Phantogram – When I’m Small

James Blake – Retrograde

The Lumineers – Hey Ho

I had wanted to visit Greece for ages, and I loved it. For our trip, Greece gets:

Best photos

This country is photogenic like woah. The light in the islands was glorious. Sunsets always stunning. Those whitewashed buildings perched on cliffsides, blue domed churches, windmills. I love looking back at our photos from there.

Best beach time

By the time we got to Greece, it was September and high season for tourists was finishing. At Santorini, we stayed at Perissa, a black sand beach. It was so quiet. We’d meander from our hotel to the beach, take our pick of the sun loungers. Duffster swam & dove while I lay in & out of the sun, reading my Kindle to pieces (erm, literally), getting smoothies delivered one after the other. I think we only did that for 1 or 2 days but it feels like an age in my mind. Bliss.

Worst city

Athens isn’t much to write home about. But we knew that, and stayed the minimum time in order to visit the Acropolis. I think it’s worth a visit. There’s something amazing about standing on that slippery marble outcrop, worn smooth by thousands of feet over thousands of years. Watch your step.

Then I think, all that stuff is so expensive. I should buy it January, when it’s all on sale, for next year instead… and ride out this year undecorative, just me & the oil burner.

Trying to get that festive feeling

Myer in the city has its windows dressed. This year the theme is very whimsical, and coloured in white & turquoise. Snowy.

But I would like to find some kind of way to get a festive Christmas spirit that honours the season here. Decorations of icicles and snowflakes, they don’t make sense. When you set up a real Christmas tree in New Zealand, they smell FANTASTIC because they’ve been cut down in their prime growing season and are full of sap. (I don’t know about Aussie ones but I imagine it’s the same deal. Pinus radiata, perfume of childhood delight.)

Christmas decorations here should be golden and white, the colours of the sun. We should have vases full of red bottlebrush flowers and gum tree branches. Christmas is about opening the doors to the outside, eating desserts made of mangos and peaches, and chilled champagne jellies. Hmm. I reckon I could still get behind gingerbread, although the spicyness is more an autumnal flavour.

• Part time. My job contract got extended again for another 3 months and they’re letting me go part-time. I’m ridiculously excited about having dedicated days for writing over the next 3 months. It feels very luxurious, although I’m sure the reality won’t be. One day in and I’ll be like, wait this is just like working except I’m working for me and I’m not getting paid…
• Birthday this weekend! I like that my birthday now also marks the anniversary of living in Australia too. One year in! I just got my Victorian drivers licence (erm, didn’t realise I SHOULD have got it within three months of arriving). Three more years to go and then I can apply for citizenship, which means I can vote. Ahem, not being able to vote is not going to stop me complaining about politicians in the meantime. So, still a while to go before becoming a citizen of Australia. I don’t know if I will ever claim to be Australian. Being a Kiwi is part of my self identity, regardless of where I call home. Wow this is a tangential bullet point.
• Continental Smokey BBQ Cook in Bag Chicken. Yup. I’m that sort of cook. But guys. This makes really good chicken. I tried lots of the other flavours but this one is superior (note: smokey bbq, not the honey bbq). I love making this alongside coleslaw and mashed potatoes (Another one of my never-ending experimentations is trying to get the creamiest mash ever. Last few attempts have involved using the stick blender. The mash definitely ends up as creamy & no lumps but does have a slightly, well, gluey texture…) We eat a lot more chicken here than in London. And much less lamb. I just can’t bring myself to buy lamb here, it’s so expensive.
• BBQ season. It’s close! It’s close! Now that daylight savings has started and there’s so much light. We need to get ourselves some apparatus. I think there’ll be a trip to Bunnings in a forthcoming weekend.

OUT

• Spring winds & pollen. Clogging up my sinuses and eyeballs. Hack cough splutter.
• Deconstruction flatworks. The leak behind the bathtub is finally being dealt with. I have new respect for anyone who has renovated their house while living in it. Disaster dust zone, no way to cook, mess… The downstairs bathroom & kitchen are pretty much completely gutted. The wood was disgusting, black mouldy & rotted away. I’m glad we are not house owners right now, because I would not want to be owning this problem. Also, this is holding up us getting a CAT. We don’t want to introduce a new kitty while all this is going on.

