Holidays Are Awesome

When it comes to spending money, the LSH* and I have two core weaknesses: books and DVDs. Back in Melbourne, there’s a Swirling Vortex of Fiscal Doom between JB Hi Fi and the comic shop guaranteed to extract a minimum of $40 on an average day, which is why I avoid that street unless all bills are paid. But holidays – ah, blissful holidays! – are a different matter. Where other people spend vast quantities of moolah on spas, luxury accomodation, souveniers and exotic locations, we buy books. Lots of them. (To give you a rough idea, we bought upwards of thirteen – each – on our honeymoon. Sufficed to say, our luggage was several kilos heavier on the return trip.)

Our current jaunt has proved no exception. Being a philosopher and, more particularly, a logician, the LSH tends to buy books with scintillating titles like Logic, Logic ang Logic (seriously), and is possibly the only person ever to be wildly excited by a 40% discount on Cambridge University Press textbook editions. Meanwhile, my own papery hoard has been enriched by the aquisition of no less than 11 titles:

– The Midnighters Trilogy (Scott Westerfeld);

– The Last Days (also by Scott Westerfeld);

– The Kingdom Beyond the Waves (Stephen Hunt);

– Perdido Street Station (China Mieville);

– The Book of Dead Philosophers (Simon Critchley);

– Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt ( R. T. Rundle Clark);

– The Alchemyst (Michael Scott);

– City of Saints and Madmen (Jeff VanderMeer); and

– Cairo Jim and Doris in Search of Martenaten (Geoffrey McSkimming). 

Thanks to a saved wedding voucher, we’ve also gained a rather large quantity of Doctor Who DVDs from the Tom Baker era – and for those who might protest the usage, really: we’ve got all the household stuff we could possibly need, and in any case, the giver would approve. All in all: a most satisfactory harvest. (And just to dispel the image of the LSH and I as a pair of sedentry layabouts, we’ve been out to Taronga Zoo, walked around the Blue Mountains and caught up with friends, too. We just love us some books.)

The Blue Mountains, speaking of which, were spectacular in just about every respect – we even got snowed on, which is a novelty in most of Australia and particularly for us. It was even cold enough to justify the purchase of what shall hereafter be referred to as the Coolest Hat Ever (which, given that I actually collect weird hats, is no small boast). Behold!

Nifty, eh?

 

* Long-Suffering Husband