Mikeatmainbeach

   Yesterday I had my covid shot!  All good at this stage.     Fingers very firmly crossed!   The doctor was very thorough beforehand. Blood pressure check...twice...temperature check...twice.. stethoscope sounding chest, back and heart. Its when the doctor was filling out all the forms  on the lap top she asked “Do you still want to go ahead with it?” Have to admit I was concerned but went ahead...  There was something I didn’t really think about as I have had a bad experience with codeine I ticked that box; there was a concern of an anaphylactic shock. Pleased I did as they asked me to wait longer for half an hour after the shot instead of the usual 15 minutes to see if there were any after effects. So I had the shot and wore an “attractive trendy paper bracelet”,  as the nurse called it while I waited for the appropriate time to pass. There wasn’t any reaction!  Trendy bracelet removed I made my way home.   I had instructions to call an ambulance immediately if not

  A game I like to play when having coffee along the rich strip where I live (not me...I add...rich that is!)  on Queensland's Gold Coast is to “size people up”. Surreptitiously  glancing from one customer to the next as I sit sipping my morning brew.   The reason I mention this today is this morning there was an expensive car parked just opposite.  A very pleasant blue Bentley Bentayga four wheel drive,  with a starting price of around five hundred thousand dollars, then there’s $$$ options. There’s always options!   There are so many great cars around here I guess I get used to seeing them after a while watching the  “average price of a house on wheels” driving by.  Lamborghinis, Ferraris, McLaren's Maserati's in an assortment of colours designs and personal number plates.   The personal number plate MADAM LASH on a nice looking car... always makes me wonder, also smile, what that lady driver does! That’s another story for another day I guess :) !   Whe

  Bi Coastal...   As I remember Peter  (They still call Australia home)  Allen used to say...he’s Bi-Coastal! L. A. and New York...Guess that’s me also not Los Angeles and New York exactly but bi-coastal meaning the north and south coasts of Brisbane.   I now live on the Gold Coast of Queensland but used to live two hours north on the Sunshine Coast and still have connections there hence the bi-coastal bit!   Both are equally attractive. Beautiful beaches and a busy cafe culture, restaurants and night life. Maybe more the Gold Coast for night life..if that’s what appeals.. but are both equally attractive.   When I lived on the Sunshine Coast my latest house was beachfront and I mean beach frontage. Just a brief walk out the back gate and on the beach. It was wonderful of course but always at the back of my mind come cyclone season was exactly that...cyclones! The last one was in the early 1980’s and a long time ago but locals always said it will happen again...oh it

 Hands up if you’re like me and you hear a favourite song from the past played on the radio and you’re instantly transported back in time. Back to a time that may have had a happy memory or even a sad one. You can remember the surroundings, what you were doing, where you were and who you were with at the time. It all comes flooding magically back.   Then if like myself you also wonder...is that person singing the song still alive..or how old are they?  A You Tube search shows they are still alive! That’s a relief I think after so many years, or even more of a shock that they may have been dead for many more!   Numerous have fallen by the wayside and never heard of again or let themselves go and come to a sad and unknown end as they and their star quality faded into obscurity; we continue to search all the same. Through YouTube we click and continue....one link following the next as we go from one old song, one old singer, to the next. Re-living them in our often childhoo

A day in the life :)   Just the other day I had my annual visit to my specialist for a check..a urologist..but before that in the morning I had to have a scan. I always get so nervous with anything medical. I know it’s silly and there are plenty of people much worse off than I who are actually ill. I have good health and count my blessings for that.   As I was saying before I interrupted myself..so arriving for the said scan..early of course..always early.  My mother used to say she would be early for her own funeral...guess it must run in the family...hopefully not a funeral for me but I am always early or I try to be for any appointment.   So with the scan I had to drink one litre of water...and hold...mustn't forget the ..”and hold” as it states on the form. So I did this and I was ready. The young lady who greeted me with a smile stated she was a student. I lay on the table..loosened belt and trousers...cold jelly applied... apology stated from the said young

