Tim has been gone this week. But it has been ok.
Because before he left, we installed an electric blanket on the bed. All I have to do is remember to turn on the blanket about 90 minutes before I go to bed. Then, after climbing into those cold pajamas and brushing my teeth, I crawl between the covers and they are ... Oh! So snuggly warm! I forget to miss Tim.
The weather hasn't been too bad. Highs in the 15s, lows in the 5s. Occasional rain. But the bedroom is still very cold at night. Having an electric blanket keeps me from getting too cold and lonely.
As for Tim, he has been missing a lot. For example, last weekend was Open House Melbourne, when a lot of buildings all over the city and suburbs open their doors to the public. I put it on my calendar, and I dragged Jonathan with me to see as many buildings as we could in two hours.
We started at Parliament House, where the state government meets.
And then we visited a couple of churches nearby.
And a historic residence.
And then more churches. And then more churches. There were signs for Open House Melbourne all down the street, meaning a building was open Right There! I would tell Jonathan, "Let's go in!"
He would roll his eyes and say, "Another church? Please no!"
There must be about fifty churches on Colins Street. Eventually even I gave up on the idea of seeing them all. And we went home. Next year, we'll go see the churches on the next block over!
We had three other adventures as well, in between snuggly nights with my electric blanket.
The first was our first ever university open house, on Sunday. Jonathan has decided to go to more, so I think I may save them all up and write in bulk later.
Our second adventure was Wednesday evening. On Wednesday, I had a visitor from France who spoke in my seminar at work. For dinner, he suggested that Jonathan and I meet him at the Queen Victoria Night Market. Now, Jonathan and I have gone to the Queen Victoria Market many times on a Saturday. But on Wednesday, for the night market, it is completely different. There is food and music and some shopping, but mostly food and music.
And people. It was very crowded.
That picture does not do justice to the crowded-ness of the market. After elbowing our way through the crowds, we grabbed food at a Brazilian barbecue and found a bench to eat it on. As we ate (and ate and ate), the visitor began chatting with Jonathan in French. He suggested that Jonathan should take all of his university funds and head to France for a degree, because university there is basically free. Wait, free? Even for international students? That sounds pretty good to me. Who can argue with free?
Although there was more food than we could eat from the Brazilian barbecue, we made one more stop on our way out:
Early the next morning, Jonathan came running down the hall in excitement. It turns out that Katy Perry was at the Queen Victoria Night Market on Wednesday as well! His news feed said so! Go look again at that crowd picture I took. Do you see her? She must have been Right There... somewhere.
Adventure three. Thursday, Jonathan had no school because of parent-teacher conferences. Wait, you ask, wasn't Jonathan's last parent teacher conference on a day that Tim was gone? Yes. Yes in fact it was.
So Jonathan came to work with me and decorated the whiteboards and adjusted all my office chairs to tip too far forward.
And then we caught a train to the parent teacher conference. But the bus that was supposed to meet us at the train station and take us to the high school never arrived. So we took a taxi.
Wait, didn't we have to take a taxi last time, too? Yes. Yes indeed we did.
And was the parent teacher conference worth the effort of getting there?
Well, we had five minutes with each teacher. None of them had much to say. And then we got home late and tired. ...
I don't know. I know you're supposed to go to these conferences to get your parental badge of honor. But I really think these are a waste of time.... Don't tell that to the parental honor badge people. My badge is already in jeopardy for feeding the family too much Mac and Cheese from a box. And I've already forfeited entirely the spousal badge of honor.
But that's ok, because I have an electric blanket.
