Daylesford Dispatch - Saturday, 30th April 2011

Lovely photo of Wes taken at the Ballarat Races

Dear Friends, what a magic week it has been in Daylesford. The weather has been perfect and we have made some use of it, probably not enough. Anzac Day was very special – Wes and Judi went to the Dawn Service and were joined by John Smith. Then Wes and I went to Eganstown for the 9am service, picking up John on the way. It is a very special service there and a new plaque was unveiled to commemorate the 50 or so from Eganstown Primary School, who went to war. 15 of them were killed and their descendents remember them all with pride. Wes laid a wreath on behalf of Catherine King, our local Parliamentarian. Winsome Menadue had her usual trailer of thermoses of hot tea and coffee, with ice-cream containers full of Anzac biscuits, all homemade – some with golden syrup and others with treacle.

After that Wes dropped me home to get ready for the footy and I walked back into town to join him at the Cenotaph, where the Brass Band and the Pipe Band accompanied the marchers.  Wes laid a wreath there on behalf of Daylesford Rotary Club and Dr Jon Barrell, resplendent in suit and hat, gave a lovely address, reminding us that all over the world, Australians were remembering Anzac Day. There was a healthy crowd of locals and visitors in attendance. Afterwards he caught up with John, Jan and Barbara and they all had lunch at Gracenotes Café, as headquarters (Café 3460) was closed.

I walked back to where Michael was picking me up and he drove us to Ballan Station in time to catch the 11.48am train to Southern Cross Station. The train was nearly full and we weren’t able to sit together until someone got off at Melton and we quickly changed seats. When we arrived in town, we had to catch a train to Flinders Street, then another train to Jolimont, which was most frustrating. It took nearly as long to do that as it had taken to travel to Melbourne. By the time we arrived at our good seats in the ground, the pre-match entertainment had started.

We both thought the Anzac Service was very well done and quite moving, especially the drummer and the bugler. The game was fantastic, a very high standard, exciting and full of highlights. The two Essendon supporters who have emailed me were very pleased with their team’s endeavour and so they should be. They are a young side and need to get used to each other and to the different game plan under James Hird.

After the game Michael and I endured a similar horror experience getting back to Southern Cross – two packed trains full of panicking country supporters. When we found our train we discovered it was faulty and had to wait for it to be shunted out and replaced. We then spent time sitting in-between stations to let other trains through and finally arrived home at 8.15pm. When I told Michael I didn’t remember all this kerfuffle last year, he reminded me that I drove!!

On Tuesday morning we played golf with John & Jan Smith – our first game in 7 weeks, so we were a bit rusty. I decided not to score, which was a sensible move and took much of the pressure off me. Wes got into the swing more quickly than I did, Jan hit some good shots and John played very well as usual. We had toasted sandwiches and cuppas at the canteen, the first time Wes and I have been in the Clubhouse. John has joined the competitions, so he knows the ropes.

In the afternoon, while Wes worked on three of his main projects I met Judi for a lovely 3 hours of wandering around town. We started at the Convent Gallery, looked at the latest exhibitions, lit candles, and when the café was clear of the lunch crowd, enjoyed interesting teas and biscuits. Tina, the owner, was there and thrilled to see us both, as was my favourite waitress, Tennille, who dropped everything to say hello and catch up. We had a good chat, then walked back into town, via Howe Street, looked at teapots in Magic Pudding, chatted to Victor Szwed, whose home is on the market, and ended up in the newest café in town – Daylesford House. We had some more interesting teas, Judi had a White Russian biscuit and we made ourselves known to the owners.

Wes went off to his meeting at Mooltan and I heated up some leftover soup and watched a replay of the footy, followed by a Doc Martin while I did the ironing. The meeting went well, and there are plenty of people keen to get involved in the projects of 1 / Street Beautification; 2 / Heritage Badging of Buildings and 3/ Oral Histories.

On Wednesday, we parted company – him to spend the morning in the garden, and me to spend the morning at Café 3460 playing Mah Jong with Carol, Dot and Valerie. Valerie was running late, so we played lots of goulashes – could get used to having the blanks in to help get a difficult hand! We all won games and had a fun morning. In the afternoon, Wes and I both worked on our computers and Glenn dropped in with a loaf of freshly baked bread and received a red wine for his thoughtfulness. Afterwards we went to Rotary and John Smith joined us again.

Lovely photo of Glenn

It was very hard to go back to Strong Classes on Thursday morning – I couldn’t remember half of my programme, let alone be able to do them all. It was weeks since I had been to a class as we arrived back from our holidays just as the term break occurred.

We had a lovely day with Judi, Michael, Gail, Terry, Jan, John & Barbara at Ballarat Races. I had booked a table in the Members, found enough Guest Passes for everyone and it was a perfect day. Barbara was probably the most successful punter, but we all had fun and Terry and Jan are going to join. Typically, the Turf Club Membership secretary, Michelle, has offered them free membership until 31^st July, provided they join for 11-12.

