Dec 5 - New Neighbours

Milk & White Lindor Ball

“If my Valentine you won't be,
I'll hang myself on your Christmas tree.”
  - Ernest Hemingway, 88 Poems







  The radio in the office was up a little louder than normal today and for some reason the station was playing nothing but music I liked.  It was either bands I currently like, or bands of my teenage years.  As a result I found myself singing along for most of the day, sometimes absentmindedly and sometimes deliberately.  Mumford & Sons, Gotye, The Offspring, Screaming Jets, Tonic and many more.  I was probably singing rather more loudly than I usually would in a space full of people but no one seemed to mind and it helped the day pass quickly and pleasantly for me.
  I managed to get my invoices entered today, or at least as many as I could manage prior to the cut off this afternoon. There is still a lot to be done for a correct 'half-year end' but I've resigned myself to the fact that the deadlines are so stupidly short that I'm never going to achieve what I wish I could.  I shall just have to do what I can and be happy with that.
  I got out and about a fair bit today.  We had two retailers open their doors today, Rivers who had simply relocated and Temt who are new to the centre.  And no Granny and Mum, I didn't spell 'Tempt' wrong, they did.  One of my duties when new retailers open is to get them set up to accept our shopping centre-wide gift cards.  It's a simple process but it requires a visit to the shop and the delivery of a bit of a spiel promoting the benefits of belonging to the program.  I got Rivers out of the way and I shall manage Temt tomorrow.  The program is an easy sell around Christmas.
  I was glad to be heading home today, I'd had enough of invoices and purchase orders and I'm already dreading billing again.  I just can't seem to catch up on it.  I had a good run home.  I suspect that a lot of people are already on holidays.  Schools being finished for the holidays always seems to have a radically positive effect on the traffic.  When I got home there was a young man cleaning up the results of mowing the lawn of the house next-door that I share a wall with.
  I checked my mail box, went inside and dropped my things then went back outside to pull my green bin to the kerb.  The young man had reminded me that a) my lawns had been mown today by my lovely gardening folk and b) that it was green bin week and my bin would need putting out for Friday morning's collection.  I dragged it out and turned to go inside.  "Hello!" his voice called out and he introduced himself.
  It turns out I have new neighbours at long last!  A young couple, new to the area, he wanted to know when bin night was.  That of course led to all sorts of information on the neighbourhood.  What the Kebab Joint was like, what the area was like in general, my nocturnal Buffy watching habits.  We chatted a while and his partner came out after a few minutes so I got to meet her too.  They both seemed really friendly and I'm hoping I will have nice neighbours for a good long while.
   I made dinner in the AirFryer tonight.  It was turkey shanks and I wasn't quite sure how long to cook it for.  I have heard that turkey takes a notoriously long time and is a lot of trouble if you eat it undercooked so I looked at the maximum cooking time for chicken drumsticks and then added 50% to that.  I ate a couple of hours ago and so far so good.  I'm not sure what I thought of it as a meal.  The AirFryer kept the meat moist but it was still quick a strong and in places tough meat.  I have another one so presuming I'm not sick later, I shall have the second one tomorrow night.

  Today's food was:

• Breakfast was a warmed fruit and nut roll from Baker's Delight spread with 40g of Philadelphia Cream Cheese.
• Morning Snack was a yellow-flesh peach.
• Lunch was a Chia Mountain Bread wrap topped with one slice of Bega So Light Tasty cheese, 104g of double-smoked leg ham, baby cos lettuce and half a tomato.  I also had a yellow-flesh nectarine.
• Afternoon snack was a Pink Lady apple, cored and sliced.
• Afternoon snack the second was an iced watermelon green tea from Ten Ren's Tea, another new retailer at the shopping centre.
• Dinner was a roast turkey shank with 130g of wombok and noodle salad.
• Dessert was 20g Lindt 85% Cocoa dark chocolate.
• Today's advent calendar Lindor Ball was a milk chocolate shell with a smooth white chocolate filling.

  Well that is it, I am at long last caught up on blogs and it's only half past ten!  If I get ready for bed now I should manage a couple of hours of reading.  The thought fills me with glee.  I haven't enjoyed a series of books this much in quite some time.  It's bloody cold again tonight, my fingers are icy cold on the keyboard.  I suspect there may once more be a little heating involved to take the chill off my bedroom.
  Jess