anyresemblance

Taking the tiger by the tail

Saturday was the  Rose Bay street fair and I found myself doing duty on the school’s fund raising cake stall.  It was fun and I bought an amazing orange poppyseed cake made by one of the other mothers.  It was hot and younger daughter went off with orange cake mother to their house and swam off the rocks below their house in the harbour.  Older daughter and I hung around the stalls and then went home to cool off.  We had lunch at the café at the end of my street but I am not going back there.  First, they only open wed to sun.  Then they close at 3pm – a stupid time when you want cake and tea in the afternoon.  Then they are expensive - $12 for 4 miniscule fish cakes and a bit of rocket. I reckon they must be laundering money as they are not running a viable business.

In the afternoon, younger daughter and I went to get hair cuts.  It only cost $25 or just over 2 serves of fishcakes for her which I thought was pretty impressive for a Saturday afternoon in a smart Paddington hairdressers.  Her hair is now shoulder length and very cute.  She loves it.

On Sunday it poured with rain.  All day. We had a yummy breakfast in Bondi.  I am converted to poached eggs now and have to learn how to cook them perfectly.  Then we transported the visiting cats to their new home.   They seemed happy to be back with furniture that smelt of them rather than with the foreign overlords of my house.  I took the girls to Bondi Junction shopping centre.  It was hell.  Pouring with rain, car park rage, too much shopping, family melt downs. Still we did get a scanner and a deep fat fryer (I have an urge to make home made chips perfectly).  We did all the grocery shopping but it was a long, long day.

When we got home the girls offered to put all the groceries away while I went and got a massage.  And they cooked dinner.  And made menus and photocopied with the new scanner/printer thingy. So we ate dinner and watched Gilmore Girls and were back to our cosy little family. 

I am going to Mumbai on Sunday and then to Bangalore. I will be gone less than a week but it looks like there could be a few more trips coming up.  I have bought two guidebooks and some immodium.  I have my visa.  I learned that Bangaloreis the homeplace of Sultan Tipu, he of Tipu’s Tiger – one of my favorite things in the V&A museum.  Any tips on shopping welcomed.

I'm a little teapot

Yesterday I bought a teapot.  My old one, a sterling brown earthenware affair which poured with commendable straightforwardness, was broken by me a couple of weeks ago.  I have been using a bone china one which, while of beauty and style, is a bit too fragile to withstand my grumpy crashing around the kitchen in the morning.  I have found the choice of teapots in Sydney rather dismal.  Too many clear glass Swedish affairs (sorry people, Scandanavian is not synonomous with tea pot design for me) or asian inspired tiny vessels with bamboo handles or metal things (stews the tea in my opinion).  In the end I have bought a cheap white china affair but I still mourn my earthenware companion.

I now need a tea cosy – this person has been making one and displays it on her site.  Even a slacker like me ought to be able to whip up a patchwork tea cosy, I remind myself.

I had a pedicure today.  My colleague remarked that I looked very resort-like today – I do have bright pink toe nails and am wearing silver sequined thongs which is not quite corporate.  I was wearing high heels earlier but it is so hot and my feet had swelled a mite so I changed into my emergency thongs.

My ex came to dinner last night.  My daughter starts her exams today and did not want to go out so we invited him over for dinner.  I made chicken parmesan from this book.  It was rather a big  feed for a hot evening.  I think the elements were all nice but did not need to be combined and the quantaties were huge.  Still, oldest daughter enjoyed whacking chicken breasts with the rolling pin.

He sent me a spreadsheet today with his counter offer.  Which in essence is “see you in court”.  Sigh.  Bring it on.

Being undone

I’m overwhelmed with the effort of planning my trip.  Not.  Tasks completed so far – got photos taken for visa, filled in application under watchful eye of my boss’s PA, gave her $70 in cash to go to the consulate.  That’s it.  I haven’t read a guide book, checked where the hotel is, thought about what to pack, arranged a babysitter or anything.  I am overcome with ennui about everything at the moment.

