OK, Now I Know Everything
That’s it. Now I know everything there is to know about Mr Mickmak and his Wife and his Farm and his Life and his Past and his Present and his Taste in food and his…. and his….. and his.
The meeting was arranged. I got this phone call out of the blue and there he was, speaking to me. Then there was another phone call not out of the blue (I was expecting it this time) and arrangements were made to meet up for lunch. To make things easy on Mickmak I went to him so he didn’t have to come to me. We met up in a nice wee bistro / restaurant that was just down the road from where he was staying with his sister (whom I know all about now as well). The drink was ordered (Mickmak had a pint of lager)(as I don’t drink now I had a cup of coffee) then the menus were brought by a very pretty young thing. She was very pleasant and asked if we needed anything else. She left us for 5 minutes to decide what we were going to eat. We talked a load of gack. She came back to take our order. We hadn’t even looked at the menu. Another 5 minutes were asked for. This time we actually looked at the menu. By the time she came back we were ready to order. Order taken, she went away and we proceeded to talk more gack. Soon we found out just what / who we had / knew in common. Lunch arrived. Mmmmmm! During lunch we talked about gacky things and then went on to talk more gack. All in all it was a right gackfest. You know the usual. When two men get together it is not like two women. Women just gossip. Men talk about serious gack.
It was really nice to meet up with you after all this time Mickmak. Maybe if I ever do make that trip to Oz you will stand beside me at Ayers rock. Or better still, we could just talk gack. Many thanks for the book. There are some really nice pics in it. I hope that you enjoy the DVD that I promised you. Enjoy. I hope your wife enjoys it as well.
To change the subject now. This is, for those of you who don’t know , The Beatles Bank Holiday Weekend. Well, it’s actually a bank holiday weekend, but for some reason The Beatles have taken over. From Friday evening to this evening (Monday) we have been bombarded with Beatles. Yes, yes, I know, I’m a Rolling Stones fan. But, I never once said I didn’t enjoy the music of The Beatles. I do and I probably will for years to come. It’s like Elvis, nobody will ever match them. It’s just that ever since I was a wee lad The Stones did it for me and not The Beatles. (Yes, I do have Beatles music in my collection) Maybe the next bank holiday could be a Rolling Stones Bank Holiday Weekend. Or for those of you who insist about his talent, a Jimi Hendrix Bank Holiday (but then again he didn’t really record enough music to cover a weekend now did he?)
As today is Bank holiday Monday my wife is off work. We decided to go out for the day. We went up to Antrim to the Discount Shopping Village for a look around. There were some very nice things to see and some very good bargains. Needless to say we didn’t buy them all even though we would have liked to. I have always said that if we were starting all over again (as in our married life) it is places like this that we would go to. They never had these places when we got married. If only. I did manage to get hold of the most delicious stuffed olives. I have never tasted anything like them. I can see myself pigging out on them tonight. Instead of keeping them over a period of time I might just eat them all tonight, along with the most gorgeous soft goat’s cheese I have ever tasted. Yes, definitely a pig out night tonight. Mmmmmm!
I will go now, but just remember Mrs Mickmak, I know all about you. Then again, you probably know all about me by now!
Ta-rah
Posted :: Monday 8/31/2009 9:42:00 AM
When You're Getting Older
Yes, you know when you’re getting older when you have a wet shave and you can’t see the end results in the basin afterwards, even though you had quite a bit of stubble there in the first place. Another time you know when you’re getting older is when you are having the most fantastic massage in a Spa and the therapist puts your age down 3 years above, not below, your actual age. Apologies accepted all round from both parties but this is a fact of life. I’m getting older not only in my mind but now in my physical appearance as well. Not on baby. Not on baby at all.
So, to help. The therapist has asked me all the usual questions about me and my body. Then the question. ‘Do you moisturise?’ Do I what? Moisturise! That’s what my wife does. Do I look like my wife? No I do not thank you very much.
She explains what she meant by the question. She tells me all the gack I should know and why it is important etc etc. I say, ‘OK’ Take it from there. Over the next two hours I am given this most fantastic treatment. (I’ve never had a massage in my life before, honest) Yes, fan-bloody-tastic would be a better description for it. I leave the treatment room and I feel as if I am walking upright for the first time in years. My back is not sore. My shoulders don’t ache anymore. I have no pain in the neck although I can be a pain in the neck at times. My face is all tingly. My legs are feeling strong. I just feel great. With instruction from my therapist to have at least one massage a month somewhere I think that if it makes me feel like this I will follow her advice. After all that I went into the Bubble Pool (no, it’s not something one breaks wind in) followed by the Rain Shower followed by the Swimming Pool followed by the Jacuzzi.
