Somehow Snoopy wins all the battles with Charlie Brown
Last Sunday seemed to fly by and with the lovely weather, Wes was able to work in the front garden - weeding, trimming & watering, while I caught up on more paperwork, and enjoyed looking out onto the back garden as I did so. We have owned a bird-house, Fawlty Towers, for 10 years, and no bird has been interested in it until recently, when I reported seeing a crimson rosella popping in and out. The good news is that there are babies - I can hear them early in the morning when I am feeding their parents, along with the magpies and sparrows and wrens that flock to the area where I strew seeds, nuts & oats.
We were delighted to get some rain on Monday, after we walked Morse and before Wes went into the garden, and then after he finished weeding & trimming in the back. It was enough to give everywhere a good soak. Meanwhile I did the supermarket shopping, and then made brandy butter to go with the Christmas pudding we were taking to Leanne on Wednesday.
We had agreed not to buy gifts for each other this year as we really didn't need anything, but Wes thought I could do with a new Collingwood flag (true), and some Collingwood gear - a polo shirt, a T-shirt & two pairs of socks (also true). I was very grateful and am especially pleased with the new flag as the old one was getting a bit tatty!
On Christmas Eve we both needed to go into Vincent Street and were amazed at how busy it was early. Everyone looked slightly manic - Tonna's had opened early and it seemed as though every car was heading there; the pharmacy had our prescriptions ready just after they opened, so must have been working hard behind the scenes, and Coles was so busy it was impossible to get a park within cooee.
Wes cooked a lovely Christmas Eve lunch for us both - prawn entrée, followed by baked trout with vegetables, and somehow we managed raspberries & yoghurt afterwards. He found a bottle of French champagne and we made our way through that as well. What a treat!
On Christmas morning we walked Morse early before coming home to pack for visiting Leanne, and for my stay in Melbourne at The Windsor. The roads were busy on the drive to Strathmore, but we arrived in time and had a lovely lunch together. Leanne had decorated everywhere and even had a tree. We had agreed not to buy gifts for each other, but to buy for the pets instead, and Morse was very spoilt with a new rug with his name on it, and lots of dried bones that he loves. We gave Smokey a super-duper cat scratcher that he loves. My younger sister, Paun, and her husband, Brian, had visited earlier on their way to Warragul to have lunch with Brian's mother, Una, who is 95 and still going strong.
Wes dropped me off at The Windsor, where I have a lovely room and am very comfortable, in spite of the heat of Boxing Day. He then drove home to Morse, who was very pleased to see him after such a long time away. Neither Wes nor I felt like eating after our big lunch, and I'm sure many of you felt the same way.
The cricket has been wonderful to watch and I've been lucky enough to have a good seat each day. The highlight was watching 19-year old Sam Konstas have the time of his life when he opened the batting for Australia and hit 4s & 6s off Bumrah's bowling before going out for an exciting 60 runs. Steve Smith then peeled off a century like old times and was extremely unlucky to play on when he reached 140. For the Indian team, their young opener, Jaiswal, was equally unlucky to be run out on 82, when Kohli was ball-watching and didn't realise he had run down the pitch.
I've had a lovely social time, starting with Boxing Day, when my sister, Paun, and her husband, Brian, joined me for breakfast. I hadn't seen them for a couple of years, and it was great to catch up. After breakfast, we walked together to the MCG as they had tickets for Day 1. They left the game at the tea interval and caught a flight to Perth to spend some time with their two elder sons, Liam & Warwick, who both live in Margaret River.
The next morning was the traditional catch up with Old Friends - Kathy & Gerard, Danny, Karen & Malcolm. We had a round table which always makes it easier to chat as a group and, although the Windsor was busy, they didn't shoo us away, and we had almost ninety minutes before it was time to go. Yesterday I met up with David Lazzaro and we enjoyed breakfast before walking to the G together where we saw an amazing century by young Nitish Kumar Reddy, who is only 21 and played brilliantly to put India in a much better position than they started the day.
This morning I am meeting up with another Old Friend, Squiz Murray, for breakfast before Day 4, which starts early at 10am. I had been wondering before I came to Melbourne how I would manage my eye drops, which have to be administered 4 times a day, with 5 minutes in between. Wes suggested I find a First Aid station at the MCG, which I did easily on Day 1 - in the members there is one in the basement & another on Level 4. Each day, I've gone in before start of play and again at the Tea interval, and on every occasion been looked after beautifully, as there are two beds and someone on hand to check I am alright after my 10 minutes lying down. The stations are well-provisioned for any emergency and also have plenty of sanitiser and factor 50 sunscreen available for anyone who needs them on tables outside.
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