Hi friends

How can we already be halfway through Autumn? I must say, after a cold start, the weather has been mild and lovely lately. I’m still in short sleeves although the early morning dog walk now requires a fleece for the first 10 minutes until you warm up

I was sorry to read about your ongoing foot problems Thin, I have been thinking about that and kept forgetting to ask. I’m glad you managed to get in to see the orthopaedic doctor

I only knew one grandparent, my paternal grandmother, and she lived next door to Mum and Dad all their married life (well until she passed away). She was not a very nice person and gave my poor Mum hell but she put up with it out of love for my Dad. When Mr Anzac and I got engaged, Nana was in a home and not doing well. My Mum said “your [bleeping] grandmother will die just before your wedding just to spite me” Guess what? She did. A year later and 8 days before the wedding we had a funeral to arrange that was 2 days before the wedding. It actually worked out well because the relatives coming from other parts of NSW were able to attend both without returning home. Anyway, I can’t remember much about what she cooked but as a fussy eater child I remember thinking ‘yuck, more stewy stuff’. Ha ha

Weight has crept up a bit this week, must be more mindful.

Cinque I hope your grogginess was fleeting? You asked about work, it is up and down but not too crazy thankfully. Yet. That part is coming

Take care all

Thin, it was a frantic, fraught time of course but both funeral and wedding went well (apart from my bridesmaidzilla…..for another story)

Have a safe trip, Intesha. It’s virtually an Aussie rite of passage to attend the Gallipoli dawn service. I can totally empathise about the storage locker and the absurd cost associated with it. Ours is now the cost of a small mortgage payment and we try not to think about it too much. At the time, it was the most practical solution (and a quarter of what we’re now paying) but, of course, we never thought it would stretch to close on five years. Thank goodness for all the junk that I managed to dispose of.

Now, with the cost of housing in Perth, we joke about moving in to the storage locker ourselves if/when we return. I wonder whether you’ve considered house/pet-sitting as a means of giving you a bit of time to look for suitable housing? If it’s something that might appeal to you, I can give you the name of the company I’ve been using for years. It’s also a good way of exploring a specific area while living like a local. The sits can be a matter of days or months.

Yes that was me Thin, I had one a few weeks ago. Great news – everything was fine and he was most impressed with my ability to manage the diverticulitis; only one hospital visit and two minor flare-ups in three years. I have pouches on both sides of the colon whereas most sufferers have them only on the left. So my never-wavering daily intake of fibre has done the trick.

Now why can’t I have that level of focus and will power on the rest of my diet? Therein ponders the big question. Sigh

I’m sorry to hear about your housing situation Intesha. I hope you find somewhere asap when you return from Turkey and I hope you have a wonderful holiday. I will be thinking of you on Anzac day

I’ll write properly tomorrow.
But Lindsay, just have to say how much I feel for you going through this with your daughter. I can imagine the distress. But I also know she will just have felt shock and distress and taken it out on you in extremis. I do hope the chasm closes easily and soon.

Good morning,

Anzac, good news on the colonoscopy. I meant to ask before, then forgot. Posts are less frequent these days which in some ways is easier to follow than the frenetic posting of previous years but I’m afraid I lose track of my own time, let alone that of others’ so I’m sorry I neglected to ask before.

Cinque, I hope you have a productive day in the garden. Or a pleasant one at least.

Lindsay, that’s sad about the rift. I can appreciate both sides of that situation. But your DD has entrusted you with her precious daughter’s care and, with that, comes acceptance of your judgement to carry out the task as you see fit. Hopefully, she’ll come to appreciate that you were only acting in the best interests of all concerned. And that she’s very fortunate to have you to depend upon for child-minding.

We are slowly travelling north on the Oxford Canal, a section of stunning scenery that we’ve cruised four times before but always with a deadline to get somewhere else. After 45 minutes of cruising, we became so cold that we moored just short of a picturesque lock and went for a long walk. On return, my day took a significant upturn when, across the canal, I spotted two otters swimming, diving for shellfish and enjoying a meal out of them from within a watery den. Their teeth are huge! One then swam to the lock, climbed out, lumbered along the towpath, rolled in the grass, took a look at me and then disappeared into the hedgerow. Otters are notoriously shy and sightings are rare so I was very excited.

I put the camera trap out but we’ll be lucky to see them again as their territories extend 40 km and there’s a river adjacent to the canal. Of course, I’m keeping a keen lookout and telling no one.

