Cafe #31: Degraves St Espresso

Date: 28 December 2007, 7.30pm
Location: Degraves St, City
Coffee: $3.30 - latte, weakish
Reading: The End of History and the Last Man

This is a well-frequented and very popular cafe. Degraves and Flinders lanes are cute, funky, very Melbourne, though I'm not sure of the tourist-to-local ratio. I'd assume it's more local as I don't know if the tourists would find the lanes (I didn't when I was a tourist). Degraves is supposed to serve one of the best coffees in Melbourne but mine was pretty crap. In any case, in the city of coffee there is never any reason to pay more than $3.00 for a cup of coffee, particularly if it isn't fairtrade, in my opinion.

On another note, I suppose you've noticed that these blogs have been much less frequent lately. That is partly to do with spending more time studying, partly frustration with dial-up internet, and a lot to do with my poverty, which means I'm drinking my coffees at home rather than spending money at cafes. But I'll try do at least one a month, so do check back here every so often if you continue to be interested in Rachel's Melbourne Adventure. Now that it is summertime, I'll try to head out to the ends of the trainlines for walking explorations of the suburbs, and that should definitely involve cafe blogging.

I have spent the day at my flat, thesis writing, a little bit of cleaning, a tad of a nap. I am cat-sitting for E and am engaged in a battle of wills with the kitten (teenager) over going outside and shitting in the litterbox rather than on the floor. I will win, being human and in control of the front door, but he only halfway defies me, i.e. runs out the door then comes to a standstill so he can be picked up and brought back inside. Dumb cat. He could try shitting all over the place instead of just in the bathroom. Most likely that would do me in. Well, more likely would get him locked in the bathroom. He whines and kvetches loudly at me to be let outside, so getting away from him for the afternoon was nice. But he is also very affectionate and sweet to go to sleep with and wake up to. The other cat is very lovely - a cat with dignity.

Cat-food handling makes me rethink wanting a cat of my own.

Christmas with K's family was quite satisfying. I was hesitant to go, thinking I'd be reminded that it isn't my own family and maybe would feel like I was circling around the fringes of a group of people who hadn't seen each other in a long time, but K's grandmother especially made me feel welcome, making quite a fuss over me. I had good chats with her mother and her cousin's about-to-be-husband, who was a chef and is now a photographer. I participated in the Secret Santa and played a bit of badminton. Mostly, though, I ate. Y, the fiance, made beautiful bruschetta, a cool and addictive soba noodle and seaweed salad, grilled yellow zucchini and eggplant and then sundry barbequed meats and mussels that I did not partake of. There was also an excellent potato salad and a decadent salad of baby spinach, pumpkin, feta and roasted pine nuts with pesto dressing. There was homemade Christmas pudding for dessert and Y made proper espresso lattes. I had two of those. After days of storms and intense rain, the sun was out for a beautiful pleasantly hot blue-skied day. So thank you to K's family for making my first Christmas completely familyless one to remember fondly.

Over the holidays I also spent some time with S, who left back for Canberra today. I really wanted S to experience the Nova so we went to see Couers, a French adaptation of an Alan Ayckburn play about loneliness and sexuality. It was alright - psychologically unsurprising people that one doesn't really get to know enough to appreciate. There's much that is hinted at and alluded to that possibly would have been more interesting out in the open. It wasn't a movie that either of us were dying to see, but there wasn't much to choose from, which is unusual for the Nova. And a shame, since there is much that I wanted to see that was out just before Christmas and missed and that I want to see and is coming out just after and may miss. I don't really have enough money to see the movies I want to see, let alone the one's I don't particularly...

I haven't taken a break from studying but am using the holiday time on my own (A2 is in NZ) to write without the distraction of domestic sociality. And there's a lack of non-domestic sociality as well, as E is also in New Zealand and uni is out. It isn't a drought, though. Before Christmas I went to see a beautiful little puppet show about death, bad will, ageing and lovewith L, called Apples and Ladders (shadow as well as handheld puppets with handles on the backs of their heads and the puppeteers in full view and part of the performance and even a couple melodramatic songs the puppets were choreographed to) ; and yesterday I had drinks with A3 and took him to dinner with K and her mum at their Collingwood housesit. A relaxing and friendly evening.

I've decided to inflict Ulysses on myself as it is an imprtant modernist text. I don't understand most of it, but I will treat it like a piece of art and not worry about understanding it. Just try and appreciate its form. Maybe one day I'll read the fully annnotated version (if there is one) but the 900-page clean version is long enough. Mom sent me David Sedaris's Santaland Diaries for my birthday and N her copy of the Modern Jewish Girl's Guide to Guilt, so I have some light reading to get onto once I finish Fukuyama. My goal this couple of Christmas weeks without any work is to get heaps of reading done, but unfortunately I get sleepy...

On that note, you might be getting sleepy....