Just another brief entry, waiting, waiting to go off on my trip. I wish i could go now, because I'm practically ready. I've got my suitcase open in the spare room, and as I think of things I throw them in there. I'm trying to pack light, hate toting large bags around strange cities, mainly because the locals all go "oh, there's some poor sap of a tourist schlepping around, what a dork" or words similar to, and I feel embarrassed.
Not trying to sharpen up my italian, because I'm bound to forget everything the first time someone speaks to me. I have Lonely Planet's phrase book, which has proved very handy in the past. "Scusi, che stazione questa?" came in useful on my last trip, or I might still be lost in Syracuse.
Looking forward to my first encounter with Venetian art. I've never been all that fond of Tintoretto et al. but perhaps they are best viewed in situ. I never relly liked the Siennese School either, until I saw lots of it in the gallery of religious art in Siena.
Not liking the idea of flying for so long, but at least the anxiety of that will take my mind off other stuff going on here, bad weather, wobbly earth. Coming to work on Wednesday, I had my first experience of being in the car during a quake. I was in a queue on the Moorhouse Avenue overbridge, which has one side propped up with bracing, when I thought I felt the car stall or that sort of chunking that happens when the automatic transmission is changing gear. Then I realized I was feeling an earthquake, hope to God the bridge is safe! Very scary, I hate that hollow legged, knockkneed feeling after the adrenaline surges through. Wanted to get out of the car and vomit, but held it together like the mistress of self-control I am. Perhaps one day soon I will lose it in a major way, hopefully not in a public place.
Want to go away NOW!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Big titties (Well, well)
I've noticed my stats have gone sky-high since I titled my last blog "Quickie". So in the spirit of experimentation I have called this one "Big titties" to see what happens with my stats. Cummon, big boy, push my stats up! How horrified they will be to connect to the maunderings of a middle-aged librarian. Will I be prosecuted for false advertizing?
I am now getting my drinking water from the water site over the road from me. Some lovely people who have an artesian well on their property piped it out to the street so that all could use the water. It was a godsend in the days when we didn't have any water reticulation at all. The water comes from 87 feet down and pumps 130,000 litres a day so theres plenty of it,
and all unchlorinated. We're supposed to boil it, but a colleague of mine has been drinking it and is OK. When I first used the water it was just coming out of a pipe, but the owners have refined it and now there are taps. Good old Kiwi ingenuity and Kiwi generosity. Long may they reign.
I am now getting my drinking water from the water site over the road from me. Some lovely people who have an artesian well on their property piped it out to the street so that all could use the water. It was a godsend in the days when we didn't have any water reticulation at all. The water comes from 87 feet down and pumps 130,000 litres a day so theres plenty of it,
and all unchlorinated. We're supposed to boil it, but a colleague of mine has been drinking it and is OK. When I first used the water it was just coming out of a pipe, but the owners have refined it and now there are taps. Good old Kiwi ingenuity and Kiwi generosity. Long may they reign.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Quickie
Just a little quickie post today, as I'm doing this in my tea break.
uuurgh! The Powers that be (just misspelt that "posers that be" - there's a Fruedian for you) have decided to chlorinate our water so we don't all get tummy bugs, owing to the ammount of free-flowing sewage that might be in the water. Such a pity - one of our great treasures was our wonderful drinking water, all artesian and one of the cleanest supplies in the world. We're going to have to buy bottled water now for tea and cooking (coffee hides the taste better) or just drink a lot of wine and beer.
Also been told not to have baths or do lots of washing, as the infrastructure is poorly. So we'll all be drunk, stinky and wearing dirty clothes from now on.
I've stayed home in my suburb mainly since the quake. I don't want to see what has happened to the city centre or Lyttelton or Sumner. I'll just put my head in the sand and pretend it hasn't happened as much as I can. Every day there is some new bad news so I'm avoiding newspapers, TV. internet sites as well.
Still going to Italy, although Singapore Airlines have cancelled my flights in and out of ChCH. Now I have to go via Auckland, which is a bit of a pain, as the more changes one has to make, the more can go wrong. Posso non cambio? Ma, no. I don't care if I can't get back on time, but going there needs to be smooth and as stress-free as possible.
Made some strawberry jam the other day. It didn't set, so now I have lots of strawberry syrup, which I can still use, but it's just not jam. I asked the Madonna if she would miraculously turn my syrup into jam, but I guess she has more important prayers to attend to at the moment. She told me I was frivolous and to stop being silly, and that she wil get around to it sometime when she's not so busy.
One of the churches in Venice is called Santa Maria Formosa. Formosa means curvy, womanly, and it results from a vision a man had of the Virgin on that spot - she was a sexy, curvy real woman. And why shouldn't she be?
Ave Maria, piena di gratia, santa formosa.
uuurgh! The Powers that be (just misspelt that "posers that be" - there's a Fruedian for you) have decided to chlorinate our water so we don't all get tummy bugs, owing to the ammount of free-flowing sewage that might be in the water. Such a pity - one of our great treasures was our wonderful drinking water, all artesian and one of the cleanest supplies in the world. We're going to have to buy bottled water now for tea and cooking (coffee hides the taste better) or just drink a lot of wine and beer.
Also been told not to have baths or do lots of washing, as the infrastructure is poorly. So we'll all be drunk, stinky and wearing dirty clothes from now on.
I've stayed home in my suburb mainly since the quake. I don't want to see what has happened to the city centre or Lyttelton or Sumner. I'll just put my head in the sand and pretend it hasn't happened as much as I can. Every day there is some new bad news so I'm avoiding newspapers, TV. internet sites as well.
Still going to Italy, although Singapore Airlines have cancelled my flights in and out of ChCH. Now I have to go via Auckland, which is a bit of a pain, as the more changes one has to make, the more can go wrong. Posso non cambio? Ma, no. I don't care if I can't get back on time, but going there needs to be smooth and as stress-free as possible.
Made some strawberry jam the other day. It didn't set, so now I have lots of strawberry syrup, which I can still use, but it's just not jam. I asked the Madonna if she would miraculously turn my syrup into jam, but I guess she has more important prayers to attend to at the moment. She told me I was frivolous and to stop being silly, and that she wil get around to it sometime when she's not so busy.
One of the churches in Venice is called Santa Maria Formosa. Formosa means curvy, womanly, and it results from a vision a man had of the Virgin on that spot - she was a sexy, curvy real woman. And why shouldn't she be?
Ave Maria, piena di gratia, santa formosa.
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