It’s been a very busy week since I last wrote. Breakfast at
Boathouse Daylesford was yummy &
we were thrilled to have our neighbour, Rob Griffin, join us so we could hear
about his recent wonderful trip to the UK & France with his partner, Dene,
who was catching up on sleep, still jet-lagged after a busy week at work.
While I was watching the replay of the footy in the
afternoon, I received a very welcome phone call from Loud Gayle to say she was
99% sure of an MCC reserved seat for me if I would like it. I was thrilled to
bits, as I had been dreading the long, early queue for 9,000 seats on Grand
Final morning. She was able to confirm the seat on Monday afternoon & I was
very relieved indeed.
On Monday Judi & I caught up over a long late breakfast
at The Food Gallery. We had lots to
discuss, especially as Judi will be looking after our place during most weeks
while we are away. Our meals were yummy as usual & we do miss having
regular breakfasts at this café.
Wes & I fine-tuned our trip again that afternoon. Our
friends, Paul & Pauline Jackson, have booked us into Rick Stein’s restaurant
in Marlborough for our catch up with them, which is very exciting. Gillie had
given us some suggestions for Brussels & Venice that we have acted on &
the Sunday Age had a very timely list of 20 great things to do in Belgium,
which we needed to consult.
On the Tuesday afternoon, we had our first experience of
the bulk-bill surgery at our local medical centre. That was a great success –
we both saw Dr Kat, who took our blood pressure, wrote the prescriptions we
needed & furnished us with letters outlining our health issues for while we
were away.
Finally, it was Thursday morning & time to go to
Melbourne to meet Tom Tyrrell & Deborah Fowler for lunch at Crystal Jade in Little Bourke Street.
We left early to catch Collingwood’s training session, but couldn’t get within
cooee, so ended up parking in Parkville & catching the tram back into town.
We arrived an hour early for lunch and took the opportunity of checking out the
new Creswick Woollen Mills shop in the Block Arcade.
We both enjoyed spending time with Tom & Deb over a long,
leisurely lunch & then headed to Danny Millman’s house in Northcote, where
Wes was staying overnight & I had booked in until sometime yesterday!
A selection of Danny’s
very elegant decorations!
That night we had dinner at The Lomond pub in Brunswick & got ourselves into Grand Final
mode with lots of memories of games past.
Breakfast the next morning was at Square & Compass, about 10 minutes’ walk from the MCG with Jane
& David Knox & Gayle Gibson, who floated in with my reserved seat
ticket & stayed for a coffee.
Danny, Gayle, Wes
& David listening to Gayle happily holding the fort
After breakfast, Wes drove home, where he spent some time in
the garden before opening his early birthday gift of a new Tom-Tom. The previous
one was 10 years old & it is amazing how the technology has advanced in
that time. That night he took his sister, Denise Anderson; her partner, Barry Phipps,
& his friend, Barbara Simpson, to dinner at the Daylesford Bowling Club.
Meanwhile Jane, David & I walked to Jolimont Station
with Danny before heading back into town through the Fitzroy & Treasury
Gardens & watched the Parade from the start in front of the Old Treasury
Building.
Selfie in the
Conservatory in the Fitzroy Gardens
Afterwards we sat around together chatting over pots of
tea, before they headed back to their hotel & I caught the train back to
Northcote – all of us to rest before dinner. Danny & I had an early very yummy
Vietnamese meal locally & we tried to sleep in spite of terrible nerves
before the big game.
On Grand Final morning we had an early breakfast at Barry in Northcote & then I headed
to the MCG & Danny spent the rest of the morning preparing for his party
guests – 25 in all – family & partners & offspring. I found Gayle &
bought her an early glass of bubbles to thank her for my seat & we enjoyed
a great chat before it was time to head out of the ground again & find my
friend, David Lazzaro & his family. David’s wife, Helen, had won 2 tickets
to the game, which she used to take their son, Daniel. Their elder daughter,
Jess, was watching on the big screen outside Gate 3 with her boyfriend, Alec.
Finally, I walked around the perimeter of the MCG soaking in the atmosphere &
there was plenty of it.
My last catch-up was with an old friend, Josephine Ward,
who was sitting 10 rows behind me. While we were talking the chap behind us
(wearing Western Bulldogs gear) offered us blocks of chocolate that he had been
given at the station on arrival! When he discovered we were barracking for the
Magpies I thought we were going to have to give the chocolate back!
The footy was fantastic – one of the best Grand Finals I
have ever seen (& this was my 44th). I was so proud of
Collingwood, but we were beaten by the taller, stronger, high-marking side that
deserved to win at the end. I stayed around watching the presentations & clapping
the players until it was time to go.
What a lovely surprise to find all Danny’s offspring &
families still there when I got back to Northcote.
Greta, Pat, Lauren,
Celia & Danny – smiling despite the result!
I managed to down a couple of glasses of Prosecco while
chatting with everyone & catching up with their news.
We had a quiet, early night after everyone left & got
up early yesterday morning to finish off the cleaning up. Danny had done most
of it, but I was able to dry the good glasses & big dishes & hang out
washing before we headed up High Street yet again for breakfast.
Wes arrived just after midday to pick me up. He had watched
the game with Barbara on Saturday and gone to the Sunday Market & Sunday Breakfast
before driving to Northcote using the new Tom-Tom. Needless to say, it was a
rather quiet afternoon here – I did a huge load of washing before sitting down
to read the weekend papers from cover to cover.
This morning we woke early, cancelled the walk & got
cracking on all the chores that needed doing before I went to gym, where everyone
was sympathetic. Shortly after I got back home, our dear friend, Bill Longley,
arrived to return nine books, request some more, give us lemons, coriander
& olives as bribes, & then entertain us with stories from his very
interesting life for an hour or so. It is always good to see him & Wes was
happy to come in from the gardening to share a coffee & chat.
Beautiful cineraria &
primula in the Conservatory
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