When I was in Australia this year, I went to the swimming pool on a Saturday morning to do my laps. “There won’t be much space,” my friend informed me, at which I scoffed. Sure, for the hour or so after opening it can be pretty crowded, but then it’s pretty much clear sailing… or clear swimming as it were.
But she was right. The pool was PACKED. I struggled to park.
Continue readingOh… wait.
No, I think I got that wrong. Cause it’s Australia where we always worry about water… and hot weather… and bushfire potential.
But I have seen multiple warnings recently from communities in Austria, urging people to use less water because they are running out. Our local fire brigade issued an alert on smoking and fires in forested areas, again due to the drought and fire potential.
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In this blog I want to take you back some years. I’m going to take a stab and say we’re talking somewhere between 1987 and 1990. Back then life was pretty sweet for little Debbie. Between playing with friends, dancing, school and reading books, things were A-OK. That’s about the time I started dabbling in writing my own… books, I mean.
And what would become my most famous series (also the only one)? The Lucky Series. It all began with Lucky’s Adventure. What’s it about? Well, I’m glad you asked. It’s about a dog – a beagle-cum-labrador type – who goes on an adventure and is rewarded with… the classic kid’s wish… never-ending wishes.
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Despite not wanting to do weird hipster things like ordering Babycino for my kid… it had to happen at some point. Froth off coffee is fine, except the child does not need a caffeine hit. So eventually Sammy started requesting Milkschaum (which translates to milk foam).
I am aware of the concept of Babycinos from Australia. I am aware they cost money. So, the first time I went out with Sammy and bought him a babycino, I was interested to see what they charge in Austria.
It didn’t cost $1. It certainly didn’t cost $4 (as it has been reported in Australia). It cost nothing. Even though we didn’t order coffee (though we did order spritzers so it counts for something).
So enjoy your Babycinos, Sammy. Just not when we go back to Oz. lol.
What I might at home refer to as a ‘standard white bread roll’ is called a Semmel in Austria. There are different types/shapes depending on what state you live in. In our state, a Semmel is a round, thin roll, crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle. It’s what you put ham and cheese or marmalade on for breakfast, it’s what the Leberkäse sits between in a Leberkäse Semmel, and it’s what you get to eat alongside your Wurst. It’s really standard, everyday fare – much like the humble white bread roll.
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I’ve already summed up my top ten tips for making a long-haul flight half bearable. But here’s some more tips to encourage the time to fly… just like you are.
Continue readingMaybe I wasn’t paying attention in Australia… but every year in Austria it surprises me just how much growth there is from spring to summer. Hubby took some pics in our back garden… the first just after he cut the trees back, the second near the end of summer when everything was at its peak. Check them out!
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I have a lot of mixes on my dinosaur iPod, known as the iPod Classic. Still in daily use, with a battery change to boot, I have spent a lot of hours burning CDs (yes, kids, that’s what we did back then) and creating playlists.
Recently I was listening to my Classy Dance mix. Cause I was home alone with toddler one afternoon and it was time to get down! So… on went Classy Dance, with its 124 songs and more than 8 hours of goodness… yeah… some of that stuff ain’t that classy!
Here’s why:
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It was only going to be a quick trip… it was! Three weeks from start to finish which amounts to 2.5 when you take out the flight times. We didn’t want to put Sam through another long flight and jet lag, so the decision was made that I would go on my own.
I was excited. This was going to be my trip. This was going to cancel out all the disasters from last year’s trip – the snow, the Covid, the everything. I was organised, my excel sheet was planned out and it was going to be great!
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I just had four weeks off parenting… and it felt… decadent.
It was only meant to be three weeks, which in itself is more than a lot of parents can dream about. But then I came down with the flu upon arrival in Australia. So we decided to add a week to make up for the time I spent in bed.
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an aussie in austria 