Monday 7th January – Back to Work
Day
I headed back to work, managing to be fifteen minutes late. I’m still congested but mostly over my sickness now… I hope. I went to Stones Corner Govinda’s for lunch, having a lasagne and some potato bake.
Night
After work I drove straight to town, parking in the Valley and walking to Govinda’s. I met Bronwen at Govinda’s and we had dinner there—using up another of our vouchers. After dinner we drove to Balmoral, where we saw “Les Miserables”. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a musical—and a three hour long one at that. While quite moving, and with some superb acting, and certainly very dramatically filmed with a lot of amazing scenes… it nevertheless took an inordinate amount of time to convey even the simplest, most obvious event—because it had to be sung. Perhaps, with fantastic singers, this would enhance the experience—but in this case, with mediocre singers, it simply made the movie far, far too long.
Tuesday 8th January – Work & Domino’s Pizza
Day
I again worked, and again had lunch at Govinda’s.
Night
Bronwen and I had Domino’s pizza for dinner, as we are wont to do on Tuesdays.
Wednesday 9th January – The Life of Pi
Day
I worked. I’m using the same timekeeping system the rest of work uses now, which has resulted in an annoying level of granularity because I do so many more smaller tasks than most here. Gavan and I went to Govinda’s for lunch.
Night
I drove in to town, parking in The Valley, and walking to Govinda’s—where I met Bronwen—and having dinner there. After dinner we drove home, then shortly later, drove back to South Bank, where we watched “The Life of Pi” in 3D at the Cineplex. It was a visually stunning movie—and it’s nice to see artistic use of 3D—though the plot isn’t anything worth talking about.
Thursday 10th January – Work & Govinda’s
Day
Work again.
Night
After work I drove into town, parked in The Valley, and walked to Govinda’s, meeting Bronwen there and having dinner.
Friday 11th January – Astro Pete’s
Day
Work.
Night
Bronwen and I drove to Astro Pete’s, where we met Bronwen’s parents, and watched a talk on Jupiter—and Jupiter herself, through a few telescopes. We then had dinner at a nearby vegetarian place, before driving home and going to bed.
Saturday 12th January – Heidi’s Fortieth
Day
After a quiet day during which Bronwen ran around like a chicken without its head, trying to choose a photo to print on canvas to use up her canvas print voucher which expires tonight, we finally went to Sizzler, and ate far too much.
Night
Running late, Bronwen and I rushed to Heidi’s 40th Birthday party. Fortunately, it was only an eight minute drive away.
After the party, Bronwen’s parents dropped past to help Bronwen pick a photo, which she then attempted to upload and purchase, only to find her voucher wasn’t accepted—which has already happened to Maz. Maz managed to get his extended until the end of the month after they admitted they’d pre-expired them, so presumably this is what will happen to Bronwen too.
Sunday 13th January – First Veggie Pasty of the Year
Day
I had my first veggie pasty of the year, from Francy’s Patisserie of course.
Night
Bronwen, Maz and I had dinner at the Burrito Bar, then Cold Rock for dessert.
Monday 14th January – Laurie Passes Away
Day
I worked.
Evening
Laurie passed away.
Night
Bronwen and I rushed around cleaning and bought a few things from Woolworths, and then Bronwen’s Mum came over and we all had a pleasant pasta and salad dinner.
Tuesday 15th January – Work & Pizza
Day
I worked.
Night
We ate pizza.
Wednesday 16th January – Gangster Squad
Day
I worked.
Night
Bronwen and I watched “Gangster Squad” at South Bank. Sadly, I found the lack of believable plot and lack of realism made it impossible for me to believe anything that was supposedly happening. I realise it’s probably supposed to be reminiscent of the unrealistic gangster movies of the past—but somehow, when a thousand machine gun bullets all miss all of the good guys, who then shoot each of the baddies with nothing more than their side arms, somehow that just doesn’t seem that realistic anymore.
Thursday 17th January – Replacing the Diff
Day
I worked.
Night
I drove up to David’s, and left my car there. The diff is very noisy, and needs replacing. I caught a train back to South Bank station, and then a bus back home from there. It took a very, very long time.
Friday 18th January – My Last Day at Mettro
Morning
As my car is with David being (I hope) fixed, I caught a bus to work. Surprisingly, I wasn’t spat upon, mugged, killed or otherwise injured, and despite missing the bus I had intended to catch, and the one after it, I still got to work on time—in fact, I got to work nearly ten minutes early, which is better than I usually manage when I drive. Though, to be fair, I did have to get to the bus stop at about the same time as I normally have to get out of bed.
Evening
After work I walked to the nearby train station, and waited a really long time for a train. Fortunately, it stopped long enough at Central that I was able to rush to an ATM, get out some cash, and get back on. After watching some of the weird passengers for a while (some had tails and animal ears, and a companion cube) and overhearing the funniest joke of the day—“Where did Susan go during the bombing? Everywhere”—I arrived at Banyo, and walked to David’s place, and picked up my car.