Just a quickie...   I heard a funny thing yesterday...actually it was a phone in caller on the local radio. I do hope this is not in bad taste repeating it here but it made me laugh at the time as well as the people on the radio so here goes...   This lady recently went to a funeral...which is so often a sad affair anyway. The person whose funeral it was had a favourite TV show  MASH and that was the music he wanted played at his funeral...the theme tune from MASH!   (I know but we can all have strange tastes when it come to music...especially what we want played at our funeral I guess.)   Anyway...the funeral was in progress everything was said and it was time for the music to be played. The lady who phoned the story in said she was standing at the back of the room in tears; as is often the case when someone dies, when suddenly, as the music began, the coffin jumped...everyone looked in confused amazement at each other. It jumped again and then slowly sank...as they

  A dream or a nightmare!   Just last night I had this strange and vivid dream. There were people that I have never seen before and they were so frighteningly real. They removed a fence from a previous house I owned and I threatened to call the police on them if it wasn’t replaced. “I mean”...I said to them. “There’s a swimming pool there...children could fall in without a fence!” Why on earth would I possibly dream of such a bizarre thing as someone removing a fence. It means nothing to me...nothing at all.   I have often tried to call out in past dreams and there is nothing there...no voice..just a guttural groan. I wake myself up and remember. What does that mean?   Running up stairs with someone following...just able to close then door in time before they can reach me is another one! That goes back to a time where I grew up and lived in a block of flats three floors up.   You know what amazes me most is the detail in dreams. I dream in colours some dream in just

Ahh if we could only time travel....  If you could experience another time period what would you choose? Me...Egyptian times have always had a great appeal. I would dearly love to be in ancient Egypt as an onlooker. It has always fascinated me. Just to be able to see everything. To know everything. There are so many puzzles yet to be explained...the Kings and Queens of ancient civilizations. The myths and the legends that have been passed down through the many ages.  The pages of history  that were yet to be written. Blank pages to be filled with truth and facts not rumour and innuendo as we know now. Of lives yet to be lived and legends born.   We can only guess how these large structures were built, the pyramids, the sphinx and the great marble palaces. How did they build so perfectly that even today engineers would have trouble building such things.  The pyramids with their precise and detailed measurements that align with star formations. How do pyramids align with the

Sitting in the doctors waiting room...what do YOU do?   If there’s no paper or magazines to read and in these days of the Covid virus usually there isn’t mostly everyone, that has one, is usually looking at their phones. Everyone has a phone these days...although I know one person that doesn’t! Only one. How could you possibly manage without one I have no idea!   So I check my phone...low battery...mmmm not good. Mental note to put on charge as soon as I’m home. So on to the next...I usually just pick a word...any word from the around the desk, to the wall and just see how many word combinations I can make.  A sure way to pass some time.   It’s always so quiet..the TV flickering in the distance. The sound usually off or very soft and just able to read the sub titles that quickly change below the picture.   Everyone glances up as a new patient arrives through the door as they look, often nervously around, to see if there is anyone they may know.   We sit there wonde

  The day of the tribal coffee shop...   Do you have a favourite coffee shop? I think we are almost tribal  as we gather for our often daily coffee tipple   Usually we see the same faces every time. We maybe smile in acknowledgement without really knowing any or many of them often not stopping to talk as they have their own “tribe” of friends to sit with and gather information and news of the day.   When a stranger approaches people often look up..do we know you..oh heaven forbid a stranger approaches. The said strangers sit unsure of what to do, to order at the counter or wait to be seated, or just sit and see what happens.   When you become “a regular” as it were the owner..Hi Jenna/ Kelli working away in the kitchen..always knows your name and a smile often stopping for a chat if they have time. Everyone likes to be acknowledged and to feel as if they are at least known. Almost like to be one of a family...a need to belong maybe.   Apart from knowing your name th

  Just the other day I wrote a letter to an old address, to who ever is living there now, with memories of the place where I grew up. Most likely I will never send it but for some reason, I don’t know why, I wanted to do it and it started me thinking.....   I have often wondered when we leave a house we have lived in for many years...do we leave a part of us behind in that property?   Just recently I have been looking at maps on line of where I grew up on the other side of the world in London. The streets, roads and avenues have housed generation after generation of families. Each with their very own stories..challenges and triumphs. The many happy memories and the many sad times. The births deaths and marriages have come and gone in those many houses, flats and tiny bed sits over the years.   The roads with such familiar names to so many families have no idea who previously lived at that address and it’s history. People and shops come and go but street names remain t