Oodles of poodles

The floors are being polished, the insides painted and cupboards put in place - but I can't tell you what it looks like because we have been uprooted again.  This time for 10 days in glorious Alphington. The fun just never stops.

We are housesitting while J&P are in Hawaii.

For a while there we were house sharing as J&P had bought airfares so cheap they were indeed too good to be true and the airline, Australian Air, collapsed. P had left ahead of J so we spent a weekend with her before she got on her replacement return Qantas fare that sucked up all her frequent flyer points as well as some cash. P is coming back on Aloha airlines (or something like that) as part of an Hawaiin rescue package.

I've known J&P for over twenty years and when I lived in Alphington in the same street, was round there about twice a week - you know to borrow the lawn mower or to see if they had the missing ingredient for a curry I was half way through cooking. In all that time I never noticed how dark their place is.  It is very beautiful but there is lots of dark wood - furniture, architraves (yes I'm getting to know building jargon), mantlepieces and other features (there's a limit to the technical terms I can pour out).
Not only is it dark, but each room has a ten watt globe.

G and I have been sitting outside reading by the moonlight. This might sound romantic, but given the size of the garden and the warm evenings, we have to battle with mozzies. J&P have a stash of green mosquito coils and we are burning through them.

Then there are the poodles to contend with. P told me that I needed to understand that the dogs ruled everything.  He wasn't joking. The first night they kept diving on the bed, no matter how many times we threw them out.  However, fortunately they are scared of tall men. All Guy has to do is point towards the door and they're out.

Below is a photo is one of the dogs after she saw J's itinerary and realised how long she had to wait until she could sleep on a proper bed again.

We're also keeping very calm.  Both dogs can get excited about just about anything and nearly jump out of their black curly skins when we do something remotely interesting - like stand up or sit down.

But I haven't spent all my time in the house. Out and about in downtown Fairfield I walked past the back of a Vietnamese restaurant. At first my eyes were drawn to a maze of wiring - a bit like crazed black hokien noodles- but dangerou. Then I noticed the little shrine on top of the grafiittied hot water service. It had little blue plastic containers of rice, and an offering of fruit to the God, Vulcan. Very steamy, very Asian atmosphere.