Cauliflower and miso, Cinque 😆 Enjoying my second frothy coffee, skipping breakfast and contemplating an overindulgent curry lunch. I’m sure you will soon get back in the swing of winter fasting. Or mindful feasting.

I read that funny account too. Is Gary a member of a known British band? I’m terrified of snakes – how does one ‘take care’ in snake territory? Stay indoors I guess. Mind you, even that doesn’t really work. Friends who live in Narembeen (the WA one) found a large snake in their linen cupboard.

Thin – The funny story that I posted the link to is by Gary Lightbody – lead singer of Snow Patrol (of “Chasing Cars” fame https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GemKqzILV4w )
Staying indoors does not protect you from snakes. When I was a kid we had one in the kitchen cupboards.

Thank you Cinque! I do visit a herpetofauna forum because of our lizards but steer clear of the snake parts of it. And the participants can be quite aggressive I’ve found also. 5:2 is so easy, you are so right. And you write about snakes in such a logical no-nonsense manner that I know is also right. Unfortunately, a phobia is just that – an irrational fear. But there is at least one snake that will chase you – I think it’s called an Eastern Brown but I’m not going to google it because the images will cause me to have nightmares about them. Other than that snake ON MY TOWEL at the beach at Rottnest Island last year, I can’t say I’ve ever encountered a live snake in 25 years of living here. That’s how my DD feels about surfing – low chance of encountering a shark. Most of the surfers, even those who’ve been attacked, seem to feel that they shouldn’t be culled.

LJ, today’s event is nothing to do with my birthday. Friends of friends are visiting from Spain where they now live and we’re invited because we have an interest in living there at some point. I’m starting to feel that I should have had breakfast – I could chew my arm off right now. Half a banana and 3 cups of coffee haven’t helped. When you sell your house, do the potted plants go with you or stay? Do you feel at all nostalgic or are you keen to get on with the next phase of life?

Morning all
Thank you for the nice thoughts about the new baby. I can’t stop gazing at her perfect little features ..but I also do that to the other three. And I just adore the smell of them. When my kids were little I used to take deep breaths around them, to drink them in. Even now when my 6 foot son kisses me hello, I inhale deeply and hope he doesn’t notice (which of course he does … but now he does it to his own son, he doesn’t seem to mind at all). Does this sound creepy? I hope not.
LJ you must be feeling pretty relaxed, now the sale is unconditional. When do you take possession of your new home?
Intesha your trip sounds amazing, and you’ve seen some wonderful out of the ordinary places. The weather didn’t sound kind, but you haven’t let it stop you.
I’ve just come off line from booking our Christmas holiday back to Scotland to meet up with my OH’s family and introduce our daughter and her family. HK for a couple of days, to let the little ones (4 and 2) settle, then on to Dublin, 3 weeks in Scotland, then home through London so Miss 4 can see Buckingham Palace, mini-Monarchist that she is. She wrote an enchanting little letter to the Queen (dictated it), wishing her Happy Birthday, and asking what sort of cake she would have, and whether she had a party dress (because her Nonna could make one for her (the other grandmother!). She had a stuffy but informative note back, which was quite a talking point at show and tell.
I hear little Mr 3 stirring from his afternoon nap. My post today is full of grandchildren.
Cinque I can’t imagine your current battle with food is anything more than transitory, after the huge success you’ve made of 5:2.
Have a good night all

Good morning SHs

Yes Cinque it is yet another lovely mild sunny day here. I thinks this weather is forecast to last until Wednesday before the rain and cold settles in.

Lindsay, the details of your Christmas trip sound wonderful. Your 4yo granddaughter sound like quite a character – I glad she wasn’t nominating you to make a party dress for the queen – now there’s a challenge.

After a couple of days pottering around home I’m heading out today. Doctor’s appointment this morning, then a little grocery shopping and then a visit to my aunt who is still in hospital but coming home Wednesday.

Yesterday was one of those FDs where I was hungry a lot. I think I probably ate my full 500 calories as I had 1/2 banana, 1 plum and 2 rice cakes with a smear of ricotta in addition to my planned cauliflower cheese soup. The hunger seems to have continued as I also ate muesli for breakfast this morning. Still, that will tide me over during my time out of the house as I won’t get lunch until about 2pm today.