Day after FD and I didn’t make the 59s which is annoying.

Morning all, sorry I haven’t posted for a while, but I’ve been really hectic.

We’ve been keeping an eye on property listings at the moment, because my wife is struggling with her health a bit and wants a house with a flatter smaller section. We aren’t seriously looking until our younger boy finishes school in 2 1/2 years, by which time our mortgage should be almost paid off. But if something perfect came up in the meantime we were going to pull the trigger. Something perfect did come up so I’ve been running around getting appraisals on our house, contacting the bank trying to organise finance, and starting to do some renovations so our house would be ready to go on the market if our offer was accepted. Well, our bank was ridiculous, even though out mortgage is only $40k and we were offering $450k on the house we wanted, they wouldn’t give bridging finance for a few weeks so we could get our house sold, that meant that we had to put in an offer conditional on selling our house. Unfortunately, that meant that our offer was turned down because there was a slightly lower cash offer on the table, and they went for that.

The whole situation has prompted me to get our house all in order, so if we do find something else, we can pull the trigger and get it on the market straight away. I’ll also go through a mortgage broker to see if we can find another bank to lend us the money. I didn’t do that this time, because we needed to get the offer in straight away, so I didn’t really have time to look at other banks. But we’ve started wallpapering the tired looking walls in the hall and two of the bedrooms, changing curtains, fixing up all the little things I’ve been putting off doing for ages.

That led to a bit of stress eating and I gained a kilo over the last two weeks. I’m hoping that now that the house stuff is no longer as urgent that I can settle back into my normal eating/exercise routine.

Hi everyone, long time no post again – my apologies!

Intesha, I watched the Dawn Service in Gallipoli and thought of you. It was so moving and I’m sure it was a most amazing experience for you

How absolutely frustrating and maddening Neil. I’m sorry you lost out on a chance to purchase the new home and I hope next time things go more smoothly. Stupid Bank

I’m so glad your small meals are working out well for you Cinque, I really have to watch my portion sizes as I live with a man-mountain who eats ENORMOUS portions so even if mine looks so much smaller than Mr A’s it can still be way too much

Sorry to hear about your laptop LJ, I also hate trying to use my phone. I am all thumbs when it comes to typing on the little screen. Such good news about no longer needing regular appointments with your dietician; that to me signals that you are ‘there’ 🙂

I’m really sorry about your stress levels Lindsay and the accident with you granddaughter. I hope you and your daughter have been able to ease the rift as I’m sure she was just reacting to the shock. How was your week at the beach?

How awesome to see two otters Thin, I would love that. Thanks for the nice words re the colonoscopy, what a relief it was especially given the PTSD about Mr A’s bowel cancer nightmare in 2022/2023

So I only lost 200g in nearly two weeks and decided enough was enough. I bought a gorgeous jacket years ago for the 2019 trip but it came from England and their sizes must be way out as it was too small and I had to go and buy another one even though I lost 15kg. It is still too small (clearly) so I have this week embarked on operation speedy weight loss as it is perfect for the next trip in November. Yesterday and today I got up even earlier than normal and went for a 3km walk around our hilly suburb. Small portion of Mr A’s home-made muesli for breakfast, warm meat salad for lunch and a normal dinner but significant watch on portion size. I lost 300g overnight so whilst I know that velocity can’t be maintained I think it is a step in the right direction

Must run, work hollers. Take care everyone

Hello all.

Intesha your holiday sounds amazing, so glad you are having a great time.

Cinque yes I enjoyed HFW Wild West series, I love all of his tv work and have quite a few of his cookbooks to. One of my bucket list items is to go to River Cottage as well as his cafe in Axminster. He is so down to earth and genuine.

Neil I don’t envy you with a house move. I’m a bit of a hoarder so it would be a nightmare for me. I hope it goes well for you and you find the perfect house for the family.

LJoyce Miss GDay was only saying a few weeks ago that we went from full on summer of 40deg and aircon every day to cold weather, snuggling under the blankets, there’s been no in between weather at all. I’ve been wearing track pants, jumper and socks every day for the last 2 weeks, unheard of for this time of year in my region. And struggling to get out of bed in the morning because it’s too cold. I get your laptop woes, I dropped mine off yesterday for repairs, it keeps freezing or shutting down with no warning, the best case senario is a issue with a windows update – the worst is a stuffed hard drive so fingers crossed it’s the former.

