New Year, New Me?

So I'm not completely with the idea of resolutions, and particularly new year resolutions, but sometimes you know that if you want to make a change its good to a metaphorical starter's pistol go off in your ear and hit the ground running. 

One of my big goals this year was inspired by a kooky dream I had -  

I was in an op shop, looking thru vintage knitting patterns when I decided to make a purchase. The sales assistant said she couldn't take my money as she had no change, but there was another way. She opened up a huge big book of appointments and told me I had to give blood. The appointment she gave me? 01 January. 

I know that the red cross blood bank is bleeding for donors (couldn't resist the pun) but I haven't quite been brave enough to bleed for the cause myself. I took this dream as my subconcious telling me to 'harden up, princess' and start donating this year. 

I happen to not be overly fond of needles (the non-knitting kind:). 

In order to face my fears I got a small tattoo in 2003 to 'beat the fear of needles'. However, lately I have been beginning to feel unworthy of such a tattoo if I am still giving into the fear when it comes to donating blood. 

I did get really close to donating once - I went in the door, filled out the questionaire and then got the finger prick test to check a few levels. It happened that my haeimoglobin was right at the bottom of the healthy range - and would have dropped into the unhealthy range if they had taken a couple of pints out of me. 

The plan to see this one thru comes with a little help from The Man - who is a regular donor. We are going to make appointments at the same time (as soon as he can donate again) and he will be there to hold my hand. He is also planning to feed me a heap of red meat the week before so I can get my iron and haemoglobin levels sky high so I don't work up all that nerve and then fail at the last minute.

If you would also like to join me in bleeding for a good cause check out the Red Cross Donate Blood webpage.

My second goal is to get moving - and start running a little more. This has been partly inspired by webgoddess and brave-and-slightly-crazy and partly inspired by a quote I read somewhere about "the black dog is lazy, if you exercise he won't bother to chase after you" (lucky Pierre hasn't a lazy bone in his body and enjoys runs with me in the park!)

I am aiming to do the couch-to-5km, but may do a couple of the sessions for more than the usual 1 week. The aim isn't to go fast, but just to get moving and build up a bit of endurance. If you're keen to see how I am going I have added my nike+ mini to the right sidebar. (the mini is also on my facebook profile.) So far the running is going well - although the forecast in Melbourne on Wednesday was for 39C, so I got up and went for a run at 6:30am when the temp was 31C (it only dropped down to 28C overnight) so I wouldn't have to worry about going to a run in the hottest part of the day when I got home from work. Ironically, the cool change came through at 9am and we dropped down to 21C. My desire to avoid the hottest part of the day had me running right in the middle of the heatwave :)

And the third wish for the new year? To get a haircut. Seriously. It has been more than 18 months since I last got a haircut so I am a little overdue. The plan was to go to the verrry cool gothic hair salon down the road and get the type of haircut that would dishonourably discharge me from the military (seeing as I no longer have to conform!). There were pipe dreams of dark, dark brown hair with blue/magenta and fire-engine red accents, but that will have to be put on hold for a while. Due to the office closing over the new year I ended up having to take over 45 hours of unpaid leave - so my paycheck was more than a week short this month. I may have to go somewhere for a bit of trim in the interim until I have some play money I can splash out on lavish haircuts. 

Drowned rat puppy...

The Man finally got the pictures off his fone from when the pup when for his impromptu swim...

CCCIX - Commuter Hell...

Yesterday Connex (AKA Melbourne Public Transport) chewed me up and spat me out.

