Possum Galore
A life ‘Down Under’!
Bargain Buys!
Today we had breakfast at Rocklea Markets. Ros picked us up at 7.30am and we headed over there. It was very busy but Ros managed to grab a table in the food court. The aromas coming from all the different food stalls were mouth-watering.
Will and I wandered round to see what was on the menu. There were German sausages, Vietnamese rolls and delicacies from Malaysia, Hungary, Turkey, Greece and Japan. Ros had a Malaysian roti pancake, I had a Vietnamese pork roll and Will had Japanese gyoza. Afterwards we wandered about the stalls.
There was such a wide variety of produce. It was the food equivalent of Ikea! You wanted everything!
Oh no! Will has found 'Happy Pants!'
We bought a few things then headed over to Ros’s. She had some furniture under her house which she thought we could use in our man-cave. We brought back a lovely armchair and a mirror and the promise of a book case in the coming weeks.Practically every day here the letter box is stuffed with promotional brochures for all the local stores and supermarkets listing all their special offers for the coming week. Reading one, earlier in the week, I had discovered that today there was a one day only sale at Big W and Pepsi Max was only $10 for 24 cans (that’s less than £6 and about 25p per can!) We just had to stock up!We went to the Big W store at Calamvale but they had sold out! We got a few more man-cave essentials and I got 2 t-shirts and 2 pairs of shorts for a total of $19 (£11). Bargain! (Like a numpty all my shorts are coming by ship with the telly while one of the cases I brought over with me was packed with scarves and gloves!)We tried the Big W at Upper Mount Gravatt and this time we were lucky. They had lots of Pepsi Max boxes left. We got 2 boxes which should keep me going for awhile. We picked up a few things for Dulcie and then headed to Bunnings. It was Saturday so there was a sausage sizzle at the main door again, this time raising funds for a local Scout troop.Will had the great idea that instead of having rugs in the man-cave we have artificial grass! We found the rolls of astro-turf and then spotted some off-cuts lying on the floor. Unrolling one a lucky cricket fell out and crawled away under the shelving. We needed 6 meters which was going to cost us $90 but because we took the two end of roll off-cuts we got 8 meters for $40! Another flippin’ bargain!The man-cave is almost ready to move into but the paint fumes are still a little strong. Tonight I filled a variety of possible spider hiding places with expanding foam and cut the astro-turf mats/rugs. Will hung some pictures.Grand Opening coming soon!
The Call, the Cave, Arcadia, the Coupon and the Card Game.
The night before last my phone rang twice in the middle of the night! The first time I heard it. It was an unknown number and it stopped ringing before I could answer it. My parents are ex-directory and their number always comes up as ‘unknown’. I was a little dazed and wondered if I should try and ring them back but somehow thought it might wake them. It was in fact only 4.00pm but this time difference takes some getting used to. It wasn't them as it turned out and it still remains a mystery as to who it was that rang. The other phone call I didn't hear but noticed it in the morning. My phone had kept the number. It was a Penrith (UK) number though I did not recognise it. Later in the day I rang the number and discovered it was Arnold Clark the garage where I bought my car in the UK. They were having a weekend event and wanted to invite me to it.
“Well, actually I am in Australia,” I said.
“So I take it you won’t be attending?” said the man from Arnold Clark.
“I won’t,” I said, “ and it might be a good idea to take me off your computer because I am not intending to be back in the UK for quite some time.”
“Ok,” said the man from Arnold Clark and I hung up.
Last night I was in a deep sleep and was well into a lovely dream when I was shaken awake by Will saying;
“Your phone! Your phone!”
It was 4.00am. I groggily answered it trying to sound as alert as possible.
“Hello, Mr Allen? This is Arnold Clark's here in Penrith, we are having.....”
“Yes, I know,” I interrupted, “ I spoke to someone about it yesterday and told them that I am actually in Australia now and I don’t know if you realise but it is the middle of the night here, and I did ask to have my name removed from your computer system.”
I could hear the fellow apologising profusely as I hung up. I could not get back to sleep after that for ages and then the magpies started to sing. The magpies at home make a tuneless rasping, chattering sound but the magpies here carol beautifully... but loudly. I did eventually drop off but it was 9.30 am when I eventually got up! In the UK that would have been early if I was not working but here in Australia that is very late indeed for me! (I can’t explain it...I don’t even understand myself what is happening to me!)
After breakfast it was straight to the man-cave for me for some more painting. Will helpfully read his book; he found the paint fumes distressing.
After lunch we headed to ’Paradise’ or Ikea as some people call it. It was huge! They are big in the UK but this one was a MEGA- Store. Like the houses here it was built on pillars and all the parking was underneath...in the shade. It could have been any Ikea store in the world. The layout is exactly the same.
Will joined the Ikea family, eventually, after some difficulty in getting his temporary Ikea Family Card to print out.
We wandered in wonderment the through the Aladdin’s ‘maze’ coveting everything and being only able to afford very little.
