Grabbed an Earlier Flight.

Curse the expense, it is better to be safe and sure. Via the Internet Trish was able to check the departure times of the plane from Penang to KL for our scheduled flight.  As a result we have just jumped online and booked an early afternoon flight to KL. We forfeit our fares but they weren't expensive.

This will ensure we can make our overnight flight to Australia with heaps of time to spare. We both feel a little more comfortable now.

Last night we ate at the restaurant in the photo above. I guess the name is pronounced Du Nish and not Danish! We had a whole baked snapper. We were a little apprehensive as to what we might get and to ensure we had enough we ordered a garlic naan as well.

What a magnificent meal we enjoyed. 3 curries and a raiita came with it. As it was a Muslim restaurant beer was not available but the food itself was outstanding.  30 minutes later you could still enjoy the powerful flavours.

Rain clouds are still all about so it is going to be showery again.

The flight to KL is only a 9 track flight. I usually listen to music as we fly and on the trip frpm KL to here I only got through 9 tracks!

Most like my next post will be from home.

Overall we planned this trip well. 5 nights was ok in KL, 5 nights in Sri Lanka could have been cut to 4 and possibly a couple of extra nights in Penang would have been good. However the couple of wet days at the end made 5 nights OK.

A Damp End To Our Asian Trip.

You probably won't be able to see the raindrops in the pool but that is what it has been like all day, just wet enough to not to try anything outdoors. We took a stroll around the resort earlier just to stretch the legs.

There isn't much else to do of course unless you are a kid. Here they have a great setup for kids with a feature they call Adventureland.  Almost makes you want to be a kid again. This whole setup has been created with young families or elderly wealthy tourists happy to pay 20MYR for a beer when it is 7MYR a small can outside the resort.  Adventureland photo below.

Food available in the resort is around Aussie prices, where out in the food courts outside the resort it is as cheap as chips.

Tomorrow we fly home. Checkout time is midday but we can 'park' our luggage there until around 2pm when we will head to Penang Airport for our flight to KL. We are due in Coolangatta around 6:30 am Thursday and expect to get home around 10am if all goes to plan.

We do need the flight out of Penang not to be delayed too long or that could throw a spanner in the works . 

Our Final Full Day.

This is the view across the Golden Sands pools this wet and extremely humid Tuesday morning. It has been showery across the night and the pool area this morning is all but deserted.

By 11am yesterday any queasiness had disappeared so we tried our luck with Uber and made our way through the thick traffic into Georgetown. We were dropped in the middle of town and then set off to explore. Each corner we turned the memories from the past flooded back.

We passed the cane shop where we had bought chairs for the kids 40 years ago. To be truthful there wasn't much still as we remembered all that time ago. We wandered down Campbell Street, Chulia Street and others. Georgetown has changed a lot.


The traffic seemed so busy with one way streets now everywhere. The heat made the whole exercise quite demanding and after an hour or so we sought the respite available in a large shopping colex called Komtar.

We rested and enjoyed a cold water for a good 30 minutes before heading off again. We discovered a new shopping complex caleed 1st Avenue which was quite impressive.

With about 40 minutes before our free shuttle bus trip back to the resort Trish wanted to get back to a Gold Shop for a look at gold necklaces. I should have guessed what was coming next. For Trish, Christmas has come early.

So back to our resort room we went. A few cool drinks on the balcony before heading out to eat. Murtabak, roti canai and satay were our food of choice.  During the meal the heavens opened up and down came the rain.

It is just after 9am and light rain continues to fall. The photo left was taken mid morning.

From The Golden Sands Penang.

We have done quite some walking since our arrival here in Penang. In many ways Penang is the same as we remembered it from 40 years ago, but of course it has changed enormously. It is more crowded nowadays with rows of condominiums along the roadside as you drive from Georgetown out to Batu Ferringhi.

There are now even more places to eat than ever before. And then some spots haven't changed. Like the alleyway on the southern side of our resort. The same extroverted guy is there putting on a performance just as he did 20 years ago. The beer is just as cold and the food is great and still inexpensive.

