(no subject)

It's a bit chilly outside today, and I've spent the morning doing mostly small thing. My biggest decision, I think, was that friends outside Canberra need bookmarks rather than fridge magnets, for bookmarks are a lot easier to post and carry. I have twenty Middle French proverbs and just have to glue the magnets to the back of one set and cut up the second. I really need a guillotine, for all my cutting is freehand. The imperfections and wavy lines will make each object unique, I shall claim, if anyone objects to the results of an unsteady hand.

My supervisor has my dissertation (again) and we're one small step closer to the end.

I'm 1/10 of the way through the Aurealis novel reading (unless more books arrive, and I'm still hopeful on that front) and I'm very pleased with my reading so far. Mind you, that's only 3 and a bit books in, so I ought to be.

It's really not that many books. This is why I'm hopeful that publishers are still to send material.

Now it's coffee time and lunch time and then I shall carefully examine my various must-dos and work out which I can least afford to leave another hour. This is how I get a lot of work done on days when I really am not very motivated. If it were just a bit warmer than eight degrees outside, I'd take a break and finally see Floriade, but traipsing around in the cold rain alone is not a good idea.

What's a very good idea is getting out my winter dressing gown. That will get me through any amount of not-so-hard work*.


*The work is very simple today - it's just not stuff I'm enthusiastic about. I pushed most of today's work aside yesterday to do equally urgent work that was a lot more fun, and so today just has to be trudged through.

(no subject)

We have the official report of the incident. It was, as I said earlier, the building next to mine, so the worst I personally had to go through was insomnia and mild smoke inhalation.

A car was torched and incinerated in its carport and the car next to it caught on fire. The main damage is to plumbing and lighting, plus the blackening of many surfaces and some window damage. There's more in the report, of course, but that's the sum of it.

The emergency services were awesome and our body corporate management has also been pretty cool. They dealt/are dealing promptly and calmly and minimising the effects on the residents most closely affected. Repairs are already well underway and evacuation was only for a few hours. What isn't cool is the person/s that set the car alight. It's a stupid and bad act anywhere, but in a complex like this, where there are so many kids, it was very nasty. I hope the person/s get found soon and prosecuted.

ETA: I really ought to explain - the carports are part of the building. People live above them.