After all that my wife and I went and had the most fantastic dinner. I can’t really remember all that we had but I had, for my main course, a great dish of Home Grown Rabbit. I haven’t had Rabbit since I was in the Balierics in the late 1960’s. It was horrible there. This time round it was just beautiful. That was the end of our first day of our Summer Holiday. The next day we took ourselves off into Newcastle Town itself. We bought the obligatory bars of rock to take home for people and walked up and down the promenade looking out towards a fantastic vista of wind surfers / waves / sun / beach etc. Not only that, we were able to stop every 30 or so feet and sit down if we wanted to.(Bangor please take note, there are not enough benches in the town centre unlike Newcastle where there are any amount of them) (another point of interest to Bangor, there are hardly any High Street chain stores in Newcastle, they all seem to be independent shops!) (WHY?) We did stop for an ice cream as well. I think it was the only Multiple Store that I saw but at least it was a local Multiple for a change. A poke for the childer for any one who can get the name of the Ice Cream Parlour I am talking about.
After a nice day just leisurely strolling about we went back to the hotel and had another dip in the Swimming Pool and a seat in the Jacuzzi. We didn’t make use of the Steam room or Sauna as I wasn’t allowed in them due to my health. Pity, as I was looking forward to sitting there just sweating all the whatever out of my body. Later that evening we went out for Dinner to one of the local restaurants. It was a Fish Restaurant that was supposed to be very good. It had been recommended by a friend of my wife’s. Mistake number one. Went in and looked at the menu. No scallops on the menu. For a Fish restaurant that was bad. Mistake number two. No Scampi on the menu. Mistake number three. Just sold the last portion of that sir. Mistake number four. OK then We’ll have a small portion of Mussels to start with. Followed by Salmon Fillet for my wife. So far so good. I will have the Chowder. Mistake number five. Up until my Chowder arrived everything that was edible had been eaten. My Chowder arrived. Now I know each chef has their own recipe for Chowder but this was taking the piss. I have eaten Chowder all over the world. Most of them good. Some of them not so good. This was just downright horrible. I was nearly sick. The waiter came to take our plates away and noticed that I hadn’t eaten much, if any, of my dish. I explained why and he apologised but I told him it wasn’t him who had made it. As we were leaving and I was settling the bill the waiter informed me that he had deducted the Chowder off the bill. I thanked him for that and we left. There is a moral to this story. Don’t go to a restaurant on one personal recommendation alone. Get at least three and then some.
Next day we were going to head home. We had to be out of our room by 11.00AM We got our breakfast and then went upstairs to get packed. All in all we had a relaxing couple of days. I would have loved another go at the Jacuzzi or Bubble Pool but there wasn’t time for that. I did have some added entertainment though. While I was settling the bill at the reception there was a rather heated debate going on between a client of the hotel and a very, very patient receptionist. It would take me a whole blog to go through it but the gist of it was, the customer wasn’t happy with her room and she said that it was too hot during the night. Why wasn’t there air conditioning in the room. The receptionist tried to explain that the lady had only booked the cheapest room in the hotel but she could upgrade to a room with air conditioning if she would care to. At a cost. This wasn’t good enough. She, the customer, expected that a four star hotel such as this should have all air conditioned rooms. The receptionist tried again to explain that they can control the heating in the hotel but not the heat of the hotel. The building was built in 1895 or thereabouts. Still the customer wasn’t budging. I was standing there listening to all this with amusement. In fact I was nearly going to jump in and defend the poor girl behind the reception, who by now was getting rather flustered. At this point the customer left it to go and get her husband involved. I think, and I do only think, that this customer was looking for a FREE upgrade to a room with air conditioning AND a sea view. To get that sort of a room methinks you have to book at least a year in advance in this very splendid Spa Hotel. I congratulated the girl on keeping her cool. I also told her that there was absolutely nothing whatsoever wrong with our room, or the service received thank you very much.
As a result of our short Summer holiday we have arrived home feeling refreshed and reinvigorated. I am on the lookout for some one local who can administer a back / shoulder / neck massage for a reasonable cost.
Until our next venture from our stoop I will endeavour to become younger that I actually am.
Any tips please click on the title box above. After all, you don’t want me getting too old now. Do you?