My morning run was interupted by a delayed train, followed by a late train - which was pack to full capacity and NO-ONE at my station could get on and at which stage I went hunting a tram (that drops me off a kay down the road from work, rather than the 200m re: train station)

The afternoon run was worse. After noticing the train at my station wasn't going anywhere, which was followed by a mass-exodus of people out of the train station I decided that the tram would be my friend for the second time that day. Except every passenger in the NorEastern suburbs was told at earlier train stations to get on that tram to Clifton Hill station where they would be able to catch a connecting train. FIVE trams went by without stopping at all (because they were packed) in the forty minutes I sat at my tram stop. The next tram stopped and a slim little lady of asian persuasion got off. I decided that if one person got off, one person could fit on and spent quite a bit of time redefining my personal space. At Clifton Hill station all the train commuters got off and I actually got a seat (and my core body temperature dropped back to normal levels again due to recieving actual air flow)*.

I thought this was the last of my woes. Alas, no. To complete the trifecta of badluck ticket inspectors got on the tram. And my 10 x 2hr ticket had expired that morning. After explaining that I couldn't purchase a ticket due to the earlier crush, and after hanging on the the rails by my fingernails I just collapsed into the first vacant seat without any further thought of purchasing a ticket I was directed to the metcard machine. Where I discovered that, in anticipation of actually catching a train that day, I had no coins on my person (and tram machines don't take notes.) At that point I got off the tram before any details were taken and words such as 'infringement' and 'fine' were thrown about. Lucky for me The Man was able to cruise by and pick me up...

When I got home I discovered my luck had changed.... (see next post)


*Apparently a jumper was the cause for the shutdown of the line between the city and Clifton Hill station. Grr...

CCCVI - speaking of brain/thought/head problems...

A link for The Man -

Here is a great article by Terry Pratchett about his experience with early onset Alzheimer’s.

I particularly like this quote:

'When you have cancer you are a brave battler against
the disease, but when you have Alzheimer’s you are an
old fart'

And this picture:
My two cents - while there is nothing glamorous about illness and disease, dementia (and depression) do seem to be at the severely unfashionable end of the malady scale. I'm glad that one of my favouritest authors is forward enough to talk publicly about his own personal demons.

Oh, and one wonders whether there could be some new anthropomorphic personifications appearing in Discworld - Terry, feel free to introduce Aunty Dee to the rest of the world...

CCCV - A little less exhausted...

I think I may be getting back into the swing of this full time job thing. Today I actually had energy to go to the shops before coming home and collapsing on the couch :)

The new job is going well - the office is small and friendly, and very keen to help out an eager young upstart who wants to learn the ropes. I love the freedom of not being a uniform -but it does make for some hesitation in the morning while I am deciding what to wear (twice now I have driven into carpark just in time to see my train pullout of the station - luckily I have calculated a little leeway into the travel plans.)

Unfortunately my new life is having a bit of toll on the pupster - poor Pierre is at home for up to 12 hours without my company. He is rather hyperactive when I get home, and then switches to burr mode.

The Man and I knew that we needed to pay some extra attention to the furkid, so on lovely sunny Sunday we took him for a walk along the river. Wanting to give him a little extra freedom, we let him off the lead while we walked along the boardwalk. All fine and dandy until Pierre started bounding down the steps. At the rivers edge he stopped, sat, and stared into the perfectly still water, with algae and reeds sticking out... before leaping into the river...

Now might be a good time to tell you just how much papillons HATE water - the surest way to turn my adorable puppy into the mutt from hell is to turn close the door to the bathroom, turn on the tap and watch him panic!

...so we are fairly certain that Pierre didn't realise that he was jumping into water, and not onto solid ground.

For what felt like forever, the pupster completely disappeared. When he finally popped up (doggy paddling for his little life) The Man was emptying his pockets getting ready to jump in after the pup, while I was laying stomach down on the deck trying to fish out Pierre (that bronze medallion training from high school finally paying off). The Man picked up on what I was trying to do, lay down next to me and had the extra length in his arms to actually lift the dog out of the drink.

The Man took a few photos of our glorified drowned rat with his phone, but due to a software and/or cable problem I can't share them with you.

However, the river dip did solve the green paws problem:)

Adolescent Angst...

so I am considering that I may be ready to start thinking about looking for some part time work. (Yes - I know that is a frustrating sentence. Perhaps I should have said the thought of regular employment no longer fills me with unrestrained panic.)

