Nonstop Pia...

A Happy Birthday to Pia today! (and Deshley and Spot too)


(and thanks to the Sloganizer for that little catchphrase)

We had a good day. It all started with me making her pancakes in the morning - and they actually worked, for a change! - and giving her the present I'd brought her back from Sydney (a strong of those flower party lights and some pretty blue earrings). Good choices, which met with her approval.

As the last Saturday of the month, it was market day, so we'd made plans to go into town and then have lunch with some friends to celebrate the big birthday. I borrowed the school car and we set off about 10am - the 2 of us plus Rosie, another teacher - to go into town for the Ela Beach craft market, where we wandered happily around til it closed at 11.30. It's a real expat hangout, and all morning I was constantly running into people I knew - it's nice to feel connected and to realise there really is a whole community out there, as well as the M'ville community, that I'm a part of (even if its just a small part). We all got some shells, and I bought a gorgeous drawing of a Hiri Queen that I'd been admiring for months - very happy about that!

Then we had an hour to kill before we were due to meet up with another friend for lunch, so we wandered around the Plaza (sounds a lot more upmarket than it is!) and a second-hand clothes shop downtown before heading off to the Ela Beach Hotel. Lunch was delicious - I know where to take Em for her mussel fix when she comes now! - and fun. It's pretty rare that Pia and I eat out together so it was a nice birthday celebration.

Then there was just time for another second-hand clothes barn (2 pairs of trousers, 3 shirts and a skirt all for the princely sum of K11.90!) and the supermarket before we trawled home again, ready for a huge glass of water and a long afternoon kip.

A good day all round, and a good celebration day for Pia.