Front L-R – Gail, Barbara & Jan

Back L-R – Judi, Wes, Michael, Terry & Karen

We had a very busy day on Friday – Wes started by walking the boys early, and then got Barbara going for the day as she didn’t have a carer. He and I went to Trentham to play golf and although we started slowly, we got a bit better as the sun came out – Wes hit 3 pars and my best hole was a bogey on the 9^th hole par 5. After a late breakfast at Café 3460, Wes took Ascot back to the vet for Barbara. He and I went to Retravision to buy a new vacuum cleaner – John suggested we check the filter – I brought the cleaner in, he took the filter out, it was clogged of course, so we ended up with a new filter which was much cheaper than a new cleaner.

In the afternoon Wes drove to Ballan to collect Deane Wells, who was staying with us overnight. It was lovely to see Deane again after quite a few months. Wes took him to the Farmers Arms for dinner to allow me to watch the wedding. They had a big night, after the hotel, they moved to Horvat’s Wine Bar for some jazz and more red wine with Michael. I spent the evening watching the wedding and sending scores of the footy to Wes, as the Blues overcame the Swans and recorded an historic win in the rain at the SCG. Wes and Deane poured themselves in the door around 11pm and settled down to some coffee before bed!

Today the boys all slept in, then after breakfast on our balcony, we took Bilbo and Frodo for a long walk around the Lake, meeting up with friends, Bill & Sue Longley, and Margie McConville. Wes has taken Deane to the airport and I am about to pick up Michael and go to see Daylesford play Hepburn in Hepburn, which should be an exciting event as everyone barracks for one or other side.

Tomorrow after breakfast I am driving to Melbourne to visit Viva, then go to the footy with Danny and stay overnight. Wes and Barbara, Judi and Michael, and Gillie are all off to Williamstown for a play. I thought it would be better to send this off today as I may run out of time tomorrow.

Karen attracting leeches in the rain-forest

Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday, 24th April 2011

Happy Easter to you all from beautiful Daylesford, where the sun is shining after a cold morning; Autumn is in full swing, and town is bursting at the seams with visitors. We have just returned from a very lavish breakfast where Kim & Gary provided us with Easter eggs, smoked salmon roulade and fish cakes to accompany the usual spread of sausages, bacon, eggs, spinach, tomato and mushrooms. Gail had forgotten all about Easter Uprising Celebrations, so we were spared Irish songs and discussed interesting topics like ‘How Gail Killed her Mother by giving her too much Baileys on New Year’s Eve’; “How John Smith now knows what to do in competitions at Trentham Golf Club’’; ‘How Easily the Blues beat the Crows Last Night’’, and ‘Who is going to what Service on Anzac Day?’’

Singapore Antique Shop – just loved the name!

We left you last week looking forward to a Sri Lankan dinner with Frank & Ellis, who are heading there next month. They had also invited Denise & Rodney, who are going as well, so we tried to give them a flavour of what Sri Lanka means to us and what we like doing. Denise & Rodney are considering staying at the Boulder Garden Hotel, because they loved the sound of it and we hope they do. Ellis had cooked a wonderful range of curries and did his best to serve curd and treacle afterwards. Frank had decorated the house and table with Autumn leaves in abundance and we all enjoyed a very social night, where we ate far too much and were quite pleased that Ellis had forgotten to bring out a sambol!

We missed out on golf this week as Wes’s cold keeps flaring up just as he thinks it is going away and spent a quiet Monday at our desks instead. Wes took Barbara to Chess in the afternoon and that night we had a lovely dinner of snapper with Jenny & Eddie Beacham, who were really keen to hear about our holiday – Sri Lanka is one of the few places in the world that they haven’t visited.

We took it easy on Tuesday morning and Wes got some extra sleep to try to get over his cold. I had a massage with Ann, which was lovely, while Wes took Barbara shopping and to lunch in Ballarat. He wasn’t well enough for hydro and they both had chores to do in Ballarat. I had a late lunch with Gillie at Gourmet Larder and caught up on some of her news. Then Wes met Jeff Bain with Averil’s son and wife to discuss her will, before we had dinner with Glenn Mack at our new Indian restaurant, where Stella, the front of house person, will make sure that no-one ever returns, no matter how good the food is!

On Wednesday I played Mah Jong with Carol and Dot and we had a wonderful morning together with lots of laughs. Carol won enough games to make her happy and we had lunch together before heading off on our separate ways. I was back at Cafe 3460 to spend time with Cathy O’Toole, always a treat, and then Wes and I went to Aperitif in the rain at David & Steve’s place just in front of us. After an hour of frivolity and lovely food, we picked up John Smith and took him to Daylesford Rotary.

