I remember long ago when I first learnt to drive. I was taken to a quiet industrial park and shown the inside of the car.

I sat in the drivers seat and held onto the steering wheel to ‘get the feel’ of it. It was all so scary and as I was learning in a manual had 3 pedals to work with too. I was asked to start the car and then was asked to put it into gear and do a slow drive off. The clutch pedal and gas on, until I felt the ‘bite’ and then slightly more gas, hand brake off and a slow move forward.

There is so much to learn about driving this heavy metal box, and that is before I was allowed onto the road for real. It took me a few lessons, but the roads were scarier, with other car drivers in your boot and overtaking because I was doing the speed limit.

Over the last couple of weeks, as I have been driving around, doing the Christmas shopping and even whilst I have been walking there have been a number of “L’ drivers on the road. There are even more cars out there nowadays and I feel so sorry for them, as other car drivers are still honking horns, overtaking and even tail gating.

Everyone of us who are driving, or, who have driven, will know how they felt when they first learnt.

Be kind and courteous with them, it is a scary thing to do and impatient drivers may only make them worse. Patience and understanding, because even learner drivers can do some unexpected things at time.

Smile and have a great day 🙂

There are a lot of smells that can make you feel great and happy, like a new clean baby, baking bread, drying clothes, first drops of rain on a hot road, fresh cut grass, you know what I mean. There are some equally not so nice smells, like burnt toast, body odour etc and I will say no more on that.

It is the start of Summer here tomorrow, and, a lot of the flowers are open. We have been really lucky with the weather so far, insomuch as the plants have not really died down, they have just kept growing new shoots, leaves and flowers. Trees are overladen with branches and new leaves. The magnolia tree in our neighbours garden bending with the huge flowers, that are partly open.

On my walks around where I live there are a lot of lovely gardens with beautiful landscaping. There are so many plants and flowers and with that there are some gorgeous smells emanating from them. I suffer badly from hay fever and as those of you who also suffer will know, Summer can be our worst time.

I take anti histamine tablets for years and love the outdoors and the gardens, but sometimes I cannot handle the strong flower smells, like perfumed roses, magnolia etc. Those plants and flowers you can smell walking down the road and then stay with you, in your nostrils, when you walk away.

We saw a lot of bees last week in the garden too, so we have obviously planted something good that they like. Nature at is best and also coming out for the Summer are our cicadas and crickets. I heard a couple last week on a walk and then I know we are on our way to Christmas in the sun, which I still haven’t gotten used to yet! For me, it has always been cold, and sometimes, if we were lucky, we might have some snow.

Smile and have a great day 🙂

Wow! Who can believe that it is only just over four weeks until Christmas day.

Today hubby and I went out to the mall and finished our Christmas present shopping. Every year take on an adopted family from the Salvation Army and buy gifts for them. This year was no different. There are a lot of families that need love and support all year and Christmas is no different. We love doing this every year. It is only a small thing that we can do, but, I know it is appreciated by the families involved.

The mall was fairly quiet, which was a surprise to us. We had the time to walk around and have a think about what it is we want to buy. The carpark however was full to bursting and queues waiting to jump into a space as it became available. Where every body was is a mystery, but we had an amazing day and can now take it easy for a couple of weeks.

I will have a busy week wrapping up all the presents, but, again this is something I love. Giving always makes us feel good and if it can bring a smile to someone else’s face, then that is even better.

Smile and have a great day 🙂

A couple of weeks ago we brought some vegetable and salad plants to put in our vege boxes.

Last year we had so much from them, which was great, as the price in the supermarkets was high. We also had more water available to put the water spray on them every morning, but this year however, we are on a water shortage and so watering cans are needed. Luckily we have two water butts, they may not be full, but, there is enough to water the boxes every morning.

We have three in total and in one box we have planted potatoes. The second box there are chillies and capsicums. In the third box we have tomatoes and lettuces. We also have rhubarb in a separate pot and around the fence line in our back garden, we have grapes, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and loganberries.

This year is the second year for the grapes and berries and boy are they growing like mad. If all the buds on the grapes grow and fully develop, we will have a bumper crop.

It is satisfying to grow your own and we love it. Sometimes it is a case of try and see if it grows, but for the most part, we have been very lucky and blessed to grow what we have grown.

Smile and have a happy day 🙂

I went to meet a friend last week for coffee and a catch-up. I was sitting in the mall waiting by a Christmas tree and listening to carols over the tannoy.

In the shops we already have the Christmas decorations, trees and other bits and bobs. Today (Sunday), I saw and advert on the television for Christmas food shopping and the supermarket to go to.

My question is simply, when is early to early for Christmas?

I love this time of year, as I love buying, wrapping and giving gifts out, but I think it is a little too early for carols whilst shopping. I may be wrong, but we are only just into November, let us get our heads around just where this year has gone already. I know most of it has been taken over by the Coronavirus but I cannot think about Christmas just yet.

