Is there anything more beautiful at this time of the year than the mid afternoon sun?  I feel so lucky every time I get the chance to be out for a walk when the sun is just so and the winter chill is just enough to keep you going at a brisk pace rather than immobilising you due to the cold.

Yesterday’s sun is an image I’m going to keep in my head today because I’m a bit rusty.  It all started with the Lipton teabags in the pantry.  I’ve noticed that one bag just doesn’t seem to be enough to make a cuppa that even remotely tastes oft tea.  Twitter told me that it wasn’t just me and that people quicker on the uptake than I had already made the switch to Twinings or Dilmah.  However, someone did say that she used two bags at a time from her work’s Lipton supply.  

The good news is that two Lipton teabags does a cuppa make.  The bad news is that it was just the taste that Lipton’s was skimping on.  My cups of tea yesterday delivered twice the caffeine kick and kept me up most of the night.  

Not the cricket.  Readers, I know 19 year old Ashton Agar should practically be canonised due to his services to the Australian team on his test debut but that’s about all I can about the Test with confidence.  Despite the best intentions of my friends and Mr SSG, I still don’t understand cricket.  You could hand me the scores of both teams and I’d still not be able to tell you who’s winning and who isn’t.  These Tests are meant to last five days, I think.  Except when they don’t?  Because one team is losing too badly?

With the rugby, AFL, soccer or basketball – a brief glance at the scores on the bottom of the screen is enough to tell me how the wind’s blowing but cricket…. meh.

Even ABC’s breakfast program (it walks all over Today, by the way), was peppered with references to Australia’s performance.  Embarrassingly, I couldn’t tell from the commentary whether we were winning or not.  I do know who the captain of the Australian team is but only because he was romantically linked to one of my favourite Australian reality stars and is currently married to a lady who spells her first name creatively.  I know what he looks like because when he got married, he posed with his wife next to a horse in the rustic surrounds of a five star eco resort.  Yes, the world of cricket is a need to know basis kind of sport for me but good luck Australia all the same.  May the best team win be it the underdog or the not so quietly confident one.

I have another global phenomenon read for you, if, like me, you’re not going to be following the rest of the test.  Have you read The Rosie Project?  I’ve just started reading it and I’ve sort of got a crush on Professor Don Tillman, a genetics professor based in Melbourne who has mannerisms that suggest Aspergers.  Don is desperately unlucky in love and decides that he need to find a wife to add to his highly ordered life.  He combines his academic background and attention to detail to construct a questionnaire by which to screen the potential partners he meets through friends and via the many commercial dating schemes you often see on the ads on pay television.

I heard about ‘The Rosie Project’ a few months ago but for various reasons, it didn’t sound like my kind of book.  I’m so glad I’ve given it a try.  Graeme Simsion has give Don the most endearing voice.  As irritating and inappropriate as his actions may sometimes be, the way Don recounts his own failings and the way those around him react is at times hilarious and at others very poignant.  

Something else I’ve given a try this week are…. those new potato wedges at Maccas.  The three of us were on a road trip (basically any time we get into the car to go anywhere together, so much planning is required) the other day and were unable to resist the pull of our local Maccas driveway.  Okay, the wedges are those small ones that look more like deep fried apple segments than potato wedges but they are pretty good for $1.50.  They have a light battered crust and are perfectly mushy inside.  Best of all? They come with both sour cream and sweet chilli sauce.

And there you have it, things to read or eat this weekend!  Have a good one.