L-R John, Jan, Michael, Judi, Jon & Di at Cafe 3460 Breakfast

It was a very special night at Rotary, as Brian Nash, a wonderful local Artist, was being made a Paul Harris fellow and it was a surprise. Wes had thought it would be a wonderful thing to do to thank him for all his support of Rotary, and after 5 months of work persuading the Board, it was finally happening. Brian was thrilled to bits, and, as an ex-Rotarian, very appreciative of the honour bestowed on him. John felt at ease after the first few minutes and plans to transfer to Daylesford before the end of the financial year.

The next day Wes spent at appointments – he started off at 10am meeting with Ian Head, who is getting involved in the Swiss & Italian Festa; then took Barbara & Ascot to the vet for Ascot’s weekly check-up; then spent 3 hours with his sister, Denise, discussing the family tree work he is doing, and finally ended up at the Town Hall with other Rotarians helping Brian Nash to get his Easter Exhibition ready. Brian agreed to run a raffle with his work as prizes and the money raised will go towards training teachers in Nepal, a project of Woodend Rotary Club.

Meanwhile I went to the U3A Enrolment Morning, which Judi handled beautifully and made as relaxed and casual as it could be. Jan Smith was there enrolling, so we chatted and she chose a few classes to start off her involvement. I had hoped to have lunch with Judi, but her Committee was keen to get together afterwards, so I came back home, and read the paper instead. That afternoon, after picking up Hot Cross Buns from Kim and pumping water at Leitches Creek, I visited Rhonda, who wanted help setting up Group Emails on her Apple Mac. We admired her Autumn leaves and her stunning garden, before settling down to the task, which we accomplished at a gentle pace in under an hour and we were both pleased as Punch.

Autumn leaves outside Rhonda’s dining room

Wes & I both love Good Friday as it is a day we traditionally spend together and try to incorporate a long walk. We started off with Hot Cross Buns smothered in Nick Massaro’s raspberry jam, then headed off to walk from our place to Sailors Falls. When we got to Twin Bridges the little bridge over the creek which had washed away in the storm, had not been replaced, so we crossed the road to walk to Tipperary Springs instead. Ditto with the little bridge there, so we did the Lost Children’s Walk towards Central Springs Road and then made our way down a track we have never walked before back to the Lake. It was raining off and on, but we enjoyed it very much and the boys were excited to be doing something different.

Back home I made a thick, spicy vegetable soup for a late lunch, Wes lit the fire and we watched ‘’All or Nothing’ a magnificent Mike Leigh film with Timothy Spall, Ruth Sheen and Lesley Manville. Ruth Sheen has been in every one of Mike Leigh’s films, Timothy Spall appears occasionally and so does Lesley Manville, who is riveting in his latest film ‘’Another Year”.

Yesterday was spent in Melbourne. We headed off early to visit Viva and Leanne and give them their Easter eggs, as well as their holiday presents. Viva was looking as well as we have seen her look in ages and the time just flew by as we caught up on their news. Then we wasted 100 minutes of our lives watching ‘Potiche’, a dreadful French-Belgian film starring Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Dipardieu. To add insult to injury, Wes’s inferior choctop collapsed on him!

Fortunately our next stop was afternoon tea with Ben and Leanne – we had mussels in a hot garlic sauce, oysters natural, dips, breads, cheese, artichokes, squid, figs and strawberries and I probably haven’t mentioned everything! (Can’t wait to have dinner there).We were so impressed with what they have done at their new house, which is a lovely old home in West Brunswick, that they have restored with style and flair. We all went to the footy together and somehow got Carlton over the line against the Crows. All the last quarter action seemed to be right in front of us and it was a very tense and exciting 30 minutes. We drove them home and got back here around midnight, tired but very happy with our day (except for the film).

We are hoping to get some work done in the garden this afternoon, then Wes is going to visit John Smith, to discuss his retirement plans, and if it gets cold enough, we’ll light another fire tonight and see the rest of New Tricks after the footy. The boys are happily snoozing at our feet, content with their booty from the Sunday Market and Sunday Breakfast.

Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday, 17th April 2011

Congee for breakfast at Raffles

Dear Everyone, we have now spent a whole week back in Daylesford and are gradually getting back into routine. Because it is school holidays some of our regular activities are on hold, which has allowed us to catch up on friends and paperwork. We have just returned from another lovely breakfast at Café 3460, and although Kim didn’t produce hoppers, he did serve wonderful platters of sausages, eggs, bacon, baked beans, tomatoes, mushroom, spinach and two kinds of toast. John Smith has porridge with stewed fruit and I continue to have my omelette, but everyone else is very happy with the platters and life is much easier in the kitchen!

Carol brought Alexandra in for a hot chocolate and she brought me some flowers to say thank you for a black & white necklace we brought home from India for her. She enjoys playing with the boys, although they got very excited when she fed them and accidentally nipped her fingers. I think everything is OK again as they licked her to death when I was trying to disentangle them and take them home after breakfast. Gail was her usual entertaining self and had us all laughing, although Glenn may have taken the honours with a small contribution of a New Zealand joke told to him by Dr Jon Barrell. It is too rude to reproduce here!

