Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Trip to Freo

A few weeks back my sister Jo, niece Darcie and I took a little trip into Freo to have lunch for Jo's birthday. I took a few pics and thought I'd post a couple on here just for the sake of doing a post really.

Now I like Freo. I don't spend a lot of time there mainly because the parking is crap and it's not exactly close to where I live (although it's much closer now than to where I used to live). But it has a certain charm about it, a lot of the buildings are the original ones from the settlement, being a port city it has a hustle and bustle about it and there are heaps of little back alleys to explore.

We had lunch at Cicerellos, one of the more famous fish and chip joints in Perth. They're pretty good there although you pay for their fame but it's always worth it when in Freo. They have tables outside on the jetty and so we sat outside to eat although Darcie was a bit freaked out being so close to the water's edge.
After lunch we decided to head over to the Round House and have a looksie. Smerk posted a few pics of the Round House a while back on her blog but I can't find them to link to at the mo so you'll just have to make do with the photos I've taken from the inside and underneath and check out the Wiki link.

Under the Round House is a tunnel that is used now as a mini museum. There's several enclosures that depict various colonial scenes plus displays about how the tunnels were incorporated during war time.

This is the big flag pole that stands at the top of Arthur Head as seen from below (I got very excited learning the name of this hill and made several references to Arthur's Seat much to the annoyance of Jo). When a ship is coming into Port a welcome flag is raised to acknowledge it's arrival, apparently Freo is one of the few remaining Ports in the world who continue with this tradition.



All it really needs is a pirate flag!


There are some stocks inside the Round House and the guide there was going to unlock them to let us have our photo taken. Unfortunately she's misplaced the keys and so Darcie and I settled for just putting our hands through. I guess we're lucky that the guide didn't lose the keys after she'd locked us in!

After we left the Round House we meandered down some little back streets and made our way over to the new Maritime Museum. We were going to go and have a look but didn't really want to spend a heap to get into the museum and then have to pay for the submarine tour as well when we knew Darce would chicken out and we'd be left penniless for no reason. Darce tried to convince us she'd be ok but when we pointed out the submarine (it's at the back of the museum) she realised how small and cramped it would be and admitted she would have freaked.
So we caught the bus up to the prison with the intent to take a tour and show Darce the first prison that Poppy worked in (Dad was a Prison Officer for many, many years working all over the state up until he retired several years back). However when we got there we discovered we'd just missed the last tour and would have to wait an hour and a half till the next one. By that point we were tired and sunburnt and decided to head home.

On the walk back to the car we passed a church near the markets and I really liked this sign out the front. I'm not a religious person but if I was I'd love to attend a church with a sense of humour.

Also I'd been meaning to get a photo of this church for quite some time but have never had a chance. Sorry it's a bit blurry - it was taken from the car while driving past. If you can't read the name of the church on the sign it says 'The Immaculate Conception Parish'.

Freo is a must do place for when Boo and Mouse come to visit in October. It might not be as ancient as their city but it's the oldest man made place we've got here and I'd like to show it off.

Friday, February 15, 2008

I'm so dizzy my head is spinning

Aloha cousins.

I've not exactly been well this last week. It all started with a killer headache on Monday that hasn't let up since, I started feeling a bit nauseous (well, a LOT nauseous) and then the dizziness started. Throw in a bit of vertigo and you've got yourself a recipe for a crappy time!
I went to bed Tuesday night feeling awful and even though I just don't vomit (as much as it would probably make me feel better to just have a good spew my body just physically won't do it. I have to be on my death bed to actually vomit), Christian bought me in a nice red bucket and placed it next to the bed. I slept horribly the whole night thanks to the room that would just not stop spinning. You know when you're rather drunk and every time you close your eyes you feel like you're on a merry-go-round? It was like that.

So Wednesday morning I get out of bed to call my boss and tell her I'm not coming in. Not too sure what happens next but I can tell you this. The room started spinning like crazy and then one hand is landing in that delightful red bucket - thankfully it hadn't been used for it's intended purpose, my knees are cracking onto our hard as nails tiles and I'm moaning in pain.
Yes dear readers, I had fallen out of bed.

Not happy Jan.

Christian looks down at me and gives me 'a look'. A look that asks 'What are you doing down there?'
Trust me my beloved, I didn't do this intentionally.
The following conversation takes place.

Christian : 'Come back to bed.'
Me : 'I have to ring Di to let her know I'm not coming into work.'
Christian : 'Get back into bed and I'll go and get the phone for you.'
Me : 'You know, since you're getting up maybe you could just call her for me.
Christian (with a look) : 'That would look rather dodgy.'
Me : 'I call in for you all the time! You never make that call yourself! Why won't you just call for me?'
Christian : 'I just think it would look really suspicious. I really think you should call.'
Me (sulkily) : 'Fine, get me the damn phone.'
Me : 'Hello Di? I'm not coming in to today, I've just fallen out of bed and it fucking hurts!'

