I often talk gibberish. Literally. I have these phrases that are completely made up. Nonsense, if you will*. All Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll. I have been doing it for years. None of it makes any sense and I rarely do it in front of other people.
Obviously, I talk gibberish in front of Mirinda or within her hearing, at least. She’s used to it and, I think, properly ignores me. Even when I add new sounds. Like, for instance, the exhalation of breath favoured by the South Koreans to express mild upset. This is not really gibberish, of course, but something I’ve picked up from watching a lot of K-TV.
Apparently, I am so relaxed around Fi that I have been doing it within her hearing since I’ve been here. She thought I was speaking Swedish. I told her it was gibberish. Then, today, in the car, with a slight tip of the hat to Lear, she called me a mumbly tomte.
We were driving to Sublime Point and I was grumbling in a mumbling kind of way about something to do with a golf course when she declared from the front seat “You’re a mumbly tomte!“
Sublime Point is somewhere we would often go when we lived in Katoomba. As I’ve said before, The Three Sisters would always be full of tourists but Sublime Point would, more often than not, be beautifully devoid of humans. And, apart from the pointy rocks, the view is better. Sublime, one might venture to say.
Easily as sublime as the view from the Hydro Majestic while enjoying a high tea. Which we indulged in today.
I’ve only ever been to the Boiler Room, the restaurant/café at the Hydro, so this was a real treat. I’d asked, ever so politely, for a table with a view, and the view was exceptional. Looking out across the valley, tall, craggy peaks and a wide, wide blue sky. It sorta, kinda, reminded me of a somewhat calmer Milliways.
While Mirinda and Fi had the traditional, three layered high tea, I went for the more Gaz-ish Eastern high tea. This included south east Asian foods like steamed dumplings, won ton, matcha, etc. It was fantastic. I was particularly keen on the dessert level. There wasn’t a lot of sugar, the thing I don’t really get on with when I indulge in a high tea.
It even included a deep fried and crumbed crab claw. I don’t normally like crab and this was no different. Though, like a good follower of Epicurus, I ate it. Along with everything else.
Actually, Mirinda and Fi were defeated by theirs, having to ask for a doggy bag to take home a few of the final sweet treats. It also put paid to any thoughts of dinner.
The morning had been full of Fi getting the Merc looked at and Mirinda and I having a coffee in Leura, waiting for her to finish having her hair done.
At the table next to us in the café was a group of three people. They came in wearing masks and heaving lots of luggage. Before they sat down, they squirted hand sanitiser all over themselves. They then ordered food, and water in plastic bottles. They mumbled through their masks until their food arrived, when they removed their masks.
Then, all three, said grace and crossed themselves before tucking in.
Okay, I don’t care about their choice of face covering. It’s up to them if they want to wear a mask but, something I’ll never understand is why they do it when they believe in god. Surely he will protect his followers. And, if not, it would be what he had planned anyway. When I went into Gaz Rant mode and mentioned this to Mirinda she wondered why they did anything at all. Good point, well made.
Eventually a newly coiffured Fi joined us and we went for a walk up Leura Mall where I managed to find a fine Trilby which I thought was made in Melbourne but was dismayed to discover it was actually made in China. Sad but, still, a lovely hat. Though, Mirinda said people might keep trying to brush off the bits of coloured cotton on it.
I think it was originally an accidental design which someone thought looked good enough to sell. I also think it looks well funky and I shall wear it with pride.
In the meanwhilst, at Sublime Point, Mirinda squeaked when two women leapt over the guard rail and sat on the edge of the cliff, feet dangling mere inches from a sheer drop. “It’s okay,” They said. “We’ve been climbing the rocks all day and we’re used to it.” Crazy shit, if you ask me.
You can just make out the women in this photo. They are on the left while Mirinda and Fi are on the right looking on with equal measures of fear and jealousy.
I didn’t go down to the lookout because the way is not particularly friendly for people without balance. I sat and watched from the relative safety of a park bench.
* While clearly not gibberish, Fi threw “If you will” into a conversation the other night, which had us in hysterics. It was the informal formality of the phrase that set us off. Long may she continue to shock, surprise and amuse us with her utterings. And I shall wear the name Mumbly Tomte with pride.
