The City, the girl, the life.

I've just watched the Sex and the City movie - twice, I also saw it at the cinema about a year ago. As unrealistic as it is, it resonates. For the first 20 years of my life, I was convinced I was a country girl. I was raised on a farm and I loved the farm life. For the next 20 years I was convinced that I was a country girl living in the city. My dream was to buy some land and live self sufficiently (a.k.a. The Good Life). The film made me realise that I am a city girl that happens to have been raised in the country. End of story. Having spent a large proportion of my childhood and early adulthood with no close friends I was also convinced I was totally self reliant and a loner. I'm not. I miss my friends with an ache that gnaws at me - hence this blog - it's my substitute for conversation.
Living in the 'burbs has been like living in exile. For as long as I can remember I have stated, vehemently, that to put me in a brick venereal house in the suburbs would be my death. Yet here I am, have been for two years. The fact I am still alive and not in jail for homicide, is a testament to my strength of character. I look at the girls on Sex and the City and I look at myself and I say "this is not the script I wrote for myself". My unhappiness is explained. I'm not saying I want to be a stick thin, horse faced fashion victim that spends endless hours in cafes whining about men - but I need people around me - girl friends who understand and sympathise.
This past weekend one my dearest girlfriends came to stay. The husband was away at a course (learning how to counsel people to give up smoking and brushing up on his hypocrisy) so S flew up to keep me company. The husband left on Wednesday and was due to return Sunday night. I asked the girl if she would mind sleeping with me so S could have her bed. She was overjoyed and started sleeping with me from Wednesday night even though S wasn't arriving until Friday.
The weekend was it's usual manic mix of gymnastics, piano, puppy school and domestics except for that weekend I had adult female company. It was utterly wonderful. On Sunday night, after S had gone home and the husband had missed his plane, I had a night to myself and I watched Sex and the City and cried my eyes out.
The scene where Carrie beats Big with her bouquet and screams "I am humiliated!" and her friends gather her up and whisk her away, scowling at Big, protecting her - it gets me every time. When they are sitting in the restaurant in Mexico and Carrie is venting "he couldn't get out of the car! I put a bird on my head!" is another beautiful scene. That exclamation typifies the extremes women go to in their deluded attempts to please their men. I could exclaim "I watched cricket!" or "I drove a Barina!". We put birds on our heads and still it's not enough, our men won't even get out of the car.
Many months ago the husband and I had a huge fight and I jumped in the car and drove off. I got about 5 km away and wondered where the hell I thought I was going. I was wearing nothing but a bath robe, not even shoes or undies. I had no money, no ID and no ideas. I suddenly became concerned that the cops would pull me up and I'd have a lot of explaining to do. I drove to the lake and parked for about 30 minutes. I tried to sleep but it was too cold and eventually I needed to wee so I drove home. If I'd been in the city I would have had a choice of places to go, friends who would have not only given me clothes and money but much sympathy and a place to stay. I guess the point of that story is I miss having options. I feel trapped here.
And now the local council are delaying my return to the city - the longer it takes to get my house done the longer I have to live in exile.
I moved to Blanberra, I put a bird on my head, I need to leave and get back to the city before the bird starts crapping on my shoulder. Read more!

By the way

Does anybody read this anymore?? Leave a comment. And here is the rest of it. Read more!

Saturday Night

Another Saturday night and I ain't got nowhere to go.
Standard Saturday night:
The Girl has been to gymnastics and piano and since she got up at 6am she is tired and cranky, which makes me tired and cranky. I did manage to move a couple more boxes of books into storage and rearrange the girls bedroom, got rid of the last bit of the husbands wicker furniture. Wicker: if you aren't going to shove someone in it and set fire to it - what's it for?
I bundled her into bed having only brushed her teeth (bath smarth), a quick story and seeya later kiddo!
I microwaved a curry, poured a glass of wine and sat down to watch some telly.
So that's it. There you go.
I think I'll do some knitting, maybe watch a bit of Star Trek. Woo Hoo!! . Read more!

Bang

One of the few good things about living in Blandberra is that we can legally buy fireworks on the Queen's birthday weekend.

I gave the husband $50 and sent him out to score fireworks. Since this is (and it better be) our last Queens birthday long weekend in Blandberra, I thought we had better make the most of it.

He did exedingly well, and came home with a big pack of tubes of gunpowder. We later saw the same pack for sale (at Video Easy!!) for $85.

Traditional hotdogs were prepared with fried onions, jalepenos, cheese and tomato sauce (I know, it sounds gross, but it actually works) and the girl, the delinquent and I sat and watched the nervous husband lighting the firecrackers. Some shot up and exploded in the sky, some fizzed on the ground but most gave a variation of the fountain in the picture above. The smoke from the gunpowder was thick and I wondered how many people got pulled up at the airport for having explosives residue on their clothes that weekend.
The girl (dressed in her Goth gear for the night!!) spent most of the time hiding in her cubby exclaiming "tell me when it's safe to come out!". We coaxed her out with some sparklers and after her inital fear she was soon lighting her own sparklers from the fire. She even lit a (small) firecracker - with assistance. After each bang and shower of sparks we'd all go "YAY!!" or "WOO HOO" and applaude and try to act enthusiastic without being sarcastic - which was difficult since it was so cold and most of the crackers were pretty lame. We later discovered there was communal firework lighting going on in the park on the corner, but it would have involved socialising with the native Blandberrans, and we were happier with our exclusive backyard display. Rose, the Staffy, was close to a nervous breakdown by the time it was all over. She spends every Queen's Birthday weekend and every thunderstorm trembling and hiding under my skirt - bravery isn't her strongest character trait.
Bela, however, proved himself to be a brave and fierce guard dog when he accousted the plumber that came to fix the hot water service. We had to hold him back he was so intent on attacking the intruder. I was very proud and very worried at the same time. Puppy school starts this weekend, and not a minute too soon. How do you reassure a frantic dog that the man is permitted in the house and not here to steal the telly? I shall never be afraid to walk to the 7/11 at night again.

