It’s been 2 years since I last posted on this blog – “Thank
goodness” I hear some folk say. Having lunch with Ben and Maria M last Friday
Ben enquired about “Newbies”. I lost the
muse when our good friend Russ passed away and seeing his widow Daphne was with
us for lunch, we felt his absence badly.
Russ had a zest for life. Where’s
my zest?
Well, our news is that Bridget and Mark in the Grand Cayman
are expecting a baby. Yes, it is
exciting. Soon we will be arguing with a
two year old at the supermarket checkout as we pass the cunningly laid out
sweets. Mrs K was shopping in Hong Kong
in the “early years” when she came across this sign “WONDERFUCK”. Blimey,
better have some of that I thought. It
turned out to be “WONDERFUL K” but the “L” looked like a “C”. Meanwhile I had 12 cases of the stuff before
I found out it was a washing up liquid.
Aussie Land has been through a few changes in the last 2
years, not the least of which was two prime misters in as many months as the
Labor party tore itself to pieces and was voted out at the general
election. Clarke and Dawe explain it all
best. http://youtu.be/p0LEznLgmn8
One of the great joys of Aussieland has been the wine. We spent a few days earlier in the year in
“The Granite Belt” at The Twisted Gum (www.twistedgum.com.au)
where Tim told us a bit about how he produces his wines – did you know that
grapes which are stressed produce a better wine? I wonder if this applies to wine drinkers. The
Weekend Australian Magazine produced Halliday’s Top 100 wines - Richlands Cab
Sav priced at Au $11 (£6.40) scored 93 points! To put this into perspective, a Penfolds Bin 169 scored 98 points and is
priced at AU $350 (£204.72). I don’t
know how they do it. I don’t think you
can put it better than Deano’s “Little Ole Wine Drinker Me” (a little out of synch unfortunately) . http://youtu.be/boWM7zvmvcM .
Of course, what is wine without cheese? The variety
available here in Paradise is staggering.
I’ve come to appreciate the soft cheeses in particular. There is a takeover
battle going on for a local cheese maker here called Warrnambool Cheese and
Butter which I discover exports 50% of its output, pretty impressive and I find
from their web site, has an award winning garlic and pepper cheddar. I wonder if that’s the cheese featured in this
classic Mrs K suggested for cheese. http://youtu.be/tw_MBeqZJkM
. (“I believe in Miracles".)
Readers may remember the pool “Barracuda” which sucks up
leaves and so on and frequently got stuck on the drain cover at the bottom of
the pool. It used to kiss the pool bottom long and hard. We called him “Pollie” as “Politician”. Well,
thanks to Gary, I now have a “Polaris” (seen showing off for the camera) which
is altogether more sophisticated and is definitely not a bottom kisser; it
returns the tender care I lavish on it by giving me a little love spurt from
time to time. I have calculated that I
spend about 1,560 minutes a year keeping the pool clean and spend about 15
minutes a year swimming in it, say 100 minutes for every swimming minute.
Brilliant.
Our thoughts go out this week to Philipinos everywhere.
Keep well. Stay safe.
