Dear Friends, what a week we have all had. Wes and I set off for Sydney last Friday only to discover on arrival that Viva had been taken to hospital with pneumonia. We had been met by Jane Knox, such a lovely surprise, and after deciding we would stay for the weekend, we were driven to our hotel in record time. Jane went back to work; we took deep breaths, and went for a walk to Circular Quay. We had a glass of wine at the Oyster Bar and then went to see “Oranges and Sunshine”, which was a very interesting film with some great acting performances, especially by Hugo Weaving. Kathy & Ged had recommended the film – thank you. Our only criticism would be that it is rather one-sided in its view.
That night, Wes caught the bus to the North Annandale pub to meet up with Terry McDonald, while I decided to have a quiet night in the hotel with room service watching Essendon and Hawthorn live on TV. Wes had a great night, and was delighted to have finally been to the pub and met some of Terry’s friends.
Jane, Karen, Wes & Terry at the North Annandale where the AFL was on TV
The next day we kept in constant contact with Leanne and Peter. Jane collected us and we drove to Darling Harbour where we met David and Terry for breakfast before David went to work at Fairfax, which is a short walk away. The restaurant was forgettable, but we had a lovely time catching up. We then went for a long walk along the promenade and Terry showed us the Immigration Wall where his grandfather and father are listed. I had a chance to ring and speak with Viva and she sounded good, although a little worried that she was unwell enough to be in hospital.
Terry at the Maritime Museum Migration Wall
Jane then drove us via our hotel, to Terry’s home, where he picked up his ticket to the footy and then took us for a drink at the North Annandale pub. Now we’ve all been there. Jane even found a friend, Paul, which impressed Terry a lot. We still had a couple of hours before we needed to go to the footy, so decided to see the Archibald Exhibition. We didn’t agree with the Margaret Olley painting as winner, much preferred the People’s Choice of J M Coetzee. I loved the painting of “DA”; the much-hated compiler of Saturday’s cryptic, now getting a whole new audience in “Letters and Numbers”
We parked at Jane’s Chambers, and then caught the train to the Olympic Stadium, where the Swans played like men possessed and the Magpies were lucky to get away with a one goal win. Home on the train – the public transport is so well done here for the footy and your ticket entitles you to free trains or buses to the ground, and we sat in the bar at the Sir Stamford over a couple of nightcaps.
On Sunday morning, we were met by John Macaulay and his wife, Laura Vazquez Maggio, and we walked to Circular Quay for breakfast at the Oyster Bar. John was a Rotary Exchange student back in Brunswick Rotary days and Wes and I have always been very fond of him. It was a fight to get a young boy from a low-income family in Kyneton (John at 16 had left home and was living in Brunswick) to be accepted, but he was and went on a life-changing trip to Brazil. John picked up the bill in one of the smoothest actions we have ever seen – you have to be quick to beat Wes to the punch and John won hands down. His wife, Laura, is wonderful and we enjoyed catching up on each other’s lives and sharing their obvious happiness.
John & Laura on their wedding day last year
When we got to the airport we tried to get an earlier flight, but Tiger Airlines had cancelled all their flights that day and Qantas was overbooked everywhere. We eventually arrived in Melbourne and set off for the hospital. We discovered that Carlton was losing to West Coast, much to Wes’s dismay. Leanne had warned us that Viva was confused and we found that was the case when we visited. She was OK half the time and we had a good chat and were pleased to see she was being looked after so well.
The next day I collected Bilbo and Frodo from Ballarat as Wes and Barbara were off for a “Hepburn Voices” meeting at Café 3460. Kim was in big trouble as we had read that he provided lamb cutlets with quince paste as part of the breakfast palette on Sunday, when Wes wasn’t there to appreciate them!
On Tuesday morning I drove to Melbourne to visit Viva. She was not at all well and it was an upsetting visit, but Leanne had prepared me. The hospital decided to move her closer to the nurses’ station and I begged them to do it quickly, which they did. That afternoon I had a massage and treatment with Ann to help improve my energy levels and I think it is working!
It was wonderful to play Mah Jong with Carol, Dot and Valerie on Wednesday morning. Wes and Barbara had another “Hepburn Voices” interview so we were ships passing in the night that day. Leanne rang to say she thought Viva was on the improve, which was very reassuring. We visited again on Thursday and found her much improved. Wes had lots of family history stories and I brought her a small box of pink gerberas as there is no space for flowers, but I thought she would enjoy looking at them for as long as they survived.
Yesterday Nicole gave me an overdue fringe cut and henna, while Wes spent time with David Hall, in between preparing for his role of MC at last night’s Rotary Changeover dinner at the Daylesford Inn. There were 90 in attendance and Wes did a great job as there are always lots of egos to be massaged at these events. Lesley Baragwanath was presented with an Award for the huge membership increase in our Club during her year. She has done a great job getting 15 new members and only losing 4.
Our new President, Jim Swatman, is an Irishman with a wonderful sense of humour and we are looking forward to a fun year under his leadership. Wes and I are back to doing the Bulletin and Wes got up very early this morning to get it done. I walked the boys for the first time in six weeks to give him more time as we were then on the gates of the Farmers Market until 10.45am. It was a great morning – Jim turned up, as well as Garry, Carmel, John and Fred and the Lake House had a party of 120 visitors who had won a competition – that really swelled the numbers, and when the sun came out, people poured in. We had a quick cuppa together to warm up in front of the fire at “Gracenotes Café” before Wes got changed, collected Barbara and drove to Melbourne for the footy. He is having a very relaxing afternoon as Carlton is ahead by over 100 points.
I have proofed the Bulletin, cooked two separate meals for our dinner tonight, baked a cake, written the Dispatch and am about to tackle a mountain of ironing. Tomorrow I will leave breakfast early to visit Viva and then go to the MCG to see Collingwood take on Hawthorn in a danger game for us. My sister, Paun, has arrived from Tathra and Viva and Leanne are both delighted to see her. Peter has the flu and will fly down from Canberra as soon as he recovers. Wes, Barbara, Judi and Michael are off to the Williamstown Little Theatre for a play in the afternoon, so the boys will have plenty of time on their hands to get up to mischief!
Squiz in 1978 at Paul Danaher’s Tie Burning – hope he still has the hat!
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