I finished the last of my kombucha - more is being made on Friday.
I got off of school and my parent's neighbour called for a chat
I've talked to the cat, seeing he was ignored while I was at school.
My chapter got workshopped at school (Which is held online, after a day of sitting and the computer - but it is still awesome)
I've sent on my review comments to my fellow classmate who also got reviewed.
I realise the furthest I've been out of the flat today is to the letterbox out the front.
And I find myself hungry.
So here is the conundrum: It's after 8.30. I'm wiped. I need to be up at 6.30 a.m as I'm meeting a mate at the Botanical Gardens running/walking track at 7 am so we can both get some exercise in.
And being 8.30 pm the choices are getting limited in this locked down world.
So, what is a girl to do?
The way I see it, I have the following options:
Maccas run (Don't really want to do this)
Beans on toast (Ho hum)
Salad and tuna (Probably the healthiest option, but nah - I had salad for lunch)
Go hungry
Eggs and something.
I'm not killer hungry, but a bit gnarly. I want to have a Negroni as school should be celebrated with a Negroni.
So what does one do?
Well, after much hemming and hawing, I didn't do the cop out Maccas run. Instead, I raided the fridge and did the proper English thing and made myself a bacon and egg sandwich. Streaky bacon, thin omellete, gluten free bread and lashings of tomato sauce.
Strangly, after nearly 12 hours at a computer, it was just what was required.
I'm also fuelled up for tomorrow's lap of the Tan.
As you can see, my brain is pickled. Time for bed.
I'm spending an hour a day out of the flat. Mostly, this is for me walking to exercise, taking exercise, or going to get supplies at the local supermarket. Other than a trip across the Westgate to drop off supplies to Blarney, the furthest I've been fom he flat is the back of the Botanic Gardens and the Abbotsford Convent - both being on my well worn excercise walking paths.
Trips to the supermarket have become a bit fraught. Too many people, stock availability, just the general feeling that doing your weekly shop could be really dangerous. I mean, they have a teenager wiping down the baskets and trolleys. When do we start trusting teenagers to do a good job (actually I am very thankful for this, but still, the though crosses my mind. When do you expect a teenager to do well at such an important task)
One of the best bits of going to my local Coles has to be Coles Radio. As somebody who sings for most of the day whether I want to or no, having a radio station which plays songs which you not only know, but love, is fantastic.
I don't know who does the programming for Coles Radio, but its great. A mix of 80s and 90s classics with a few newer tunes thrown in. I regularly get suckered in and find myself singing as I go pick up the milk, veggies and what ever else I need for the following days. More often than not, I'll see somebody else born around the same era singing along quietly too.
As much as I dislike the whole Supermarket monopolies, I really do like their radio station. If anything, because they play music which sometimes gets lost on GOLD FM.
And you can stream it to your phone - even better.
Today's song was playing as I was walking down the cat food aisle. I've not hear it in years but I recognised it from the first chords. Coles plays lots of songs like this.
I was hoping for something a little lighter from the Sunday Stealing questions - but it seems it wasn't to be. So I'm sitting here with a nice Negroni - 78 Degrees gin, Vermouth and Campari - with a splash of soda to open it up. I'm happy. My Easter tipple seeing I can't go out and see friends.
Anyway, here's this week's questions supplied by the amazing Bev at Sunday Stealing.
1 – What is something you are doing due to the pandemic that you normally don’t do? After the pandemic will you continue to so this?
I've always been a handwasher, but not to the level I wash my hands to now. I think I'll be keeping the 20 second handwash on a regular basis, particularly as I come in from being out. Mind you, I think we're going to have to keep rather sedate for a couple of months, so I may as well get used to it.
I'm also talking to people on video links a lot more. I'm quite liking this.
2 - What made you happy, sad, or frustrated today? List, all big and/or small, as there may be some of one or all of these feelings!
Today, for my exercise, I did two laps of the Botanical Gardens - about an 8 kilometre walk (A bit over four miles for those using the old measure). This made me very happy. The first lap I did with Jay, keeping our distance, the second lap I did on my own. Just being outside was fabulous. It was a mild afternoon, overcast. Not too many people on the Tan Track. Loved every minute of it. Said hello to a lot of dogs - but I do this anyway no matter where I am.
3- What is one of the first things you will do when the pandemic is over?
Start hugging my friends again. Got I miss touch.
4 – Are you an essential employee or do you know someone who is? Is this affecting you in some way?
I'm not an essential employee, but I am working from home - most of the company is. I've been working from home for a couple of weeks now. My work computer comes out at 8.30 am - it's put away at the end of the day. As I'm working out of my lounge room, I have to keep these boundaries.
