jumbling things together.

I'm back from Melbourne, and not many exciting stories to tell I'm afraid. I had grand plans of taking lots of pretty pictures, but it sort of didn't happen what with the horrible weather and the shooting and all. I had a great time though - I had a couple of fun catch-up dinners and coffees, did some knitting, and discovered the magic of foxtel (I heart old episodes of The Bill). Normally my trips are a bit frantic because I try to pack so much in, so having a really lazy one was great.

I also listened to a couple of French learning cds which were excellent - by Michel Thomas who seems a bit cheesy, but his method of introducing new things by linking them to things you already know really helped things stay put and just made so much sense. Much less arbitrary. I also liked his French way of saying 'yes, uh-huh' after everything.

I just found these awesome brooches made by Simon McEwan in Melbourne. Next trip I will definitely have to track them down, although I don't think it will be easy. For my memory, leads are here, here and here.

*warning: rant begins here*: I read an article confirming the 5 second rule the other day. Well kind of. They reckon it takes more like 30 seconds for enough bacteria to collect on food for it to be too dangerous to eat. Today, I brought a beautiful Perryman's chocolate doughnut for lunch. The chocolate on these doughnuts is not like normal chocolate doughnut topping - it's so rich and chocolaty and not sticky or gross at all. It's almost solid in fact. It's sublime. So when I accidentally dropped a 2 inch piece of this into my office bin, I wondered. It's only just on the top of the bin - it hasn't fallen the whole way in, I thought. My bin is lined with a bin bag, so it's not even touching the bin itself. There's nothing gross in there, and hardly ever is, so really, that piece of chocolate is only touching a clean piece of plastic. Maybe I should just eat it. No-one will see me... Then of course I remember that it took 6 months for the cleaners to vacuum my floor after the builders munched my ceiling, so it's probable that the bin liner is not being changed each day when the bin is emptied. Also, I am nothing if not overly terrified of germs. I did not eat it. In hindsight I should have. I just went to the health insurers to pay the exorbitant rate which they forgot to bill me for. Surprise surprise not only do they provide a poor product, their customer service is also a nightmare: their office closes at 4:45. I should've seen it coming, but really, what on earth is the point of that? What other business closes at this time? Presumably it is so that I will instead call their useless customer service line instead of leaving the comfort of my office to go out in the cold and waste time lining up in their shop. Because that would be my first option too. Yes I am so sure. Grrrr. It turns out that being young, healthy, clean-living and paranoid is not a good combination. I am getting ripped off and jerked around by these charlatans. I should've eaten that bit of chocolate topping, and at least if I'd gotten sick I would've gotten my money's worth. *end rant*