Ta Rah
Posted :: Sunday 8/23/2009 3:21:00 AM
There’s Always Someone Worse O
Yep indeedy. It has always been a saying of mine no matter what I have been through in my life with all the medical thingys I have. There is always someone worse off than me. Or you for that matter. Keep that in mind for the rest of your life and you might end up a more positive person. Take my Father In Law.
We only found out on Monday past there that things for him couldn’t be much worse. A couple of years ago he was diagnosed with liver cancer. He was treated and things were fine. Until recently. He went for a scan to see what was the cause of his discomfort. Result of scan, in a nutshell, his cancer has come back. Only this time there is no treatment. He has been told by his specialist that he has a limited time to live. 3 – 9 months to more precise. What does one do in a situation like that? Even as I write this I haven’t been round to see him. What can I do? What can he do? My reason for putting this up now is that our Daughter was still in ‘merica and knowing that she reads this stuff I didn’t want her to find out this way. She is home now (this morning, tell you more later) and when we got back home we sat her down, beside me, as her Mum couldn’t tell her to her face as she is finding it difficult to talk about, understandably, and I told her about her Granda. She seemed to take it all in her stride and asked various questions etc but I am not sure if she has taken it in or not as yet. Jet lag seemed to hit her about 3 hours later, WHOOMPH, just like that. As if she had been hit by a brick. Maybe when she awakens things will sink in.
It has taken a lot of our family totally by surprise. As for me, I am not sure yet. Would I like to go like that knowing what is ahead of me or would I prefer to go the way I did in March past? It’s still an open debate.
As for our daughter now. Back to her trip out to ‘merica. She has had a wonderful time. It is so nice to hear the voice going non stop chitter chitter again. Up until she arrived home the house was so quiet. Not only did she do the Camp work but she paid a visit to my Nephew in Washington and his wife and their two twin daughters. They would be my Grand Nieces but I am not sure what relationship they would be to our daughter. Cousins once removed maybe. Joob Joobs to the person who comes up with a better relationship. Anyway, back to the visit to my Nephews. With his job he does a lot of stuff connected with that funny shaped building that was nearly destroyed on 9/11. Not sure what exactly he does but it must be pretty good. Anyway, daughter and her friends (sorry, meant to mention that 4 of them went to visit) were able to see around Washington. All the memorials, Lincoln, War, Peace etc. She was very very impressed. And it takes a lot to impress our daughter. Believe you me. I think the last thing or person to impress our daughter is her current boyfriend (whom she can’t wait to see)(but she’s sleeping at the moment and he’s got swine flu anyway)
The Tall Ships are here. Wahay. Don’t know if I could be bothered to go up and see them. No, I won’t go up and see them. There are too many people about and they won’t move out of my way. Don’t they know who I am yet! Anyway, they are due to float away sometime tomorrow. Sailing down the Lough towards wherever they are going. If it is nice weatherwise Wifey and I will / maybe go and look at them. If it is wet then I don’t think so. I will probably see more on television anyway. I can feel lethargy setting in there. Does this mean that Grumpy Old Man Syndrome is definitely setting in? Or have I always been like that? Answers on a postcard, second class, to wherever you like. Talking of Tall Ships being here. So is my matey from down south. Only this time his Wife has come with him. He is here to see the Tall Ships. So is she, but, and a big but, she also wants to SHOP! Because of the cost of things down south things are a lot (and I mean a lot) cheaper up here. Is this the end of the Celtic Tiger we have before us? Are we going to have an Ulster Bout Ye for a while now? I certainly hope so.
Seeing on the TV News this week I see that peeps in ‘merica are getting their knickers in a twist about the proposals for changing their Health System. What Health System? They don’t have one. Everything they have they have to pay for through Health Insurance. The NHS here is envied all over the world. People travel here to have procedure done from all over the world. They have kept me alive and well for the past 54 years of my life (apart from the time I lived in Canada) There are no Death Squads. Too many of them have got this mixed up with Harry Potter and the Death Eaters. Maybe a Death Squad means a squad of people like the ones who brought me back to life after I DIED. Is that what they mean? I think Obama is making sense. But then again, that is only my opinion. Don’t you know who I am? My opinion matters. Let me know if yours does too by writing in and explaining why.
Your opinions to ---- above
Just click on the title bar above should you feel motivated enough to reply to some of this gack
Ta- Rah
Posted :: Saturday 8/15/2009 6:43:00 AM
