Day 84 - Thursday 6th May

Picture this Sydneysiders (if you dare...). Headed to the airport on Tuesday night to retrieve the husband from his latest sojourn and arrived 20 minutes early (unheard of, I know) and found an area specifically dedicated to pick ups and drop offs. That was the first shock to the system. But then I parked my car and sat in it...and sat and sat and sat.... I was passed by no fewer than 4 parking Nazis (disguised as Security) several times, and not one tried to move me on or even hint I was doing something wrong. The defences were up, I was ready to bolt, or stay and fight, I wasn't prepared to be left alone. Took all my self control not to roll down the window down and confront one of them about their lackadaisical work ethic...was I invisible? It was distressing, where's the fun in being left alone and not being hassled by some jobsworth, should be ashamed of themselves.

The adventurous drive home made up for the Zen airport incident. A lumbering wombat from the left, about to tempt fate, followed by a possum that tempted fate and lost. Slowed down for it...gave it the opportunity to keep going, instead it stopped - and signed its own death certificate! Sorry guys, notched up my first road kill...When it comes to possums, plenty more where that came from. But if they're all that stupid..maybe not! When we got home a bunny bounded across the backyard, the endless array of critters here is never ending. Bunnies appear to be quite active at the moment. Floyd and I did a scout around the bike park a day or so ago and it is full of rabbit attempts to dig holes and build warrens - great sport for a Jack Russell Terrorist to wear himself out.

Also when we got home, we found the fairy god father had been and left us a big basket of fresh field mushrooms. (His wife had already made dinner and he only likes his mushys fresh! What a perspective...fresh here means picked that day. Fresh in my past, could have been snap frozen a year ago and transported across the planet!) Organic eye fillet and mushrooms on the menu tonight. Getting horribly spoilt here, I tried eating some packet food recently. It was either dire or just tasted artificial (because it was?)...probably a combination of both. Having a good supply has done nothing to curb my desire to go hunting for mushys. Think I must have been reincarnated from a truffle dog.

The disbelieving husband had me doubting my ears when he got back. What rooster? It was just a neighbouring critter or I was hearing things when I counted 22 cocka doodle dos at 4.51am on Monday. He had just about convinced me, when Mel C let rip in the yard yesterday morning and left us in no doubt whatsoever. Had we bothered to take a decent look at she/he in the past few days, there would have been no doubt earlier. Mel C has progressed from Spice Girl to tranny to the full sex change op. Malcomb, as I know him as now, has a wonderful strut, a cute little comb, a very impressive waddle (is that what we call the red flabby bits off his chin?), some gorgeous turquoise tinted tail feathers and a confident rooster chant. That's the trouble with roosters, they're so impressive, it's hard to part with them for the pot. And how disappointing would this Sussex bantam be? Picked 3 of them up recently and they are barely a handful. Would have to be the most expensive over sized quail to hit a dinner plate. Though I'm not sure how letting him hang around makes him any better value for money. They continue to confound me with how much they eat and shit (and refuse to do any work!). Even life as a chook here is great.

RVL (Red Velvet Lounge) chef, Steve Cumper has won Country Style magazine's Country chef of the year award. His reputation and restaurant were already on the map, with diners heading from Hobart on Fridays and Saturdays to enjoy his fare. Now the rest of the country will get to know about his restaurant and our little town. We're keen for him to be a success to ensure we continue to have some fabulous (and some not so fabulous) dishes at our doorstep. If he keeps producing delights like the Nicholls (local) chicken in masterstock with Shittake mushrooms like I had the other day, he will have me as a fan forever! Well done Steve.

On that note...Winsor keeps spreading the gospel about Cygneture chocolates and seems to be addicting followers, one at a time. He says I should approach her to do her marketing. What does she need me for, Winsor is doing a fine job and she can't keep up as it is. Another thriving local industry...bring it on.

Have an interview today (a job I applied for 6 weeks ago) and several more coming up. My unemployed days may soon be at an end. Time to get on with it. Cheers.