Friday

Well, as we all knew, Mouse could put most of us under the table and yesterday was no exception. After High Tea she, M, Mi and F took themselves off to The Big House where the CSP tables are again open for business but have not yet given up the jackpot - and they weren't giving it up last night either. Although this is not so good for the rest of the players, it means there is a possibility it might still be there next time I get in to play. M was saying that if she wins it, she could put a one-bedroom unit where the garage is. My question is (and I didn't think of it at the time) where would she then put the car?

It didn't rain again today - which is a shame because the bore pump is still out of action and the tank is only half full. Just as well S and I are going off to Brisbane tomorrow for my work Christmas party - so it means we will miss out on a couple of showers here. The plumber did come today to diagnose the problem - much the same as M thought - but because the pipes are a bit on the old side - I think M mentioned 25 years or so - that means the fittings are no longer standard and the plumber will have to source the right size from somewhere. Unfortunately he won't be back tomorrow because he has a birthday party he needs to be at but he has said he should be back on Sunday to finish the job.

Who knew that Advancetown Hotel had two poker nights a week? We were up there last night for dinner - I needed to have a steak which had some flavour (unlike Tuesday night) and we know they do a good one - so off we went. The place was full - much fuller than it usually is on a Tuesday (poker), Wednesday (raffles) or Thursday (trivia) (the only other nights we've been) and the poker tables were set up again - and all three of them were full. I felt a pang when I saw the chips (as in poker not potato) and wondered how much the different coloured ones were worth - and whether it was a "fun" game with the Hotel providing a nominal prize for the person holding the most chips at the end of the games, or whether the players were actually betting with their money. I didn't actually see any poker being played - they hadn't started when we arrived and had finished before we left - so I couldn't even tell what game they were playing - although chances are that with the number of variants of poker there are these days - I wouldn't have been able to tell anyway.

The cats had a night out themselves last night. By bed-time, except for Beazley who was staying close, the others were nowhere to be seen. I had a look for them and called them but neither Tink nor Maggie was co-operating, so we left the door open for them to wander in when they were ready (or for M to bring them in if she saw them when she arrived home).

M took Beazley to the vet for another check of his glucose levels this afternoon and he is doing so well that they have now dropped him to 3 units of insulin morning and night - and they are still talking "remission". Meanwhile, Emma, who is now on 1.5 units, is doing well - and still taking up more room in the bed (sleeping on her pillow) than S would like - but she (and that could be S or Emma) wouldn't have it any other way.