Month: August 2016

Still on holiday

Continuing the toilet theme from the other week ... the toilet block at the camping ground near Edi cutting, on the King river. — Continuing the toilet theme from the other week … the toilet block at the camping ground near Edi cutting, on the King river.

So we’re still on holiday, visiting our mother, who lives in North East Victoria. It’s lovely and green up there right now. (And pretty cold, too.) It’s beautiful.

I think this was Power's lookout. Harry Power was a bushranger. — I think this was at Power’s lookout. Harry Power was a bushranger.

In four to six months all that green will be brown. If there’s any grass left it will be tinder-dry. Or there won’t be any grass at all, and it will look more like this.

Brown dirt.

A quick lesson in Australianisms.

1) Bushrangers are (were) the equivalent of highwaymen in the UK, or an outlaw in the US. Think Dick Turpin or Jesse James. I don’t know what it’s like in the US or UK but bushrangers were (are) often looked on as folk heroes. Despite the fact that they robbed, and on occasion, killed people.

2) And while we’re talking Australianisms, what about a language lesson?

How do you pronounce Carraragarmungee? (It’s a real place. A friend of ours went to school there. There isn’t much more than the school, but …)

Kah-rah-rah-gah-mun-gee. Sound out the syllables. Then, speed it up. Say it at least three times as fast as you did sounding it out.

There, now you can pronounce it like a local.

Writing process

Time out in Glenelg

While Sherylyn is conferencing, I'm living the hard life. Writing the book, of course. :-). By the time we leave I won't need to eat for another week. — While Sherylyn is conferencing, I’m living the hard life. Writing a book, of course.

We’re here in sunny Glenelg today. [At least, it’s sunnier now than it was when we arrived on Thursday, believe me.]

Sherylyn’s at the RWA conference, I’m here writing. It’s relaxing, and peaceful (for me, anyway). Especially since I have the next week off and I’m looking forward to relaxing, and seeing more family.

Glenelg is a beautiful place. Very touristy. I’d liken it to St Kilda in Melbourne, or Manly in Sydney. Or even parts of the Gold Coast, only nowhere near as warm. In summer, I imagine, it will be wall-to-wall people, but right now it’s pleasant. It’s got a buzz, it’s busy, but it’s not overcrowded.

Talking about things

History: what goes around comes around

Post author By Karen
Post date 14 August 2016
2 Comments on History: what goes around comes around

Roman public toilets, which apparently were a common place to do business and catch up. Although, according to one article I read, it wasn’t as great as it was made out to be.

Isn’t it funny how much ‘civilisation’ we lose, and continue to reinvent, time and time again.

Take plumbing and sanitation.

Stone age farmers in the Orkney Islands built drains under their houses and had toilets over the drains.

The Indus Valley civilisation in Asia (Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India) had a public water supply, covered sewers and an elaborate underground drainage system. Houses had their own private toilets.

Ancient Rome? They had running water, public baths, public toilets and sewers.

The Minoans of Ancient Crete used underground clay pipes for water supply and sanitation. They also had a version of a flush toilet.

Even the Mayans at Palenque had underground aqueducts and flush toilets. And they had household water filters, using limestone.

Pretty amazing, hey?

And then the middle ages happened. Wastewater collection seems to have consisted of open drains, that over time were covered. As for sanitation, that seemed to revert back to holes in the ground with a seat over them, or a seat over water, or pails that had to be emptied.

Until the modern flush toilet came along.

Now, it seems, we’re back to what they had in the past.

Fun stuff

Star Trek Beyond

Karl Urban as Bones and Zachary Quinto as Spock in Star Trek Beyone.

We’re in the middle of writing our next book. (And by middle, I mean middle. We’ve hovered between 68,000 and 70,000 words for two weeks now. Working hard, but the rewrites. 🙂 )

It’s been quite relaxing. No deadlines yet.

We’ve had time to do other things, like go to the movies. There have been some good movies lately. Jason Bourne. And, of course, Star Trek.

I liked them all, but I have to single out Star Trek Beyond. It was good to see all the main cast getting screen time. Especially the interplay between Bones and Spock.

To quote Variety magazine, it was a movie that

lets us share quality time with cast members who now seem like old friends.

The story was logical, too (for a Star Trek). Lots of fun.

We need more movies like this.