Minis in a mad world

It was only two weeks ago, but I feel very fortunate to have made it to New Zealand (and back!) on a trip to visit The Parental Units and New Zealand friends.

I hadn't intended to come back with minis, as I was aware of the fact that I've not been doing much recently, but things just... happened.

Here's my haul: a mix of gifts, op-shopped finds and discount-store discoveries.

First the gifts, and one particularly precious one. Friend Miggs gave me the oak side table she made back in the 90s,

with its beautifully inlaid top,

along with her collection of vintage miniature pottery from Peru,

and a set of miniature pallets she found in her local tip shop.

I've always admired the table, and will treasure it. Hopefully sometime soon I'll make a particularly special scene to display it in.

From one of my favourite Wellington shops, I picked up this weathered bird cage, and a lighthouse and letter A charm.

From Uncle Bills [sic], some puffy stickers,

and from various op shops around the region, what can only be described as 'some weirdly random bits' that spoke to me.

I managed to slip back into the country six hours before self-isolation became mandatory for anyone entering, which means instead of being forced to loll round at home for 14 days reading books and playing with miniatures, I've been working there instead.Just to be on the safe side. I felt better about the whole thing when my role was declared 'critical', as I'm working on national COVID-19 related stuff (she says enigmatically).

A blast* from the past

Leonard Cohen didn't last long. While I was on You Tube harvesting links for my last post I stumbled across this:

Erasure singing Solsbury Hill live. After a couple of seconds I thought:

That date seems really familiar.

So I checked my stash of trip diaries. And sure enough I was in the audience in London that very night.

My very first night on the other side of the world and I decided the only thing to do was work out how the Tube system worked and get me to an Erasure concert. As you do. I think the owner of the B&B I was staying at was more freaked out by the whole thing than I was.

Then next morning I flew to Glasgow to visit the Glasgow School of Art. But that's another story entirely...

(*Blast. Rocket. Geddit?)

What are the chances of me making it to Berlin

by the beginning of October? Or even to New York next year?

No, I didn't think they were very high either... *sigh*

An epiphany on Friday (aka: Cinderella, you shall go to the ball... what do you mean you don't want to?!)

Since I came back from my (slightly unplanned) Mediterranean cruise in October 2004 I've always thought, believed and told people that my next European trip would be a river cruise from Amsterdam (for the dolls houses and Anne Frank's House) to Budapest (so I could visit Vienna, home of the Vienna Secession)

River cruises are fiendishly expensive (especially when you're travelling solo) so the concept has been put off for almost 6 years and smaller, less expensive (but less architecturally and miniaturely significant) trips have been made instead.

Last night I received an email telling me about a 50% off offer on just the itinerary I was looking at taking. 50%! With no single supplement to boot!

I got excited. I started dreaming. I convinced myself that it was worth paying for it with credit and paying it off.

This morning I even got the OK to have leave from job #2 and my internship.

And then I stopped. And, as is my habit now before I buy anything I stepped back and asked that very important question: Is there a better and cheaper option?

It was then I realised my wish to go on a river cruise was just habit. For almost 6 years I'd accepted that desire as an important one. And, over that six years, I've changed quite a lot but not reassessed if my dreams are still relevant to who I am now.

And you know what? I feel very relaxed. I've decided I don't want to go on a river cruise. And spend two days in places I'm interested in and the rest of the trip visiting places that may well be interesting but not must sees on my list.

I've decided to pencil a trip to Europe into my calendar for November 2010 or thereabouts. By then (fingers crossed) I'll be debt free and have saved the cash I need to pay for the trip. I'll fly there. I'll be able to spend a few days in Amsterdam exploring the things that are important to me. I'll go to Vienna (maybe I'll take a train) and spend some time there. And (I'm hoping) be able to do a side trip to Dessau where, I've just discovered, I can actually stay in a dormitory at the Bauhaus school!

It should cost less, be much more meaningful and give me almost 18 months of dreaming and planning to look forward to. A much better idea all round, really.

