely to be cold, wet, or rainy.
I still think they should change it to the start of August. Like, my birthday would be PERFECT. And it would land almost exactly between the June long weekend and the October long weekend - a four month stretch during which there are no public holiday breaks. *sulks*
Anyway. Beach. Rockpool. Did about a dozen laps. Climbed out and met a friend for breakfast at the local cafe because her bf's family live one block from the council land that borders the beach. (They bought it back in 1991, raised three kids in it, still living there.)
Fish and chips. Yes, I know it's breakfast, but that was what I felt like.
Came home, showed my stepbrother (SB1) and SSIL and SSIL's mum around the garden before they have to go back to the Netherlands tomorrow after coming here for SB2's wedding last weekend. Talked a lot. Made recommendations for sites and things to look at for developing their own piece of ground when they get it.
And after a heatwave - 5 days of 35-40C heat - we are headed for much milder temps in the next week, from 22-30C plus rain. Should probably get out there and start some seeding pronto!
But it's felt weird this afternoon. I did some writing, lay down and had a nap. Except time gets slippery after naps (or during them) and now it's 6pm and time for dinner and I don't really know what I'm going to have for dinner. Or if I'm going to do dinner at all.
I kind of miss the BBQs that used to happen on this day. This year - well, last year, too - I missed any BBQs that were going: if there were any, I wasn't invited and I didn't hear about them. A gardening friend noted that January has been a little too quiet even for her introverted soul. I quite understand that sentiment - and I'm considerably less introverted than she is.
B1 has gone off to some carer work that she has every Tuesday. If she was here, we might watch The Hobbit: Battle Of The Five Armies. We've been watching the others, and the behind the scenes stuff. I guess if I want a safe present for her, I could always get her the extended editions. :)
Frankly, it's kind of nice to be sharing geeky things with my sisters, and to be able to do so in such a way that doesn't trigger my own fannish trauma. There's a...safety...in consuming a canon that is long complete, entering a fandom where one is mostly walking battlefields long gone to grass and meadow, with only the occasional mound to betoken the fan wars that were fought. The other thing being that LOTR and TH was never going to be a danger for me the way other fandoms have been: not enough female characters to tease me with the promise of interesting stories before disappointing me with death, vanishment, or the tepid transmutation into love interest. I mean, I like Tauriel, and I'll probaby go look for some Tauriel/Kili fix-its (also possibly more general fix-its) when we've finished watch BOTFA but... *shrugs*
Anyway, I should poke my head out, check if the chickens are still living, medicate the one with peronitis, and contemplate a solitary dinner.
I kind of wish I had friends who lived close enough to drag out and see on nights like these, but I do. Except they all have families themselves and probably things on, and springing something on them this abruptly the night before school goes back is just...yeah, not really a nice thing to do.
12 hour parking on a public holiday? Basically, bring your stuff and you can stay all day near a beach, with a cafe, grassed area to run the kids, and a couple of council BBQs? Yeah, Australians love a summer picnic.
As someone pointed out during a Change The Day debate a couple of years ago on FB (he's actually a Change The Day proponent), one of the barriers is that the end of January is a really great time for a public holiday in Australia: right at the end of summer holidays, a kind of last hurrah for your average suburban family, on a day that is less likely to be cold, wet, or rainy.
I still think they should change it to the start of August. Like, my birthday would be PERFECT. And it would land almost exactly between the June long weekend and the October long weekend - a four month stretch during which there are no public holiday breaks. *sulks*
Anyway. Beach. Rockpool. Did about a dozen laps. Climbed out and met a friend for breakfast at the local cafe because her bf's family live one block from the council land that borders the beach. (They bought it back in 1991, raised three kids in it, still living there.)
Fish and chips. Yes, I know it's breakfast, but that was what I felt like.
Came home, showed my stepbrother (SB1) and SSIL and SSIL's mum around the garden before they have to go back to the Netherlands tomorrow after coming here for SB2's wedding last weekend. Talked a lot. Made recommendations for sites and things to look at for developing their own piece of ground when they get it.
And after a heatwave - 5 days of 35-40C heat - we are headed for much milder temps in the next week, from 22-30C plus rain. Should probably get out there and start some seeding pronto!
But it's felt weird this afternoon. I did some writing, lay down and had a nap. Except time gets slippery after naps (or during them) and now it's 6pm and time for dinner and I don't really know what I'm going to have for dinner. Or if I'm going to do dinner at all.
I kind of miss the BBQs that used to happen on this day. This year - well, last year, too - I missed any BBQs that were going: if there were any, I wasn't invited and I didn't hear about them. A gardening friend noted that January has been a little too quiet even for her introverted soul. I quite understand that sentiment - and I'm considerably less introverted than she is.
B1 has gone off to some carer work that she has every Tuesday. If she was here, we might watch The Hobbit: Battle Of The Five Armies. We've been watching the others, and the behind the scenes stuff. I guess if I want a safe present for her, I could always get her the extended editions. :)
Frankly, it's kind of nice to be sharing geeky things with my sisters, and to be able to do so in such a way that doesn't trigger my own fannish trauma. There's a...safety...in consuming a canon that is long complete, entering a fandom where one is mostly walking battlefields long gone to grass and meadow, with only the occasional mound to betoken the fan wars that were fought. The other thing being that LOTR and TH was never going to be a danger for me the way other fandoms have been: not enough female characters to tease me with the promise of interesting stories before disappointing me with death, vanishment, or the tepid transmutation into love interest. I mean, I like Tauriel, and I'll probaby go look for some Tauriel/Kili fix-its (also possibly more general fix-its) when we've finished watch BOTFA but... *shrugs*
Anyway, I should poke my head out, check if the chickens are still living, medicate the one with peronitis, and contemplate a solitary dinner.
I kind of wish I had friends who lived close enough to drag out and see on nights like these, but I do. Except they all have families themselves and probably things on, and springing something on them this abruptly the night before school goes back is just...yeah, not really a nice thing to do.