In order to take a few baby steps in this direction I have began to look at jobs on seek.

I have decided that my 'reasonable expectation' wish list would include the following:-

1. Definitely NOT anything hospitality or retail
2. Preferably permanent part time - 2 to 3 days a week
3. Something somewhat involved with the Textiles industry
4. Relevant to my experience - I worked a Navy 'office job' for two years, so an administration type job would suit perfectly.

The though of going through the interview process freaks me more than the responsibility of a job. So I emailed a few resumes. The plan was to apply for lots of jobs-even some I may not particularly want so I could get used to going through the motions. That way I would get some sort of dress-rehearsal before I pinned my hopes on securing employment. I've applied for any sort of administration/ customer service/ data entry/ assistant job vaguely associated with Textiles. I know that I will not be quite what they are looking for, and that the jobs are not quite what I am looking for - so I can expect, and even hope for, rejections without bruising my self-esteem.

I had one call returned from a recruiting firm, and was asked to come in for a discussion. I thought I was ready for this stage - but the night before I could not sleep. In order to distract myself from not being able to sleep, I took a book to bed and decided to read until the letters and words started to turn into ants and crawl across the page (my usual way of getting to sleep!)

However, it didn't happen. Lately I have been reading historical biographies but Wednesday night I read a lovely adolescent fantasy novel lent to me from my sister. Of course - adolescent fantasy sounds rather sophisticated. I have also heard this book call 'Vampire Smut' by one of my favourite Sydney bloggers. Either way - I finished the novel, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, in one night and was rather shocked when I heard my housemates banging round the kitchen and heading off to work or lectures.

I had read through my whole nights sleep.

Nevertheless I got up and went through the motions of getting ready to head into Melbourne to meet with the recruiting Agency. And I miss the train. I was looking for a park as the engine pulled out of the station. Luckily - no great loss and a phone call sorted everything out (okay -I'll admit I did suffer a bit of an anxiety attack. I quite foolishly tried to race the train to another station to try and catch it there. May have made it if I didn't get stuck behind a 'Driver under instruction' truck going at 20kmph.) I got to go home and try to catch up on a little sleep...

Of course - After devouring Twilightin one sitting I was keen for more. I did stop by a few places in town thinking to buy the others, but rational thought took over and my sister had the rest of the series for me to borrow. Over the weekend I finished New Moonand Eclipse, and am currently up to the third book of Breaking Dawn

Apparently I am a little obsessed, because I have watched all the movie trailers and started looking into the careers of the actors in the movie. After discovering that Kellan Lutz, who will be portraying Emmett, started in the first episode of 90210 (he was George Evans, the guy who started the fight at lacrosse practice and snogged Naomi) - which was conveniently shown on channel 10 last night I have come to the realisation that I am regressing to a teenager again. I am becoming quite nostalgic for my adolescent angst.

So the job searching is on hold for the moment - but I was beginning to feel a little 'numb' (which I'd blamed on the happy pills), and these books have taken re-connected me to a whole range of emotions I haven't experienced for quite a while, some not since I was a teenager (and had an on again/ off again goth boyfriend who wanted to be a vampire). I am filled with a little hope though - that if I am able to regress to being a teenager again, perhaps I can try 'growing' into my adult self and correct a few of the mistakes and flaws I have developed along the way. I am going to give it a try anyway - try and relieve a bit of the fun and amazement and potential I experienced on a daily basis. Perhaps I can once again be happy-go-lucky, rather than sinking-down-depression...

out of habit...

The Man, pupster and I ran away to the bush block last week, and I am now having difficulty getting the blog posting happening again...

There was lots of 'rain-on-the-tin-roof' of the shed when we were tucked up nice and warm in bed, lots of reading by candlelight, knitting by day and crosswords in front of the fire. 

