Equinox

I was reminded that today is the equinox.

Good.

It's too bloody cold and dark in the mornings to make riding enjoyable. At least I now know that the worst is past. It can only get better from here on in.

We had lunch today at Birkenhead Point. For those of you not familiar with Sydney, it is a "seconds" shopping centre. It's where you go to buy a cheap Country Road shirt with wonky stitching or colours that have run or stuff that just didn't sell last season.

It is a cornucopia of cheap stuff. I was going to say crap, but then thought better of it. It's not crap. It's just stuff that no one else wants, or wanted at the original price.

A lot of the food is crap though. We went through the food court, and I despaired. I have eaten at some pretty flash shopping centres lately, and the food has been of a good standard. Not great, but good.

Birkenhead unfortunately plumbed new depths. I walked around the food court and looked at what was on offer and thought, "uh uh - no way". I won't go into the awful, horrible details of each shop in case someone sues, but let met put it this way - walking down the side of the Hume Highway and inspecting dead roo carcases would be more enjoyable.

I settled on a laksa. It was awful. Terrible. I had half of it and gave up. It was made with rather watery coconut milk, the stock had no flavour and it was totally lacking in "juice". The chicken was just icky - it tasted like all the fatty bits of the chicken had been partly boiled up and then thrown in.

I ate two small bits of chicken, most of the noodles and a few bits of bok choy and that was it.

I have never not finished a laksa before. I have never not enjoyed a laksa before. I was truly shocked. Even I, the incompetent cook that I am, can go to the local supermarket, purchase a tin of laksa paste and some coconut milk and make a passable laksa. Not a great laksa, but one that I can actually eat.

Since I was still starving, I tried a Turkish thing. I can't pronounce them or spell them, but I had a beef version of it.

It was marvelous. It was great. It was every bit as glorious as the laksa was tragic. It was hot (as in straight off the griller) spicy (but not too spicy) and tasty and just delicious from end to end.

Unfortunately, by the time I had scoffed that on top of 40% of a laksa, I was stuffed. So no ride today, even if it was the shortest day of the year.