where does time go?

i can't believe it - the second week of my holidays has flown by and it's back to work tomorrow... it's been one of the most relaxing times i've had for a loooong time - and there were no family crises to have to deal with (which is rare these days)... i've enjoyed some beautiful spring weather which meant the courtyard door was open most of the time for me old girl and boy, who both loved being able to get outside whenever they chose - sad i have to leave them tomorrow... oooh, not only is it back to work tomorrow, i've just checked the weekend roster and i'm also working next saturday - now that's enough to depress anyone - roll on retirement!!!!!

i've shared some lovely times with friends over the past couple of weeks - i caught up with larry the librarian for an afternoon, and steph and pete came for dinner... i had lunch with irene in the city - we found an indian restaurant where a lot of indian people were eating (always a good sign) and had a tasty curry... sailor lily called in and we shared (as she put it) "one of lifes greatest taste trifectas - olives, dips and wine"... i did some cooking and tried out a new recipe because i've got friends coming on friday night for dinner - i'll be making vegan stroganoff - it's a recipe i hadn't tried before and i wanted to make sure it was worth the time spent cooking it - which is minimal luckily, because i'll be making it after work!!! - it also needed to be tasty - it is, it's delicious (although i did alter the recipe a wee bit)  - and rather than pasta i might serve it on jacket potatoes, or perhaps roasted garlic with rosemary potatoes, along with a salad and crusty bread... yum!!!!

i didn't watch any of the dvds i'd brought home (and they're all reserved so i'll just have to take them back to work and perhaps watch them some other time!) - nor did i do much reading - far out, where did the time go? it just wasn't long enough - my, to have 4 weeks off would certainly be 'luxurious' - but that would mean going the whole year without any time off - an impossibility these days!!! perhaps i need to check out the 48-52 option - is it available to 'part-time' (30-hour per week) staff? or maybe what i really need to do is sit down and work out what the minimum amount is that i need to survive and implement that budget and cut down my hours... hmmm, food for thought!!

i was determined to read at least one book by the end of the holidays - and i succeeded in this endeavour - finally, yesterday i finished "the journal of dora damage" by belinda starling (and recommended by lily)...

now, i have to admit to almost giving up on this book - i just couldn't get into it to start with... i'd pick it up, read a few pages, put it down, pick it up and put it down... i was about to put it in the 'return to work unread' pile and choose another book, but decided to pick it up just once more - i'm glad i did because once i gave it my total concentration i just couldn't put it down!!!

it's an historical novel set it victorian london in the mid-1800s where squalor and poverty are part of peoples lives and womyn nothing but chattels ... dora's husband peter, a bookbinder, is suffering from the typical illnesses of the trade - bad lungs, rheumatoid arthritis - consequently the business is in huge debt and the family (dora, peter and lucinda, their epileptic daughter) are in danger of losing everything (not that they had much anyway!!!)

dora, having helped with the business over the years, 'takes over the reins' and searches for more clientele... as her artistic and binding talents become recognised and highly sought after, she finds herself unwittingly drawn into the shady world of affluent, aristocratic men by binding their highly illegal pornographic volumes (a very risky business, especially for a womon)... she is provided with all manner of luxurious bindings - the softest leathers, silks and satins - for these explicit tomes... one of her major customers, an 'eminent' physician, also supplies her with laudenum for her husband - another shackle that binds her to these rich and powerful men, but becomes an addiction which eventually kills peter...

she realises her peril and the untenable position she has been put in when provided with a binding material she can't quite identify - but she soon delves deeper and discovers this unusual 'hide' is the skin of a female slave... it was time to extricate herself from this murky existence, but in refusing to bind anymore of these 'aristocratic obscenities' she discovers how entangled in their grotesque world she has become, how much power they really had and how many powerful men they controlled...

america was gearing up for the civil war at this time, and we 'meet' the abolitionist movement in london in the form of the "ladies' society for the assistance of fugitives from slavery" who talk dora into taking on an escaped slave named din to work in the bindery... a 'progressive' movement? you'll have to read the book to find out because that's all i'm telling you of the story...

so, after procrastinating i am really pleased i persevered and finished this book... sadly there will be no other books by belinda starling, who died not long after finishing this, her first novel, in 2006 - she was admitted to hospital for an operation to remove a cyst from her bile duct, but following complications she died of septic shock at the age of 34...

