​Our trip overseas started in Barcelona, Spain two weeks ago. We were there to attend the wedding of the son of friends of ours from Melbourne. The bride - originally from Mexico, and groom are currently based in Munich, Germany and decided to have have a destination wedding in Barcelona. It was a lovely occasion and took place in a beautiful function centre located on the Mediterranean coast just south of Barcelona. 

From Barcelona, we flew to Edinburgh for the start of our Scottish trip. We met up with friends from Canada and took in the sights - Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the Royal Yacht Britannia, Rosslyn Chapel and many others. In the following days, we drove through the Cairngorms to Inverness and the Culloden battle field, Ullapool, Invergarry and are currently in Stirling. The scenery and sights along the way have been great - highlands, lochs and castles. Attached is a photo of Janet and our friend Linda at the Eilean Donan Castle near Skye. 

Today, we end our visit to Scotland and fly to Dublin, Ireland. We plan to be there for a few days before heading off into the Irish countryside and take in the sights for a week or so before heading back home to Melbourne. We will be back in time for the Grand Final and look forward to seeing you then. 

​We are now in Adare just south of Limerick on the west side of Ireland.  We have seen some great sights - Cliffs of Moher, Dingle and the stunning Dingle Peninsula. Our trip is coming to a rapid end and we will be heading home next Monday. 

Bruce and I headed off to Geelong with Bruce driving Julie's car Hyundai i30 hatchback . As we were heading out the door I asked Bruce did he want to take the spare car key for my car . "No - he didn't need it " was his reply . ( woman's intuition note )
We had a full day planned with catching up with relatives - starting off with am tea with elderly aunt and uncle  at Belmont , lunch in Ocean Grove with Bruce's  brother Mark And wife Lucy; afternoon tea with Gloria - in Barwon heads and back to Geelong to see our niece Sadie star in school play of Alice in Wonderland .
Day is planned and Bruce drops me off at Belmont and says that he won't come in yet as he wants to check on his now finished build at Geelong .  I jump out of the car, and it starts bipping which I ignore and Bruce drives off back into Geelong.
Half an hour later , Bruce appears back. How was everything at work everyone asks ?
"Don't know replies" Bruce . " I couldn't  get out of the car. I parked the car and before I turned the engine off went looking for the keys - and realised they were in Julie's handbag and that if I turned the engine off , I wouldn't be able to drive back and get Julie .  All I could do was drive around the block and look at it from afar and drive back to  Belmont for Julie ."
This caused a lot of laughter and mirth amongst us all . Poor Bruce was unable to check out the build that day - and perhaps he wasn't meant to .
Moral of story
Check your car and are you able to drive off without keys??🚗🏎🚙🔑🗝🔑🔑🔑🗝🗝🗝😉😂😉😂

Reporter: Kev O'Mara

We recently joined Marg and Dave on another English adventure to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversaries.
They had spent some time up north before we arrived. After picking up a car with a non functioning Sat Nav, we had a lovely week in Cornwall.
We then proceeded to cross the country for another week in Canterbury. Marg had sussed out a beautiful, old terrace, 2 minutes walk from the city, with a car parking space!
They're worth their weight in gold in Canterbury. The quaint, old residence, apart from the steepest staircase in the universe to get to bedrooms also had an outdoor, wood fired BBQ.
Well of course Dave's eyes lit up when spying this. I was not confident, given the proximity to the city and the doubtful existence of a suitable supply of the appropriate combustible material.
However, upon reading the welcoming literature from the owner, we were informed that it was there to be used. A container down the back had a bag of dubious fire making 'compressed something' that was supposed to do the trick. So, we purchased the appropriate red meat and set about trying to light the fire to have an Aussie Barbie in 'old enemy' territory.
With limited paper and the 'compressed something' being not willing to catch fire, we had to admit defeat and the meat was cooked indoors, that evening.
However, Dave would not give up on his dream of an English BBQ. Firelighters would be the answer, and so they were duly purchased with more meat and the quest was begun again.
The 'compressed something' was encased with firelighters and the match was struck. Again the recalcitrant material refused to catch alight and it looked as if our hopes might be dashed.

​Dave, however, was not giving up without a fight. After scouring the property, he discovered some dead branches in the old 'dunny' lane at the back. These were broken up,
added to the smouldering excuse for a fire, and presto, we had flame! After gentle tendering the flames became a small fire and soon our steaks were paced on the grill.
The precious 'cargo' was dutifully looked after on our pommie barbie and we went inside to sample Dave's first go at the Aussie tradition in this ancient land.
The result was absolutely magnificent. Medium/rare to perfection!!

At this point, I was duty bound to bestow royal title on the man who had overcome such adversity. I give you:
Dave, King of the English BBQ.

Your correspondent from over there
Kev O'Mara