Month: March 2019

How lucky am i? So just over a week ago we drove to one of my all time favourite places Esperance with our lovely friends Linny and Andy. They had not been before and as i wax lyrical about the place regularly we organised a visit. There’s no escaping the fact that the drive makes for a long day but once there it is all worth it. I just love the place! The weather could have been warmer but the sun shone for most of the time we were there and we managed a swim two out of the three days we were touring around. The beaches never cease to amaze me, miles and miles of deserted pristine white sand and the sea is the most amazing range of blues and turquoise. The replica Stonehenge never fails to impress and the people are so friendly. We had our usual visit to the Chinese restaurant, this time on a Monday which is clearly not a busy night for them as for most of the evening we had the whole place to ourselves. Needless to say, the service was excellent, the food excellent and we somehow managed to consume two bottles of bubbles into the bargain. All in all a very enjoyable trip. The Pajero was amazing on the sand, way better than the Amarok was last year and much more comfortable.

We arrived home on Tuesday and first thing Wednesday i was in the car again, this time up to Perth to collect my best friend from school who had come over on business to the eastern states but stopped off in the west to spend my birthday with us. From the moment he got into the car there was the usual ease between us. It started way back in September 1972 and has never been any different, we hardly stopped talking the whole of the time he was with us and right up to the time we dropped him at the airport this morning. Denise organised a lovely dinner party for me last night just to finish off my day in style. All in all a wonderful 9 days, a birthday i will never forget and lots of photos of Esperance to add to my collection. A huge thank you to Dave for making the time and effort to come and stay with us, you really made me a very happy girl!

So a couple of weeks ago i was looking for something in the pantry, most likely something to snack on but not chocolate as it has its own drawer in the fridge! Anyway the pantry was in my eyes a complete disaster zone so i took it upon myself to give it a Birthday and tidy it up. The biggest culprit seems to be the “clipit” boxes which don’t seem to stack very well and take up much more room than they should. Tidying up the pantry is also an excuse to check things for “best by” dates and dispose of anything which is over 12 months out of date! Only joking! Anyway lurking at the back was a green box labeled Green Tea. Firstly i could see no reason why we would have such a thing and secondly it seems to have been there for years. To my surprise it was still in date but that doesn’t mean that it gets to live another day. Having never tasted green tea before I decided that i would give it a fifty fifty chance, I boiled the kettle and made my first green tea. I should point out that Denise drinks six or seven cups of black tea every day whereas i can take or leave tea and much prefer coffee but try not to drink it in the evening. Anyway, i was quite surprised how very drinkable it was and a short time later made a second one just to make sure it was ok. The result was that the tea lived to see another day and i have drunk very little black tea since and much less coffee.

I have heard a few people say that green tea is good for you so tonight while relaxing in the bath decided to check it out. Wow! This stuff is going to save the world! You should read some of the claims which litter the internet, it does read as though it could be the cure for a number of things, help weight loss, help prevent some cancers, make our brain work better, give us more energy, reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and many more benefits. I just can’t imagine why I haven’t heard of this before, anyway here’s the thing. Over the last week or ten days i have experienced less pain and more energy which is good news as work seems to have gone mad and I’m working ten hour days at the moment to get caught up a little before we head for Esperance on Friday. It might all be in my head but any improvement is very welcome. I even managed my usual 5000 step walk tonight which I haven’t been doing for some time so even Bella is happy!

Also, I’m very excited about my birthday this year, more so than usual as my best friend from school who i first met in 1972 is joining us for a few days on his way to the eastern states on business. I can’t thank him enough for making the effort to visit us and I can’t wait to show him our beautiful part of the world. When i told him my plans for 2017 he was quite shocked but obviously supportive, he asked me to give him a little time to digest it and he would be in touch in a couple of days. As the call was on Skype it wasn’t as easy to get a feel for how surprised he was so I decided to send him an email the next day. We are both very car minded so i thought i would put it in sort of car talk, i told him that maybe he should think of it like this, The engine and gearbox are the same but the bodywork is being modified/improved, i thought about it for a few minutes then wrote “actually the gearbox is being changed as well” he liked that and replied “as the yanks say, no stick on the trans!” I have never failed to catch up with him and his family on any of the 8 times I’ve been back to the UK in the last 10 years and it’s just like we have never been apart. True friends!