There is a new Food Court here that was only very small 15 years ago. Now it has expanded 5 times with local food available and fairly cheap.

The Golden Sands Resort is set up for family holidays. With several pools,play areas and plenty of space for others to lay back and enjoy the abundant sunshine. However it wouldn't be a cheap holiday if you just ate and drank within the Resort.

There is at your own risk parasailing, fishing trips, scuba diving and other water leisure activities. There are games in the pools to keep kids and some adults entertainment.

There is now more eating places across the road with new buildings stretching back several blocks.

I have been in the pool here a couple of times so far. With 3 pools you can always find a spot for a quiet swim. The weather hasn't been as hot as I remembered either. Though still quite warm, it hasn't been the searing heat I remembered.

One of the side effects of eating so much local food is a little queasiness and a desire not to venture too far from the sanctuary of our great hotel room.

The wifi here is adequate without being incredible. Still on most occasions I was able to stream some of the recent cricket test match on the tablet. The wifi wasn't good enough though to stream it onto the TV via an android tv box I brought just in case.

With some tummy gurgling going on most likely we'll hang around today. As it has for every day we've been here, rain is forecast for today. But the only rain we've spotted was a light shower last night when bartering for a couple of T-shirts and several singlets.

Speaking of food, we have breakfast included in our deal. There is literally everything you could think of on the buffet. All your local rotis, curries, fruit, western dishes, everything. And you can have as much as you can fit in.

I guess you can tell we are enjoying our time here, except for every now and again when we have had too much of a good thing.

Our final hurdle will be our flight from Penang back to KL to pick up our flight back to the Gold Coast on Wednesday evening. We have a less than desirable 2 hour 40 minute time between when our Penang flight is due to land and our homeward flight to take off. Hopefully there won't be a delay like when we flew here from KL.

But almost 3 hours between flights should be fine. With Air Asia things work pretty quickly and they seem to be able to squeeze you in somehow.

Safe and Sound at Golden Sands Penang.

This is the view from our 3rd storey room at Golden Sands Resort Penang.  It is much dearer than Galle but everything here just works and works well.

It was a long day from Galle to Penang. A 1 hour delay to our 9:30pm departure from KL didn't help. But everything went ok. The Sri Lanka to KL flight had empty seats so we were able to have plenty of room. I am npt sure why we had such a long stopover in KL, it just seemed the way the package went.

Wifi here is ok and I can stream the Cricket fine. There is a little buffering but overall it is pretty good.

I won't bore you with food stories but here is pretty good. Under $6 for a 650ml Tiger beer seems reasonable enough. There are eateries everywhere here and the food is great, the drinks cold and there are heaps of good times.

It is almost 15 years since we were last here and the rate of new building is amazing. Once where there was jungle is now row after row of multi storey condominiums. It is amazing.

There are small mini marts everywhere and even an ATM just over the road.

The facilities at the hotel are great, 3 pools, glorious garden areas, just perfect. 

In Between the Showers

Yep,more food. Last night's thunderstorm must have been pretty tame as the power never went off at all. But it was wet to walk anywhere especially after dark.  We headed for the little restaurant where the owner had invited us to come for a meal.

Usually when we head out for a walk we turn left towards the beach but to get to this restaurant you turn right and away from the beach. The street lighting in this part of the world isn't the best, we needed a torch in some places.

We ordered Devilled fish, curry prawns and curry calamari. A couple of 'big' beers for me and a couple of Coca-Colas for Trish and it was almost the best meal we had had.

Very pleasant and as cheap as chips.

The Russians Are Coming!

Another day in Sri Lanka, day 4 actually. Trish awoke feeling a little queasy and certainly not looking forward to walking around an old stone fort in the tropical heat and humidity. At one stage we were about to head off but she felt another 20 minutes rest would be a better idea. The longer the morning went, the better she felt and the hotter it became outside.

Around late morning she was feeling ok and could handle a shorter walk locally.

