I’m doing something a little out of the ordinary. I’m writing a Saturday night blog! Please forgive me in advance for grammatical errors and bad editing as Linda is talking to me in a funny voice accusing me in her own peculiarly humorous way of accusing her of being average! I had merely stated that I had spent most of the day in an average, everyday way and she has interpreted, tongue in cheek of course (I hope) that, as I had spent most of the day in her company, she too was average and was giving me a bit back in return. She is now in bed watching television so my concentration may not be as precise when writing as it usually is.
It has been a magnificent day in Canberra. One couldn’t have wished for better weather than that which gripped the capital this fine Saturday. I needed a good relaxing day.
Work this week for some reason had left me feeling particularly tired and in that sort of shape the languid pace of the day and the repetition of action to which we are prisoner seems to intensify and the countdown to the end of the week becomes a slow march and morale and temperament are sorely tested.
I spent the morning helping out around the house, vacuuming, hanging out clothes and it almost made me feel worthwhile and that I was contributing to the everyday running and upkeep of our little company.
After lunch we made the trek over to the other side of town to the Belconnen shopping mall, a rare distraction as we very rarely venture out of our own patch in South Canberra so a visit to the “dark side” was a bit of a treat.
The Belconnen mall is a very large shopping precinct for those who don’t know Canberra well and was very busy this Saturday afternoon. The northern suburbs of Canberra are the “go to” areas of the city nowadays and the trade was certainly brisk in the thoroughfares and shops of the centre.
There were all types of representatives of humanity crowding the halls, fat, thin, black, white, Asian, Anglo and a few others who defy description. I remarked to Linda that if we had been in our local shopping mall in Tuggeranong at the same time on a Saturday afternoon you would be able to fire a shotgun in there and barely hit anyone such is the difference in bustle between the two town centres.
Tuggeranong has been in decline for a few years now with the dynamic of the city swinging from the south and the areas formerly known as “nappy valley”, to the north in Belconnen and especially the relatively new suburbs of Gunghalin town. The population of the Tuggeranong Valley is actually in freefall and it is probably no wonder that there was a swing against the incumbent, long serving government in the south in the late local election. One would think that if the ongoing negotiations to form a new government in Canberra result in the return of the previous Chief Minister then some initiatives to arrest the electoral slide of the party in this area will need to be forthcoming.
I must say I wouldn’t live anywhere else in Canberra. Driving into or out of the valley over the Wanniassa hills provide stunning scenery either of the Brindabella mountains as one is heading south or of the Woden Valley as you head north. I’m very comfortable here and I like it a lot.
As Linda and I perused the environs of Belconnen mall I made the mistake of venturing into QBD books, something which I was loathe to do as there are a number of very good tomes on the shelves at the moment and I am trying to save money and forgo my thirst for knowledge which my vociferous appetite for books provides succour for.
Of course I couldn’t help myself. I have been looking for a novel to read, something a bit throwaway rather than some of the more literary efforts that I already have in my library and settled for two such titles of the former quality.
One is about Roman Briton and the travails of the legions in the rebellion of Boadicea. The other is set in medieval times, around 1326 and I am looking forward to the many imaginative renderings of knightly combat which I’m sure will be found it it’s pages..
As I was walking about the shop with my two presumptive purchases in hand I also came across “The Lost Diggers”, a book about the lithographs of World War One Australian soldiers found in the attic of a French farmhouse which have provided a treasure trove of material for historians of the Great War.
My great uncle was in a battalion which was at one time bivouacked in the village where the photos were taken and as the Australian War Memorial is hoping to identify the images of several of the unknown Diggers pictured, I live in hope that he is in fact one of the “Lost Diggers” and that I can identify him from the very official portrait that I have of him which is hanging in loving memory of him in my bedroom. He was killed in France in April 1917 aged twenty years.
I couldn’t walk by this title and thus forked out quite a bit of money to purchase all three books.
After coffee and donuts we spent more money in the “two dollar” shop, much more than we should have given the low quality products which are hawked in this premises but we were on a day out and we were pleased with what we got.
Arriving home in late afternoon we prepared for dinner with a close family friend and my parents and the evening turned out to be very entertaining and at times, lively.
