Monday

Well what do you know? Tink can be trusted ... although that may need some qualification! I was up early this morning - around 4 - too early for the cats to have their shots so when Tink wanted to go out, I told her she could just as long as she came back. I considered giving her a talk about honour and giving your word but (even without S's knowing look) I suspected that might be another of those "blah blah blah" conversations. Of course, she wasn't the only one who wanted to go out. One out all out! But I knew Beazley would come back because he would want some cookies, and Maggie would because she didn't need to, but Tink? Who knew? Which is why it was such a nice surprise when she did. The question is if I would be game to try it if I was up against time constraints rather than with a lazy two hours stretching before me?

Trivia was challenging this evening - starting with getting there! We were early (as usual) and drove down in to the car park ... and there was not one free! We even went down to the lower level - still nothing. Lars took us up the street, around the block, here and there, until finally we parked up the road from Southport RSL in a makeshift parking lot (I think it's used by the local theatre). Others weren't as adventurous - or had arrived too late to realise that the parking lot was full - and access had not been restricted - so the queue was out to the road. We phoned F to let him know, in case he wanted one of the boys to drop him off (Mi was not due back from work for a while, especially as she was picking up E from the airport!) and we could give him a lift home. But he needed the van to pick something up, so he said he'd be fine. We determined then that we would give him until just before 7 and if he wasn't there by then, we would pick the bonus rounds ourselves! Not that it would have done much good if we had chosen different ones - we were just a little below par tonight - and we think we have worked out why. It's N and S! They're not back from their sojourn in France yet and while N may think they do not contribute much, they would have put us well and truly over the line this evening. The bulk of which country's energy needs are produced by nuclear power? What do you call the end of a fishing rod handle? Who is the MotoCross champion retiring at the end of this season?* I'm not going to go on ... well, except to say that they would have done Asian Elephant and Bilby in the animal picture round. We came in fifth, with several other teams, but only 4 points off the place-getters ... and given some of those answers were double points (but not: What is the Governor General's residence in Sydney called?) ... with N and S we would have been contenders!

But at least our walk down to B's with Pearl was good. As we were leaving the yard - with Pearl on the lead since Ebony has been encroaching on her territory and they've been a bit snarly towards each other - S pointed me to the garden to have a look ... and the mound of dirt under which, she assured me, was one of Pearl's bones!

We did find out why people were congregating at the RSL. It was a (logistics?) meeting for folk and support teams taking part in this year's Kokoda Challenge. Now that I think about it, I know two people who are doing it this year - one from work, and a friend of Sy's. Sy probably would have there had she not been travelling back from Melbourne - we had a text from her on the way in to say that her Mum's funeral "went very well" and that her Dad had reconnected with some old friends who will "get him out of the house".

Maggie slept in with us last night - for most of the night anyway. It was odd having a cat on the bed again especially one who hasn't yet decided where it is she wants to settle. We wonder if this will become a regular occurrence - that and her sitting on my lap as we watch television ... which, of course, has solved the problem about where we were going to get a spare seat so all the furries could have their own spots while they're watching MasterChef ... even though they know that if it does run over in real time (which it did) then there is every chance we won't know who is eliminated when we watch it back because the recording will end just as they are about to announce it (which it did). I had woken up ... Maggie really does put you to sleep! ... just long enough during the program to look it up on FaceBook so I could tell them and S that it was Sam ... thereby putting them all out of their misery!

* France; butt end; Casey Stoner; Admiralty House.