Have a good day everyone, good luck to the fasters.

Lindsay, are you and OH both Scots? It must be fun watching the grandchildren develop their individual personalities.

Glad you upheld the Sunday fast in my absence LJ and Cinque. We had a great day; our Kenyan friend makes fantastic curry. There were three and I had seconds of all of them but very little rice. Still under 60kgs this morning. It felt like I overate but the portions probably weren’t as large as they might have been before 5:2. Skipped breakfast and dinner of course.

LJ, yes we’ve been researching potential retirement locations for years. We made a reconnaissance trip to Spain in winter time a couple of years ago and before that, Uruguay. Several other locations have been ruled out/considered over the years. We hope to live somewhere less expensive than Perth when we are on a fixed income. I don’t see any signs of OH hanging up his wings just yet despite being 72.

Welcome back Arel, it was 31C in Perth yesterday. That must be a record for the end of April.

I’ve just realised that due to changing both FDs last week, I have ended up with two consecutive sequences of 3 NFDs this week. What a lovely thought. I hope I don’t blow it.

Arel, just to follow up on your Telstra scam report last week, someone at my bridge club this morning was recounting how this happened to a friend of hers exactly as you described. She had been involved with Telstra on a technical issue and, within the hour, the scammer called wanting remote access to her PC. The person lost $8K. It definitely sounds like an inside job, doesn’t it?

Then when I arrived home, there was a message on our ans. machine advising that we were being prosecuted by the ATO following an investigation, giving a number to call immediately. It all sounded very professional and I can see how people could be intimidated. OH and I both just laughed and deleted it because obviously the tax office wouldn’t contact anyone by leaving a phone message about anything supposedly so serious.

Stay vigilant all.

Good evening. It was a very beautiful day here.
And I found a wonderful pair of leather shoes in the opshop. Look entirely unworn. I think I will wear them all winter. They were marked a size bigger than my size but fit me perfectly, so I bet the were too small for the person who bought her size. Plus I found tiny short gumboots for the littlest granddaughter. Her ones are too tall for her little legs. Purple with stars, she will love them.

Had an early dinner because I was hungry, and I am happily sated.
I got out my padded silk jacket to keep me warm and maybe it cured my hungriness? It is so light and lovely.

I see there is a phantom post from Lindsay. It was on the list of new posts but couldn’t be found. I bet you answered Thin about Scotland, Lindsay. I hope it turns up soon.

Arelkade, welcome home! So glad it was such a wonderful holiday. When is your fast day? I hope you enjoy getting back into the swing of it.

Good evening all

Oh no – my long post has gone into the ether. Cinque I commented on your approach to snakes…wary but not afraid. A few weeks ago we were in the Gold Coast hinterland and I rushed down a path to look at a particularly beautiful flowering ginger – without seeing the red-bellied black sunning itself on the path. I took the opportunity to take a pic, while it snithered away. I’d post the pic, if I knew how.
I also commented LJ on 3-5 year olds’ honesty…it played out here yesterday. The other grandmother brought the little girls some beautiful PJs she’d made. Miss 2 whipped off her clothes and paraded around in her new pyjamas. Miss 4 said she didn’t want clothes, she wanted a real present (she only asked, because Nonna said she had a present for her). Then Mr 3 chirped in. ‘I want a present too’. The parents were mortified. The grandparents just laughed.
Good news about the lump LJ. It’s so hard not to worry, until you get the all clear.
Cinque, great op shop shopping. Nothing like a good pair of shoes. I do love the sound of your lovely jacket too.
Thin my OH is Glaswegian, but here for years and years (although he still has his accent). I’m Australian. We were both journalists in another life – he was my chief of staff when I started as a cadet.
Cinque, those little gum boots sound divine. Just the thing for a small girl to plodge, as my husband would say.
And finally, welcome home Arel.

Good morning SHd. As my internet gets moved over to NBN this morning, I thought I’d better get a post before that happens – just in case.

