Monday 28th February – Amanda’s
Day
For some reason, either I’m misunderstanding, or everyone else is… no one seems to understand the difference between something that’s good and should be done, and something that’s good but shouldn’t be done. The tunnel is obviously good – but it’s not $3.2 billion good. Ditto for the NBN – heaps faster internet available to more people is obviously good… killing off cheap internet in order to force people to use an enforced monopoly when there’s heaps of other areas that need the money more urgently is bad.
Anyway, all I seem to do is complain. I’d go to the beach and relax instead, but I can’t afford fuel and it’ll only get worse with a carbon tax (which won’t reduce global emissions at all of course, just reduce our economy and my ability to enjoy myself) and I’m too sunburnt from the hole in the ozone layer caused by all the coal we’re practically giving away (though of course there’s no evidence at all that there’s any global warming, let alone man-made global warming) to the huge polluting countries in the region (who, of course, are also flooding the country with cheap imports and ruining our economy, hurting poor old Harvey Norman, and the few farmers left after the huge drought, bushfires, dust storms, flooding and cyclones).
I did try being cheery once, but I got a toothache and the government cancelled their promised dental cover.
Night
Bronwen spent the night at her parents’, who are away. I drove out to Amanda’s for dinner, and ended up staying up very late back at my place after, messing around being geeky and getting very little sleep.
Tuesday 1st March – Pizza
Evening
I picked Maz up from his work in the city and drove to his new place, where we chatted for a while until Bronwen had finished climbing, at which point I drove to Kangaroo Point, got Bronwen, and drove home. We had Domino’s pizza for dinner.
Wednesday 2nd March – Storming
Very Early Morning (or late last night)
I awoke to find that I was being rained upon, and lightning was flashing all around. The roof must have gone! Or perhaps I was in a tent, and it had collapsed and blown away, or… I quickly woke up to find that we were having an immense storm, and the rain was being driven sideways into the window, and pretty much everywhere else.
Evening
Bronwen and I went for a walk up Mount Gravatt, then drove to Woolworths, and after that, ate dinner (Bronwen cooked pasta, and quite yummy too) and went to bed. Oh, and did the dishes.
Thursday 3rd March – Angry Men, Car Parks & Rain
Day
Around half past ten someone came to work asking if anyone owned my car. It turns out I do. He said I was parked in his car park—the car park he is paying for—the car park his car should be in—not the car park my car should be in. I pointed out that it was an unmarked, unsigned car park, and as such, available to anyone. This, possibly, wasn’t the most political thing to say, and the man wasn’t overly happy about it. To make it worse, I told him that if it wasn’t signed in the morning, I’d park there again. Well, that’s not what I meant to say, but it’s what it came across like. I actually said that car parks are at a premium, and an unsigned car park will fill up, guaranteed, so if someone is going to park in it, it may as well be me, because if I don’t, within five minutes, someone else will have. Fortunately, he didn’t have a baseball bat.
Night
It’s raining, quite heavily and a bit storm-ily, with the odd thunder and sideways action. Bronwen and I have been discussing flights, and me giving notice tomorrow—something I am a bit stressed about. It’s also extremely humid, and has been all night, though looking on the bright side that’s meant Bronwen has been naked all night.
Friday 4th March – I Give Notice
7:45am
…is at work.
Morning
I handed in two weeks’ notice at work. It rained a fair bit most of the day.
5pm
…goes home.
5:31pm
…is stuck in stupid traffic, driven by bananas.
5:57pm
…is home.
6:48pm
…has a really sore leg, really, really sore, more sore than you think.
7:01pm
Dear Internet: What is the best way to fix my leg? It is like a slow-motion cramp, though I’m not sure if that’s the medical term for it.
10:41pm
…is off to sleep. Big day tomorrow, expecting it to be daylight and everything.
Saturday 5th March – Tickets
Morning
She and I woke up and discussed our travel plans. Despite having done this many times before, we hadn’t actually agreed on anything useful yet—like where to go, or how to get there, or what to do once we got there.