I ventured down into Colac one afternoon and hit the jackpot at the lifeline shop - I went trawling through the knitting patterns and about 2kg of vintage knitting patterns followed me home for only 50cents! 

I happened to double up on a couple of them, so Taph aka Queen of the Vintage Patterns, if you would like some more for your collection get in touch.

The prototype Kimoncho is now complete(rav link - photo in progress sidebar) and will get the pattern written up pronto. I'll be offering this in different sizes so it will take a little while to up-size it a bit (It is supposed to be a loose fit so my size will be the smallest). Because of this extra effort it will be offered for a nominal price.

GingerKnits.com is also donating door prizes for the Bendigo/ ACS/ Ravelry Brekky meet-up in a few weeks time. There will be two prizes will each consist of a skein of handspun and a new product that will not be launched until after theWool and sheep show weekend - the Fibre Freak Stitch-marker Charm Bracelet . 

Well - it appears that I got into rhythm of writing again! 

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be back with a few photos...

Happy 30 to The Man!

Yesterday The Man turned the big 3 - 0!

To celebrate this milestone, last Sunday a function room at a pub was booked, money put on the tab and guests catered for. The affair was a joint celebration - one of The Man's friends from his ahem innocent ahem childhood happens to be one day younger, so lots of people from were helping to celebrate. 

Joyously - a jukebox and projector was part of the deal. And in true 30th form, music from the last 3 decades were programmed into the jukebox. We discovered, after a few drinks, how truly dreadful our collective music taste can be! And how terrible some of the music videos were (but man - Jimmy Barnes was young once, Alice Cooper was always ugly and don't get me started on what is wrong with 'I like big butts'...)

We also discovered that Michael is a very entertaining guy. He plays basketball, cycles, runs through the snow naked, wears dresses and once had a girlfriend. No - this guy wasn't at our party. He had the 21st the night before and the photos were left on rotation at the end of the music videos. 

We kicked on into the city (narrowly missing the 2am lockout), had the end of the night Souvlaki at Stalagtites before calling it a night and departing from the rest of the gang to crawl back to our hotel booked by The Man with much foresight. 

Taking advantage of the public holiday monday, we slept in before venturing out to Gingerlee in East Brunswick for a little brunch with our fellow revelers from the previous evening. We topped up on enough coffee to get us back to Geelong before both the Man and I wrote off the rest of the day, bunkering down in either the bed or the sofa.

Yesterday he'd booked in a guys night when they all went out to feast on cow (steak) before realising it was his actual birthday, but to spend a little time with him I managed to abduct him from work to take him out to lunch in Highton. All in all, I think the Man had a great birthday.

A perfect day...

Yesterday The Man and I went to Melbourne to drop in to both the Handknitters Guild Expo and the Spinners and Weavers Guild open day - 

I have to say I was very restrained... this is all I cam home with:

I  x skein of Collinette Jitterbug in Slate (I'll be using that to seam up a jacket in Point 5... and then make some anklets)

I x second hand book (pocket sized) on woven tapestry. This book will live in my handbag to show everyone who thinks that tapestry can only exist in it's needlepoint form... (And I think it will get me some bonus points if I add it in to my Tapestry portfolio when I hand it in... extra research and the like!)

The Man was very well behaved - while I made a beeline for yarn in the Brunswick town hall, he went hunting coffee (I sent him down to Moka GiGi - best coffee within a 10min class break) and he brought me back a cappuccino. 

A mere block from the Spinners and Weavers Guild we found one of our favourite restaurants, The Calabrian, so we had a late lunch al fresco enjoying the last of the Autumn sunshine.

We rounded out the day with dinner at Big Mouth in St Kilda with Sis and her new hubby (they eloped in Los Vegas), did some late shopping down the street and picked up some sweets at a patisserie to take back to sis's and enjoyed them with some espresso before The Man drove us back to Geelong... all in all, a perfect day!