The sign above was just one of many we spotted written in Russian as we headed off for a walk. There are quite a few Europeans here at Thambapanni (there are only 22 rooms in the 'resort') who are eastern European in appearance.  There are several German couples but Trish and I are the only Aussies.

This certainly makes having a chat over a beer difficult. Most of them stare and walk past you as if you weren't there at all.  They are not the friendliest and you can't even get a smile or a nod.

Our local walk took us up a rather steep hill. About half way up the hill is a restaurant . The owner leaned over the rail and insisted we go there for our evening meal.  She had a bubbly personality and promised us a genuine Sri Lankan meal cheaper than anything we cold buy 'on the beach '.

So that's where we will head later.

We finished up our walk at our favorite by the beach eatery for a cool drink and a light meal.

From there the pool looked good for me while Trish recuperated with her tablet in the air conditioned room.

No Internet, & Huge Thunderstorm.

Now what will we do today, day 3 of our stay in Sri Lanka? Not much as it turned out. The famous Tiger Reserve is 3 hours away and comes with a 4am start. We are probably a little beyond 4am starts so that idea disappeared. Then there are Tea Plantations.

In Penang we did Oil Palm plantations, rubber plantations so a Tea plantation doesn't do much for us either.

Now the Galle Fort would be good but initial enquiries are there isn't a guided tour of the famous Fort. So it is tuk tuk to the fort then you are on your own. That's probably on for tomorrow.  A final decision will happen in the morning.

But we did eat and drink a bit. Curry and Rice was my choice and pretty good it all was.  Fish Curry for tea and Chicken Curry  for lunch. Here in Sri Lanka they are huge meals. Actually a $6 Curry and Rice is probably enough for two people.

We returned to the 'resort' mid afternoon and discovered the internet was down. Not happy Jan!  Then we had a huge thunderstorm and the power went off around 4 times, one time was for a good 20 minutes.

We had a wander around town this morning  and saw some spots to stay that looked a tad better than where we were. But overall here is fine especially at $43 a night.

So it was to our regular night spot for curries and noodles as the photo above shows.

Back at the 'resort' after tea and we discovered the internet was back and running.

That's why you get this post.

Day 2, Thambapanni Resort Sri Lanka.

After a good night's sleep we arose on Day 2 in Sri Lanka ready for a quieter day. Breakfast at the 'resort' was serviceable and did the job. We were in no rush to head anywhere. The watch band on my $6:50 watch from China was breaking so that was a good enough reason to head into Galle, 4ks away.

The 10 minute ride in the tuk tuk was an experience that could take a whole blog post! The first watch repair place didn't have the correct size replacement band but the second place did. So 15 minutes later at a cost of $12 the watchband problem had been overcome.

We tend to walk a lot when visiting places like this which isn't a good idea for couple of 'oldies' in the tropical heat and humidity. Trish bought 20gms of saffron for $14 which seemed a good idea. Then we set sail for a Shopping Mall we had been told about but that didn't turn out to be what we expected. In the tropical heat and humidity we went looking for a cool drink after the walk in the heat of the day.

The place we found also had some food. So a bottle of coke, a bottle of water and a shared plate of rice, pol sambal and fish curry all for $5 meant lunch had been eaten. As in India, the taste of the food was powerful, a great taste sensation.

A short tuk tuk ride then found us at a touristy shop called Luv SL. It was the perfect place to buy some quality items for youngsters at home for Christmas.

From Luv SL it was another tuk tuk ride back to the resort. I donned my bathers and hit the pool for 30 minutes or so. Then it was drinks time so we made the 250m walk to the beach and this eatery right on the sand.

The photo above shows what you see from where we sit at the beachside eatery. The photoleft is the view back up from the beach.

Looks ok doesn't it? When you do an exact conversation the cost of a large 650m bottle of beer is a whisker over $3, but who's counting.

They will do a baked whole fish for under $16, so guess where we could be heading this evening?  That is if the thunderstorm going on outside clears!

Poolside In Sri Lanka

And to think we paid for what we endured yesterday!  Who knows what time it is right now. My watch says 9:15 am but my body isn't so sure.

