Dah dah daaaah...bloody old news!!!

Happy Easter, one and all! Easter in Australia seems to be roughly the same as Easter in the UK, except for one fatal thing that we did not realise: EVERYTHING IS SHUT. Public holidays I find a little bit odd here because their trading laws seem quite strict. So whereas in UK one can potter around the shops a little and it's generally like a second Sunday, here pubs are about the only thing open. You can't even buy takeaway alcohol to drink quietly in your home on a bank holiday it seems, yet you can go to a pub. Which is greatly frustrating when trying to buy a bottle of wine on Not So Good Friday to take to a friend's birthday party.

BUT first, let me take you back to a pre-Easter era; no, not pre-Jesus, but the era of the weekend before Easter....if such a weekend can be considered an era.

The weather has been nothing recently if not damp. There have been some pleasant days but the weathermen seem intent on conspiring against me to make them fall on weekdays when I am, of course, in work. Last weekend was no exception; it was, for the most part, overwhelmingly damp. That is not to say it rained the whole time, fortunately, but there was a certain moistness to the air throughout.
On saturday we headed to a cafe in Pott's Point for a late late breakfast, then walked up to the water.



Then wandered around to Mrs Macquarie's Point, which is...well, exactly where it looks in the photo below; the next pointy out bit of headland to the east of the harbour, which offers some pleasant views.









View to the East, away from the harbour.

We wandered through to the Botanic Gardens where I enjoyed this Queensland Bottle Tree:



And was bemused by the topiary letters "sex and death" in front of the tropical pyramid:



We looked at the lovable bats, still roosting in great numbers (although they are sadly damaging many of the trees and need to be gently discouraged) and read a bat fact sheet from the visitor centre, which was interesting.

On Sunday, Mr L. Rogue, our friendly house platypus stowed away in my bag to investigate an exhibition on Charles Darwin, the advertising poster for which having suggested that he may have been of some import in the development of the notion of evolution. It was indeed an interesting exhibition, focussing on Darwin's voyage to Australia and how his findings there helped shape his theories. And indeed Mr L. Rogue and his kind did turn out to have been a bit important. When Darwin saw platypuses on his travels, he noted that it behaved in the same way as a water rat, in the same habitat as a water rat, and yet looked different. If God made everything, why put a water rat in some places and a platypus in another? Of course, the platypus and the water rat have both evolved and adapted to fit their specific environments. The platypus held himself up to be the embodiment of evolution. What a vain, and yet lovable platypus.

Cherry Ripe

This is Platypus. He came to live with us recently from Sydney Aquarium. He likes to sleep under my pillow at night.

We got a fridge and a washing machine delivered this week. Which was a relief. Considering how many thousands of years human beings must have coped without fridges, we found being without one for a week rather hard going. And the washing machine is a nice touch too. And it's nice to be able to hang washing in a garden instead of in the corner of an apartment as we have been used to doing for so many years.

The past weekend was so much fun. On Friday Mark and I went for drinks with the Sydney postgrads in Surry Hills. The weather on Saturday was so warm - I think it hit 25 degrees. We caught the ferry in and pottered around in the city, then saw Lovers Electric at the Apple Store. I liked them. Mark bought their CD today but it's not so good recorded - I don't like the production on it. Live they were much more raw and energetic. Then we got pizza at Hugo's Bar Pizza in King's Cross. The pizza there is so good but it's so swanky! Full of cocktail-sipping rich kids... tanned skin and designer handbags....and everytime we've been it's been kind of on a whim and I've always been looking a bit rough. Haha. I don't mind though.
Sunday involved sushi, Otto Dix at the Art Gallery of NSW, and the Fair Trade Cafe in Glebe. A good combination I found.

Last Thursday I watched a French film at the cinema called Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis. It was very good, very funny. Apparently it is now the most successful film ever at the French box office. I don't really know why, since this accolade is surely normally reserved for some kind of big budget Hollywood blockbuster trash? But, hey, I'm glad it is. It is deserving. It is about French stereotype of the inhabitants of very Northern France; Nord- Pas de Calais, who are known as Ch'tis after the dialect they speak. Despite the jokes about the dialect not always translating effectively into the English subtitles, and the dialect itself not being something that most English speakers would be familiar with, it was a good story, well written, and in parts hilarious!

I forgot to mention that I also finally saw In Bruges a couple if weeks ago. This was also pretty brilliant. Basically the premise is these two hit men, hiding out in Bruges under instruction from their boss after doing a hit. The dialogue was brilliantly written, and it had this way of being one moment laugh out loud hilarious, immediately followed by quite shocking moments as more was revealed about the characters' histories. Highly recommended.

I am also in love with this chocolate bar:



Like a Bounty, BUT WITH CHERRY! CHOCOLATE CHERRY COCONUT!!!! Why don't Cadbury distribute these in the UK? I would like to shake the hand of the person that invented this!!! GENIUS! I am actually quite addicted. I spend most of everyday thinking about when I might be able to get my next Cherry Ripe. There is also Cherry Ripe ice cream. I almost died of joy.