Darts

We have a work event at the darts.  It was fun.  I placed 3rd in eight, not bad for something haven't thrown a dart for 20 years.

Tesco Gift Card

I finally got my long awaited gift card from my Vodafone contract.  They "sold out" Sainsbury's, so I opted for Tesco.  I will be using Tesco for the next few months.

Alstonefield Car Boot Sale

I have not been to a car boot sale for a really long time.  I took the opportunity to pop by Alstonefield.  It was actually quite fruitful!

Big Butt

It has not rained for a long time, and my water butt is still full of water!  Good news for the plants.

Hartington Bonnie Prince Charlie

One of the rooms in the YHA Hartington Hall is said to be visited by Bonnie Prince Charlie.  I am not convinced.

Email Header

It used to be fairly straight forward to spot a fake email in the header.  And now the header is too long and complicated, not sure it is an easy tool to spot fake anymore.

Plusnet Mobile

Apparently Plusnet mobile is stopping their SIM only service.  I have taken the opportunity to go back to PAYG.

Single Cream Glut

I suggested to get some single cream to go with the dessert, and there were no taker.  More for me, nice coffee to come!

Dripolator and Plunger

We are still learning new Australian words  month on.

Customer is Always...

I was listening to an NPR programme, the interviewee answered, "the customer is always... the customer".  Excellent!

Macaroni

I always thought macaroni is default elbow, but apparently not essential.

Bird Feeder

It is confirmed, I really dislike bird feeders.  The pigeons were helping themselves!

Gardening Hexsaw

We brought out the DIY tools for our gardening.  The hexsaw was working well, except I really should have more than one blade!

USB Under Cabinet Light

I bought some to try, they are okay.  Hardwired ones will always be better.

Constantine Octopus

I joined Octopus after they have stopped giving the plush toy away.  To be fair, it looks cute in people's picture, I don't really want another junk knocking around.  So they are planting a tree in my name, apparently.

Grounds Work Workout

So I have ordered a tonne of sand from Pease of Garforth, loose, this is what it looks like

Then I embarked on this mammoth task.

Who needs the gym...

Vacuum Robot

We have returned the dumb vacuum robot.  After more research, we went for a Eufy.  It is simple, and less dumb.  Let's hope she proves herself to be a hardworker.

Boba Mutation

After stage 3 of the bubble tea revolution, stage 4 is here...  It is just food, and nobody can claims ownership of it.

Ancient Stickers

 I have salvaged my old sticker books.  They are barely sticky, so I managed to adorn my belonging with my stickers.

Mascarpone Versatility

We made a dessert with some mascarpone.  We added the left over on my savoury dishes.  Absolutely evil all round!

Little Hong Kong - Day 8

The flight was fine.  There were no aisle seat available on this 13 hours flight.  On the other hand, I was so tired, I managed to sleep most of the flight.

So landing in Heathrow was not the end of the trip.  Not only I have to survive Heathrow for 2 hours, the queues were so long, so zig zaggy, I was getting very dizzy!

I also managed to sleep most of the flight to Manchester.  After picking up the car, I went to meet A&L in Denton.  I have presented them with a Tim Tams, which they are not familiar with, good.

I cannot believe one of the Hong Kong diners were queuing out of the door!  We went to another Hong Kong diner instead, the one I went last month.  I had some beef brisket noodles, which I didn't manage to have in Hong Kong.  Everyone was speaking in Cantonese except us.

Hello Hong Kong (Errands) - Day 7 Finale

I took my mom to Sky 100.  Then I took my mom to a pedicure.  

My mom's friend popped by, and we spend the rest of the afternoon hanging out, and finalising my packing.

I left the flat with her friend about 6pm and went to the airport on a slow bus, what a bad mistake.

I caught Icarus, who was also going to London.  I was starving, so we had some noodles before we board our respective planes.

Hello Hong Kong (Errands) - Day 6 A&E

I was woken up by my mom 3am, and I took her to A&E.  We spent 8 hours there.

