There goes January!

Whoosh! How can it be the 30th already? And I STILL haven't managed to get to the local pool. At least now I can blame being at work and having the weekends full of visits to the Old Confused One, and entertaining various persons for barbies before Brave Sir Robin nicks off again on the 10th of February. Gawd.
While I have been slaving over a hot debtors ledger and enjoying the moist delights of Town Hall station on a sultry and airless afternoon, Robin has been trying to: finish off a Nepal GHT film, write an article for Wanderlust magazine, un-hack the website, sort out everything for the World Expeditions trek, and organise some shelves in the bedroom for the old TV so I can sit in bed in winter and watch Richard Gere and Hugh Grant movies with the cat. I told him the cat prefers fish documentaries but he didn't seem to care. Not sure if I already told you this, but here is the link to the Bhutan movies that Robin made and stuck on YouTube. Hope you enjoy - there's 4 in the series.
We have been lucky enough in Sydney not to be flooded or set on fire, but it has been very hot. It is the sort of weather where you just want to sprawl about, legs akimbo. As you can see:

Don't you love the discarded shoes! At least they match the lino.






I was heartened to read online this morning about a very tacky Royal Wedding souvenir - condoms. Here's the link - do enjoy.
And it was nice to see Peter back in the workplace after his holiday in India - shame about the Kalimpong Koff and Bagdogra Belly - a dynamic combination and sure to baffle the doctors for sometime.
OK the buzzer has gone and it is time for me to rinse the lovely Violet Vision dye from my hair and prepare for the next round of barbecue frenzy.
Later...

Oh no the holiday is OVER!!!

Yes unfortunately today is my last weekday of bumming around. Not that I have been sitting on the lounge eating cream buns all day anyway! There' s been the excitement of exterior house painting (which made me cross), doctors visits (which made me cross), dealing with a whole bunch of stuff about mum (which made me bemused), and cooking great new cakes (which made me fat). And of course lots of laundry.
The cakes I have been making have come from a great blog I discovered -  The Caked Crusader. I can highly recommend everything I've made so far - check it out if you like cakes.  
Here in Sydney we have escaped the rain and fires that seem to be everywhere else in Australia, but the weather has been oppressively hot and sticky. Not to mention mozzie city every evening. But at least we have a house to get bitten in!
I've been planting some lemongrass by the back door hoping that might have a positive effect - nothing to report yet but it's early days.
My sister Di and I are trying to sort out mum's finances as it looks like she will need to get into a hostel care type place. She is forgetting to eat and take her tablets, and she has this obsession with turning off and unplugging the TV and the electric chair (if only it was) and then wondering why nothing bloody works! All because some silly old goat told her it saves 'thousands' on an electricity bill. Yeah but what about when she falls over at the powerpoint and nobody discovers her for days?  And although we got her a motorised (electric!!) chair with only 2 buttons she cannot work it out. It is truly painful to watch - but also funny in an odd way. I do feel bad, but as a friend said there's only say 47% of mum there anyway. And that's on a good day.
Only a few weeks now till Robin heads off to Nepal and the cat and I will have the house to ourselves. Who am I going to shout at then?
Today Robin got his orthotics from a  wonderful place locally which also made my orthotics many years ago. They make them a completely different way to regular places and I've never had any trouble with them. I can recommend them if you are in the market for some extra foot support.
Got a few mates coming for a lunchtime barbecue tomorrow - always a good excuse for Robin to eat some steak that I won't let him cook in the house.

Thought you might like to see my wonderful frangipani tree with Lakshmi the Wonder Cat lazing about hoping for some lunch!

