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Sunday, July 31, 2005
Holidays - You Can't Hold 'em Back
"More, more, more," cried the holidays. And who were we to say no. Lashings of more we dished out.
For a long time id planned to finally give the video camera a work out. The sum total of any edited production up to now has been our neat 5 minute piece entitled "Ralph Goes to Glebe" about us looking after Ellen's dog for a weekend. And the rest of our output amounting to trolley-off footage of dubious quality. That had to change. and to get the raw changing footage we went out onto the bad streets of Glebe. We got a lot of footage including skaters, a dude in a wheelchair and some great shots of feet. And some alarmingly arty footage of the branches of trees in Victoria Park. The finished product is still aways off and and in a rare moment of artistic compromise i can promise there will be NO nudity. Unless there are vounteers. Any volunteers, please contact the producer.
The last of a record many trips to Eastlakes was undertaken around this time to farewell Bright the Mother. In what was universally acknowledged as a madly successful maternal visit, The Mother had proved a great success. Thanks go out to Elly for her part in making this a great success. Endless ideas on how to keep The Mother (lets call her The Mum from now on. Sounds a little more "old lady."), The Mum entertained (The Gardens was an Elly idea. Marvellous), pulling off the marquee "Lets Invite The Mum to Dinner" night and being a great motivator to Bright the Petey when it threatened to get outta hand. We finished off with a farewell dash over to Eastlakes b4 heading down Hume for Elly's birthday. More coffee, we passed on a vetted copy of our Summer travel blog to mum and photos and we'd previously provided recipes and transport to trains stations (although on one occassion, i dropped mum off late and she missed the train but i blame that ridiculous exit at the start of lee Street. Who can see that ? etc ...)and dinners out at Indians Restaurants with salmon fillets that were coloured green and a ride over Anzac Bridge which impressed mum almost as much as the gardens. She has a v broad sense of what sort of gear can be made to look good. One of the things that she has passed on to her sons. In the role of hosting family members, we exceeded ourselves beyond our wildest excesses. Elly and I even discussed hosting or providing tours for visiting family members of other people. All for a reasonable price. Contact us now for that unforgettable experience.
Off to Canberra we drove. With Petey documenting the entire first hour with digital photos of the Elly the driver and natural features of the Hume road trip. OUr arrival to the nation's capital lacked the pomp accorded to other heads of state but we dashed off to the Cotton Lands in any case as there was word we were going to sample provincial Indian cuisine and we needed to get some classy duds on.
A Canberra night to render you impotent if you somehow mismanaged your brain and stumbled naked out of your house and were left barefoot on the pavers. Thats what sort of night it was.
We had a drink at The Trinity or Rah Bar where the tapless toilet technology still impresses me and pissing up against the wall does not have its normal meaning as the gentleman you do literally piss up against the wall. We sat outside. Christ ! Cold! Should have bought spirits.
The Taj Agra we moved to for dinner. had all the spice and a little of the heat you associate with Indian food. The Cotton parents made an appearance, Ry n Mandy, Shell and Steve, Bender and it made for a v enjoyable affair bringing together a stack of people that are rarely brought together. For mine, even the sight of a waiter washing the cutlery just behind our table in the dining room did not diminish the meal. I'd do it all again. Except probably with Japanese food. Yeah !
Post dinner a number of us poor souls bundled into the back of Bender's car for the short trip to Civic Pub. Body heat kept me alive for this journey and i spent the 5 minute trip blowing down the front of my shirt and imagining the warm air tracing a path about my chest hair and wishing that for 5 minutes, just 5 minutes, i could be a chest hair. Upon entering the pub, i was asked to remove my beany. "Certainly my good, sir," i replied by this time slightly pissed, "what a classy establishment this public house has become." etc
We had a few bevvies before departing and a taxi back to the burbs. And the next highlight was Elly waking me in the late, late night to tell me she had checked her exam results and got all credits which even in my half-sleepiness warmed my insides enough to power a rotating blowy heater that could keep a small family toasty in front of a TV with hot cocoa and marhsmallows for dunking .. Well done again, baby ! It was a great semester for Elly. People dont get to feel "proud" that much nowadays. But Elly, she makes me proud to be with her .. for stacks of reasons and not wanting to get too gushy 'cos this is a travel blog so i'll be brief but her passion for what she's doing matched with plenty of hard work and she was so good at it all we still went out every Friday night of Swot Vac ! Spectacular. I said to Elly more than once over the semester she was the perfect example of balancing being "fully up for it" with study and work. An example for all the kids. I will be writing a short How-To-Study book based on my observations of Elly during semester. Advance order now for your own unforgettable experience.
