Monday, March 02, 2009

mixed bag

rant\. this weekend just gone we drove to canberra for the royal show. i usually look forward to it even tho we have had some bad experiences there before in relation to the flyball comp, which is what we go for. after the weekend we just had i am pretty sure the canberra royal is cursed for us. the spot where they put the flyball is also the spot used for camping during that other canberra cultural highlight, summernats. hence, given the lack of rain in that part of the world at that time of year, it is sometimes a bit of a rough patch. this year it was a dust bowl. saturday was hot (36) and windy. dust got in everything, including my knitting.

after a while of scraping through the dirt possum started limping and then we saw that she had scraped the skin off her dew claw pad. poor baby. we taped her up but it didnt help and she ran a lot slower so we lost races we would normally win. we ended up having to pull her out so she wouldnt get hurt worse, and we finished only third when we were pretty sure of a first or second. we did one good time, but if they dont fix that surface for next year i think we wont go. the bad part of the weekend was made worse by the fact that we, the flyballers, were not given parking permits into the exhibitors part of the showground and would have had to pay show rates for parking. this didnt apply to people doing agility, or with the pretty show dogs. (what is it with the human race, that people always have to JUDGE someone else, and what they do, as not worthy somehow?) so we parked out on the street and came back to find a window smashed and the car broken into. we lost important stuff we probly shouldnt have left in the car, and yet again i am left wondering at the complete deadshits human beings can be at times. especially canberra bogans.

i also had the joy of having some idiot woman from some other club competing in the flyball yell at me for not 'stewarding' (ie help out in the ring during racing). i dont run a dog, i just help my husbands team. i am not even a member of the afa. i dont need to steward if i dont want to. and i dont want to. right now, i dont want to go near flyball ever again because of stupid people like her, and the bad losers in other teams, and the internal politics that continues to leave a very bad taste in my mouth.

i understand that humans are just human, you get them in a group and all kinds of weird shit happens. but i am getting downright annoyed at being dragged into squabbles that have nothing to do with me (and not just in flyball), at being told lies and manipulated and played because other people need to make themselves feel better, or need to feel like victims in this world. i dont care if not everyone likes me, i probably dont like them either, but seriously, build a bridge people, and leave me out of it. /rant.

there were goodies to be had at the canberra show however, i just didnt get a chance to take pictures. like bells, i enjoyed the german sausage, but i thought the numbers were down and some of the usual selling points werent there (eg, no opal lady). i am pretty sure tho that i got teary when i saw the beautiful things in glass cabinets that my clever friends had made that now wore ribbons, and i made a resolution to work really carefully on something of my own to enter in a show next year. im pretty sure someone else agreed to do the same, yes?! it was very inspiring, and im very proud to know the people who made such lovely things. we had a lovely dinner together with other lovely friends and partners after the show, even though i nearly fell asleep in my chocolate mousse parfait, but i enjoyed my mini impromptu snb, and am thankful for the help i got with the ruby problem i have.

the ruby problem you ask? here it is and see if you can spot it:

no its not a test. apart from a problem in the very early rows that i was willing to let slide, i had a pattern reading problem, so that instead of doing chart a rows 1-46 then rows 15-58, i did chart a rows 1-58 all at once. woops. i had to rip it back a bit, and i thought i had fixed it but i hadnt. you know when you look at something and think about something so hard and so long it just blurs? i couldnt for the life of me see what i needed to do. jane saw the problem in about 5 seconds flat. i have now ripped it back again and restarted from row 15 again, and i think there might be a minor hang over problem that you will get when you rip lace with no lifeline, but i can live with it. i now have only 4 works in progress

(gratuitious shot of lovely lily in zara there), including nearly finishing the second of the vatican pie socks (colinette, how do i love thee, let me count the ways). speaking of which i have been trying in vain to figure out how to work in a day trip up to llanfaire caereinion to hang out at the colinette factory during the very important conference i am going to in cardiff, but its in the middle of nowhere, with no direct train line, and i dont have an international drivers licence with which to hire a car....sigh. i shall have to make do with yarn stores in london (only 3 weeks to go!!). its a hard life....

k xx

ETA: sorry about the rant, i am not very good at self-censorship! its not aimed at anyone in particular, just the world in general :)

13 comments:

m1k1 said...

The 3 weeks till you go will pass very slowly and very fast at the same time, depending on whether you are thinking about the good bits, or managing to do all the stuff that needs to be done before you go. Time's funny like that.

I think this bloggy world is just the place for ranting. Go for it. Now, relax your shoulders, breathe out, and ping! All the stupids no longer exist in your world. (I haven't worked out how to eliminate the grrrrrrrr memories from resurfacing yet. sorry. But I just repeat the relax/breathe sequence as often as needed, till the stupids fade.)

I thought you could just buy an international licence from somewhere. RTA? It's not like they drive on the wrong side in Wales!

DrK said...

oh! you can too! i just saw, $50 from the NRMA! look out colinette here i come!

m1k1 said...

...and all the signs are in English as well as Welsh, so no confusion at all. Of course, you may be fflluent in llWelsh. Not intending to cast nasturtiums on your llanguage skillls.

Jo said...

umm, just to not make you feel better, the parking people were very nice and let us in the same as the other dog people and didn't charge us anything.

Getting an international licence is easy. Take your current nsw licence to the NRMA and take a new passport photo with you. It took me about 15 minutes each time. The price sounds like its gone up though, only cost me $10 in 91 and 98

DrK said...

i speak a bit of gaelic. i dont think that counts tho. how DO you pronounce a double l?

and as for flyball, i heard that, that some people had good parking experiences. and then some had bad ones. i feel like being grumpy and blaming the AFA somehow, just because, so im going to make it their fault, even tho it was blatantly our fault for leaving stuff worth taking in the car in the first place, i should have just left the window open with a sign saying 'please take our gps'. it wouldnt have been so bad then because the window replacement is the most expensive thing!!

Anonymous said...

ffffffflurjkkkkkkkinng helllllphff.

(Is that welsh?) W

hat a shit! Why didn't you get passes? Why do you have to steward (isn't that a voluntary thing anyways and if you are lucky you get a can of drink for your worries?)?? I mean that dog world - sounds as bad as the knitting world!!!! Heh heh. At least you got to see the chicks and eat german sausage.

And - well - if you are heaing to Colinette I may have to take you up on your offer......whhhhhhhhhheeeeeeee.

Anonymous said...

Blurry hell you fink I might do a spell check before hitting 'post '.

Bells said...

Well all nasty stuff aside, I for one was very glad to have you guys in town with us. Very happy indeed. I hope Possum's feet will be ok soon.

God bless RoseRed for her sensible, clear thinking approach. Many's the time she's seen me through a rough knitting blindness patch.

DrK said...

no cans of drink for flyball stewards donni, just the joy of helping out people you cant stand. quite a lot like parts of knitting world, now you mention it :)

Rose Red said...

Ah, it was the best of times, and the worst of times...oh, that's been done, you say.

Oh well. Sorry about the crap but at least there was good stuff too hey.

Mmmm, lovely Colinette. Lovely Zara too. Can't believe I have to decide what to buy in only 3 weeks!!! heh!

2paw said...

I am sad to read that your day was spoiled. In life, there are those who are spoilers, and those who are not. I think never the twain should meet!!
Poor pup, I hope the paw is better now.
I live dangerously with lace, I never have a life line!! Bah humbug about the unravelling.
Oh huge excitement about the trip though!!! You can drive all over the place, frightening people with your gaelic!!!

Caffeine Faerie said...

Damn. Just. Damn.

Other than that, I hope your Possum is feeling better, and it was lovely to see you.

3 weeks, then you can have some fun!

amy said...

Oh my, where to start? So sorry about the hooligans who broke into your car. You know, when I lived in our state's capital city, my car got broken into THREE TIMES in my own driveway. People. Just. Suck. And the missing thing that bothers me most, still, to this day, over ten years later? An embroidered elephant table cloth my mom had just given me. From there I'd gone to work, gotten home late, and forgotten it in the car. In the morning it was gone. It had no monetary value, really, especially as stolen goods, for crying out loud. But I still wish I had it back.

Moving on, or I'll get sad. Wales! How lovely! These comments have reminded me it's time to see if Vaughan would like to hear Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series. And I'm jealous of the yarn expedition!!