Andrew and Kathleen

Christmas in Hobart

A few of the things that happened to us on our trip home to Hobart over Christmas:

We arrived back at Lindisfarne to find our relatives and loved ones looking out the window - not at us, but at the incident down the road, in which a crazy/druggy woman jumped on the bonnet of her boyfriend's car as he roared off up the road. See what happens when we leave? The whole place, gone to rack and ruin.

Other relatives and loved ones rushing up to lay their hands on Kathleen's stomach, only to stop short in disappointment when they realise that she's not quite that far along.

We have something to aspire to: the 500,000th Tasmanian had recently been born...

The family received a food hamper, certificate, travel voucher and carton of beer.

This provided much inspiration for the cartoonists in the paper the next 3 days straight.

Lunch at Muir's is still awesomely good. Hartz lemon lime mineral water also awesomely good. Am assuming La Bella Pizza, the pizza so good it resolved an uprising at Risdon Prison, is still awesome. At the other end of the scale, none of the Banjo's 'restaurants' that we went into had pasties available - this makes it two trips to Hobart in a row where this has happened. For shame, Banjo's, for shame.

We went out with Darise, but there was no one else we knew at Knoppy's on Christmas Eve - we seem to no longer be the generation that goes there. Apparently the Telegraph, formerly Brooke Street, is the place to be. We had a few drinks at Quarry Bar, to which my sister went "Pfft. Bloody yuppies." That's the price you pay for no longer living in Hobart - disdain. Realisation too that I've lived in Sydney for longer in my adult life than I did in Hobart.

I can't remember whether I'd ever been to Maldini's before, but that place has amazing coffee and cake late at night. In fact, it might even be the only place open for coffee and cake - excluding Jellies and the casino (and Hobartians will laugh knowingly) - at night.

Christmas lunch and dinner, and Boxing Day lunch were the usual fantastic food and family extravaganzas - the new New Years resolution is no food until March.

We went to the Taste. Avoided getting burnt - it was a warm, sunny day - despite sitting outside thanks to generous latherings of sunscreen. Of course, Tassie weather being what it is, we also had cold rain and winds during the course of a few hours.

The Taste still suffers from a lack of sufficient seating and the subsequent "Hey, are those seats taken?" whenever any of your friends leave their seats to get more food.

You know its Hobart when you pay $1 at the car park in the centre of town for 3 hours, and the attendant thanks you "Have a good one, champ." You also know it's Hobart when people will rather drive around for an hour to find a free park, albeit one where their car sits outside in the sun roasting for the entire day, rather than pay a grand total of $3 for undercover parking.

No more Believe Bars on sale, at least that we could see - Tasmania, don't tell me you've given up hope??

posted at: 20:00 | permanent link to this entry

First Sign Of Non-Geekness

I found out about an internet meme, Beached Whale, from a newspaper article. I feel so... so... not geeky right now.

I did think it was hilarious, though: "I'm beached as!"

posted at: 13:03 | permanent link to this entry

Unexpected Fire Drill at Work

Unexpected fire drills suck.

Particularly if you are on Level 16 and have to walk down the stairs.

A few years ago I had one at Westpac in Melbourne - 22 floors up.

Kathleen's best - or worst - is having to walk down from Level 46 when she was working for Garrisons in Melbourne. And she was wearing heels.

posted at: 13:35 | permanent link to this entry

True. True.

Guilty as charged:

In most situations, white people are very comforted by seeing their own kind. However, when they are eating at a new ethnic restaurant or traveling to a foreign nation, nothing spoils their fun more than seeing another white person.

...

The arrival of the "other white people" to either restaurants or vacation spots instantly means that lines will grow, authenticity will be lost, and the euphoria of being a cultural pioneer will be over.

posted at: 23:01 | permanent link to this entry

Mortgage Rates

It seems as if as soon as we renewed our fixed interest rate mortgage at around 8% in June - once the previous fixed period had expired after the 3 year lifetime - that interest rates began to fall like a rock.

They're now at 4.25%.

This is the same principle as taking one's umbrella to work with the morning weather forecasts predicting rain. As soon as the umbrella is picked up, it virtually guarantees no rain. Conversely, leaving it at home guarantees there will be a downpour as soon as you step off the train.

At least it's only half our mortgage which is stil at the higher rate; the other half is a variable mortgage (but we'll leave repayments at the higher level to really hammer the amount owed).

posted at: 15:14 | permanent link to this entry