We were awake at 4:15am in KL and on our way to the airport soon after. Then a couple of hours wait till take off which was delayed another 30 minutes. Three and a half hours later we landed in Colombo, Sri Lanka. We collected our luggage, were picked up and driven 2 hours to our 3 star resort in Galle. Our transfer vehicle was a fairly new Nissan sedan and quite comfortable.

As the photo shows it is an idyllic setting, older style rooms with everything you need. There's a recently updated bathroom and a huge bed covered with mosquito netting, air conditioning and a wonderful ceiling fan. Our room is via the doorway directly beneath the patio ceiling fan in the photo.

There is a TV but no coverage of any cricket, strange I thought for this part of the world.  Though my watch said 3pm, it was 5:30 KL time, 7:30 Brisbane time and 8:30 Melbourne  time.

After suffering some tummy cramps on our final night in KL, my activity throughout the trip to Sri Lanka was a little uneasy but survived without mishap.

We walked 250m to the beach which had rows of Bali style restaurants and bars spreading onto the sand. Here we had a drink and a meal. Trish had some fried rice for around $4:50 while I had a Kuttu dish. A 650ml bottle of the local beer was a few cents over $3.

We tried to stay awake as late as possible but by 8:30 local time (I think) saw us pull back the mosquito netting and sleep. The wifi here is just OK so I listened to my Melboune Sports Radio Station. I turned it off at 3am, but 9:30pm local time, I think.

Today will be quiet with a Tuk Tuk trip into Galle for a look around and enjoy a quiet recovery day. The $3 big bottle of beer on the beach sounds good too.

Our Final Day in KL Today

Yesterday we did the Hop On Hop Off KL Bus thing. It took us to many places we had been to previously and a few we hadn't seen before.   We only got off at three stops but each stop was for a place we wanted to visit.

We stopped at China Town and in particular, Petaling Street. This is the home of the famous KL Night Market. Despite being around 11am, many stalls were open selling stuff we weren't interested in buying. Our next stop was Little India and there was some stuff we wanted to buy here, roti canai and Murtabak .

The old Indian guy who served gave us special treatment. 2 rotis, a Murtabak and 2 soft drinks set us back a little over $5. That is a roti in the photo above.

It was back on the air conditioned bus and we rode by various towers, bird parks, royal palaces, stations and flower gardens. The next and final stop for us to check out was the Twin Towers. This hides yet another huge shopping complex. It was a very quick look before we again sought the air conditioned bus.

It filled in the day and we saw some things we had never seen on previous trips.

Finally it was back to the room for fluid replacement.

Our evening meal was in a spot we found accidentally. We decided to head down a different street to get to Jalan Alor and come across another line of restaurants. One of those restaurants was partially Indian so for me it was another Murtabak while Trish had the old favorite, Char Koay Teow.

By then I was quite full but Trish was still peckish. So some Kai lan and a small oyster omelet later we headed back to our pad feeling quite exhausted. I slept for 8 hours. I haven't slept that long for some time.

Today, our final full day in KL will be fairly quiet. We have a 5am pickup tomorrow to take us to the airport and off to Sri Lanka for the following 5 nights.

Our Little AirBnB Pad

We've been out walking again today. But come 2:30 or so it is time to seek refuge with a cold beer and get ready for tonight's attack on the hawker carts.

We discovered a shopping centre called Pavilions and got lost in it. The centre is just huge!

But as you can see it is now time to relax, replace some that lost fluid and get ready for tonight.

The unit is compact on sits on the 21st floor.  So we have a bit of a view.

We are quite comfortable.  There is a fridge, micro wave, air con, TV and seating with a couch, an office chair and 4 kitchen chairs. Not bad for a little over $50 a night.

Around Town

We have discovered we can't walk the distances we used to. This meant we got back to our Studio Unit a little earlier than we had first thought. We got out and about mid morning, had fried rice and watermelon juice for breakfast and then off to to check out Sungai Wang Shopping Centre.

