We’ve been keeping busy

Life is certainly busy when you are retired.  In between dealing with my sore throat, it’s almost better, thank goodness, we had a few things to do.  First we had our second Covid booster shot.  With an appointment booking system, it was very quick, call in to the provider, register, answer a few questions, go and get the jab, then sit and wait for the required 15 minutes to make sure there were no complications.  And we never felt the needle at all, the practitioner was so gentle.

Covid booster reception

On the way home we went to collect some free range eggs, and look, the chickens were out having a grand old time, pecking about in the paddocks and basking in the wintery sunshine.  It’s always so nice to see the birds out enjoying the fresh air, and double yolk eggs were available,  so that was a bonus.

At the Big Egg Company

We had to miss the weekend caravan club rally because our caravan was out of action.  We had a mild altercation with a car in February, and damaged one of the lower side panels.  Yes, it’s taken a while to get the repairs started, first there was the new panel to order and get sent down from the factory, and the insurance claim to get approved.  And our preferred repairer is very busy indeed, especially when Covid swept through the work force, but finally there was a slot found for us.  Here is our caravan at Marty’s Panel and Paint with the lower panel removed – seems there may be a minor leak or two to check out as well, the extra work will have to be at our cost, but it must be rectified.

IN the workshop

As we weren't going away for the weekend after all, I decided to treat the pair of us to a “Lunch and Movie Date”.  Off we went to the local Cinema for an early lunch.  Robin chose a pork belly and mushroom pizza and I had soup of the day, with a nice coffee each, of course.

Lunch before the movie

The new Elvis film was showing, and I could hardly wait to see it.   The story was told in the words of Col Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks.  What a schemer he was, and a serial gambler, always looking after himself first, and with a contract taking 50% of Elvis’s earnings, he was doing very nicely for himself indeed.  As it turned out, he wasn’t a colonel, he was using a fictitious name, in fact he was an illegal immigrant to the USA.  The young actor, Austin Butler playing Elvis, was superb, and must have spent a huge amount of time perfecting the voice, the actions, and those wiggles.  The theater was packed full of grey haired patrons, and with so many strangers in close proximity we both decided to keep our masks on the entire time.  That didn’t matter, I could sigh over those wiggles and the songs behind my mask  to my heart’s content.   What a film, from the young Elvis growing up with black neighbours and being exposed to Gospel music, his first record with Sun, and the effect he had on the young girls when he first started appearing on stage.  “Forbidden fruit”, Col Parker supposedly said, and he wanted his share of the phenomenon.

As I’m sure you can guess, I’m a real Elvis fan (Robin not so much) and can remember back in the 50s when he burst onto the scene.  My girlfriend had older brothers who purchased new records each week, so we listened to the songs too.  Once I heard “Love me Tender” I was smitten. I can certainly recommend this film for any other Elvis fans out there.