{"id":1700,"date":"2015-05-13T04:03:12","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T04:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/?p=1700"},"modified":"2015-05-13T06:01:30","modified_gmt":"2015-05-13T06:01:30","slug":"1700","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/?p=1700","title":{"rendered":"In the canyons of my mind"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>More of the usual bollocks from me. Enjoy!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZjJy-GD_o3w\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a couple of new poems, at least one new <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/?page_id=1755\">&#8220;Cooking with Taff&#8221;<\/a> episode, but fortunately no new music this month. Yet again I&#8217;ve blocked it up into sections, and given subtitles to the blocks, so you can ignore the bits you<em>&#8230; why do I bother&#8230;.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 8pt;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\">Clicking on an image will take you to the gallery for full sized images.<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\">Clicking on the upward pointing triangle icon, third in from right, top menu bar, on each image will give you comments and facebook icons. Go on, make my day.<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Dealing with idiots.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>At work the other night. I&#8217;d just seen a client at 6.30 pm.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Team Leader, (TL):<\/strong><em> &#8220;You know I&#8217;m not normally in the office now, So I was shocked to see you having a client in the office for interview. There&#8217;s no one else here apart from me. What if he&#8217;d attacked you or something? You&#8217;d have been on your own here. I&#8217;ll have to make a report of this .&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;We always have clients in the office after hours, we choose them based on our clinical judgement and their history. Tom has no history of violence, but does self harm.<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>TL:<\/strong><em> &#8220;Yes, but you never know what could happen, do you?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong><em> &#8220;We&#8217;re an extended hours team, the whole point of the extended hours is that we see people outside of their work\/school times, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>TL:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Yes, but if an incident had happened here, who would have been able to help you?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;So I should see him at home then?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>TL:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Err..mmm.. yes.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> &#8220;<em>Ok, so next week I&#8217;ll agree to see him at home, out in the rural area he lives, miles from other people.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>TL:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Ermmm..&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me: <\/strong><em>&#8220;He&#8217;s got a great collection of Japanese Katanas at home, I love discussing them with him.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>TL:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Katanas?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong><em> &#8220;Japanese ceremonial swords.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>TL:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Oh.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;So that&#8217;s ok then. I&#8217;ll see him at his house, alone. Rather than here with the CCTV and alarm systems&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>TL: <\/strong><em>&#8220;I see your point.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;By the way, the only reason I&#8217;m working alone here tonight is that for the past six months our team of four people has been a team of three people. Normally there&#8217;d be another clinician in the office, wouldn&#8217;t there?<\/em>&#8220;<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>TL:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Yes.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Well you&#8217;re the person in charge of clinical recruitment for our team, aren&#8217;t you?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>TL:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Uumm&#8230;.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;We&#8217;ll leave it at that shall we? I&#8217;ll take it you won&#8217;t be reporting this &#8220;incident&#8221;.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>TL:<\/strong>\u00a0&#8220;Goodnight Taff.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nice way to start the week; I&#8217;m walking into the office on a Monday morning, when I spot our shrink, Rebecca, coming out. I thought I&#8217;d take the opportunity to catch up with her, and what had happened on my days off. But she beat me to it; <em>&#8220;Glad I caught you Taff, there&#8217;s a bit of a problem, your client Joe X stabbed someone in the face on the weekend.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>You can tell she&#8217;s a Pom can&#8217;t you? <em>&#8220;A bit of a problem&#8221;<\/em> FFS!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ok, so one of our kids has been deteriorating, which is a shame. So I get her in on an emergency appointment, and our shrink starts her on a new medicine. These have to be titrated (gradually upped,) in doses of 50 mg until she&#8217;s on the full dose of 300 mg. She&#8217;s known as a bugger for stopping taking them, so we warn parents they are going to have to be extra vigilant. They agree that she will be full time monitored by them.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>The next day,<\/strong><\/em> I get a phone call;\u00a0<em>&#8220;Can you keep an eye on her, we&#8217;ve decided to go to a party in Sydney for the weekend.