I didn't forget you

but I have been rather busy!
NYEX (as they called it here) passed off uneventfully and with a substantial amount of alcohol and barbecued meat devoured. Very good.
The next day was extremely hot, especially for anyone who may have had a glass or 2 too many!
Watched the first day of the Sydney test match at home then I graced the workplace with my presence. It has been good to get back into the working thing again. I've got a few days off this week and next so I am trying to get all medical and legal appointments done - but of course it isn't quite working out that way.
We also wanted to paint the new bits of the back of the house that were rebuilt after our fire in June 2009 - the weather forecast has been for rain every day and you guessed it - the sun is out and blazing. So tomorrow we bite the bullet and head for Bunnings paint department...Fun.
Meanwhile, Queensland is sinking under the huge floods and parts of northern NSW are too. As far as we know Sydney won't be affected, but our neighbour was supposed to be going to Brisbane for her niece's wedding this weekend - I seriously doubt that will be happening.
Oh I MUST tell you! We were desperate to test the 3D-ness of our new tv, so hired the 3D Blu Ray version of PIRANHA. You really must see it if you get the chance - there is SO much tacky gratuitous nudity, gore and BAD music. A cult classic in the making. I haven't laughed so hard for ages.

And here is a pic from Kathmandu Durbar Square - a World heritage site that is well worth a visit. The woodcarving is superb. Bye for now

Happy New Year

and good riddance to 2010 - way too many good friends and relatives left us this year.
Meanwhile, Xmas was a success - the turkeys were very delicious and everyone behaved nicely, except for after lunch when I missed out on a spot to sleep... oh well.
Australia did very poorly in the cricket, which was a shame as I was looking forward to blobbing out on the sofa and watching it all. Especially as we went to the Boxing day sales and bought an enormous LG HD, 3D internet etc everything TV and a Blu-ray PVR thing. I only wanted a new set top box! Now I have more gadgets than Joe The Gadget Man (I bet nobody remembers him), including a whizz bang remote control that can do everything except mow the lawn.
Good thing we don't live in Kathmandu with a TV like that as they now have 11 hours a day of power cut - what a total crock - and it is anticipated to climb to 20 hours a day in the next few months. Yuck.
I started back at work this week and we all survived OK. It will be good to get some $$$ rolling in again instead of it flooding out all the time.
Mum was moved to a rehab place this morning (without the hospital notifying us) so all the progress she made with her little brain has gone out the window as she is completely bamboozled about where she is and why she is there. The hospital were meant to call my sister so that one of us could go there with her. Consequently, my darling sister is at the hospital as I type, telling them exactly what she thinks of them. Happy New Year.
Sydney town is HOT and I am so glad I wasn't one of those poor silly sods heading to the waterfront with an esky of lukewarm Fanta at about 8 this morning, just to get a 'good spot' for the fireworks.
We are heading across the road for a barbie this evening and a few sparklers from the Indian party warehouse. Let's hope the sparklers are better than the Indian space rockets that keep blowing up.

And so without further ado, it's Happy New Year from us. Hope to see you in 2011 when there is much more excitement and logistic stuff happening. Have a great NYE and please stagger safely back home!

Pre Christmas mayhem

And my 100th post! Time for a drink...
Well my goodness we have been flat out. After the PP got admitted to hospital last Friday we have been trying to sort out options for the future, meeting with her doctor and trying to deal with everything that has been thrown up in our faces. It's almost as though she has given up now and it is a very sad thing to watch. I hope it never happens to me. Or anyone else I know. Add to that her severe osteoporosis (which results in her fracturing bones with a sneezing fit - news to us as well) and you can see it may not be a fun-filled Christmas in the Boustead-Smythe residence this year. Oh well, we must try our best. And keep eating dairy. More cheese please. But I did manage, after going to about twenty shops, to find Christmas crackers (or bonbons if you are that way inclined) which almost sent me bloody crackers!
On a more jolly note, I visited the old workplace the other day and have been invited back for some time, starting next week! Excellent, and the bank manager WILL be pleased! It was great to catch up with everyone there too. And Peter, enjoy the trip to Bagdogra!
Today we're off for lunch with Geoff of the Jungle in town. Sydney is manic right now and I shall try to avoid the shops. Tomorrow I have to take PP to a plastic surgeon in Westfield Parramatta (ghastly thing to do on xmas eve) after which I will definitely require rum. In large quantities. Meanwhile Brave Sir Robin will be going to the butchers and the bakers to collect the last of the Christmas fare for me to cook.
Looking forward to the Boxing Day cricket from Melbourne, and of course the sales - time for new undies. Speaking of which, I took all the PP's dirty clothes out of the basket at her place yesterday and brought them home to wash. While I was out disposing of her old recliner at the Salvo's Robin kindly pegged out mum's clothes - 11 pairs of Cottontails (if you don't know what they are google it) and 5 bone coloured shirts. He has made me promise that if I ever consider underwear like that I must shoot myself, and if he isn't at home I can just leave a note saying "tempted by Cottontails. Time to end it." Not a problem. Oh no, my toothbrush just fell into the kitty litter which I had moved while I was mopping the floor. DISASTER!
So I leave you now to hang out laundry and get ready for lunch. And sterilise my toothbrush...
Here is a video of one of my favourite intersections in Kathmandu - Tri Devi Marg and Kantipath, right outside the former Royal Palace which you can see in the top right corner (now the infamous urine filled Ministry of Foreign Affairs). I do hope you enjoy it.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig

And what a FUN few days it has been - not. First of all the hoo-haa at the stupid airport in Katty where there were about 5 international flights leaving at the same time, so the teensy weensy departures 'cell' was crammed - it wasn't even standing room only. Total mayhem but we finally got onto the full flight with a large bunch of Buddhist pilgrims. The flight crew announced that because they had 131 special meals to serve, the meal service may take longer than usual. And it did.
We were late getting to Bangers but no problem as we had plenty of time to catch our midnight connection - which was also chockers.  Thank goodness for sleeping tablets or we would have spent a miserable night sitting up. Shame Robin managed to leave his neck cushion on the previous flight.
We got home in pretty good time and after a quick shower and cuppa we were at Gus the butchers collecting some long awaited chicken bacon and shallot sausages and other meaty items. A few groceries, some wine and fruit and veg and we were set to go home and veg out on the lounge. And play with Lakshmi the wondercat who was exceptionally pleased to see us.
A quick phone call confirmed that the perturbed parent is still confused about many things. Poor darling. We visited her on Friday and ended up taking her into hospital for unexplained back pain which seems to have been the result of an old fracture that none of us knew about. But her mind is now doing some very odd things so we are just waiting to see where we go from here. She does have a very nice geriatrician, Dr Nagaratnam, who we had a chat with this morning.

 

Sterling Club Santa

Most people we know are in full swing for Xmas but we are still kinda making it up as we go along. The turkeys are ordered, my sister made the cake and I have a pudding and some mince pies to collect. So it's just a matter of veges, brandy butter and alcohol I guess.
Now that the cricket has finished I have no excuse for sitting in front of the TV, so I will just have to find other things to do. I'm off to the former workplace on Tuesday to seal the deal for more work next year, and I also have to take PP to a surgeon on Xmas Eve (wonderful) to get a skin cancer thing cut out. Ouch.
Enjoy the week before Xmas and don't drink and drive!

I just saw Santa!

That's right - here in the Hindu land of Nepal we have Santa too. The Sterling Club at the British Embassy had their Xmas lunch buffet party today so off we went with our mixed bunch of friends for turkey buffet, strawberries, bread and butter pudding and mince pies. YUM. And here is Santa in his lovely tinsel bedecked rickshaw being driven by what I think is a gingerbread man - Robin reckons it's a reindeer but I can't see any antlers. Anyway, all us 'grownups' were chasing the rickshaw yelling out hi to Santa. Because we are all dags.

And here are a couple of kiddies in Santa's Grotto getting a present from the big fella. Boy it was crowded in there! I suppose you're wondering what else we are up to. Well, most of our friends have either left town or are on their way out in the next few days. The weather is getting much colder now and everyone can feel it's time to go. Unless of course you are going to Europe where it is a whole lot colder - but at least they have gas, electricity and hot water!
Flying back home on Tuesday so you may not hear from me till we make it back to Sydney - when I hope to be able to upload some video clips on a more reliable internet connection.
See ya later!