Lindsay, some of the most hilarious things I’ve ever heard have come out of the mouths of 3 year olds, although at the same time a I’m laughing, their parents are often red with embarrassment. The other aspect of a 3 year olds world view that I love is “the world is my playground”. It doesn’t matter where they are, they’ll find a way to explore and experience their surroundings in a way that adults are oblivious to (we use things for what we know they are meant for rather than exploring with an open mind). I sometimes think that adults need to learn to play again, I think it opens up our thinking and self-acceptance a bit.

Cinque, I love that green snake story – it’s really a very logical conclusion.
Enjoy puddle splashing with your granddaughters. I no longer do that as I don’t walk in rubber boots, but I will admit to kicking every pile of autumn leaves I come across.

It’s another NFD for me but it will need to be controlled as yesterday involved biscuit consumption. (All the Anzacs are gone now so there should be no repetition of that.)

I’m off to pour that last cup of tea from the pot and await my move to NBN. Have a nice day everyone.

Good Morning everyone.

It has been a while since I have posted but I have just caught up on all your posts.
Congratulations to everyone who has had good news 🙂

I am on a FD today. It’s almost 9:30 am and I am already having a tough time with it. My usual FDs are Monday and Wednesday. I didn’t fast yesterday as the OH family had organised to go out for dinner so I thought I would change to Tuesday this week. I’m hoping the day gets a little easier. Like Cinque (I think) said, it’s not scary to be a little hungry for a few hours.

We had to put our 12 year old dog down yesterday. She has been sick since October with blood cancer. The vet gave her medication but it was making her feel awful as well. She lost a lot of weight over the last seven months as she was only eating sometimes and then I know she was bringing a lot of that up too. I tried all different foods (beef mince and stewing steak were her favourites) but over the last week she wouldn’t eat at all. It had been 7 days without her eating anything.
My OH took her with him yesterday. I knew it was going to happen, I knew it was a necessity, but when he told me I still felt so emotional. A very sad time for me.
To make things worse I dreamed about her last night. So I am feeling a bit down today.

Sorry for my depressing post.

I hope you all have a lovely day and that everyone on a FD has an easy one. 🙂

Good morning all,

Well I bet you thought I had forgotten you all!!!

No I haven’t. I have been reading all your posts to keep up with the discussion, but been oh so busy!!

Firstly, you knew I went to Singapore in January. Sybs and I were walking in the mornings, then she went to Indonesia and the day she returned I went back to Singapore with my daughter. That is when all this started!!!!

I had a fall in the street in Singapore and hurt my knee. I knew nothing was broken as the pain was not that bad, but I had some bad internal bleeding in the knee that due to gravity went down my leg and ended up at my ankle. This made my whole leg black and purple from the knee down and left my ankle greatly swollen. Went to doctor on return who said 8 weeks to recover, no walking for at least two weeks!!!

But I had already booked for a trip to Japan for three weeks later. I rested my leg and flew off to Japan Friday April 13th. We met our eldest daughter in Tokyo and spent the Friday night, Saturday and Sunday together at the Narita Taiko Festival, then Monday we left her in Tokyo while we travelled up to Nagano. Monday was fine and I climbed a mountain to get to an old Japanese fort. Leg was doing fine as I took it easy and did not rush. Monday night our Ryokan host arranged for entertainment before dinner which was heaps of fun. We then had dinner which was lovely but I had started to develop a sore throat and was finding I was only picking at the food. Tuesday breakfast, I still had the sore throat and did not feel like eating much so picked at the food again. Dosed up with panadol as I was starting to get a headache, then we then went off to one of the local temples for a special event that day which lasted about 90 minutes.

Our host then drove us to the railway station and we travelled by train to Matsumoto Castle. We stopped for lunch and although I was really hungry, I could only eat half of the meal and dosed up with panadol again. We visited the Castle and then OH decided to travel to another town for dinner before going back to our accommodation. By dinner time I had a fever and really could not look at food. I watched him eat, then we caught the train back to the Ryokan and I went to bed.

