Labour Day long weekend

The rest of the week proceeded without further alarms.

Tabitha sent me this :

It's a hand towel with a sketch of Bishops' House, a medieval building in Sheffield which is now maintained as a museum. Jim and I used to volunteer there when we lived in Tupton.

The My Car in Reservoir fixed my car headlight so I can now drive at night again. I would have done it. myself, except the bulb fixtures are very hard to get to in the Honda Jazz and I couldn't reach them to twist them properly.

It's a long weekend in Victoria, and the Begonia Festival in Ballarat. The traffic heading home on Friday was ridiculous. It took me an hour longer than usual to get home. I gave serious consideration to renting a place in docklands and moving immediately. At least if the traffic is awful while you are on a tram, it's not really your problem and you can read a book or gaze idly out the window while somebody else watches the traffic. I might not move immediately, but it did give impetus to carrying on with getting the house ready to sell.

Lindsey and I went to the market by the lake, on Saturday morning, which was combined with the Begonia Festival market. I didn't buy a lot but I did buy some very pretty, mixed mushrooms, along with eggs and some flowers. I also bought a can of Red Duck beer for a libation for Jim, when we scatter him at Hill House. He liked Red Duck beer. This one is a "Ruddy Brown Ale" and his surname was Ruddle. It seemed appropriate. 

We came home via Stockland Shopping Centre, Wilson's and the IGA.

Such pretty mushrooms
I had the pink oyster mushroom last night
It was delicious

Jim's beer

On Sunday, I headed to Geelong for lunch at Irene's place, together with Gillie, Chris and John (and Flora). It was quite hot, to say that it's March. I think it is supposed to be in the 30s pretty much all week. We had a lovely, retro avocado mousse with prawns to start, a chicken casserole with couscous, beans and salad, and a cheese platter to finish. All very delicious. It was a lovely afternoon. I came back via the bay, so I could say I had seen the sea. I had, of course, forgotten that it was the middle day of a long weekend, and that there are festivals and events right around the coast, the central highlands and everywhere else. Lots and lots of people all over the place. Certainly nowhere to park around the beach. Not that I wanted to park, which was just as well! And there was rather more traffic than you usually get on a Sunday afternoon between Geelong and Ballarat.

It rained on Sunday evening. The air was fresh and cool. The cats and I sat on the front porch for half an hour and watched the rain, which didn't reach us, under shelter. But it did water the garden a bit.

Yesterday was the public holiday and the culmination of the various festivals happening around the state. Lots of parades, a big one in Melbourne, a smaller one at the lake in Ballarat. I did not go to any parades. I carried on with a little gentle clearing and tidying of the house and garden and in the afternoon went out with Lindsey. I have had a good go at de-fluffing the lounge room carpet, which is looking good. I need to shift the furniture and do under that as well. I will steam clean the. carpets, but not until I am ready to put the place on the market. I need to go to the post office and to the bottle bank today. If it doesn't get too hot, I might sort out the patio. I won't power wash it, but I might ordinarily wash it. Maybe :D

And I must order a skip for the weekend.