coffee

Chin wag

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I was looking ‘rough as guts’ after my morning session at the gym. It’s bad enough when you aren’t strong enough to put your ‘head in a pony’ but one glance in the mirror and I balked at the idea of heading back out. I ‘didn’t look like anything to write home about’ so wasn’t keen for a catch up over a coffee. The ladies are always so well groomed! Did I go? Betcha life I did. ‘Life’s too short’ and the weather was awesome. ‘Not too hot, not too cold, just right’! Better than hanging round at home.


So I’m headed down to the harbour with ‘a skip in my step’ and ‘happy as Larry’. I was about 20 minutes late but ‘better late than never’ as they say. When I ‘rocked up’ I was greeted with a sea of smiles. Now that really ‘blew me away’. I’m usually the first one there. It ‘never crossed my mind’ about what it looked like from the other side.


A cuppa coffee and a bit of a ‘chin wag’ and I soon forgot about my ‘manky’ hairdo. Instead I ‘squirmed in my seat’ ‘with my skin crawling’ as we spoke of escaped phythons, red belly black snakes, and funnel web spiders. All of these can be deadly and are Australian natives. I may be an Australian but spiders and snakes ‘really do my head in’.  


Well that’s my everyday adventure with a few sayings ‘thrown in just to mix it up a bit’.

  • Rough as guts – (Australian) Not well groomed. A bit rough looking
  • Head in a pony – Wear your hair in a ponytail
  • Didn’t look like anything to write home about – Nothing flash or noteworthy
  • Life’s too short – Life doesn’t last forever so enjoy it while you can
  • Not too hot, not too cold, just right – From Goldilocks and the 3 Bears fairy tale from 19th century England
  • Skip in your step – happy as I walk
  • Happy as Larry – (Australian) Happy – “Larry Foley, an undefeated Australian middleweight boxer in the 1890s” https://metro.co.uk
  • Better late than never – You eventually got there
  • Rocked up – Arrived 
  • Blew me away – Surprised / Impressed / Did not expect
  • Never crossed my mind – Didn’t think of it
  • Chin wag – friendly talk in a relaxed way
  • Manky – not great, rotten, dirty (in this sentence I mean it was not great)
  • Squirming in my seat – Feeling uncomfortable
  • With my skin crawling – Feeling frightened in an uncomfortable
  • Really do my head in – Can’t cope with the thought of it
  • Betcha life I did – Bet your life I did – I certainly did
  • Thrown in just to mix it up a bit – Added for some variety

Have your cake and eat it too

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Cake, it’s the perfect accompaniment for a great cup of coffee when your out and about. But you know what they say ‘you cant judge a book by its cover’. Not all coffee shops can ‘make the cut’. Their cakes and pastries look great in the display but how ripped off do you feel when you just used your lovely morning coffee to swill down that dry cardboard excuse for a cake.

Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

Choose your poison
Cake is my poison. It’s delectable. You can drink your wine. I choose cake. No need for a hangover you just have it with a nice roasted coffee, sit back and enjoy the world go by.  If you can’t get great cake though it’s important to have a standby.

Standby cake
Standby cake is cake we cake connoisseurs kick back  on. When you know the cakes ‘don’t fit the bill’ standby cake is the answer. Its reliable and dependable and more importantly, edible. Still ‘it’s nothing to write home about’.

Will you have cake with that coffee maam? Sell me your cake and I’ll grab a coffee. Cake, it’s no afterthought. I want to have my cake and eat it too!

Idiom/phrase meaning

  • You can’t have your cake and eat it too – can’t have everything your own way
  • Make thecut – meet an expected standard
  • You can’t judge a book by its cover – just cause it looks good doesn’t mean it will be any good
  • don’t fit the bill – dont meet with your expectations
  • Nothing to write home about – average middle of the road

#True story: Paying tribute – Family, friends and fond farewells

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Going to a funeral online is strange, very strange. But that is ‘the way things roll’ these days with the pandemic. I watched through 3 different cameras, and 3 different views. Each person sits on their ‘socially distanced’ chair. Facemasks are worn as an accessory to somber attire. But I’m looking from a distance, observing from afar. I’m embracing a stilted sadness but maybe that’s what I’m ‘bringing to the table’.

For me the heart of the event was not ‘lost in translation’ within this virtual world. The sadness lingers and translates in ‘pride of place’ speeches and photos heralding the life of someone much loved. They ‘pay tribute’. I feel like a flaneur, slowly considering each word and gesture of his family and friends from a virtual distance. I get to know his family, background, and accomplishments achieved. I’m watching slides and seeing my neighbour from a totally different perspective. It is special and precious.

I am honoured to have made this acquaintance. You see, knowing him at this level was outside my usual ‘frame of reference’. We were neighbours, sometimes chatting at the lift or grabbing a coffee with him and his wife. I had only picked up bits and pieces of their world. But one photo truly resonated with me and put a smile on my face. There he is with his takeout coffee sitting on his walking frame near our local cafe. I can see the exact spot in my mind.

Rest in peace.

Idiom/Phrase meaning

  • The way things roll – how thing are
  • Socially distanced – Guideline for keeping physically separated to reduce the spread of the virus
  • Bringing to the table – your contribution
  • not ‘Lost in translation’ – It was understood
  • Pride of place – treated as the most important thing
  • Paying tribute – honour and praise someone
  • Flaneur – People watching (French)
  • Frame of reference – set of ideas that you base your outlook on

#True Story – Just what the doctor ordered – Family, food, & friendly banter

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You don’t realise that you need a bit of family in your life until you don’t get to ‘hang out with’ them. I had been feeling a bit of a pariah with my mum of late. I ‘love her to death’ but she just won’t let me visit her. That bad cold she had three weeks ago just kept hanging around and around. I kinda twigged something wasn’t quite right. Things were ‘a bit out of kilter’. So a couple of days ago I called again hoping to catch up. The bad cold was a bit better now she says but don’t come over. Then she ‘drops a bombshell’. Well probably in retrospect I should have figured it out. She shared that she didn’t want me around in case she catches something. I get it. I understand. This damned pandemic is a scary thing and the truth is she’s ‘no spring chicken’.  Truth is I miss not seeing my family in these strange days. I was a bit glum about the whole thing until today I got ‘the fix’ that I needed.

My mother-in-law is an excellent cook and host. We were invited for Sunday lunch with a couple of the uncles and aunts. We shared stories around the table of what cousin so and so did, or what scam we had almost gotten conned by lately. Friendly banter went around that table ‘like clockwork’. It was so interesting hearing about those that have come before us and the antics they had gotten up to.

Catching up for Sunday lunch with my mother-in-law was ‘just what the doctor ordered’!

Idiom/Phrase meaning

  • Hang out with – spend time with someone
  • Love her to death – love her very much
  • Kinda – kind of, a bit like
  • A bit out of kilter – a bit askew, not quite right
  • Drops a bombshell – make an unexpected confession
  • No spring chicken – no longer  young, old
  • The fix – something desired or craved
  • Like clockwork – reliable
  • Just what the doctor ordered – helps you feel better