Rosanne and Frank
My stepdaughter and new Italian/Australian stepson-in-law
Their wedding took place in the middle of the night on 3rd November ... my night, that is. It didn't stop me from being in Australia in spirit since I was awake most of the time, sending email at what I thought were appropriate moments... before the ceremony, naturally. Rosanne started it by sending pictures of the flowers and having her hair done and how she looked when ready to be escorted to the church.
Joe was over the disappointment of not attending the wedding since he had a lot to contend with health-wise. Unfortunately, again health-wise, it wasn't a good night for him. The next hospital appointment for us is 7 November when we are due to see the Radiologist. I thought it was for a consultation about the proposed procedure but we've been told to allow two hours for the appointment. Hmm that will be either a long talk or a long wait.
Waste not, want not. Yes, I’m still
at it, much to the surprise of Paola, my 39 year old cleaning lady, when she
caught sight of me draining an apparently empty bottle of liquid soap into a
new one. I’m sure she thought I was quite mad when I explained that it was
something I always do. ‘Don’t know how you've got the patience’, she said, but
didn’t stop to hear my reply; well, she did have work to do. Considering the
nation and the people in it are hard up I’m surprised at the lack of inventive
ideas for saving a few pence. After all, a few coppers here and there really
mount up. I suppose I got my training the hard way, i.e. the aftermath of war
years and a period of wage freezes in the 70’s.
A week ago we went out for our
usual carvery lunch at a pub in Sutton Park. There was a party alongside our
table, a celebration of a lady’s 70th birthday, complete with
children and grandchildren. A young girl, I suspect not yet a teenager, made the birthday cake which was displayed with pride. And quite right too, it was a beautiful piece of work.
Two enormous birthday balloons in glittery gold
were attached to their table, one in the shape of a 7 and the other an 0. As
they waved wildly I prayed one wouldn’t burst and land on my roast pork. The
young children had their iPads to play with so I don’t think they cared about
the balloons. Actually, one little lad was playing a game that fascinated me
although I tried really hard not to appear interested. I did keep sneaking a
peek though to see how he was getting on. I would have loved to take over.
Hands up, who likes Floater Coffee?
Yes, so do I. In fact floater coffee has become a must have when my friend Judy
and I go out to lunch. She takes her coffee with sugar and I don’t and thereby
hangs the problem. One with and one without, we order. ‘Oh no,’ comes the
reply, ‘you can’t have floater coffee without sugar.’ Now according to the
so-called experts, it is the sugar that makes the cream float. So why is it
that it varies from establishment to establishment? Take our recent visit as an
example. One with and without was ordered. Again the ‘Oh no’ response came,
complete with explanation about the necessity to have sugar to enable cream to
float. I gave up and told the waitress to bring it ‘as it comes’. She did. My
coffee arrived with sugarless coffee and a sugar lump in the saucer. Judy and I
compared coffees ... both had floating cream! Later I looked it up on the Net
and found plenty of ideas, including this one
What if you don’t take sugar?
I have worked in a restaurant and I used to make them without sugar all
the time. It’s how you pour the cream.
So now I know!
A recent item in a newspaper read like this:
Are disabled people invisible again? In London in 2012
disabled people were suddenly in the spotlight during the Paralympics. But a
year on, have they gone back to being invisible?
Of course they’ve gone back
to being invisible. That’s not to say we’ve stopped thinking about them or
helping where we can. Obviously competing Paralympians were brought to our
attention through television, radio, and the printed press and once over they
disappear from view, but there are people out there who care about and for
those same people. There is room for growth in the community with regard to
facilities for the disabled but we haven’t suddenly pushed our disabled friends
into the background never to be thought of again. I resent the implication that
we don’t care.
