in which i am not cher but possibly a little french
Aaaaaannnnd I'm back from a long but surprisingly pleasant day trip to Canberra. Definitely blessed with the weather cos I wasn't wearing thermals but turns out didn't need them cos it was lovely and sunny and just nippy enough to have my scarf wrapped around my throat and bomber jacket zipped up.
It was actually really sweet to be back in Canberra, to take the exact same bus (I think) from the train station into Civic and be both pleased and slightly freaked out that barely anything has changed in the whole decade since I lived there. Yep. Ten years ago today I would have been studying in that very city. That was a bit of a woah moment, suddenly aware of the past unreeling behind me. And Civic looked so quaint to me today, deserted as usual but still those sweet arched old white buildings. I was a little distressed to see the Greater Union cinemas where I watched Dark City five times had vanished. But ah the carousel is still there and the fountain.
And it was pure delight to walk into Intrigue Romance only to discover it looks exactly the same as the picture on the web site. In fact, better! Richer, more sensuous, so much more interesting and detailed, and just classy enough to not be trashy. A thousand times prettier than Rendezvous, I'll tell ya.
Stood and talked for a good half an hour about all things romance novel and academia. And man, am I glad I took the Goldfrapp tote bag cos I ended up dropping about a hundred and seventy-five dollars on the till and walking out with twelve books and three back issues of Romantic Times BookReviews. Totally awesome and totally worth getting up at five-fifty for the four and half hour train trip.
Also inadvertantly bought a pair of black skinny leg jeans. Argh, the shame. Even more so cos they fit right in with my outfit and I began to suspect my legs actually looked good in them. Bah.
And ohhhh when I came back over the bridge, they had turned the fountain on in Lake Burley-Griffin and man I had the exact same moment of fierce motionless love for that eerily motionless spray of mist over the glassy water. But would you believe that walking back into the station, the first pamphlet to catch my eye is this? And it opened today! I had even briefly considered popping in just for a nostalgic look around but had opted instead to start on my books. No matter, it's on til November so a double reason to go back to Canberra before then.
I actually really like that train trip, just watching the landscape change from city to scrub to slightly lusher green in the Southern Highlands and then get all dusty and dry beyond Goulburn. And there were gambolling lambs in the paddocks! Dusty cream coloured frisky lambs bouncing away over the dry grass while their mamas followed with a little more dignity. Sheepses! Ships! Ships, she said bewildered. Aye, ships, he said, and mebbe one or two coo-beasties. Ach, stick it in yer trakkans! Waily waily waily! T'ere c'n only be one t'ousand!*
And omigod, funniest thing ever: just past Goulburn, this odd animal shape came bouncing along the railway line and quite honestly my first involuntary reaction was "What the bloody hell is --- omigod KANGAROO! IJUSTSAWAKANGAROO! Well, yeah, d'uh, what're you getting so excited for? Look what country you're in, of course you're --- omigod kangaroo!" Dissolve to helpless mental laughter.
Still, when all's said and done, there's nothing like that first glimpse of Centrepoint in the distance, gold spike and blue curve in the black night, and the immediate yowl that sets up in my head of "Hoooooooooooommmme. I'm hoooooooooooomme." And home I shall stay for a good long while now, thankyou.
In less good news though, I woke up with that nasty sore throat tickle that says someone is now going to suffer for not buying a replacement bottle of echinacea tablets two months ago. Bah.
This is clearly my word of the week: "Bah." Said with a sort of French scornful weariness. Ennui. Mais oui.
*sorry, Pratchett explosion there.
It was actually really sweet to be back in Canberra, to take the exact same bus (I think) from the train station into Civic and be both pleased and slightly freaked out that barely anything has changed in the whole decade since I lived there. Yep. Ten years ago today I would have been studying in that very city. That was a bit of a woah moment, suddenly aware of the past unreeling behind me. And Civic looked so quaint to me today, deserted as usual but still those sweet arched old white buildings. I was a little distressed to see the Greater Union cinemas where I watched Dark City five times had vanished. But ah the carousel is still there and the fountain.
And it was pure delight to walk into Intrigue Romance only to discover it looks exactly the same as the picture on the web site. In fact, better! Richer, more sensuous, so much more interesting and detailed, and just classy enough to not be trashy. A thousand times prettier than Rendezvous, I'll tell ya.
Stood and talked for a good half an hour about all things romance novel and academia. And man, am I glad I took the Goldfrapp tote bag cos I ended up dropping about a hundred and seventy-five dollars on the till and walking out with twelve books and three back issues of Romantic Times BookReviews. Totally awesome and totally worth getting up at five-fifty for the four and half hour train trip.
Also inadvertantly bought a pair of black skinny leg jeans. Argh, the shame. Even more so cos they fit right in with my outfit and I began to suspect my legs actually looked good in them. Bah.
And ohhhh when I came back over the bridge, they had turned the fountain on in Lake Burley-Griffin and man I had the exact same moment of fierce motionless love for that eerily motionless spray of mist over the glassy water. But would you believe that walking back into the station, the first pamphlet to catch my eye is this? And it opened today! I had even briefly considered popping in just for a nostalgic look around but had opted instead to start on my books. No matter, it's on til November so a double reason to go back to Canberra before then.
I actually really like that train trip, just watching the landscape change from city to scrub to slightly lusher green in the Southern Highlands and then get all dusty and dry beyond Goulburn. And there were gambolling lambs in the paddocks! Dusty cream coloured frisky lambs bouncing away over the dry grass while their mamas followed with a little more dignity. Sheepses! Ships! Ships, she said bewildered. Aye, ships, he said, and mebbe one or two coo-beasties. Ach, stick it in yer trakkans! Waily waily waily! T'ere c'n only be one t'ousand!*
And omigod, funniest thing ever: just past Goulburn, this odd animal shape came bouncing along the railway line and quite honestly my first involuntary reaction was "What the bloody hell is --- omigod KANGAROO! IJUSTSAWAKANGAROO! Well, yeah, d'uh, what're you getting so excited for? Look what country you're in, of course you're --- omigod kangaroo!" Dissolve to helpless mental laughter.
Still, when all's said and done, there's nothing like that first glimpse of Centrepoint in the distance, gold spike and blue curve in the black night, and the immediate yowl that sets up in my head of "Hoooooooooooommmme. I'm hoooooooooooomme." And home I shall stay for a good long while now, thankyou.
In less good news though, I woke up with that nasty sore throat tickle that says someone is now going to suffer for not buying a replacement bottle of echinacea tablets two months ago. Bah.
This is clearly my word of the week: "Bah." Said with a sort of French scornful weariness. Ennui. Mais oui.
*sorry, Pratchett explosion there.