Thursday, April 05, 2007

Budget traveller

My sister has worked and studied very hard all her life and has a very well paid job as a result. I would love to be like her but I'm sure I lack the talent, and I certainly lack the concentration span to get there. And the two year blip of Kyiv probably won't help my career path either.

Her husband is equally hard working, talented and well paid, and as a result, they can afford to live in a wonderful apartment in inner Sydney.

Which they generously allowed me to stay in while I was in Australia (they're in the middle of moving so it wasn't a great time).

Compared to my sister, I'm more of a budget person. As a result, my current toiletries bag is a Ukrainian plastic shopping bag. It comfortably fits my toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, moisturiser, razor (you need summer legs for Oz) and my other useless odds and ends.

Arriving at my sister's place, the first thing I did was stake my claim in the bathroom by popping my 'toiletries' bag in there, next to the bin. This ensured I had access to all my toiletries needs while overcoming jetlag.

On my last night in Sydney, as my sister and her family slept (it was late, I was jetlagged), I tiptoed into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Only to find, to my astonishment!.. my bag was gone.

At this moment, a couple of visions flashed through my mind:
- Most people use plastic bags for rubbish, not toiletries
- A dirty nappy sitting half inside my 'toiletries' bag after kiddy bath-time (mistaken for a rubbish bag, perhaps?)
- My brother-in-law taking out numerous bags of rubbish before going to bed.

Uh oh...

I tiptoed into my sister's room and whispered urgently... "I think BIL has chucked out my toiletries bag!"

My sister woke up BIL, who confirmed my fears. Lovely fellow, he got out of bed, traipsed downstairs and brought my bag back up to me.

It was covered in soy sauce from our Chinese take-out containers that had accompanied it to the bin. I bought a toiletries bag the very next day.

13 comments:

JoeinVegas said...

Plastic shooping bags by the bins, with nappies next to them - well, sorry, but ??? At least he was able to find it. (Soy flavored toothpaste - I'm not sure about that one.)

Anonymous said...

Oh, no! He chucked your toiletries bag? I use a plastic bag for my toiletries, too, when I go somewhere. It's see-through and easy to see where things are located! :)

Anonymous said...

ahh we are the same. My daughter and I was watching QVC (I just love QVC..shhh) and they had a combo bag set for overnighting. One was a toiletries bag. Olivia turns to me and says, "Think you need that?" Umm NO!

Beccy said...

That is so funny, I would have let it stay in the bin and replaced everything the next day.

Anonymous said...

At least it was soysauce covering the bag and not something from the nappy (or diaper as we say here in the States).

Anonymous said...

xaxaxa, so adorable!

I would love to know how your sister combines dirty nappies with a well-paid job. In my struggling mind those two concepts are incompatible in one's life, sigh.

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, I have chucked out lots of things because they were just sitting near where I had some trash. I'm glad your bag was found!

Claudia said...

as soon as you said you put it next to the bin, I thought that's what would happen!! Good thing you were able to get it back. With my luck, it would have been long gone!!

Anonymous said...

Damn! I was hoping for the nappy ending. Sorry, it's just the kind of guy I am.

theotherbear said...

Hmm. I think I might have thrown it all away.

Pamela said...

well then he deserved to get woke up... by golly!!!

Sabrina said...

LMM, what a riot!!! I would have done the same thing. . .when you are desperate to brush your teeth, you'll do about anything. . .I was faced with using my (very young) BIL's toothpaste that was completely crusted over or tearing apart my empty tube of toothpaste to try to scrape enough to use. Guess which I did? Looking forward to more tales!

ChrisB said...

So funny I could see where this was going and I'm with beccy I think I would have left it in the bin.