So now, late Saturday evening has arrived and I have to come to the stark realization that the weekend is half over. Linda is now dozing with the television still going so I will finish off my rambling and save the rest of my thoughts for another day.
I hope everyone’s weekend is going well and that your Sunday will be as good as my Saturday was today. Take care.
It has been a magnificent day in Canberra. One couldn’t have wished for better weather than that which gripped the capital this fine Saturday. I needed a good relaxing day.
Work this week for some reason had left me feeling particularly tired and in that sort of shape the languid pace of the day and the repetition of action to which we are prisoner seems to intensify and the countdown to the end of the week becomes a slow march and morale and temperament are sorely tested.
I spent the morning helping out around the house, vacuuming, hanging out clothes and it almost made me feel worthwhile and that I was contributing to the everyday running and upkeep of our little company.
After lunch we made the trek over to the other side of town to the Belconnen shopping mall, a rare distraction as we very rarely venture out of our own patch in South Canberra so a visit to the “dark side” was a bit of a treat.
The Belconnen mall is a very large shopping precinct for those who don’t know Canberra well and was very busy this Saturday afternoon. The northern suburbs of Canberra are the “go to” areas of the city nowadays and the trade was certainly brisk in the thoroughfares and shops of the centre.
There were all types of representatives of humanity crowding the halls, fat, thin, black, white, Asian, Anglo and a few others who defy description. I remarked to Linda that if we had been in our local shopping mall in Tuggeranong at the same time on a Saturday afternoon you would be able to fire a shotgun in there and barely hit anyone such is the difference in bustle between the two town centres.
Tuggeranong has been in decline for a few years now with the dynamic of the city swinging from the south and the areas formerly known as “nappy valley”, to the north in Belconnen and especially the relatively new suburbs of Gunghalin town. The population of the Tuggeranong Valley is actually in freefall and it is probably no wonder that there was a swing against the incumbent, long serving government in the south in the late local election. One would think that if the ongoing negotiations to form a new government in Canberra result in the return of the previous Chief Minister then some initiatives to arrest the electoral slide of the party in this area will need to be forthcoming.
I must say I wouldn’t live anywhere else in Canberra. Driving into or out of the valley over the Wanniassa hills provide stunning scenery either of the Brindabella mountains as one is heading south or of the Woden Valley as you head north. I’m very comfortable here and I like it a lot.
As Linda and I perused the environs of Belconnen mall I made the mistake of venturing into QBD books, something which I was loathe to do as there are a number of very good tomes on the shelves at the moment and I am trying to save money and forgo my thirst for knowledge which my vociferous appetite for books provides succour for.
Of course I couldn’t help myself. I have been looking for a novel to read, something a bit throwaway rather than some of the more literary efforts that I already have in my library and settled for two such titles of the former quality.
One is about Roman Briton and the travails of the legions in the rebellion of Boadicea. The other is set in medieval times, around 1326 and I am looking forward to the many imaginative renderings of knightly combat which I’m sure will be found it it’s pages..
As I was walking about the shop with my two presumptive purchases in hand I also came across “The Lost Diggers”, a book about the lithographs of World War One Australian soldiers found in the attic of a French farmhouse which have provided a treasure trove of material for historians of the Great War.
My great uncle was in a battalion which was at one time bivouacked in the village where the photos were taken and as the Australian War Memorial is hoping to identify the images of several of the unknown Diggers pictured, I live in hope that he is in fact one of the “Lost Diggers” and that I can identify him from the very official portrait that I have of him which is hanging in loving memory of him in my bedroom. He was killed in France in April 1917 aged twenty years.
I couldn’t walk by this title and thus forked out quite a bit of money to purchase all three books.
After coffee and donuts we spent more money in the “two dollar” shop, much more than we should have given the low quality products which are hawked in this premises but we were on a day out and we were pleased with what we got.
Arriving home in late afternoon we prepared for dinner with a close family friend and my parents and the evening turned out to be very entertaining and at times, lively.
So now, late Saturday evening has arrived and I have to come to the stark realization that the weekend is half over. Linda is now dozing with the television still going so I will finish off my rambling and save the rest of my thoughts for another day.
I hope everyone’s weekend is going well and that your Sunday will be as good as my Saturday was today. Take care.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 