Friday

I felt a bit mean waking Pearl up this morning and making her go outside in the rain but there are just some things you have to do. I think I may have felt better about it had I not known she is not an early riser (too early for double negatives!!).

S was up early helping with the packing for our overnight stay at The Big House - I took the bag with me as I'll go straight there after work (not forgetting to go to the dentist on the way!).

Of course, when I made the appointment with my dentist at Broadbeach over a month ago (it was rescheduled from then since he had been sent home sick), I had not thought to check what else might be happening in the area that day - like the Blues on Broadbeach Festival. Loud; dynamic; wet (pity about that because it meant people, gravitated on the sidewalks (footpaths even) under awnings - and amazing. I'm listening to a harmonica solo at the moment and it is simply amazing - and isn't there a song about all the groovy people - where do they all come from? Of course, there may not be because I have been known to get song lyrics wrong (that's why I'm a docious instead of being precocious in the Sound of Music, and why my name is Garfundi instead of the Lady Darbanville).

It was quite late by the time I joined S at The Big House. I was in the dentist's chair for 2.5 hours - a mammoth effort by Jamie and Marjela to fix my cracked bridge and do a clean. I was under strict instructions not to eat anything until my mouth lost the numbness ... they had really dosed me up on anaesthetic so we had time to wait for M to come in from Latimers, and have a go at CSP before even thinking about dinner - which was at Spinners ... which, although good, is not a patch on what it used to be! Staff cuts seem to have led to queues outside and uncleared empty tables inside. It does make me wonder about economics and the future of the country though. If companies keep cutting jobs doesn't that just mean there will be less available cash in the community for people to spend on their wares? Although, I think I read somewhere that this (harder fiscal times) is nature's way of weeding out poorly run companies. But then, you can't believe everything you read!

But the big news of the evening was that we couldn't get on to the front CSP table but M knows the Big House and led us down to the next CSP table which has changed back to $10 (from $15 - too rich for me!). We were able to get two seats there: but that one's saved said a woman already sitting there - sending M and I into the end positions - and me into what turned out to be the "hot" seat. I can not tell you how excited I was at one stage to pick up my hand and find 4 Kings - and then have the dealer open! Bonus! It was the best night I've had at the the tables - M reckons it's because I haven't played for a while and the Gambling G*ds are enticing me back in ... well, it could work! But in the meantime there are some nice dollars there for S's 60th birthday celebrations! My only regret is that after dinner I was exhausted - a big work day, long dentist visit, and great gambling excitement meant I just didn't have it in me to kick on even though I really wanted to!