Cook from the cupboard

Today's menu:

Breakfast: Cup of tea. Crumpets with apricot and vanilla jam. Yoghurt
Morning tea: Crackers and hummus. Apple
Lunch: Sweet chili tuna with rice, peas and corn. Sweets.
Afternoon tea: Apricot danish. Coffee.
Dinner: Wine and Grain Waves. (Hey, it's Friday!)

Today's purchases:

1 takeaway coffee: $3.70

Total for today: $3.70

Total for June: $325.94

Class tonight: Peachy keen

(Or should that be Peachy Green?)

Our teacher seemed to realise that the deep end was a tad too deep for most of us last week and so spent some of this class recapping. And since we knew most of the answers to the questions she asked (cause she told us last week) I think we all felt most chuffed and thus much more positive (or at least I did)

After bossy-guts Classmate Chris demanded I started mixing me some colour I tried making a green to match the colour wheel:But all I managed was Cacky green, Another cacky green, Baby diarrhoea green, Eucalyptus green, Is this the same as the first one? green, Mushy peas, Overboiled spinach, and (my favorite) Oh I give up green.

I think I have a future as a namer of paint colours (if not as a mixer of said colours). At least I now understand why my teacher tells us the best way to mix green (and orange. And purple) is to go buy a tube of the colour...

Changing the subject, I'm sure you'd like to hear about my latest mad scheme. It's my birthday in a couple of months. I have a tradition of not being here for my birthday (except for once when I accidentally was) Yes, I'm gainfully underemployed so should be a sensible-type lass but I'm plotting....

I could spend my birthday here. With a free return flight thanks to my Qantas points (and enough left over to get me to the dentist later in the year). Staying at the Youth Hostel should cost $AU61 a night for a private room. And I have cruise buddies from 18 months ago who will be turning up here for a day two days after my birthday so there's no chance of getting lonely (very drunk maybe, never lonely!).

I could practice my really bad French ("C'est ma fête s'il vous plaît donnez-moi un gros rabais"). Even better: "Donnez-moi le libre!"

But being the sensible (*snort*) mature (*double snort*) person I am I'm going with a 24 hour cooling down period before doing anything rash like booking tickets...

Dear Easter Bunny

Yes, I know it's a little early but since Hot Cross Buns have been in the supermarket since January 1st I figured you're probably already on the job.

Any chance you can drop off a ticket for this for Easter this year? Failing that this would be fine as would this...

Yours ever so hopefully
The Shopping Sherpa

The upgrade fairy went awol

It was a pleasant enough trip across the ditch once I'd got over the disappointment of not having a visit from the upgrade fairy. But at least I got a bulkhead seat (just behind Business Class so I stare wistfully through the curtain), a cute bald man to sit next to and I got to see Boytown which I have to buy a copy of to add to my collection of very silly pisstake movies about boy bands (OK, it's not really a collection as I only have one other movie - Get ready to be Boyzvoiced)

Lovely (cold-ridden) Raven Haired Sis picked me up from the airport and drove me straight to a 24 hour supermarket (she knows me well) where I oohhed and aahhed, and bought far too much junk food for the trip.

And now it's morning. I'm still waiting for my brain to realise I'm here. Once it arrives we'll be into the car and off to pick up Travelling Matt before heading off to Mount Maunganui.

There are currently intense discussions going on as to if we can justify swinging past Thames on the way - Raven Haired Sis wants to visit a Buddhist shop there which apparently also happens to sell second hand stuff and she reliably informs me that there is a large and excellent Salvos nearby. Decisions decisions...

(Listening to: bFM)

We're all going on a summer holiday...

Map courtesy of Mum (cheers Mum!).

Wiggly red line, courtesy of my as yet not perfect handle on the intricacies of Photoshop. But you get the idea...

Two girls, one gay friend (for the trip down), one car, eleven nights, six cities, one Christmas Day and one New Years Day.

I'm leaving this afternoon.

I don't think I'll find much to blog about, do you?