Damocles909

I left home one day, asked the neighbour to hold my mail, and drove off for a week. It was great. I went around the North Island of New Zealand in my restored 1973 Mini visiting anywhere that interested me – mostly battle sites and food places. I wandered around Hastings eating an icecream when it was 2 degrees because I HAD to visit the icecream factory. I climbed on top of hills where villages had been centuries before. And I sat in random accommodation planning my next day every night. I came back home and there’d been a storm that whole week and I’d missed it – power outages, falling trees, floods. I picked up a branch from the lawn and picked up my regular life where I left off.

The only problem is I used to live by myself and so I could entertain people whenever I wanted – then I had to move out and now I live with 3 others. There’s nothing that kills intellectual conversation quite like someone switching on America’s Next Top Model.

Making from scratch is so much better than box mix and it only takes a few seconds longer. It is one of those things where practice helps, so don’t worry if your first ones don’t turn out quite right. And remember, taste is more important than looks, so don’t worry if your frosting is a bit wobbly (I hardly ever frost my cakes anyway)