1. The size of the cattery – while the individual rooms were large, the cattery itself was relatively small with only about twenty rooms. There were up to three cats in a room, but doubling/tripling was only provided for existing cat families, and solo cats always had their own room.
2. The individual space provided was large – measuring 2m x 6.5m with both indoor and outdoor areas. They each included a lounge for the cat to sleep on, climbing frames for exercise, and toys and tunnels to keep them active and interested.
3. Hygiene – litter trays were cleaned regularly, and the rooms too were clean and free of nasty smells
4. Quality of food – the cattery stocked a wide range of different foods to cater to all possible diets
5. Personal attention – the owner, Prue Sibley, is one of the warmest people I’ve met. She has a genuine love of animals, and her demonstration of in-depth knowledge of the habits and personalities of each of the cats in her care was extremely reassuring.

On my return, my confidence in Aragon Cattery was reaffirmed. Darcy was happy and healthy. While he was happy to see me (he ran straight to me when I arrived to pick him up), he was also happy in the surroundings, and had grown as an individual in my absence. He was now comfortable in the presence of other cats – and had even developed a friendship with the cat in the room next door. He was comfortable with small children – and his amiable nature encouraged the attentions of Prue’s three year old daughter every day, so that he got a bit of personal play time with a toddler.

I cannot speak highly enough of Aragon Cattery, and encourage any Sydney-siders searching for a cattery to consider them as the top choice.

Note: I didn’t get paid to write this. I genuinely appreciate the experience that I and Darcy had at Aragon Cattery and want to write a review that will hopefully be picked up in future Google searches for “cattery sydney”.

I haven’t been very engaged in fandom for the past few years. I had intended on re-reading the series prior to seeing the movie, but I simply ran out of time…so I essentially went in to the movie without many expectations, having not read the novel since 2007.

Some random points about the movie (under a cut for those who haven’t seen the movie yet – DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU ARE READING THIS IN A FEEDREADER):

1. I started crying ten seconds into the movie, as soon as Hermione’s opening scene with her parents came on screen. I hadn’t been as affected in the book when she stated that she had sent her parents to Australia, but when they actually showed her wiping their memories, and wiping her presence from their lives, with her fading out of photographs? That was a real tearjerker.
2. I also cried when Hedwig died, and when Mad-Eye’s death was announced. As for Dobby’s death? I was pretty much bawling at that point, and I’m sure other people in the cinema probably wanted to kill me.
3. The Story of the Three Brothers was done really well. The animation was excellent, and the style suited the story perfectly.
4. Bill Weasley was definitely not what I expected. He’s supposed to be more…cool. What happened to the leather outfits, dragon tooth earring, etc.?
5. The scene of the infiltration of the Ministry was really well done as well…I think Ron (or technically, the adult actor who played the MoM employee that Ron was impersonating) really shone in that scene.
6. It’s such a dark, dark, dark, dark, film. While previous films also had their dark moments, they also featured light moments – whether it be Quidditch matches, jokes in the dormitory, etc. There was no such light moment in this film – this is definitely not a child-friendly film. The first Death Eaters scene with Charity Burbage was actually quite chilling.
7. The ending was excellent. I have to admit, I was a bit dubious when they announced that the final book would be split into two films. I would have preferred one long four hour film to splitting up the novel – I just couldn’t see where they could have done it seamlessly. I think I was proven wrong.

The only thing that put a dampener on what would otherwise have been an excellent evening was the $60AUD parking ticket I found on my windscreen when I got back to my car. To be fair, I was late back to my car and my parking had run out…for all of ten minutes! LITERALLY ten minutes – I was ticketed at 7.19pm and my parking had run out at 7.09pm. I accept responsibility, but I can’t help but think that it’s an unduly harsh fine for the short amount of time.

17 December: I informed Telstra, our phone line provider, that my organisation was moving offices. They agreed to disconnect our old number on the 31st of December, but that our new number at the new offices will be connected immediately (that very day) for our use. So both lines were active at the same time.