Next day was lost as I spent the whole day in bed. Thursday we had to leave and travel to next destination. Dosed up with panadol and went to bed when we got to our next accommodation. Friday I got out of bed, dosed up with panadol and went looking for a pharmacy where I bought cold and flu medication. We then went to the most famous shrine in this area and caught a taxi back to accommodation and went to bed. Saturday we had to travel back to Tokyo by train where we went to bed at the hotel when we checked in. Sunday we checked out in readiness for us to fly home.

All this time I was not eating at all, mainly drinking.
Flew home Sunday night arriving Monday morning and rang doctor for appointment.
Result of his examination was Pneumonia. I have now been home for just over a week and today feel like I am alive.

But would you believe, with all the sickness and not eating I did not loose any weight at all!!!

That is all I have to say about my troubles for now!!

Anyhow, hope everyone is well.

Quacka, so sorry for your loss. My dogs are my family as your dog was part of your family. I hope you find comfort in all your wonderful memories.

I will leave it for now as the morning chores have zapped my energy again and I need to rest.

Good afternoon all. My brand new NBN connection appears to be working.

JJulie, I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve had so many health issues to deal with. I hope that you are well and truly on the mend now and that you got to enjoy at least some of your holidays.

Quacka, condolences for the loss of your furry family member. Never easy saying to goodbye to a beloved family pet.

Cinque, enjoy the pesto, it’s such a versatile little mixture that add some pep to so many dishes. Do you freeze yours when you make it in bulk?

Thin, I did watch that 4 corners program. I feel conflicted when it comes to a sugar tax. I doubt that continuing to hide the sugar content but increasing prices would change behaviour without other policies also being implemented. It also worries me that our government might impose a sugar tax and then claim to have solved the problem – why would they care it’s a new tax and a nice little earner for them. I’d rather we had a proper policy and I think it needs to include mandatory, front of package, labeling (in a specified large font) about the percentage of calories that come from sugar and how much of that is added sugars. I don’t drink soft drink, but frankly if a $2 can costs $2.40 I might let it pass. If that can suddenly has a large label on the front that tells me it gets 100% of it’s calories from sugar – now that I’d notice.

LJ, I don’t have strong feelings either way on a sugar tax. I believe England was the 28th country to have implemented it so there should be ample evidence to determine whether it has any effect. I’d be interested to learn whether a sugar tax offsets the costs to a country in terms of public healthcare for procedures such as gastric banding, diabetes associated issues, loss of productivity and so on. I was more concerned about the lies being told, the absence of a policy and those liberally applied health stars on packaged food products. Mostly, I just feel so grateful that I’m not among the 64% of Australians who are overweight or obese. Pat on the back to everyone here trying to buck the trend.

Lindsay, you are very funny. Pythons falling out of trees. Politicians that aren’t very good adders. 😆 You are determined to keep me engaged with snakes one way or another.

Hmm, isn’t it interesting that Thin hasn’t let Lindsay in on the way to put a photo up here. Lucky I can do it!
Click on this link, Lindsay, https://imgur.com/upload
click browse so you can upload your photo. And then you will have the URL for it to cut and paste here. You might even be able to copy the photo here but I have never done that (and we want to keep Thin on the thread).

Very nice to know you loved your grandmother’s flaps too. <3
I hope all the ‘moving houses’ went well today.

JJulie welcome home!
I hope you can do lots of rest and recuperation now. I trace my decades of chronic illness back to pushing myself too hard when I had pneumonia (I only had three days sick leave so I went straight back to teaching). So I say this with great seriousness. Look after yourself and don’t push through.

Quakka, my heart goes out to you. The loss of a beloved pet leaves such a huge hole in your life. I am so glad she is out of pain. Have you had her from a pup?
I hope you got through this hard day okay. Many good wishes.

Merry, time is flying. Good luck with all your preparations. It is very exciting!

I made my pesto. Yes I did a big lot in the blender, and I therefore added some water to make it easier, it emulsifies with the oil. So it is more a garlicky pine nut basil sauce, than pesto. I had some tonight (yum, but I’d better not kiss anyone) and froze the rest in portions.

I didn’t watch the 4 corners program but I hope it gave weight for the sugar tax argument and that the money raised from the tax helps with other systemic changes to improve people’s health. (I know! They could fund YamDaisy Cafes!)