When we first arrived a year ago, mid-October, it was super windy too. Duff & I & our parents & my sister doing some touristy walking aroundMelbourne, digging that stuff out of our eyes, sneezing away.

So a year on and I’m still frustrated about how much MORE stuff costs in Australia.

1 AUD = 1.04 USD right now. It’s been about a one-to-one correlation for a while. But here are the respective costs in each country for 3 items I’m interested in purchasing:

Benefit Posietint cheek & lip stain

(LOVE this stuff — stays on longer than any blusher)

29 USD on Benefit.com
but…
55 AUD on Myer.com.au

Fossil watch

(Cute little watch! I need a new watch since I dropped my cheapie one on tiles & the face is cracked)

95 USD on Fossil.com
but…
149 AUD on Fossil.com.au

Sonos wireless speaker

(I’m thinking birthday or Xmas pressie for Duffster)

299 USD on Sonos.com (USA)
but…
419 AUD on Sonos.com (Australia)

I’m frustrated that these products get marked up another 30-40% for downunder buyers. Is the cost of living in Australia really 30% more than in theUnited States?

Maybe I’d be okay paying more if I didn’t have the internet and couldn’t see what the rest of the world get to pay.

But I just can’t bring myself to buy any of these things in store because I don’t want to be paying that premium. And I’ll hunt for these things online until I find a better price & shipping to Australia.

Surprising appearance of lettuce

Flowers, or weeds. I'm not sure.

New seedlings embarking on perilous livelihood

Meanwhile the more established plants battle for dominance

Strangely surviving rose, and dying (dead already?) chilli

As the weather warms & we get longer days, I have ventured back into my ‘garden’. I say so with quotes, as my method involves chucking stuff in the ground & seeing what lives. I do try to plant things by height, so the bigger things are at the back. But, erm, that’s the extent of it.

It’s all flowers & herbs as I don’t want to grow veges. Although I do have plans to buy a lemon tree & a feijoa tree (a ‘pineapple guava’ tree as I discovered the garden shop call them). I’ll plant them in big pots so we can take them when we move out.

I kind of want a big overgrown mass of a garden, and the stuff I planted when we first moved in is now close to achieving that — battles for dominance going on between the mint & parsley & that other plant with the name I forget. Actually I forget all their names. My plant identification skills: they are bad. This plant, I remember, it starts with H and isn’t hebe. Or hibiscus. Something likes to eat its dark green textured leaves, which are always full of holes. The same something that likes to eat the mint, I think. Speaking of things eating the garden, there are also these goddamn whiteflies all over the parsley & mint and no matter how many times I spray they never go away. It’s some kind of garlic spray, peritheum?, and maybe it’s not strong enough.

I threw some seeds in a spot last autumn, now a mass of plants. I, however, am unsure if any of the actual flower plant seeds survived. I think it’s all weeds… at least one of them definitely was a giant weed that I removed on Sunday, embarrassed it had got to an almost woody stage. After my tidy up, I threw in a few more seedlings and another rosemary, scattered about the place.

I’m surprised the one rose seems to be doing well so far. An existing chilli pepper plant beside the rose alternates between dying and thriving, without any interference from me (Apart from propping it up on a stake. Is that what’s killing it? Although it seemed to be dying quite well all by itself, crumpled up on its side). I think it may have finally kicked the bucket. It’s VERY dead looking now.

I would like to have peonies but I suspect I would kill them in 2 seconds flat.

There is a lettuce plant that has appeared among the lambs ear & thyme & bluey flowery stuff I planted. It must have been an existing seed just waiting to burst out, happy to have friendly mates around. And I think there’s another chili near it too, from whatever garden was there before we moved in, poking its head up. Or it could be a weed. It is suspiciously near the flowers-but-probably-weeds patch.

There must have been a pretty cool vege garden going on here, once upon a time. But when we moved in it was all covered in bark, with not much actual plant life.