Smile and have a happy day 🙂

Who can believe that in only two months it will be the New Year! What scary thought after almost a year of COVID 19.

The hardest thing for us this year, is what to buy and send to people overseas. We did finally sort and buy items to send and the parcels were taken to our local post office to post. Customs declaration forms were attached, but I was advised that from the middle of September new forms were issued. The forms needed more information on them and so I took the new ones home and completed. I returned to the post office with the new forms attached and on some parcels there were two forms, as not enough space on the one form. To my dismay I was advised that the parcels with two forms could not go as they were and needed an ‘additional’ form filled in instead.

Finally over two days all my Christmas presents have been sent overseas. The last posting date was end of November, but have decided that they would be sent this early just in case COVID issues held up delivery.

This year has been tough for everyone and Christmas is definitely going to be a different one for all. I cannot imagine how people will spend Christmas this year and how the children will get their presents from Santa. Will he be COVID exempt??

Smile and have a happy day 🙂

It was a long weekend this weekend as we had Monday off.

Saturday morning hubby and I decided to take the train into the city of sails and so we parked the car and walked to the train station. As we approached, we noticed a few buses parked outside and around the corner. To our surprise the whole of the train network had been shut down for the weekend! Why? Well, the tracks are old and need replacing and so this was happening this weekend.

We walked back to the car and made the decision to drive in the other direction to the next large town. The roads were busy with cars and people heading off for the long weekend, but after over an hour of driving we arrived at our destination.

We had a great day shopping there and as it was my Birthday the following day, had an amazing fish and chips, but not battered fish, just pan fried and the chips were lemon peppered. Amazing!

We headed back home early evening and enjoyed the rest of the evening.

Sunday was my Birthday and we both enjoyed the day in the garden, planting and tidying up. I received many wishes for the day and sorted out my new phone. The day went really quickly, but it was a fantastic day, and, now another year older we head into Christmas and the end of the year.

Monday we shopped and sorted stuff out for work amongst other general things.

This weekend has been a blinder, with hot warm days for all three of them. Boom! Summer is on it’s way.

Smile and have a happy day 🙂

We voted early so it was done, just in case we had another COVID problem. It has been a long tome coming as it was postponed because of COVID. Glad it is now finally all over and all the party’s bill boards have come down

Yesterday was the last day and the current Prime Minister is staying for another 3 years. It wasn’t even close either, which was a real shocker.

When people have been asked if they have voted yet, it was been amazing to hear that people either don’t want to, can’t be bothered, don’t know what to do or just say they do not have the time.

It is a shame to hear people complain that the Government does not do what they would like them to do, but they then say they have not voted. If you don’t vote, it is hard to complain about what is happening!

If you want to see change and are not happy with the Government of the day, then you need to get out and vote when the time comes. It may not change it, but at least you will have had your say.

Let us see what the next 3 years will bring and hope that COVID is kept under control here.

Smile and have a happy day 🙂

Why is there so much junk mail out there?

We hear so often that we must save the trees, and rightly so, and to cut down on the use of paper. By that, print on both sides and try not to print unnecessary e-mails.

My question is:

Why do companies use so much paper by printing circulars/junk mail for someone to walk or cycle around and drop in all the letterboxes?

It not only block letterboxes when they are not emptied, and looks unsightly, but fall out and then blow around the gardens and roads of nearby houses. With access to the internet theses days, all the special offers that appear in these circulars can be seen on-line. If you are out shopping, you can always pick up a leaflet from the relevant shop.

It is a shame that so much paper is used for these circulars, as I am sure most people just throw them into the recycle bin. A couple of years ago most of our recycle bin was full of mailers/circulars. We stuck a sticker onto the letterbox to request ‘No Junk Mail’, and to date we have had very little. Okay, yes we do get the rare one that seems to be posted, but for the most part it was a decision well made.

Smile and have a happy day 🙂

This is a question often asked, not just from me but others also.

Why don’t vehicle drivers indicate when they change lanes?

Why do cars pull out in front of you, when there is nothing behind you?

Why is it, when the weather is dry and you leave the house for a walk, does it rain when you are the furthest from it?

Why do people leave bags full of rubbish by public rubbish bins and not put it in their own wheelie bin?

Why do people wear their face masks under the chin?

Why are ‘on hold’ tunes always the same ones used for a number of different companies?

Why do appliances or any ‘new goods’ always break down, just after the warranty expires?

Why are clothes sizes never the same, i.e. size 12 from one shop and size 8 in another store?

Why does the postal system take so long? (With the exception of COVID 19 at the moment).

Why do text messages get ‘lost’?

Why have simple manners disappeared, like, please and thank you, or waiting in line?

Why do you need a plumber, electrician or gas man out of hours/weekend/holidays?

Why can you fall asleep casually watching television, but when you go to bed, end up tossing and turning trying to go to sleep?

Smile and have a happy day 🙂