The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

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It was our wedding anniversary today, so with the exception of last year (due to the bush fires) we continued what has become an Aussie tradition for us and set out for the coast to go and stand in the Pacific Ocean...

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The view from our lunch spot. Looking south. Lunch was a Christmas day retake as a picnic, right down to the Pavlova. Everything had been kept separate right from Christmas day and assembled on the plates, so no soggy meringue, soaked in fruit juice, fresh leaves washed and picked this morning, tossed in their dressing and everything assembled in IKEA children's bowls at the other end, served with a light 'additional' salad. I'll confess to adult cutlery to eat with, but IKEA cutlery works just great to serve... honest.
A hot flask made our beverage of choice (black coffee) but we failed on the Brussels sprouts! And no BBQ... that is usually in use (because they are all free here) and we wanted to sit in the shade, all shaded picnic benches were in use with the BBQ area, so we headed up to the headland area to look down over 2 beaches.

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Then we moved the car slightly closer to the beach and I walked from one end to the other at the waterline with my crutches. They get washed off on clean water and it's not affected them before and surprisingly they don't sink too far into the sand which is fine because the height difference when walking in bare feet compared to sandles compared to my boots means that the crutches get adjusted all the time... sand just means I don't have to adjust them if I remove my sandles! I only fell the once but hubby is used to it so no one else on the beach worried thankfully.

And the reason for going to the beach... the first year we were here it was to hit 38°C at home that day. No air con etc, nothing on at the cinema meant we searched out somewhere cooler and despite being some 2,800 feet lower than where we live, it is usually 5-10°C cooler. That first time it was much more. Today it was only 6°C cooler than home. It's now dark and still 21°C and not forecast to get any cooler overnight...

Great day out though!
 
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SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
It was our 24th wedding anniversary today, so with the exception of last year (due to the bush fires) we continued what has become an Aussie tradition for us and set out for the coast to go and stand in the Pacific Ocean...

View attachment 53611
The view from our lunch spot. Looking south. Lunch was a Christmas day retake as a picnic, right down to the Pavlova. Everything had been kept separate right from Christmas day and assembled on the plates, so no soggy meringue, soaked in fruit juice, fresh leaves washed and picked this morning, tossed in their dressing and everything assembled in IKEA children's bowls at the other end, served with a light 'additional' salad. I'll confess to adult cutlery to eat with, but IKEA cutlery works just great to serve... honest.
A hot flask made our beverage of choice (black coffee) but we failed on the Brussels sprouts! And no BBQ... that is usually in use (because they are all free here) and we wanted to sit in the shade, all shaded picnic benches were in use with the BBQ area, so we headed up to the headland area to look down over 2 beaches.

View attachment 53610
Then we moved the car slightly closer to the beach and I walked from one end to the other at the waterline with my crutches. They get washed off on clean water and it's not affected them before and surprisingly they don't sink too far into the sand which is fine because the height difference when walking in bare feet compared to sandles compared to my boots means that the crutches get adjusted all the time... sand just means I don't have to adjust them if I remove my sandles! I only fell the once but hubby is used to it so no one else on the beach worried thankfully.

And the reason for going to the beach... the first year we were here it was to hit 38°C at home that day. No air con etc, nothing on at the cinema meant we searched out somewhere cooler and despite being some 2,800 feet lower than where we live, it is usually 5-10°C cooler. That first time it was much more. Today it was only 6°C cooler than home. It's now dark and still 21°C and not forecast to get any cooler overnight...

Great day out though!
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Congratulations on your anniversary. It looks and sounds like a lovely day together.
 
mjd said:
Congratulations on your anniversary. It looks and sounds like a lovely day together.
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Thank you. It's a far cry from our honeymoon in Stockholm over the New Year period 1996-7 when we had something like 4-5hrs daylight a day and subzero temperatures for the entire time. Again fantastic but so far different.

It was also a long drive for a picnic and to get wet... but it was fun and a good day out. Sadly hubby had to do all the driving because my right leg was playing up and clearly not up to driving. That vehicle is an auto so if it had been my left leg... but it's the right and was barely functioning today. It goes that way some days. But I didn't need the wheelchair so that's a bonus!
 
Does anyone know of online shops that sell Lindt chocolates in Europe? MypinchofItaly post has got me seriously craving some Lindt chocolate 🤩 So far the only online store I found that ships to Portugal is britsuperstore.com
 
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MypinchofItaly said:
LissaC maybe Amazon could help you? I’ve checked online shop in Italy but no Portugal shipping 😕
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Amazon.de is shipping to Portugal although shipping costs are a bit higher than what I wanted to pay, but if there are no other options I'll go with this one :)
 
TastyReuben said:
I may have been a bit unclear in my "every family" comment - just meant that in every family, there's abnormality and this ideal "Leave It To Beaver/Father Knows Best" family that we're all supposed to aspire to...those families are few and far between, enough so to be virtually nonexistent.

I think, especially going back just a generation or two, that if you didn't have that kind of "perfect" family life, then there was something wrong with you, and something you should be ashamed of, and your best action was to put on a false public face of family "normalcy" at home.

In my family, I would reference things like:

An uncle who abandoned his wife and family, moved to another state, still married, and fathered upwards of 30 kids with his catting around. His funeral was a sight to see, with all his unknown kids showing up.

A grandmother who was so loopy on all the meds she'd take that she'd get in her car and wreck it at the same turn in the road, so much so that locals took to calling that turn "Edith's Curve."

An aunt who feigned suicide (overdoses) every time she didn't get her way...and who magically recovered, without medical assistance, once her husband acquiesced.

We all have these characters in our families, some funny, some tragic, some all that rolled up. That was my point. Anyone with difficult folks like that in their family, just don't think you're alone or unusual that way...we've all got 'em! :laugh:
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My mother in law and sister get under everyone’s skin real quick so I plan separate visits with them.
Feels so good to leave.

Grandma Axehandle can bait one into a conversational dispute in three seconds or less.
This is the “you don’t let the kids watch nor read Harry Potter do you” MIL Grandma.

I’m a no conflict person.
 
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