Heliotrope! That’s the one being devoured. Some kind of caterpillar’s favourite meal.

I might buy another type of spray and attack those suckers with a combination of poisonous applications. Luckily I always wash the herbs before using them…

The Colosseum

Crossing the road in Pompeii

Our feet after 7 hours of wandering through Pompeii

The beautiful Florence

The view from our hostel in Florence

From our trip, I am awarding to Italy:

Best monument

The Colosseum. It just kicks ass.

Best historical place

Pompeii. We spent 7 hours there and I didn’t even see everything I wanted to. I could easily spend another 7 hours there. The immersive experience of exploring an ancient Roman city was simply amazing.

One of the best meals

Veal with truffle sauce in Perugia. That rich delicious darksweetearthy truffle was melt in the mouth stand out amazing. Duffster is still talking about it to whoever will listen.

(Second best meal was one of the cheapest, in France: warm baguette from a bakery, fresh rotisserie chicken, washed down with a chilled bottle of champagne… while sitting in a park at sunset.)

Worst timing

We couldn’t swing it any other way so unfortunately passing through Italy fell in the middle of our trip, in August. This is not a good time to visit. It’s HOT. And there’ll be whole towns deserted, fled for the coast & the sea. I’m looking at you, Bologna.

Worst breakfasts

Italians eat on the run, grabbing a shot of espresso and sugary pastry while standing at the bar at the local cafe. But when I’m on holiday, I LOVE lingering over a big breakfast, watching the world go by & soaking up the atmosphere.

Most hilarious collection of sculpture (unintentional)

The Vatican’s collection of penis-less male sculpture is pretty impressive. I wonder where they all went. Are there boxes of genitals stored somewhere?

IN

• Minor (in comparison to 2011) travellations: a trip to Wellington and a weekend away in Lorne. It was so nice to get out of the city, to visit friends in Welly & to see more of Victoria along the Great Ocean Rd. And, I found to my pleasure, it was nice to come back to the city. That is no small thing. That is part of Melbourne becoming home.

• Ridiculous china. How awesome is this cheap tacky green sugar pot? I really need some kind of vintage spoon for this baby. Duffster & I don’t even take sugar in our hot drinks but you know. Now our guests who do can enjoy spooning sweet granules out of this made in china wonder. (One day I’ll show you my giant bright red kitty salt & pepper shakers.)
• Sunlight. It feels like spring already. I especially love a clear early morning, when I catch a glimpse of the hot air balloons hanging in the golden sky.

OUTish

• Soccer season ending. Our last game this weekend. This is kind of ‘in’ as well, since it will be nice to have my Sundays back. But I’m not looking forward to losing the enforced fitness and camaraderie of playing a team sport. It probably won’t feel long until pre-season starts up again in December!

Massive spoilers ahoy! STOP READING NOW if you’re anti-spoiler-inclined…

So. I know it was a physical representation of Wayne climbing out of his darkest moment into the light (including bonus!LEAP OF FAITH) but the hole-in-the-ground prison was just beyond my ability to merrily accept without losing my immersion in the film.

Nobody gets out? I’m sure there were rock climbers in audiences around the world laughing at that one. Perhaps if the hole was smooth-walled & nobody had any ropes. But it’s studded with blocks of stone — masses of handholds & footholds there. Plus, who gives loads of rope to a bunch of criminals in a hole-in-the-ground prison? Plus, how did he get TV reception that far underground? Plus, how could he possibly get back to full Batman strength by eating — what, dried mango slices? and doing a few press-ups? The whole sequence expelled me from the story.

Then of course, because it’s magic movie land, he reappears in New York Gotham. From a whole other country. Through police barricades. With no money or food or shoes or passport or resources, except some rope and maybe some dried mango slices. (Maybe I’m just jealous. As a writer you can’t segue scenes like that with no explanation.)

The literal ticking time (atomic)bomb was stock standard. Pulled off the shelf of action movie tropes. Didn’t even try to reinvent it.

I pretty much didn’t understand anything Bane said. And a few things Batman growled.

