And the thunder came

 Chicken tonics and thunderstorms. You can't beat them. 

(Chicken tonics is not a typo from me dictating into the phone - but it was last night, and I quite like it.)

Tonight was a good night. 

After work, I went to the Silent Book Group - which had me reading my book while sipping on a drink and eating sweet potato chips. This was all fantastic with the exception of the book. At the end of our silent reading in this bar off Cavenagh Street, the group talk about their books. My comment about my book was that I wanted to throw the book against the wall and pick it up when I next cleaned and if it wasn't for the fact that this was a book group book, I'd have abandoned it 100 pages before. (The book is Zadie Smith's The Fraud. Sorry, Zadie, I don't rate it at all - too convoluted.)

After we wrapped up, I went for a drink with the colleague who introduced me to this fine institution

At 8.30 I was summoned by another colleague.

The message read, "Debrief. Pool. Now."

Which is what we do up here - meet for a chat in the pool in the evening when the kids are gone. 

I bid farewell to my mate, ran home, changed, shoved on a load of washing, then went down to the pool, only to find my colleague coming out, a storm brewing and deckchairs flying around the pool deck."

"Umm, it's a bit dangerous here," they said.

"I can see that."

"Pity."

Lightning lit up the sky, 

We had to pivot.

"I have gin. Fancy a gin and tonic and watching the storms from the 18th floor."

"Sounds like a plan."

And for the next hour we got to chew the fat while drinking gin and lemonade (ran out of tonic) while watching the best Darwin could bring.

For every showing of fork lightning, we cheered. We marveled at how Darwin Harbour lit up as the sheet lightning enveloped the sky. 

And though we didn't get any exercise in, I couldn't think of a better thing to do. 

Today's song: