Hands up who loves the Australian Bureau of Meteorology website?

You know, if I’d asked that question about a year ago I would probably have got a handful of weather geeks and that’s it. Now it seems that everyone is talking about “the BOM”. You’re talking to a friend about an activity on the weekend, and they’re all “I hope the weather is nice. I’ll have to check the BOM.”  Some folks will consult the BOM rather than look out the window and more than a few iPhone users have been known to check the BOM from their toy – er, I mean phone – while actually standing out in the very weather that they are looking up.

I must confess I am a BOM watcher from way back. I like the maps and the talk about isobars and barometric pressure, whatever they are. I think it stems back to my late grandmother’s crush on Newcastle weatherman Des Hart back in the 80s. Everyone had to sit quietly when Des came on. She said she just wanted to know whether it would be hot tomorrow, but we knew the truth.

The BOM has the feel of an old-fashioned forecast. These days on the telly it’s all surfer dudes talking about “scorchers” and pictures of happy suns in sunglasses.  I’ll take my weather scientific and slightly incomprehensible, thank you very much.

Just before Christmas, our valiant leader and generous benefactor Kevin Rudd gave most Australians a little pre-Christmas bonus. As he smiled benevolently, he encouraged us all to take our money and spend it.

So, following Kevin’s instructions, I decided to buy a bread maker and I have to admit that I lurve it (yes, that’s right, I love it so much I’m willing to deliberately spell a word incorrectly).

My lovely, shiny, stainless-steel bread maker is a Breville Ikon BBM600 Baker’s Oven. It has a little compartment for adding fruit and nuts, the kneading blade folds down before the loaf begins to bake, it has umpteen different settings and it makes really nice bread.

While Meredith may roll her eyes at my enthusiasm, I notice that she is still willing to sample the products of my dear bread makers labour. So far I have produced standard loaves as well as cheese bread, cheese and bacon bread, rolled oats and brown sugar sweet bread and chocolate bread.

It’s got to be worth getting a bread maker just for the chocolate bread.

We’re embarrassed to admit it, but we can’t help but be fascinated by the cultural train wreck that is Ladette to Lady, particularly the current series screening on Channel Nine featuring Australian girls.

We know that it’s staged and edited to show both the girls and the instructors at their worse and/or most humorous and we know that we’re probably dropping IQ points as we watch. We just can’t help ourselves. What’s worse, when we get together each week, we discuss the program as if it is actually a serious social experiment with the potential to completely eradicate socially unacceptable behaviour and the decline of modern society. Time to book ourselves into TV detox, perhaps?

The always-entertaining Heather at dooce has posted a Facebook meme about couples. We figured why not use the same meme to tell our readers a little more about our own partnership.

What are your middle names?
Susan’s middle name is Maree, Meredith’s middle name is Meredith. Now you understand why she is like she is.

How long have you been together?
We met when we were 12. WhelanFlynn started in 2005.

How old are each of you?
We are the same age, which is 37. This means that we must each be only 18½. That sounds about right to us.

Whose siblings do you see the most?
We try to avoid all siblings as much as possible.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple (working partnership)?
Managing to get the work done that we need to, as so much time is taken up with really important stuff like coffee, chocolate, doughnuts, cake, lunch and celebrity gossip.

Did you go to the same school?
Different primary schools, same high school, different universities. Meredith has the edge because she actually completed her degree from Newcastle University while Susan kept getting distracted by having babies and hasn’t managed to complete her degree (or indeed anything) since.

Are you from the same home town?
Sort of. Meredith was born in Nowra and moved to Newcastle when she was eight. Susan was born in Newcastle and except for a brief period in her early 20s when she managed to escape, she has been here for her entire life (all 18½ years of it).

Who is smarter?
Meredith insists she has street smarts, which are far more useful. Susan is above such mundane and pointless comparisons, but would like to mention that she is a member of Mensa and Meredith isn’t.

Who is the most sensitive?
We are both equally hard-hearted and callous.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
We spent a crazy weekend in Vienna once. Best not to ask for too many details.

Who has the worst temper?
Meredith would like to say that it is Susan, but is too frightened.

Who does the cooking?
Susan regularly uses Meredith as her guinea pig when trying new recipes – a role Meredith is happy to fill.

Who is the neat-freak?
Oh how we laughed at this question. Next.

Who is more stubborn?
After an hour of furious denial on both our parts, we may have to declare this one a draw.

Who is more jealous?
Meredith insists it isn’t her, but her insecurity whenever Susan makes a new friend calls this into question. No Meredith, my new friend isn’t as funny as you.

Who’s better with the computer?
Meredith is our Tech Guy. Susan knows how to type and that’s about it.

Who drives when you are together?
That would be Susan, since Meredith refuses to get a driver’s license for environmental reasons (an excuse she uses because it sounds better than “a combination of laziness and fear”.) She doesn’t know that everyone calls her Miss Daisy behind her back.