Viva is doing well, although heavy rain got into their roof again and the new ceiling batts that had just been laid will need to be replaced. For some reason the repairpersons decided that mending the gap in the roof would be the last job to be done. We hope to catch up with her and Leanne on Easter Saturday, and hear all their news.

Wes eating a light lunch in India & Alexandra looking very cute

Barbara’s cat, Ascot, is improving slowly but surely. Wes has taken her and Barbara to the vet twice during the week and Andrew, the vet, thinks she is getting better, although she is still not eating very much and is too weak to do anything other than be confined to quarters. By Friday Barbara was confident enough to leave her for the day and Wes accompanied her to the Austin Hospital for her regular visit to see what can be done to make her life more comfortable. She has a new back to her wheelchair which supports her better than the previous ones. Afterwards they had a late lunch, and then went to see a film, as Barbara had been housebound with Ascot for so long, apart from shopping and lunch with Wes on Wednesday.

I have had flu and pneumonia injections, attended a lovely U3A lunch with Judi at the Mill Market, bought a new Motorola phone and spent ages working out how to use it, played Mah Jong with Carol & Dot, had a manicure and pedicure that were well overdue, caught up with Rhonda over lunch, gone to Ballarat for a facial, and gotten back into the swing of Rotary with Wes.  

Wes has been busy catching up with his sister, Denise; with Jeff Bain, as they are joint executors of Averil’s will; with Rob McDonald to discuss the Swiss & Italian Festa; as well as getting back into the Family Tree; scanning old photos and Facebook. We were both thrilled to hear from our friend, Norma that she doesn’t have to go back to her oncologist for three months, so she can travel to China next month as she had hoped.

Norma & I looking hot at the World Cup Final

On Friday afternoon, Terry White and I headed to the MCG for the Collingwood & Richmond game. Terry is a Rugby League fan of the Wests Tigers, so I thought this was a good game to take him to – we had a lovely time together, and although he will never be a convert, I suspect he appreciates footy a little more than he did before. He told me the highlight of his evening was witnessing the passion of David Lazzaro, who joined us at half-time and stayed on to answer all the questions I hadn’t been able to answer satisfactorily! Terry was disappointed that the first half wasn’t close and got quite excited in the third quarter when the Tigers outplayed the Pies and got within 4 goals – he even clapped one of their goals, which was the only time he really got involved. Sadly for him the Pies ran away in the last quarter and we won by 12 goals. It was a late night and I finally got to bed at 1.15am.

Yesterday Wes and Barbara drove back into Melbourne for the Carlton & Essendon game. Unfortunately Barbara’s wheelchair was damaged when they drove into the Arts Centre car park, so they had to return home and watched the game at Barb’s place on delay. I took Bilbo & Frodo to Victoria Park to see Daylesford beat Dunnstown in a thrilling game that we only won in the last 10 minutes. Wes refused to look at text messages, but did see an email from Jane Knox, saying she was sorry for him. He assumed Carlton had lost, and was just as furious that they had played a draw with Essendon. Everyone at the local footy was glued to my trannie getting scores as it was such an exciting game.

Last night we had been invited to a surprise 60^th birthday party for Jim Swatman, but Wes was feeling unwell and exhausted, and I was tired as I had gotten home so late the night before, so we decided an early night was in order and retired to bed to watch the Swans and Cats battle in atrocious conditions at the SCG. The Swans were valiant, but the class of the Cats won out.

Tonight we are off to have dinner with Frank Page and Ellis Ebell and they are serving Sri Lankan curries. Ellis is Sri Lankan and he and Frank are holidaying there next month with a few other Daylesford friends, two of whom will be at the dinner tonight. We look forward to sharing our experiences and enjoying Sri Lankan food again. I’ll be back in touch next Sunday and let you know how it went.

The Indian laundry we visited in Mumbai

Daylesford Dispatch, Sunday, 10th April 2011

Raffles welcome fruit & flower bowl

Dear Friends, when I last wrote, we were just about to head out for a pre-dinner drink and we found ourselves at the Long Bar again where we were given a great table as we were hotel guests. Lots of visitors came looking for tables, but finally a young Asian-looking couple wandered by, so we invited them to join us and had another of those wonderful encounters you have when travelling. She was Korean, who has lived in Boston from age 15 and he was from Arizona. They are now in their thirties, married and have lived in New York and currently in London, and were fleeing from the cold for 2 weeks. Their biggest decision is where in the world to settle down.

Long Bar box of peanuts – it is etiquette to leave the shells on the floor

After two G&Ts each, we said goodbye and walked across the road to Chijmes, where we found another Lei Garden Restaurant and enjoyed double boiled sea treasure soup, steamed prawns with asparagus and Chinese cabbage with mushrooms for dinner. We walked back to Raffles and reprised our crème de cassis over ice drinks of the night before and reacquainted ourselves with Jimmy the pianist.

