Have a nice day

We are in Washington where everyone is very friendly and hopes we have a nice day – every day. We are also very welcome.

Today Cate was working so I mooched about and had a manicure. The manicurist was named Jazzmine and – after I had signed a disclaimer so that she was not responsible if my fingers fell off – she asked me what my aspirations were.

I said that I would like to be a better person but that really I just wanted a manicure – which she set about with great purpose – after she filled out a questionnaire covering the essential details of how often I had my nails done – how I wanted my nails shaped and did I want clear polish?

She was clearly new at this business and half way through the process needed to go and get her ‘Educator’ who was called Valerie and Jazzmine called  ‘Ms V’.

Ms V asked me some more questions and said that as a special offer - and at no additional charge I could have a hot fragrant towel draped around my neck.

I was sorely tempted but passed on this because time was ticking away and I had things to do.

This whole process lasted 45 minutes and cost $10.

Nothing else seems to be very cheap though and we seem to have found some very expensive restaurants.

I think the food has been fine but Cate has complained bitterly – although she did have a nice hamburger in the hotel.

It was the size of a Bull Elephant and came with about 20 kilos of fries so we sort of ate around the edges.

We are here until Thursday when we go to Indianapolis. 

We shall see

Billy is still in intensive care so for a few days I had an automatic Peugeot 508 – which had the disturbing habit of stalling between gear changes.

The engine did not stop - but all forward momentum ceased – as though I had used the brakes between gear changes. It was quite unnerving – who knows what people following me thought.

I also found it difficult to park in our garage – conscious as I was of the need not to mangle it before I returned it to the car repair company.

Anyway I have now given it back to Rozalin  - and it is resting in Cate’s car park at work waiting for Billy’s return. I won’t be here for this happy event as we leave for Washington tomorrow morning – early.

Cate has finally decided on a spot for the new lounge chair. I do not expect this to be permanent as she is clearly still formulating plans and was muttering as she moved the chair around to new positions trying to find the ideal one.

I could have told her that this was back in the furniture shop where it came from -  but this would not have been helpful.

But the cats are quite pleased with it – although they will find it harder to get to when it is in the basement.

It will of course be my intention to blog when I am traveling - but strange things do happen and I occasionally get distracted by the delights with which I am surrounded.

We shall see

What were we thinking?

You will recall – I am sure – the fairly recent saga of the new sofa which we bought to replace our old sofa.

The choice at the time seemed to be ideal (indeed perfect) but of course when it was finally delivered it proved to less efficacious than anticipated in its endeavor to transform our lounge room into a potential Vogue feature.

After some consideration Cate decided that was what missing was a single additional lounge chair. This was all that was needed to transform the current jumble of sofas into a vision of style and comfort.

So we ordered the chair last November and – things being what they are and the fact that the chair was coming from Denmark – apparently by Donkey cart – it arrived today.

For the price we paid I would have thought it could have its own first class seat on Lufthansa – but there we are.

As expected – at least by me – it does not work – and in fact is apparently entirely unsuitable.

Cate is struggling to imagine what she was thinking of at the time when she chose it to go with our new sofa. She stands and stares at it with wonder.

Apart from all the other factors – there is no where to put it  - so it stands in isolation at the side of the lounge suite – looking to all intents and purposes like the Bell Rock lighthouse – but padded - and with four legs.

This entirely unexpected event is one of a number of similar furnituresque tragedies that have befallen our household over many years.

Cate is planning on solving the problem by hiding the lounge chair in one of the bedrooms – or consigning it to the basement - which already contains enough old furniture to outfit Downton Abbey.

Beaten temporarily – but unbowed – she will shortly emerge from a brief furniture induced funk to plan the next acquisition which  - I regret to say -  is unlikely to have the desired result – but will continue a long – arduous and expensive tradition of keeping the world’s furniture makers solvent.

You would think

The most photographed statue in Vienna

You would think that if two people were going to the USA on the same day at the same time they would take the same flight – wouldn’t you?

Well not us.

We are both flying to Washington on Friday within an hour of each other - but I am flying direct on Austrian while Cate is flying via Frankfurt with Lufthansa.

This is because Cate has back problems and Lufthansa has better seats. In fact they have flat beds in business class so that you can stretch out – which means she does not get crippled during long flights.

Now I would go with her but I could not get seats on Lufthansa – but I would rather go direct anyway. I always hate changing flights.

The temperatures plummeted on the weekend and so did the heating. They are forecasting - °17 on Thursday at which stage I will be able to build an Igloo in the lounge room.

We could get the Air Con people back but I just know if they fix the heating then they will bugger up the cooling – and that is much more important – as we are past the half way stage of Winter.

It has finally stopped snowing  – but more is forecast.

Still snowing

I just read that Sydney has had its highest ever recorded temperature of 45.8°. Jumping Jehoshaphat!

In the meantime it is still snowing here – and getting colder. We were supposed  to get -9° today and – in accordance with time honored tradition – the air conditioning is starting to throw in the towel.

However – we have had lots of practice at this – and we have plenty of winter woollies and lots of firewood – so will survive.

However – we can no longer see out of all of our windows – and our skylights are well and truly covered – so it is getting to be quite dark at any time of the day.

I had to go for another scary drive this morning to see the dentist. I was in there for an hour or so and when I came out had to scrape all the snow off Billy before I could get started.

Rear window

Maybe I don’t want to live in Norway after all.

But just can’t wait for the snow to stop so I can get over to Stadtpark to take some pictures.

I am pleased to report that Billy will be collected on Monday and taken to hospital for repairs. This is good news. Seeing him in current his state of disrepair makes as sad as when Swedish House Mafia split up.