Sunday outings
Had a good day today.
This morning we went out to breakfast at our usual Leederville cafe Giardini's. It's been quite a while since the last one and we felt starved of hipster watching. We were later than we usually are and hit a service delay of half an hour or more, so by the time the food arrived I was famished. Nothing like nibbling on cafe furniture to sharpen the appetite. They must have been understaffed in the kitchen because although the place was quite busy (not full), really nothing on the breakfast menu would have taken long to prepare. By the time we left the guy at the next table had started giving the "those tables came in after us and have already been served but that table over there was here when we arrived and haven't even had their orders taken" speech.
The coffee was sadly weak and I couldn't finish it, but I'm probably better off with the smaller dose. I love a good coffee, but it can do terrible things to my nervous system :-( .
I had the cane with me but managed to use my own two feet for most of the walking to and from the car. These days walking is an awkward business as I try to reprogram my technique. Eventually I identified that I felt like a giant drunken nazi robot duck.
Perhaps that requires some explanation. Perhaps not. Anyway, to break it down:
Giant: Well, I'm pretty big for a duck.
Drunken: I'm thinking a bit too hard about it all, and occasionally stagger.
Nazi: My weight is shifted further back so I'm walking more on my heels and it feels like I'm leaning back. It feels like my legs go a long way up off the ground in front, but don't kick back much at the back i.e. goose-stepping.
Robot: Pretty much also covered by the Drunken part, but stiff and decidedly mechanical with it.
Duck: My feet are now turned out (not forced into parallel position I've always been told to attempt), and it's a bit like walking with flippers on. According to my brain my knees are also turned out, but in fact they're more-or-less facing forward. Actually, given the general awkwardness of the whole thing, it's a bit like walking wearing a full suite of scuba gear.
Home, laundry, Insiders, nap.
In the afternoon had a slightly frustrating trip to Burnings for a fire extinguisher. We were sent to four different general locations and had to scan each. It was only through stubborn determination that the aisle with fire blankets and smoke alarms *must* be the right place that we eventually found an empty length of shelf behind a pile of safes where the extinguishers would have once sat. (No "Beware of the Leopard" sign, sadly.)
Co-incidentally though we did find in one of those extinguisherless places the mounting tape we were also chasing to secure the winter carpets onto the tiles. We started laying them out a couple of days ago and the kittens have been having a whale of a time racing around, skidding, and creating carpet rucks with which they can then wrestle as though they were giant killer pythons. When the rucks get big enough they can be used as forts from which to launch surprise attacks on the unwary.
Kittens know how to have a good time.
If the mounting tape won't bind to the back of the carpet we'll just gaffer over the edges like we're living in a permanent gig. The kittens will still have fun working up extra speed, and they'll no doubt quickly set to work undoing any attempts at safety. We already watch our feet carefully wherever we go, so we're unlikely to be caught out by mysterious but stationary lumps in the flooring. Mysterious mobile lumps are another matter.