Monday 21st July
Alexandra’s Birthday

Day

Today I caught the bus to work—though only just. I had to run (slowly—it’s very hard to do with my laptop) to the bus, and even then I technically missed it—but the  bus driver was nice and stopped for me, as he’d only just pulled away from the bus stop.

I had lunch at Tara Thai with Alexandra. It was her birthday. Tara Thai has a special lunchtime menu, and the food wasn’t bad—but it wasn’t exceptional either—which was a bit of a shame as I remembered it being very good back in the day. It looks like they’ve got rid of their cool traditional style floor-seating upstairs too.

Night

After catching the bus uneventfully home, Bronwen and I drove over to Maz’s place to drop off his 50mm lens which I still had from testing whether or not my new new camera can focus (I gave up figuring out if it can or not—I guess if I can’t tell if it can or not, then probably it can?) and to get pizza (and custard from Coles).

Tuesday 22nd July
Amanda’s Hard Drive

Day

I drove into work, and worked. I had lunch from a curry place in The Valley.

Lunch: a vegetable thali from The Valley

Night

I drove from work to Amanda’s, dropped off her hard drive, and backed up stuff on her laptop. She made a delicious soup and we had some special American chocolate.

Wednesday 23rd July
Bunnings Taps

Day

I caught the bus to work. Lunch was a veggie wrap and a mint chocolate cake.

Lunch: a veggie wrap and a mint chocolate cake

Night

I caught the bus home. Bronwen and I drove to Bunnings (to return some taps), Woolworths (to buy some food), and Target (to wonder how they’re still around when everything they sell is so terrible).

Thursday 24th July
Taxing Me

Day

I caught the bus to work, walked to Pie Face in The Valley and had a Tandoori Vege pie with “smashed” potato and peas for lunch, and caught the bus home again.

Lunch: Pie Face Tandoori Vege pie with smashed potato and peas

Night

I paid the next quarterly instalment of my PAYG tax.

Friday 25th July
Improv. Comedy

Day

I drove to work, parking in New Farm. I left quite late, and got to work only a little late—it’s definitely faster than the bus, even with the kilometre and a half walk from where I park.

I had a burrito for lunch.

Night

I walked to my car and drove to Knockoff at The Powerhouse, where I met Bronwen (who rode from her work, and was late). After the comedy (it was improv. night) we drove home via ALDI, and had pasta for dinner while watching Top Gear.

Saturday 26th July
Hogswatch in July

Day

Bronwen and I drove to South Bank, where we went to a Cosplay meet-up, before continuing on to Brisbane Arts Theatre’s Hogswatch in July at Hardgrave Park—which was much more cosplay than the cosplay meet-up.

Cosplay characters at South Bank

Cosplay characters at South Bank

Bronwen arriving at Hogswatch in July

A hog at Hogswatch in July

A game which appears similar to chess

A game which does not appear similar to chess

What every modern man needs

Attire for the discerning gent

A storekeeper at Hogswatch in July

Important people at Hogswatch in July

Two witches and their magic boxes

Blue with envy because of her friend’s beard

A mother and her two daughters at Hogswatch in July

More storekeepers at Hogswatch in July

Two witches, bewitching, I assume

After that, having not eaten anything today and being quite hungry, we drove to Toowong Sizzler, where we certainly didn’t sizzle—it was freezing! Bronwen even had to walk back to the car to get my warm top out and bring it to me so I’d stop complaining about being too cold.

After Sizzler we went to Kmart, where I bought some five dollar shoes and found a toilet brush with breasts (apparently it’s actually a dish brush, which doesn’t make much more sense), and then drove to Bronwen’s parents’ place, while it bucketed down rain.

A dish brush with breasts

After the rain had stopped, we continued on to the Night Noodle Markets in South Bank. We were too full after Sizzler to actually eat any night noodles, so we just listened to the music before driving home and eating—ironically I suppose—pasta for dinner.

Lanterns at the Night Noodle Markets

Crowds queuing for noodles

The roof of one of the venues at the Night Noodle Markets

Bronwen admiring a toaster

A ninja, remarkably visible

Robots are not to be trusted

Sunday 27th July
St. Brigid’s Church

Day

I drove to Saint Brigid’s Church with Bronwen, before realising I’d forgotten my wallet and licence. Considering my car doesn’t currently have a rego sticker, and I was fined last year for having an out of date rego sticker, I figured it best to let Bronwen—who surprisingly didn’t forget her wallet or her licence—do the rest of the driving.

Bronwen arriving at St. Brigid’s Church

Saint Brigid’s Church was having an open day to celebrate 100 years. We walked around and looked at things. We went behind the organ, and spent quite a while chatting to the organist, which was interesting.

St. Brigid’s Church

The alter inside St. Brigid’s Church

The inside of St. Brigid’s Church

The inside of the organ in St. Brigid’s Church

The inside of St. Brigid’s Church, but facing the other way!

The outside of St. Brigid’s Church

Afterwards Bronwen drove into the city and we went for a walk looking for sushi (which is harder to do than it sounds on a Sunday afternoon). We ended up getting sushi right in Queen Street Mall. We then went to a few camera shops to try to buy the little Black Rapid adaptor for Manfrotto tripod plates, but everyone was out of stock, so we continued on to Payless Shoes where I bought another pair of Volleys. My current pair died just as we were leaving India, and was starting to get painful. $29.99 later (they were $34.99 but we found a box with an old price on it) I had another pair of Volleys, but was slightly hungry, so we went to Coles and bought six cream filled scones and sat in Queen’s Park and ate them until the shadows grew longer than the sun.

Night

Bronwen drove from the city to her parents’ place, and from there we all drove to South Bank, and went to the Night Noodle Markets. Bronwen’s parents’ cleverly bought food straight away, while Bronwen and I waited until the queues had grown so huge it was all but impossible to buy food before trying to buy our dinner. We did eventually manage, after the queues had died down a bit.

After dinner we had a fried banana dessert back at Bronwen’s parents’ place, before Bronwen drove me home to my beloved wallet.