Book review

Only 2 days until my trip! Very excited, but hiding it well I think. It is pretty hard to maintain excitement when faced with whole days of desk sitting with little or no stimulation. I am beginning to think I should have thought about what to pack a little earlier. A slight list is being written today - may need to do a little shopping. Yesterday I cashed in my Unibooks voucher (received for taking the time to tell the uni how crap I thought they were at 'administration') and grabbed myself a couple of volumes for inflight entertainment. I am loathe to take them though because they are new books with nice uncrumpled pages and sharp corners. When they come back they will undoubtedly be dogeared and bent to some extent. I like to look after my books.

I am currently reading Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie - just to get into the Indian spirit of things. I am not enjoying it much. I am still reading, but slowly and almost reluctantly. How on earth did this book win the Booker prize? Not only win it, but win the Booker of the Bookers? I find it plodding and self-aware and a little patronising. There's something a little creepy about the narrator telling a story about himself in the third person - particularly when you know the whole time that he is talking about himself. I guess the self-involved aspect is made more prominent than usual by the fact that the main character repeatedly claims his presence in the world alone is the cause of all these happenings around him. I think we are all aware that we all contribute and shape the world around us to a certain extent, his involvement in it all is just more direct.

Some visuals

The cake I made for a certain three-year-old...

Mum and Keith at mine for Matin's birthday dinner.

Martin's birthday cake, made by mum. Beanie Boy thought it was yummy.

Mum's gardening fork, she was going to test it on Keith...

Show Day - some questions

Why are woodcutters always so fat? Why do they always wear unflattering white pants? Why does the guy on Block 1 always win despite a massive handicap? Why do people eat Dagwood Dogs? Why is it OK to use prams as a battering ram? Why are the women who breed dogs for show all the same amount of rotund? Why do these same women have to wear ugly suits circa 1950? Why are baby pigs cute but grown pigs ugly? Why do show rides cost $7? Why does the Bertie Beetle showbag have only 3 Bertie Beetles in it? Why does it seem like a good idea to buy the Whizz Fizz showbag every year? Why aren't there more free wine tastings??

I spent about 3.5 hours at the show yesterday. It was pretty crowded. I was with my friend and her baby so I was reluctantly involved in the frustration that is maneuvering prams through crowded areas. There is literally nowhere you can stand with a pram that you are not in the way. One good thing though; you can use it to carry all your crap. I watched some woodcutting, that was OK, but they take too long to clear the wood away after the chop. I need action! I got a new showbag - usually I just get Freddo, but this year I splurged on a Dairy Farmers one, it was pretty good value and now I have a fridge full of cheeses and creams and etc. Seemed healthier too!

The new Goyder Pavilion is just what you might expect - a pavilion. It did have a very nice parents room though - microwave and all. Pity it was packed to the gills though. Trouble with being a parent is you are constantly having to put up with other people's children in order to bring up your own. The little dude did a pretty good job though and there were few tears during the day. Slept through sideshow alley - quite an achievement given that my ears were ringing!

I didn't go on any rides or try any sideshows, just looked at animals and ate some nachos. Good to see a wider variety of food this year - something for vegetarians and those of us who do not believe that Dagwood Dogs are food. Nabbed some free tasters here and there but didn't find any wine tasting :( The Show really does have something for everyone and it means something different to you as you get older. I used to just care about the rides and the junk food and the showbags. Now I actually look at some of the exhibitions. I am not yet old enough to appreciate cake making, crafts or flowers though... I get to see the fireworks from my bathroom every night which is kind of fun. And the weather has been uncharacteristically great this year. Bring on the 24 degrees of warmth expected on Saturday!!!

An unexpected visitor

My friend from Naracoorte is here! Her husband had to fly to Queensland to attend a funeral so she is in Adelaide until he gets back. Yay for me, that means we can catch up tonight. Not hurray for the funeral though - a suicide of someone our own age. Not surprising given the character, but still sad.

I did have quite a fabulous weekend. Just pottered around doing my own thing, it was great. Last night I was at MM's place feeding his crazy dog. She is pretty nuts when she hasn't been out for a while. Almost pulled my arm out of its socket plenty of times on the way to the park. Usually she doesn't go on the leash but I am not happy with her running around all over the road while I am looking after her. If she gets hit while I am supposed to be taking care of her then I am in trouble. MM has this wonderful contraption that allows you to throw the ball really far and also not have to touch it cos you can pick it up with the claw thingy. Whattie lost her ball about 5 times, she kept running in the wrong direction and missing where it landed. I puffed her out good and proper though and on the way home she walked at my side the whole time!

There is a James Bond theme happening on a Foxtel channel at the moment so I watched Dr No for the first time. Missed a bit of it due to a phone call from the unexpected visitor and other distractions, but I saw enough of it to know that it was hilarious. They made some many little errors in the film, you have to wonder if anyone involved in its making ever saw the final cut. Still not on board with the whole Sean Connery thing - what exactly is supposed to be attractive about him? He's seedy looking. Always seems like he's been 2 days without a shower and you wouldn't want to get stuck in a lift with him.

Saturday afternoon I made a lemon meringue pie. It was huge! The filling was too big for the pie crust and it ended up spilling over. Have to get a bigger pie dish then I guess...

There are worse problems.

Hablo poco castellano!

I am slowly learning Spanish at the WEA. There are heaps of people in the class which makes things a little slow. There are a few who cannot get past not understanding words. Why do people need to know the 'meaning' all the time? Translation is not currency exchange, there are no exact equivalents in many cases. Learning a language is all about not understanding every word, you have to just embrace it and savour the chance to pay attention to other mediums of communication.

I think tonight I am making a lemon meringue pie. It's been on the cards for a while. Although, I am pretty tired so I might just go to bed. Buenas noches!