Landscaping of the back yard is progressing, the boarders and lawn is laid and I’ve made a separate caged in lawn area so the guinea pigs to have a safe outdoor run. It’s been backbreaking work, the concrete retaining wall bricks for the edges, 5 cubic meters of soil and the lawn all wheelbarrowed from the spare black as there is no vehicle access to the back yard. But so pleased with the end result so far. I’ve relocated 3 large fruit trees (crossing fingers they survive the replant), demolished some fences, relocated the rotary clothes line and put up some new fencing. Waiting on new pavers to arrive so I can do the pathways around the main yard and to the clothesline. I have a lot of used pavers but will use those for the less visible areas of the yard such as the side of the house etc. That will finish the main section and from there I have other areas if the back yard to landscape so it’s going to take awhile to get it all completed.

Plus we are repainting and laying new carpet tiles in the office/gym. As usual I always take on too much at once.

As a reward to Miss GDay for her help with the yardwork and painting, Im taking her to Adelaide next week to see one of her favourite bands who are touring from England. Were staying a couple of extra days for shopping in Rundle Mall – her favourite place and to eat at our favourite haunts plus I have a huge click and collect order from Bunnings, including a lawnmower, gates and other bits and pieces for the landscaping work.

Weight is steady but still a few kilos heavier than my goal weight but my BMI has returned to the normal range so pleased with that. Haven’t been fussed about fasting the last few weeks as with all the heavy work I’ve been doing I figured my body didn’t need the stress of fasting, plus with the Adelaide trip next week I’ll be eating a lot of no no foods so will deal with that with regular fasts when we get back.

Apologies for not responding to everyone, I’m using my very old tiny iPad for this and I dare not scroll up the page for fear of losing my post.

Must dash, washing to hang up and coffee time. All the best everyone.

Good morning everyone,
It is cold and grey in Melbourne and I was a bit optimistic about settling down my re-inflamed esophagus, so I have started back on the meds to see if that can help me get on top of it.

Anzac, all power to you in your new tactics. How are they going?
It would be so lovely to wear that jacket away. But even more important it would be excellent to be that bit lighter and have all the new habits so that those excess grams don’t even think about coming back.

Intesha, I am so glad you managed to check in. What a wonderful trip you are having. I am so glad! Finally!

Hello Gday, wouldn’t it be a treat to eat at River Cottage. And the other one!
It sounds like your yard renovations are coming along wonderfully.
I hope you have a wonderful time in Adelaide!

LJoyce, stellar fast day!
How nice to be doing those walks. Autumn is my favourite season, and especially for walking. I do hope your feet had a good rest overnight and are ready for the next one.

Sending out best wishes to everyone for the week ahead.

Hello Everyone,
Melbourne is still cold and grey plus it rained a lot overnight (which the garden is VERY pleased about).

I have got coffee on the stove (which I am VERY pleased about) having waited a good time after breakfast according to my LPR management.

Thin, a delicious sounding branching out to bean and turkey chili!
What lovely wildlife, and also, so exciting that you will be catching up with DD. Does modern communication mean you have heard all her adventures already so it will be very much the delight of being in the same place, and being able to hug?

I made a jar of mixed grains: brown and black rice and millet, and it has made a very yummy accompaniment to my red kidney bean chili, along with some greens. I made a nice batch of ready meals. But I wouldn’t have minded some turkey in my chili too.

Can’t think of other news, just wanted to touch base and say hello, and also send out good wishes to everyone.

Neil, good to hear from you. Well done with the weight loss. It sounds like there’s a lot of activity both at your house and at work.

Cinque, you’ve been busy too. It’s such a good feeling to have ready made meals. One day I will have a decent sized fridge again and not have to play tetris whenever we go shopping. I hope you enjoyed the coffee.

Yes, backpacking today is very different from when you and I were moving around the globe and communication was carried out the old-fashioned way. DD has been super at keeping in touch daily except when she was wild camping in Patagonia or on a days-long hike somewhere remote. We also follow along on instagram, have a peek if you’re interested: https://www.instagram.com/the.stray.vet/

I really feel for those poor Perth parents who’ve lost both their sons in Mexico to such futile violence. For us, there are too many connections to that story, having lived in Perth and San Diego, spent many happy times camping in Baja California and countless trips to Ensenada where they were murdered along with their American friend. Not to mention having our own daughter of a similar age travelling in Mexico. As we discovered, itt’s a very different place now. Three more sleeps until I get my girl home safely.

