Jumping Pillows

I had never heard of a jumping pillow until I moved to Australia and started working in a holiday park.  Someone once asked if we had a jumping pillow and I pictured a bedroom style, bedroom sized pillow.  After initial confusion I confirmed that we did not have a jumping pillow.  I then set about finding an Australian to explain to me exactly what a jumping pillow was.  As it turns out a jumping pillow is almost like a bouncy castle, though without the sides and roof.  It's a massive inflatable pillow that kids can jump on.  I encountered my first real life jumping pillow when we went camping last weekend.  Exciting times.  There were no rules to say the jumping pillow was not for adults and we figured that as long as there were no children using it then there would be no harm in us having a quick bounce.  And bounce is what we did.  We bounced high, we bounced low, we bounced sideways.  We bounced for less than a minute before becoming utterly out of breath and exhausted.  My God!  These things are so easy when you're a kid but put a grown woman on a jumping pillow and she becomes an exhausted mess.  Then of course there's the acrobatics.  You know, cartwheels and back flips and what not.  Apparently, once you hit your twenties, your body doesn't want to bend and flex in the same way it did when you were ten.  And it gets really cross with you the next day and shows you how cross it is with very achy muscles.  Jumping pillows are exhausting.  We were shown up by a young boy who turned up and started doing back flips.  Unable to do back flips ourselves we then started encouraging the boy to up his tricks.  One back flip.  Two back flips.  Three back flips.  After eight back flips in a row the kid seemed a little dizzy so we gave him a round of applause and then retreated back to our camp.  He probably went back to his mum to tell tales of a bedraggled group of adults demanding a show of back flips.  But that's the jumping pillow.  It brings out your inner child.  And whilst your inner child is demanding you leap around like a lunatic, your outer adult is screaming at you to stop.

Land Shark?

El Kenco recently brought a video to my attention that absolutely, one hundred percent, without a doubt, proves the existence of land dwelling sharks.  Or, as the lady in the video says, land shark.  I think it's a culture thing - she's American, I'm English (living in Australia) so to her it's a land shark and to me it's a land dwelling shark.  Either way, sharks that live on the land and not in the sea is obviously an international problem.  So I thought I'd throw the video out there as evidence of land dwelling shark activity.  Be warned Stalky blog readers, this video has many naughty words so if you're offended by that kind of thing then don't press play.

Balcony Dwelling, Strawberry Eating, Grape Hating Lizard

I've been aware of a lizard hanging out on the balcony of late.  He's not always there but every now and then he  pops out from behind the BBQ and says hello.  It's my belief that he now lives behind the BBQ.  I'm not really sure what lizards munch on but I decided that I would give him a strawberry.  And not just any strawberry but a strawberry from my very own garden.  What a lucky lizard.  It was at this point that Rabby informed me lizards were, are and probably continue to be carnivorous.  Still, I offered the lizard that strawberry anyway.  Of course as soon as I came over the lizard ran for cover, fearful of the giant lump that was lumbering towards him.  I made my offering and then returned to my seat.  It wasn't long before the lizard poked his head out and came to investigate.  He seemed highly interested in the strawberry and after eyeing it curiously he then proceeded to circle the strawberry before diving in head first.  That lizard mashed his face into the strawberry like it was the best treat in the world.  If I'd thought it was possible that lizard would have had his little lizard paws, claws, mits, wrapped around that strawberry.  He was loving it, coming up for air once in a while and opening and closing his mouth with a somewhat thoughtful expression on his face.  The lizard then spent the next ten minutes or so returning to his BBQ, coming back and circling the strawberry, mashing his face into the strawberry and then retreating.  So excited was I by this development that I decided to lay out an offering of grapes too.  Evidently the lizard does not like grapes because I haven't seen him since.

Step Away From the Magazine

Does anyone else get nosey when queuing at Woolworths?  Or at Coles.  I don't want to appear biased.  Whilst I'm waiting at the check out with my trolley full of stuff I find that I end up examining the contents of other people's trolley full of stuff.  I can't seem to help it.  I watch people unload their shopping onto the rubber belt (I'm sure it has an official name) and I find myself comparing shopping.  Comparing shopping or merely wondering how many cats a person has to be buying that much Felix.  Or Whiskers.  Again, I don't want to appear biased.  I don't want to be accused of product placement or anything like that.  Anyway, I got thinking about this today because whilst shopping in Woolworths this morning, Rabby and I were queued behind a woman who had nothing in her trolley but magazines.  Magazines.  And this wasn't just a few magazines but actual stacks of magazines.  And the weird thing?  It was all the same magazine.  No variety, no mixture, just one magazine.  Rabby and I exchanged raised eyebrows and I had to fight the urge to ask the woman why she was buying copious copies of just the one magazine.  She may well have sold out the shop.  If I had wanted that magazine - which I didn't - I would have been sorely disappointed.  Because one woman had just bought them all.  All of them.  And I can't help my curious nature.  I want to know why she was buying that many of just the one magazine.  Is she in the magazine?  Is she doing that thing you sometimes see in films where a person will try and buy all the newspapers in their town just so that someone they know won't see an incriminating story.  Was Woolworths just her first stop?  Was she headed to the newsagent next?  Maybe she just really likes the magazine.  Or maybe she really hates it.  Or maybe she owns the magazine and wanted to boost its sales.  There are so many questions and none of them are answered.  Tis a frustrating life that I lead.

Carrot That Tastes Like Soap or Soap That Looks Like Carrot

As a blogger it's interesting to see where your traffic comes from and it's somewhat astonishing to realise that people from all around the world are reading your random ramblings.  What's even more astonishing though is the search terms that seem to lead people to Little Stalky World.  I check this out from time to time and whilst some people are also concerned about what might be eating their lemon tree there are an awful lot of people searching for carrot that tastes like soap.  I think this is what I find most surprising.  Why are so many people searching for carrot that tastes like soap?  Is there some sort of problem with the carrots out there or is there a genuine market for people who want carrot that tastes like soap.  And what do these people think when they read my post about the time I was eating carrot that tastes like soap?  Are they relieved that they're not the only ones out there who've eaten carrot that tastes like soap (I know I am.)  Or they simply bemused at the bizarreness of the eating of carrot that tastes like soap.  I've been pondering this only because this seems to be the most popular search term that brings people to my blog.  I honestly didn't realise that there were so many other people also thinking about carrot that tastes like soap.  It seems there really is a problem with the carrots out there and perhaps someone - I don't know who - needs to address it.  Is it a problem with the carrots or is it a problem with those of us eating the carrots?  Is there a faulty taste bud that makes certain carrots taste like soap.  Or, as I think I might have discussed before, is there some psycho out there, making soap, carving it into a carrot like shape, sneaking into the grocery stores and fruit and veg shops and swapping the normal carrots with carrot shaped soap.  Who would do that?  A soap psycho.  But what do I know?  I'm just the girl who rambles on about carrot that tastes like soap.  Now I've put carrot that tastes like soap so many times in this blog that maybe the people who are searching for carrot that tastes like soap might well read this.  So, if  you've been searching for carrot that tastes like soap and you've stumbled across this blog, would you mind commenting and discussing your problems with carrot that tastes like soap.  Thank you.