I got Dr Mosley’s Clever Guts book from the library today (they have about 12 copies but they have all been reserved for months and months).

Good night everyone

Nice to hear from you Penguin, we were worried about you.

Good Morning everyone

Thank you all for your condolences and thoughts.

Yes Cinque, we have had her from about six months old. Her name was Brandy and we rescued her from the pound.
We also had another pup who we had from six weeks old. Her name was Maya and we soon found out she was born deaf (when she wouldn’t respond to us calling her or any other noises). When Maya was about nine months old she escaped from our yard during a thunderstorm (she would run around chasing the lightning). A very kind person took her out to the pound and put her in the overnight kennel to keep her safe. When we went to collect her, we found Brandy. I loved her straight away so we bought Brandy to be Maya’s ears and to keep her company. They were an amazing pair. We would ask Brandy to go get Maya and she would. Such a smart dog – (weimeraner cross kelpie)
We lost Maya about three years ago to skin cancer. She was white with very short sparse hair. She would lie in the sun, sun-baking all day. I would put sunscreen on her and zinc cream. I even made her wear a little t shirt for a while but that didn’t last long. Brandy never really recovered after Maya went. She became lethargic and didn’t really want to do much (maybe she was starting to get sick)

We don’t have any kids and these two were just like kids to us. I always told my OH we would get another pup after these two went, however after the past few weeks I have changed my mind. Maybe when we are much much older but definitely not any time soon.

Penguin, every morning I have been looking out on the deck where she used to sleep. I shake my head at myself because I know she isn’t there but I guess it’s just habit. I totally understand what you are saying.

My FD went ok yesterday. I made two huge trays of baked veggies for dinner. We have lots of leftovers as I have discovered a new idea I really love. I chop up all the different veggies and mash a couple of the potatoes or pumpkin to hold it all together. I add an egg and some cheese of any kind and then make them into little patties. I roll them lightly in breadcrumbs (panko) and then bake them. Oh, I also add some dried herbs or fresh parsley, whatever I feel like at the time. They are really yummy.

Hope everyone is doing well. If you are on a FD, hope it goes smoothly and if on a NFD, hope it goes smoothly! LOL 

Hi Merry, Quacka, Cinque, Thin, Penguin, Lindsay, JJulie and anyone else who’s reading and not posting.

A brief check-in between appointments for me. I have to head off shortly to sign some loan docs and then another hospital visit. My aunt comes home Friday so this should be the last trek across to the eastern suburbs to visit.
I’ve just finished writing a shopping list for tomorrow – of how many packing cases I’ll need in various sizes to hold all my stuff! I’m glad about all the things in storage – less packing to do now.

I’m fasting today and just having my second pot of tea for the day. Thankfully no appetite at all yet. I’m planning a mushroom & spinach omelette for dinner.

Must rush, have a good day everyone.

Hi thin, LJoyce, Cinque, Merry, Arel, Sybs and everyone else here reading.

Quacka, I am so sorry to hear about Brandy. It is so heartbreaking to lose a beloved pet. We have been through it way too many times over the years. It never gets easier. I wish I was there to give you a hug.

Lindsay, congratulations on your new baby granddaughter! There is nothing like a sweet little baby to bring happiness all around.

LJoyce, so happy to hear that your house is sold and most of the paperwork resolved. Do you have an actual move day yet? Moving is exciting.

Cinque, those purple gum boots for Miss 3 sound adorable. I think ladies our age should wear more of ythose types of styles!

Thin, we have snakes around here too, most notably rattlesnakes, but I’ve never seen one. I have a snake story involving a fried that I’ll have to tell later when I have more time.

Julie, welcome back! I know how much you were looking forward to your trips and I’m sorry to hear you ended up being sick for so many days. Being ill when you’re not at home can be awful, but it sounds like you made the best of a bad situation.

Penguin, it’s so good to see you back here again. I hope you and the “retired Australian axe murderers from the internet” will have a chance to meet up while they are visiting your area. I wish I could stow away in her suitcase and visit there too! I think I’ve become a Royal Watcher since the engagement announcement of Harry and Meghan. (Does that make me a Monarchist?) We’ve watched her on the TV show “Suits” for 8 seasons and she played a lovely character. In fact she just married Mike Ross on the show this last week and they’re moving to Seattle to join a new law firm, a convenient way to get rid of the two characters. I will surely get up at 4:00 am to watch her real wedding to Prince Harry in a couple of weeks.