Things I have done:  got my car washed, arranged a service for said car, spoken to my daughter’s school about her reading difficulties, arranged for her to have an assessment so we can see if dyslexia is part of it (I suspect some sort of visual perceptive difficulty is), listened to this, watched some of Gilmore Girls season 2, read some books (at last), hurt my back, resolved to go back to Pilates as a consequence of sore back, had a massage which was great while it lasted but left me unable to get off the table.  Talked to two of my sisters in the UK – one conversation was painful and the other one wasn’t.  Talked my niece in Perth.  Insisted I could do this while cooking dinner.  Burnt tomato sauce while talking to her.   Sent ex an email outlining financial requirements.

Things not done:  heard anything from my ex on financial requirements, done my tax return, washed the kitchen floor, bought plants for the terrace, done my filing.

Things I must do soon:  my tax return, write to school asking for refund on deposit, plan children’s birthday parties, confirm my step-son will stay with the girls while I am in India, get a pedicure.

I’m a teensy bit over having four cats live with me.  All of which took turns in noisily using the litter tray outside my bedroom last night.  And running laps.  And hissing at each other in a unfriendly manner.   I’m sort of hoping their owner might take them away soon.  Because as nice as it is to sleep with someone you like, I am looking forward to having my space back.

Guess what?

I've been busy, busy.  Lacking sleep (four cats in a constant standoff and lots of yapping), children home, laundry to be folded, fridge to be filled, homework to be started, box packing to be assisted with.

But eat your heart out, I am going to India in four weeks.  Admittedly for a short work trip, admittedly to possibly the Indian equivalent of Milton Keynes, admittedly in the company of my clients.  But I am so excited.

Home truths

The weekend was hot.  Saturday my friend and I looked at a couple of houses which confirmed that his first choice was the right one.  The second was a small semi in a back street in Bondi.  It was clearly a house suitable for four surfing boys to share right down to the Astroturf which had been laid over the back yard concrete and the small basketball hoop which had been designed for shooting empty beer cans.  Yeah, right.

Saturday evening I went to pick up my pal, K, from the airport.  We ate dinner at my house, drank way too much and then had a shocking  night’s sleep interrupted by the many cats who are currently lodging in my house.

Sunday was slow and slightly headachy.  Monday was a public holiday and I enjoyed the general cruisiness of the day a lot more.  Had a great breakfast here with the most perfect poached eggs I have ever eaten.  Pity the coffee wasn’t quite as good.  We later had ice cream at Gelatissima in Watson’s Bay.  I had coconut, roast almond and hazelnut.  The coconut was my favourite.  I could walk down here with the girls after dinner, I said to my friend.  He looked up at the sky.  I don’t see any pigs flying around yet, he commented.  Hmm, maybe he is right since when I talked to my daughter on the phone and outlined this plan, she whimpered, can’t we drive?

Later on Monday afternoon I drove down to Canberra.  The plan was that I would look after younger daughter at her father’s house while he went to Melbourne for two days.  And he had to leave on a 6am flight Tues hence the need for me to arrive on Monday night.  Turns out he was going to Sydney.  I asked why he hadn’t told me about the change of plan since he could have just brought her up to Sydney and saved me the hassle of rearranging my work life.  It didn’t occur to me, he said.  It probably didn’t but there are so many of these things that don’t seem to occur to him.  Sigh.  Anyway, it was lovely to have my little girl to snuggle up with and truth be told, I was curious to see what he had done to the house.  And although I thought the way he had decorated and rearranged rooms was good, and I was very sad to see he had chopped down the apricot tree and the magnolia at the back, it no longer felt like it was ever my home and there was no longing or regret.

I had an interesting conversation with my solicitor yesterday.  He pointed out that my financial settlement has been going on for two and a half years and maybe we should move beyond the gestational period.  It was instructive for me to realize that I am avoiding confrontation with my ex-husband and his capacity for explosions.  So, despite the inconvenience it has been good to revisit this town and be reminded that my life is now in Sydney.