Ah, Metropolis
Originally published at tansyrr.com. You can comment here or there.
40121 / 50000
First, take a moment to admire the shiny word counter above. Is it not bee-yootiful? I am so relieved that I took this NaNovember to write the beginning of Book 3 - I already know a lot of things that will change about Book 2 because of it (and my fingers are itching to rewrite Book 1 - sadly TOO LATE, TANSY)
This morning was surprisingly lovely. I had a doctor’s appointment (my long-delayed post-baby check up) and decided to meander through town for the rest of the morning so I could meet my honey for lunch.
Oh yes, I was in TOWN. Town being the centre of Hobart, now a place so distant, rare and exotic to me that it instilled the excitement of a shopping weekend to Melbourne. (I have never done this) I trip-trapped through Pumpkin Patch, resisting the gorgeous $50 dresses (really SO beautiful, I was very restrained) but managing to stock up on lovely baby things on the grounds that Jem isn’t old enough to appreciate her first Christmas, so all her presents should be indulgences for meeeee… (cough, and Raeli-sized shoes and hats were on special)
I then found myself in the rather odd position of needing to feed the baby and not being sure where to. I checked out a few cafes in the mall and didn’t feel comfortable about feeding in any of them for various reasons of clientele, comfort and just plain thinking too hard about the issue. (this is normally not an issue for me, as many of you know I am pretty quick to whip a bosom out in public at the drop of a hat) Eventually I went into Target and begged my way into a fitting room. The fitting room lady was really nice about it, and that is entirely the reason that I went on to spend $200 in the store.
Well, not really. But I can tell you now I most definitely would NOT have spent that money if she had been mean about it. Despite the sales and the astonishing existence of a nursing bra that might actually fit me.
Loaded up with clothes for me, clothes for girls, and some extremely cute icecream sundae glasses, I then trip-trapped to Ellison Hawker Bookshop to drop off the Twelfth Planet Press catalogue - those of you who are Hobart locals and don’t like to order online, it looks like they’ll be getting some copies of Siren Beat/Roadkill in, and in any case they officially have the catalogue now so you should not get blank faces if you walk in and try to order a copy through them. Fullers Bookshop already knows about the book cos someone ordered it through them, and I am taking the catalogue to Hobart Bookshop tomorrow which covers the big 3 indie bookshops in Hobart. You all shop in indie bookshops, right?
Where was I? Ooh, Ellison Hawker. With the buying of many books. Most of which were Christmas presents, honestly. Or research. Very important thing, research.
I was excited to see that the gaping hole in our city centre caused by the Myer fire has been almost prettified. There’s a little park at the front of it (well: patio steps, ornamental trees and many benches) and a thoroughfare leading through to Cat & Fiddle arcade. I took Jem through (adventurous!) to discover that it emerges through the old Myers=C&F door that I was feeling a bit wistful about. And if my new iPod had a camera on it I would totally have done a photo essay. That’s how excited I was.
(no, I actually don’t get out much)
Next I made my way up to the pinnacle of my shopping delights: Ruby’s Room. This is the most gorgeous children’s shop EVER. Full of handmade toys and things imported from Sweden and quilts and mobiles and… you know. Sheer cute. I stocked up on educationally sound stocking stuffers ( girliejones wanna help me teach french knitting to Raeli? and/or how to use a yoyo?) and saved myself a fortune by reminding myself that actually I can make beautiful hand-sewn quilts myself.
All this and sushi lunch and then I sailed home to stare grimly at my laptop until I hit the miraculous 40K mark for NaNoWriMo (possibly there was some typing involved… who can say)
It was a nice day.