Sunday

Sunday morning was much duller (weatherwise) than Saturday morning had been, but it was also much less cold:

The cloud and mist lifted as the morning got up and got itself organised.  And in the mid-morning Jim and I set off for a day in Daylesford in pleasant sunshine.

We had thought that we would go to the Daylesford Sunday trash and treasure market, given that it was a nice day. Then Lindsey said that we should try the Mill Markets. We drive past the Daylesford one whenever we go there and do think that we should drop in one day.  Come to that, there's one on the road to Melbourne in Ballarat that I drive past several times a week and think that we should drop in one day.  Sunday was the day we dropped in to the one in Daylesford.

It's huge!  And full of everything that anyone could ever want to buy from such a place. We could have spent hours and hours in there and not looked at everything.  We did run across this gentleman and think he would be a useful addition to our front porch:

He would keep weird men away from our front door!

Alas, he was not for sale. But even if he had been I'm not sure he would have fitted in our car.

These young lads, however, were for sale and did fit in the car. They came home with us:

I'm not sure if they're frost proof.  If they are, or when the weather warms up, I'm going to put them in our herb garden. They're a bit small to act as protectors against weird men on the front porch but they should be ok in with the sage and oregano.

We did go to the trash and treasure market for a wander round, then we went to Gillie's place for lunch.

Gillie has gorgeous little cottage on the edge of Daylesford, with lovely gardens which have vegetables, fruit trees and chickens - amongst other things.  She fed us a delicious lunch, the centrepiece of which was a proper British steak and kidney suet pudding. This was sandwiched between zucchini fritters with smoked salmon to start, and lemon surprise pudding to finish. Irene was there (she made the lemon pud), and so too were Chris and John. It was a lovely meal. And very satisfying.  Jim and I only had a slice of apple cake each in the evening.

All in all it was a lovely day. Next time we go to Daylesford on a Sunday we must bear in mind that there is a small, local veg market across the road from the trash and treasure market.  And we really ought to go and look art the Mill Market in Ballarat. It's only in Warrenheip. We wouldn't even need to cross the city!  I am, in fact, about to drive past it.  I am just waiting for it to get light and then I am heading to Melbourne for a couple of days. 

Saturday

By and large, we had a quiet and peaceful Saturday.

We woke up to a glorious sunrise, with the promise of a lovely day to come.  It was definitely on the chilly side though. All the roofs around us were covered in frost

The day proceeded without anything very much happening.  At about 4 o'clock I suggested that we do a bit of a Masterchef catch up.  We had both missed Sunday's episode and I had only caught odd bits of subsequent ones (although we had both seen all of Thursday's, which is the last for the week).

So I poured us a glass of wine each and we sat down for a Masterchef banquet.

At about ten to five, Jim saw a couple of people walk up the drive.  I didn't see them.  I did notice a couple of other people walk up past us a few minutes later but didn't pay much attention. I was, after all, watching Masterchef.

I did notice when they all walked back down a minute or two later (must have been an ad break 😀). One of them waved at Jim who was stood at the window watching.  Jim waved back (Yeah - don't do that again! Where's your British reserve gone? 😛)

The bloke turned back and came and knocked at our door.

         "My daughter is thinking of buying this place," said he. "This place or #5."

Really?  The estate agent hasn't mentioned it.

          "She came and looked at it last week."

No, no she didn't.

          "Oh no.  It was #5 that she looked at. But she would prefer to buy this place"

Really? But she hasn't looked at it. Why would you buy something you haven't looked at?

           "Well they're identical. She doesn't need to look at it.  What's it like living around here?" 

(I pondered the logic of wanting to buy something you haven't looked at when you have looked at something the mirror image of it and there is, apparently, no difference)

Well, we've only recently moved in. But it's a lovely place to live. Nice and quiet.  We're tenants and we have a year's lease.

           "Oh that's not an issue.  We can always break the lease"

No, no you can't.  We were explicitly told that the lease couldn't be broken when we rented the place.

You can see why this conversation was proving to be unsettling.  We had no idea who this bloke was. He might well have had a daughter who was thinking of buying but equally he might not.  And it hardly endeared him to us when he casually announced that our lease didn't matter and they could easily break it.  Then he asked a load of very odd questions.  Or they were odd in relation to Mount Helen.

How much petty crime do you get ?  (What - in Mount Helen?)

Much anti-social behaviour? (I say again - in Mount Helen?)

What about fly-tipping, violence in the complex, domestic violence?  No, not at all (I'm sure there is domestic violence in Mount Helen but it isn't played out in public and certainly not in the units around us.  No massive arguments on the doorstep, no shouting so you can be heard)

I asked, I think somewhat incredulously, why he would expect any of those things. He replied that the units in the area he lived were very unsavoury places.

Our units are so quiet that it is noteworthy when we encounter our neighbours face to face. We see them in their cars and everyone waves when that happens, but you don't often see people ambling around.

I said to him three times that he was making me feel uncomfortable. I must say that I didn't feel in any danger.  Jim was there too but even if he hadn't been I don't think the bloke was dangerous.  But he was making me very suspicious. My librarian's antennae were on alert. In part it was because when I said he was making me feel uncomfortable he didn't go away, which most people would. In part because it is very unsettling when someone you don't know says that your 12 month lease doesn't mean anything. And also because I hadn't seen a daughter and he could have been anyone. Anyway, it was unusual behaviour, especially since it was beginning to get dark

He took serious offence when I said for the third time the he was making me uncomfortable and disappeared in a cloud of umbrage declaring that least he knew how his daughter would be treated. Only she wouldn't be if she didn't bale people up their doorsteps and refuse to go away.

