Daylesford Winter Dispatch - Sunday, 21st July 2024

 
There's a little bit of Sally in Snoopy I suspect!

It was bitterly cold when we set off for the Daylesford Market last Sunday, but everyone was cheery and hopeful that it would be busy as it was the last day of Victorian School Holidays. Afterwards we drove to Trentham to pick up Dutch Cream potatoes from a farm-gate stall and came back home for tea & toast.

We spent School on Monday morning working our way through our e-wallet, which holds all our details including passwords & pins, trying to update those entries that still used our bigpond addresses, to our gmail addresses. As anyone knows who has set out to change passwords, pins or emails, a small task turns into a slow, frustrating one, while you wait for confirmation emails or texts to allow you to continue what you are doing. Fortunately we kept our sense of humour and achieved what we needed to do. without too much swearing or giving up in disgust!

The next day was one of those frustrating ones where things don't seem to go right. I was up early to chat on Zoom with Leanne, before driving to Springs Medical Centre in pouring rain for my 9am podiatry appointment. At 9.30am, when Peter had still not appeared, the reception staff tried to find him, but were unsuccessful. He lives in Castlemaine, about 30 minutes away, and I was worried he had been involved in an accident. Eventually, I decided to go back home, as I had to try & get a reserved seat for the Collingwood/Carlton game in August at 10am. 

Collingwood & Carlton teams before the earlier match in May

We were expecting our new TV at 11am, but when Wes rang Tim to check on it, Tim had no idea where the TV was, and couldn't give us a new delivery time. I headed off to an appointment with my optician, Sarah, and told her I'd had enough things go wrong & I didn't want any bad news. She apologised and said that my left eye had deteriorated in the year since I saw her, and I would have to start wearing distance glasses, as well as new reading ones!

Things improved in the afternoon when Tim & Eric arrived to install the new TV in the lounge, move the lounge TV into the main bedroom, and put the bedroom TV downstairs into the Guest room. They did all that in 75 minutes, including putting a Google Chromecast on the downstairs one, which will be great when Wes is unwell and sleeps there, or if we have any overnight visitors.

Perfect for watching TV in bed!

On Wednesday, Judi was unable to play Mah Jong. While Wes worked in the garden, I took Morse with me to deliver newspapers to Spring Park Nursery; Epicures & The Local to Nick & Robyn in Porcupine Ridge; pumped mineral water at Leitches Creek; bought worming tablets at PETstock; dropped into Daylesford Hardware to buy an antenna splitter from Tim, which will enable us to watch TV stations from the new TV as well as via Foxtel; dropped in more beanies & berets to the Salvos Op Shop, and collected 6 freshly made vegetarian pasties from Leonie at Muffins & More. Wes appreciated being able to work without disruption, and Morse loves going for a drive with the heater on and a window down in case he wants to look at the  kangaroos, cows or ducks that we see along the way. 

The next morning, after my regular Zoom with Old Friends, Wes & I went to The Convent to catch up with Gillie Gough and celebrate her birthday over brunch. We heard her news and enjoyed our meals, and were delighted when Steve Doyle and Bill Guest came into the café for morning tea. They joined us at our table and we spent time hearing about their recent trip to England, and cruise to the battlefields of France & Belgium, where they unexpectedly met up with our Sydney friends, Jane & David Knox.

Steve & Bill looking just as pleased to see us as we were to see them at Bad Habits café

Wes suggested breakfast at Pancho on Friday morning, and it was a lovely thing to do. The new owners haven't changed too much, and the meals are just as yummy, if not more so. The only downside if you go as a group of friends is that they no longer split bills. I understand that for a large group, but when it is two or three, the previous owners were always understanding. 

Karen about to tackle her cheese omelette - we were sitting by the fire, looking out the window, where it was getting colder by the minute!

Yesterday was cold, grey & wet. Perfect weather to sit by the fire and read Saturday's Age newspaper before turning on the football. I had a ticket to Collingwood's game against Hawthorn at the MCG, but didn't have the energy to cope with the travelling to & fro, so returned it to enable another 50-year member to have a good seat under cover. And what a good move that was! The Pies were completely outclassed by the Hawks, and never looked likely, having kicked only one goal by half-time.