Timing is paramount...

Apparently, I have not only been kicking Murphy's dog, but this time I pushed his granny down the stairs as well, because that bastard has it in for me.

Our hot water heater has gone the way of the dodo. Dead as a doornail. Pushing up daisies. Etc, et-bloody-cetera.

It chose to sing it's swan song the day after the weather finally realised that it's not summer any more, right at the time when a cold shower becomes actively unbearable. See what I mean? Murphy, you bastard, bugger off and bother someone else for a while, will you?

On the plus side, this has precipitated our prospective plan to give the old and expensive-to-run electric storage system the ole heave-ho, and get LPG shipped in. Oh yeah, we don't have a natural gas main up our street, or this would have been done years ago... On the less than plus side, this is a two-and-a-half grand spend we hadn't counted on. Poo. Still, I am looking forward to instantaneous gas hot water, coming from a heater that is no more than two metres away from the taps, rather than ten (yup, the person who designed our house was an idiot).

In the meantime, it's a good thing I got in all that practice bathing in a bucket at Festival. I'm really hoping that this week will not end with me in a miasma of my own unwashedness. Ew.

Festival wrap up

Things to remember from this year, and things to remember for next year...

The weather was gorgeous. The days weren't anywhere near as hot as they could have been, and the only real rain was Saturday and Monday nights. The coffee shop did quite well - all the cakes went, with a day and a half to spare. I went through 2 1/2 kilos of coffee, about 4 tea bags (out of 400, I guess I will be drinking a lot of tea in the coming weeks) and a moderate amount of hot chocolate. I'm pretty sure my costs were covered, and it paid for Rusty and my festival fees, with a bit left over. I think the prices were about right, but I would make the tea cheaper for next year. I would like to have had more staff, as I felt like I was a bit nailed down, and really didn't get to spend much time in the campsite at all. Rusty did seem to really enjoy working the coffee shop though, so maybe getting him more involved would be a good idea. At least next year he won't need to leave site for half of Saturday to go and pick up his new motorbike like he did this year.

Things to remember and take note of:

• 3 kilos of coffee might be enough. Depends on whether I think it will do a lot better next year.
• I ran out of orange & almond cakes with time to spare. There were 6 dozen of them...
• I ran out of Gateau Breton with time to spare. There were 3, and I think they were cut into twelfths.
• The Prince biscuits with ginger in them are a much better idea than Prince biscuits with caraway seeds in them. Went through very nearly 2 batches.
• The Digby's didn't do so well. I reckon 2 batches would be enough.
• Only buy small packets of tea, and not boxes of 100. 
• The double burner and 2 coffee pots worked well. Seemed like a good plan.

On a personal note - I MUST make myself a comfy throw-on garment. I'm thinking that a waffenrock would work well. I just need something that doesn't need a bunch of lacing and primping and kirtling and fidgeting with. Something non binding for when the tight bodices get to be too much and for standing around the campsite in the morning in.

I might add some more to this - it's more as a reminder for me than anything else. I can type faster than I can write longhand, and this way it won't get "put into a safe place" never to be seen again...