Recent acquisitions

I've been doing quite a bit of shopping of late. Some notable highlight:

I saw this stuffed bird at the Chapel Street Bazaar a couple of weeks ago. It's suppose to be from the 1950s. It's a green-billed toucan. The red around the eye was originally painted blue but that was not the right colour for the species so I repainted it.

I bought this table lamp last week from Space Furniture on Church Street. Nathan picked it up from the warehouse on Friday. The light came in two boxes. I spent the evening putting it together by painstakingly clicking each sphere into place.

This sideboard is by British designer Richard Hornby. I came across it at the Smith Street Bazaar when I was in Fitzroy with my sister last Monday. Given the shortage of storage space in the apartment, I justified the purchase as a "need" rather than a "want" ;-)

a relaxing sunday

Nathan and I had a most relaxing day today. It started off with arepas at Sonido on Gertrude Street, followed by a nice walk around Fitzroy.

Nathan had to make a brief stop at work so I left him in the city and headed back home to polish my latest purchase – a 1960s sideboard – with liquid wax. After finishing with the sideboard, I moved onto  the other items of furniture in the apartment. It was very therapeutic.

Nathan got back mid afternoon and we decided to take the dog for a walk to the South Melbourne markets, where I ended up getting a grilled fish sandwich. Delicious. Nathan ordered two spring rolls from that famous dim sim place that everyone (caucasian) rants and raves about. He loved it. I think it tastes like a chiko roll...but each to their own.

On the way home, we stopped by at the Boat shed near the Polly Woodside for a nice drink.

Dinner tonight was a lamb roast. Truffles got the bone and has been happily chewing away for the last hour or so.

It was the ideal kinda Sunday to ease back into the working week.

ooops

I have to cross a road on the way to the train station every morning and I always do so at the pedestrian crossing.

I never take it for granted that cars will give way so I make sure to watch out for the cars before crossing.

Yesterday, I stopped on the side of the road and waited for an approaching taxi to stop. I then proceeded across the road. Unfortunately the car behind the taxi did not stop and ploughed into the back of the taxi.

Oops.

a fork at security

Whilst at Melbourne Airport on Sunday, I had a little incident at security. And it's all Nathan's fault.

Let me explain...

Whenever I bring my lunch to the office, I always use the cutlery at work and then pack it away inside my lunch box to bring home to wash. Nathan, who has a thing about matching cutlery in our kitchen drawer, then places the (mostly) mismatched office forks back into my work bag, with the idea I'd return them to work.

The problem this time around was that Nathan did not tell me that he had put a metal fork in my bag.

So...forward to Sunday when I was at Melbourne airport. I made sure to take off my steel-capped shoes, my watch, my wallet and my keys and placed them inside my bag. I walked through the metal detectors without any incident. But then I notice the security guy remove my bag from the conveyor belt. A few minutes later, he tells me I have a fork in my bag and had to go through security again. And 'yes', I had to endure the pre-scripted, condescending spiel about how I am not suppose to bring metal forks into the airport.

Thanks Nathan. Thanks a lot.

a flying visit

I made a quick trip to Canberra this weekend to see my dad, who was suppose to have surgery today. Unfortunately,  the surgeon was sick and postponed the op at the eleventh hour. I am now back in Melbourne and the op is rescheduled for Wednesday.

I must say, flying into Canberra this time, I was quite impressed by the airport which seems to be nearing completion. I still remember the crappy little airport in Canberra when we migrated to Australia in the early 80s. Back then, the planes that flew into Canberra were mostly small and from a limited number of destinations. Also, there were no aerobridges so it meant walking onto the tarmac to get onto the plane (which was a real pain in the rain). I guess this is progress.