I ended up going into work on Thursday since I couldn't get a doctor's appointment. I really shouldn't have since I felt like shit all day. Di and my Team Leader Heather both gave me a good telling off for going in and when I left that night I was told not to come in the next day if I was still feeling that bad.
So this morning I've gotten up, almost fallen over in the shower (bending down to wash your feet isn't too bad but the standing back up afterwards part is the killer) and so I've managed to get a doctors appointment today. Hopefully it'll just turn out to be some stupid virus that will go away in a few days and not an inoperable brain aneurysm. The Doctor I'm seeing isn't the best with his English so whatever he says I'll just take it as 'stupid virus that will go away in a few days'.

Okie, have a great weekend guys and I'll let you know how it all went.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

In space no one can hear the thunder...

Nor can we in Perth.

BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ANY!!!

I am so over being told by people in the know that we'll be having thunderstorms and rain. All we're getting is fecking hot and humid weather and I'm really, really over it. Towards the end of a bitterly cold winter I shall never again look expectantly forward to summer.

I tell you, I think hell decided to relocate to the south of Western Australia.

Ok, enough ranting about the weather.

What have I been up to lately?
Well, I've been implementing one of my new years resolutions.
No, not the 'gym more, eat less crap' one because I think I'm going backwards with that. I shall be the size of a house by the time some of you come to visit me in October.
No, the one I've been implementing is the 'do more of the things that I want to do' one.

To put it simply, Christian and I don't exactly have similar tastes when it comes to hobbies. Sure there are some movies that we both like, TV shows are pretty on par and I've taken up an interest in cars, but on a base level we're quite different.
Now I don't have a problem with that at all but to actually spend time with each other it does mean that one if us ends up doing something that isn't a real interest to us.
That person tends to be me.
99.9% of the time.
Since we've been together I've ...
  • Joined a rally team and hence spent many weekends being cold and wet in the middle of nowhere changing muddy tyres.
  • Sat for many an hour watching Christian participate in track days plus attend numerous Motovations and car shows.
  • Watched endless Jackie Chan movies plus other martial arts movies (to be fair I have developed a liking for some of these but they're still not my genre of choice).
  • Spent hours on end and occasionally all night playing cards and board games.
  • Spent hours on end and occasionally all night watching Christian play on his computer (once again I've developed a bit of a liking for this as I do enjoy chatting to the guys that attend LANS but it's not something I would have taken up by myself)
I wouldn't mind this if it went both ways but Christian is a stubborn male and absolutely refuses to do an activity if he won't enjoy it. Therefore all he has done in return is...

  • Take up Squash (he refused to play Badminton as he doesn't like it but this was his compromise)
  • Watch one or two girly movies with me at the cinema (Ever After being one and Harry Potter 5 being the other!)
  • Once (and only once - it was last Sunday) help me in the garden.
I've discovered that I've kind of lost myself over the years and so I resolved to this year make more time for myself and do less things just because Christian is doing them. If this means that we spend less time together then so be it. If Christian wants to spend more time with me then he can participate in some of my activities.

Now I don't want to give the wrong impression - things are great between us. No marital problems or anything, I just need to do what's right for me. So in aid of this I have recently undertaken the following...

  • Taken up Jazz Funk classes. These are classes in which we're taught a new routine every few weeks (the first is a hip hop routine, not sure what the next will be) with the intent of having fun and getting fit at the same time.
  • I've stopped going to soccer on both Wednesdays and Sundays. I did like going to soccer but it was more for the perv value I think than out of any actual enjoyment for the game. I can perv on my hubby at home just as well as there and it does mean I can do more important things on the weekends instead of cutting them short just to sit around watching Christian exercise.
  • I've chosen not to attend two games nights that our friend Daniel has held since the New Year. Now, there are a couple of board games that I quite enjoy but at these nights the boys tend to steer away from those and play more strategy based ones and I get bored and try to sleep on a mouldy old couch.
  • There are a few movies that Christian has gone to watch that I haven't joined him with simply because I'm not interested in them. Instead I've seen a few chick flicks with some girls from work and my sisters.
  • Barb and I are going to take up Belly Dancing when the new term starts. It's something I've always wanted to do, although I'm sure I'll be crap at it.
So hopefully is all goes well I'll start actually having my own life as well as my married one. I think the problem I've had is that I've only been thinking of me in terms of 'us' and not as 'me'. Just because I'm married it doesn't mean I should give up my own life.
I'm already feeling much happier for it which is great although I don't think Christian realised just how resolved I was. I'm pretty sure he thought I was having a whinge but wouldn't make any changes. On Sunday I went off to the markets and received a txt saying 'Soccer's on at 3 will you be back in time to come'. I really wanted to reply 'You assume I'm going' but managed to restrain myself. There's no need to be snippy after all. Instead I waited till I got home five minutes later to inform him I wasn't going. He seemed a bit shocked as I
always go but I'm sure he'll learn that that's all going to change.

So I'll let you know how all my new hobbies go. If Belly Dancing doesn't work out I'm thinking of taking up another type although most of them you need a partner for (and I'm sure it comes as no surprise to hear that Christian refuses to take up dancing lessons with me). We'll just have to wait and see I suppose.
Sorry if this seemed like one long rant. I'll try and make my next post a little cheerier. Till then, take care.