The past couple of weeks have been very humdrum; we're locked into routine and are lacking excitement. It was this time last year that Marilyn was complaining about her winter blues and we had to book on a Pacific cruise to get a little hit of sun. This year, we have the same complaint but, luckily, we have an invitation to Madeleine's 18th birthday which will be held on the Gold Coast. We have a week booked at the Tiki Resort at Surfers Paradise and that should give a good dose of Vitamin D after the chills of Tasmania.

Since we retired, I've always had planning for a trip to keep me amused, but that's not the case at the moment. Apart from the birthday bash in September, we also have a cruise in March to celebrate our friend Robyn's birthday (she's considerably older than Madeleine!). Although these will both be fun, I need something with a bit more meat which will drive me to the Internet to puzzle out the options.

The big news from Tassie at the moment is the extraordinary show of the Aurora Australis which appears night after night. We haven't seen it from here (probably because we're not up at 2.30 in the morning!) but the images from southern Tasmania and Antarctica are mind-blowing.

I stumbled across a website (urlmetrics) which informs me that my blog is ranked 11593389 in the United States and worth an estimated $756.49. Anybody want to make an offer? I read this information with mixed feelings: yes, more than 11.5 million websites are ranked higher than mine but I did beat jandmfasteners.com which ranked 11593392 and was only worth $616.49.

I'm a bit glum today because I have a recurrence of the shingles attack which I suffered at Easter. Apparently, it's unusual to have another attack so soon but I've never been average. This weekend, Marilyn and I should be in Wollongong for our latest Nepal reunion but we are just too busy in Tasmania at the moment and couldn't get away. Perhaps it's just as well; I wouldn't be very good company with itchy and sore shingles driving me mad.