Oops!

 The giant bird of paradise (strelitzia).  They grow to an enormous height and the flowers are quite spectacular.

A flower of one of the many types of ornamental ginger plants found in Queensland.










As I mentioned in my last post, I have to move as my place has been sold.  I had a phone call from the property manager saying the owners would be on the Gold Coast this week and would like to go through and have a look at the place.  They'd bought it strictly on the photographs the real estate agents had on their website.

We set a time for 2 pm on Tuesday.  I was happy as that gave me plenty of time to tidy up.  After a leisurely breakfast, I had a shower then cleaned the bathroom, shower cubicle and toilet before making my bed.  I also cleaned and freshened the cats' litter trays and took them out onto the balcony.  I was just about to do the breakfast dishes (by this time it was 9 am) when there was a knock on the door.  It was the owner and his wife!  He'd got his wires crossed with regard to the time and finding the property manager hadn't arrived, gave her a call.  After she'd reminded him the appointment was for 2 pm he thought he'd see if he could have a look anyway.  It didn't bother me, although I was glad I had cleaned the bathroom and toilet.  They wanted to do things like measure where the fridge went and also see if their lounge would fit against the well, etc.  

They were a pleasant young couple, originally from Bosnia, and I don't think his wife spoke much English.  They had their baby with them, a cute little boy aged about 5 or 6 months, who smiled and smiled.  What is it about a baby's smile that melts one's heart and makes the knees go weak??  Anyway, they are moving up from Canberra and currently staying with his parents.  So, I really want to find somewhere so the poor things can have their own home!  It's not easy though, no one is willing to have tenants with pets.  Oh well, I found this place...I'll eventually find something.

It's as well, though, the new owner didn't arrive half an hour earlier or that I didn't sleep in a little later because they'd have caught me in the shower!

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I had lunch with a friend the other day and while having our coffee, she put some thin squares of chocolate out for us to nibble on.  It was Lindt's dark chocolate with a touch of sea salt and oh, the delicious after taste!  I was hooked and had to buy some for myself.  I love Lindt chocolate and so far, this is the best one they've put out yet.  Dark chocolate is my favourite as it's not as sweet as milk chocolate and with the touch of sea salt, the flavour is really intensified.  Very moreish, however, I can't eat more than two squares as it's also quite rich though without being sickly.

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I have no book to review today.  The book I'm currently reading is a thriller by Jo Nesbo, an author I've heard of but not read before.  He's Norwegian and his protagonist in the series is Detective Harry Hole.  I like the Scandinavian writers and have done ever since I read the Steig Larsson books, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and the two that followed.  In fact, I was terribly sad he'd died because they are such wonderful books and so addictive that three are not enough!  I had heard his wife was writing a fourth but there is some legal problem, with Larsson's family putting the kibosh on it for some reason.

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Well, it's officially winter and we're still wearing summer clothes.  I love it!  Unfortunately, according to the weather forecast on tv tonight, we only have one more day of warm temperatures before it's supposed to become more chilly over the weekend with rain.  Hmmm...maybe I'll have to eventually put winter woollies on.  Damn!!

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Okay, that's your lot for this post.  We're heading for the Queen's Birthday long weekend...whether I get in a walk to the beach or not remains to be seen.  Enjoy the rest of the week and have a lovely weekend.