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Fuck me pink! So I do her meds over the weekend as I&#8217;m rostered on. Parents come back on Sunday night. I give her the last of the titration doses. The next day I pop round to make sure they get the dose right.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong>\u00a0&#8220;<em>Ok, so she only needs one of these tablets a night now.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Mother:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;But she took five yesterday.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Me:<\/strong><em> &#8220;Yes, but those were 50 mg doses, this one is the full 300 mg.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Mother:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;So why have they changed her meds?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;They haven&#8217;t, it&#8217;s the same stuff she had before in a 300 mg tablet.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Mother:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;So she gets how many?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Just the one every night at around 6.0 pm&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Mother:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;But she was on five before.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Yes, but those were 50 mg doses, this one is the full 300 mg.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Mother:<\/strong> &#8220;So why have they changed her meds?&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Repeat until the cows are home, milked, shot and made into burgers. Mother is a teacher BTW.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>At the Post Office.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For some weeks after moving into the new gaff, as well as our own, we had other people&#8217;s mail redirected to us. Which was odd, and pissed me off a treat, as they got better stuff delivered than we did. So, being brave or stupid, I decided to help out by taking them into the post office to get it sorted. Why did I bother?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Hi there, we keep getting someone else&#8217;s mail redirected to us.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Stupid Post Office Bint:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;So where would you like the mail to go to?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Whoever it belongs to.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>SPOB:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Who are they?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;I haven&#8217;t the foggiest.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>SPOB:<\/strong><em>&#8220;So how come you&#8217;re getting their mail then?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know, I want it stopped though. They have a redirect to our address&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>SPOB:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Why is that happening?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know, but can you put a stop to it?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>SPOB:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;I&#8217;ll go as Wendy if she knows&#8230;&#8221;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>So she buggers off for 10 minutes, has a cuppa, and comes back with another stupid bint.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>SPOB2:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;What&#8217;s the problem?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Me:<\/strong><em> &#8220;We keep getting someone else&#8217;s mail redirected to us.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>SPOB2:<\/strong> &#8220;<em>How come you&#8217;re getting their mail then? Who are they? \u00a0That shouldn&#8217;t be happening!&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <strong>Me:<\/strong> <\/span><em><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">&#8220;Should we swap sides of the counter<\/span>?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the end they took the mail off and, I don&#8217;t know, maybe they put a fucking curse on it or something, but at least it stopped.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not the only one dealing with idiots, had this email from Lee-Anne recently;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">I<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> had a run in with one of our \u2018beggars\u2019 earlier today.I think he came off worse.\u00a0He come up to me and said something. (I dunno what. Sounded like <em>\u201cWe need a witness\u201d<\/em>.)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> I said \u2013 <em>\u201cI am sorry, could you please repeat that, I am quite deaf.\u201d<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> He then started making excessively loud &#8220;spastic&#8221; noises and mimed some kind of idiots sign language.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> I stared at him, lent in and shouted;\u00a0<em><strong>\u201cFUCK OFF!!\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> I then turned and walked away, hoping he didn\u2019t follow. He didn\u2019t.\u00a0I do wish the Beggar-Be-Gone spray would\u00a0work!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">That&#8217;s my girl!<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>My own fuck ups;<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rossnoble.co.uk\/\">We saw Ross Noble<\/a>, he&#8217;s always good value.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/ross1_f_improf_300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-mce-width=\"300\" data-mce-height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the things I love about his act is he always does a Q&amp;A session with the audience at the end, which he &#8220;improvs&#8221; wonderfully during. Of course, what with me being a complete comedian groupie\/whore, I had to chip in.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Ross Noble;\u00a0<\/strong><em>&#8220;Right who has a question?