The Naughty Corner

The cats were being particularly annoying yesterday evening.  Poppy was lying on the Big Persian (a rug, not a cat) angrily thumping her tail while Parsifal, as usual, was trying to swing the pictures, walking around and around the TV and yowling at the top of his voice.  I was trying to read.  Then Parsifal got annoyed with Poppy, responded to her invitation and pounced on her.  I gave them a burst of the water bottle which stopped things for a few minutes but soon they were at it again so I picked them both up and put them out on the balcony with both the doors shut.

I let them back after about ten minutes, fed them and then ignored them while I did my yoga.  There is nothing which cats hate more than being ignored and they have been both quiet and good ever since.  At the moment they are curled up together asleep with not a swung picture or a thumping tail in sight.

I have finally located the shelf where Coles keeps split peas (see "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud ..." ).  They are in a small section with the dried fruit and also have Moroccan and Mediterranean flavoured cous cous.  The proper cous cous is on the shelf with the pasta.  Don't ask ... their logic defeats me.  I have tried the Mediterranean flavour and don't like it all that much  -  I prefer the plain, wholemeal sort to be honest.

Being tired of buying and eating tough meat I took myself over to Lady Kitchener and bought their last meat tenderiser.  It is a most lethal implement, being metal spikes on one side and a flat wooden hammer on the other.  The only proper butcher around here is at The Boatshed in Cottesloe where they hang the meat for the requisite time and are willing to cut the skirt off a beef carcass for me.  But that involves a five-minute train ride and I am getting lazy with so many shops just down below.  Farmer Jack has better meat but, like almost everywhere nowadays, it all comes packaged, albeit vacuum sealed if it is in bulk.  Mostly I only go there to buy my coffee beans but should really explore the meat section more thoroughly one day.  They do have nice sausages, I know that and if the need arises that is where I buy them.