Textile Tuesday

This week brought to us by the loverly Purls Palace in Daylesford... the LYS that, like the rest of Daylesford, is cosy and classy. While I wandered around fondling yarns and fabrics, and flicked through books, The Man and Pupster sat on the comfortable couch and read through the Age (because, like the rest of Daylesford, Purl's Palace is Dog Friendly* and caters for partners)The Man bought these goodies for me as an extra birthday present when we had our dirty romantic weekend away back in March. 
These are the shots where I pay a homage to Brooklyn Tweed and his amazing yarn portraits. Above - Noro Iro, and below, Noro Kocharon.
These beauties have been turned into an incredibly warm beret/tam that gets lots of comments at Markets. I really should take some piccies of it!

*Of course, when we turned up on the doorstep of Purl's Palace The Man, Pupster and I were all wearing hand-knit sweaters. You'd have to be an idiot to turn away that sort of clientelle!

old acquaintance...

In a couple of the blogs I read, the idea of reunions has come up... and I thought I would run with the idea. 

It's all the fault of Facebook that I am on the topic of reunions. I got a message from one of the girls I met 10 years ago when I was an exchange student in Portland, Oregon. In the greatest of American traditions, time was up for a high school reunion. The Man and I were planning a trip over to the states in September to co-incide with the reunion, but it now appears the finances won't stretch that far :( It looks like that won't happen unless we win lotto*. Alas, don't cry for me Rex Putnam High School... 

*very difficult seeing as we don't buy lotto tickets. If anyone wants to send me one, please feel free.

spoilt!

Me - well and truly! 

Thanks to everyone who sent comments, emails, messages or texts wishing me a Happy Birthday on Friday - I had a fantastic day weekend!

On Friday arvo the Man, Pierre and I departed for Daylesford. The Man had booked a pet-friendly B&B - hence P came along. We arrived just before sunset - so after finding our accommodation we took the pupster for a wander down the main drag.

When we strolled passed Frangos & Frangos it became apparent we were rather peckish -and they were rather dog-friendly, so we stopped for dinner. Well... The Man and I had dinner - poor Pierre didn't get any of our cuisine...

Due to the fact it was early in the evening, the staff weren't too busy, so I nabbed the waiter to take a pic of us when he brought out our mains - 
(The Man had lamb, black lentil jus and mash while I had canestroni with roast pumpkin, ricotta and mustard fruits - see, it wasn't mere food, but cuisine)

And there wasn't a birthday cake, but we shared this - 

Blood Plum and Rum Trifle topped with gold leaf - so good we had to taste it before we got the camera out...
Oh - and P loved being out to dinner with us!

After dinner we went back to the Double Nut Chalet (appropriate seeing as it was gingernut and Mr gingernut!) where there was champagne sparkly, choccies and a spa bath awaiting for us.

The view from the front door of our 'Chalet'
See those high ceilings? The only thing that went wrong during the whole weekend was that at about 2am the smoke alarm battery decided it was going flat... and was giving out persistent chirps every few minutes and the smoke alarm was riiiight up the top of the wall! The Man had to climb on the table to reach it to shut the thing up!
Funky cosy living (even port supplied for that nightcap)
And cosy heating (and aircon if you need), a good supply of movies, and electric blankets if its your thang (we prefer to snuggle under an extra woollen blanket thou)

MMM... Spa!

After our lingering breakfast on Saturday, we found Purls Palace (more on this in another post!), the Convent Gallery and had lunch (well, I had Devonshire tea coffee) at Rhubarb Cafe and stopped at the bookstore before heading back to Geelong to catch up with The Man's family for dinner. (All dog-friendly... except the 'Bad Habits cafe' at the Convent Gallery, as it doesn't have al fresco dining)

At the Queenscliff Market on Sunday I tracked down  the "Tea with Alice Cupcakes" stall and bought this goigious lime-iced vanilla as a birthday cake treat for myself.

