Wednesday

What a great day - which could have a lot to do with getting a "leave work at lunch-time early mark" or this being the last day of work for a fortnight. Gotta love it!

I joined S, M and Mouse (and Mi and F joined us too) at Top One at Australia Fair for Yum Cha. J (from work) and I have been there a couple of times this year, but it is definitely better with a bigger group. You get to try more - and different things. J and I tend to have the same dishes each time we come - which has to do with her eating regime - she logs everything she ingests for discussion with her personal trainer.

Then S went off to do some shopping for the Kyogle branch of the family - rice stick noodles and Oyster Sauce. Luckily there is an Asian grocery store in the Australia Fair and she was able to ring her sister-in-law from the aisles to make sure she was getting the right ones. It's always best to be sure - especially in this case - because there was the possibility of picking the non-preferred version.

As she shopped (and looked for the Swatchband) the rest of us, except for M who was running an errand, visited Zarraffas and drank coffee, and some water - F was a bit on the dry side as he has been working with acid and that always dehydrates him. There is something very pleasant about lounging around a coffee shop/cafe in the middle of a work-day knowing you don't have to rush off and can just relax to your heart's content.

So relaxed was I that rather than rushing back to the car so we could leave the carpark - at no charge - within the free three-hour parking limit, while S waited on the husband-seat outside K-Mart, I had a lovely leisurely wander through the store on the offchance that something might want to come home with me. The something which shouted "take me, take me" was a 7" Tablet made by Telefunken which was selling for under $140. It has wireless connectivity, allows the use of ebooks, two USB ports plus an SD slot. That is phenomenonal. I couldn't see what the storage size was - although with USB and card slots, I tend to think it wouldn't have been very great - but it wouldn't need to be. It was running the Android system so it should be fairly easy to use. Mind you, I'm not about to give Padtheway the Second (iPad extraordinaire) the flick for a new tablet just yet.

Pulling up to the paybooth on the way out of the carpark, I proffered my ticket and a $50 note. The guy looked at it and asked if I had anything smaller. I showed him my (now empty) wallet and said no ... but that if he wanted to give me the parking for free (it should have been $5) I wouldn't say no. Now, just for a moment you could see the notion of whether it would actually be easier for him to do that flit across his face, and I don't know what finally tipped the balance (I would have thought the other two people standing in the booth with him might have swayed him the other way) but he smiled, handed me my $50 back and the boom gate opened. Merry Crimbo!! What a fantastic start to the holidays. Of course, at that point, I was a little sorrier that I hadn't been prepared enough to remember to take the reindeer antlers with me as I had planned so I could start the holidays season with Lars in costume - he looks great in antlers - and a nose!

On the way home (isn't free time a wonderful thing?) S and I dropped in to the newly-refurbished Maccas at Nerang for a cold drink - one of their new frappes - and were disappointed that it took longer than the advertised 60 seconds to arrive. They'll need to lift their game - or perhaps change their advertising.