walking and wandering and whatnot

Today was... ummmm... well... interesting, I guess... disorganised... but interesting...

Ma was booked in for her Haircut Day this morning... but later than usual, so we didn't get going at the crack of the proverbial... it was actually quite late (as far as our usual Saturdays go) before we got started... some time around 10am or something I think.

And if you consider the fact that we're usually back from the supermarket and I've unpacked it all and we're usually off out again somewhere (more or less) by that time, you get a general idea how much it threw my timing out.

I actually thought that today was possibly going to turn into one big giant fiasco to be honest... the day didn't start out overly well... I had to take the photo of my painting twice because the first time there were shadows across the canvas that I didn't see until I loaded it into Photoshop... and since I'd already packed up my tripod... it wasn't a great drama, but it was annoying. Then, since I had so much time on my hands I thought I could quite happily sit down and watch Kim Possible... but when I tuned in at the "regular" time, it wasn't on... so I figured the series was over and they'd replaced it with something else... only to flick channels later on and find out that it had been on... just later than I thought... and all I saw was the last five minutes... damn you Saturday Disney!

And just on a brief tangent... would it be too much to ask Channel 7 if you could actually list the cartoons that are shown during Saturday Disney somewhere on the Saturday Disney website? *mutter mutter mutter*

Anyway, where was I?

Things did pick up while we were out shopping... although, you know, too many stoopid people at the stoopidmarket getting all in my way and taking up space... but I'm really only used to there being like 8-10 old people wandering around with us, so full on Saturday morning crowds were a bit of a culture shock.

Speaking of culture shock, I was wearing my Playtime with Becky teeshirt for the first time since last April... although, interestingly enough I only caught a couple of people staring at it and attempting to read it throughout the day. There probably were a bunch more who did, I just didn't notice them.

And we learned that we really need to NOT try the free sample things that the nice people give out in the supermarket... because for the second week running we've been sucked in by them. Which we don't usually do... and possibly wouldn't have this time had they not been giving away a free cooler bag with purchase.

Oh, and I'm going to attempt lasagna on Tuesday as dinner before the movies... which I've never made before... so it's either going to be a breeze or it'll just look like a trainwreck but taste fine... I'll keep you posted!

So anyway, we came home, I unpacked everything... and we had no freakin idea what the hell we were going to do with the rest of our day.

In the end we just got in the car and drove down to the end of the street... and I'd said to Ma "just pick a direction"... which she had when we'd left my place... but she didn't know which way to go once we hit the end of the street... and we just cracked up... Ma ended up driving to the end of the street really slowly not only to defer the decision, but also because we were both laughing like crazy people. Okay, so it was one of those "you had to be there things"... but it was funny.

Finally I just pointed in the general direction of Arndale and we ended up going down there... for no real reason... but we wandered around a bit... went into The Reject Shop and bought far too much crap... a big ass packet of paddlepop sticks to mix my paint (250 sticks for $2... bargain!)... a cool bendy straw dispenser full of bendy straws (well, dur!) and some gold sparklers to put away as at least part of J's Christmas present, since he's obsessed with sparklers and whatnot (he's just a little pyromaniac at heart really). Ma also grabbed this set of plastic knives and forks and spoons that look for all the world like they're actually made of metal... I'm sure once you pick them up you'll know the difference, but just looking at them they look like metal. Very groovy.

We still had no idea where the hell our next stop was when we left Arndale, but Ma rambled something that kind of ended in "Linear Park" (to be honest I'm sure it was probably a total and complete sentence... although maybe not, since we were both having trouble with whole sentences today)... so I directed her to the St Peters Billabong section of Linear Park, which I will freely admit, I'm officially over now, having done that particular bit of said park to death.

But we wandered up and down and around and it was all quite nice. And I took a bunch of photos... most of which I'd already taken about half a dozen times before... but you get that.

One thing that I got to photograph that hadn't been there before were the pelicans... two of them had somehow gotten themselves into the little spot near one of the weirs (where I ended up climbing over boulders and stuff last time on a previous excursion)... and the water in the photo up the top is so frothy because it's just come over the little weir thing.

I did have an attack of Instant Karma as I was clambering back up from my spot down by the weir though... I was thinking to myself "well, that wasn't as difficult getting back up as it was getting down there"... and right after I thought it, I slammed my knee into something (I'm not completely sure what to be honest) and gave myself a hell of a booboo... broke the skin and everything.

Actually that same leg kept trying to kill me for the rest of the afternoon... I got that foot caught on a stick a little later and my leg was trying to go around while my knee was trying to go forward... never the most pleasant sensation... then later I nearly fell off a step and there was something else but it slips my mind right now. Short version... right leg, trying to kill me and/or itself. Bad leg... naughty!

Anyway, we wandered about a bit more, then as we headed back towards the car the weather started to turn a little chilly, so we figured we should call it a day... but also figured since it was getting to be something resembling food-time (I think it was around 4pm or something) that maybe some lunchdinner wouldn't be out of the question (since I'd only had breakfastlunch when we went to the supermarket, and that had been it thus far really). And rather than just going back to my place and then not being able to make a decision from the half a billion places near me, we decided to head over to Norwood, since it wasn't that far away.

As were were headed in that general direction I happened to spot this building set back from the road that had all this really cool street art on it... I did think at first that it might have been the work of my favourite street artist, although it turned out not to be once we looped back around and I got a better look. I'm pretty sure it was one of those community centre type buildings where the art is actually official and supposed to be there... and had been done by a bunch of different artists... the Pegasus unicorn was just one part of one wall.

By the time we got to Norwood a lot of the places weren't that far away from closing, but we had a little look in a couple of shops, then had a big bout of indecision about where to go and eat.

Which is no big surprise for us really... between the pair of us it's a wonder we ever manage to make a decision... (indecision was really the theme of the day to be honest).

Finally we decided on Caffe Buongiorno, for no real reason to be honest, other than the fact that it wasn't that far away from where we happened to be standing at the time.

We ended up sharing a plate of vegetarian risotto, which was really, really nice... not something either of us would usually have, but tasty none-the-less. And of course, we got to make fun of all the freaks and weirdos going past the windows as we ate.

Buongiorno in Norwood was always the place that Raury and I would go on our regular Friday night excursions to get gelati and wander aimlessly up and down the Parade... so, of course after we'd finished the risotto, Ma and I had to get some gelati and wander aimlessly.

And that was about it really... we came back here, she headed home, I watched Madagascar on teevee (since I hadn't gotten around to seeing it before)... actually I'm glad we never bothered seeing it at the movies or buying it on DVD or anything... it's cute, but it's WAAAAY light on actual story. And now I'm kinda sorta watching The Island... aka The Greatest Product Placement Movie Ever Made... it's on in the other room anyway.

So that was my Saturday...

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