What made you happy today? Part II

[think positive]

^That is awesome!

How long have you been away or are you back now? So many picturesque spots. North or South Island (sorry, you probably said somewhere above)?

Cheers mate, it’s a cruise from Sydney, it’s ok but only goes to cities and 2 small towns. We are with friends who are older and haven’t travelled much, I want to come back and drive around the whole place for at least 2 weeks. Get home Sunday.
The above pic is Wellington.
Last port today is Dunedin, and it’s 14 degrees!

[pietillidie]

That Willy Wonka thing was hilarious. Real (miniature) Fyre Festival vibes!

It has now officially attained legend status, with a petition somewhere demanding it be opened again! It even has its own 'scandal' documentary:

https://www.channel5.com/show/wonka-the ... ed-britain

(If you can't get that in Oz it's probably on YouTube by now).

The poor bloke probably did genuinely do his best. If he can get past the shame and embarrassment he could properly cash in!

[David]

I haven't looked into it, but that sounds like a very generous assumption!

[pietillidie]

^You wouldn't ask the bloke to feed your cat while you're away, so it's possible he even delivered above expectations!

It could be one of those double-bluff situations whereby exaggerating his mental/emotional challenges itself becomes evidence of mental/emotional challenges. Try and find it and let me know what you think.

[nomadjack]

Last week I took a solo trip up to Bright to tick off a couple of bucket-list rides around Victoria's alpine region.

Love all the way through there. Was that a camping trip? Back in the day that was fishing territory for me.

That was the initial plan (although 'park' camping not bush camping) back in early Feb but I got a 24 hour bug and had to postpone. Ended up doing a shorter overnight trip to the Grampians; Warrnambool and back via the Great Ocean rd. When I finally got to Bright second time around I decided setting up camp in potentially 35 degree heat after a six hour ride might not be the best approach for an 'enjoyable' trip. That's a round-about way of saying i completely squibbed it and booked a motel...

I still do a bit of bike camping but i must admit it's getting harder and harder. I used to pack a bed roll, bottle of scotch and not much else. These days I lug a tent; two self-inflating mats; a pillow; my c-pap machine and all manner of crap I 'might need' but rarely use. Certainly don't wake up as fresh as i used to.

The fishing up there must be sublime. I'm not a mad fisherman but sitting there alone next to those mountain creeks when they're flowing is my idea of heaven. just beautiful.

[stui magpie]

^

Old mate I caught up with in Toc a few weeks back has this massive Kawasaki road cruiser and he hitches a custom trailer on the back. He lives in Perth but his Mum is in Toc so he cruises over the Nullarbor on his bike to spend a couple of weeks at a time there. (She has dementia and cancer)

You still got all your toes? He's missing 2 on his left foot.

[nomadjack]

^^^
Don't visit them very often but all there last time i looked...

[pietillidie]

We just walked the neighbour's little cocker spaniel again, as we do every weekend. What a beauty. Loves her puppiccino, too!

[stui magpie]

Bit of a saga, ended well. Gave up trying to get the new Sim for Mum's phone activated online so caved and went into the Telstra Shop in Greensborough. Bloke there fixed it in 10 minutes. While I was there I got them to check my Samsung watch and yep, post 30 June when they turn off 3G it would still work as long as my phone was connected via Bluetooth, but I wouldn't be able to use it for emergency calls if the phone was flat or out of range, so bought a new watch. Don't like it as much as the old one, but it works, it also has that fall detector and a panic button that calls 000 if you hit it 5 times quickly.

While I was there and they were reviewing my account, I had a bunch of Telstra Rewards points that were about to expire. Nothing in the shop I wanted so said I'd check online.

Then when I open up the watch box to set it up, the charger dock doesn't have a normal big USB connector but a USB C one. I have no fkn thing to connect it to, so hd to go buy one.

After that, got online on the Telstra Rewards site and got myself a wireless charging panel, for no $ just points. One cord to the power point, I can sit the phone, watch and earbuds case on it and they all charge overnight together. Pretty fkn happy with that. Also picked up a travel adapter, one socket that has multiple USB cable ports so when I go on Holiday I only need the one powerpoint to keep eveything charged. Score.

[pietillidie]

^The relief at getting some actual customer service!

[stui magpie]

Got the Grandson for the weekend, daughter going to a concert in Bendigo so dropped him off last night and will pick him up tomorrow.

Last time he was here he spoke about repainting the old retro big wheeled scooter, so I put him on the tools. Showed him how to use the wrenches and screwdriver, stripped it right back, took took off the wheels, mudguards, brakes, stand and standing pad and repainted the frame gold. Once it was dry he had to help put it back together. Great fun working with him on the tools and even more fun sitting back with a beer later watching him ride it around in the street.

[pietillidie]

[stui magpie]

Cheers ptiddy, he's 8 years old, tall for his age, smart and a great kid.

[pietillidie]

^That's great you've built up that relationship at his age. Thinking back, grandma moved to Wheelers Hill with us a few years after the period I mentioned above, but that meant I rarely saw all the oldies I grew up with in Oakleigh.

The logistics aren't practical these days, but it makes you wonder if people should make more effort to stay living near each other. The data is pretty clear: overall, people closer to relatives have better health and wellbeing.

An ironic observation coming from me, of course!

[think positive]

thats awesome Stu