The giant lasagne

Of course, given the time lapse, jet lag thing, I was wide awake just after 5 o’clock this morning. Unusually, the day was grey because, as everyone in the world knows, the weather is always perfect in Queensland (!).

As I was writing up my myriad of blog posts, trying to work out what day was when and where, I had a Skype call from Mirinda. She’d been to the cinema with Ben after a few days back at work which were better forgotten than dwelt upon. We had a lovely chat as she pottered around the flat. During our call, the rain decided to lash down behind me. It was your typical tropical torrent which did it’s job of drenching before abruptly stopping, allowing the sun to come out.

Mirinda also witnessed the people come to pick up the killer recliner and take it to the Home for Battered Women. It seems a bit cruel to give them a chair that tried its best to injure anyone who sat in it and which, most famously, sent Dad flying across the room, breaking his hip. Still, maybe one of them can use it as an evil husband trap. Sort of like an erratic, unpredictable human toaster.

She finally went to bed at around midnight and I trotted off down to my usual Caloundra cafe for my equally usual latte. I was a bit miffed that they have forgotten my order though, to be fair, the staff have changed since I was last there, two years ago. The latte, however, was exactly the same and perfect.

Later, Mum and I drove over to Golden Beach to pay her rent. What lovely staff! All very friendly and chatty, something that suits my talkative mother perfectly. After driving back home, we then went for lunch down Bulcock Street.

The place we went to was a bit new Age-y and was called Flamingos, something I found a bit weird given that’s where I get my hair done in Farnham. Still, the food was lovely. Our only complaint was the size of Mum’s lasagne. It was bigger than her. She couldn’t finish it regardless of her post-war imperative to eat everything on your plate in case the Germans come and steal it. To be honest, I’m not sure I could have eaten it all. It really was massive.

Contrawise, my salmon fritter was of perfect dimension and taste. It came with a small tub of spicy sauce which enhanced the salmon perfectly. I thoroughly recommend the salmon fritters.

Actually, the only bad thing about Flamingos was the group of kids who misguidedly thought they knew how to behave in public, and decided to sit next to us. Seriously, what kind of family teaches children to throw drinks over a balcony onto unsuspecting pedestrians?

We managed to escape unscathed and went back to the house where we both had a bit of a sleep. Mum, because that’s what she does when she says she’s going to read and me, because I was suddenly unable to keep my eyes open.

A little later, wide awake and dying of the heat, I went down to Happy Valley to sit in the shade and light sea breeze and said goodbye to Dad.