So what have we been up to?

We went to the flat on Monday, via a visit to Tony in Cabrini, a trip to the supermarket and a quick dash in to buy some new sheets for the spare bed in the flat.  Tony was looking a bit better than we had heard on Sunday, but was still in the high dependency unit. They moved him later on Monday back into a single room.

We spent the evening at Simon's place for the usual Monday evening Steak Night

A typical Monday night plate

On Tuesday I went to the HSBC bank in Collins Street to open a new bank account.  The advantage of having belonged to an international bank for 20 years is that the London people spoke to the Melbourne people, arranged an introduction for me based on my banking history in the UK - and with very little effort on my part I am now the proud possessor of two Aussie bank accounts, one that operates in AUD and one which operates GBP. There is no charge for transferring money between HSBC accounts. It's all good.

When Lindsey and Ian very first came to visit us in The Sidings, they brought as a present a pair of proper Aussie Ugg boots for me.  That was in 2007.  I eventually threw them out at the start of last (British) winter because they were getting a bit threadbare and tatty.  That was in 2015.  That's not bad going when you think I wore them all winter every winter when I was at home (I didn't wear them to work, or out, although I did wear them outside when impulse took me out the back door). Lindsey said at the time that the best place to buy Ugg boots was at the Queen Vic Market, provided that you made sure you bought real ones, made in Australia, and not the less good quality Chinese made ones.  So after the bank, The Builder and I strolled up to the Vic Market, located the stall and bought me a pair.  We didn't get any for The Builder because we had already bought him a pair of slippers.  We'll get him some at the start of next (Aussie) winter.

Then we came down to Mount Martha by train, where we took the baton from Wendy.  Wendy met us at Frankston station and brought us back to Mount Martha. She pointed out a tiny owl that has started living in  a tree just up the road.  I can't get a decent photo of it - when I tried yesterday the wind kept blowing the branches in front of it.  This is the best I could do:

It's quite small.  I don't know what kind of owl it is; if you have any ideas, I would be glad to hear them.  It's in a wattle tree on the Mornington Peninsula. It's still there today and I gather it's been there for a few days.  Maybe it's planning to move in permanently

We went to visit Tony today.  He's looking ever so much better.  They are once again planning to move him to a rehab centre (hopefully the one in Mornington), but he needs a new assessment before he can go.  We are hopeful that he might move by or at the weekend.  Sunday is Fathers' Day in Australia and we are all planning to gather for lunch.  If he's at the rehab centre someone can go and borrow him for the lunch.  Much less easy if he's in your actual hospital in Malvern at least an hour's drive away!

Looking good