I’m sorry I’ve been mostly away for close to two weeks, except for a couple of posts. I had a recent health scare, mostly related to stress and high blood pressure that landed me in the hospital for a few days and I’m even more stressed about it now. No residual effects but I really need to learn to chill out. (I’m a professional worrier!) I finally read through all the posts I missed but not enough time to comment on all of them tonight. I haven’t had any planned FD this week or last but I’ve lost a couple kg just not feeling well through some of the past days. Feeling good now and off of work for a while at my doctor’s insistence. I’ll write more later.

This is frustrating. I am indoors because it is raining. The pigeons have eaten those of my runner beans that survived the frost two nights ago and I have just lost the post I was completing because Google decided I really needed a definition of the word “the”.

I have been reading the posts, usually on my phone because I have been busy. I have not posted because I haven’t encountered any really large snakes since I stood on one many years ago. I have no idea what it was – we had the usual Asian selection and it was longer than the metre wide concrete path it was warming itself on. I went vertically upwards and when I came down it was gone. it was early morning and we were both still half asleep.

Merry, we are about an hour from Brecon. There is a good range of castles in the Wye valley. About two hundred yards from the house we have a mound with some stones on it that was flattened by Oliver Cromwell’s boys. About 3 miles away we have another that they had a go at but which is still certainly a castle. We are also travelling in the near future – on Saturday we are off to Porto – but get your email address to me and if our timings mesh we have a spare bedroom.

Good morning everyone,
Fast Day for me.
A lovely sunny morning.

Cali, so good to get a big long post from you. But bad news about your health. Just awful to end up in hospital for a few days. I am so glad your doctor is looking after you and you are getting some time to rest and do all the good things (including getting up at 4am to watch a royal wedding apparently! 😉 ). Mainstream life is so stressful these days. Have you worked out what things you would like to do to help with the stress? Sending good wishes.

Lindsay, a smart looking snake and a gorgeous ginger plant! Thanks for sharing.
I once saw two redbellied black snakes wrapped around each other like the medical symbol. I thought they were mating, but found out that they were more likely fighting. They were amazing, one of the most wonderful things I have ever seen. (Although not as polite as rattle snakes).

Quakka, what two amazing dogs you had. It really is the end of an era now.
I am sure you will know when the time is right to get another pup.
Great use of left over tray baked vegetables! I often make a frittata with them in, but I might do little veggie patties next time!

Merry and Penguin, fingers crossed you manage to catch up. What fun that would be!

How is your B2B going Merry? You will be glad to feel comfortable in all your clothes.

LJoyce, I hope all goes well with your aunt getting home tomorrow. The lists have begun. I hope it was a lovely fast day yesterday. And a lovely post fast morning now.

Thin, what a great idea to board dogs like that. Was it already clear that your daughter would end up as a vet?

Penguin what are you doing with frosts in your area at this time of year? Isn’t that very late? Poor runner beans. I think that “I haven’t written because I haven’t seen a snake for a long time” is the best excuse I have ever heard. 😀
Eep! re the one you stood on though!
Have fun in Portugal!

Sybs, awful pnuemonia story, but great news about your BP pills! And your cholesterol! I hope the soccer was worth getting up for, and that you got a good sleep last night.

I’ve got so much to do today I need to write lists. Before I go though I thought I would try to explain how fast days have been feeling for me. I know I have an idiosyncratic way of thinking (!) and I am not sure I can even explain it, but it is a surfing analogy.
When fast days are hard, I feel like I am in the water. The fast day feels like a big wave coming and I have to hold my breath until it passes, I just have to get through it. The inbetween days give me a chance to tread water and catch my breath before the next Fast Day wave comes.
But when I am going well, I am on a surfboard and the Fast Day is a wave I can catch and I feel wonderful riding on it. Then the inbetween time is treading water until the next wave comes for me to catch.

I have been on the surfboard lately so 5:2 is really good.

