The good, the bad, and the… also good

One of the nicer side-effects of the earthquakes is that because we lost almost all of the city’s arthouse cinemas, the mainstream cinemas have started showing a broader range of films to cater to some of that market.  As a result, the local Hoyts is celebrating Diwali with a selection of Bollywood films, one of which we went to see last night: Son of Sardaar.  A totally mad mix of action movie, slapstick comedy and musical that could only be produced in Bollywood, it was great fun – we both giggled our way through it (even if we were often laughing at different times to the rest of the (mostly Indian) audience).  Of course, now I’ve got the theme tune stuck in my head…


On the less pleasant side of the earthquake balance is the fact that it’s our suburb’s turn to have its sewers checked for earthquake damage (the council are slowly working their way round the entire city – a four-year job, apparently).  We got a letter the other day warning us that they’d be working at night (because apparently not disrupting traffic is more important than not disrupting our sleep) and that there might be some disturbance from noise and lights.  What they didn’t warn us about though was the smell – they must have been forcing air or water through the pipes to test them or something, because there was much bubbling and blowback from the toilet (luckily it seemed to only be water splashing out, but we put the lid down anyway), and a wonderful reek of sewer gasses through the house.  Plus I reckon they must have had the truck parked right outside our house, and it was just noisy enough that whenever I’d start to drift off I’d be woken up again.
So not a pleasant awakening this morning, to not enough sleep and a lingering horrible smell.  Luckily it’s a nice day today, so MrPloppy will be able to open all the windows and air it out a bit, so hopefully by the time I get home tonight the smell will be gone.
I really hope though that that’s our bit of pipe done and they’ll move further along the street tonight, because the notice said they’ll be working on the pipes until the 30th, and I really couldn’t cope with that every night!


In other good news, I got my marks back from my assignment, and I got an A+!  It’s only a provisional grade at the moment, because postgrad work has to be checkmarked by an external assessor, but I’m still grinning like a mad thing.
Now all I have to do is keep that up for the next three years, and I’ll have a high enough GPA to get a chance of a scholarship…


And talking of good things, I got a parcel yesterday from Lytteltonwitch.  She definitely knows me well:
.
And the perfect size for carting books, too.  Thanks, LW!


And even more good news, the electrician has almost (after many stop start visits when he had to drop our work to go and attend to earthquake rebuilds (which we’d said we were ok with him giving priority to – people who’ve been living in broken houses for two years definitely have a greater need than us!)) finished our re-wiring.  Thanks to Stepfather’s generosity in his will, we’ve not only got a much safer house, we’ve now got power points everywhere we need them (instead of trying to run everything off one power point per room plus a spaghetti of extension cords and multi-boards), and better lights, and can even do exciting things like run the washing machine and the dryer at the same time without blowing all the fuses (trust me, that’s exciting when you’ve been living with 1950s wiring for 10 years!).  He’s just got to finish disconnecting the old underfloor heating system (which we’ve never used, because it cost a fortune to run and generated more smell than heat anyway) and installing a nightstore heater in the hallway, and we’ll be done.
Next project: carpet.


In Bookcrossing news, only a few days until the Australian UnCon.  Which means I’ll be getting up ridiculously early on Friday morning (my flight’s at 6.30 am, so that means check-in at 4.30, which means…. arrgh, I don’t want to think about what that means about when I have to set the alarm for!) to fly to Sydney and then catch a train to Canberra.  Canberra’s not supposed to be a particularly exciting city to visit, but when it’s full of bookcrossers it’s sure to be a fantastically fun weekend.
And a few recent (and not so recent – I must remember to post more often) catches:
Mr. Corbett’s Ghost  by Leon Garfield was an early Halloween release (ok, so I meant to release it on Halloween but got the date wrong) that must have been caught almost immediately, because I released it in Deans Bush about an hour before they close the gates for the night, and it was caught that same night.
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett is a second-generation catch on a book I released in Washington DC.  After being caught and taken to Seattle, it languished in a lost and found box for months before being rescued and enjoyed.
The Tower on the Rift by Ian Irvine – a catch from Ireland, from our visit to Clonmacnoise.
Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Scheinmann and Consequences by Anna Dillon – more Ireland catches, this time from the hostel in Cashel.
Working Wonders by Jenny Colgan – and another one from the hostel in Killarney.
Beside Myself by Russell Haley – nearly two years between release and catch, a couple of blocks apart from each other.
Man and Boy by Tony Parsons – caught and re-released.
Demon Rumm by Sandra Brown – and a quick catch for a themed release.

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4 Comments

  1. Yay for the A+!! Boo for the nasty smells.
    ” (my flight’s at 6.30 am, so that means check-in at 4.30, which means…. arrgh, I don’t want to think about what that means about when I have to set the alarm for!)”
    For me, it would probably mean “why even bother to go to bed?”

  2. Good for the A+, but I can’t say I’m surprised.
    New wiring–I live in an 1880’s house. Good wiring makes life so much easier! I remember the good old days when I had more than 1 plug per room. 😉

  3. Woohoo on the A+ and all the other good news. That bag is AWESOME! I totally get the wiring thing. My first house was a tiny two bedroom cottage that had a to die for view but contained all of 5 powerpoints. One on the enclosed back deck which doubled as a laundry, 2 in the kitchen, 1 in the lounge and 1 in the bigger bedroom. Considering I frequently lost power completely when it rained I was very hesitant to use multi-boards! Some nights that meant no TV or radio in favour of a heater 🙂
    Enjoy your trip but boo to not passing through here again!

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