Day 51 (Monday)

Even though I know to watch out for them, it still took me a little by surprise when I rounded that last corner before Hinde Rd and found a very large kangaroo in the middle of the road. They truly are majestic and magnificent creatures and it was amazing to watch it effortlessly bound off, jumping a fence to be on its way. I was, in that instant, thankful to the fool who had dazzled me with his headlights on high beam a couple of corners back. Had I been at Hinde Road just that bit earlier or later I may not have seen the kangaroo and could have missed the moment to revel in nature.

There certainly is lots of it at Latimers ... and the plovers were out again as I drove back after towing the rubbish bin up to the road. Because I was just a little later tonight, I thought I would avail myself of B's offer and let him take it up - but as I was on the way down the road (still not finished and now starting to look a bit less like a new road with all the dirt tyre tracks on it) B was already coming up with bins on board.
Tink would have been pleased if that hadn't been the case. When I drove in (through the gate that S opens for me in the evenings - as well as most mornings) Tink was on the driveway and moved to under the Honda to get out of the way - and then had to move again when I backed it out to take the rubbish. For her troubles, she received an extra couple of chin chucks and she seemed to like that very much.

By all reports, it was a fairly quiet day at Latimers. We did make arrangements though for another cleaner to come this week - not wanting to take the chance that J would be a no-show again ... and since L and E are due this weekend, we wanted to make sure Latimers is as nice as it can be. S rang J to let her know not to come this week, but to come next week - and depending on how it works, we might have each of them fortnightly. It just goes to show that there are always options available ... when J suggested last week that she come fortnightly, I don't think we really considered it could be workable, but it occurred to me that our cleaner at work - who we've had to cut back on cleans until we know what's happening with the project - might like to pick up some extra work. The added benefit is that I know she'll do a good job ... as long as we can work out exactly what to have her focus on in the three hours she's here. It was really nice, too, when she replied to our email with details of where to find us asking if "S and Pearl" would both be there to greet her. She has a cattle dog herself - Ruby - and we often have chats about dog play - and naming dogs. S will be pleased to find out that she loves a chat too!

It looks as though we are drawing ever closer to a decision regarding Government. The pundits are saying that the announcement will be made tomorrow and I can't help but wonder if both Ms JG and Mr Abbott are spending this evening crafting their speeches about democracy, the good of the people, the good of the country and so on. Knowing the reports that have been appearing about the possibility of the Coalition's involvement in similar campaigns, one also wonders if they are preparing an army of supporters to "man" the phones to start letting the independents know that their electorates are not happy with their choice ... if that choice is Labor.

Polls suggest that people would prefer to have another election rather than put up with not knowing for much longer. How much different would the results look if the election were held today? And there is no denying that it has been quite "peaceful" during this interim period - and that it hasn't been a waste. Both sides have now agreed to parliamentary reforms including an independent Speaker and shorter (hopefully more productive) question times.

Bob Carr made the news for his suggestion that Ms JG put Malcolm Turnbull on the front bench (should Labor form the Minority Government) since he isn't going to get a look-in while Mr Abbott has his heels/toes (which is it?) dug in as leader. There was no suggestion that he would stand down. Given how close it has been, it will be interesting to see if Labor move to remove Ms JG as leader if they end up in Opposition. (Piece of interesting trivia unearthered by S on the weekend ... Robert Menzies was removed as leader of his party in 1941 before leading them to a win in 1949 ... hope those dates are the ones she read out to me).

Nerang - home of the armed hold-up. Well, actually it was just the one this morning at the KFC. There has to be a story here - more than they're reporting in the press. It seems to have gone like this: gun-man arrives, locks everyone in the cold storage room, takes money, rides off on his pink and black moped - police arrive, police investigate, police leave - gun-man comes back and takes something from the scene - no-one's letting on what it was but police acknowledge: "We missed him by five minutes." Who said nothing ever happens around here?

Day 50 (Sunday)

The rain continued overnight and we were faced with the prospect of a wet markets ... which of course doesn't do anything to slow us down because we love it so much - and we really do need to make sure we get fruit and veg for the week so we don't end up with scurvy. I did much better this week, managing to bag strawberries and mandarins. Also on my shopping list - but staying at the markets were rock melons and bananas. Thank goodness for Coco's at Carrara which is where we picked up some more as well as visiting the Maxi Grocer and the "Happy Days" deli which has just opened there. I don't think it's actually called "Happy Days" but the home-made sign announcing its arrival said "Happy Days" so that is how it shall now be known.