18 December: I informed Pacnet, our internet provider, that we would be moving offices, and gave them the new phone number. We were assured that our internet service would disconnect at the old address, and recommence at the new address on the 1st of January, the day we were scheduled to ‘officially’ start our residence at the new offices.

28 December: The 28th of December was our official move-in date (though our lease didn’t start till the 1st). I spent the day packing up the last of the boxes and moving everything to the new address. The rest of the week was spent just unpacking boxes and organising the new office – communications weren’t touched as our (freelance) tech support guy wasn’t back from vacation until the 6th of January.

6 January: Our tech support guy arrived at 9am on the dot to set up our network. Upon examination of the phone lines in the office, we found only one with a dialtone – Telstra managed to fuck up the reconnection and connected an expired number from a suburb on the other side of the city, instead of the number we were originally advised.

In a call to Telstra, we were advised that they can change the line to the correct number within an hour. We were also assured that as our internet service was connected to that number, that it would carry over as per normal with immediate usage. An hour later, we had the correct number, but Telstra managed to remove the codes placed on the phone line, so that our internet provider couldn’t get through. Another call later, we were assured that the right codes would be activated between 8am and 12pm on the 7th of January.

7 January: By 1pm on the 7th of January, our internet service still hadn’t been activated. Calling Telstra, we were informed that they had placed the codes on the phone line – codes designed for their own Bigpond internet service, though we had specifically stated that our internet provider was an outside carrier.

We were then required to call Pacnet to get the correct codes placed on the line – which they can do, but which they claim will take five to ten working days. This is a procedure that would take 24 hours at most, if they actually did it immediately instead of adding it to their To-Do list for later action.

And Therefore…

Between the fuckups caused by Telstra, and the incompetent service received from Pacnet, my organisation has been offline with no communication lines (phone, internet, fax or otherwise) since the 28th of December. This situation is likely to continue until the 5-10 working days specified by Pacnet pass – e.g. January 13 at the earliest. I’d like to know what kind of modern organisation Telstra and Pacnet believe can go without communication lines for upwards of two weeks. Keep in mind that we’re a member-based organisation whose business and reputation is based upon effective and prompt communication with its members.

Under no circumstances would I recommend that any business or organisation choose to use either Telstra or Pacnet for their telecommunications providers. They are both unreliable, incompetent, and unable to deliver on promises. One mistake I can understand. But a litany of mistakes that require us to make a million phone calls back and forth? Unacceptable. I’m going to be writing an official letter of complaint and asking that for the standard reconnection fees (plus any other expenses accrued because of their incompetency) to be waived because of the damage they have done to our reputation as a reliable organisation.

…and they make me look bad, because I’m the only one working here at the moment, and have had to deal with them every step of the way. When our members and the board of management look for someone to blame, who do you think will come under scrutiny? Not the incompetent providers, but the underpaid staff member who’s had to deal with them.

1. Claire Harman – Jane’s Fame (How Jane Austen Conquered The World): Follows the trajectory of Austen’s fame from contemporary till modernity.
2. David S. Kidden & Noah D. Oppenheim – The Intellectual Devotional to Modern Culture (Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education and Converse Confidently With The Culturati): Extremely America-oriented, more focus on international culture would beneficiall.