Read more!

No thanks

These are the plans we submitted, following is what the council want us to build.

It's boxy, ugly, boring and uninspired. I'm going to war. Read more!

Most of my neighbours are nice..

To whom it may concern,
I wish to address the concerns raised by my neighbours regarding the proposed first floor addition to my home.
The concern raised by R of W street is justified and I agree with her that our proposed balcony would give views into her backyard. As such, the balcony will be fully screened with a 1700mm high picket style fence. The pickets will be closely set together and all views from the balcony will be obscured.
In my opinion, the objections raised by the two other parties, Mr and Mrs G and Mr E, are totally unfounded and without merit.
While the majority of houses in Mc Street are single storey the street is surrounded by double storey buildings and apartment blocks. The first building in the street, although officially a V Street address, is much higher than our proposed first floor addition. There are also several apartment blocks and town houses in B Street which are clearly visible from Mc street and are also higher than our proposed first floor.While I concede that the first floor additions to number 5 and number 12 Mc street are lower than our proposed addition, I disagree that they are "barely visible" and in fact, are clearly visible.
I find it amusing that the objections that the proposed first floor addition is "not in keeping with the Neighbourhood Character" is then followed by an objection to our attempt to recreate a Victorian style which "mimics" the adjacent properties. Our intention is for the extension to look as original as possible in order to maintain the neighbourhood character of the Victorian houses that dominate the area.
The G's claim that our first floor addition will be a "permanent obstruction to the skyline while standing in Mc street". While this is true, I would like to point out that the only skyline feature visible from Mc street are the L Street high rise housing estate buildings. Richmond is an inner city suburb with high density living - an uninterrupted view of the horizon is not possible.

Our proposed first floor is situated as close to the front of the house as possible in order to maximise our living space. The "design benefit" we gain from having a gabled roof is to allow for vaulted ceilings on the first floor which create a larger area that can be utilised by my family. Space and living area was one of our priorities in the design of the extension. Our foremost priority was to create a Victorian looking extension that will blend seamlessly with the existing house, not appear to have been "stuck on" as the extension at number 12 does.

My original brief to our architect was to create an "attic style" upper floor, with vaulted ceilings that were as low as possible in order to minimise the height of the first floor. Although his design does not reflect the attic style I would have preferred, I believe that this is due to minimum ceiling heights stipulated by building codes. If this is incorrect and the roof line can be lowered I would be more than happy to rework the plans accordingly. We have chosen to retain the 3m high ceilings in the front two rooms of the original house as we wish to retain as much of the original character of the house as possible.

In regards to the upper storey link between the house and the existing bungalow I would like to explain our reason for requesting this feature: We are currently (temporarily) living in Canberra and have been for almost two years. During this time the planning application for 12 Mc street was processed. Due to a glitch in the mail redirection I did not receive notification of the proposed upper floor extension. If I had known about the plans I would have lodged an objection and asked that the upper floor on number 12 be set more forward as it blocks the morning sun to my backyard. As the permit had already been issued by the time I became aware of the plans I was unable to have any say on the building. Since our backyard is now significantly darker it will be very difficult to re-establish my garden when we return to Mc street next year. The first floor balcony and the walk way are our attempt to increase the amount of outdoor area that receive sunlight and will be capable of supporting plant growth. My intention is to have the walkway and the balcony lined with planter boxes so that I may continue to indulge my passion for gardening in spite of my darkened back yard.

Mr E's opinion that the extension should be built in "a more contemporary modern design" and that the the design should "be handled more respectfully and cleverly" is nothing more than opinion. When we were looking for an architect to design our extension and oversee the construction we approached Mr E for a quote. We subsequently decided not to engage Mr E as we found his fees to be inflated well above the other three quotes we obtained and we do not like his style of designs.
As I have stated, we do not want a modern looking first floor, we want the addition to look as authentically Victorian as possible. The differences between our and Mr E's aesthetic appreciation is personal opinion and has no place in a town planning objection.

I purchased the house at 14 Mc Street in 1993 and it has been my home since then. As soon as the renovation/extension are complete my family and I will be returning to the house and intend to live there permanently. I have always enjoyed the community atmosphere of Mc street and have established firm friendships with my neighbours. I am determined to maintain my good relationship with my neighbours and will do my utmost to accommodate any reasonable objections to the proposed extension.
It saddens me that Mr and Mrs G and Mr E, relative new comers to Mc Street, are willing to jeopardise the existing good will by criticising our choice of style rather than making constructive comments.
I look forward to hearing the council's decision on the planning application.
Larissa Read more!