now i should get off my arse and get down the street - ooooh, i am so not looking forward to tomorrow - my time's far better spent with my family - we're all so much happier and healthier when i'm home!!!! i can already feel a headache coming on - although i suspect that's to do with the wind and hayfever or sinus problems rather than my impending return to work (but perhaps that could be considered an allergy)... best i stock up on ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine!!!

leisurely livin'....

yay - i'm on holidays for 2 weeks... i tell you what, last friday the working day seemed to take forever to end - it seems like i applied for these holidays so very long ago and they didn't feel like they were ever going to get here... but finally it was time to forget about work and think about relaxing and enjoying the next couple of weeks... leading up to the holidays though i did catch up with larry the librarian on my day off last monday - we spent a lovely couple of hours chatting, smoking, sharing food and a bottle of vino... a very enjoyable time...

saturday i had irene and the malmsbury mob down for a visit - they had to come down to drop off my wee louie who's staying with me for 10 days, so there'll be a lot of strolling the streets in the next week and a bit... i had thought about getting up to malmsbury for a few days but it's just not going to happen - my brother would come and stay with allie and shadow, but it's way too much to expect someone else to clean up after my old incontinent girl - and he just doesn't get the idea of getting her outside as soon as she starts moving about - he's not 'attuned' to her and forgets she's blind and deaf too - and there is a lot of picking up and carrying involved in living with a blind, deaf and incontinent dog - it's just too hard for someone else to deal with (and for me 'kids' to deal with someone else!)... so home is very much my 'holiday destination' for the next fortnight...

having visitors meant i missed the grand final though - having grown up in st kilda i can't help but have a soft spot for the sainters - me mum, me brother and me, we all followed the saints - me dad was the odd one out, with north melbourne being his team...

st kilda formed in 1873 and was originally a  victorian football association team... with widespread player dissatisfaction with the association, they shifted support to the newly formed victorian football league, becoming one of the foundation clubs of the vfl in 1897 (which became the afl in 1990)...

footy was the be-all end-all where sport was concerned for working class folk here in victoria in the 50s and 60s - it definitely took precedence at school - we (the whole school) were all packed off on footy days to watch the boys play - basketball, the 'girls' school sport, came a very poor second (just the teams went to these matches - no cheering fan club for us!) - and NO, it wasn't called netball then - i was a goalie and we played basketball (and it was still basketball up until i left school in 1970!!!) so the name-change didn't happen in victoria (centre of my universe, but i'm not sure about the rest of australia) until some time during the 70s when american national league basketball became popular in 'the colonies' after showcasing the talents of the harlem globetrotters  in exhibition games - i was lucky enough to see them a couple of times - they were amazing - totally mesmerising!!!

in 1911 footy made the move from amateur status to a 'professional sport' with the league setting a limit of 30 'bob' per week to be paid to some players (but few teams actually introduced this remuneration until years later) - this had risen (for some) to around 3 'quid' by the 50s... there was plenty of loyalty and a lot of action on the field - for many there was nothing more exciting than watching a melee (okay, all in brawl - of course that often 'provoked' more brawling amongst the more 'exuberant' spectators) - there was no such thing as the blood rule then (nor any oh&s)!!!!... it's definitely changed over the years - it's better for player health and conditions these days but there's way too much money involved... the culture is really fucked with many players seeing themselves (as do some fans) as demi-gods with entitlement to do as they like, to get away with atrocious - often criminal and often sexually abusive - behaviour... it's a sport for fuck sake - unfortunately really big money became involved and that changes everything...

i'm not a big footy fan now, but i will watch the saints playing when they're on telly - it's a sentimental thing - and because i didn't get to see the game on saturday i don't mind that it was a draw, because now  i'll be able to watch the grand final next weekend - and having won only one grand final in over a century of playing (that win over collingwood in 1966 by 1 point - that's barry breen about to kick the winning point - i was 11 and remember it vividly!) - what would be sweeter than another grand final victory over the much hated 'pies'??? GO SAINTERS!!!!

i've brought heaps of books and dvds home for the holidays - so i've got plenty of leisure activities to fill in my 'leisure time'... i made a start today - me and the gang (louie and allie on either side of me with shadow on the knee!!) watched 4 episodes of the 3rd season of true blood - now that's not a series you can just watch 1 episode of i've found - i'll probably finish that in the next couple of days - and i've got some interesting books to read and talking books to listen to - so my next couple of weeks are looking good - really relaxing...

oooh, i might even get some blogging done...