More boats and birds

After a lovely chat with Liesel, who’s still in sub-zero Anchorage, I returned to Manly where I enjoyed coffee and a chunky choc chip cookie for breakfast.

Pauline and I met at Three Beans again for coffee and toast and Helen joined us after her appointment. It was a wee bit cooler today and quite windy. Nevertheless, we persevered: Helen fed Keiran and then drove us up to North Head.

There is now virtually no sign of the fires that took place in 2020 and we enjoyed a wander around the headland, gazing out to sea, enjoying the cooling breeze. Well, I was. Pauline would have been wearing a fur coat if one were available. She looked around for a kangaroo to skin, but no such luck. Instead, she just wrapped herself in one of Keiran’s blankets.

Back at the Mall, we had smoothies at Girdlers. Pauline went back home with Helen while I got a few more steps in before returning to my b&b to nap, read and write.

Brent has a new job and is in Melbourne for a few days on some sort of induction course.

And tonight’s dinner was Indian, at Shandar Tandoori, very nice food and not too hot and spicy. It was a windy night.

Helen again picked me up from the car park at Officeworks. While waiting, I came across a plaque commemorating the traffic lights at this busy crossroads, Pittwater Road, Harbord Road and Warringah Road. What’s so special about these lights? They were the 1000th to be commissioned in New South Wales, back in 1974.

It reminded me of when Sarah, 2-year old Jenny and I visited Alice Springs. The locals were still celebrating the fairly recent installation of their very first set of traffic lights!

I was enjoying Crypt by Alice Roberts, about disease and death in the medieval period. So imagine my surprise, nay, my shock when, at 75%, the next page was the Epilogue. Followed by acknowledgements, references and a very comprehensive index. In fact, so comprehensive, I looked to see if my own name was in it. So 25% of the book took me just a couple of minutes to flick through. I can recommend it as a fascinating read, but remember, it ends properly at 75%!

After my usual bowl of cereal at the b&b, I walked up the road in Dee Why to meet Helen. While sitting on a bench, I was thoroughly entertained. There was a bird repeatedly whistling the first line of ‘Happy birthday to you’. And from the library itself, the children were singing some well-known songs including ‘The Hokey Cokey.’

I met Helen and Keiran after their Baby Sensory session and we (!) drove up the road to collect Pauline from her accommodation. Hers was a shorter visit than mine, and today was her last in Aus on this trip.

But, more exciting than any of this, was, I received a message from WordPress, the hosts of this mickandlieselsantics stuff. It’s our 8 year anniversary, woohoo! So much nonsense. ‘Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging.’ Oh, alright then.

After a cup of tea at Helen’s, while Keiran slept, Pauline and I caught the bus to Manly. Thanks for the lift down the road, Helen! I’d forgotten that Pauline’s case has a wheel missing: that’s why when I tried to help pull it, I kept walking around in circles.

In Manly, of course, it’s funny how we both fancied something as simple as toast and jam (me) or toast and peanut butter (she). One more visit to Three Beans then, where there was no accidental spillage today but we did get to know the Danish barista who’s here in Aus for a year on a work visa, didn’t like Melbourne because it was too cold and is planning to travel more. A great Dane enjoying her own adventure.

Perfect timing at the wharf, we caught the ferry with just a couple of minutes to spare. Strangely, the voyage today was more bumpy than a few days ago when there was a storm brewing.

Docked in the harbour was a huge cruise ship, Cardinal Adventure. Look at the size of it compared with Sydney Harbour Bridge:

2,600 passengers being served by 1,100 crew members. Later on in the day, I watched it depart, one tugboat at the stern, one at the bow. Well, that looks like a job I could do, guiding 109,000 tonnes of metal through Sydney Harbour.

I accompanied Pauline to the train station. My mission, which I chose to accept, was to make sure she caught the correct train, the one going to the airport. It was a hasty farewell, no idea when we’ll meet again, or where.

I walked around Circular Quay, towards and past Sydney Opera House. It’s a busy place and I lost count of how many different languages I heard spoken.

My goal was to reach Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, over there on the far headland. But the weather beat me, I’m sorry to say. Still, I made a couple of new friends in the Botanic Gardens.

Yes, it must have rained at some point, but I was oblivious to it.

I’d forgotten how many stairs there are at the Opera House. Up and down like a whor- like a  yoyo, still, it’s all good exercise. And however often I see it, I am really impressed by the architecture, so different to anything else.

Any other bird sightings? Well, yes. Seagulls. And then back in Manly, these two beauties:

It has to be said, though, that since I’ve been here in Aus, I have seen very few smokers and vapers, so much more pleasant and civilised than in Manchester. (Whinge of the day?)

I returned to Dee Why library to write some more in what is now the ninth year of this thing. I definitely didn’t go inside just to try and stay cool, oh no. And in the evening, I met up with Helen and Keiran and friends Nat, Jacqui, Jo, Mike and Nicky for Trivia at Freshwater Brewing Company.

It was a fun quiz, general knowledge, and our team, Norfolk ‘n’ Chance, scored 25 out of 30. Not bad, we were in the top half of the league table, beaten by a few other teams. So here’s a quiz question: in this picture, Jacqui is aiming what at Keiran? (a) A hairdryer, (b) a fan or (c) a handheld speed camera? Answers on a postcard…

Almost as soon as Pauline had arrived, last week, she mentioned that there were a couple of books by Simon Winchester that she’d like to read, but couldn’t find anywhere. I helped her track them down online and she ordered them. The seller wouldn’t post to New Zealand, so they were addressed to Helen’s place here in Brookvale. Fingers crossed they’d arrive before Pauline departed.

Well, of course they didn’t. They were delivered the day after she left. My mission, which I chose to accept, was to send them on to my sister in Christchurch. So early in the morning, I walked down to the Post Office, bought an envelope, packed the books, and queued to pay. Juliet looked at me with pity. I’d failed to fill in the customs slip. Only it’s not a customs slip. You have to scan the QR code and fill in an online form. Not the best user experience ever. Under ‘Description’, I entered the word ‘Books’ instead of ‘Book’. That confused it. And the phone number field wasn’t long enough for my UK number, so I had to give it Helen’s Aussie number. So Helen will get the tracking info. Thank goodness Juliet was so patient with this befuddled pommie bastard, still redesigning the user interface in my head.

I was, however, able to enter my own email address, and it didn’t surprise me when a couple of days later, I received a message from the Aussie Post Office asking about my experience. Well, where do I start?                                                                                  
I met Helen in the Mall for lunch. She chose sushi, I had a Subway sandwich.

Helen had some shopping to do, and I accompanied her. In Myer, I couldn’t resist testing out the furniture. Unbeknownst, I was caught on candid camera.

Actually, Keiran was in a pretty good mood and I was more than happy to have cuddles.

After Helen went home, I thought I’d visit the Library in the Mall, it would be nice and cool in there, right? And I could read my book for a while, right? Well, no. Disappointingly, it was hot and humid in there too, not relaxing at all. That didn’t deter the students already there, but it did deter me. So I bought myself dinner, ate it alfresco and returned to my b&b.