You're never too old to be surprised.

The Panda. Her brother and sister were asleep when I took the photo.  Sorry.

Not many things phase me.  I like to think I've seen it all.  But here are a few things that have caught my attention, and surprised me in the past few days.  Not all of them are good.  But all of them are interesting.  Well I think so.

1. This morning when I came out of the shower, there were three animals in my bed.  They were hiding under the covers and shrieking.  Their vocalisations bore no resemblance to their animal incarnation, in fact, two of them, a giraffe and a panda, to my knowledge, make no noise at all, or at least very quiet noises.

My panda and my giraffe were not quiet. At. All.

They were accompanied by a dinosaur.  Who didn't roar, but shrieked too.

Fearlessly I hunted all the animals out of my bed and told them to go and have breakfast.

2. When we were out to dinner with friends two weeks ago, the table behind us surprised us not once, but twice.  Firstly, when we noticed it had gone quiet all of a sudden, because every single one of them (10 I think) had repaired to the charming busy road footpath outside for a ciggy.

Haven't seen this for years.  Not the whole table.  And I've ducked out for a ciggy with the best of them.  Just not in the last decade.

But totally worse than that, because if they want to poison their respiratory system outside they can knock themselves out as far as I'm concerned, was this:

When the dessert came out, and these people were celebrating a birthday judging by the profiteroles with sparklers stuck in them that came past us, they started THROWING THEIR FOOD.

Yep.  I've put it in caps.  Because that's how gobsmacked we all were.  We think the profiteroles were frozen and not property defrosted.  Sure, they should have been fresh.  We all agree, i
f you're going to try to fake it with frozen desserts, at least defrost them properly before serving.

But none of this excuses food throwing.  By anyone over the age of 2.  Ever.  But some of these people did it.  Then they paid the bill and left, leaving squashed profiterole on the carpet near the door.

I just can't even...

3. While out running today, I was deep in the deepest of thought, chugging along oblivious to the stunning view out over the heads to my left.  So much so, I must have veered to the right, off the running/bike track, and into the road.

The stunning view I was missing.  It's really stunning.  I take it for granted, which is wrong. 

I heard a beep behind me and veered back into the left, but didn't realise how far over I'd been, or, who I'd blissfully jogged in front of, until the police car came up beside me.

Two good natured men in blue told me I'd better be careful and stick to the track.  I went puce with embarrassment.  Thanked them and they moved on.

Oh how I wish I'd made a crack about needing to be given a speeding ticket.  Or maybe I don't.

4. All of a sudden I can't find any house reno shows on TV.  Where did they go?  Why can I only find shows about wannabe pop stars, judged by B grade celebrities who give me the irrits?  Now I'm stuck watching Masterchef.  When I say watch, I mean look up at occasionally as I blog, or work.  But still, where have all the reno shows gone?  And why Big Brother?  Why?

5.  When you realise the reason your vacuum cleaner isn't sucking is because the bag is chockas.  And once you empty the bag, the suction is so strong you can barely push the thing across the carpet.  Nothing's getting past this sucker.   Yes I know it's mundane but I'm always surprised when this happens.  I'm like a goldfish in this regard.

It's a weird world we live in.  Never am I bored.  Never can I tell when the next surprise is going to happen, or what form it will take.