So when Merry says ‘get back on the horse’, I might start saying ‘See if you can find that surfboard floating around somewhere!’

Cheers all.

Thin, Cinque and LJoyce, thank you for your kind thoughts. I definitely need to chill for a while from all the stressful things that are beyond my control.

Cinque, I LOVE your surfing/fasting analogy! You put that so well. In fact, I copied it into my Notepad app for saving for easy reference on the occasional tough FD. You should copy it and add it to your profile page here. It expresses the fasting thought process so well, and it’s so true.

LJoyce, the building inspection is one of the last steps, right? It’s so exciting that it’s all coming together so soon. Once packing up begins, I’ve always felt my present house is no longer “home”. It always feels like a transition time that feels a little unsettling because until I move those first boxes into the new place, I feel “homeless”. But once that first box is inside the door, that then becomes home. I guess that’s a little weird, huh?

Other than a rattlesnake or some type of snake that might seem aggressive, I don’t have a big fear of snakes as long as I don’t have to walk close to them. But I’m really afraid of centipedes. So many legs, and they are so fast! I was once sitting on the toilet in a former house, when a centipede ran across the floor very close to my feet. I jumped up and ran out of that bathroom without even pulling up my pants! It was a miracle that I didn’t pee across the floor on my way out! And thank goodness I was home alone and we didn’t have guests or something.

Hi 5:2ers, regulars, readers, and lurkers all,

Penguin – you are so kind. Thank you for the offer and the information. If we can get the dates together we’ll guarantee to leave the axes at home.

I’ve sent JJ a message to send my email address to you. Very funny Sybs and Cali!

Lindsey – I saw that photo quickly, and only saw the flower, then went merrily off googling ginger flower photos. Didn’t see the snake! Have now – how did I miss it? Looks like a red-bellied black.

Back in a while.
Merry

I knew I was pushing my luck with the beans. They were very early and the temperature was forecast to be low but not freezing. The beans had been raised in the greenhouse and I needed to get them into the ground before we go to Portugal. I put out broad beans at the same time (fava beans I think to you Cali) but I protected them with individual cloches made by cutting the bottom off 4 pint plastic milk bottles. They are temperature hardy but they are the ones the pigeons usually eat! It looks as though I am growing a double row of milk bottles.

The weather is being weird, before the frost we had the hottest March day in about 50 years, but it is getting warmer. Our snakes will be waking up from their winter sleep. We have three kinds, only one of which is venomous, which is our local one. Pretty little thing about as long as from your elbow to finger tips, olive green with a zig zag stripe down the back which is sometimes highlighted in yellow. Venomous enough to kill a dog but human fatalities are very rare. Merry, they occur in the Beacons as well but you are unlikely to see one unless you go looking, they avoid people.

Son and his OH are both working away from home this week so I am staying two nights at their place getting the kids out to school and feeding them when they get back. Their food needs/preferences are very different to mine so I am fasting.

I’ve just finished reading the building inspection report. Nothing major and a list of minor defects which mostly seem to relate to poor plumbing second fix. The building inspector’s estimate of ongoing maintenance costs for the first 5 years is $750 p.a., which I think is quite reasonable. Even though the building has a snag list warranty for 3 months as it’s a new build, I might get my own plumber to fix the plumbing – not sure I trust theirs. It looks like I’m buying this house.
Now that I’ve decided to proceed, I thought I’d include some photos for your perusal. https://imgur.com/a/NW4awJM

Cali, I understand the fright of a creepy crawly just when you don’t expect one and you’re in a vulnerable spot. I once had a spider jump off my towel and onto me – I’d just wrapped the towel around myself after a shower. I was in a rental share house at the time and rand yelling into the corridor after flicking the spider back into the bathroom. One of the guys in the house went in to dispatch it while I calmed down.

Penguin, I have to admit to being surprised that you have any venomous snakes – I hadn’t heard that before. It’s a good thing it has a zig zag stripe as it sounds rather small and difficult to spot otherwise.
I hope you end up with a fabulous broad bean crop – it was always one of my favourites. I won’t be growing them any more as the only food crop that my new back yard is big enough for is herbs.