Ganeida's Knots

“Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers.” Nikita Khrushchev

Brisbane City Council has visions of being a regional & world city. I can't see it myself. Anyone who's read here for a while knows I have a rather passionate dislike of our capital city. There is something decidedly wrong with people who build a city on both sides of a meandering, winding river & then proceed to build 13, that's right 13! bridges [& more being built] across that river.

I might forgive council if they signposted anything but they don't. I am so tired of finding myself going the wrong way up a one way street! Oh, & Brisbane is ugly. Really, really ugly. It undulates so there are smoggy little pockets all over the place, heat ridden, mozzie infested hell holes. Nope, I don't like Brisbane.

Brisbane is not where I wanted to be today. Definitely not. I was in migraine recovery. I spent a good part of yesterday trying to sleep it off with limited success. Migraines are like that. They hang round making you feel icky & wishing your household understood the meaning of quiet & that the sun didn't shine quite so brightly. So after Ditz's piano lesson I planned to revisit my bed. I like my bed ~ particularly when I'm feeling icky.

That was my plan. Unfortunately Dearest had switched on his computer & the monitor was not talking to the computer & when that happens he can't use the thingy that magnifies his stamps so he can tell which are the super expensive ones that are going to make us very, very rich one day. Yes, that's sarcasm you hear. Stamps = coloured bits of paper; good for lighting fires. When bits of the computer aren't talking to other bits of the computer Liddy & I have to round the various bits up & lug it all in to town so they can fix it. Major pain in the proverbial! If I'd had to drive it wouldn't have happened.

We have done this so often you'd think we'd have it figured out by now but as I've said before Brisbane is a maze of one way streets & bad signposting. All it takes is one wrong turn. We invariably make that one wrong turn. Liddy heads for water with the unerring homing instinct of a salmon! Head for water round Brisbane & you invariably find yourself crossing one of the 13 Brisbane bridges which takes you to the wrong side of the river! Getting back again requires a PHD in navigation ~ something neither Liddy nor I have managed.

So it was with some dismay I watched Brisbane River pass under the Victoria Bridge taking us deep into the Brizzie heartland. Liddy followed the traffic while urging me to find the refedex & the map & where we were on the map ~ which would be easier if Brisbane ever bothered to signpost anything! As we were dragged out of sight of the river we became more & more disorientated. Liddy began to lose her cool. I began turning the map round hopelessly trying to work out where we were. Words were exchanged.

As I am wrong when directing at least as often as I am right I invariably defer to Liddy's judgement & Liddy is wrong as often as she is right, just she sounds more confident about what she's doing. End result, we missed the turn for the Story Bridge first time round!

Meanwhile a 45 minute trip had turned into an hour & 45 minutes & time to get to the computer shop before they shut was seeping away. We were getting more than a little frazzled as we shot back over the Story Bridge & I found myself reading the map back to front ~ which did not help matters at all! Luckily by then Liddy was recognising landmarks & sort of knew where she was. We shot into the computer place with 10 minutes to spare before closing. The techie replaced the graphic chip in about 2 seconds & we were back out the door before they were officially shut for the day.

Forty~five minutes later we were back at the jetty loading the computer on to a boat & somewhere along the way I had lost my glasses. Without them I'm pretty blind. No, not a happy bunny. Please do not suggest practising Christian patience & forbearance. All my household retain their heads. I haven't killed anyone. I even managed not to swear ~ though that was a close call when Liddy headed straight over the nearest bridge! Did I mention I hate Brisbane.

Images thanks to Figaro.