We've decided to have lunch (grilled fish) at the Groper and his Wife (must remember one day to try them at the Ferry Road Markets) and as we wait - because this is a very popular choice today - S is playing "60 Seconds" on the iPad while I ring my mother. Wouldn't you know that just as I rang, W arrived back from the retreat so I have left them to it and will ring Mum later today when she and Pippa get home. (S is enjoying 60 Seconds but says she does find it a bit of a challenge ... so I can only imagine what it would be like if I insisted on using the iPad for writing this rather than letting her use it. She is watching me touchtype here and asking what I'm typing ... thinking I might be transcribing every word that she utters ... which I could do because each and every one is worth recording ... like "I could easily mistake holly for a bat" - which is 60 Seconds talk. But she does "like the milk cartons because they have stripes".)

Not making it to the markets, although she was on her way at one point and then appears to have gone straight to her folks' place instead, was N - who recently had a job interview with Treasury in our national capital. While her folks wished her well, they also made sure N knew they didn't really want her to get it because that would mean her moving away ... and all that entails (by which I think they thought there might be a chance she would fall in love and ... but wait, isn't that part of the life plan, that she should fall in love, marry and produce grandchildren that everyone but especially they, can dote on?)

Life at Latimers is exciting. This morning I was first up - well, second if you don't count when S was up to open the door to let the kids out - and as I was lifting Beazley up to his (at least) second breakfast of cat cookies, I noticed a mouse had been deposited just inside the cat door. I don't usually do this, but just this once I debated pretending I hadn't seen it and leaving it for S to find. Well, that was the plan but my conscience got the better of me and off I went to get a plastic bag (maybe one of the cats or Pearl would find it while I was gone and "dispose" of it) and it was only when I got back and was bending down to pick it up that I realized that that poor little expired mouse was actually a dead leaf! Phew (and thank you)!

The kids seem to be content to lounge around this afternoon and I can't sat that we blame them. I am planning to do some paperwork and tidying up but that could very easily translate to the virtual world rather than in the real world where it is actually needed. Last I saw S she was heading off for one of those lazy Sunday afternoon naps, having already watched one of the Foreign films she hired yesterday. Could be all that reading that tires a person out!

You've heard of a frog in the throat? Well, it sounds as though there's one in the downpipe ... and I'm still trying to work out how it got in there. Fancifully, it could be that all the local amphibians come to Latimers when it rains and use it as a theme park - slipping and sliding their way through the plants and plumbing, through the cats' territory and finally launching themselves headfirst into the downpipe. It may be that pipes distort sound but the one in there really does sound quite large - possibly even large enough to have gotten stuck there and even the whump whump whump of the others into it wasn't quite enough to dislodge it. Or perhaps not.

Some hours later and all is quiet now as we get ready to settle in for another night at Latimers. S is just doing the last round of whistles for the kids before we all call it a night - and making sure they all have that last snack of cookies to sustain them through the night ... and singing them the "who are the good children" song (high praise indeed). Hugs all round should just finish it off nicely ... and then we'll look forward to doing it all again tomorrow.

Day 49 (Saturday)

It was another relatively late start to the morning - made all the better with the arrival of bed tea before I had even opened my eyes. "They" are right, it is a lovely way to wake up. Not so much if you get bitten on the foot by ants, which is what S had been off doing, although not intentionally, before she turned her attention to the bed tea. She had been up the back paddock, feeding Hermes some carrots, when she was viciously attacked. She came straight in and put vinegar on it - and steadfastly resisted all attempts to get her to the chemist then and during the day for something else to ease the pain. It was bearable but has left little tiny ant welts on her feet. Luckily she wasn't attacked by the rest of the ants which have taken to higher ground - on the fences. Looks like we might be in for some rain!