Fiction

1. V.C. Andrews – Broken Flower: Another Andrews that goes nowhere slowly, heroine with precocious puberty.
2. Elizabeth Aston – The Second Mrs. Darcy: Shamelessly borrows Austen names/locales for an entirely unrelated tale.
3. Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith – Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Best novel ever given quirky undead twist that’s actually believable.
4. Janet Aylmer – Darcy’s Story (Pride and Prejudice told from a whole new perspective); Carrie Bebris – Pride and Prescience (Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged); Gwyn Cready – Seducing Mr. Darcy; Amanda Grange – Darcy’s Diary; Sharon Lathan – Mr & Mrs Fitzwilliam Darcy (Two Shall Become One): Glorified fan fiction, but I will accept anything vaguely Austen-esque.
5. Bill Brooks – Bonnie and Clyde: The focus on the thought processes of secondary characters lends
6. Claire Cook – Must Love Dogs: Maybe I need to watch the movie to appreciate it.
7. Janet Evanovich – Plum Spooky: A comedown from the general high calibre of Plum novels.
8. Ian Fleming – Casino Royale, The Spy Who Loved Me: Very different in style, with the latter much more experimental.
9. Winston Groom – Forrest Gump: Film was more entertaining, but the book is very satirical.
10. Syrie James – The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen: A focus on the “mysterious unknown suiter” of Austen’s twenties.
11. Stephen King – Misery: Not fond of psychological thrillers, but this was a beauty.
12. Gabriel Garcia Marquez – One Hundred Years of Solitude: Really hard to get into, perhaps better in original Spanish.
13. Nancy Moser – Just Jane: Doesn’t quite capture Austen’s dry wit, though does tries admirably.
14. Rachel Pine – The Twins of Tribeca: Typical “moral girl sucked into corporate evilness, then redeems herself”.
15. Jean Plaidy – Spain for the Sovereigns, The Captive of Kensington Palace, The Widow of Windsor, Queen Jezebel: Nothing left unsaid – Plaidy always maintains an extremely high standard.
16. Curtis Sittenfeld – American Wife: Main character barely disguised, clearly fictional “Life of” Laura Bush.

Movies

1. Apocalypto (2006): Powerful; some of the best chase sequences I’ve ever seen.
2. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009): I LOVED IT. (It could have included more from novel).
3. Idiocracy (2006): Underrated movie shows the potential future dystopia commercialisation could cause.
4. Pineapple Express (2008): Good for cheap stoner laughs, just don’t take it seriously.

For the first six months or so, there’s only a handful of items that you really need. We at the largest baby chain in Australia (the one I work for) generally advise for the first few months:

1. cot
2. car seat
3. pram
4. bath + stand

Everything else on top of that is icing on the cake, to be purchased only if you have money to spare and want to dress up the nursery.

A Cot

You’d want to get the type that converts into a toddler bed. That way, rather than using a cot for two years (max!) only, you can get a few more years use out of it – anywhere up to five years so that you get your money’s worth. This is an expensive example of one but there are cheaper cots (of better quality – Australian made, Australian timber) which all convert into toddler beds – a good quality cot like this which converts into a toddler bed will cost you about $500AUD.

In terms of safety in a cot, you want the space within the slats to be wide enough to fit a baby’s limb, but not wide enough that their head will fit through. That’s how Australian safety standards work – you’d also want there to be no obvious drop mechanism for the side of the cot – it should have hidden drop mechanisms so that baby fingers don’t get caught.

Cot mattresses you can get for about $90AUD for a foam mattress, and $150AUD for an inner spring mattress. Now if you were getting a cot-only rather than cot/toddler bed combination, you can get away with just a foam mattress since you’ll be using it for two years only. But if you’re getting the convertible cot, you should go with an inner spring mattress (better for toddler backs). Make sure that any mattress you get has one waterproof side – trust me, you won’t regret it. You can always get waterproof mattress protectors for cots as well though, should the mattress you buy not have one built in.

Car Seats

Don’t bother getting capsules. You shouldn’t have a baby in a capsule for any more than five months because of the curve of the capsule – it’s not good for baby backs, so considering the short amount of time you’d use it, it’s simply not worth the money. Instead, go for a infant car seat – most types these days will accomodate 0-18 kg, which for most children, is from newborn to about four years old. At this point, they’d move onto the booster seats with a H-safety harness, but you don’t need to worry about that yet!

Now all infant car seats here in Australia have three different uses. First, you have them in the rearward-facing layback position which allows the baby to lie down flat-ish for the first few months. Once they reach about six months old, you swing the seat around so that it faces the front of the car, but on a recline (rather than bolt upright). Once they reach about 14ish kgs, you can change the seat so that it sits more upright, rather than on a recline.