I've a number of friends who are medicos, in telecommunications and in retail who are all a lot more frontline than me. I feel very lucky to be cocooned in my flat.
5 – What are you doing to destress during this stressful time?
I make sure I get out of the flat for an hour every day for exercise, whether that is seeing my trainer (twice a week, in the park) or going for a walk.
I've also adopted a cat - his name is Lucifer and he is black and he is gorgeous. He's helping to keep me sane.
Ensuring I get to talk to friends during lunch breaks is also helping me keep on the straight and narrow - just keeping in communication with others all over the world is great. Spoke to Reindert in Colorado, Nathan in Essex and my Mum this weekend.
6 – Have you tried any new recipes during this time? Please share your recipe if you want to.
Nope, no new recipes to date. I made a cake for Blarney and Barney on Friday and took it round to them. ( We are allowed to make runs out to see people on compassionate grounds. Blarney is just out of hospital after an emergency operation. She's fine, but I'm helping with food, particularly sweets for the boys)
7 – Have you always lived where you do now? If not, how did you wind up in the place you currently live?
I've lived here for well over ten years. I've been in Melbourne for just over 20 years. I was in London before that, Adelaide before that. When I was leaving London, I had to think about where I wanted to go. I made a list:
I didn't want to go back to Adelaide - family live in Adelaide - best not go back. Little work in what I do there too,
Perth was too far away from Adelaide
Darwin was far too hot and it has crocodiles and too far from Adelaide
Brisbane was far too humid and it's full of Queenslanders and too far from Adelaide
Sydney is full of arrogant wankers - its also too humid and expensive, though it is a banking and finance centre (Which is what I was doing in London)
Hobart is a bit too cold and there isn't much there. (Saying that, I'd love to live in Tasmania now - fabulous place)
Canberra is full of politicians and public servants
Melbourne is eight hours drive away from Adelaide, has a bit of culture and there was work for me.
Melbourne won.
8- Where is the last place you visited on-line?
I was reading the New York Times - I do that daily. I'm just glad I'm not in America at the moment, and I'm very thankful that Australia appears to be managing the COVID-19 situation admirably. To date, 60 deaths and about 6000 cases in a country of 25 million with the trends becoming lower daily. I know how very fortunate I am to be here. I feel very blessed to be here.
9- What is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you?
Somebody once said that I was a steam train. Solid, yet strangely beautiful, in a way that is constant.
At the time, I thought it was more because I was large and full of hot air.
10 – Tell me about the last photo on your camera (phone or real camera or both!)
This was taken on my walk around the Botanical Gardens this afternoon. We're finding a lot of toy koalas strapped to telegraph poles at the moment. I'm not sure why, but I thought this was cute.
I'm having a novel day today. Sitting here writing a chapter of my novel, knowing that I have to send it off to the class for feedback and critiquing by midnight tonight.
But now is the time to get the blog out of the way so I can then not worry about the post and get on with the joys of finessing a chapter, knowing somebody who has won the Stella Prize is looking at it (and this is VERY daunting)
So, it's on with a writing with Dev session today.
Here we go, session six. And the first thing she talks about is being anti-feedback (and yes, I know I'm probably further along the writer chain than most people)
This is brilliant, you are awesome, keep on going.
And I'm used to feedback on what I'm writing - but again, I've been doing this for over 20 years - and I know how to garner feedback. This is why I go to class.
And still, it doesn't matter what people think. (and I need to change the battery on the mouse).
Choose a prompt:
Money: Foreign Coins and assorted dosh.
Paint swatches: Stonnington Beige, Lucky Charm, Rum Orange, Grey Bonnet, Red Liquorice, Retro Gold
Old Ipod, peg, a mintie, pencil sharpener, glass heart, brooch
Randon little toys, smurf, frog, alien, lego crocodile
My choices: Vietnamese Dong, Red Liquorice, mintie, toy frog
She hated the feeling of coming back from holidays and the chores that presented themselves to her as jetlagged, she stumbled out of the cab, and into her neglected flat. Had she really been away for three weeks? Did she really have to pick up her cat from her friends?
She pondered what she would do with the wallet full of Vietmanese Dong which somehow she's accumulted on the last day of the holiday. She hated coming back with currency, it seemed such a waste of money. But she had to split a large bill on that penultimate day. She didn't want to, but she was hungry, walking through the streets of Hoi An, drinking in the smells, the grandeur of the streets. She's needed a bowl of pho. She only had large notes. It was go hungry or come back with ten dollars in her wallet. She shouldn't feel cheated.
