Wednesday

B-I-N-G-O! On a Wednesday, M, S and Mouse take themselves off to one of the local RSL clubs to play Bingo - and because I am still on holidays I was able to go today.   I have been once before but this time I was able to play with one of the PET machines - which basically is an electronic bingo card - but better - because you play 6 games at once and it marks off the numbers - all you have to do is mark off on the machine that the number has been called.   It lets you know when you are one number away from the bingo - regardless of whether it's a Noah's Ark or an Ice Cream or the Full House.   Pretty clever stuff - and it costs no more to play with a PET than it does to play the normal games.   The only additional outlay is 50 cents for the plastic pencil/stylus you use for pushing the button numbers - but you get to keep that so you only need to buy it once,  unless you lose it.   I reckon that if you did,  you could just use the end of a normal biro.   

Winners are grinners ...  but we were doing none of that today as no-one on our table took out any games.  Both M and I were one-off a couple of times (the PETs beeped) but we couldn't convert.  Ah well,  it was as I remembered it,  and while it's good to go from time to time,  I think I would be disappointed if I went weeks without a win.   Luckily,  when the girls play,  they often take home something.   Mouse had a better offer today (Mahjong in Broadbeach) so she didn't play with us ...  maybe she took the table luck with her.  

Lunch was at Daniel Stuart in Southport and that was very yummy.  We were careful not to fill up though because we were due at J's for a BBQ at four this afternoon.   That was good too - and on the way when we stopped at her local supermarket to pick up some sausage and chops,  we found some of Emma's cat tinnies at a fairly reduced price - so we stocked up on them - the 40 odd-tins we had for her before Christmas is starting to dwindle so it was time! 

The BBQ was great - including the new offering from Coles - Flava Sticks - basically minced lamb and beef with some herbs mixed in - on a stick!  And they weren't too bad.  But what is an Aussie BBQ without pavlova - and a taste of that, with ice cream, made a ripper dessert!  

We then headed in to The Big House where M was letting us have her room for the night.  It was wonderful and I finally managed to have the bath I've been wanting since the holidays started - and, probably more surprisingly, to not get sucked into watching late night television from bed.   

M had been thinking about coming back in after feeding the furries and giving Emma and Beazley their insulin, but in the end she was so comfortable she stayed at Latimers and enjoyed the company of Pearl and the cats.