Park Run

 Saturday 21-12-2024

7:00 AM park run.  This was mostly a walk.

First looking at an atlas to consider the pre Marcus & Sophie wedding.  Spending two or three weeks just touring Turkey is sounding like the go.  

Bought Christmas ham.

Washed Magnus as she is scratching a lot.  Used medicated shampoo but this has made no difference.

tue10 Dec LOW

Feeling a bit low. 

No logic to it. 

BGRC AGM

Got an award from BGRC for services to rowing. 

Bit of a software challenge at work. 

Nice row in a 4 this morning with cooky, 7 and crafty.

Lovely coffee with Phoebe this morning. 

Weekend was lovely with Phoebe 

So not sure why I'm feeling low. 

Often wonder why I get feeling flow. 

I wonder about others who always seem to have it together. 

 

I ponder why marriages fail.  why emotions go the way they do.  

communication.  feelings. 

forgiveness

how does one go from love through some kind of steady as she goes 

how do you get it back into some kind of love thing. passion. dates. 

Sat7 Sun8

SATURDAY 7

5:30 Drove down the GC to take Mags to the off lead beach.

Breakfast in the form of a croissant Benny.

11:30 home.

Chris modding his Nissan. Heavy duty suspension. 

Over to Phoebe's and Fletch and I moved the washing machine upstairs and onto her verandah. 

6:30 Ben and Rachel's Christmas dinner. Beautiful but very rich food. 

Interesting they have a 16? Yo black cat with similar mannerisms to Oreo in that he liked to just be near the action and when we moved,  he'd move shortly after.

SUNDAY 8

A bit of a sleep in so no erg.

7am coaching. 

Dropped into Mt O.

Bought some shirts.

Poor mags had to stay in the car. 

Over to DFO. 

Phoebe went in to look for socks as presents for her gym coaches. I got Mags out and we ran across the carport so she wouldn't burn her feet. 

Snooze

2:30 collected Phoebe

3:00 Phoebe's gym Christmas party at the Normanby. 

4 agreements

1 Do not make assumptions 

2 Be impeccable with your word

3 Don't take anything personally 

4 Always do your best

last 3 for dinner

Chris Dan Jemma came to dinner. 

This is likely the last Thursday with Jemma before she jets off for a year of adventure. 

Dinner was:

Steak, onion, Mushrooms, 

Sweet Potato, 

Lettuce, tomato, cucumber.

I had a tin of beetroot but upon opening, it looked a bit odd. Not the bright purple colour. A bit purple grey. No taste.  Threw it out. 

Jem may have a delayed departure because she is waiting on the EU work permit. Combined with complexity of air tickets through a on line booking service. 

Lime issue

 LIME

call 1800 861 305 in Australia

as

aaa

Note that Lime ended the ride.

Note that they knew my ride was  "In Progress"

And then they sent a warning.

Frustration is that the map does not show the no parking zones until AFTER you start a ride.

 

 

 

Qantas

 

Every time my phone beeps I think "ooh exciting someone wants to talk to me" but then I see it's Qantas

There's something....

Symbiotic?

Synonymous?

Serendipitous?

Expected?

Normal,

About receiving a message from Quantas as you know it will start with:"we are sorry...."

 

 

 

At the airport, tried for an earlier flight - no.  Tried for an exit isle - nope.  But they gave us each $30 in gift cards.

 

 

TUE - St Kilda

 Slept in.  Bit of a novelty.  Pack and checkout consequently somewhat rushed.

Walked down to Spencer St.  Stopped at 711 to charge the Myki card.  The operator indicated that they did not have the capability to do day tickets and directed me to the public transport hub in Spencer St Station.  They, like me, were perplexed but applied the $10.70 to each card as was expected.

Train 96 to St Kilda beach.

Coffee and a Ham Cheese Tomato Croissant.   The coffee was good but the croissant was only fair.  Phoebe had a salad sandwich that was all wet and soggy so she returned it and they made her a new one.  I think this part of the street is basically cakes.

Noticing it was now lunch time, we bought cake. 

Visited the comunal gardens.  So nice.  Had a fun and relaxed feel.  Actually reminded me of a grave yard with life.

A leg - confirmed by graveyard suspicion.

Frank assumes his usual position. 

It's all about Phoebe

Another less than successful internment.

They have a [removable] path to get wheelchairs to the waters edge.

Frank the mexican drug lord.  ha ha.

With the delay notifications from Qantas,

We sat here in the sun and ordered whisky.

MON - Bus Fun

 

"Doing" the great Ocean road...

By bus.

Goes like this:

On bus, man talks.

Drive, drive, drive,

Bus stops,

Everyone off,

Say awe,Take selfie, pee,

Get back on bus. Man talks.

