PASSIONFRUIT PASSION

Why is it that the humble Passionfruit vine seems to bring out the worst in people.

I planted a passionfruit next to my back fence and everytime a small piece of vine entered my neighbour's side of the fence, it was immediately snipped off.

My daughter had an ugly garden patch which was full of  ferns and a wild growing vine that was very hard to get rid of. Being a lover of  freshly grown passionfruit she planted a vine and it flourished and bore many fruit. That is until her 'lovely', elderly neighbour decided she didn't like it entering her side of the fence and banished the vine, leaving half of it dead and wasting many passionfruit.

My daughter trimmed all the vine to keep her happy, until this week, when she came home and found her garbage bin lid open and the passionfruit she was nurturing for our Christmas fruit salad all in the bin.

Unfortunately my daughter is not the type of person who would confront this person as she is too kind and gentle and didn't deserve this. She has now pulled the vine out and is leaving the garden to go back to it's original eyesore. She enjoyed looking at the lovely green foliage from her kitchen window and looked forward to sharing the fruit.

Winter Warmth

Recently I finally made time to clean out my walk-in linen cupboard. Alot of old sheets, including flannelette ones that hadn't been used for years, having been replaced by the electric blanket, were sent off to Vinnies.

Next day out shopping I came across new fitted sheets 'thermal flannel' which the shop assistant assured me were great, and with the added bonus of $39 for queen size, I could not resist.

These sheets have been a real winner, the electric blanket became redundant and the warmth has been unbelievable.

Every now and again you come across a new product that makes life easier, more comfortable and at a low cost, this one ticks all the boxes and is highly recommended.

WHERE IS MY PEN?

Working in retail, it is becoming more and more difficult dealing with the public, it seems some people are becoming less practical, less caring and less considerate.

Alot of people are time poor and use the telephone to do their walking, but when they call back they have no idea who they had been talking to. Surely it is commonsense to make a note of the salesperson's name so there is no time lost at either end of the call.

Also, if you call to enquire about a person's name and phone number, wouldn't you first have pen and paper ready. It seems not, the majority say "hold on until I find a pen."

Even though there are clearly signs stating "no eating in the store", more and more people are eating pastries out of paper bags from the bakery next door. The worst was a lady trying to talk and chomping loudly on a carrot! Today a lady came into the store holding a glass of coke, right on closing time and began to shop.

Where have our manners gone and our consideration for others.

Oh, I nearly forgot the long, loud conversations on the mobile phone - often in a foreign language!