In terms of car seat safety, you want a seat that properly anchors into the car with an anchor point. Without knowing anything about car seat brands in other countries, I’ll suggest some good Australian brands: Safe n Sound, GoSafe, Safety1st, Britax, Graco…they’re all essentially the same seat (as all Australian car seats have to comply with standards). Price-wise, there’s not much difference as they’re all really equally as safe. I’d budget about $250AUD for a standard seat, and up to $400AUD for a deluxe seat.

Prams

You choose a pram that suits your lifestyle. If you do a lot of walking on pavement or any surface other than lino in a shopping centre, you’d want a three-wheeled pram for better manouevrability, and you’d want a pram with actual bike tyres (e.g. with inner tube, etc.) as they last better than plastic wheels. This is an example – they tend to be bigger and more expensive than a normal pram, but they’re also better quality and will last you for years. If you don’t see yourself using a pram for anything other than occasional forays into a shopping centre, a simple layback stroller like this is more than adequate. Plastic wheels, lightweight, etc. With both types of prams, the most important thing is to ensure that the back lays down flat for a newborn.

Prices range anywhere from $100AUD for a cheap layback pram with plastic wheels, to $500AUD for top of the range. $350AUD for a three-wheeler is reasonable.

Baths and Change Tables

While you could just buy a baby bath by itself, and put it on the floor, I’d actually recommend buying a proper bath stand. It’s better for you – bending over a bath on the floor or whatever will be dreadful for your back. Save your health and get a bath on a stand so you don’t have to hunch over. If possible, I’d also get a self-draining bath with a draining tube, so you don’t have to lift the entire bath to tip out the water – that’ll save your back too! You could get the bath/change station in one, but if you read the next paragraph, you’ll see I don’t really think it’s necessary.

You don’t necessarily need a “change table”. If you buy a foam change mat for the house, any flat surface (floor, bed, table whatever) should be fine as you would have a hand on the baby at all times. I do recommend that you keep a little basket of everything you’d need for nappy changing (nappies, baby powder, baby wipes, etc.) close to wherever you designate as the “change area”. And of course, you’d have a portable change mat for when you’re out and about anyway.

General Stuff

In terms of things that you can get second-hand – cots are okay as long as they comply with standards (a lot of older hand-me-down cots have slats that don’t comply), but mattresses you should always buy new. Car seats you need to buy new, as should prams. Baths you can get second-hand. If you’re having a baby shower, you shouldn’t need to buy that many baby clothes or baby linen – those tend to be the gifts that people will give at showers, especially if you hint towards it!

That’s really the basics you need for the first couple of months (things like cradles, bassinets, change tables, rockers, etc. are additional things to dress up a nursery, they’re not really necessary items). After the first five/six months, you can start thinking about other things like high chairs, activity centres, etc.

1. William Irwin (editor) – House and Philosophy: Everybody Lies: Discussion of philosophy in pop culture terms is easily digested.
2. Amanda Foreman – The Duchess: Excruciating detail of Whig politics makes actual biography near-indigestible.
3. Kate Williams – Becoming Queen: Study of circumstances leading to Queen Victoria’s ascension very readable.

Fiction

1. Susannah Dunn – The Sixth Wife: Most colourless and forgotten of the six wives given life.
2. Nicola Kraus & Emma McLaughlin – Dedication: Definitely not as strong as previous offering, The Nanny Diaries.
3. Grace Metalious – Peyton Place: A true American modern classic, the first real blockbuster novel.
4. Elizabeth Newark – Jane Eyre’s Daughter: A forgettable, mere cursory attempt at a sequel to Bronte.
5. Barbara Novak – Down With Love: Unsuccessful novelisation of film that relies heavily on visual humour.
6. Katherine Pinotti – The Winds of Tara (The Saga Lives On): Extension of Mitchell’s Southern world draws upon canon details perfectly.
7. Jean Plaidy – The Revolt of the Eagles; The Heart of the Lion; The Prince of Darkness: Plantagenets clearly one of the most unfilial families in history.
8. Alexandra Potter – Me and Mr. Darcy: Encountering a chauvinistic Regency Mr. Darcy in the modern day.