In general, the plot felt simplistic — TICKING ATOMIC BOMB OHNOES — yet overly convoluted in other places: stock exchange rampage in order to make some dodgy deals under Bruce Wayne’s name in order to bankrupt him in order to take over his company in order to get access to the fission reactor inner sanctum. (Did I get all that right?)

I feel Bane & co might have benefitted from reading “The Top 100 Things I’d Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord“. Points to take note of in particular:

• 4: Shooting is not too good for my enemies
• 15: I will never employ any device with a digital countdown. If I find that such a device is absolutely unavoidable, I will set it to activate when the counter reaches 117 and the hero is just putting his plan into operation.

So when the film finished, I left thinking about those things, and they’ve coloured my impression. In summary: I thought it standard generic Hollywood fare.

What I did like? Bane’s quiet tear as his excruciating pain is reduced by the French lady. That was a nice moment. Was the tear for her or for his agony? Perhaps they are the same thing to him? It’s a shame their whole relationship was blurted out in 2 minutes of expositionary dialogue & flashbacks.  And I liked the very first moment Selina Kyle shifts to Catwoman. I though that change in expression was so well done by Anne Hathaway.

I also liked that this movie was a good example of how to be a total meanie to your main character in order for him/her to move forward (choose to fear death = choose a life worth living). We see everything get taken off Wayne/Batman — his love, his money, his mansion, his Alfred, his hidden weapon cache, his physicality, and then his beloved Gotham. All so he can come back all rara & save the day & go off to live happily ever after in Italy lala, a fitting end. Also I SO PEGGED youngster cop’s future role even if his name wasn’t Dick Grayson!

(How cool is Joseph Gordon-Levitt? Does anyone else feel like watching old episodes of Third Rock From the Sun now?)

Duffster fishing in Finland, 2011

Can’t believe it’s been over a year since we left London and started travelling, heading for Melbourne. God and I didn’t even finish my updates on where we travelled to! I only got up to Austria… didn’t write anything for Italy, Greece, Turkey, or the States! I promise, over the next week or so I’m going to catch up on those. Eek, embarrassingly late, but it will be an excuse for me to look back & remember what we were up to.

Finland in the middle of the night

I still feel pangs of homesickness for London. I am still missing stuff, which I’ve written about here before. Decent free magazines handed out to commuters (oh, Stylist, how I miss thee!). The e-commerce, man, I didn’t even know how good I had it. TK Maxx (Le Creuset yes please, and the handbags, le sigh), Boots & Superdrug. Oasis, Dorothy Perkins, H&M. Being able to use any bank ATM without being charged — in fact, lack of bank fees in general. Gooey French cheese from the local market. A good postal service. Availability & range of organic food. Doing something about climate change.

What’s awesome about Melbourne though… There is a lot of light here, guys. I mean, it’s mid-winter and I’m getting my vitamin D on, wahay! Many many places selling chocolate & macarons. Bonds undies (M&S you did well for a few years but you ain’t got nothing on Bonds). I love that Melbourne feels like it is full of secrets, with all these nooks & crannies to explore. It is more multicutural than I thought it would be, which I’m so pleased about.

And I am going to get a cat.

But not a dog. The landlord said no on the dog. That kinda sucks. I really wanted to get one of each at the same time. One of the stink things about being a renter is this landlords-hate-pets thing. (Reasons Kate wants a house: get pets, plant a lemon tree, & hang up pictures all over the walls.)

Unfortunately, I can’t see us buying a house any time soon. Property here is mindblowingly stupidly expensive. I found a report yesterday on property affordability (pdf) on housing in UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, & New Zealand. It’s fascinating. And depressing. Because Australia is SEVERELY UNAFFORDABLE.

Severely unaffordable means the median property price is more than 5.1 times the median household income. Affordable means the median property price is 3 times the median household income, or less. Melbourne, in Q3 2011, was 8.4.  Here, the median property price is $567,000 & the median household income is $67,700. This makes it the third most unaffordable metropolitan area across all countries of the report.

Ouch. But at least it’s not as bad as Sydney – 9.2! (Or Hong Kong, where I shit you not, the median property price is over 3 million dollars. O_o)