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Who you voting for next week Ross?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>RN:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Not bloody Plaid Cymru, that&#8217;s for certain!&#8221;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">(He then went off on a great rant on how he had got Green Party policy on motorbikes changed a week before the election. It&#8217;s true. He did!)<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>RN:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Who will you be voting for?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Mebyon Kernow*!&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>RN:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Maybe the Colonel?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;The Cornish nationalist party.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>RN:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Great. So when the Cornish international pasty industry fails, the Cornish tin industry goes tits up, oh hang about, it already has hasn&#8217;t it?, and the Cornish groat is in recession, and the Cornish national parliament is selling Cornish virgin daughters at a discount rate to prop up the economy, will you be siding with the national army of Cornwall against the invading Breton army who are coming over the border?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Me:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Yup!&#8221;<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>RN:<\/strong>\u00a0&#8220;<em>You really haven&#8217;t thought this &#8220;Cornish nationalism&#8221; idea through have you?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">* TBH; I wouldn&#8217;t vote for those arseholes if they were the last party available, I just wanted to throw him a curve ball.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Ok, before going to see Ross Noble we&#8217;re in the pub. Lee-Anne goes to get the beers, and I perch on a high bar stool in the window, to do some people watching. She comes back with a beer for me and a wine for herself. I start giggling. Of course, being Lee-Anne she has to know what I&#8217;m chuckling about, she gave me hard time before I gave in. But even then I had to text her;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">&#8220;I didn&#8217;t see that someone had sat on that low stool behind me. The poor cow, her head&#8217;s level with my arse. I had dried fruit with my lunch, and I&#8217;ve been letting off &#8220;silent but deadly&#8221; farts for the last ten minutes, farting like a fruitbat in fact. I doubt she&#8217;ll enjoy her meal!&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This of course started Lee-Anne giggling, and we were soon rather helpless.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One night at work when it was due to piss down with rain, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bom.gov.au\/products\/IDR403.loop.shtml\">according to the Met radar<\/a>, I noticed the gate to the director&#8217;s car park was open, and was obviously stuck. It&#8217;s one of those which opens automatically, when a director swipes a card.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Great&#8221;, I&#8217;ll stick my the car under there, and I&#8217;ll not get soaked when walking to it&#8221;<\/em>, I thought.<em> &#8220;Why should the directors get all the luxury?&#8221;<\/em> I informed my colleague Steve, who was working with me that evening, of my cunning plan. <em>&#8220;Good thinking Taff, I&#8217;ll go stick mine under.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So come the end of the shift (9.00 pm,) we walk out to find&#8230;.Some kind person had pulled the gate shut, and chained and padlocked it.\u00a0There were only two cars in there. Mine and Steve&#8217;s, no fucking expensive poncey directors cars at all, so why did they bother locking it?<\/p>\n<p>Steve phones his missus, she came and picked us up and drove me home.<em>\u00a0It didn&#8217;t rain at all that night.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We had to get back into work at 7.45 am to remove our cars before the directors, those whose parking spaces we had nicked, got in and had us clamped. The worse of it was we were both on evening shifts, and didn&#8217;t need to be there until 12.30 pm.\u00a0Arse!!<\/p>\n<p>Doesn&#8217;t end there. Lee-Anne had a plan, she&#8217;d get Mary to come and collect us, drop me off at the office to rescue the car, then drop her into work, and then drive herself\u00a0home.\u00a0This is the most efficient way, roughly three sides of a triangle.<\/p>\n<p>Mary of course had other ideas. She insisted she drove to our place, Lee-Anne dropped her back home, then Lee-Anne dropped me off at work, came back to Mary&#8217;s place to pick her up, then the two of them drove into Lee-Anne&#8217;s office, from where Mary would drive home.<\/p>\n<p>This is roughly six sides of the same fucking triangle. There&#8217;s no rhyme or reason there at all, is there?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Mate Hate.<\/h3>\n<p>I just got this (edited) mail off someone who shall remain anonymous. Envy much?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">I finish work for good\u00a0next Friday. We pick up our new motorhome- <a href=\"http:\/\/www.swiftgroup.co.uk\/motorhomes\/swift\/bolero\/layouts\">a Swift Bolero 680 fb<\/a> the following day.\u00a0That gives me a week to sort it out &#8211; fit a solar panel etc and then we are off for two weeks touring around Wales or the Peak District. When we get back Jen goes back to work and I pick up gardening work about two days a week and go flying.\u00a0We go out to Slovenia for a weeks paragliding early September and then mid November we head to Spain and Portugal for 3 months.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t begrudge them<em> &#8230;much&#8230;\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Corporate\u00a0stupidity.<\/h3>\n<p>Why do you have two photos of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.glad.com.au\/glad-products\/food-management\/glad-wrap\/\">&#8220;Glad Wrap&#8221;<\/a> packaging in the gallery Taff?