Hmmm, I'm feeling a bit guilty writing this post as in my last post I was feeling really annoyed at losing my old faithfull laundry mistress and was sure she would be a hard act to follow....

I was wrong

After a fair amount of research I have replaced her with a shiney new model and I am now totally over my old girl...I am such a fickle thing as I can't believe how wonderful my new laundry GODDESS is....she arrived on Tuesday with no fanfare at all - slipped in to the space comfortably all shiney and new and ready for action.....her first load was a big one - or so I thought - the old girl would have struggled, but my new princess gobbled every piece of clothing up and could have fitted more in...I was stunned. After reading the instructions (much to my husband's shock) and making lots of lights flash and red words appear - off she went.

She was soooo quiet I had to keep checking that she was actually working. And then, voila, she was finished and out came the clothes - clean and hardly any creases....

So there you have it - my old laundry mistress was ready to go and good riddance to her I say!! My new love is just gorgeous and I know she loves me back.  

We have a washing machine that has been working its magic on our clothes for the past 10 years, it has travelled half way around the world with us and hasn't missed a beat - until a couple of days ago...... We had some friends staying with us and while I was at work they decided to help out and do some washing.

I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I wish they had just gone for a walk and left me to wash the towels!!

I'm not sure how new machines work but our old girl needs to have a slight pause before she will let you open the door. Not a problem for us but it seems waiting for 30 seconds after the cycle finishes was far too long for our lovely friends. They pulled the door so hard that the handle broke and the washing was stuck inside. When I got home we managed to stick a screwdriver in the catch and open the door - and save the washing..........

My issue is this - my machine still works perfectly well, but I can't buy the spare part to fix the door....not surprisingly the model doesn't exist any more and latches aren't made the way the latch is on my machine anymore. I have rung repair shops, and second hand stores but to no avail I can't replace the entire door as it is a European model and apparently the doors aren't the same on the Australian models (sounds like BS to me) so the only option I have is to buy a new washing machine.
This is a really annoying situation to be in as while my machine has paid for itself a thousand times over, and has been in my life for a long time, it still works perfectly and now it has to go to the scrap yard because the bloody door is broken....what a wicked waste.

I will be pleasantly surprised if the new machine I am about to purchase works anywhere near as well as my old girl and I hope it lasts as long as she did.

Anyway, farewell my beautiful faithful laundry mistress - I'll miss you!!

Being a lazy bugger I have not spent much of my life doing strenuous exercise..I walk around a golf course and I practice yoga, but not too much more than that - until about eighteen months ago when I relocated to my new home in Torquay (Australia not UK). I found the yoga schools in this part of the world didn't suit me...for reasons I won't bore you with just now...so after a few months of frustration, I joined a group of girls on a 'commando' training course. I was extremely surprised on the first day, after dragging myself out of bed at 5:30am to join them on the beach at 6:00am, that we were expected to run along the beach!! Through sand, in our running shoes....I was aghast at the concept . I thought commando would involve exercises and a bit of boxing and jumping up and down (had no idea really) Being the oldest and the most aerobically unfit of the group was very confronting for me at first, but I doddled along and managed to keep up with them for the most part anyway. Over time I have made some great mates and thoroughly enjoy the training concept - I even enjoy getting sand all over me when we go through our paces, crawling, jumping, rolling along the beach.

The reason for my story is that, I am now hooked on running and I can't seem to get enough of it.....I am weird or what. I now, happily jump out of bed, strap my heart rate monitor on and head for the hills - literally...how sad am I. This morning was a bit of a watershed in my running career and I need to brag about it. This Friday is the day the Bells Bash is on - the Bells Bash is a fund raising event for people to run or walk from Jan Juc (little town next to Torquay) to Bells Beach. It is 4kms one way along the clifftops overlooking the ocean - quite spectacular views across Port Phillip Bay - and the race is divided into a 4km and an 8km race.
This morning, my friend Jill and I headed out to see if we could possibly run that far....and after sorting out how we were going to do it - we both drove to the end and then drove back to the beginning..do we take water or leave it in the car, what if we get lost, will we ever find our way back..how are we going to feel at the end...and so on we took off, pacing our selves at first before getting into our rythyms. We ran past people walking their dogs, startled a baby rabbit and some sleeping birds and we just kept going until we reached the end.....4kms in just over 23 minutes. When we turned the corner and saw the car park, we through our arms in the air and jumped up and down like a couple of 5 year olds....

We were both extremely stunned that we had done something neither of us thought we'd be able to do and we were still alive and feeling quite Ok...

The sun was just rising over the horizon so we seized the moment and performed an extatic salute to the sun before patting ourselves on the back and heading home. We're doing it again tomorrow!

Hi everyone, this is my first time as a blogger and I am not sure what I'm going to tell you all about......I am still unsure whether I will enjoy the experience of blogging but I hope someone will read my musings and I might make some on-line friends.
I am sitting in my office looking out the window on a very warm bright sunshiny day in country Victoria. It is always such a pleasure to have lovely weather - a bit of a rarity actually. I wonder what the weather is like where you are?

I hope you all had a lovely time celebrating or ignoring Christmas. I certainly enjoyed the celebrations I was part of...with my wonderful extended family...but our celebrations were tinged with sadness as we lost a family member on 22nd December.

I wonder why our society doesn't seem to know how to deal with death...it seems that we ignore the fact that death comes to all of us, and in so doing, it becomes almost embarrassing for the grieving to grieve. The boy who died was my second cousin, and he was just starting to become a man and take responsibility for his life. When I first met him, he was on an adventure with himself - trying to make his Dad take notice of him - trying to be tough - trying to be strong...but he was none of those things, just a gentle boy whose life was a constant battle. I didn't see too much of him, only heard stories of his exploits and his cock ups...Then he met and fell in love with a good strong girl, he became a loving father and husband. Their fourth child is due in January and now he's gone and that little baby will never know its father. So sad....

I didn't start this blog with the intention of writing about Rafik, but I guess I needed to.