NaBloPoMo Day 4: Dinosaurs, day off, delish

We hired a DVD on Saturday night. Yep, we still go to the store and hand over a few dollars to take home a movie to watch. We're techno dinosaurs. But I'm in no rush to swap hiring for downloading because the store we go to is a little independent business that has been on Swan Street in Richmond for at least 20 years. We don't hire movies very often, but when we do, I like the idea of supporting a local business. 

Plus, when we went on Saturday night, there was a big tabby cat in the store and you don't get to pat a cat when you download a movie, do you? The store owner said the cat wasn't fat, it was "big boned". 

Tomorrow is a pubic holiday in Melbourne for the Melbourne Cup horse race. Yay, a day off work! I'm not fussed about the race, although I did go in the $10 sweep at work just for the hell of it. My horse is called Sea Moon. I have no idea whether it has any prospect of doing well. 

We had my new favourite salad for dinner tonight. So fresh and tasty. It's just avocado, tomato, cucumber, feta and coriander chopped up with a dressing of lime juice and tiny bit of sugar. We had it with lamb fillet, which I managed to cook just right. Delish.   

NaBloPoMo Day 3: Walking increases happiness

I've been walking to work for nearly eight years and still feel fortunate to be able to do it. Swapping the morning commute on public transport for a walk along the river contributes to my happiness levels, so I was interested to read this story about urban design and happiness in The Guardian today.

A study by University of Zurich economists, Bruno Frey and Alois Stutzer, found people who walk to work are happier than those who face a one-hour daily commute.   

Their finding was seemingly straightforward: the longer the drive, the less happy people were. Before you dismiss this as numbingly obvious, keep in mind that they were testing not for drive satisfaction, but for life satisfaction. People were choosing commutes that made their entire lives worse. Stutzer and Frey found that a person with a one-hour commute has to earn 40% more money to be as satisfied with life as someone who walks to the office.

What's even more surprising is that for single people, "exchanging a long commute for a short walk had the same effect on happiness as finding new love". Wow!

I'm not sure how the results would be compare if they were studying public transport commuters, although another study mentioned in The Guardian story found peak-hour train travellers and car commuters in England both suffered higher stress levels than fighter pilots and riot police facing an angry mob. Jeez.

The article states that people who commuted by bike report feeling more connected to the world in a way that isn't possible when you're in a car, bus or train. I think I've mentioned here before that walking to work gives me a greater sense of connection to my world. A protective parent duck tried to nip me on the ankle a week or so ago when I accidentally walked too close to its three ducklings. That doesn't happen when I travel by tram. 

The only downside of walking to work is that I read much less than when I travelled to work on the train.  I often pass a man walking across Morell Bridge on his way to work while absorbed in his book  - on Friday he only had a few pages left of a very weighty volume. It makes me smile that he can't bear to put his book down, but I'm not keen to emulate him. I'd walk into the path of a bike. 

NaBloPoMo Day 2: Down Canadian Bay way

The city from Canadian Bay

As predicted. today was warm and sunny. Luke and I drove down to Mornington, stopping at Canadian Bay on the way to poke about in the rock pools along the beach.  I like the name Canadian Bay, probably because of the rhyme. Canay-dian Bay. (I don't know why it's called Canadian Bay and I'm too keen to go to bed to google it now). 

We didn't find much in the rock pools - mostly snails, but I did find a dead...one of these. I forget what it is.

 Is it an urchin of some kind? It's got spiky bits on it, 

mostly on the bottom half

And then Luke spotted one in the shallows nestled among the seaweed. 

I saw a ghost sign in Mordialloc while we were stopped at the traffic lights, but only had a second to take a photo before the light turned green. 

I saw some other, better signs as we passed by in the car today... I've taken dozens of photos of old signs over the past few months, but I've finally decided to start a dedicated blog for them. I think I'll still post the really good ones here though. 

I bought a drink today and had the exact change in my wallet (not counting the French Polynesian coin I got in change somewhere). I like when that happens.

NaBloPoMo day 1: The return of glee

Hello, world. It's been a while. Glee has been a little thin on the ground for the last few months and I've been too glum/tired/lazy to force myself to keep blogging through it like I've done in previous gloomy periods.

But I've been feeling more myself the last few weeks (yay for medication) and the urge to blog has slowly returned. Since it's NaBloPoMo time again (already) I thought I'd use it to get back myself back in blogging habit. Yes, I'll be back tomorrow. And the day after. Etc.

