I don't usually read unbelievable fairy tales but there it was staring me in the face at the local op-shop: "The Perfect Wife" by a JP Delaney of unknown gender. "Should I buy it?" I asked Padma. "Don't bother to buy it", she said, "I wrote it!" And so I didn't.
But I picked up three other beauties: a critical study of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" edited by Paul B. Armstrong; David Marr's "Panic"; and a beautiful hardcover edition in almost mint condition of Bill Bryson's "The Road to Little Dribbling" which I had bought as a paperback only some months earlier on ebay. The hardcover edition won me over!
'There's cold in them thar hills', and this year is probably the coldest winter I've ever experienced in the hills around Nelligen. Even the people in the Bay are walking about all wrapped up in winter clothing, which isn't too good for the many outdoor coffee shops that've sprung up over the years. Whatever happened to all those BUSHELLS TEA-drinking Australians? And why does that small minority of coffee drinkers who used to be content with INTERNATIONAL ROAST suddenly demand this endless variety of coffees? Remember dinosaurs? Extinct! Remember video shops? Extinct! Remember internet cafés? Extinct! Coffee shops???
What won't go extinct if this weather continues for much longer are shops like BARBEQUES GALORE where I spent over a hundred dollars this morning on two "SmartBurn" devices and two firebricks to place them on. Is it my imagination or is the fire really burning so much better as I sit right beside it to get started on "Burma Sahib" which arrived today?
Please pass me the "Glühwein", perfect wife.
