Daylesford Dispatch - Sunday, 2nd September 2012

 

Dear Friends, happy Spring – let’s hope we continue to enjoy this little bit of sunshine for a change. I emptied 50mls from the gauge on Friday morning, after the deluge of the night & day before.

We started the week with a wonderful experience – on Monday I did supermarket shopping for Viva & Leanne, while Wes had an appointment with Marjorie. We dressed up, drove to Melbourne, delivered the shopping and then headed to the MCG for our first Bradman Lunch in the MCC. We came away feeling we had never been to a better sports function – as always the staff were attentive, without being pushy, the food & drink were an excellent standard & the entertainment was incomparable. Gerard Whateley was compere, which he performed in the Tony Charlton mould, and it was lovely to see Tony there as a guest.

The lunch commenced with the unexpected treat of two beautiful arias sung by Greta Bradman accompanied by a pianist. We were two tables from the front, right in the middle, so we had a great view. She was followed by a tribute to the Don from Gerard, a short witty speech from Paul Sheahan, an even shorter & wittier speech by Max Walker, and finally, after the main course, we were treated to Wayne Phillips, the South Australian & Australian batsman/wicket-keeper. His delivery was impeccable, his timing perfect and everyone in the room was laughing until they cried. He finished well before we were finished with listening to him, and I suggest very strongly that if he is a speaker anywhere, go and hear him.

 

We had parked under the MCG, and got away from lunch around 3.30pm, which saw us arrive home safely before the worst of the traffic. We didn’t stop talking about what we had seen & heard – it was so good.

On Tuesday Wes went to help Barbara with her new computer and ended up spending all day there as she encountered the usual sorts of problems you get and his help was much appreciated. They cancelled hydro and spent 5 hours on the phone to HP instead. He came back home to a good draught of whisky and a yummy mushroom pasta dinner.

The next day Nicole came to do my hair which had been postponed so I could take Leanne to hospital, and then I had my nails done. Meanwhile Wes went to get his haircut in Ballarat, but there was a long queue, so he came home and visited Denise who needed his advice. Then he attended a discussion at Council on what to do to improve Lake Daylesford, and Central Springs Reserve in particular. We had a very successful Art Show meeting, with lots of sponsors committing to us. Wes headed off to Rotary and I went to bed early.

We dedicated all of Thursday to the Art Show as we had lots of submissions to put before potential sponsors, as well as acknowledge those who had already committed. Wes & I are very lucky to have such a great team on our Committee and everyone is pulling their weight. Brian Nash brought the 1^st prize in the raffle to us and we’ll just have to enjoy looking at it on our lounge for a while!

 

On Friday we decided to had earned a day off, so drove to Ballarat (as we have no jeweller in town these days) to get my bracelet & his watch repaired. We stopped at the new London Gallery & Café in the Rex Building, where we caught up with old friends, Donna & Kyle, over hot drinks. The café is very popular as it offers inexpensive lunches, but I am not sure about their choice of artworks.

In the afternoon we went to Barcaldine House Winery for the U3A Film Club showing of Bicycle Thief, a 1948 B&W Italian film that neither of us had heard of, but which is considered one of the best films of all time. It was a compulsive & harrowing small story about life in Rome after the war when there are no jobs and life is a matter of survival however you can.

Yesterday I shopped early for Viva & Leanne, then drove to Melbourne to deliver it to them, stopping in Puckle Street to pick up Webster packs & tablets as well. After a good visit, I drove to Northcote, to Danny’s place, where I had planned to stay overnight after the footy. Danny had a busy afternoon, so I caught the train into town and saw Hope Springs with Meryl Streep & Tommy Lee Jones. It was well-written & acted and I am pleased I saw it.

Danny & I met and enjoyed a lovely meal and chat in the Hugh Trumble café at the MCC, did a quick visit upstairs to see Loud Gayle, then grabbed our seats for a close encounter with the Bombers. We had hoped to win, but it wasn’t easy. At half-time we caught up with David Lazzaro, who, as usual, had an amusing perspective on the game. We were delighted to end up with a win and now face a stern test against Hawthorn on Friday night.

I drove back here early this morning in time for breakfast and now we are about to head into our next door neighbours’ place for a barbecue get-together of their friends and families. Then I think it will be a very quiet afternoon watching Carlton play St Kilda. Wes had a very busy day yesterday with a big shift on the Farmers Market, coffee with Barbara & Annie, then working in the garden spreading manure around the roses etc….no doubt helped enormously by Bilbo & Frodo.