And rain has been predicted for today so "video store" has been moved on to the list of things to do - if it's raining, we're renting a movie rather than going to one! It has only taken us 7 weeks (actually 6 weeks 6 days) to get to the video store and I daresay, now that S has discovered the Foreign section, it won't take us that long to get there again. There was no talk of "chick flicks" today, only because we hadn't really thought about it that much - my cunning and devious plan was to find TV series for rent there for S (who is now planning to start watching the "River Cottage" series) and perhaps even a season of "Heroes" or "Star Trek" for me. Just as we were about to leave, I saw a title for sale and immediately wondered if it was for hire as well. It was and the one copy they had available came home with us. How good was it? Well, before I say, let's take a moment to revisit my last review, as recently quoted by mate C: the subject ... the Larsson novel trilogy. "A Blockbuster!" - New York Times; "A stunning series" - Sunrise; "You could do worse" - KM. So, how was the movie - with "the movie" being "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"? S enjoyed it and thought it was a good plot - but I think she missed out by not having first read the novel. I thought it was okay - but a bit light on because it wasn't entirely faithful to the twists and turns of the novel. But it was good to be able to watch the trailers for the next two movies. I now I've only just finished the novels but already they've started to merge into one.

For the first time today I noticed (on the way out the gates) a whole lot of little flying things congregating there. I didn't want to point them out to S at first, but when I saw one up close and realized that it could easily be "an ant with wings" I thought it was better she knew before one of them landed on her as she was closing the gate.

The only thing worse to bite you than one of them seems to be a sea lion. A young boy is in hospital today after having been bitten on the tummy at least twice by one of the Taronga Zoo sea lions who was startled by the boy, an audience participant in one of the shows there. As the keepers said, the seal responded in the only way it knew - fight or flight, and it took the former. The boy is in a stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery. The zoo's investigations as to what happened continues.

In other marine news, a 7m sub-adult humpback whale was rescued from nets off Surfers Paradise this morning; video of the rescue was posted to YouTube courtesy of Sea World. And, in unrelated news, if you book to go on a Whale Watching cruise with Sea World at the moment, and you don't see a whale, they'll give you your money back.

Okay, who forgot to tell the petrol people that today is Saturday and it is therefore supposed to be the cheapest day of the week for petrol. I took it at $1.28/litre - the same as yesterday - taking a gamble which was never going to pay off - as evidenced by the 4 cents a litre drop in the time we were at the shopping centre. Sometimes, though, you just need to fill up.

The weather reports were right ... it has taken some time ... it's now just before 11pm, but it is finally raining. There is nothing like the sound of it on the roof. The question is whether this will encourage Tink (who is the only one still outside) to come in or will it make her hunker down wherever she is. Just as well S is planning to stay up a little while longer to look out for her. (Tink did come in ... there's no doubt that the whistling works ... sometimes.)

We are remembering to check for messages after we've been out - admittedly it might be some hours later, but it is happening. I'm not sure what's more disappointing - there not being any - or going to the post office to pick up the item that won't fit into the box and finding out that it's a health testing kit (as provided by the Government as part of a national screening effort).

Time for bed so we can be ready for Skypeing and markets ... we're looking forward to it too ... and not just because N is bringing her new iPhone 4 tomorrow!

Day 48 (Friday)

How quickly Friday comes around! We look forward to it, of course, and today was no exception especially as I managed to come home at half-time (bringing some spreadsheets and files to work on) to have lunch - leftovers which I had forgotten to take with me - and then to work from home for the rest of the afternoon ... and maybe even to sneak in a little nap before we went off to F's for dinner. We had agreed to be there for sunset ... but when is sunset?

I was almost tempted to do some mowing - and it's going to be hard not to do it over the weekend (although the weather report suggests it will be raining), but L and E have said they are keen to be involved next weekend when they are here. It will be interesting especially as L has prior experience and I'm hoping she will be able to teach me some of the more finer points of manoeuvering the mower in and out of tight spaces eg around the washing line.

We were only a little late for official sunset but F was ready for us ... what a whiz that man is in the kitchen (why does M want another one?). I particularly liked the way he had all the ingredients for the dinner pre-chopped and prepared. And how he rinsed dishes and popped them into the dishwasher as he went. We could all learn a lot from him.

Lu was there as well, but he is still not totally well so he was propped up in bed with his laptop except when he actually came out for dinner. We were a little thankful for that - although we're fairly sure he's not contagious - although we won't be sure for a few days.

Which is when Luv-A-Coffee is going to close down for major renovations - from the 7th to the 9th, re-opening at 7am on the 10th. Not quite sure what they have in mind but it will be interesting to see. Not sure what is happening at the Nerang Pet Motel but it had a "closed" sign on it the other day. I meant to have another look today on the way home to see what else was written there but I was too excited to get home.

