Monday - Beers and chocolates

Early morning rising - it does suit me! Especially after a good night's sleep! I was up and about fairly early this morning - sitting at the coffee shop with my flat white and reading the paper by just after 8. M was out early too but her early rise was a bit more serious ... she had an emergency dental appointment - and it was lucky they were able to fit her in. The news was not good but it seems to be bearable until they are able to work out the permanent solution.

S made it to Aqua today and just as well because the class was quite small again - five in total - it would have been six but M couldn't make it in time after her appointment.

Post-Aqua S and I called in to Ferry Road Markets for lunch. S loves the fish there - it's always fresh and well-cooked - and it, together with a little salad and a few chips, makes the perfect lunch for her. I'm always happy to have something from the bakery. And, of course, there's always Merlo's coffee there which S says is the best coffee in the world ... and, it's true, it's pretty good but I'm going to have to sample a few more coffees in a few more countries before I'm prepared to categorically agree to the "best coffee in the world" tag.

It rained off and on here today which meant there was no washing at Latimers ... maybe tomorrow. But the gardens Ja did are looking tremendous!

Chocolate Bretzels!

It must be getting on to "Christmas in July" time! The Southport RSL Club is adorned with Christmas wreaths and big polystyrene snow flakes - and who knew there were so many different types of snowflakes - dendrite, star, needle ... Ah, Trivia. After the first round - Alcoholic Beverages - we were fairly sure we had no chance of making it onto that Podium. We just don't know our beers well enough - or our ciders for that matter - because we managed only 4 out of a possible 10. We had originally thought that because we had An and De and Fl we would have a decent chance with Alcoholic Beverages - until we found out there wasn't a wine, liqueur or spirit among them. And who knew there were so many different types of beer that we've never heard of, let alone not be able to recognize by photograph? Ah well, at least we had the choccies Ni had left for us (thanks Ni!)- as carried by her from France. Yum - and in a variety of flavours as well! They must have helped because at the end of the night, we were in the tie-break for third place - and thanks to "The Lone Ranger" - and Fl - we prevailed. In the movie yesterday, Fl had seen "San Francisco 1933" superimposed over a shot of that city - and showing The Golden Gate Bridge under construction in the background. The tie-break question: in what year was the Golden Gate Bridge completed? We went for 1934, the others had a date in the 20's ... ta da, third! Truly amazing - especially as someone from the other team had also just seen TLR!

Mouse and M went to dinner at The Big House and had the just-back-today Steak and Lobster Special - as wonderful as always - unless you want tomato sauce with your chips. M asked a server for some who told her that she could get it for her but that it would cost her $1; M thought she was joking - but, no, Spinners are now charging for tomato sauce. At this rate they'll be taking away the free water in the main gaming room ... oh wait, they've already done that ages ago! Time for some letters to the management!

The furries were all inside when we arrived home last night and they must have been fairly settled because Pearl (the watch dog?) didn't even realise M had arrived home until the back door opened. Hmmm ...