Well here is my take on our new bridge.

As far as I am concerned we should have made the first one bigger. As most of you know, there is nothing bigger than the first one. I know it can be painful, but think of all the use it could have had over the years. And as a few of my friendly bitches on The Strand will tell you, the user pays way is the best – we could have had it all paid for by now if the tolls had been left on the original. Now what letter the wise people have assigned to this new route I don't know, but can I suggest ‘Diesel's Route', as it will enable me to get to the beach a lot quicker.
This weekend the boss has told me we are going to walk across it. Why the hell should we do this when it was built to drive across? Hell, I do not want to pull a hamstring with the extra exercise; it's bad enough having to chase my little ‘cuzz' Ady around. There is some good in going for a stroll across the harbour though, as I can leave my mark on every post I can find as my way of telling everyone that this is my bridge. See you there.
On to my favourite part of the week, waxing lyrical about my good mate Johnny the Aussie butcher's shop in Gate Pa. He is having a hard time at the moment with his ‘rugger' team being thrashed again, now he is thinking very seriously about manufacturing a new sausage, to be called the ‘Dingo Deans Big Banger', as he reckons if the lads in yellow got threatened with one of these, they would be running to see Broke Back Mountain and they may perform a little better. Mmmmm, cannot see the logic in this. Anyway, get down and see the old fellow, and cheer him up a little.

'Italian beef and pasta'

Ingredients
570g boneless blade steak
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 can Italian-style stewed tomatoes, undrained, broken up
1 ¾ cups beef broth
1/4 cup dry red wine
225g small mushrooms, halved
1 ½ cups uncooked penne pasta
2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Method
Cut steaks into one inch pieces. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Brown beef, half at a time, remove. Pour off drippings. Add onion, garlic and Italian seasoning to Dutch oven, cook and stir two minutes. Add beef, tomatoes, broth and wine. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover tightly and simmer one and half hours or until beef is tender. Stir in mushrooms and pasta. Continue cooking, covered, 20 minutes. Uncover and continue cooking 10 minutes or until pasta is tender. Stir in cheese and serve.

Well that is all from me for another week. Maybe I will see you on my bridge this weekend, remember though to dodge the wet spots. Now that reminds me of a story about an obese woman…Ouch! The bosses boot just came down on my tail and he has told me in no uncertain terms that I cannot tell that story as this is a family show. Whatever boss!