Day 69 (Friday)

The only thing wrong with Samagrams is that sometimes it gets confusing when you're trying to think of a word. Take today for instance ...here I was trying to think of a word and I kept getting a whole lot of others: keans, lakes, leaks, lakes, sneak, snack ... oh wait, there it is ... SNAKE! S sent me a text message at work half-time "Hi. What sound do you never really want to hear? Call me for the answer? PS We are all okay so no need to worry". I immediately thought of two things ... the sound of a person vigorously clearing their throat somewhere in the immediate vicinity in the Customs arrivals hall returning to Hong Kong from Macau ... and Emma being physically unwell. The latter seemed to be the most likely since Latimers is a long way from Hong Kong. Thankfully, if this was the case, and thank you to S for thinking to include it in the text, there was no need to panic as everyone was okay. Everyone? Hmmm. Ring ... ring. "That was quick." What could I say - I was curious ... which is a strange feeling when it's not paired with anxiety. I'm not sure of her exact words after that but this was the gist. No sooner had she and K finished their morning tea during which they touched on a wide range of topics, including, apparently, snakes that K went outside to finish clearing the kitchen windows, including the fly screen. Not long after there was a scream and S, busy on the computer at the time, decided that Beazley must have jumped out from under the BBQ cover and given K a start. (If it had been me, obviously I would have rushed out to find out what type of industrial accident had been involved.) K came in not long after, and asked S if she had heard her scream. S said she had ... and K provided the reason: when she had reached down to pick up the fly screen, she found a 1.5 metre long snake. It slithered off in the direction of the fence ... and left the property (she says). It was a bronzy green colour and it looked a little worse the wear because something had taken chunk out of it. I suppose if we see it again (hopefully we won't), we'll know it's the one. So ... snake season has started. Unless it was a lone one who, having visited, is now moving on to visit the rest of the Latimer's properties.

It was K's second snake in two days. Her first was yesterday, and it was in her Elanora swimming pool. She said, when asked by S, that snakes swim remarkably well.

Dolphins also swim well, although word is that when they're young, and they're trying out their moves, they can appear a little uncoordinated. This is the experience at SeaWorld when they have just celebrated the birth of the third dolphin calf there so far this year. All of them are female - and females can be tough.

Take the Montana woman who beat off a 90-kilogram black bear with nothing more than a zucchini. It (the bear) had attacked one of her dogs on the back porch of her home. When she tried to separate them, the bear bit her - so she took to it with the largest thing she had within reach ... a large zucchini. The bear fled. (It's a pity S hasn't planted zucchini.)

Based on that, you'd also think she'd be likely to take on the Mafia is she lived in Calabria instead. That's where a new scam is now rife ... Mafia mobsters have been calling on the winners of the Lottery and asking them (probably not very nicely) to hand over their winnings. The cash helps them bypass the laws in place to prevent money laundering. This approach certainly takes the luck and uncertainty out of trying to win the Lottery - and it's worth winning .... the jackpot currently stands at Euro 143.4 million.

We have returned from Friday night dinner with F. We had been planning to go to Spinners (it has been a while) but when we arrived he asked if we would prefer to stay in instead. Amazingly, S had said that he would suggest this because "he's a home body". So stay we did - and F cooked steak while I went off to forage chips (Benowa Gardens Fish & Chip Shop) and Coleslaw (KFC). It was nice to just sit and chat around the table. The boys were going out with some friends who are over from New Zealand so they didn't join us for dinner. M did though - via Skype anyway. The poor thing is not terribly well - she has a bad cold/flu - but she is not giving in to it! She was off to go out for coffee with her cousin when we spoke to her - and she even cut the conversation short so she could continue her preparations. This is the first time we have spoken to her since Switzerland, and she said she had a great time. Ooops, I meant to ask her about the criminal investigation and the magnetic garbage can. Next time.

The other thing we talked about at F's was the idea he's been kicking around for some time - which I'm not documenting here because enough people already know about it. We talked about producing the individual units and the "other bits" although I'm not sure that F's had enough time to actually absorb the suggestions we made. We finally called it a day just after midnight - which is almost the latest we've ever been. It's a pity the keeper of the "leaving" word wasn't on hand to invoke it (not that we ever seem to hear it, remember it or act on it but it's always good to have an exit strategy).

Did I mention we left somewhat reluctantly because all S could think about was having to get out of the car and open and close the gate in the dark when we drove in? I did what I could, having the headlights on high beam all the time she was out of the vehicle, and she was not assailed (this time).

The kids were great - all coming in the first time they were called and they have now cuddled up on or near the couch with S. Hopefully they will take pity on us and sleep in in the morning ... I say "hopefully" because I'm fairly sure that's not going to happen tomorrow.