On the way we checked out another centre called Low Yat. We spent $10 all up and got 2 sim cards for our phones. We get around 30 mins of talk or data included. The girl set it all up for us, activated the cards. After we added a little extra credit she went and set up free calls between us. All for $10! Nice to know we can contact each other in an emergency.

The Sungai Wang shopping centre has become old and shabby with numerous shops up for rent.

I went back to Low Yat and found a shop which sold android TV boxes, none was a brand I recognized. But this computer shop sold all the bits and pieces I keep an eye on on the Internet. It was great.

We had lunch at the hawker stalls filling a floor at Sungai Wang. My Koay Teow cost me a little over $2 Australian.

It was around 2pm when we felt it was time for a spell. So back to our room for a cool drink and a spell. Boy, the drinks were good!

Needless to say it was Jalan Alor for our evening meal. Roast duck, Beef Rendang and Salt and Pepper Squid were our choice, a little dearer than the night before but still very enjoyable.

We'll be out walking again today, checking places out. KL has changed a lot since last we were here.

Arrived Safely

I write this post from our AirBnB booked accommodation right in the heart of KL. The position is ideal with no more than a 10 minute walk to one of the favorite eating haunts,Jalan Alor. The photo shows that was the one place we got to visit last night. We eventually got to our accommodation around 6pm. We couldn't transfer from the airport by Uber as more than likely you would need a phone to guide the driver. No phone so no Uber.

The next best option was the cab. In KL Airport you pre buy a coupon, then walk to the appropriate gate and there's your cab. I had been told to order a 'budget cab'. So that's what I did. However the girl in the booth wouldn't do that, as we had 4 pieces of luggage we would have to pay more. But it still worked out to be AUD $40 for a 65km trip travelling at up to 130ks in an air conditioned and very comfortable car.

Our room is great, not large by any means but is on the 21st floor of the Ramada Hotel.  It is a privately owned studio appartment. Very comfortable with everything we need. A big hassle was sorting out the air con but all is great now.

As the photo shows we did get to the eats street called Jalan Alor. i loved the couple of bottles of Anchor beer, Char Koay Teow, 10 Satay sticks and an Oyster Omelette. The drinks were as dear as the food, a little over $25 all up. With a 2hr time difference, come 9pm here we were ready for bed.

My ears have only cleared this morning giving me some hearing back.

Our plan today is to explore.

More news in the next day or so.

On the Starting Blocks

Here we are, in a coolish Tweed Heads in an older but great motel with a large room, heaps of seating, lots of bells and whistles and all good.

We have just wandered home from the Tweed Heads Bowls Club, literally just over the road from where we are staying. We arrived here mid afternoon and after settling in had a quick drive around town. How lucky we are to live in such a pretty place. Great surf beaches, heaps of sunsine and everything at your fingertips.

Our meal at the Bowling Club was great, and as the photo shows, some lawn bowlers were out there in 22 degree cold plying their skills.

Trish has been waiting for a last minute call from one of the kids to wish us a happy trip away but all is to no avail.

I am delighted to say the TV dongle works great, but we need a better internet service rather than the freebie supplied by the motel for things to really work well.

We've grabbed some nibblies for the 8 hour flight tomorrow and Trish has a new Sudoku book to keep her occupied. I have several TV series on the tablet to fill in the 8 hour flight.

Needless to say we are getting excited and can't wait to be on our way tomorrow.

All is good. I wonder if the kids will miss us while we are away?

Not Packed But Getting Sorted!

We are having unseasonally cool weather at the moment.  It will possibly make 24° later on today if the sun gets a chance to pop its head out this afternoon.  This time tomorrow we will be heading to Coolangatta ready for our flight to Kuala Lumpur departing around 10am Tuesday morning.

We have heard back from our AirBnB host giving us directions on how to collect the key and requesting our schedule for arrival and departure. So it is getting really close now.  The bed here at home is covered with shorts, T-Shirts, Polo tops, bathers and the like ready to pack.  But as we are going to somewhere 'hot', our selection for clothes is much easier.