(Well - to keep with the theme, Sunday was actually an UNbirthday for me, but I am sure the Dormouse and Mad Hatter would have approved!)

Bliss!

Rain on a tin roof...

Distant thunder rolling by...

The refreshing smell of wet bush-lands...

A wood fire crackling nearby...

Soft candle light...

Collinette Point-5 on the needles...

I love it when we escape to the bush block!

Pierre news

On Saturday I was supposed to attend the Stitches and Craft show with some of the Geelong Knitters, but had to pike due to a lack of spare change, and a promise to the Man of a stash diet...

Instead, the Man and I gathered up Pierre and took him to the Dogs Day Out run by the Geelong Animal Welfare Centre and the local Council. The main reason we went (apart from giving P some doggie social hours) was to sort out his registration for the next year, but we decided to have a go at the agility course that was set up.

Apart from trying to duck under the jump (set only about 20cm above the ground), the pupster did really well. He ran over the 4m high beam (he's had practice on the backs of our armchairs and couch) and had no problem running through the tunnel. 

I got some information about training sessions, and unfortunately the club meets on Sunday mornings - so P and I won't be able to go until markets wind down a bit....

When discussing this idea with the housemates, they were certain the Pupster did not need any more agility...

In fact - they fear that with any more agility Pierre may turn into NINJA PUPPY :

Ninja Puppy would cling to the ceiling near the fridge to stalk any housemates wanting a midnight snack. Once the Ninja Puppy lands on your heads, he owns your food....

(yes.. I have been playing with photoshop... why do you ask???)

seven simple joys

Caffeine Faery tagged me for 'seven things' and I thought I would take Taph's idea for a ride - so without further ado, seven simple joys:-

1. Surviving a long weekend without having to put fuel in your tank until the Tuesday... 

2. Hearing Alex Lloyd's Amazing on the radio - I find that song so uplifting... I remember when it first came out in 2001 I would drive the hour home from work at 1-2am flicking through radio stations hoping to hear it play.

3. Having discussions with The Man about 'our' future.

4. The pupster jumping all over me the minute I walk through the front door. When I sit down he gives me a thorough face-washing with his tongue. 

5. When people (okay, older women) at the market comment that they wish they had grandkids to buy my products for. 

6. Having a housemate who wants to watch all your Buffy and Angel DVDs... in order... and doesn't think that doing so is overkill.

7. The Man waking me up in the morning with a coffee... and grabbing his laptop so he can work checking his emails in bed and spend more time with me before he dashes off in the morning :)

Saturday in the Park..

well, the dress is 'saturday in the park' but we were 'saturday at a wedding' - Ceremony at a church and reception at a coastal winery.

The Man and I spent a wonderful day celebrating with our friends and their family, dancing well into the evening. 

For those interested, the dress is from Glampyre's Fitted Knits, and knit in Spotlight's 70/30 bamboo/cotton yarn. 

Where's my cow??? Bugrit!

'That's not my cow - that's foul ol' Ron!'

If you are a discworld fan, and have read THUD! you would be rather familiar with these lines... one of the better habits I have adopted from the Man is a rather keen ambition to consume discworld novels at a crazy pace. When I discovered that Pratchett had written a discworld picture book, I went a-hunting it down.



Unfortunately - the local bookshop didn't have it,but could order it in... and it would take about a month...and would be rather expensive.... so I went a-hunting on the internet, and managed to surprise the Man with a random gift (he didn't know about the book at all!)



The Man is rather delighted with the book - particularly with the illustrations of Commander Vimes (One of the man's fav discowrld characters - the other is Lord Vetinari)

This is a delightful picture book, great for kids and a must have for any discworld fan. I recommend you chase it up!

And on other note - just to prove Pierre did survive the three weeks without me, a cute dog photo:

Harvest!

Thank goodness for housemates! I was able to harvest these colourful gems because my housemate made sure my small garden didn't get too thirsty during the reign of 40+ degree days with no rain...