The next morning we were sorry to have our last breakfast in the hotel – everyone made a fuss of us – we are very easy guests and make sure we smile and say thank you for every service, unlike some of the guests who take the staff for granted. The afternoon before, we had received news from Barbara that her cat, Ascot, had gone missing on Sunday and when found, had been in a fight and was at the vet recovering. Fortunately there are no broken bones, but she has been unable to get onto both back legs, which has been worrying, although now she is home, has eaten a little and is responding to TLC. Fingers crossed that she recovers fully.

We went for a walk to the Singapore Library where we saw a wonderful exhibition on traditional weddings, as well as admired the various photographs and miscellany that has been donated over the years. Then into the biggest Anglican Church for a squiz and finally a browse in a second-hand bookstore, where we found a good history of Singapore, a book on Napoleon and another on Ramses, which will keep Wes going for ages.

We packed our bags, checked out of Raffles, enjoyed our only dim sum meal for the trip, in the Raffles bakery, and then found a quiet spot under the main staircase where we settled down to read our books until our car arrived to collect us. One of the many butlers who stopped for a chat organised tea and coffee for us, and we very reluctantly took our leave at 6pm. Our driver was very interested in cricket and Australian Rules and suggested we needed to get a catchier name if we are to appeal to Asians in the future with footy.

We arrived at the Singapore Lounge and the first thing I spotted was that day’s Melbourne Age. What bliss! We settled down to have a serious feed as we expected to be given only a snack on our flight home. When we found our seats we were amazed to be on a very new plane, where there are only 4 seats per row in Business Class – what luxury – the window seats are single seats, which means every traveller can get up and walk around without disturbing your neighbour. We found the seats so comfortable, the TV screens enormous and the bed delightful – it comes down from the backrest and includes a doona instead of a scratchy blanket.  I watched a very silly film ‘The Tourist’, because it was set in Venice, while Wes caught up with ’Another Year’ and ‘The Fighter’. When we reached Immigration, we were delighted when the young official said to us ‘Daylesford, I’m going to retire there’. It was lovely to be home.

Singapore Restaurant – perhaps a clone of the House Next Door?

We passed through security easily, got the Andrew’s courtesy bus, collected our car and set off home, arriving here about 9am, which was fantastic, as we landed at 6.40am. Everywhere looked wonderful – Jonno had cut the lawn and trimmed the garden beds, Judi had collected mail and papers and put out bins, with some help from Barbara, the roses, tomatoes, basil and spinach were all blooming, and Sandra had cleaned our house to within an inch of its life. Judi had put yellow liliums in my favourite (her least favourite) vase and left us tomatoes, lettuce and cucumber for a salad, as well as cabbage and carrots for the boys.

Wes went straight over to see Barbara, who had missed him dreadfully, especially with Ascot’s drama, while I unpacked both suitcases and started the first of 4 loads of washing. We climbed into bed with The Age, the local papers and cups of tea around 10.30am after Wes put the computers through their paces, and slept on and off the rest of the day. We got up in time to see sunset and watched a ‘New Tricks’ episode while enjoying our tomatoes and spinach on toast.

On Friday Nicole came to do my hair and Wes collected the boys from Eureka - This is how they looked as we left them to go away – you would never guess how excited they were and how much they enjoyed their holiday as well. I opened the mail, packed a small running away bag and Wes drove me to Ballan to catch the 3.30pm train to Southern Cross Station for the footy. I met Danny at European Restaurant in Spring Street, where we had a memorable meal – I was greeted with a glass of champagne to celebrate my return and matched it with ‘black and white pasta with fresh crab’. Danny had a stunning piece of meat, and we somehow managed tiramisu, which was a meal in itself.

We got to our seats just before the raising of the 2010 Premiership Flag, which was done very well – including as many past players, staff and supporters as possible and culminated with Simon Prestigiacomo hoisting the Flag onto the flagpole. We were delighted to be part of 88,818 crowd and the atmosphere was fabulous. Carlton came out with all guns blazing and gave us a great game, which we managed to win in the last quarter.

I stayed overnight with Danny, where we were wakened early by a group of painters, who decided to start work at 7.30am and thought it would be OK to knock on the door, rather than ring and make a time the day before. Danny went off to work, and I caught the train into town, where I bought some new Winter tops and some chocolates for Wes. Then I walked to Carlton, where Wes met me for lunch at Jimmy Watson’s to celebrate 45 years since we met on Sunday, 10^th April 1966. He had taken Barbara to dinner at ‘Gracenotes’ the night before, watched the first half of the footy with her, and then collected Ascot for her  next morning. Afterwards we saw ‘The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest’, which we really enjoyed and drove home in pouring rain. Barbara had let us know that the power was out, but we could see that everyone else had power as we got closer to home, so Wes went straight over to her place to restart her power which had turned itself off.