Drive, drive, man talks, drive,

Bus stops,

Everyone off,

Say awe,Take selfie, pee,

Repeat

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mon- Great Ocean Road Bus

6:00 rise and shine

7:00 depart accommodation 

7:30 Bus

7:35 scheduled departure 

Cnr Flinders and Market

Packed:

Water

Puffer

Rain coat

Umbrella 

The driver is effervescent with an Italian or Greek accent.  He's very personable and chatted for ages as we got going. 

9am first stop. Looked at Emus. Noted that someone had corralled us tourists behind a fence and across a road with a second fence.  I assume this meant the Emus were relaxed enough to stay close. 

Tea bag and hot water with a small chocks muffin. Hit the spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUNDAY Church. Protest & Lume

8am Church - St Patricks

Venezuelan cafe

Coffee #2 at Babk

Fitzroy markets (in Rose st)

Rose St Markets

Protest March

Afternoon nap

Lime bike

3:30pm Lume.

Dinner at Boat  builders shed.

Walked home. 

Bought food for Mon.

And very very very naughty ice cream. 

Having spent Saturday paying homage to the rowing god, Sunday focus moved to the Christian God. 

The hot Melbourne weather had transformed to rain. Raincoats and umbrella packed in anticipation were pressed into action. 

Took tram 109 and alighted just near St Patricks cathedral. 

Sometimes when rowing, especially if the sun is in my eyes, I'll close them. Then feel the boat. The rhythm. Up and down the slide. In and out. Am I in time. Do I hear my oar go in and out at the same time. Do I feel the push with my legs at the same time. 

In church, sat with my eyes closed. The hushed sounds of people coming in and sitting. Eyes no longer distracted by the art, beauty, bigness and majesty. 

Reflected: It's not often in this modern life that one takes time out to think of others. 

Although I'm not familiar with the catholic liturgy and they didn't provide a script, I did enjoy the solemnity. At the end we lit a candle each and as one places it, one is supposed to say a prayer for someone. 

Then on to the self indulgence of the coffee god. Coffee#1 at a Venezuelan cafe along with salad and bacon and eggs. Apparently one should have it in a "pocket" which we only discovered after we'd ordered. Coffee #2 at Babka who claim best lemon tart.

LYGON ST

walked along Lygon St. 

Looked at book shops

Dress shops.

Received a phone call from Angus thanking me for video. 

Hopped on tram to go home. 

It was diverted for the protest.

Observed Palestinian flags.  Hopped off the tram. 

PROTEST MARCH 

By good luck, we arrived at the protest as the march was about to begin. 

A pro Palestine march.

A topic close to my heart.  

I wonder why such events never show on the mainstream news. 

I wonder why people seem to quietly accept the murderous actions of the Israeli military. Looks like a scorched earth annihilation to me. 

I was impressed that the police facilitated and seemed to play a straight bat.  

It was interesting to see a group of Jews marching in defence of Palestine.

AFTERNOON NAP

So tiring being a tourist. 

took a 

Lime bike to

3:30pm LUME

Awesome but expensive at $139.60 for the two of us. 

The program was Leonardo Divinci.

Replicas of various things he designed and an awe inspiring AV.

DINNER at Boat  builders shed.

Walked home. 

Bought food for Mon.

And very very very naughty ice cream

2024 HOTY

I did not get to row this year.  Was pretty sad but Phoebe and I made the most of it. Turned it into a great weekend. 

We hired Lime bikes.  A bit of melodrama with both accounts but eventually we managed to get two bikes with full batteries and helmets.

Misjudged the time and thought we'd missed the start and raced off and then realised the error and did a u turn.

VIDEO F crew

https://youtu.be/9W1PbbGy90A?si=Wfzrfcxcl6jRxmes

VIDEO D crew

https://youtu.be/aV5bZIP87so?si=6u2OVRHIY3-Z37-C

Pub crawl On the way home.

FRI MEL ride and row

The day started with a coffee across the road from our hotel. We then walked through the atrium of the "Rialto intercontinental Melbourne". Beautiful restoration. 

Joined Phoebe up to Lime.

Took Lime bikes and after a quick learn to ride on city streets, we rode along the Yarra to Hawthorne. 

Observed John Tanahill suiting up with a non Grammarian crew. Said hello and the next thing I knew, I was recruited.  Had to go and park the bike which was about 100m away. 

This was a mixed crew rowing a river city women's boat. Maddie who coxed my boat last year was in 6 seat. I was in 4 seat replacing someone who seemed to have gone AWOL. 

Then onto "Young & Jackson" hotel for 3 schooners of [Great Northern Beer] "Supercrisp" and a burger with the Grammarian F crew.

Back to the hotel for a snooze. 

On the way bought a very nice but naughty I've cream. 

coffee across the road from our hotel.

Rialto intercontinental Melbourne

 

 

Young & Jackson Hotel.  Chloe is behind me.