Monday

Can anyone smell something burning? That would be me after leaving the electric blanket on 3 (it's top setting) as I fell asleep last night. I'm not sure what time it was when I woke up - turning off the blanket, and thinking about moving to another bed until my side cooled down.

It continued warm generally though ... it was so warm this morning I felt silly putting on my Sydney coat to take Pearl down the lane. But there was a bit of a wind blowing so I thought it was better to be safe than sorry ... or cold! I didn't keep the coat on much longer than the walk though - and even though it is usually freezing in the office, there were no coats - okay a couple of vests - but most of us were just in our oranges.

Ms Windsucker - UniP - was at it again this morning as Pearl and I walked by. It really is an amazing noise she makes - and I definitely wouldn't want to be alone, in the dark, late and night, when I heard it not knowing what it was! Scary stuff!

Trivia was good tonight. 19 teams and 91 people I think Craig said. We managed only a fourth with 71 points! But it was a good game ... especially since Ni was back, however briefly, from France. She's heading back over there on Thursday ... so it's really a flying visit. So, all up we were five, with the only one of the usual team missing being St who is still in France and, according to Ni, is living the dream - cycling, golf and good food!

She came carrying goodies too - French cheese - and some French gingerbread ... and we are still working out what to do about the next bit ... as she unwrapped the cheese and Sooz and An were each having a slice, someone on staff at the Southport RSL Club came over and said "you can't do that" - meaning, as he went on to say, that you can't bring food into the club. Ni tried to say that it was a treat she had just brought back from France - but he was adamant that if he let us, everyone would want to do it. He would not even listen when we tried to explain that we weren't depriving the Club of any revenue ... four of the five of us were having Club meals. It just wasn't good enough really ... and Sooz and I are talking about whether to and how to take it further. At this rate, I said to Sooz, it means you wouldn't be able to bring your own birthday cake into the Club! Well, you could but you wouldn't be able to eat it there!

And just back onto Trivia ... Murray Grey is a type of cattle; the MX5 and CX5 are types of Mazda ... and even though we could go on, I'm not going to.

Broadbeach Sink hole

The big news on the Gold Coast yesterday was that a huge sinkhole has opened on (and closed) the Highway at Broadbeach. It may be three days before it is fixed! We missed it completely, even though we were about a stone's throw from it when we were at The Big House yesterday. Thank goodness we had gone the back way! And that we hadn't chosen to go to the GCAC via the main highway!

We now have a copy of M's and Mouses' itineraries for their trip home - and it won't be long before they're back. It was great to get a letter with the itinerary too (thanks M!).