But as is the way, Trish is caught up with an Arts Association Fair this weekend so she has been flat out since Thursday when they started getting things ready.  Today is the last day so it will be great when it is all over.  She will finish her packing tomorrow.

Yesterday afternoon (yes even on a Saturday) there was the final Community Association Meeting for 2017 followed by a Christmas Breakup which explains why I am moving at less than 100% today.  I took some care of myself but it seems I could have taken even more.

But that job is now over as the Association moves into hibernation for a couple of months.

We have worked out that after tomorrow we will be 'at home' for only 8 more nights between now and New Year as our trip to Newcastle and Melbourne happens a little over a week after we get back from Malaysia.

Being away for about 6 or 7 weeks of the last 8 weeks of the year we feel we will be happy to eventually get home after Melbourne.  We may even get home a few days prior to New Year yet.  We will spend Boxing Day with Barry and Rainy as per usual but we won't stay overnight this time.  I must get value out of my MCG membership so I want to get to as many days of the Test Cricket as possible before heading back to home, the pool and the heat.

My replacement H96Pro TV dongle turned up during the week.  For its size and cost it is a fairly impressive gadget.  I think I have worked out why the first dongle died.  I was using a generic USB charger and it really needs to use its own supplied charger to give it enough umph to work properly. With the generic usb charger the dongle would crash when I put a 32GB usb drive into it.  Use the correct supplied charger and everything works fine.

As you can see from the size, it will be ideal for travel purposes.  I have loaded the 32GB drive with a few movies and several TV series if we have any 'quiet' moments while away we will have that option.  If we have anywhere near decent wifi (as we did in Bali) we could stream the odd movie or two.  But it is easy and light to carry so ideal for heading away.

My elbow and forearm are still both badly bruised from the bike bingle though there isn't any real discomfort for everyday purposes now.  It may struggle a bit if I have to lift something heavy, but otherwise it feels much better than it looks.

So therefore the next post maybe from Malaysia.  I will use the 10" Samsung tablet to post my blog. The tablet lacks a few of the Blogger features that the PC version has.  I can't easily position pictures for example when using the tablet.  But it will be a bit of fun.

Next post, Kuala Lumpur!

A Day At The Caloundra Races

On Melbourne Cup Day (yesterday) we joined around 6,000 others on the Sunshine Coast and travelled to Caloundra Racecourse (Corbould Park) for a day at the races.  Horse racing isn't quite my thing but the opportunity to join with great friends, have a day out and enjoy a few beers was always going to be enticing enough for me to get along.

The ladies prepared lots of nibblies.  Uber got 4 of us to the track comfortably while Ian and Kerrie drove there.  We were sitting back in bright sunshine and balmy 28° enjoying a few drinks.  Beverage tickets were $3 each and you needed 2 tickets for a beer and 3 tickets for a small champers.

With so much to eat, the warm sunshine, cold drinks and wonderful company, it made for a great day.  However as predicted the clouds began to arrive but it didn't effect us having a great time.  The young 'things' were all out in their 'going to the races' finest.  There was plenty of lace and plenty of tanned skin to take in.

People passing by just stopped for a chat or ask us how we were enjoying the day.  The big screen was up and running showing all the horse racing events across the country.  We even had races at Caloundra to watch as well.  The food and drinks flowed throughout the day.  Sometimes you just wonder how you could fit it all in.

The clouds did begin to build up and it became pretty obvious storms were brewing.  The Melbourne Cup was to be shown on the big screen at 2pm local time and it became a bit of race to see what would happen first, the Cup or the impending storm.  It was pretty much a photo finish with people scurrying for cover from the huge raindrops and flashes lightning or bashing of thunder.

We scurried up under cover and out of the rain.  It didn't dampen the day at all.  Trish won around $30 while John cleaned up with about $80 profit on the Cup.  But we had a great day and probably ate and drank too much.  Eventually, we left for home as the rain had eased, again via Uber arriving back home around 6pm.

We didn't need an evening meal as we had been eating and drinking so much throughout the day.  I estimate we went though a little under $90 worth of Beverage tickets so we were filled to the brim upon our arrival home.

