Dear
Friends, on Friday morning my computer died, so I am sending this on our laptop
in the hope that it will reach you all safely. I was about to drive to
Melbourne, so Wes undertook to replace the computer and should arrive midweek.
I suspect that our frequent power blackouts have contributed to its demise, but
fortunately Wes’s computer is OK. We had been resisting Windows 8, but now we
can’t avoid it.
Today
Bilbo & I are off to do shopping at Coles, then the Sunday Market, before
heading to breakfast at The Food Gallery.
I have woken with more energy than I had yesterday, and hope to get a little
more done today.
I
last wrote on Tuesday, when we were busy catching up on the garden, the washing
& the house, as well as making sure that Bilbo was OK after his visit to Eureka
Kennels. We are now quite convinced that Bilbo is much better than before he
went, and is more accepting of his life as a single pet.
We
woke to more glorious rain on Wednesday and when Mah Jong was cancelled, I
decided to spend my time catching up on paperwork, emails and phone calls. Wes
worked in the garden in his Drizabone and gumboots before spending a few hours
with Barbara. They had lunch together, and then went to a specialty wound
clinic run by Springs Medical Centre before solving a few issues that had
appeared while we were away in Melbourne.
On
Thursday we celebrated 48 years since the day we met at St Therese’s Church Hall
dance on Easter Sunday night. We drove to Newbury to see the property Wes’s
cousin, Glenn Testro, has bought and will be moving into shortly. He is about 5
minutes out of Trentham, which we think he will love. We had decided to have
lunch in Trentham ourselves and tried out the newest eatery there – The Plough @ Trentham in the old
Trentham Hotel. We have been to The
Plough at Myrniong several times and really enjoyed it, and this is similarly
good. Our young waiter assured us that he is a junior partner in the business
and thrilled with his career choice. We were pleasantly surprised to see it was
already being well-patronised, especially with Annie Smithers at Du Fernier no longer offering lunch on
Thursdays.
Lovely photo of Wes at
the Plough with his 36-hour slow cooked beef
The
next morning I packed for an overnight stay with Danny and started my drive to
visit Leanne in Strathmore. When I reached Trentham I realised that I didn’t
have Danny’s front door key and as he would be out when I arrived, that I
couldn’t do much without it! Back home I drove collected the key and set off
again in the rain. Leanne & I spent a good few hours together before I
headed to Northcote. As I pulled up outside Danny’s place, I discovered his car
was parked there and he was at home.
We
had a cup of tea together, and then Danny left for drinks at Beacon Cove. He
had hoped to get to the footy, but the friend who invited him decided he didn’t
want to go as he thought Richmond would lose. I caught the train into town and
saw The Grand Budapest Hotel at The Kino. I found the film very
disappointing in spite of Ralph Fiennes, who is a favourite of mine. There were
some funny moments but we had seen them all in the trailer and the film seemed
a bit pointless and directionless to me. I think the audience was evenly
divided between those who liked it and those who, like me, were underwhelmed.
When
I got to the MCG I met up with David Lazzaro and we had a drink and chat before
the game, then sat back and enjoyed Collingwood’s fairly easy win over
Richmond. It was good to see the whole team play well and to see some
improvement in the younger players in particular.
I
left about 10 minutes before the end, in the hope I would catch an earlier
train to Northcote and miss the crowd crush. I just missed my train and had a
30 minute wait for the next by which time the station was jam-packed and
blocked back up to the bridge. There was no parking around the MCG because of
the rain, so the normal train service couldn’t cope with the extra passengers.
People got very agitated, upset and abusive and it was a most unpleasant
experience. I was very relieved to get home, where Danny & I had a
celebratory drink together.
Yesterday
morning, we had an early breakfast at the new Red Door Corner Store café in Northcote, that had been highly
recommended. We enjoyed our food and pots of tea, at but didn’t feel we were
their target audience at all. Your first impression is so important and as we
walked in the door at 7.59am the barista glared at us and said you’re early, but you might as well sit
down. All the outside tables were in position, the waitresses were ready,
the water was boiling & the chef was ready to go, but we were 60 seconds
early!
I
drove back here to wish Wes good luck before he and Barbara drove to the MCG in
the hope that Carlton would beat Melbourne. Sadly that wasn’t to be – Melbourne
looked much more determined and seem to be able to stick to their game plan at
last, whereas the Carlton players looked hesitant and scared of making
mistakes. As Wes said, it could be a very long year for the Blues.
Gabby & Fraser
Gibson having an early birthday celebration in New York.
Our
dear friend, David Knox, has broken his collar-bone in a surfing mishap – we are
thinking of him and hope he is coping with the awful pain, and the forced
inactivity of the next 6 weeks or so as he recovers.
I
hope to be back to normal next Sunday, but just in case I am not, I’ll wish you
a very Happy Easter now.
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