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/glad2_f_improf_300x173.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"173\" data-mce-width=\"300\" data-mce-height=\"173\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Look closely, do you see the warning about dangerous sharp cutting edges? Notice anything?<\/p>\n<p>Yes, you don&#8217;t get to see the warnings until you&#8217;ve opened the packaging, which tears just where the hidden sharp edge is. \u00a0Neat eh? Lee-Anne cut herself a treat on that.<\/p>\n<p>I wrote to them on twitter. They said they&#8217;d change it, and asked if we needed any further help. I let them know we could cut ourselves up without further help.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is a doozey! Read the small print.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/more_f_improf_300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-mce-width=\"300\" data-mce-height=\"200\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I damn near wet myself. Though at least their logic cannot be faulted.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Bethy Stuff.<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bmac.com.au\/Adventures\/Canyoning\/Overview\">Bethy&#8217;s been canyoning with these people.\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0Yep, just to give her poor mother and myself heart failure, she told us that her and two mates had decided to throw themselves down deep canyons and into water. I don&#8217;t know where she gets them sorts of ideas from, you wouldn&#8217;t catch me doing anything risky.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll let her tell all in her own words.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">The night we got there we set up the tent while a wind train was pulling into station. Three tents nearby were torn to shreds. One was completely flattened, and another was being taken down hastily by their owners. We were advised to maybe go to a hostel and not camp. We decided, Cape Diem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">I have never more diligently set up a tent before in my life. That night we ate cheeseburgers in the tent, with ample chips. Great burgers I must say. As we fell asleep, you could hear the wind rushing up the side of the plateau, loud. Then a three seconds gap before it hit our tent. <strong>*Bam bam bam!*<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">The next day we were told by the instructor, \u00a0Marty, that we&#8217;d do a dry canyon (too cold), so no wetsuits. Which is why in the pictures I am wearing trackydacks. Set out with all the packs packed. My pack was called Porter, ironically I was carrying all the ropes. Sowon was Gladstone and Stephanie was Kedumba (she is a #keduma sometimes).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">First abseil was a 15m, steady easy drop. To test our skills, which were great. Beautiful views, but windier than you (Taff) after beans. The second abseil 30m, almost entirely free drop, spinning around I could so the entirety of the blue mountains range, out toward the pastures and Jenolan caves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Before this abseil I asked Stephanie, who&#8217;s one assigned was to bring the camera (which she had and was water and shock proof) at the bottom of the drop we all walked back up together. It was at this time stephanie told me we could only take 3 photos because we (she) forgot the memory card.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/received_884152481649140_resized_f_improf_187x250.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"187\" height=\"250\" data-mce-width=\"187\" data-mce-height=\"250\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bmac.com.au\/Adventures\/Canyoning\/Intermediate\/Juggler-Canyon\">Then we went to a place called Juggler canyo<\/a>n. Abseiled down into the canyon and went scrambling through the canyon. Had lunch and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Billycan\">Billy tea<\/a> (sourced from the stream). The next abseil was tricky, and ended with the three of us abseil in down the wrong path following the waterfall, and getting a bit wet and cold. Trackie pants got soaked, thank good for my skins. Two more abseils out, one around a fallen tree, this is where the picture of Sowon was taken. Real Tolkien imagery.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/2015-04-13-19.08.22_resized_f_improf_187x250.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"187\" height=\"250\" data-mce-width=\"187\" data-mce-height=\"250\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">The last was another 30 m drop, free swinging, with a view into the fern gully, the photo of me abseiling was taken in this drop. We walked out of juggler and walked up and out of grand canyon (me sans sodden track pants), which again amazing views. A bit of a steep walk and a lolly break and one incredible view later we were done. The photo of all of us was taken at the van before we left. Marty speculated at the start of the day we&#8217;d be done by 5, 4:30 if we were good. We finished at 3. Because we are great.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/received_884153694982352_resized_f_improf_300x225.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-mce-width=\"300\" data-mce-height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Will definitely be doing it again. \u00a0This time with a memory card.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Eating Out<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/iori.com.au\/\">Iori<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I had my first ever proper Japanese meal at this place. I have had <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tripadvisor.com.au\/Restaurant_Review-g255057-d2221676-Reviews-Kagawa_Japanese_Cuisine-Canberra_Greater_Canberra_Australian_Capital_Territory.html\">lunch at this place<\/a>, and I now get<a href=\"http:\/\/www.herosushi.com.au\/store-location\/hero-sushi--woden-574.aspx\"> Sushi for dinner here<\/a>, but this was to be my first &#8220;Dining out&#8221; Japanese meal. I hadn&#8217;t eaten proper Japanese food before as, as most of you will know, \u00a0up until a couple of year ago I was a vegetarian. I now eat fish, but not meat. The setting is good, it actually takes you away from the fact that you are in a shitty inner-city central Canberra block, and feels authentic. (I have had vege meals in Japan.)