Worship at the Temple of Glittering Nearly-Possessions

It bucketed down with rain this morning for a couple of hours. On the metal roof of the house it sounded like a never ending London Marathon in jackboots playing overhead, coming and going in waves. For the first time we saw large puddles forming in the garden as the ground saturated and the water then ran off.

The gutter at the back of the house couldn't take the volume of water and overflowed. Some water came in through the back window and the carpet in the dogs' bedroom got wet. Curiously, when we looked at the roof afterwards, the upper roof (makes the place sound like a mansion, doesn't it?) drains through a down pipe directly onto the lower roof, so the gutters there need to take the run-off from a wider area than you might expect.

When the rain relented we embarked on a bike ride down to the brook. Unexpectedly there were quite a few people down there, and the brook was once again swollen and very fast moving, building speed and energy as we rode down it and the storm drains fed into it, and in the shallows or where there were rocks, turning into a roiling rapid.

The dogs ran really well today. Yesterday was a bit of a nightmare as Matilda was disrespectful of the off-leash boundary, going onto a road at one point, which, judging by the honks, was unpopular with motorists. Oh well! On the plus side we saw our erstwhile walking chum Janice there yesterday for the first time since before Nicole had to go back to England.

After a delightful midday feast of baked beans on toast, Nicole went to work, and soon after that Eloise went to sleep (where soon is equivalent to four books).

I sat down in front of the telly and watched a film with Kevin Spacey in it called the Shipping News, which was OK in a picturesque kind of a way. Just when it finished and I started to get underway with paying bills, housework, etc, Squeaky woke up. Limited rest for the wicked.

We went to the library and she cruised for dogs (two beagles and a poodle... when I said "That's a poodle" she wouldn't stop pointing to its arse and cooing "Poo!") then we spent a happy hour or so choosing and reading books. The librarians were talking about setting her up on a blind date with one of their boys, but he's three and a red head, so not only cradle snatching but the possibility of unwanted recessive gene combination problems.... not sure how he took it when I said that....

Nicole had suggested that, as we were a bit flush at the moment (everything's relative) that I could spend some money, so after library we headed off to Chermside shopping centre, Mecca of Consumerism, to spend all our money on a nifty lens for our camera.

Unfortunately we were hungry and stopped off in the food court for some chocolate cake and coffee / milk. By the time we'd finished that, and spent half an hour traipsing the hallowed collonades lined with the Shrines to Mammon, we/I realised we/I were lost, and didn't actually know where the Camera shop was, and actually all the shops seemed to be closing, and Eloise wanted down, and there were Teddy Bears in that window over there, and it was too late...

Still, we got a carton of sour cream in Woolies. And Eloise did a pretty good number on the kiddies section of an excellent bookshop I will probably never be able to find again.

So, mixed vegetable curry in a creamy sauce for supper! Yum!