On Friday, in the midst of the worst of the storm, we had our Book Club meeting. Unlike Cassy's far more civilised model, I've mentioned on these pages before that ours tends to favour a model of consuming large quantities of beer, lusty talk and a certain cavalier attitude to decorum and politeness. That said, we weren't prepared to make our way to a new venue up near Guandu this time as most of it was outdoors. We decided on the rather more couth Wendel's Backerei right here in our own backyard, and although the bill for the high-glass, frothy Erdingers was gob-smackingly stratospheric, we all managed to have a great night. In fact I picked up my current book just in the nick of time as I had exhausted my most recent stockpile.
Football again dominated my weekend and I have to admit it's hard being a dedicated fan of two codes. When we eventually get back home for good, I'll probably never watch an entire AFL game again, but at the moment it certainly has me in its thrall. Largely I suspect because of the rampant and energetic support it receives from Wol and Shaun, who not only love the game but really "know" it as well. I think they still delight in teaching me some of the finer nuances of the play as it pans out.
Cass was beavering away at her Onenote document for school at points during the weekend and also started to pack her bag on Saturday. She's off again to the Fulong camp ground for her annual camping adventure with the entire grade 8. Not a massive fan of the 5 day extravaganza, she none-the-less stoically prepares for yet another working week of "fun", with the knowledge that it only comes round once a year. I'm going to scooter down to the 7/11 before we leave for school tomorrow to buy a couple of salads and she has some tubs of yoghurt ready as well. This carrying of some food bare necessities follows her witnessing a rather healthy looking rat scurrying across the camp ground's kitchen floor a few years back: since then, and despite the fact that no-one has been struck down with illness, her policy is not to eat anything unsealed coming out of the kitchen. Fair enough.
We'll make for a comical look tomorrow morning as we'll utilise the scooter to get her suitcase to school. I tend to perch on top of the bag as it sits in the section where my legs normally go and Cass assumes her usual position at the rear. It's quite an amazing vehicle really: all 125cc of raw power (!) accommodating we two as well as a mid-sized suitcase....I can't really see the Harley doing that!
We managed to interrupt our respective viewing and working for a little while on Saturday evening when we strolled down to SOGO's top floor bank of restaurants. "Very Thai" served up some fresher than fresh fare of exquisite taste and quality and our steamed fish in particular was melt-in-your-mouth. Cassy sipped on a Mojito and I lamented the fact that they have removed the VBs from their menu: this was the only place in town I knew that stocked them!!
Photos: Virgy relaxing (yes Thurza, I was photo challenged this week!), don't park here, our rather 50s looking electricity meters, Cass strolling in misting rain and an old man cradling an encased golden buddha as seen through our fake bamboo verandah railing!
I've been quite voraciously reading lately and have finished the superb biography, "The Devil and Sonny Liston" and am now reading "People Who Eat Darkness". Cass is spending most of her reading time doing schoolwork at the moment (boo!), but is still finding some gold in "Sin and Syntax".