If I'd come home an hour later it may have been a little more difficult since the macadamiser had been hard at work. Sometime between 2 and 5pm they'd laid bitumen along half the stretch of the road. Looks good - like liquorice rolled out - rather than the pastry it looked like before. We will have to wait until Monday (at least) for them to finish the job but at this stage it looks as though they're doing an okay job.

However, it has to be noted that it was much easier to see the plover parents and chicks against the pastry colour ... they were out again tonight as we drove home from F's. If they're going to go for late night strolls the least nature could have done is make them a little bit reflective - or put more white plumage on them.

According to the Lars (who I know is a car and not a thermometer), the temperature was 33C at lunchtime ... and there was confirmation again today that the meteorologists are predicting a warm wet spring for the Gold Coast. Remember ... Mum's the word on this one. We don't want S to find out.

It looks as though those Liberals might be up to some tricks. There have been rumours, admittedly unconfirmed, that people have been ringing the offices of the three independents saying much the same message - which is what leads some to believe this may be an orchestrated campaign rather than just random comments from individuals - "I voted from him, but I won't if he supports the Labor/Green movement" or words to that effect. Of course, these may just be rumors that Labor is putting around, in which case it would "Labor might be up to some tricks". It will be great when this finally gets resolved. It's a fortnight tomorrow since the election ... funny, it seems much longer.

We have no real plans for the weekend except the markets on Sunday, and we might see if we can fit a movie, or perhaps the Hyperdrome tomorrow. And, after hearing F talk about his trip there with E this week, there might also be a trip to M's friend Ikea. We'll see tomorrow.

Day 47 (Thursday)

It's a little reminiscent of "The Proposal" with the promise of very large sums of money being bandied around in exchange for favors - in this case, Andrew Wilkie siding with the Liberals - which he didn't, even though it would apparently have been worth $1 billion to the Tasmania health care system. Ms JG has come in with a more reasonable counter-offer which seems to be evidence of sound economic judgement and planning. And at least there is a degree of confidence about the costings - regardless of how much Mr Abbott protests.

So ... as it stands ... Labor 72 plus 1 Green plus 1 Andrew Wilkie = 74. Liberal 73. 3 undecided Independents. Either side needs 76 to form a minority government. So, in this case only, it seems like 2 out of 3 ain't bad if you're Labor. A decision by the Independents is not expected before next week, and while one of them says they are not a "bloc", he said it would be in their interests to "act collectively".

Undeterred by the closeness of this election, bets continue on the NSW State election with the Coalition at $2.08 and Labor at $7.40. (Hopefully somebody knows what that means!)

Date night did see us at the Highland Court Chinese restaurant and, in retrospect, it may not have been the wisest choice. Hmmm. That's probably enough said because once I get started on how noisy it was and the behaviour of the small child at the table next to ours - unruly and unsafe - I may not be able to rein myself in. The other small bugbear is when we asked for "no MSG", the waiter did mention that there was already MSG in most of their dishes, but he did take the trouble to note "NO ADDED MSG" on our order. Still, it was nice enough but I don't think we'd go there again. Zen has spoilt us.

I asked S what had happened at Latimers today and she gave a quite succinct reply: nothing. As in "nothing", not as in "no reply". Well, that may not be true because I do know that she and the cats and Pearl took a walk up to sort through the carrots in the fridge in the stables and see if any were past their use-by date. She had a tussle on her hands though when she tried to throw the tired ones out ... who knew that Pearl likes carrots?

There has been some reorganization of the horses in the paddocks and Lottie is now in the one closest us - with Lacie back in the next paddock. Hermes seems no worse for wear for having loved and lost Holly who is now back in her usual place. And, thanks to a conversation with C, we now know that Lottie is UB. (We may have known that before but I had forgotten and certainly wouldn't have been able to recognize her in a line-up ... is that why they have colours and numbers on horses when they're racing?)

Are we in the land of political correctness gone mad or just people gone mad? It seems that a principal at a Melbourne school has decided to change the words to the Kookaburra song and it now ends with "Fun your life must be". Would people take the same liberties with other pieces of great literature? It's not as though they say "Bah, bah, rainbow sheep" ... except apparently they do and have done for years now. We need to hang out with young children more so we can keep up to date with these developments.

