Tuesday

Travel day - but not for us unless you count me dropping Jand R off at the airport in Brisbane as "travel"! l was surprised to arrive at work at my usual time -even with stopping at Zarraffa's (original) Helensvale store, and waiting (only a couple of minutes) for them to open.

The trip to the airport was good but we were glad we'd made an early start - by the time I was coming back tomthe Coast, the traffic to Brisbane was at a crawl.

Today seems to have been "catch the speeder" day. There were radars between the Border and here, and between here and Brisbane. Coincidentally, there was an article in the Courier-Mail today about the new bright yellow police patrol cars - but there were none of them in sight. Mind you - the police vehicles that were out weren't really in plain sight - one was hiding -oops, parked, between bushes - not very sporting al all, and definitely suggesting revenue-raising rather than deterrence through a (highly) visible presence.

Poor S is down with a lurgy - not quite sure where she picked it up but she is not a happy camper. Emma has been doing her usual wonderful nursing and was happy to share S's dinner before resuming duties. Mind you, Em was not totally well today either (sick a couple of times) but she does seem okay.

Pearl is such a fiend when it comes to food. We've taken to popping her in to M's room while we feed the cats. It's too distressing to even put her outside because she can see that they are eating and gets anxious that she is not. Although "inhaling" might be a better word - I gave her mince this evening and she was so excited that she didn't want to do her "waiting dog" trick, was standing on her food mat, and wouldn't back away so I could put the dish down. Then the mince vanished within an instant!

M was busy while we were away - not sure where she found them but there has been an addition to Latimer's exterior illumination with some Christmas (?) solar lights in the garden. They are wonderful and great to watch as they change colour!

The Christmas Lights tours around the Coast have started to be advertised, and while the biggest carols have been cancelled because the organisers could not raise enough money to cover the expenses associated with putting on the event, details of other carols are available at www.goldcoast.com.au. It really is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.