This morning we had a lovely reunion with all our friends at Cafe 3460 where Kim outdid himself with breakfast, Gary was at our sides with drinks before we knew we needed refills and we distributed our gifts. One of the delightful traditions of going overseas is bringing back presents for the Breakfast Group and everyone had great fun with their bags of goodies. Kim & Gary were given a Sri Lankan cookbook so we are expecting all sorts of wonderful goodies next week – string hoppers might be a bit much to ask for though!

Laundry hamper – Trident Hotel Mumbai style

Daylesford Dispatch, Tuesday, 5th April, 2011

Dear Friends, we are on the final full day of our holiday and having a wonderful time here in Raffles in Singapore. Wes is very keen that I get the full flavour of the World Cup Match, so I will try and tell you what it was like. When I last wrote, we were about to go to dinner at the Cricket Club of India, where Stacky had hit a century many moons ago. We duly arrived and it was a very traditional, colonial club, with the wonderful surprise of seeing groups of people seated around tables on the ground having pre-dinner drinks. We were shown to the main table in the dining-room, where we were offered a la carte (Indian curries) or Chinese. We opted to share a Chinese meal as that simplified ordering as there were 13 of us at dinner. The food was fine, nothing special, but the service was very good, although one of the younger waiters was unable to distinguish white wine from red and kept pouring red wine into Norma’s glass! It was a special honour to be allowed to dine at the Club and it was only because three of us were members of the MCC, that we were accorded the honour.

The next morning I suffered from a headache, so decided to sleep in and give breakfast a miss. Wes went down and came back to report on the amazing atmosphere – just like Grand Final morning, everyone was hopping from one foot to the other, on mobile phones checking on their tickets or trying to get tickets, meeting friends or organising meeting points. We sat quietly in the room listening to Collingwood easily account for North Melbourne, then getting progress scores on other games, before we joined our group to go to the ground. We couldn’t find our bus, so we set off walking together and followed Gill, one of our group, who knew where Gate 6 was! When we arrived near the gate, it was impossible to find out where the queue started as there were queues to 3 gates snaking around that side of the ground, so we joined in close to where we thought we should be. After a while we reached the railway pedestrian overpass and were within sight of the ground. It then took an hour to get to our gate. The temperature was 32° and the humidity almost unbearable and it stayed like that until the sun went down, when it became just bearable.

We went through at least 5 search points – at each point males and females were separated and we lost everyone else in our group except for Norma and Jenny. Wes stayed around waiting for us each time until we reached the top of the stairs, when Norma inadvertently followed him through the male check point and Jenny & I didn’t see them again until we found our seats. I waited each time for Jenny as she is 73 and finds stairs a trial. As you may remember, we were not allowed to bring anything much in with us, so I was carrying in my pockets – Kleenex, mobile phone, hotel room key, a comb, Ventolin spray & my ticket – all of which items were allowed through. After the 5 searches, we finally reached turnstiles and our tickets were scanned. At the bottom of the railway overpass stairs we turned to our aisle, but were forced through yet another search, this time, an electronic one. The previous 5 searches had been manual – women were taken one by one into a cubicle with a curtain and we were patted down and our pockets inspected. All along the way were soldiers with or without rifles and sundry officials blocking the way of the ticket-holders and making it very difficult to catch up to our male partners again.

Finally, I was passed OK and allowed to progress to the staircase to my seat – Gill had waited for Jenny and I left them looking for toilets and went up 2 flights of stairs to find half of our group in their seats, including Wes and Norma. We were seated in the back of 5 shortish rows in front of a ‘superbox’, with the loveliest official looking after us, as well as sundry policemen and women & security offers. Our official was so excited to have a row of ‘kangaroos’ to look after, that he took us under his wing – Wes responded well to his concern, so he treated Wes as our leader and when he thought we would be hungry, announced that we were entitled to dinner boxes and that we should give him our seat tickets and he would arrange it. In the meantime we were discovering that we could not buy bottles of water, only cups and if you weren’t careful, you ended up with cups of Pepsi, as happened to Norma! The ladies’ toilets were just at the back of our section, which was very convenient, but they were actually men’s loos, with ‘Ladies’ written in chalk on the door and the urinals scrubbed up to furnish us with hand-basins!

Our dinner boxes were full of pastries, bread rolls, cake, chocolates, curry and fruit juice, very little of which was edible and all of which was cold. Once our helpful official discovered Keith Stackpole was part of our group, his eyes filled with tears as he had been 4 years old when he saw Keith bat, so Warren introduced them and took a photo. About 20 minutes later, our official brought up the Commissioner of Police, who also met Keith and had his photo taken. After this we were offered more dinner boxes, chocolates and bottles of water that the water police did not take from us. We said no to the dinner boxes and gave the chocolates to Wes. We were also given lots of clappers and signs, which we gave to the children in front of us. These children had accompanied the players onto the ground and then took their seats in our area. We suspected that many of them were underprivileged or orphaned children; at least one was blind and another slow in his reactions to everything. I made friends with the boy in front of me and gave him my cap to wear.  He tried to give it back, but I told him it was a present from Australia, so he wore it very happily.