Then I went onto my scheduled lunch with my other family friends, half asleep.

I went home and filled up the selection of drinks for my mom, whilst she cannot eat solids.

Then I went to see my agent and onto my scheduled dinner with Carol.

What a long day.

Hello Hong Kong (Errands) - Day 5 Comic

I called up a comic buyer, and sold a bunch of my manga.

I bought a mosquito trap for Queenie and went to lunch with Queenie.

My mom has decided to go to the dentist.  She had to passed up dinner with my cousin.  

We caught up with their son also.  He and his girlfriend is doing a European trip, they are doing their share of revenge travelling.

Hello Hong Kong (Errands) - Day 4 Books

After having breakfast with my cousin, his wife and their new grand daughter.  I have dug out loads of old books, and I have taken them all to the used booked store.  It is better for them to go to a good home.  Then I went back to the bank to sort out yet more stuff.

My other cousin come to see us, I gave them some "home comfort", Australian tea and Tim Tams.  We had pho for dinner and satay supper.  

Hello Hong Kong (Errands) - Day 3 Shopping

I went deep into the New Territory to catch up with Yan.  Along with another friend, we were talking about parenting.  We had dim sums and baby pigeon!  Apparently little Lewis is obsessed with Tim Tams.

Yan proceeded to show me all the good stuff, nostalgic food stuff.  I have tried the McDonald's Horlicks sundae. 

On my way home, I stopped by to pay respect to General Che.  I did more shopping in Tai Wai.  I took the  good old 81 and saw a few monkeys on my way home.

Hello Hong Kong (Errands) - Day 2 Banks

I had a very long to do list, which includes me going to two banks. 

I bought a bunch of Hong Kong snacks.  

Then had Japanese dinner and Cantonese dessert with my old friends.  When I presented Tim Tams, there was a resounding "we have it here too."  I also cannot believe the Milky Way was already melting!  I was quizzed on the negatives of England, after some struggle, and help from Queenie and Hedy, I manage to give 10 negs.

Ryan brought me home in their new Tesla.

The new cordless hoover is quite good.

Hello Hong Kong (Errands) - Day 1 Arrival

Hong Kong Tourist Board commissioned some advertisement with multiple A-listers.

We arrived in the early hours. We got home early and we started sorting thorough rubbish.  I caught up with Carol using the traditional method, not having a phone, fixed a time and location and wait.  We grab a quite breakfast, hand over the goods, both ways, and I got on with more errands.

My mom has some congee, and was shocked at how expensive food are in Hong Kong.

One and Only Australian Tour - Day 7 Finale

We checked out the hotel, my sister and I had a quiet morning to ourselves to get some pies and looked around Fagan Park.   They are both very English.   It is also the first place we interacted with someone with noticeable Aussie accent.

We then went to the Fish Market, which was quite impressive.   It also smell similar to an English dock. 

We had lobster as I requested, and a few other bits.  Australian lobsters were actually quite nice.

Then we are back to the airport.  We had dinner at Wolfgang Puck at the airport, it was fine.  I took the opportunity to spend down the Australian dollars buying random snacks at the shops, including a Koala Freddo!

One and Only Australian Tour - Day 6 The Entrance

A second cool day, which I like.  We went to Noah Point Lighthouse then to the Entrance, which we missed the low tide.  We saw some wild pelicans.

Having missed the chocolate factory, we went to the mangrove to look at mini crabs and marina full of yachts.

Went home for a pan Asian dinner. We also tried some Australian prawn,  Tassie Salmon and barramundi. Panama passion fruit (giant). 

One and Only Australian Tour - Day 5 Wollogong

My first cool/damp day in Australia, I was loving it.  We had a look at the coast,  the Nan Tien Temple,  vegetarian lunch, Kiama blowhole and most importantly Costco.   They do a taro drink, how local..

We went home make some Australian "porterhouse",  which looks awfully like a sirloin to me.  And assorted oyster mushrooms.