The bells of the Angelus

I was sitting in my backyard praying before my beautiful Lourdes shrine, which is surrounded by greenery and flowers. It was a perfect day, sunny, quiet and serene.  It was about midday.  In the distance I heard the sound of bells ringing.  It was actually an ice-cream van coming down the street.  It was a perfect backdrop and gave the illusion of being at a Lourdes shrine in the French countryside and the Angelus bells ringing.

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A cappuccino culture shock

In Australia a cappuccino is a large cup of frothy milky coffee, which I am very fond of. I thought cappuccinos in Italy would be even better. On my first day in Italy I ordered a cappuccino at a café and I was brought a little white pot with a covering over it. That must be the milk I thought, then I waited for what seemed like an eternity for the coffee. Finally I lifted the cover of the little pot and it had strong black coffee in it. It was a real culture shock.

Why a business lost my business

I have already made a post on this blog about why some shops lost my business. Now I am going to tell you why a business lost my business.  I needed an eye test and due to circumstances beyond my control was forced to cancel the appointment three times, however I made sure that I let the optometrist shop know in advance. When I cancelled the third time (over the phone), I asked the girl to make me a new appointment.  She refused and delivered me a condensing lecture, then she told me to make an appointment on the morning that I needed the test. I was so upset with this unexpected rudeness and told her that I had not cancelled for trivial reasons. It made no difference to her. I did not want to go back there.  My health fund also runs a similar shop and I took my business there. The first shop has lost a lifelong customer and a considerable amount of money, because I will never bother with them again on account of this horrid employee. When I told the optometrist at the shop run by my health fund what had happened at the first shop, he was astounded at the rude way that they dealt with me.

A Super Easy Meal

Place a large chicken already basted and stuffed, (when purchased from the supermarket) into a large pan with a raised steel grill insert. Surround the chicken with large (rinsed) unpeeled potatoes, (the potatoes that are already clean when purchased from the supermarket). Cover with the lid and bake on 180 degrees Celsius until cooked. Serve with frozen peas cooked in the microwave and chicken gravy made up to packet instructions.

You can also add a cup or two of water.  This will help keep the food moist. This is especially useful if you are using smaller potatoes.  My daughter says that the food is nicer when the water is added.

More household hints here

An ecumenical boss

I once worked in an office in Sydney, where the staff were consisted mainly of Catholics and Jews.  The boss in my section was a member of the Anglican Church. He used to let the Catholics go to Mass in work hours at a nearby church on Holy Days of Obligation. The reason for this was that his little grandson was a Catholic and used to ask him why people were in different churches. This is hard to explain to a three year old. The boss had a great time telling this to the bank manager over the phone in these words, “I let Gilroy’s mob go to Mass”.  For those who are not familiar with this ‘Gilroy’s mob’ was the bosses’ way of describing the Catholics on his staff.  Cardinal Gilroy was the first Australian born cardinal.  At that time he was the Archbishop of Sydney.