Finding things to write about isn't likely to be a challenge because I intend write about stuff that happened while I wasn't blogging - including my trip to England and Paris in August. But I'll start with more mundane stuff. 

I had my performance review at work today and it went well - the partners are happy with my efforts. Not that I expected it to go badly, but for most of the past six months I have felt unmotivated, unenthusiastic and - for a few weeks after my holiday - almost inert. I was sure my funk must have been obvious, but either it wasn't or I met expectations regardless. Whichever. Thankfully, since I've been chirpier, I've been much less inert at work. 

Today is Friday and it was sunny after a yet another week of chilly, grey days. Melbourne is having an unusually chilly, grey spring so today's sunshine was very welcome. Tomorrow is going to be warm too. 

I gave blood today. They had gluten-free mud cake in the cafe. 

Present and the call of duty

My camera arrived! I wasn't expecting it for at least another week, but it came today. When I saw the parcel I thought, "Oh, my boss has been shopping online again." But no! T'was mine!  Just in time for my birthday. I'm too tired from the gym to play with it tonight though. 

I've been called up for jury service. I know it's strange, but I'm a little bit excited about it. I've known several people who have been called up - and served - two or three times, but I've never once got the letter. Until now. At last! 

I'm not entirely sure why I want to do it. I like to think it's because I'm the civic-minded sort, but if I'm honest, it's probably partly for a break from work. I bet I won't find that so appealing if I end up on an interminable white-collar crime case - or worse, something emotionally gruelling.  But someone has to do it, right?  

I've had to defer it for now because I'll be overseas for part of the relevant period, and ultimately I suspect the fact I work in a law firm might either disqualify me upfront or render me undesirable. Oh well. 

Sneakers, little 'phut', train spotting, resistentialism

Well, that's my bonus spent.  I bought new sneakers today - a pair of black and white Saucony Shadows. (Men's sneakers again. I always prefer the men's colours, although in this case I needed something fairly neutral). When I decided to buy them, the sales dude (dreads, piecings) complimented me on my choice and said they were "kinda like a New Balance took a valium and gave you a warm hug". Hehe. 

A few weeks ago I bought a hand-held citrus press to extract lime juice for my refreshing gin and tonics with lime and mint. It's very satisfying squeezing as much juice out of half a lime as you can. It creates a vacuum so that the remains of the lime get stuck to the convex part of the press It makes a pleasing little 'phut' noise when it releases.  

I know I've posted a photo of this Foy's ghostsign on Swanston Street before, but I can't remember if I noticed the other sign that runs vertically down the side. 

 Foy's was a department store around the corner on Bourke Street 

Luke and I saw a ghost sign while we were on the train just about to reach Flinders Street station. STOP THE TRAIN! I NEED TO TAKE A PHOTO! I have to go into the city again tomorrow so I will catch the train and be prepared. Hopefully I will be on on of those trains that stops between Richmond and Flinders Street stations for no apparent reason. (I'm fairly sure I'm the only person who's ever said that.) Failing that, I might be able to get a decent shot from the other side of the train lines. 

Here's a list of 18 amusing old words that should never have disappeared from our language (except spermologer). I hadn't heard of any of these before, except for  groak. Wonder-wench!  Lunting! Resistentialism is my favourite. I'm sure my iPod dislikes  me because when I'm feeling down it always shuffles up the most depressing songs I own. That's resistentialism. (OK, maybe it thinks it's being sympathetic and helping me to  wallow in self pity...)

No rain, sign find, new camera

There are only three days this month where there is less than a low chance of rain, and one of them is my birthday (the 9th). 

We've had a few sunny days this week. It's nice arriving at work to a desk bathed in morning sunshine. It'd be nicer to not be at work, but since that's not an option...

I went for a walk one lunchtime this week and found a ghostsign on the side of one of those men's establishments on King Street.

I bought my new camera a few nights ago, but it will take 2-3 weeks to be delivered. That'll be an exciting day in the office. It's a Canon Powershot (like my previous two) model SX50. It's still a compact camera, but it's one of those ones that looks like a mini DSLR. It has quite a few features that make it a step up from my current camera, but it should still fit in my bag so I can take it everywhere.  It will no doubt lead to more regular posting on my photoblog.