Mum's day

I rang my Mum in Perth today. The flowers I sent arrived safely and she was thrilled.

When she first moved to Perth, I often picked out potted plants for my Mum from an Interflora catalogue - and she always ended up getting so much more than advertised, such was the lower costs of flowers in sunny Perth. Select a little flowering pot plant, receive several huge ones. Select a small green ferny thing, receive a small rainforest. And so on.

I don't always send flowers for birthdays and other special days, but if I want to get a parcel of goodies to her, I've found that an "overnight" postal satchel works well, but suburban Perth actually takes 48 hours, not 24. I did have a few interesting little items I'd found over recent months, but I couldn't get away from work early enough last week to guarantee delivery in time for Mother's Day. So flowers it had to be.

These days, the Internet (and the online White Pages phone directory) makes flower deliveries so much easier. I had to laugh, though. The florist I've come to use in Perth doesn't record orders on a computer; I assumed they'd have my details on file since the last time, but they do it the old fashioned way. A pad and pen. How quaint.

No matter. I tried cut flowers this time and my mother received her (apparently very generous) "bright colours" arrangement of cut flowers on Friday morning, and has thus enjoyed Mother's Day all weekend - and no doubt will for most of the coming week.

Sunday's magic number: 94.0. Absolutely no change since last week. I have mastered the art of keeping my mass stable? I've been fairly careful this week; just not careful enough to get the numbers down again.