For a long time id planned to finally give the video camera a work out. The sum total of any edited production up to now has been our neat 5 minute piece entitled "Ralph Goes to Glebe" about us looking after Ellen's dog for a weekend. And the rest of our output amounting to trolley-off footage of dubious quality. That had to change. and to get the raw changing footage we went out onto the bad streets of Glebe. We got a lot of footage including skaters, a dude in a wheelchair and some great shots of feet. And some alarmingly arty footage of the branches of trees in Victoria Park. The finished product is still aways off and and in a rare moment of artistic compromise i can promise there will be NO nudity. Unless there are vounteers. Any volunteers, please contact the producer.
The last of a record many trips to Eastlakes was undertaken around this time to farewell Bright the Mother. In what was universally acknowledged as a madly successful maternal visit, The Mother had proved a great success. Thanks go out to Elly for her part in making this a great success. Endless ideas on how to keep The Mother (lets call her The Mum from now on. Sounds a little more "old lady."), The Mum entertained (The Gardens was an Elly idea. Marvellous), pulling off the marquee "Lets Invite The Mum to Dinner" night and being a great motivator to Bright the Petey when it threatened to get outta hand. We finished off with a farewell dash over to Eastlakes b4 heading down Hume for Elly's birthday. More coffee, we passed on a vetted copy of our Summer travel blog to mum and photos and we'd previously provided recipes and transport to trains stations (although on one occassion, i dropped mum off late and she missed the train but i blame that ridiculous exit at the start of lee Street. Who can see that ? etc ...)and dinners out at Indians Restaurants with salmon fillets that were coloured green and a ride over Anzac Bridge which impressed mum almost as much as the gardens. She has a v broad sense of what sort of gear can be made to look good. One of the things that she has passed on to her sons. In the role of hosting family members, we exceeded ourselves beyond our wildest excesses. Elly and I even discussed hosting or providing tours for visiting family members of other people. All for a reasonable price. Contact us now for that unforgettable experience.
Off to Canberra we drove. With Petey documenting the entire first hour with digital photos of the Elly the driver and natural features of the Hume road trip. OUr arrival to the nation's capital lacked the pomp accorded to other heads of state but we dashed off to the Cotton Lands in any case as there was word we were going to sample provincial Indian cuisine and we needed to get some classy duds on.
A Canberra night to render you impotent if you somehow mismanaged your brain and stumbled naked out of your house and were left barefoot on the pavers. Thats what sort of night it was.
We had a drink at The Trinity or Rah Bar where the tapless toilet technology still impresses me and pissing up against the wall does not have its normal meaning as the gentleman you do literally piss up against the wall. We sat outside. Christ ! Cold! Should have bought spirits.
The Taj Agra we moved to for dinner. had all the spice and a little of the heat you associate with Indian food. The Cotton parents made an appearance, Ry n Mandy, Shell and Steve, Bender and it made for a v enjoyable affair bringing together a stack of people that are rarely brought together. For mine, even the sight of a waiter washing the cutlery just behind our table in the dining room did not diminish the meal. I'd do it all again. Except probably with Japanese food. Yeah !
Post dinner a number of us poor souls bundled into the back of Bender's car for the short trip to Civic Pub. Body heat kept me alive for this journey and i spent the 5 minute trip blowing down the front of my shirt and imagining the warm air tracing a path about my chest hair and wishing that for 5 minutes, just 5 minutes, i could be a chest hair. Upon entering the pub, i was asked to remove my beany. "Certainly my good, sir," i replied by this time slightly pissed, "what a classy establishment this public house has become." etc
We had a few bevvies before departing and a taxi back to the burbs. And the next highlight was Elly waking me in the late, late night to tell me she had checked her exam results and got all credits which even in my half-sleepiness warmed my insides enough to power a rotating blowy heater that could keep a small family toasty in front of a TV with hot cocoa and marhsmallows for dunking .. Well done again, baby ! It was a great semester for Elly. People dont get to feel "proud" that much nowadays. But Elly, she makes me proud to be with her .. for stacks of reasons and not wanting to get too gushy 'cos this is a travel blog so i'll be brief but her passion for what she's doing matched with plenty of hard work and she was so good at it all we still went out every Friday night of Swot Vac ! Spectacular. I said to Elly more than once over the semester she was the perfect example of balancing being "fully up for it" with study and work. An example for all the kids. I will be writing a short How-To-Study book based on my observations of Elly during semester. Advance order now for your own unforgettable experience.
