Letters

Dear Mother Nature,

I think you slipped and accidentally knocked the dial from "Spring" to "Summer". Would you mind switching it back, I'm not ready for this hot weather yet.

Thanks,
Mumbles




Dear People on Bus 66,

Why don't any of you ever sit next to me? Since they have swapped the bendy bus for the smaller bus, quite often it fills up at Roma St and we are forced to sit next to strangers. However, no one ever sits next to me. I don't smell, I don't have tourettes, I don't take up one-and-a-half seats, so what's wrong with sitting with me?

Confused,
Mumbles



Dear Nicole Corner Suite,

You are the most comfortable couch I have ever had. I love nestling in the corner of your chase, aka the money seat. However, if Damien comes home one more night this week and finds me asleep on the couch making cute little breathing noises (NOT snoring!) then I think I may be in trouble.

Heart you,
Mumbles

Brisbane city observations

Funny things I have noticed in the city lately...

This morning when I got to the RBWH Busway Station I saw that my regular bus was sitting at the end of the platform, where it normally is, but instead of saying "66 The City" it said "Help!!! Call police". And there was a crowd of people on the other end of the platform, just silently standing there watching it. A couple of minutes later the bus behind it pulled out and stopped to pick everyone up, and we all filed on silently and went on our way to work. Wierd.

The other week there was a bit of rain. The temperature didn't drop much, but numerous people felt a need to start wearing their painfully fashionable trenchcoats. Or there were the women wearing gumboots. Seriously, gumboots?! Come on people, pack it away.

My friends know that I love me some designer handbag action. However, I hate the tacky Versace and Dolce & Gabbana crap that so many Brisbane women seem to be toting around in the crook of their elbows. Ugh.

That is all for now.

An open letter #4

Dear BBC,

I have a love hate relationship with your website.

The online Magazine is fantastic, with feature stories, mini quizzes and my favourite, the aforementioned 10 things we didn’t know last week. This week’s 10 things was especially good. I had no idea that a third of England's coastline is inaccessible, or that police officers are not required to be able to swim, or that the dye used in blue M&Ms can help mend spinal injuries. Thanks for that.

And your iPlayer function is brilliant! I can sit in the relaxed comfort of my bed and watch the Underage and Pregnant documentaries on my laptop whenever I want.

However your weather forecast is absolutely rubbish. I will look out the window to grey skies with barely a break of blue in the clouds, and you will tell me that it is sunny and 24 degrees.

You really need to pull up your socks on that one Beebs.

Cheers,
Moi

It's over

Summer is gone people, it's left the building, snuck out quietly while I wasn't really paying attention.

On the way home from a decadent afternoon tea at Claridges I noticed piles of orange and brown leaves blowing down the road.

Goodbye summer, hello autumn.

Goodbye stinky hot days on the train, hello cool mornings and the return of transitional seasonal jackets.

Goodbye 9.30pm sunsets, hello increasingly shortening days.

Goodbye Pimms fruit cups, hello wine.

Goodbye big statement rings, hello gloves.

Only four and a half months until my next summer though!

Over it

Okay, I’m over the snow now.

It has slightly melted so that there is a thin layer of it on the footpaths; however the freezing temperatures at night have turned this into ice. Comically slippery ice.

While I was precariously tip toeing down my street last night I saw a man skid and run into a tree.

This morning, I slid into a parked car. After which I abandoned the footpath and opted to walk down the middle of the road.

Slip and fall and break my back, or get hit by a car. Six of one, half a dozen of the other really.


“Slip sliding away, slip sliding away, you know the nearer your destination the more you’re slip sliding away”
Slip Sliding Away, Paul Simon

A tough decision

What was the best part of my lunch break?

Was it the fact that I actually had to leave the office, and face the rain and cold?

Was it that one woman refused to use any less than the entire width of the footpath, forcing me into a puddle, which filled my shoe with gross puddle water? Ugh, puddles.

Was it having to pay for 49 envelopes that I will never use because the Post Office only sells them in packs of 50?

Was it realising that the hem on my good work pants (and incidentally the only pair that fit me at the moment) had come undone and was dragging on the ground?

Was it that my cheese and tomato baguette looked great, but it was actually made with a stale roll?

Was it returning to my desk to find it surrounded by one mother, one baby, and 11 clucky women?

Ooooh, I just can’t pick it!

Don't leave home without it

Okay, three days in and I've realised that there are some things that you just don't leave home without...

Oyster card. A weekly card that costs about £24 and gives me unlimited use of the tube and buses. This is ESSENTIAL. I miss not having the convenience of a car, but the tube system is pretty good, and where I am living is pretty central.

Waterless hand cleanser. Amber bought me a little bottle of this and recommended that I use it after touching any of the handles on the aforementioned tube. *shudder*

Gloves. My poor circulation means that I haven't really taken my gorgeous purple leather gloves off since I arrived.

iPod. You do a lot of incidental walking in London - walking to the tube, from the tube to where you are going, up to the local Marks & Spencer, down the road to the local pub. The iPod keeps me entertained during these times. It is also a mood enhancer. I had a little moment on Friday where I caught the tube to Piccadilly Circus to get my HSBC card only to realise I forgot all the paperwork. So I put on some happy music and trundled back home. It's also like a personal soundtrack to your life, so I've been listening to a lot of Brit rock to get me in the mood.

Lip balm & hand cream. The cold dries your skin out like nothing else. Gross.

Umbrella. London weather is bi-polar. Sunny one minute, raining 10 minutes later, sunny again in half an hour, no it's raining again now. JUST MAKE YOUR MIND UP, AUGH!