This is the third harvest off my tomato plants - the first harvest was picked the day before The Man and I flew to Thailand (one grape and one sugarless yellow - you wouldn't believe how proud I was of them) and the housemate used the second harvest in a spag-bol-from-scratch.

These tomatoes are teeny tiny - but pack a big punch in flavour. These are cherry, grape, sweetbite and sugarless yellows - small fruit that is great to nibble on during the day. I also have some Moneymakers and Black Russians - however these are still ripening on the vine.

The garden appears to have exploded during the three weeks we were away. The capsicums and chillies have fruit on them, as do my cucumber(?) plants (these were a gift from The Man's dad, and look like little Heinz gherkins) and there are two red hunchback looking things on my strawberry bush. The beans are still going crazy, and the eggplants have flowers on them, and the pumpkin runner has taken off (I think it may be attempting a half marathon, or at least a cross country...)

Post-script: Yes, it is 3am and I can't sleep. During yesterday's tyre saga, I rather foolishly spent too much time in the sun wearing a tank top sans sunscreen. I now glow in the dark red across my neck and shoulders. Silly really - it was at least 10 degrees cooler here than we had in Thailand (where I didn't get burnt sunscreen or no) so I didn't think about it. Shows just how bad a hole in the ozone layer and the sun directly over head can be. Oh well, at least blogger is letting me post pictures now... And in case you're wondering- I have an appointment to enrol in my course next Tuesday. Allaz wal!

a two flat tuesday...

There is nothing like real life to remind you that you are no longer on holiday!

While I was away, I received the official offer for the Studio Textile and Design Course. Enrolment day on the letter was listed as today....

So this morning I jumped in my car, backed out of the drive, got halfway round the round-a-bout....

...and had a sneezing fit...

BUMP BUMP! I ended up driving over the gutter....

I heard a funny noise coming from outside the car, so I pulled over.

Got out of the car.... the back passenger side tyre was completely flat, and the front passenger side tyre was slowly joining it...

First of all, I called for help. The man said he was on the way...

Secondly, I called up RMIT - I spoke to a girl in the enrolments information office who made helpful comments like "oh... your enrolment session is 11-1, which is now. No one will be in their office to take your call...'' and ''...you really need to go to your enrolment session cos otherwise they will think you're not interested and give your place to someone else...'' After finally convincing this bright spark to put me through to someone because I was sure they had voicemail, she then hung up on me....

So I found a direct number for the textiles school... which was a lot more helpful :)

The Man sorted things out with the car for me... (put the spare on, take the flat to be fixed, put the new tyre on, now need to get spare repaired...) ....and I have spent the rest of the day doing laundry from our trip and pottering in the garden.

Ahh... yes... real life :P

like a tiger... grrr

The Man and I have reached Kanchanaburi - historically infamous for the Bridge over the River Kwai. Those not in the know, the Bridge was part of a rail system that was built using POW labour during WWII so Japan could have an alternate supply route to Burma (now Myanmar). It was estimated that rail system would take 5 years to build, but it was complete in 14 months - many of the POWs being literately worked to death. There a a few movies about the Bridge over the River Kwai and lots of museums and monuments around Kanchanaburi. The man and I went to the Allied Forces War Cemetery last night, and plan to make it out the the bridge today.

Fortunately, Kanchanaburi does have a far less grim claim to fame - Some of the Monks in the area started a wildlife rescue a few years ago, which has resulted in the attraction "Tiger Temple". We are going to get up close and personal with the big cats this afternoon, where we will have oppotunity to pat and touch the carnivores.

Tomorrow we head back to Bangkok (or Krung-thep, as the locals know it) for a bit of sightseeing before jumping on a plane Sunday night to head home.

Oh.. and slightly knitting related - I managed to pick up a couple of skeins of beautiful rough silk yarn when we were in Chiang Mai. Picture will be forthcoming when we get home :)