Afternoon
After a few hours of research and discussion, we gave up and drove into town, where we eventually found parking and walked to Govinda’s for lunch, then on to some travel agents after. Interestingly, almost all of them are Flight Centre (or Student Flights or Escape Travel, which are just other names for Flight Centre), but the pricing and flights they give out are randomly quite different. Bronwen had got a few prices from various travel agents over the past few days, and we got a few more today, finally being won over by the high-pressure sales techniques of a girl at one of the Escape Travel offices—who, at around a quarter to three, found us pricing which apparently expired at five o’clock today, and she normally close at three o’clock, but was willing to open until three thirty specially today… but we’d have to pay a $50 per person deposit right now to hold the pricing… so we did. It was nearly $200 per person cheaper than the next cheapest we’d found, was—somewhat surprisingly—flying Qantas rather than some of the “cheaper” airlines some of the others had used, and—in what I think is quite cool—had a stop-over in Egypt, meaning that along with Zimbabwe, we seem likely to be visiting two of the countries on the government’s “you’d have to be stupid to visit these countries” list.
Evening
After the exciting ticket-holding, Bronwen and I walked to South Bank, through an absolute gale that, enticingly, threatened to rip Bronwen’s already somewhat revealing clothes off at any moment, and watched “The Adjustment Bureau” at the Cineplex.
Night
After the movie, we drove to Bill and Linda’s, so Bronwen could share her excitement and ask some questions about Africa, and then on to Maz’s, where we stayed for a while before driving—along with Maz—to Hawken Village, and eating Chez Tessa for dinner. Dinner being had, we drove back to Maz’s, helped Maz move his wardrobe doors into his garage, as one does, and watched a few things on his media centre, before it got quite late, and we drove home.
Sunday 6th March – Cheaper Flights
Morning
Bronwen and I had a sleep-in before heading to Indooroopilly to look at netbooks with Maz. Sadly, they’re all various combinations of awful and overpriced.
Afternoon
Bronwen and I drove back to our place and found cheaper flights on Expedia.
Monday 7th March – Airfares Booked!
Day
So like, I went to work.
Midday
Bronwen went to Escape Travel, where the travel agent matched the prices we’d found on Expedia. We now have flights booked departing Brisbane for Frankfurt, via Singapore, on 28 March, and arriving in Brisbane from Johannesburg on 12 July.
Night
I, like, picked this chick up from the city, and dropped her at her parents’ place, then got Maz from his work, and drove to his place, then Nandos, then his place, then walked around the neighbourhood through narrow twisty roads, avoiding the rain.
Tuesday 8th March – Dahl & Curry
Day
Another day, another dime.
Night
Bronwen went climbing, and I drove into town to pick her up. Not feeling a lot like pizza, Bronwen and I went to Halim’s and had a lovely curry and some dahl instead.
Wednesday 9th March – Awful Traffic
Day
This morning the police were enforcing the T3 lane. Frustratingly, people seemed to somehow know, as hardly any people drove down it. Even more frustratingly, traffic was absolutely awful—I assume because of the police—and I was quarter of an hour late at work.
Night
Bronwen and I had an exciting night… driving to Woolworths to do some shopping, finding pasta and pasta sauce on special, cooking that at home, and eating it while watching “Gilmore Girls”.
Thursday 10th March – No Kindle
Day
I worked.
Night
I had a quiet night at home. Bronwen was annoyed because her Kindle wasn’t delivered to her work, like I told her it wouldn’t be.
Friday 11th March – A Kindle!
Day
Bronwen’s Kindle was delivered to Decipha—who apparently remove the anthrax and semtex from mail delivered to QLD government offices—so Bronwen had to track it down somewhere in West End.
Night
I drove into the city, got Bronwen, and drove to Kangaroo Point, where I parked. Isn’t that amazing? Bronwen and I then went to Govinda’s for dinner, which was yum-yum-yummy, then gave Maz a lift back to his place and ended up watching “Despicable Me” there, copying books to Bronwen’s new Kindle, deciding I should also buy a Kindle as soon as possible, and staying up late.