Waxing and thongs

G'day

Before you get the wrong the idea, yes, there was waxing and yes, it was connected to thongs but remember that thongs in Australia are flipflops in the UK. Mud or crystal? Ok, let's start at the very beginning (altogether now: "a very good place to start").

So the weather forecast towards the end of last week was for blue skies (see the pics in the last post) and high temperatures and I decided that seeing as I would be wearing thongs/flipflops like a true Aussie for at least a few days I would get a pedicure. You might think it's a waste of money paying someone else to cut your toe nails but I thought $30/£18 was worth it and headed off to a place in Richmond, a suburb to the east of Melbourne's city centre which I'd wanted to explore anyway. The pedicurist (?) was very friendly if not massively bright (when I asked her if she could recommend any Australian TV programmes she suggested Family Guy and The Simpsons), and did a good job on the old feet. It was just as she was finishing the pedicure and telling me (unprompted) where to find the best nightclubs in Melbourne, that she asked if I'd be interested in having anything waxed.
"No. Thank you," I said.
"It's a $10 special offer for first-time customers," she said.
"No. Thank you," I said, remembering The 40 Year Old Virgin.
"It's not painful," she said, "We could do your neck. A lot of men get hair on their necks in between haircuts so we could give that a try."
Suddenly it didn't sound like such a bad idea as she was right - I hadn't had a haircut for a while and there was indeed some hair on my neck. Next thing I know we're in a small room and she's smearing hot wax on my neck and shoulders ("Hey, I didn't say anything about shoulders...").
"Here we go," she said, "and you should watch Modern Family, that's really funny."
If you've ever been waxed before you can probably guess where this is going. She merrily chatted on while yanking off bits of paper (or something) while I winced and whimpered like a dog that's been shouted at. Basically it hurt a lot. And I got a bit of a rash (not noice). And I won't be doing it again. Though I do have a very smooth neck....

And that's kind of been the high/lowlight of the week. The heat broke on Wednesday and it's been torrential rain for the last 24 hours (am hoping it will stop before the work Christmas party on Saturday - not much fun going on the rides at Luna Park if it's pouring down. Though I probably still will - you can't beat a good rollercoaster or the dodgems, even in the rain). Photos to come.

G'bye for now.

Cliff