Today, Thursday, was the Deckhand’s Birthday. 23 years old. Where does the time go? I offered to pay for a meal out, however after last year’s mediocre fayre, and the cost of eating out, he decided we’d stay home. He chose the menu: ribs in BBQ sauce, jerk chicken, coconut rice, and grilled pineapple (made even sweeter as it was free - the checkout man couldn't put it through the till, no matter how many times he tried, so he just gave it to me. Nice!) followed by chocolate brownie gateau (I made half a cake as it uses a lot of chocolate and there’s only so much cake even I can stand). Accompanied with a glass (or two) of prosecco. A feast indeed. It took me hours to make whilst he languished all day at uni, but it was worth the effort and he was pleased with his birthday meal.

His Dad sent a birthday email, pointed out the blindingly obvious that he doesn’t have our address blah blah blah. He further went on to say that they’ll probably leave Canberra soon as it’s boring there and too cold in winter. He hasn’t changed, not one bit. They travelled a fair bit of Oz before deciding to settle and buy property in Tasmania. That was too quiet. They moved somewhere else, can’t remember where, then he got a job in Canberra, so they moved there, now he plans to move again. The grass is always greener somewhere else as far as he’s concerned, and he’s never satisfied or happy. I do sometimes wonder how long his new wife will tolerate his itchy feet and wanderlust.

Last month, after an error with the meter readings, I received a gas bill for over £1300. I made a complaint, and after much time on the phone, it was sorted out. When you have a ‘smart’ meter, they fail to tell you that if you change provider, then you have to take the readings yourself. So, not so smart after all. Due to misinformation provided by the agent for the house, the wrong readings had been provided. It was supposedly sorted out, and I don’t owe that money, however today I had another bill, stating that I owe over £1300. I’ve sent them a vert curt complaint notice as it’s now getting ridiculous. Honestly, I’d switch, but they’re all as bad as each other and all are totally cr4p since they were privatised.

Next week I should have had my appointment for my cataract but lo and behold, it was cancelled. What a shocker! I sent another letter to them but so far, I’ve not heard from them. I’m now looking at the end of July for a condition that was reported back in January. The wait time is disgusting!

Today we went to the polls to vote in the EU elections. If May had done her job and stuck by her protestations that ‘Brexit means Brexit’ then the UK could have saved a lot of money. No matter what your political views, the fact that the government has failed to implement the results of a referendum should be a concern for anyone who believes in a democracy and that’s all I’ll say on the matter. I’ll pop out tomorrow and get a newspaper as I’m hoping that both Labour and the Conservatives will have been well and truly thrashed.

The weather has been lovely these past two days. Not too hot. Not too sunny, and a lovely fresh breeze. Perfect for drying washing on the rigging. Sleep has been mostly good; a few ‘bad’ nights but mostly good and some nights I sleep like the dead. This morning I was well away when the alarm woke me, darn it! I only need to set it 2 days a week (taxi for my son) but it would be one of those days that I’m dead to the world and have to get up. Oh well.

Oh, I had a haircut recently. Not sure if it's my second one this year already. I went to a different hairdresser as although I was initially happy with the previous one, I did have to cut some hair myself as it didn't 'match' hair length on the other side. The new hairdresser did a wonderful job. I've had an inch and a half off the length and she put in some more layers to give it body and to make it feel lighter. I have fine hair which looks 'flat' however there's lots of it and it can feel heavy. Love the new style.

It’s bank holiday weekend here in the UK with rain forecast from Sunday for a few days. Typical. How does it know? LMAO.

Enjoy what’s left of the week and have a good weekend.