Weekend IV

Another waterlogged weekend that wasn't quite able to make up its mind whether to be truly wintry or not. Saturday was a pottering kind of day that included dawdling through work left over from the week, and all those other little thingy kind of jobs that you tend to save for Saturdays. In the afternoon, we made a belated effort to actually do something weekendish and headed into hitherto unknown parts of the city for an Expotition (as Pooh would have put it). It was late in the day and that part of the city was quiet, making it one of those lovely times when you feel as though you have stepped out of your own world and into someone else's.
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My sister and I found a store which is like what we dream of owning if we actually had our own shop again. It was actually two businesses which shared a two-storey building. The bottom one was a collection of boutique new and very cool vintage clothes (oh, plus this amazing jewellery made by a Vietnam vet from melted-down bullet casings). The top floor (only accessible by a tiny, creaking staircase) was filled with gorgeous textiles (crocheted donuts and cupcakes, oh my!), gifts, and home decor. Plus, it was white-painted brick and had giant windows letting in the soft afternoon light, making it incredibly cosy.

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We browsed through delightful antique places, too, one of which is getting my award for Tidiest Antique Store ever. The neat lines and rows of silver jewellery and snuff boxes and all manner of other things -- labelled with immaculately-lettered little cards -- were a delight to my obsessive-compulsive little heart. We also came across a boxy little store which turned out to be a violin-maker's workshop. Oh my. Can we all shout 'Dickens character!' in unison? We pressed our noses to the window and looked in awe over the amazing array of finished and half-made instruments. Little pieces of curled-wood and half-formed pieces littered the work bench and it was so cool.
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Afterwards, we headed down to Southbank where the action at the markets was slowing down towards day's end, and finished up by having an earlyish dinner of fish and chips at The Deck Cafe. Home again and no washing up (yay!) so we sat to watch a very thrilling, very thought-provoking M. Night Shyamalan movie.
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Sunday everyone rose early for a trip northwards for a motorbike swapmeet. I stayed home with the little bro who wasn't too well, and we listened to music and read and had a slow breakfast. Too many late nights caught up with me and I had a nap before church, waking with that horrendous zombie feeling that always makes you wonder if it was worth it. Apparently it was, because the energy kicked in and church was a huge blessing. Not many turned up last night (combination of State Youth Games and the rain, maybe) but they missed a great sermon -- the final in The Grace Effect series. Jens shared an amazing quote from Spurgeon which I'll share with you all if I can hunt it out. It sort of takes the Gospel and pins it on you for right now and every moment to follow. Very good stuff.

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And Lauren and I were delighted because the new version of Persuasion was on the ABC last night. We'd been waiting eagerly for its release ever since we first heard of its making. The book has been special to us since we read it as part of an informal book club with a friend and I discovered Anne Elliot to be the Austen heroine I could most relate to (owing to an unfortunate penchant for too much introspection, probably). We celebrated the completion of the reading by watching the seventies mini-series of the story. Unfortunately though, it was, well, rather boring. Persuasion is quite an analytical story with not a lot of action; to drag it out over many hours didn't quite do it justice (it did make the highlights of the story seem Very Exciting Indeed, however). So we were thrilled to see the BBC tackle this new version -- and it lived up to expectations. There were a few tweaks with the storyline here and there and a few modern touches, but they didn't spoil it for me. If you're a fan of Austen and period dramas, I'm pretty sure you'll love Persuasion. The DVD is due for release in Australia the first of July. I'm thinking this'll be one to add to the collection.
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