Bernese Mountain Dog
I am now on a week of leave. So far I have: been back to the neighbourhood second-hand book shop that is closing down and bought some more Chalet School and Miss Silver novels; driven past a car accident with flashing police lights everywhere; been to the lakeside farmers' market and witnessed a fight between two swans right in the middle of the market; seen a two-tailed lizard running along a fence; tidied my handbag and found a Nestlé Crunch bar I didn't know I had. Two-and-a-half days of non-stop action and unexpected thrills.
The car accident was the second time this week I have seen the Crime Scene Van in action (that's painted on the side of it). I walk to work past a building site on the TAFE campus, and the other morning the Crime Scene Van was parked nearby and there were two people in those pale blue hooded coveralls and two men in high-vis vests and hard hats looking at something down the side of the building.
(It occurs to me I should clarify when I say "swans" I mean black swans, so you can more accurately picture the fight at the market.)
February questions
25. What is the least inspiring/interesting meal you've eaten?
I'm sure as a student, I had plain buttered noodles as a whole meal at some stage. Once in a restaurant, I ordered a side salad and received a bowl of lettuce with two slices of tomato hidden in it. Once when I was little, my grandfather and I were alone for dinner, and he was so excited to make sausages the way he liked them, instead of the way my grandmother cooked them for him, and the way he like them was boiled. Boiled pink flesh with grey skin flaking off, they remain among the least appetising things I have ever seen. He hoed in with Rosella Sweet Mustard Pickles on top. I loved my grandfather dearly, but he had terrible taste in sausages.
Oh, and cakes! Sometimes in a café you might see a lovely cake, beautifully decorated, but it turns out to taste underwhelming. I'm looking at you, overly sticky and sweet orange and almond cake at Club Warrnambool. There are few things more dispiriting than a disappointing cake.
26. What really needs to be modernized?
A good few of Australia's politicians, media and business class need to modernise their ideas. We're currently in a bout of nonsense about some senior female politicians apparently being "mean girls".
27. "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger!" Do you believe hardship make a person stronger? If so, under what conditions and at what point is it too much hardship? If not, what makes a person stronger?
No. What doesn't kill you physically is likely to get you hospitalised or leave you quite unwell for a long time, and there's no reason mental or emotional stress would be any different.
I think a person's reaction to hardship depends so much on context: their personality, their circumstances, what the hardship is, and so many other factors. And what is a strong reaction - persevering, overcoming, trying something else, or walking away?
28. What's invisible, but you wish people could actually see it?
After two years of Covid, it would be nice if people who had it grew, I don't know, bright green freckles or something. Not permanently. And not sore like pox. Just temporary, painless, surface-only markings during the contagious period.
The car accident was the second time this week I have seen the Crime Scene Van in action (that's painted on the side of it). I walk to work past a building site on the TAFE campus, and the other morning the Crime Scene Van was parked nearby and there were two people in those pale blue hooded coveralls and two men in high-vis vests and hard hats looking at something down the side of the building.
(It occurs to me I should clarify when I say "swans" I mean black swans, so you can more accurately picture the fight at the market.)
February questions
25. What is the least inspiring/interesting meal you've eaten?
I'm sure as a student, I had plain buttered noodles as a whole meal at some stage. Once in a restaurant, I ordered a side salad and received a bowl of lettuce with two slices of tomato hidden in it. Once when I was little, my grandfather and I were alone for dinner, and he was so excited to make sausages the way he liked them, instead of the way my grandmother cooked them for him, and the way he like them was boiled. Boiled pink flesh with grey skin flaking off, they remain among the least appetising things I have ever seen. He hoed in with Rosella Sweet Mustard Pickles on top. I loved my grandfather dearly, but he had terrible taste in sausages.
Oh, and cakes! Sometimes in a café you might see a lovely cake, beautifully decorated, but it turns out to taste underwhelming. I'm looking at you, overly sticky and sweet orange and almond cake at Club Warrnambool. There are few things more dispiriting than a disappointing cake.
26. What really needs to be modernized?
A good few of Australia's politicians, media and business class need to modernise their ideas. We're currently in a bout of nonsense about some senior female politicians apparently being "mean girls".
27. "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger!" Do you believe hardship make a person stronger? If so, under what conditions and at what point is it too much hardship? If not, what makes a person stronger?
No. What doesn't kill you physically is likely to get you hospitalised or leave you quite unwell for a long time, and there's no reason mental or emotional stress would be any different.
I think a person's reaction to hardship depends so much on context: their personality, their circumstances, what the hardship is, and so many other factors. And what is a strong reaction - persevering, overcoming, trying something else, or walking away?
28. What's invisible, but you wish people could actually see it?
After two years of Covid, it would be nice if people who had it grew, I don't know, bright green freckles or something. Not permanently. And not sore like pox. Just temporary, painless, surface-only markings during the contagious period.