I was visiting my good friend a couple of weeks ago and over a delicious meal of Dahl, we got to talking about travel and all the places we want to go before we depart this mortal coil.

Part of that conversation lead to us reminiscing about the places we had been and very quickly I was telling her all about my OE to Paris when I was 22 and in particular, the bit about how on the very first day I had every last drop of my insulin stolen from the backpackers where were were staying (see the picture of our balcony inset with Montmartre peaking out in the background).

The story of that is for another post maybe…

Continue reading »


Eyjafjallajokull. (Yes, I copied and pasted this from a news article). I can’t spell it, let alone pronounce it. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last week, this is the Icelandic volcano which has caused most of European travel to come to a standstill. And it’s still going.

I’ve got a few friends who’ve been personally affected. One very good, London-based friend has been counting the sleeps for her two week NZ holiday for absolute months now. She was due to fly out to NZ last Friday. The airways in the UK were shut late Thursday. At this point she has been told she must wait til 3 May to possibly get another flight. She was due…

Continue reading »


I’ve just returned from five glorious, sun-soaked days in Hahei (ahhhh, this country is so beautiful – overseas readers it’s really time you visited!).

Since going down to one income in the household, I’ve re-assessed all the expenses in my life, and one of them is insulin pump insertion sets. I used to use more ‘luxurious’ ones (if you can describe something you have to inject yourself with every three days as luxurious) but they came at a hefty price tag of $19 each. $19 every three days does not a budget make. I’ve now gone for some more rudimentary, budget ones which are $11 a piece. These ones are bare bones only – steel needle, no insertion device, and…

Continue reading »


We had a fantastic trip to Melbourne, thank you very much…. to think that’s our last child free holiday in a long while…. not sure how long it will take me to get up the nerve to get on a plane with a little one – I was observing people wandering aimlessly up and down the aisles trying to calm their kiddies down while I luxuriated and watched a couple of movies – the last hurrah!

We had a really great holiday which was a mixture of busy and relaxed. The busy days were the first two, where we marched through the city like we were on a mission – shopping, going to galleries, getting trams and trains and walking…

Continue reading »


There are certain situations and places where you need to be as together as possible. One of those is at the airport. Another is the bank.

So, probably not a good idea today then for me to finish up a meeting, blunder outside, take blood sugar, discover I’m at 2.6, eat a handful of glucose then walk straight into a Bureau de Change. I can’t help myself… Always trying to be as efficient as possible, me. My husband and I are off to visit friends in Melbourne tomorrow and need some Aussie dollars, so why wouldn’t I?

There are many answers to that question.

1. I could barely string a sentence together.
2. The lady behind the counter was…

Continue reading »