Category: Blog

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Lokal & Co

The exterior of Lokal + Co on a rainy day. Umbrellas and greenery everywhere.

The little West End trendy Scandi brekky cafe. Tae and I hadn’t seen each other for some time and we decided to catch up.

It’s been a fairly miserable week weather-wise. Wet and dark. But that’s a welcome la niña change from the usual Brisbane dry, so we were both happy to head out and grab breakfast before work.

I had the chilli scrambled eggs, crispy coconut sambal, plum chutney, roti bread for $17.0. Tae had almost an entire pumpkin on sourdough. We both drank our volume in coffee and it was nice.

I’ve missed breakfast. The best I managed in Amsterdam was brunch at 11 am, which was fine but I remember it being a stressful affair. Working weird Dutch hours means I haven’t really had mornings since I’ve been back. But I’ve been working on that.

So I hope to do this more often.

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It’s a bit warm.

After a cold snap in Brisbane, we’re back to our usual summer programming. It was only 34 today, but it’s still uncomfortable to be amongst so I’ve been trying to optimise my ventilation.

It has reached the point of the day where outside is cooler than inside so now I get to open up the house.

HOWEVER the little portable aircon I bought is still running in the office. Even though it can only ever bring it down about 3 degrees, it’s still much more comfortable than sweating into my seat. I’ve been trying not to use it too often, but a little climate control is invaluable while I’m working.

This is the strategy.

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Just a little thing about lockdown

It was a bit of a surprise to wake up this morning and find we’re heading into lockdown.

After developing a case of the sniffles and going for a test the night before, I’d preemptively cancelled all my weekend plans already. But it’s different when it’s official, you know?

I always joked that moving into a proper house with a yard was a reaction to living isolated in a shoe box in Amsterdam. That the next lockdown I would be stocked and ready. Turns out despite the physical preparation I still wasn’t there, mentally at least.

At work in between tickets I would check the ABC News live blog for updates. It’s a bad habit, of course there aren’t any, but in a time when we don’t know anything, even the smallest scrap of insight seemingly means something.

Part of me just wants to jump forward a couple of weeks when we know the outcome of the outbreak. Skip to the end of the book and read the last page. Do things turn out ok?

But I’m doing fine. It’s been raining, so I’m very cosy on the couch under the doona. I have a naan dough and some curry ready to go tomorrow and we’re making pizza for date night on Sunday. Everyone on Twitter is talking about the Star Trek finale, so maybe I’ll put that on now and tune out for a bit.

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North Stradbroke Island/Minjerribah

  • Main Beach stretches into the distance from the Gorge Walk
  • The Pacific Ocean from Cylinder Headland Foreshore
  • Looking out to Moreton Island from Cylinder Headland Foreshore
  • It’s just me, right before I was attacked by a march fly
  • Cylinder Beach at sunset
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Break

My place seems to have regressed. My desk broke, my outdoor setting broke, and mum bought me a brand new cabinets which lives in the middle of the sitting room. There are boxes everywhere and the place looks like I’ve just moved in.

Again.

Thankfully today marks the start of a week off so I’ll have time to do all of the things I’ve been putting off lately. Starting with my tax, putting my office back together, a trip to Bunnings to sort out my yard, and a couple of nights on straddie. Oh, and I want to catch up on my vlog. Relaxing!

Things have been going well enough but I’m looking forward to having a bit of time to myself. There are plans in motion so I don’t fall so far behind in life again, but that’s fairly new so far.

Right now I should really be sleeping because it’s 2:30 and R invited me to brunch and pebble curation in the morning. Haven’t we done well.

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Koel

I was escaping the heat in the garden the other day when a strange bird landed on a branch near me.

I sent the picture to mum because she’s good at knowing these sorts of things.

The bird is a female koel also known as the rain bird, they are the ones you here very loud in the early evenings.

My mum, via Google Hangouts

That makes sense. I’ve been noticing a lot of different bird calls lately, but particularly the warbling whistles as I’m heading to bed dinner it’s often at 3 a.m when there’s no other sounds.

So it was nice to spot the bird responsible. There’s one whistling outside my window now.

I’m very happy with how well the yard is coming along, but especially happy with the quality of Wi-Fi. It’s fast enough to stream games when it’s too hot sharing the office with my computer.

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Enoggera Creek

A green-brown creek surrounded by mangroves and gum trees. The sky is bright blue with only a couple of small puffy clouds.

Took this photo on the way back from lunch today. The ibis roost in the trees to the right, and fruit bats live out-of shot to the left.

I always thought this was “Breakfast Creek” but my lunch buddy Gav called it differently so I did a little research.

Google Maps and OpenStreetMap both label the entire stretch Enoggera Creek, but I found the following snippet in a local newspaper:

A Department of Natural Mines and Resources spokesman said “significant research” in 1992 confirmed the name changed where the North Coast Railway Line crossed the creek, south of Albion Station and west of Burrows St and Hudson Rd.

A News Corp publication

Apparently there used to be a small tributary creek around the area that was used as the distinction, but it’s always been somewhat of a mystery:

“Confusion over where Enoggera Creek becomes Breakfast Creek dates back to the 1850s when a survey plan labelled the creek at this point as ‘Breakfast Creek or Enoggera Creek’”

Department of Natural Mines and Resources spokesman

I may need to dust off my OpenStreetMap account and make the controversial edit based on this info.

But suffice to say, this segment does appear to be Enoggera Creek after all.

You can download the original photo.

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Guzman y Gomez magnet giveaway

I saw a post on Twitter about a magnet giveaway at Guzman y Gomez, and I was reminded of the fact that I really wanted salsa queso fries. So used the opportunity to grab dinner while I was out running an errand.

A set of three brightly coloured magnets, with a Guzman y Gomez counter in the background.

The magnets are pretty alright, I like the colours. I would have preferred stickers though, I have no use for fridge magnets and felt bad about the waste.

Ultimately I decided I didn’t want them so I popped them back.

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Walking around Brisbane

I had lunch with Josh yesterday, and afterward went for a walk around town.

I wanted to get a few shots for a vlog idea I’m working on. Worked out alright. Here are some pretty bits from my moseyin’.

  • Entrance to New Farm Park & Pride Memorial Gardens
  • The arches of the Story Bridge
  • The Brisbane skyline against a backdrop of rolling clouds. It's a bright day, but threatening to rain.
    Brisbane City from the Story Bridge
  • Flowers arranged in the colours of the rainbow flag
    LGBTQ flag flower arrangement in the Brisbane Pride Memorial Garden