It was a big Apple day yesterday - with the September roll-out of news of a new line of iPod Touches and Nanos ... and news of an update to the Ipad operating system - due sometime in November. The biggest news however is that I received a recommendation for an App from someone who would this time last year probably not even have known what an App was!! Stunning stuff. (What I don't understand though is who is this "Christian" that is currently using the App who is already one of my contacts? A quick search reveals that he is the lad down the road who has been recommended for lawn mowing duties - thank goodness I put notes in my Contacts list :) ... especially since, if worse comes to worse and I can't work out how to use the App, I can always get him over to do the lawn and just casually start chatting about ... technology!)

F rang to confirm that we are still on for dinner tomorrow night ... he kindly provided a list of options, and we gratefully replied that we were happy with whatever he preferred. We will be there at sunset ... with dessert - now, if only we knew what he liked ... I think "crumbles" are up there ... but there is still time for us to do some research and truly stun him with a favorite. Now if only we could contact his wife it would make it so much easier!!

Weather is lovely here at the moment, and I am happy to be finishing in Brisbane again today for the week. They have been very good ... I did only a little filing, and data processing, and the rest of the time we talked about their systems and how they could, if required, be adapted to a certain water project. Perhaps we'll find out if there's been any further word on a decision on that tomorrow.

Day 46 (Wednesday)

Everyone had an early start at Latimers because it is a "Brisbania day". I have yet to convince S to come with me - it would be a great opportunity for her to catch up with S & A and to keep me company on the train there and back. As it was, she stirred, but not much, and because I was up half an hour earlier than expected, I attended to the cats' and Pearl's breakfasts. Don't know why ... but all except one of them followed me to the shower and took up positions to "watch". I encouraged them not to.

So early was I that I managed to be on the 6.30 train, thinking it would be a nice gentle start to the morning to read the paper, and then once there, sit quietly and have breakfast ... before doing a full day of work (which I feared would again be a bodyweight of filing). Aha ... not so ... when I arrived at the office's building, I found the rest of the staff sitting in the foyer ... there had been a gas leak on our floor, centered in our area, and we could not go in. So, hours later, enough for me to learn that the Swiss Consulate is housed in "our" building, a small band of us (others had been released to go home or have fun elsewhere) made our way to the site office - in the basement of the new building - to see what work could be done.

Meanwhile, back at Latimers, there had been no word from J even though it was past time for her to arrive. This delay did, however, give S time to finish clearing up before J's arrival. Which may have been a blessing in disguise because that was the only cleaning that was done today. J phoned much later to say she wasn't coming today, and couldn't make it tomorrow, and perhaps she could start coming fortnightly instead. Not having been at Latimers for that call, I cannot say exactly what S's reaction was to that suggestion, but I could tell you what she would have liked to have said.

The road work seemed unchanged today. Perhaps they have done something which my untrained eye was unable to detect but I don't think so. The big rough patch where old and new roads meet, just near B's, is as bad as it was yesterday.

It will be interesting to see if the road to the Hinze Dam site is as rough. We have tonight responded in the affirmative to attending the residents' BBQ which is on next week. It is on a "school night" so S thought I might not want to go, but it seems like too good an opportunity to miss. It may be the only water project I get to see in the near future - there is still no decision about ours but we have conquered another hurdle with the on-time completion and submission of the business case.

Pearl came out this evening when I arrived home, ball in mouth, for our usual game - even though it was pitch dark. I don't know which of us was more surprised when I threw the ball and she wasn't able to find it. To her credit she didn't go in search if one of her other balls to give it another try. It may have had something to do with that she had already had a good game of "hose" with S before I arrived. That girl does love her games.

We have sought local advice and are going to try the Chinese restaurant at Highland Park as date night venue tomorrow. We'd be happy to keep going to the local but not until they stop being so generous with the MSG! We will miss the trivia but will do our best to make our own fun - like trying to figure out who will eventually be able to form a Government here. We are still really no closer even though the Greens have formalized their decision to side with Labor. We won't know about the independents for a while yet as they are still deliberating over policy costings. It seems the Liberal ones have been just that - if you think that in this case they have been generously undercosted. Of course, there are the usual aspersions being cast by both sides and it makes one wonder if we will ever have mature adults in Government here - both as the Government and in Opposition. All of them are going to be in one or other of the roles so they could start acting like it now (obviously I am expecting more from them in Parliament House than has previously been the case). <Sigh>

Is the Gold Coast really missing out on tourist dollars because we have no cruise ship terminal? Will they work out what mystery disease afflicted the man who was airlifted to the Coast from a cruise ship 110km out to sea? Will Anna Bligh be able to come up with an acceptable solution (besides free water) to drunk tourists harassing locals and police in Surfers Paradise? If you ask for the butter on the side with your raisin toast and they give you margarine, should you send it back? These and other questions - like "are the Palm Beach-Currumbin Markets too big to survive because of parking issues?" - will now have to wait until tomorrow.

