Rhonda Bracey: At Random

So here I am in Perth, at my hairdresser’s. He’s finished the cut and colour and is now doing the wash out and rinse. But the water is COLD – freezing in fact! Enough to turn my toes. *I* think the hot water system has carked it, so ask him to turn off the cold to see what happens… and it gets even colder! Then he remembers that the plumber was here yesterday and realises that the taps are now round the wrong way…

Lucky he spends most of his time cutting! He’d lose customers if he was always responsible for the shampooing. And he’s lucky I’ve been going to him for a VERY long time and was prepared to forgive him.

Did I mention that it’s winter and was 4C overnight in Perth last night?? A cold wet head at 6pm is NOT what I wanted!

That awesome voice guy I wrote about the other day, won that British talent show and will now sing for the Queen. Details: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,21924030-10229,00.html

The latest PC Guru newsletter had a link to this 4-minute YouTube video of a contestant on “Britain’s Got Talent”. Absolutely awesome… it brought tears to *my* eyes.

If you can’t see it, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA

My husband has a milestone birthday today, so I’m taking the day off and we’re going to Mt Barker for lunch… as you do!

Mt Barker is in the heart of the Great Southern wine district of Western Australia, so we hope to taste some nice wines, have a nice lunch, then come home. It’s about 2+ hours drive from here.

We expect that all the farm country will be green as we’re now into winter. Which also means it’s likely to be cool, rainy, and grey. Hmmmm… sitting by a nice log fire at a country pub or winery for lunch sounds good!

Update: We had a *lovely* day yesterday. As expected, it was ‘as green as’ on the drive over to Mt Barker. We had a very spartan and – for what we got – a very expensive steak sandwich lunch at the Plantagenet Hotel, which was the biggest disappointment of the day. Then we stopped in at Plantagenet Winery to try (and buy!) some of their lovely Omrah range. We also took a detour to Ferngrove Winery near Frankland, and spent QUITE a bit of time there. It was just delightful! Massive tasting room, terrific range of wines, good service, and just a lovely afternoon. We were the only ones there, which meant that we had all the attention. Can’t get better than that! It was just over an hour’s drive home the back way from Ferngrove to Bridgetown, and we had to go slower as it was dusk (watch out for roos!) and the road is pretty narrow and winding. Then to top it all off, we had a delicious dinner at the Bridgetown Hotel (grilled sirloin with a to-die-for cognac sauce, layer potatoes, and fresh veges). A lovely day.

More photos here: http://travel.webshots.com/album/71773727xgkIhB?start=132

I saw this video on YouTube today – I found the link in a comment on one of the tech writing blogs I read. Unbelievable footage! It’s 8 minutes – make sure you watch the whole way through to see the full effect of the power of the mob.

If you can’t see it, try this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

I’m a big fan of animated movies, though I think they’ve gone off a little since Finding Nemo. However, I just saw a trailer for a new Disney/Pixar movie “Ratatouille” being released on June 29 (US only?), and it made me smile! Here’s the trailer from YouTube:

If you can’t view it from this site, try: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3sBBRxDAqk

We took some time out yesterday to go to Manjimup to do some shopping and have lunch. One of our last stops was to see what the Manjimup Trading Company had in store (they were closed the last time we were in Manji). Amongst all the farm stuff were some wellington boots – and these highly cute rain boots! I would have bought the leopard print ones (really!) but they didn’t have my size. So I got the denim-look ones, and christened them today out in the wet grass and clay soil of the backyard so they’re not as pristine now!