Wow! New Year’s Eve already – where has this week gone? We started
with breakfast at Boathouse last
Sunday morning & enjoyed another beautiful meal with great service from
Susanne & Claire. The day was spent doing all the last-minute things that
crop up & I packed my bag for the Stamford
Plaza & the Boxing Day Test.
Wes was worried that Barbara would be on her own on Christmas Day,
but fortunately his sister, Denise, had realised that & invited her to join
them for lunch, which was very thoughtful of her. At night on Christmas Eve, we
three had dinner at Jackie’s on Vincent,
and enjoyed our meals there. On the way we were tooted by Janine & Paul
Hawker, who were on the way to Lake
House for dinner with friends.
Christmas Day dawned fine & cool & we packed our little
Mazda 2 with presents, pudding, roses & running away bag & headed off
to Strathmore for lunch with my sister, Leanne, brother, Peter & his wife, Anka.
We had spent the morning making & receiving lovely phone calls & gave
Bilbo a big marrow bone (thanks Judi & Michael) as we left.
Lunch was a big success – Peter & Anka provided antipasto from
David Jones; which was followed by roast pork, salads & sauces made by
Leanne (with Anka cooking mushroom gnocchi for Peter & I), & we
finished up with plum pudding & brandy butter.
Me cutting into the
pud – only complaint was the lack of sixpences – I put 20 in, but only 5 were found!
At 3.30pm we packed our car with the presents we had been given;
some pudding (after giving out generous doggie bags); a box of cherries from
Leanne; Christmas lilies from Anka, and headed off to town to drop me at my
hotel.
I had asked for a quiet room & got my wish with a lovely newly
renovated QS room overlooking Little Collins Street on the 12th
floor, far from street & restaurant noise.
Christmas lilies
still going strong here yesterday
After unpacking I went for a walk around town, looked at the Myer
Christmas windows & visited my favourite church (since I was a child), St
Francis, in Lonsdale Street. The church was bursting at the seams with Filipino
families enjoying a special mass.
Next morning, I walked to the MCG early & got a great seat in
the Balcony, before meeting Peter & Anka for breakfast at European, where once again the service
is disappointing & nothing like what it was for so many years. We had a
lovely time together chatting about Christmas lunch before we headed off to the
MCG & Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test, which attracted over 88,000 fans, even
though the Ashes were already won by Australia.
Great photo of Anka
& Peter at breakfast
I sat next to a Ballarat man, whose son is technical director of
the MCG scoreboards – a job he fell into by chance & has maintained for the
last 20 years – doing footy & cricket & corporate & private
functions. The Liberal on my other side was very critical of John Cain, former
Premier of Victoria & had no idea until I told him, that without John Cain
in 1983, women would not have had equality in sporting clubs. He, of course,
bemoaned the loss of his Lady’s ticket, so perhaps he hadn’t turned it into a
permanent female membership by making his wife a member as he would have been
invited to do at the time.
Australia was on top after Day 1, but the Barmy Army didn’t stop
supporting the Poms, who would have gain great heart from their backing which
was audible around the ground all day.
That night I was wandering around Russell Street & spotted my
brother, Peter, so we headed off for Little Bourke Street as I was keen to eat
at 369 in Exhibition Street. Sadly,
lots of Chinese restaurants were closed & we both ended up at Empress of China, where Peter was able
to get take-away for himself & Anka & I was ordered get chili prawns
& a glass of wine (total cost $30), when the waiters finally spotted the
lone female sitting in the corner out of the way. (It did help that Peter came
over to say goodbye to me & three waiter magically materialised)!
The next morning, I met Kathy & Ged Lazzaro plus Lovely &
Malcolm Stevenson for breakfast at Square
& Compass in Clarendon Street. We had a fun time together catching up
with everyone’s Christmas Day, before it was time for Ged & me to walk to
the MCG in time for the day’s play. It was an exciting day with the Poms on top
for once, courtesy of Alastair Cook’s unbeaten century in front of another
great crowd of nearly 68,000.
That night I went to 369
& enjoyed Hunan chili prawns with a glass of wine & watched the excited
tables of families having an early meal before going to see Aladdin, The Book of Mormon or Dream
Lover.
On Thursday, I met Danny Millman & Tan Kim Hock for breakfast
at Square & Compass early before
they headed off to Bendigo, where Kim had a job interview. It was a good day’s
cricket with Alastair Cook becoming the highest scoring visitor to the MCG with
244*, which is also the highest score at the G for an opener carrying his bat.
Meanwhile, back in Daylesford, Wes took Denise, Barry & Barbara
to Lavandula for lunch, which they enjoyed sitting in the shade & catching
up with the owner, Carol White, one of the three most influential women in
Daylesford – the other two being Alla Wolf-Tasker of the Lake House & Tina Banitska, who started the Convent Gallery.
You can guess what I did that night – off to 369 (previously Yum Cha Café) for spicy chili fish (their signature
dish), before I went to David Jones to buy a top for the next day’s cricket. It
was so hot that I hadn’t been able to recycle clothes the way I had hoped!
Breakfast the next morning & yesterday was coconut mango chia
at Square & Compass by myself. I
think this is my favourite of their many, yummy dishes.
I spent the entire lunch break with Loud Gayle, sitting on the
couch in the Long Room, catching up over bubbles. It was a most enjoyable 40 minutes
& I was pleased that my new top passed muster as the dress code can be very
strict depending on who is on the door!
Rain stopped play mid-afternoon, which must have been very
frustrating for the Poms, and I headed off to the Kino to see the only film on at that time, The Greatest Showman, with Hugh Jackman. I was entertained, but not
overawed – this is definitely not one of those films you must see.
During my final meal at 369,
I decided it would be best to give Day 5 a miss & ask Wes to collect me
late morning from my hotel yesterday. He was happy to do that & arrived
around 11.15am, which gave me time to go shopping for a new travel handbag. I
tried Myer & David Jones, but they didn’t have anything suitable, but I was
successful at Strandbags, which has been on the corner of Bourke & Swanston
Streets for years & has a great array of luggage & accessories
downstairs.
It is always good to come home, even if washing & ironing is the
order of the day. Bilbo was thrilled to see me & I was delighted to be able
to pick bunches of roses for most rooms in the house & inspect the growth on
the tomatoes – no red ones yet!
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