Day 45 (Tuesday)

The Tour de Nerang was out in force this morning. Luckily I now know they ride our country streets and am very watchful for them on the bends on the 80kph stretch ... I know they're not doing anywhere near that and since they don't ride single file it would be fairly hard to miss them.

Robin Loh, the man behind Robina, or the man standing in front of Robina in the photograph in The Gold Coast Bulletin this morning, has died at the age of 81 following a long battle with Parkinson's disease.

The road folk were in attendance by the time I drove past this morning. Just a pity they didn't seem to be doing much. There was a light flashing atop one of the dutes and that was the only visible activity on the site. But something must have happened during the day because the road is starting to take shape. There are still a couple of rough patches but I'm not quite as fearful of losing Lars down a pothole now.

The big news of the day is that we now have internet connectivity again. S has missed it very much. We are still running comparison tests but it looks like the new modem is considerably faster. I downloaded a 500MB podcast in less than 15 minutes tonight. With speeds like this we could really start getting through some bandwidth. The only problem with this though would be finding the time to watch on read or listen to the downloads! Although there are those train rides to and from Brisbania.

S should have been very proud of me yesterday. We are getting ready to hand back a couple of the apartments in the complex that we've been using to accommodate folk from Sydney and we were to the point of sorting out the linen/manchester. Now while I can't tell the difference between linen and manchester, I can tell the difference between hand towels and bathmats! Joan was suitably impressed by that and the way I used a fitted sheet to secure everything to the trolley for the trip back to the office. And while I could have capped the whole exercise off by showing her how to fold the aforementioned fitted sheet (the Martha Stewart way) I decided that there should continue to be some mystery and mystique.

I didn't feel that way when the conversation at work turned to the Twilight series ... it seems we have a "Twihard" on staff - and it was amazing that neither she nor any of the others knew that the author was a Mormon or that the books were reportedly written to promote the Golden Ring Club - promoting celibacy in teenagers. (This is why some people should not have ready access to the Internet ... some fifteen minutes later I've fact-checked re statements in this paragraph, read about S Meyer's favourite author and downloaded his novella "Ender's Game" for later reading.)

It is incredibly hard sometimes to tell where sound is coming from at Latimers. Late this evening we could hear a horse or horses whinnying (or maybe it was neighing ... what else do they do?) and each time we went out to have a look, couldn't see anything ... and it would stop so we couldn't tell where it was coming from. I thought it wasn't Hermes but to be sure, I checked the top paddock ... because the noise sounded close ... nope, he wasn't there. Back inside. Ten minutes later, there it was again. Outside again, check over the gate towards Larry's. Nothing. Back inside again - each time trying not to let the cats out because we were already in "lock down" for the evening. Then ... there it was again. With my bedtime fast approaching I dragged S and Pearl with me (everyone knows what a non-brave person I am and until we know what's making the gouge marks in the paddock I'm not going out there by myself ... especially since I'm not sure how a burrowing bandicoot reacts when approached) down to the bottom paddock to check Hermes. S has done a fantastic job with him because as we approached through the round yard calling him, up he came. He was perfectly fine especially since I was very careful to keep the light from the torch off his face. S asked if we should carrot him - and we decided against it. The last thing we need is to start a habit of late night supper carrots for Hermes. So back to the house we trudged and while it would have been easy to have hot showers to warm up, we didn't ... but we did take off our wet-grass-covered shoes before we went back inside - and managed to not let Beazley, Tink or Maggie out as we slipped back in. They are all well, and taking turns in the different seats/positions around the house; one of the most favoured at moment is lounging with S. It's like musical chairs there in the evening sometimes ... one gets off, one immediately jumps into the vacated spot.

We never did find out who was making the noise but as the last of the evening closed in on Latimers, all was quiet - except for the sound of some wildlife (definitely not Hermes) in the top paddock. I'll probably go and check it out for tracks (hoping I won't find any) tomorrow.