In the meantime the match was playing out. Sri Lanka started too slowly, but finished with a good score of 274. The Indians strode out confidently, but when Sehwag went for a duck and Sachin made only 18, the Sri Lankans were cock-a-hoop. Sadly for them, they could not move Gambhir or M S Dhoni until too late and India won a memorable Final. Norma gave her cap to our official and he hugged her in delight. We left before the end as we were worried it would be bedlam getting out of the stadium, and arrived back at our hotel as the game finished.

We said goodbye to Norma, Keith and Jenny, as we were leaving at 4.30am the next day and headed to bed, where we watched the scenes of joy all over India. We had packed before going to the ground and Wes had arranged a wake-up call in case our phones’ alarms didn’t go off. Our thanks to Jane Knox for footy scores during the cricket until she fell asleep and to Barbara for final scores – much appreciated.

We slept well until 3.30am, were in the lobby by 4.20am and enjoyed a pleasant drive to the airport in the hotel car. We drove through celebrating Indians in cars, some sitting in open boots, others hanging out of windows flying flags. Our flight to Singapore was very comfortable with wonderful service and we were met at the other end by a loquacious driver, who couldn’t have cared less about what we wanted to do in Singapore and told us what he thought of everything.

Our Room looking out to the Parlour

Then we were at Raffles and everything went up a notch or two – Martina, our Irish check-in person, expressed surprise that  Australians were interested in cricket, so we set her straight and when we next saw her she asked us which team we had been supporting in the World Cup, having boned up on it in the meantime. We have a Palm Court suite in the oldest part of Raffles – a regular suite includes a parlour with dining table, which is where I am sitting, a spacious bedroom, a dressing room and bathroom, all beautifully appointed. We have our own butler who attends to whatever needs we might have.

We were too tired to do much on Sunday night other than have a G&T in the Long Bar, where each table has a big bowl of unshelled peanuts and it is etiquette to shell them and throw the husks on the floor. We were given someone else’s bill to sign, which started a good conversation going with that table and they were all envious we had been at the cricket. We had an Indian curry buffet in the Tiffin Room, where we were well looked after until Marie, our delightful French waitress, presented us with someone else’s bill for drinks from the Writer’s Bar. When we explained this was the second time it had happened, she promised to ‘put an end to it’ and we parted with a smile.

After a good sleep in yesterday, we went back to the Tiffin Room for breakfast, where I was delighted to find congee on the menu and the waiter and I agreed that Raffles made the best fish congee in the world. Wes had soft-boiled eggs, which were perfectly cooked and the array of fruits and juices was second to none. Last time we were here, probably 8-10 years ago, eggs were cooked by chefs in front of you, but this has changed and there is a menu of extras, which are brought to your table on order.

Of course, once you arrive at breakfast, your butler is told, so your room is cleaned while you are away without you having to mention it. We had decided to walk to Sentosa and set off on Northbridge Road to do just that. It took us 1.5 hours to get to Vivo City which is the Gateway to Sentosa, so we stopped for a Haagen Daaz ice-cream, which took ages to eat and was a fun experience. Then we walked to Sentosa on the new boardwalk, which has just opened. We decided not to enter Sentosa, and walked back to the Gateway to get a taxi back home.  We walked to the Bugis Street area, then came back here for a shower and ordered afternoon tea to be served on our veranda.

Sentosa Boardwalk

It was traditional English afternoon tea –three tiers of sweet things and scones, jam and cream. As well we were given a cake and Pink Champagne, and promptly put back all the weight we had lost by our big walk. Wes had found a good restaurant on Trip Advisor called Lei Garden – when we read a review by a Pom saying ‘beware, nothing you are used to eating at home is on this menu’  we knew we were on a winner! We tried to walk to it, but got lost and caught a taxi instead. Our driver did not know the building but assured us that he would find it no matter what and find it he did – what a delightful experience that was.

Dinner was sublime – we were met in the lobby and shown the lift to the 3^rd floor, where we were greeted by name and shown into a beautifully appointed room, which was staffed completely by females. We chose steamed grouper fish, which was served on tofu so sublime that even Wes loved it, chilli prawns served whole and garlic broccoli, all accompanied by a Marlborough NZ Sauvignon Blanc. We finished up with rice balls stuffed with black sauce (me) and green tea mousse. When we arrived back here we decided to have crème de cassis on ice in the Writer’s Bar, where Jimmy, the ageing camp pianist was playing wonderfully on the piano. He and Wes had some witty exchanges, our butler came to check on us and make sure everything was OK and we went happily to bed.