Looking in her cupboard, she tried to find sustenance. A bag of red liqourice sat on the shelves, open and half eaten. She was lucky the ants didn't get the stuff. Surely he would noticed that. Ants traipsing in and out of a cupboard. Maybe the ants didn't like red liquorice. She preferred it in liquorice bullets, covered in white chocolate - the type which Darrell Lea did so well. Ah Darrell Lea, such a presence in Adelaide when she was a kid.
It was travelling which made her realise how much she was invested in Australia. How much she loved the food culture. How she adored the parochialisms which made her proud. She often took a packet of minties with her on these extended trips. When she felt a little homesick, she's pop a mintie and she instantly felt like she was at home. This holiday, she didn't crack the bag open. She was enamoured with the place. Never been anywhere like it. Although she was well travelled, Vietnam had taken her breath away.
She started to unpack her day pack, looking the the trinkets she's purchased over her time there. She like to buy little things, with no agenda to give them to anybody as souvenirs. A little toy frog she found at the market stall, a grass hat she bought at the airport. She liked to come back with silver if she could. She worse silver. Jewellery was always light and cheap. The enjoyed the different pieces she got over the years on holidays. She didn't intend to change this practice.
-oooOooo-
Ah, yes, editors. Not ready for editors.
You can't yell at a flower.
Oblique Strategies Cards: I bought the App. I have a few of these apps. The online version is great too.
Write for five mintues on: Cluster Analysis
Okay, so what is my problem with writing this bloody novel. If anything, I have too many ideas, plus I've got what I'm learning in class keeping me on my toes. The ideas are find - and I'm discovering a lot in what I'm writing, which is often the best way - but then you want to do well at it. And I hate rework. I'm currently rewriting something I'd written for my Masters. It's really shite, but the ideas are still solid. Now, with the help of my class and tutors, I'm looking at how you construct a novel in a completely different way. We also have one of the tutors saying it's all in the sentence. I had David Malouf tell me the same thing some 20 years ago.,
I've got my Scrivener board out ready for ideas to take shape. Last week's class gave me a lot to think about character - and my main character is really just me, but with a bit more sass and chutzpah. I like the badinage of words that writing does for you.
But for tonight, I need to get 2000 polished words ready for class consumption.
Before that I may just mop the floors and feed the cat.
There is some good that is coming out of this isolation lark.
I'm just back after a mercy run out to Blarney and Barneys. Cakes and pasta sauce deposited. A glass of red was imbibed on the front verandah while we had a chat. Blarney is doing okay - it will take some time, but she's looking well.
Social distance was maintained. Maow Maow was cuddled, a much required element of the trip. I've been cuddling that cat for over ten years, just because I have my own doesn't mean I'll stop giving him a cuddle now. We had a chat for a bit. I offered to do some chores. Everything was under control. It was lovely to see my friends. The only people I've spent any time with (at a socially acceptable distance) is Jay and Cleo for exercise - with the odd encounter with the neighbours.
I took stock of the many blessings that showed through as I drove home. There are lots of them.
1) The run out to Blarney's normally takes 30-40 minutes. Without the traffic I was there in 20 and home in 23 minutes. Got caught at the lights of Punt Road. That slowed me up.
2) The air is noticably clearer.
3) Air traffic noise is all but gone.
4) You don't get snarled up in all the regular horrible traffic spots - MacRobertson's Bridge, City Road and Southbank Boulevard, Punt Road and Swan Street - hell, even getting down Church Street is great. You don't have to wait three sets of lights to turn the corner of any major intersection.
5) Changing lanes on the Westgate is a dream.
6) The only place you see a crowd is outside the fish and chip shop (There was a socially distanced crowd outside the chippy on Swan Street.)
7) You can get parking on main roads. This almost never happens.
8) Nobody appears to be in a rush any more.
9) You really, really appreciate when you do get to spend more than ten minutes outside. Like really, really appreciated it.
10) The low grade road rage is gone.
11) People do seem a bit friendlier - even from a distance.
12) You're saving money because you're not eating out anywhere near as much.
13) Same goes for drinking.
14) And you're looking forward to the day you can actually kiss and hug your friends. Really looking forward to that.
15) Strangely, I'm looking forward to getting back on a plane.
I don't want to take this time for granted.
Anyway, I am in enforced lock down now. Outside my door is the mother of all huntsmen. The downstairs neighbour, who normally does my bidding is too stoned to sort out the situation. I've emptied a can of bug spray onto the screen door to keep the fucker out.
So, as I'm basically a captive here in the flat with the cat, I can get on with writing that chapter of my book - which I have to put in tomorrow night for critique and feedback.
Okay, I don't need to make a chocolate cake, but I want to make a chocolate cake.
You see, Blarney has just got out of hospital after spending last weekend and part of this week waiting for an operation. Thankfully it was nothing critical, but it did need to be dealt with then and there. Not great timing to be in hospital. She's had the operation, she's now home, but she's very sore and not moving too well.
So in comes the mate who helps out at times like these. (I've sprung Blarney from hospital on numerous occassions now - delivered care packages, babysat etc, etc) It's what friends do.
Besides, Barney rang and asked that I bring cake. How can you say no to a bloke who's stuck by himself with two nine-year-old miscreants?
Being in a lockdown state, we're not supposed to move very much - but there is a concession in the rules for people caring for others to make trips out of their home. Delivering chocolate cake and a fresh batch of pasta sauce to Barney and the Units, Chance and Lance, now aged nine, is allowable. You keep your distance, drop stuff in (I can get my book back for book group) maybe do some chores of cook dinner. I also get to make sure Blarney is okay. And most importantly, see the Maow Maow.
It's now twenty to ten. The cakes are in the oven. I'm thankful I've been making chocolate cake since I was a chile. The recipe is ingrained in my psyche. It always works out - it's very hard to stuff up.
Lucifer also helped. He's very good at helping. It always makes things better when you have a cat checking out everything you do. They're like fluffy quality control.
Oh, I only ever bake from scratch
So without further ado, here is my foolproof chocolate cake recipe.
You need:
1 cup Self Raising Flour
1/2/-3/4 cup of white sugar
2 heaped tablespoons of Bourneville Cocoa (I've only ever used this stuff)
1/2 cup of milk (I used macadamia milk this time round - seems to have changed nothing)
125g of melted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
Pinch of salt
Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade
2) Grease and line a cake tin (or two log cake tins as I have done tonight)
3) Sift flour and cocoa into a mixing bowl or food processor.
4) Add sugar and salt. Mix well.
5) Add eggs, melted butter, milk and vanilla in stages mixing well until the batter is smooth.
6) Place batter in lined cake tin.
7) Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out cleanly.
8) Cool cakes.
9) Ice as desired.
Don't ask me for my chocolate icing recipe - I make that from scratch out of icing sugar, cocoa, butter and a bit of milk. I can't give you amounts - it's made by feel.
These cakes will have smarties on top of them - as all good celebration cakes need smarties. Call them Easter / glad you're out of hospital cakes.
For me, it's also a good excuse to get out of the house when we really need to be home.
I'll still be within the law. We'll keep our distance in the house.
I'm just glad my friend is well and I get to see my other cat, even if only for a few minutes.
I'm knackered. Didn't get a great sleep last night, have had a strange day, and I've spent some time working on my novel tonight. But that leaves the daily blog.
(Oh before I start on this, do you know how absolutely magic it is to have a cat which jumps up onto your shoulder and demands a cuddle? It is very magic)
Anyway, one of my challenges this month is to do the daily Writer's Victoria Flash fiction challenge.
At 9 AM every morning, on Twitter, he day's theme is set. You have until 9 PM to get your 30 word story in.
You think telling a story in 30 words can't be done. Well Hemingway demonstrated it could be done in six ('For sale. Baby's shoes. Never worn.').
It's a good way to hone your writing skills.
Here are my entries for the last week. And yes, I have a different Twitter handle.
All words are my own. The word of the day is found in the hashtag.
‘Eyeballs and ice cream,’ smiled mum as she dumped the bowls in front of us. ‘I want real dessert!’ I moaned. ‘Lychees are good for your sight. Eat up!’
She poured the concentrate into the frothing liquid, watching as the effervescence settled into the phial. This was the last step in her plan. In the morning, he’d be dead.
#WVFlashFic20@Writers_Vic#Intense His eyes were green. Not a wet green of slime or snot. His eyes were dark green, so intense, you felt yourself walking through a forest looking into his eyes.
#WVFlashFic20@Writers_Vic#Blur ‘Can we listen to Blur?’ she asked, flicking through his CDs. ‘They’re derivative.’ ‘They’re fun.’ They could never agree on music. He was a purist, a snob. They were doomed.
‘Three days!’ Eunice growled at the computer, waiting as her grandson worked his hocus-pocus on the mysterious box. It was easy, he said. ‘You need to turn it on, Gran.”
#WVFlashFic20@Writers_Vic#Blind Guilty, the little face poked out from behind the blind. He thought he was invisible, faultless. The trail of destruction, leading to the paw prints on the windowsill proved otherwise.
#WVFlashFic20@Writers_Vic#Hazy There was nothing hazy in his mind. It happened, even if the court saw it as a he said / he said account of ancient actions. Guilt is guilt. Justice, justice.
#WVFlashFic20@Writers_Vic#Mirror The best part of the fair was the Hall of Mirrors. ‘You’d still love me with an arse like that?’ I giggled. Viewing my distorted image, he sighed, then shrugged.