It’s 23C! We have been varnishing, scraping, painting, repairing. We ate our dinner outside on the towpath for the first time last evening. Some passing walkers commented, ‘Oooh, that looks healthy!’.

Anzac please send some rain my way. My 6 tanks are all empty, in the last 6 months we’ve had one day with a couple of hours of light rain only – that’s all.

Morning all

Well last week was a bit better. I dropped a kilo so now below what I was a month ago.

Work situation is still off and on. One of my workmates is having mental health issues, so has been granted a few weeks off to sort things out, another one is getting eye surgery, so the workload is still high.

Gday, that is a long time without rain, I’ll try to send some from here for you.

Anzac, I had a look at pictures of Magnetic Island, it looks wonderful. I hope you enjoy it there.

Thin, 23 sounds pretty good right now. We had our first frost last week when a polar blast brought us -4 morning temperatures. It’s been a bit warmer the last couple of days, but definitely letting us know that winter isn’t too far away

We had a beautiful display of the Aurora Australis from the solar storm last week. It was visible to the naked eye and was an amazing array of greens, reds, pinks and purples. Needless to say Facebook was crowded with pictures of it.

Well I hope everyone is doing well.
Have a good one everyone

Hi Heather, what part of NZ are you from? I’m from Dunedin.

I don’t know much about ketones, except your levels rise when you’re fasting because you put yourself into ketosis (body switching from burning glycogen for your energy source to burning your body fat) the first few days when your body is switching you get what they term the “keto flu” where you can get symptoms like brain fog, increased body temperature, fatigue, nausea, and many other nasty little symptoms, but once you’re in ketosis they all go away.

Hello Neil and everyone,

It has been quiet here!

I had been meaning to write and say what a good reply you gave to Heather (my mind just went to ‘talk to your doctor before starting a fast – which didn’t seem very helpful)

Sympathy for that carb binge. Just be glad it was only one night. That is the only solace I get, that they gradually get shorter and further apart.

Well done on all the house stuff.

I’ve been very unbingey, as my LPR dictates and things have settled down well. (touch wood and whistle).

Thin, yes those terrible murders in Mexico were just heart breaking. You will have hugged DD now. Lovely.

Anzac I cheered for you when Sydney got a break from the rain. I am so glad you have a holiday in view.

Gday, sending good rain wishes for you. Gentle rain that fills your tanks and waters your plants.

Heather, are you still reading here? Welcome. How are you going now?

Best wishes to everyone

Hooray, a burst of activity 😉

Lindsay, I hear you, I’m not quite back to where I was when I started fasting, but certainly managed to get halfway back to where I was. It doesn’t help that I seem to be a stress eater, and I’m under a fair amount of stress at the moment. I actually sent an email to our manager about it last night.

Most of us finish around 4pm, but one task we have to do, we legally have to stay until 5pm to enter requests into the system. I will always stay until 5pm to enter them when rostered on, but some people just take off at their normal time and just assume someone else will take over. The one co-worker that stays until 5pm is often swamped with other work, so I so often find myself having to stay to help her out when the person rostered onto the task has swanned off home, and I’m sick of being the doormat.

Cinque, I guess there’s a silver lining to every cloud, It can’t be pleasant having the LPR, but reducing your binges is a pretty handy upside.

Well, I hope something comes out of the email I sent, my younger boy just tested positive for covid again, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens if I get it, whether someone else will step up to help, or whether the 5pm finisher gets completely swamped.

Good consolidation Neil …. no change can be fine rather than the up/down cycle. I often think that’s it’s a time when our bodies are adjusting to the weight loss. Hoping a good result comes your way again at your next weigh-in.

Sorry to hear about your son’s Covid, and also about the pressures of your work. I hope both resolve well in a very short time (and that you don’t get another bout).

The one high spot in my life at the moment (not that it’s bad …just a bit of anxiety going on) is my lovely dogs. I honestly don’t know where I would be without them. For such walloping great things, they have such empathy and know when things aren’t going right. So to give you all a laugh, I have posted a pic of my Rosy and her Puppy (Scarlett, btw, is as tall as Rosy now, and weighs more). I call this image ‘Rosy the fringe dweller’.
https://imgur.com/a/VS5bHxM

Hi everyone

Lindsay, what a gorgeous pic! Whilst Maxx is a Peter Pan dog (never grew up) and continues to plague us with naughtiness, we adore him and he is such a sweet dog and so gentle. I am so sorry about your OH’s eyesight

I hope your management do something about the lopsided workload Neil. I hope you son gets better quickly

Cinque we had a big sort and clean out when we had to move all our furniture to clear the space for the new floor. It is such a nice feeling to get rid of ‘stuff’ that hasn’t been used or looked at for years. Our upstairs is looking lovely with the gorgeous new floor and paint job.