This morning we were having another enjoyable breakfast – I had the Raffles omelette this time with chillies, coriander, onion & Emmental cheese and Wes made do with croissants after our fruit, when we were joined by Lesley, the Raffles Historian, who greeted us by name and asked if we were by any chance from Melbourne. Both his daughters had studied there – one at Melbourne Uni and the other at RMIT and he and his wife have visited 5 times and done just about everything there is to do in Victoria, except visit Daylesford. We had a wonderful chat, he was a mine of information and we did enjoy talking with someone who loves Melbourne so much.

Wes has been in the pool and steam room, while I have been talking to Viva, reading my emails and writing this lengthy Dispatch. We are heading off for a walk to Little India soon – perhaps we will have dim sum later on or save ourselves for another exciting dinner. We had planned to go the Imperial Herbal Restaurant, but it has moved to Vivo City, where we were yesterday, so we might look at the Chijmes complex across the road instead or eat outside here.

Lei Garden Restaurant

Thanks to everyone for your messages and emails – all much appreciated. Carol tells me that Channel 7 is showing the Collingwood/Carlton match live on Friday night, so I assume it is close to a sell-out – Wes has chosen not to go, so I have invited Danny and we are very excited about the unfurling of the flag as well as going to our first match of the new season.

 

Daylesford Dispatch, Friday, 1st April, 2011

Sweltering at the cricket – Keith & John in front, Karen, Norma & Jenny behind

Our tickets for the semi-final against New Zealand were upstairs for a change, so we opted for a clutch of seats at the back in front of an open grilled area which allowed us the odd breeze during the 9 hours we were there. The atmosphere was magic – everyone so excited, and those of you who watched any of the game, would be aware that the noise is incessant – horns, drums, clappers, whistles, chants etc and whenever the noise dies down, the ground announcer exhorts the crowd to shout or do a Mexican wave or to sing along with the ads. The game looked a foregone conclusion and we were planning to leave early, but suddenly Daniel Vettori stopped the Sri Lankans in their tracks, wickets fells, runs dried up and the stadium grew quiet. There was an appeal for caught behind turned down, McKay bowled 5 wides and the game changed. We left then to avoid the crush and got a great view of the fireworks as we dashed through the tuk-tuks across the road to our bus.

The night was a difficult one for sleep – everyone went to have a shower and it was too late for us to go back downstairs for a drink, although we felt like one. The streets were full of celebrating Sri Lankans – on foot, in tuk-tuks or cars or buses. Wes forgot to turn his phone onto silent and exchanged SMSs with Frank Page, and took phone calls from Roberta Donnelly and Jeff Bain in the early hours of the morning! After breakfast I rang Viva to let her know what was happening with the orphanage, and that Barbara and Danny had also made donations, which were much appreciated and should enable the girls’ dormitory to get new linen as well.

Views of the night sky at the cricket during & the fireworks afterwards

We arrived in Mumbai early yesterday morning after spending over 10 hours getting here. We gladly left our hotel in Colombo, travelled by bus for 1.5 hours to the airport, were processed efficiently, had something to eat then were shepherded into the Gate Lounge. The incoming flight was delayed, so we watched the match between India & Pakistan until we were finally loaded onto our narrow little plane, where the Captain gave score updates. We should have been in Mumbai at 11.40pm, but landed around 12.30am and then took an hour to get out of the airport, another ¾ hour to our hotel and finally to bed around 2.30am. The Trident, Nariman Point, is a beautiful, new and ultra modern hotel and we are all very happy here.

Most of the group was in the foyer at 9am again to go on a 5 hour trip to see Cave Sculptures, but we decided to give it a miss and sleep as long as we could. After breakfast we went for a walk to the main part of the city and marvelled at the wonderful English architecture which has survived here and had an encounter with an interesting bookseller. We were exhausted by our big walk, so spent a lazy afternoon sleeping and reading, then joined some others in the bar, where we had more drinks than we had intended and ended up with room service watching the Australian TV channel.

Both cricket teams are staying at The Taj, so there is heaps of security around there. This morning, after breakfast, we did a city tour and drove past the ground which is about 15 minutes walk from our hotel. It is going to be a challenge tomorrow – no bags, food, drink, umbrellas, cameras, radios, etc – yourself, your wallet and your ticket are about all that will be allowed into the stadium. We don’t know yet where our seats are, can only hope they are reserved and under cover. Tomorrow has been declared a Public Holiday in India and there is much excitement everywhere – the news broadcasts are all full of the game and conversation flows if you are prepared to chat about the wonders of Sachin Tendulkar!

Our tour included a visit to a public laundry, Gandhi’s home, the museum, the Floating Gardens (built over the city’s water supply) and a handicrafts store. We have bought nothing except books so far – two in Sri Lanka and two here. Afterwards we had lunch with Maurie & Norma in the coffee lounge and are resting now in preparation for dinner at the Indian Cricket Club tonight, which will be our final meal as a group. We leave here on Sunday, the rest go on Monday morning, either back to Australia or to various other parts of India, except for Keith Stackpole, who is spending 24 hours in Singapore, so we may catch up with him while we are there. I’ll be in touch again once we get to Singapore.