Hot But Not So Windy!

It is difficult to remember that this is still September because of the recent hot weather.  Under the pergola in the backyard, (especially during the morning as the photo left shows) the sun beats in, heats up the concrete and the thermometer out there goes crazy. But thank heavens the strong northerly winds have now abated.  And I even managed a bike ride this morning after several days of strong wind warnings.

Despite all the recent hot weather, the pool still was around 23° this morning, delightful for a swim after a 17k bike ride, but a wee bit chilly when you first hop in   Yesterday just before lunch it was reading over 38° under the pergola when probably the 'actual temperature was more likely a couple of degrees cooler than that.

This photo left was taken this morning and as you can see the time was 10:17 am. But that is the outside temperature and under the pergola with the hot sun beating on the concrete underneath.

An hour or so later the thermometre is telling me it is 39° out there as I type right now.  Here in the office it is a delightful 29° but the house is all locked up to keep it cooler.  The afternoon sea breeze will rock in soon dropping the under the pergola temperature by around 5° or so.

Next week we can look forward to tops around 25° which is a lot more like what it should be.

The new toy  (an android TV dongle) arrived yesterday and this photo shows it is all set up.  It gets its power from one of the TV's USB ports and the dongle itself can plug directly into one of the TV's HDMI connections.  I had to buy an ' HDMI swivel extender' as the bulkiness of the dongle means it can be difficult to fit when you have other HDMI cables plugged in to your TV.

The thing did not come with a remote either but a little $12 controller I had previously used was pressed back into action.  I had a 32GB Mini SD card which I have fitted and I also have a 32GB USB stick which then makes this unit ideal for travelling.  You can fill the SD card with TV series and the USB stick with movies meaning you can take around 16 TV series, each with 10 or so episodes, and over 30 movies with you when you hit the road.

The bit you can see poking out of the dongle is the wireless receiver for the mini keyboard.

Speaking of travelling, yesterday Trish booked accommodation for our upcoming trip to KL late in November.  I got incredibly cheap airfares late last year with Air Asia.  Now we have booked all other connecting flights and the associated accommodation.  It looks like we will have 5 nights in Kuala Lumpur staying Air BNB, then 5 nights in Sri Lanka staying in Galle (at a place Kate recommended) and finally 5 nights at the wonderful Golden Sands Resort in Penang before flying home.

We managed some good deals by booking accommodation alongside our Air Asia flights.  All of our flights are with Air Asia.  It looks like a great time away.