The Rare and Lesser Spotted Bubble Bath

One of things I find surprising about living in Australia is the distinct lack of bubble bath.  I can't remember when I first noticed this but it's cropped up on more than one occasion.  I remember the shops in England - Boots, Super Drug, even Tesco - used to have like a whole shelf dedicated to bubble bath and all things bathtime.  Not just stuff for the kids either.  This was full on luxury.  Bubble bath, bath salts, bath oils.  Bubble bath came in a mass of different shapes, sizes, colours, flavours and smells.  Bubble bath was everywhere.  But try to find bubble bath here and you'll be lucky.  Our local Woolworths stocks just two types.  A single version of Radox and an industrial looking yellow one that's meant to sooth dry skin.  That is it.  Nothing else.  I thought I'd have more luck in the pharmacy but oh no, they don't stock it all.  Not a god damned thing.  Honestly, what is a person supposed to buy that random female friend at Christmas if they can't buy a pretty selection of bath salts.  I used to have a collection on the go in England.  I couldn't get through it quick enough. Now that's a thing of the past.  Bubble bath is a rare and incredible thing.  I can only put this down to the weather and even made mention of this to the bored looking sales girl in the pharmacy.  I figure with all the cold weather then us Brits like to indulge with a bubble bath on a fairly regular basis.  Maybe because the weather is so nice here the Aussies don't have the need to defrost themselves in a hot tub.  I don't know.  I'd say there's a gap in the market for a bubble bath shop but what do I know.  Maybe there's not enough demand.  There's demand here though.  Little Stalky demands bubble bath!

New Plants!

Left to right:  Floppy coriander, bushy mint, flowering thyme,
ridiculously green parsley, healthy rosemary, not so healthy
oregano, baby chilli plant, blooming lemon tree, baby
strawberry, big strawberry and Mr and Mrs Tomato

I'm pleased to introduce the latest additions to Little Stalky's balcony garden.  A new chilli plant, two new tomato plants (baby Roma to be precise), a new parsley plant and, for the first time ever, a coriander plant.  And I can already hear Rabby groaning.  I've been advised against trying to grow coriander but I figured for $3.00 I may as well give it a shot.  If it doesn't happen then at least I've got a round of coriander for my chilli con carne that's only about 50c more expensive than what I would have bought in Woolies.  Actually, upon buying my coriander I even bumped into a friend who said she'd never had any success with growing coriander.  Apparently they go to seed very quickly.  They'll freak out if they dry out.  No chance of that at the moment.  You can probably see from the photograph, the the balcony is looking a bit soggy today.  The new plants are getting a drenching.  But they seem happy enough.  I picked them up yesterday at the produce markets in town and was thrilled to come away with my new plant buddies.  Now I'm trying to persuade Mystical Roo to take me to Bunnings so that I can get me some potting soil and some food for the lemon tree.  I figure I'll repot the tomatoes and the chilli but I'll leave the parsley and the coriander alone.  I know parsley is sensitive and doesn't like to be moved and he fared very well in his little pot last time.  Coriander sounds like the sensitive type too so I think I'll leave him be.  I'm loving spring.  New plants, current plants in bloom and a winning battle against the fruit flies.  All I need to do now is plant my seeds and see how I go with the rocket and the sweet basil.  Everything is good except for the fact that I think my oregano has died.  You can sort of see him lurking in the background - in the white bucket.  Not looking overly healthy.  I'll see how he goes but if he decides to head into the big compost bin in the sky - or rather, the little compost bin on my balcony, it will be ok.  He had a good innings.  

The Myna

There appear to be new residents on the balcony and they're not of the plant type.  They're of the bird type.  But I'm pretty sure they're not in league with Will.  These two are what I believe to be Myna birds.  They seem to be very common here in Australia but from what I've heard are not indigenous.  These birds are frowned upon, though I'm not really sure why.  Something to do with bullying other birds?  They don't look like bullies to me.  But what do I know.  Any how, these two Mynas have come to hang out on the balcony almost every day for the last month.  I notice them because of their distinctive call.  And their penchant for eating fruit flies.  Oh yes.  They eat the fruit flies.  Now I don't want to jinx it but these birds seem to be the perfect addition to the balcony.  They eat the fruit flies but they don't eat the fruit.  They leave the plants alone and have never once pooped only the balcony.  They tend to hop about for a bit, munching on the flies and then fly up onto the wall and just sit there for a while.  They seem content.  And I'm happy to let them go about their business.  Any bird that tackles the fruit flies whilst leaving my plants alone is more than welcome. 

The Alarm Clock That Never Stopped

As we're often on very different schedules for actually getting out of bed, Mystical Roo and I have separate alarm clocks.  Actually, he has the alarm clock and I use my phone.  I think Mystical Roo uses his phone too.  As a somewhat deep sleeper at times, he needs a double whammy to wake him up.  The thing is, when the sun is shining, when I have lots to do, I'm inclined to get up with Mystical Roo.  And this tends to be quite early.  My alarm clock, my phone, is rendered superfluous for that morning.  But I forget to actually turn my alarm clock off.  And at 06.30 it starts to chime away, playing Fur Elise over and over and over and over...........And no matter where I am (unless I've actually left the house without my phone - yeah right), no matter what I'm doing, I can always hear the alarm.  If the TVs on I can hear the alarm.  If I'm in the shower I can hear the alarm.  If I'm on the balcony I can hear the alarm.  And I know what you're thinking - great alarm!  Yes, it does it's job.  But it never stops.  You'd think after half an hour the thing would just give it up.  I'm awake already!  But it never does.  It goes on and on.  And I should just go and turn the thing off but it always feels like such an effort to go back into the bedroom to silence the phone.  But there's only so much Fur Elise a person can take in the morning.