I’ve been having physio on my back and knee and have been able to resume my big walks. Yay! I do at least 3k and yesterday I managed 4k – all before work. It makes an enormous difference to my ability to lose weight

Take care everyone, hi to everyone else

Hello all. I’m on my old tiny iPad again as I still don’t have my laptop back from the repairer yet. I was going to reply to Heather about ketones but as there are no further posts from her i assume she has left the group so won’t bother.

We had a wonderful time in Adelaide, the concert was amazing. The downside was Miss GDay came back home with a virus and ended up on antibiotics. She was really crook for a couple of weeks the poor thing. Then when she was finally on the mend I got it, not as severe as her but I was fairly run down for a week and didn’t get much done.

Illness meant the 4 weeks we had to clear out the office/gym, pull up the carpet and paint turned into one week to get the job done. The walls were a dark fawn colour and we are re painting white so the walls need 2 coats of undercoat and 3 coats of topcoat so the original colour is covered and the new white actually looks white. The room is 6 x 9 metres so a huge job.

Plus for some unknown reason the guy who laid the original carpet used copulos amounts of liquid nails as well as nails to secure the edge beading that the carpet was attached to. So what should have been a simple, easy job to pull up the beading was an absolute nightmare. I had to use a hammer and metal brick bolster, while being so careful not to chip the concrete floor. Once I got the beading up I had to repeat the process again to remove all the stuck on bits of liquid nails. So frustrating but that part is done now so just the painting to get done before Wednesday.

Were getting office grade carpet tiles instead of carpet (hence removing the beading) as they are more robust and hard wearing for a gym floor, plus we don’t have to completely empty the room of all the heavy gym equipment for them to be laid, we can just move (or rather slide) equipment around the room as each section is laid.

Weight is still steady (no gains) but still wanting to lose the last few kilos to get back to under 60kg but with being away, illness and flat out with chores I haven’t fasted in ages.

I bought a new book while in Adelaide, The Fast 800 Treats recipe book by Dr MM’s wife Dr Clare Bailey. I haven’t had time to try any of the recipes yet but I’ve read through and there’s some great stuff. Also on my want to buy list is Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall’s new book How to Eat 30 Plants a Week.

Hope everyone is going well. Time for a cuppa and snuggle into bed (it’s cold) and watch a bit of telly before sleep.

Morning all, well another weekend of work. After I finished the wallpapering in the hall last week, this week I decided to turn my attention to the floor. When we pulled up the carpet, we found we had beautiful Rimu floorboards (a native giant redwood). I spent the weekend finishing off sanding back the boards, and then coating them with polyurethane to protect them. It turned out really well, and I’m really happy with the colour and finish.

https://imgur.com/EjF4Eas

I can add to the pet stories too, our poor cat has been losing fights again and ended up with a big abscess on her neck that we had to take her to the vet for. She got a haircut, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and a $200 bill. She’s a 6 kilogram tank, I wish she’d start winning some fights, rather than sitting and taking a beating like a little creampuff.

I hope everyone is doing well. I’ll likely be fasting for the next two days, so if anyone else want to join me in hunger let me know.

Good morning,
It is a pretty Melbourne day with clear sky and gentle sun, but I have hardly been outside. Soon I hope.
I have a big pot of soup on the stove, and it is smelling good.

Anzac, I am so glad your back is so much better and to hear about the wonderful walking you have been able to do.
Yay to have had the big clear out. I have done a little bit more. (There are only so many silk scarves and pashmina shawls I need). (But some of them will make lovely presents).

Thin, what a treat to have those 10 days with DD. Is she working at a vet practice again, but a different one? (I’m no good with instagram).

Haha yes I think you are probably doing alright at 60k, balanced nicely between the scales are tracking you a tiny bit too heavy and DD tracking you a tiny bit too light. All power to the 6:1.

Gday, I am so glad you had a wonderful time in Adelaide and you have done so much inspite of what sounds like a dreadful virus.
Yay for keeping your weight steady, and hopefully you will get a chance soon to shed a couple more kilos.

The new books sound fun.

