wordless wednesday : happy days
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Winter
There is something delightful about Sydney in winter
The days are clear
The air is cold and crisp
But you can still take a trip to the beach and have a wonderful time
Winter school holidays can be long - thankfully my forward planning with a mix of holiday camps, a day out at one of our local beaches and some beautiful weather has kept busy little beavers happy!
Hope life is blissful wherever you are ...
M&M World comes to England
When I heard that M&M World had opened in Leicester Square, I just had to stop by! I usually have to rely on my trips to the US to stock up on M&M's in a variety of colours from their twenty two different ones. I love using them for the roofs on my gingerbread bird houses and filling candy jars with them to co-ordinate with my candy tables. Now I can get them in all twenty two colours within a short trip after work!
M&M world opened it's first store in 1997 in Las Vegas, in 2005 in Orlando, Florida and a year later in 2006 they opened one at Times Square, New York. On Monday 13th June 2011, M&M's World store in London officially opened to the public, in Leicester Square. It is the world's largest candy store, at 35,000 sq ft, bigger even than the store in New York City. It sells a variety of M&M merchandise from clothing and sporting goods to home wares, stationery and toys. The London store is decked out with a London red bus, giant M&M's dressed up as knights and guards and, of course, lots and lots of M&M's!
A spoonful of something
With a blocked head, runny nose and voice like a rasp, I ducked out from work to buy a box of Codral. I haven’t bought Codral in years, but it occurred to me that if I was going to do the socially expected thing and ‘punch through’ this cold and infect the entire office in the process, I may as well be comfortable while I’m doing it.
After the Pharmacist and I got through the multitude of questions that all purchases require these days (Name or generic brand? Small or large box? Day and night or just day or night?) he said, “What photo ID have you got?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You need photo ID with your address on it to buy Codral in Australia,” he explained. “It contains xezqxreanolex.*”
I don’t know why it bothered me as much as it did. Well, I didn’t actually have any ID with me – so that’s a start – and my head was pounding like a mutha so I will say I was not my (ordinarily very nice but sometimes really not) self at the time. I may or may not have muttered something about Australia becoming governed by Mary Poppins and something else about whether the Pharmacist was happy being Door Bitch and stomped out of the pharmacy. I can assure you that knocking over the toothpaste stand by the front door was entirely unintentional and very inconvenient as it meant I had to help the Pharmacist slash Door Bitch pick up all the cartons.
“It’s a dangerous drug if not taken correctly,” he murmured, avoiding eye contact.
“Yes, I understand that. I’m sorry about the toothpaste.”
“I’m sorry you don’t have ID,” he returned, generously.
What it all boils down to for me (and I write this through the fog of my unmedicated head cold so I absolutely reserve the right to retract the lot), is that I’m really just a little bit tired of all the rules we have in our fair country. I’ve travelled the world extensively and I can say with certainty that I never came across a country that had as little faith in its people as Australia. We are so babied here that it makes me want to chuck a tanty in aisle five.
We seem to assume the worst in people and govern for the lowest possible denominator. It’s almost like as a country we are trying to actively raze to the ground all trace of common sense and build a rule on top of it. Rule after rule after rule is being made and accepted and we aren't asking for so much as a spoonful of sugar to help them go down.
Teachers can't give children a hug in the playground when they skin their knee. You can't buy firecrackers. A speed camera is standing by just waiting to catch you paying more attention to the traffic around you than your speedometre. It's not your choice to wear a seat belt to save your own life. Forget the wind in your hair, you'll get fined if you don't wear a helmet when you ride your bike (I would say 'why not make us wear helmets in cars?' but I am scared it will happen). They'll fine you for swearing in Victoria. We're even fined if we don't vote for the right to exercise our democratic right to freedom of speech.
I’m not sorry I didn’t think to take ID to the Pharmacy to buy medication for the common cold. I’m just sorry that I was supposed to.
Do you agree the Australia babies its citizens?
If you’re not from around here, how’s the ratio of rules in country?
What rule does your society have that irks you the most?**
* Or maybe it was Phenylephrine.
** Mine is not this. I’ll save my erkiest Aussie rule for another post!
[Image found here]
A Special Person
You know when you meet those special people! Those heart of gold, look on the brighter side of life, support you know matter what, I'm there 'til the end type of people! I believe good friends are hard to find these days. There is so much drama, competition and bitchiness that goes on between girlfriends that honestly is just to much negativity for my liking. I keep my distance. My favourite quote is " I try to surround my self with beautiful positive people and if anyone brings negativity into my life I slowly distance myself. I don't make a drama of it, I just drift. I like it this way! I know I have true friends. And if your arround, you know you are special!
Every now and then you find a rare rose between all the negative thorns. The rose that shines so brightly you have to just smile and be thankful for the day. This 'rose' in my life has been around for many years but a tight friendship was never formed! We worked together many moons ago and lost touch after we both moved on to different places. Then my favourite place "facebook" brought us together! It's amazing how much of a tight bond can be made through an electrical wire. I have never met someone with such beauty and love for everyone in her life. No matter who you are or what you have done she is there supporting you and praising you with the most heartfelt words. Her positive outlook on life and her passion for her friends is just so infectious! Yes that's the best way to describe her! Passionate and Infectious! Her partner, her beautiful son, her family and her friends are her passion in life! She has a spark, a funk, that presence that you just want to soak up and live with forever! Life is always bright, life is always happy! She's not afraid to be honest and admits to when she is scared but immediately turns it all upside down and looks at every situation in a positive way. Every day I find myself smiling because of her. She gives me hope every day and reminds me that life is ok! Life is beautiful! Life is fun! Life is crazy! What amazing gift she has...just by being herself!
No words of mine could ever explain how much I respect, love and cherish this beautiful lady! I know I can speak for the both of us when I say that my sister and I are so truly lucky and extremely blessed to have this beautiful soul in our lives! She is always pushing us, encouraging us and loving us every single day! I am so grateful for her friendship and I hope she knows what a beautiful person she is!
Krystal Finch ~ Thank You for being YOU ~ Never Change
Thank You for being my Rose
x S.K.K x
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