<\/p>\n<p>The service was prompt, pleasant and friendly. The waitress in traditional dress, though Caucasian, was excellent.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/iori1_f_improf_187x250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"187\" height=\"250\" data-mce-width=\"187\" data-mce-height=\"250\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Meals were served quickly and efficiently. The variety of food was superb, and there was ample choice for most tastes. I had the &#8220;Spirit of Tasmania&#8221;, which was a play on Salmon, presenting it 5 ways, plus sides. It was excellent. Others in our party had varieties form Beef to sashimi, all thoroughly enjoyed. (I wish I&#8217;d had sashimi as a side.) The portions were good but not generous. It is obviously very popular, and rightly so.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/iori5_f_improf_300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-mce-width=\"300\" data-mce-height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The only reason I&#8217;m not giving\u00a0a better review\u00a0is that it is\u00a0fucking pricey\u00a0 for the portions, most of which is just raw fish, served. Four of us, one course each, with two beers and a wine, $200, (and muggins here was paying natch!)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/iori6_f_improf_300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-mce-width=\"300\" data-mce-height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I had cheese on toast when I got home.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jamieoliver.com\/italian\/australia\/restaurants\/canberra\">Jamie&#8217;s Italian Canberra<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A real game of two halves this one.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/la-at-jo2_f_improf_187x250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"187\" height=\"250\" data-mce-width=\"187\" data-mce-height=\"250\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On the plus side; our waitress\/waitperson\/whateverispoliticallycorrect, a lovely Indian lass, was great, (and earned a good tip.) The food was good, just good, nothing earth shattering. Reasonably but well cooked, if a little hastily presented. The choice of dishes was small, but varied enough. The drinks were<em>&#8230;ok&#8230;..<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On the down side; the restaurant is noisy, cramped and they have very odd payment and billing things system. It&#8217;s <em>NOT<\/em> authentic Italian, and there was no atmosphere, it all seemed pressured. If I want fast food I go to<em>\u00a0&#8230;well&#8230;.<\/em>\u00a0actually I never eat fast food, but still, you get my drift?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/la-at-jo3_f_improf_187x250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"187\" height=\"250\" data-mce-width=\"187\" data-mce-height=\"250\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s bloody odd. It&#8217;s not bad, don&#8217;t get me wrong. If you want a quick, reasonably tasty meal, at a reasonable price ($120 for two people, starter plus mains, including drinks) then it&#8217;s fine. But dining out? Nah. Romantic meal? Nope. Authentic cooking? Nup. Evening out? Forget it.<\/p>\n<p>I cannot see the target audience for this place. People who are scared of, too skint for, fine dining?<\/p>\n<p>Anyway. Not bad, not good.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Odds and sods.<\/h3>\n<p>Remember the little sign I bought for the car as a silly &#8220;Santa stocking &#8221; gift for Lee-Anne? Well Ginger has been working on it, and it now looks rather more apt!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/nuff-said_f_improf_300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" data-mce-width=\"300\" data-mce-height=\"199\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The weather has been good (i.e. fucking foul,) for \u00a0a couple of weeks, but we&#8217;ve yet to have snow. It&#8217;s given my landscape images a boost though.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/arb_f_improf_300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-mce-width=\"300\" data-mce-height=\"200\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/painter3_f_improf_300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" data-mce-width=\"300\" data-mce-height=\"199\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The one below we&#8217;ve had printed up big, (24 x 16 inches) on canvas, for the mother in law&#8217;s birthday gift.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/galleries\/april%2015\/index.html#\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/_d_improd_\/mary-s_f_improf_600x399.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" data-mce-width=\"600\" data-mce-height=\"399\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>My Facebooking has come on a treat, so much so that someone suggested it should now be called &#8220;Taffbook&#8221;. My <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/?page_id=1755\">&#8220;Cooking with Taff<\/a>&#8221; sessions are eagerly anticipated the world over.<\/p>\n<p>I just realised I&#8217;ve seen three choirs, but no bands at all, this year for far. I&#8217;m getting stale.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TTFN old chums, why not leave me a note below?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More of the usual bollocks from me. Enjoy! &nbsp; &nbsp; There&#8217;s a couple of new poems, at least one new &#8220;Cooking with Taff&#8221; episode, but fortunately no new music this month. Yet again I&#8217;ve blocked it up into sections, and &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/?p=1700\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}