A series of unexpected events

Two of my oldest and dearest friends planned a visit to Sydney via Auckland at the end of March. I was very excited about seeing them again after over a year. I booked a nice restaurant and planned to do some serious retail therapy with them. The week before they were scheduled to arrive, I got an email to say one of the friends had to be taken into hospital by ambulance. This friend ended up staying in hospital for over a week (had to miss her flight to Sydney) and was ordered not to fly for over a month!

Luckily I still got to meet the other friend. She and her husband made a huge effort of coming to see us at home. I was busy all day cleaning up and getting dinner ready. I made a Vietnamese noodle salad (with meat wrapped in betal leaves-usually quite popular). I also bought a few interesting-sounding things to supplement the meal (didn't "banana blossoms with pine nuts" sound delicious?) I'm sorry to say but the dinner was a disaster. Everything tasted dry and funny. It would be so much easier, less time-consuming (and tastier) if I just got take-out at the local fish'n chips shop!

This same friend also got tickets to see Celine Dion with her parents who came to Sydney for the first time for the concert. I got a call from her after the concert to say that the concert was cancelled! (Ms Dion not feeling well) The organiser didn't even bother to call her (just an email to let her know concert was cancelled). Luckily she happened to check her emails!

Sometimes things just didn't go as planned. Life's full of surprises, isn't it?