What is it with South Australians stuck on unsuitable devices! Haha. Well EOFY is nearly here, so hopefully you will be sorted soon LJoyce.

But damn, your turn to have knee pain and it sounds nasty. And complicated to sort. Best wishes. How philosophical you are with losing a holiday, but giving yourself rehab time. And I am guessing that investing in the solar panels will mean you will have more holiday money in the future, when power bills go way down. Hooray.

Hello to your garden!
Hello to cheeky Sylvie, Queen of her domain.

Hi Neil, hello and sympathy to your cat. It must be one nasty neighbour/feral to beat her up.

I love all that beautiful wood in your house!

I am losing waist weight slowly. I fit into most of my waist bands but a couple are still tight (this is after over eating several months ago which added a couple of inches to my waist as well as inflaming my throat).

I am in slow land with health. None of this big workout or marathon walks, or days with hardly any food.

But luckily the patient eating properly for LPR and good health (which does mean I am quite hungry for the hour or so before a meal, and in the evenings) means both my poor esophagus and my waist measurement re gradually getting healthier. And ofcourse, I enjoy every mouthful of my meal when it is mealtime.

Hoping your regime is doing the trick, your stress levels get a bit of a break, the pets give you their lovingness and the birds and nature outside fill your soul.

Cheers

Did you find your scales Neil? Fingers crossed the bloating had settled and the number was a good one.

Good morning friends

I hear you Neil, I only have to look at a piece of bread sideways and I put on weight

I’m so sorry about your knee LJ, that sounds like a long and painful recovery. Good luck with the renovations – it all sounds great

I have now bunged my other knee and can’t exercise which has done a lot of harm to my weight loss both both physically and mentally. It is a double-edged sword because I need to lose weight to take the pressure off my knees and I need to exercise to lose weight but that aggravates them. Gah! Last physio appointment today before he goes away (he is one of the physio’s for the Australian Junior Socceroo’s and goes everywhere with them)

I’m so glad your strategies are working Cinque and you are losing weight slowly (best way) and your poor esophagus is doing ok

Lovely to read about your 10 days with DD Thin. Has she taken a new vet job?

Sorry to read about your illnesses G’day and that floor sounds like a nightmare!

7 more sleeps until our beautiful trip to Magnetic Island. It’s very cold in the morning and at night now so we will enjoy the summery temps up there. Days here are still nice, low twenties mainly but today a lovely 24 so we have all the windows open and it is gorgeous

Work is crazy so I will pause here and try to come back later

Neil, that’s funny that you lost your scales. I was interested to read about your new flooring project. Sanding and polishing hardwood floors is a huge job; my OH did ours when we first bought our last house. It’s a very dusty affair.

I’m disappointed not be able to view your imgur image for some reason but can’t be bothered looking into it – here the law requires that web sites must present users with long lists of ‘cookie’ settings to wade through and accept or reject. Even worse in Australia I guess where you aren’t even made aware of who’s tracking your movements. Not sure which system is more annoying.

Cinque, I liked your danger points (I can add alcohol to the list) and agree about exercise and weight loss. I definitely feel better and happier when I get a good, long hike in every single day. But it makes not one bit of difference to my weight. I hate to think of all the money I wasted on gym memberships years ago. Maybe it made me stronger but I doubt it as I’ve always hated lifting weights. I probably should start using the canned goods and theraband to improve my strength. Then again, these lock paddles and gates provide a pretty good workout. We’ve done three flights of twenty one locks recently. My OH is 78 and still does 50 pushups. I can’t do one.

Anzac, I’m with you on bread. Not worth the pain. I probably eat less than a loaf a year, sadly. Same goes for rice, pasta, etc. Have a super time on Magnetic Island. Any other big plans coming up? Our DD returned to the mixed vet job she left before going travelling. She negotiated a much better package including a three day work week plus on call shifts, housing allowance, car, phone. It’s only for the summer.

LJ, I’m the same with ‘devices’. I can’t use my phone for typing, my thumbs are too big. I refuse to upgrade anything until it breaks – consequently, I have an iPhone 7 and my MacBook Pro is 14 years old!

Just concluded Season Three of Clarkson’s Farm. It’s on Amazon Prime if anyone is looking for some fun entertainment. Our winter mooring was a short bus ride away from Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire.

The weather is atrocious. At least it’s finally stopped raining but it’s still gloomy. Almost June and we’re still lighting the fire most mornings and evenings.