But shock, horror! Upon our arrival at home, I discovered there was no internet, the storm had knocked out our home internet connection!  But by around 8:15am this morning (Weds) full internet service had been returned.  It rained on and off across the night and into the morning.  This morning I tipped 44mls from the rain gauge!

All in all a great day was had by all, it was so good as a matter of fact, we have already agreed to do it again in 2018, possibly at one of our homes where there is a pool and a BBQ!

But we will see!

A Week To Go!

Around this time next week (early afternoon) we should be on our way around 200k's from here down to the Gold Coast Airport at Coolangatta.  We fly out on Tuesday around 10 am for our trip to Malaysia and Sri Lanka. We jumped online and saw we were allocated a window seat each right at the back of the plane, almost the last two rows actually.

These rows only have 2 seats in them so at least no one will be 'in the middle'.  They will suit us.  We could sit side by side but that will cost another $20.

I reckon on the day we may be able to work out a swap with other passengers once on board.

It is around 8 hours to KL and we get in there around 4pm their time.  I have checked transfer fares from the Airport to our AirBNB accommodation in the city.  It seems you buy a 'voucher' at the airport for your trip into town around 80k's away.  The voucher system should ensure we are not ripped off at around $25 Australian.

Then we have 5 nights in KL before flying to Columbo.  We are staying in Galle which is a good 2 hour car trip from Columbo.  Though quite expensive on the surface to get transfer from the airport to Galle, when you take the total cost of flights for Trish and me as well as accommodation at a little under $700, an expensive ride to and from the 'resort' in Galle works out OK.

As the photo above shows, the bruising from my bingle on the bike almost a week ago is beginning to 'come out'.  It looks much worse than it is.  There is way more bruising than I first thought so no wonder it is still a little 'tender'.

Except for full strength in the arm, the rest is back to normal.

I have a Public Meeting to chair tonight.  Then we are off to Caloundra's Racecourse "Corbould Park" with friends for "Cup Day" tomorrow.  The weather is expected to be stormy but you never know.  It is a fun day with lots of laughs.

I have a Community Newsletter to finish for later in the week as well as a lengthy insert to prepare for the Association's website following tonight's meeting.  But most things are currently 'in hand' so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

I am off to the Chiropractor now so I had better get sorted.

I Forgot To Look!

I remember well, many many years ago when we lived in Penang. The kids were young with only Chris being of school age.  At that time Kate was a keen climber, especially over the lounge room furniture.  She had a nasty fall this day from the top of the main lounge chair and hit her head on the concrete floor and then burst into tears.  "I forgot to hang on" she cried.

On my bike ride on Tuesday "I forgot to look closely".  Council has opened a couple of the 'barrier gates along a pathway I use infrequently.  There is a zig-zag path to negotiate or you can use the open barrier gateway.  You do have to be a little careful on your bike as at times there can be a 10cm drop from the concrete pathway to the grass below.

I was on my way down a long hill and was just about at the bottom and ready to use the open barrier gateway instead of the zig-zag slow you down method.  I saw a sign saying "Beware of Construction Vehicles" which caught my attention.  Then I checked to make sure I didn't have a drop from the pathway down to the grass and finally looked up to negotiate the gateway!

Oh sh#$#@! I said to myself as I looked up and saw that today the gate had been closed. It had been painted a light green as well which helped it blend into the environment.  No way known could I stop so I went for the brakes and broadsided into the closed gate.  Now I can tell you that being almost 72 years of age, a collision like this with a metal gate, it was easy to work out who the victor would be!

I took the full brunt of the impact on my left arm across a couple of the bars of the gate.  The doctor described it as a 'soft tissue' injury.  I had it checked out as we head off overseas in less than a fortnight and I wanted to be sure I hadn't done anything nasty to it.

It is much improved today but still is extremely tender.  My upper arm remains quite swollen and a huge bruise is brewing ready to pop out. No way can I lift anything with my left arm.

Ah well, as I used to say to the kids at school, "Isn't it about time you acted your age!"