A Bear Grylls Moment. This Post Oriel Life. A Post for the Perthies.
You know it’s bad at work when you’re contemplating Subway and chocolate for two consecutive meals.
There’s nothing like a short working week to bring you back to earth with a thud. The last two days have been a haze of simultaneously catching up, moving forward and troubleshooting. Somehow, I’ve managed to juggle the three big top style for the last two days and I’m in dire need of another long weekend. And wouldn’t you know it, the next one starts tomorrow for me! If you’re due in at work tomorrow, commiserations. On the up side, at least the traffic will be a dream. Pity that it’s only because people like me are off having a head start on the long weekend. Better not say anymore…..
Before I go any further, may I share with you my Bear Grylls moment? I think every single one of us has a Bear moment in us. You just need to be sufficiently motivated to want to take on nature with whatever you have at hand.
The story starts way back on Easter Monday. I’d just got home from the airport, feeling good about the fact that I’d be opening the door to a tidy house with empty bins, clean bench tops and fresh towels in the bathroom. It was all going so well. I padded around the house unpacking and getting ready for the next day at work. Lasagna was retrieved from the freezer and microwaved. Then I got to the kitchen sink, lifted up a bowl I’d left to drain there and screamed myself hoarse. Two lizards had decided to squat (literally) in the sink.
And so began the three day stand off between myself and those lizards. That first night saw me paralysed with fear every time I approached the sink. Dishes were passed hurriedly under the tap rather than scrubbed and filling pots with water was accompanied by my almost hyperventilating. Day two saw me start to get a little pissed off. My non touch technique of swearing and sloshing the sink with water did bugger all to dislodge those lizards. Day three saw me plot various ways of reclaiming my sink as I drove in to work.
The evening of day three saw me put my plan into action. I channelled Bear Grylls and placed a stick in the sink for the larger lizard to climb onto. Which he did while I had my dinner. I stealthily put on my dishwashing gloves, yelled my way cry (‘Out of my kitchen, you pesky lizard! Out! Out! Out!’) and took the stick to the back door. Mr Lizard would have to fall off the stick, wouldn’t he? Some very un RSPCA stick bashing ensued and he got back onto the stick and out into the garden.
I’m pretty pumped at how well that all went, actually. Sure I have a graze on my right hand but I can barely feel the pain because I humanely removed Mr Lizard from my sink with my (nearly) bare hands.
Oh, and I’m also floating on a cloud because the Carpenters are on Smooth FM right now. Easy listening radio. Call it cheesy if you must but it’s just the thing for Frazzled Nerves.
Something that’s good not only for Frazzled Nerves but also Empty Bellies is IndoMie Mi Goreng with hard boiled eggs and asparagus. Just the colours alone are enough to put a smile on even the most weary face and to take its owner’s mind back to the happy place that was a 4 day trip back home to mum and dad’s.
The mood was festive at Virgin’s Domestic Terminal. Everyone (even the poor people in suits) was excited to be heading off home or on holiday.
The lovely lady at the bar with a hibiscus in her hair garnished my glass of Chandon with a strawberry. Oh, that was almost poetry, that sentence.
I made a spectacular mess of my travelling outfit which required an emergency Country Road @ the airport dash.
You can’t go home to Perth without some Krispy Kreme carry on. You just can’t.
Duty called and this carton of Krispy Kreme original glazed made its way with me to gate 41.
Perth, you turned on some stunning weather for the Easter long weekend. I was so inspired by the beautiful autumn light that my DSLR came out of hibernation and took around 200 photos of Toddler SSG. I’m in the process of editing them for the scrapbook.
You know how time just flies by faster and faster as you get older? Returning to your home town manages to both exaggerate and minimise this.
On one hand, somethings never change. The fruit at the Station Street Market remains as delicious and cheap as it always was.
While on the other, institutions from your youth are suddenly no more. Oriel was a cafe in Perth that opened at a time in Perth’s history when cafe’s were just beginning to be hip and happening. It was a time of wearing Poppy King’s super matte lipsticks with Tencel jeans. But that disturbing visual is by the by. Oriel boasted an amazing chocolate cake on its menu that I now suspect may have had Betty Crocker somewhere in its family tree. Just up the road from the suburb’s Hungry Jacks and not too far form Northbridge – Oriel was perfectly situated for aiding in the recovery from a big night out.
And now all we have are memories. Of uni friends who’ve become friends for life. Of a life worlds away from where we all are now.
What’s your post Oriel life like?
Mine features a toddler who loves deconstructing sushi more than eating it.
Toddler SSG inspecting a trailer outside one of the campus buildings at UWA. It’s pretty surreal wallking through campus with your own child trotting along beside you.
He’s also a toddler whose curiosity about the world around him has him look at the everyday from a completely different perspective to me.
It’s also a life where Cherry Ripe is celebrating its ninetieth birthday this year. Cherry Ripe, you were merely in your sixties and possibly thinking about being a grey nomad at Esperence when Oriel first opened.
Sunday mornings are no longer about recovering from the night before but rather that precious time of day you have entirely to yourself to with as you wish.
For me, it’s about running along the river as the sun rises over the boats and the skyline that’s barely changed in 20 years. At least from where I live.
Oriel was a trailblazer way back in the day. These days though, there’s good coffee to be found all over Perth.
Locals down the road in the suburbs that are …. open for half of the Easter break.
Bakery cafes that may be pricy but don’t skimp on the fresh baked macaroons at least.
It’s not just the cafe scene that’s changed, the Subiaco that Oriel used to know is in the midst of some urban renewal. There are the beginnings of new eco friendly walkways connecting highe density multistorey residences along streets that were once home only to beautiful churches and stately free standing houses.
It’s happening all over Perth now and I’m one of the fuddy duddies who actually feels sad over the change.
The Virgin lounge in Perth. Sorry to be a whinger but am I the only one despairing at the state of the local editions of the glossy fash mags? Such meagre content and much of it syndicated. End of rant. So glad to have my favourite blogs to read instead.
It wasn’t long enough this time, Perth. Really hope to be back again soon.