Movies

1. X-men Origins: Wolverine (2009): Lucky I went for a sexy Jackman, not a plot.

1. V.C. Andrews – Delia’s Crossing: Andrews is only complete with promiscuity, drugs, and nasty relatives.
2. Tatiana Boncompagni – Gilding Lily: Corrupting nature of wealth, prestige, and privilege hard to escape.
3. Susannah Dunn – The Queen’s Sorrow: Bloody Mary seen as a tragic figure through a non-courtier.
4. Amanda Grange – Mr Knightley’s Diary; Colonel Brandon’s Diary: Glorified Austen fanfiction actually does well in expanding background characters.
5. Amanda Grange – Lord Deverill’s Secret: Political intrigue touches gentle society with romance for good measure.
6. Jean Plaidy – The Queen and Lord M; Castile for Isabella; Daughters of Spain; The Shadow of the Pomegranate; The King’s Secret Matter; Mary, Queen of France; The Queen’s Favourites; Uneasy Lies The Head: Plaidy manages to write history in an easily readable style.

1. Kathy Marks – Pitcairn, Paradise Lost: Account from an impartial non-islander on infamous child sex scandal.
2. Lijia Zhang – Socialism Is Great!: Sexual forwardness of author impressive considering the oppressive home environment.

Fiction

1. V.C. Andrews – Delia’s Heart: The plot is as formulaic as all other Andrews novels.
2. Paul Magrs – Conjugal Rites: Senility and the supernatural blends together in the latest installment.
3. Jean Plaidy – The Follies of the King, Lord Robert, The Queen’s Husband, The Rose Without A Thorn, Royal Road to Fotheringhay, William’s Wife: I think I’ve found a new favourite historical fiction author.

The atmosphere is entirely nineteen-forties, and I can only imagine what the place was like back when there wasn’t smoking bans in bars. There’d most likely have been clouds of stale cigarette smoke which would really add to the decadence and antique opulence of the surroundings. The service at the bar is excellent (the bartenders really know their drinks, and I had a long discussion with one about the merits of particular ciders), but definitely don’t sit around waiting for the table service, as you’ll be waiting half the night. Give their “Curds & Whey” cocktail a try if you visit – it’s a fantastic lemon-based drink that leaves quite a tart aftertaste.

With all that said however, the high point of the night that gave the biggest laughs was when we left the bar at about 2am in search for a souvlaki place to end the night (oily food in the early hours of the morning is best). Once we were outside the bar, all us girls stopped, pulled out a pair of thongs from our respective bags and took off our sky high heels. That’s what years of late nights on the town do to you – you learn tricks like these that make life a lot easier when walking around the city for half an hour looking for a place that’ll still sell you a souvlaki at that time of night.

1. Melissa Anelli – Harry, A History: Really readable, good overview of the history of the fandom.
2. Cynthia Ceilan – Thinning the Herd, Tales of the Weirdly Departed: Like a lesser cousin of the Darwins, with less commentary.
3. Susanna De Vries – Desert Queen: The first true biography of an eccentric Irish female caregiver.
4. Wendy Northcutt – The Darwin Awards: The original is always best for a few cheap laughs.
5. Wendy Northcutt – The Darwin Awards III: The stories get a bit weak by the third edition.
6. Sian Rees – The Floating Brothel: Misleading, with more focus on convict backgrounds than Antipodean life..
7. Paul Stafford – You’re History Mate! (Dingbats, dropkicks, dills, duds and disasters in Australian history): Book strongly geared towards primary age children with little detail.
8. Bella Vendramini – Biting The Big Apple: Aussie actress in New York, studying Method and dating hotties.

Fiction

1. Rajaa Alsanea – Girls of Riyadh: Love rather than subordination, not normally associated with Arabic women.
2. Emily Barr – The Sisterhood: Twist at the end genuinely unanticipated, rare for chick lit.
3. Pierre Boulle – Planet of the Apes: Should be read before seeing the movie(s), gives added dimensions.
4. Max Brooks – World War Z (An Oral History of the Zombie War): A great companion piece to his previous “Zombie Survival Guide”.
5. Dominick Dunne – People Like Us: It’s really just his own life, thinly veiled as fiction.