We needed accoutrements for our man-cave and picked up bedding, some clothes rails, and a throw. We had wanted to buy some rugs but had a great idea as we were wandering round of an excellent alternative.
We must have looked shifty at the self service checkout because the burly security guard wanted to check our receipt against the items in our trolley.
We were on our way back to the car when we spotted hot dogs for $1 each! You just can’t go past that can you?....Next time we will however, because I doubt there was very little actual meat in the hot dog and probably more recycled plastic bottles. The bread if fed to a duck would have sunk it!
Back at Acacia Ridge with our booty, Will settled down comfortably into the reclining chair.
“Ahem,” I said, “Are we going to the tip?”
He sighed and got up.
Spookily, a new recycling depot had opened this very day at Willawong, just down the road, so we did not have to go far. We loaded the car with unwanted man-cave clutter and headed into Fire Ant Territory!
We drove onto the weigh bridge.
“What you got buddy?” said the tip chap.
Will reeled off the items.
“Oh, you got metal, Buddy? You got a voucher.”
We did.
“Thanks Buddy!” It was beginning to grate!
Don’t ask me why but Dulcie has a pamphlet with tip coupons in it that saves us having to pay to dump rubbish. It’s just the way it is here in Upside Down Land.
We dumped the old metal filing cabinet in the new recycling depot and had been directed to take all the rest to Depot 2. We followed the signs to Depot 2 and drove into a huge hangar-like building. Have you ever seen a car mechanic’s workshop where they have that inspection pit that they can climb into to work on the underside of cars? Well, this place was like a giant one of those. I felt like a hobbit! Down the middle of this huge building was a concrete trench about 10 meters wide. You just reversed your car or trailer up to it and chucked your rubbish in.
The smell was awful! I couldn't get out quick enough and when we did I hung out of Roxy’s window like a crazy dog breathing in the beautiful fresh exhaust fumy air of Willawong.
Back home I finished off the last of the painting under the house as Will settled into the reclining chair.
He is out for a meal tonight with his new workmates...that’s why we have not gone up to Frogknot this weekend.
Dulcie and I had fish and chips for tea...with no salad or vegetables...I know!...sometimes we’re just crazy like that.
“Shall we have a game of Euchre?” She said after tea.
She normally is in bed soon after tea but I know she was thinking about me sat here on my own with Will out for the evening.
We had two games. I won the first, just and she massacred me in the second! It was great fun.
“Next week,” she said before she went to bed, “when Bill is at work, I’ll teach you how to play ‘Knock Poker!”
Yikes! Did I feel butterflies or was it my bowels loosening?
'Nickification!'...A Work In Progress.
Will has finished work for the week and we have not gone up to Frogknot because he is going to a staff meal tomorrow night. After a lazy morning we headed over to Bunnings for further supplies for the decoration of our man-cave down under the house. The walls are finished and we now want to paint the cement floor. We are on a budget so chose the cheapest white paint and went to the ‘paint shop’ in Bunnings to get it tinted for free! We wanted ‘Devil’s Cloak Red.’ The guy looked at us as if we were Gumby’s.‘No way, you can’t tint that!’ He showed us the shades we could tint it. We were not impressed and have a vision of how our man-cave should look. We spurned his tints as we would spurn a rabid dog!We sought solace in a pie from the Acacia Ridge Bakery...(just how do they get their pastry so thick, moist and flaky?)It got to 29 degrees in the afternoon. Dulcie put the fan on but the crease in my double chin was still sweating! I itch too from a few mosquito bites. Heaven knows when they sneaked up on me...Dulcie doesn’t get bitten, nor Will...I reckon these 'mossies' must like their blood mixed with Pepsi Max!We checked ebay for cheap paving paint and found some!...only it was all in the UK (!) and the cost of postage made it very expensive. I went for a lie down and was woken by Will who had found some cheap paving paint locally online. We hopped into Roxy and headed out.We were using the sat nav on Will’s phone...he’s called Dave...He’s very helpful, only halfway there the phone ran out of battery. We were trying to charge it via the cigarette lighter and an adapter but it was playing up. Roxy has sat nav so we switched that on...but Roxy’s sat nav is a bit behind the times and couldn’t find the road we wanted. We drove to Underwood, the general area the paint shop was in and parked up. Will restarted his phone with what little charge we had managed to put into it on the drive over. The sat nav came on and for a few brief seconds the way ahead was indicated which Will tried to memorise before the phone died again.‘Was it right or left at Logan Rd?’We couldn’t remember. To cut a long and pretty boring but stressful story short, by some fluke we eventually found the paint shop and got our Ferric Red paving paint. We learned to never go out without at least one fully charged phone!Back home I immediately set to work in the man-cave before I was called up for tea. It’s looking good...but I don’t want to put any pictures up yet because I want to wait to show the complete transformation.Tomorrow I will finish the floor and we are off to Ikea! (Yes! They have Ikea here too!...that’s one good thing!) We need some very cheap furniture so that I can finally stop living out of a suitcase!
