Published December 16, 2006 by

Whereby Fred gets dehydrated

fred.jpgIt was up to me to work out what Geoff and I were going to do with ourselves this afternoon/evening. I didn’t really succeed in any grand plan (much to my dismay more than Geoff’s) but in the end it didn’t really matter.

We opted for a ‘picnic’ (Unprepared style = buy pizza rolls, chocolate and coke from the nearest supermarket. Mmm healthy!). I decided that I’d drive, considering I hadn’t hardly worked anything out, clearly I’d be a flagellant if I lived in the Middle Ages.

So we are driving up to Warburton and decided to go the extra mile to the top of Mt. Donabuang. We were so close and then Fred (my car) let out an angry hiss and Geoff made me pull over very, very quickly. The hiss was promptly followed by a lot of steam and the splattering spray of some nasty brown/oil smelling liquid.

The diagnosed hypothesis was that I’d blown a hose, it looked like there was an abundance of oil so we decided not to ineptly perform home mechanics and instead went to call the RACV.

Of course there was zero phone reception.

Nice motorbike man saved the day, and drove my details to an area with reception and called the RACV for us. We had an hour or so to kill in which we ate our picnic in the car and had plenty of humorous conversation matter (laced with intervals of verbal annoyance that my stupid car had decided to carked it). I also got a photo or two but don’t have it just yet.
The RACV guy was a tad cranky because he got a little lost on the way to find us. He thought I might’ve at first have blown a head gasket and then changed his mind after pouring a lot of water in some hole (believe me I’m not a mechanic) much to my relief.

So my car was simply overheated and had a massively dirty radiator – hence the brownish liquid. He of the qualified followed us back down the mountain and I watched the guage very closely as we drove back to Geoff’s.

We ended up playing a highly competitive game of RISK with Ron and Anne (Geoff’s parents) where I was the first to go out and it came to a one on one, piece on piece roll of the dice. Geoff conquered.

Here’s to my car for sharing my 1986 status, because I actually had an exceptional evening!

General Life Relationships

Published December 16, 2006 by

The afternoon of glee and doom

b_be_happy1.jpgAnother 1am’er but what the ho, it’s Saturday tomorrow.

While you’re out clicking links. Try Free Music Friday yes it’s Christian music and it’s mostly Christmas stuff at the moment, I’ll be keeping an eye on it – I’ve always been a sucker for freebies.

Had a grand ol’ day, very laid back. I overslept (so not so good), had breakfast (oh yes, lets give the step by step), did week 2 of the Advent thing my sister puts together each year and was having a good read of The Pleasures of God when Jess came to drop something off – she stayed for a good hour so we hung out and got organised for various young adults thing (go look, we made a blog the other day).

After she left I cranked some Tracey Chapman and made Falafel for lunch, whereby the packet lied to me and I ended up quite ingeniously having to strain excess liquid out of the mix. They were exceptional when I finally got them cooked. I love falafel and tabbouleh, not that I had any of that. Sam called me mid-afternoon and ended up coming down to bring me a Christmas card from Sammy (the other one) and we watched (LET ME CONFESS) Gilmore Girls all afternoon, ate chocolate and generally had girlish fun.

On Gilmore Girls: I used to be quite anti that kind of thing after realising my little sisters were minorly obsessed. One afternoon this week I was exceptionally bored and home alone so I succumbed and put it on… now I’m hooked. Geoff and Dad (and Mum actually) all think it’s ridiculous. As I pointed out, I don’t go so far to pick a character to be… and couldn’t ever do that, unlike some I know. NB. I don’t and haven’t ever watched any soapies… this is borderline and I promise never to stoop that low again (at least not until after I get through the rest of the series).

This evening held an amusing car trip and a productive Christmas shopping expedition with Geoff which wound up back at my place fighting it out with Dad, Mum and Laura in a game of Boggle. Wow I found a boy who likes word games!!!! Just a pity he’s so good at them. I held the lead briefly (Mum doesn’t count ever – she’s pure genius) but lost it in the end. It’s interesting really, Dad and Geoff both run with the ‘find the biggest word possible’ strategy and Mum and I run with getting lots and lots of smaller ones and only big ones if they jump out or there is excess time. Really, Mum’s just plain good.

I stupidly (maybe just silly’ly but that’s more awkward to say) told Geoff that I’d work out something fun to do tomorrow late-afternoon/night (or is that tonight now). So please – let your suggestions (not too costly) pour in. I need some ideas. None of that ‘go out for dinner then go to the movies’ clichedness. I’m good at thinking up that kind of stuff already.

General Life Music