I waited a couple of minutes and then went out to see if he was still about.  He wasn't. And then I rang the Ballarat police, not because we felt threatened but Just in Case. If he did happen to be a chancer who was casing the place I thought the police might want to know. The nice police officer who answered the phone said that they would definitely want to know. She suggested that if it happened again I should call the emergency number. I had already pondered if ringing the police at all was a bit of an over-reaction.  Calling Triple Zero would definitely have been overly dramatic.

So that was Saturday. Mostly quiet but ending in a very unsettled manner.

Today (Monday) I rang the estate agent who is managing the sale of the place. It seems there is a young woman interested in buying #5. The estate agent and the daughter have had no conversations about our place. She says that our place is being marketed to investors as having stable, long term tenants and not to the private home market. And our lease can't be broken just because the new owner wants to move in.  And if such a thing should ever happen again that I was to tell the person that all enquiries were to go through the estate agency and to close the door.

Actually, I think if he had said "I'm Fred from Upper Woop Woop and my daughter is thinking of buying one of the units that are for sale; do you mind if I ask you a few questions about the local area" neither Jim nor I would have thought anything of it and would have cheerfully answered questions about the local area.  His was very odd behaviour, I tell you.  Though I am fairly certain he thought our behaviour was odd too.

Kitchen Utensils

I can't remember if I was reading or listening, but I recently read/heard a story that someone was telling of when their mother went into an aged care facility.  The mother had chosen some of her things to take with her, had made a list of other things that she wanted kept and had told her family to dispose of everything else.  Over time, of course, there were some things which had gone which she regretted not keeping. And as she got even older she forgot about the list and the decisions and wondered where all her lovely things had gone to

As I read/listened, I reflected that you don't need to be old or forgetful or confused to have similar thoughts and experiences.  I still can't imagine what nearly Two Years Ago Frannie was thinking when she decided to leave her large Le Creuset stock pot in England (and then to bring the small one that didn't get used all that often!)  It doesn't matter now because the single pot has been replaced by another stock pot plus a smaller casserole dish (neither is Le Creuset), but it is still a puzzle to me.  I know why I didn't bring some things that I miss a bit, like my cast iron dachshund boot scraper - which would have had to have been cleaned to within an inch of its life if it was to be admitted into Australia. But the decision making behind other things is lost in the mists of time.  And mostly it is kitchen equipment

I quite like the fact that we have a mix of things that have returned to Australia after being taken to England with me (a very small collection!), some things that have come from England and some things that are newly bought. But from time to time I go to get something that was in the Tupton kitchen and is not in this one. Such as, last weekend,  an apple corer.  Not sure why the apple corer didn't come but it clearly didn't.  I'll just have to get a new one.  No hurry, I don't actually de-core apples very often. Mostly I used it for baking.  So I put it on my list of things to buy and used a sharp knife instead.

The next time I was in Coles, I looked for one.  No joy.  I looked in Woolworths the next time I was there.  Nup.  I tried the Kmart in Reservoir. They don't stock them.  I tried the kitchen shop. They have run out.  I tried another, bigger supermarket. Nope.  Eventually I ordered one online.  But who would have thought it would be quite so hard to replace an apple corer.  Wouldn't have thought they were a particularly niche bit of kitchen kit!

If I ever emigrate again (unlikely) I will take absolutely everything that is in the kitchen and sort it all out later.

Hellenic Republic

Lindsey's friend, Sandy, is over from Perth for a couple of weeks.  Sandy, Lindsey and I are going on a Girlfriends' tour of Japan later in the year and, although I have know of her for many years and we have been friends on Facebook for a couple of years, I have never actually met her.

Sandy, Lindsey and a few other friends arranged to meet for dinner and Sandy and Lindsey decided that it would be good if I went too. After all, it would be unfortunate if we set off to Japan for a fortnight only to discover on Day 1 that we couldn't stand each other!!!  Fortunately I don't think she did take violently against me. The trip to Japan is still on :-D

They had arranged to dine at the Hellenic Republic in East Brunswick. The Hellenic Republic has long been on my hit list so I was not unhappy with the choice.  And I very much enjoyed it.  It mostly does sharing menus.  We decided not to have the set menu but to go freestyle, with a main course and several sides to share.  The food was lovely.  It was all delicious but I especially enjoyed the roast beetroot in pomegranate molasses.  I must see if I can replicate it.  And a special mention must also be given to the pita and tzatziki.

You can't fault the staff who were lovely.  Our booking for 8 was reduced for various reasons (and at very short notice) to 4.  No worries at all - they just shifted the second table, set for 4, away from us and gave it to some walk ins.  All good!

You also can't fault the price.  Trip Advisor has some people complaining that it is too expensive, but it worked out for us at about $34 per person, which included a chicken main for 3 and a spinach pastry main for 1, plus the sides.  Granted we didn't have wine - three of us were driving and Lindsey had to observe a webinar on the way home.  But even so, I think that represented very good value.

If Greek food is your thing, I would thoroughly recommend it.  There are other locations as well, in Kew, Brighton and Williamstown, should East Brunswick not be convenient.

Rain, wind, fog, hail

My goodness but it was dramatic getting to Mount Martha on Sunday.

It didn't look as though it would be when we left Mount Helen. True, it was misty and drizzly and you couldn't possibly say that it was hot, or even warm.  But the weather wasn't doing anything noteworthy to say that it is June.

As I drove past Gordon, the mist turned to fog, the drizzle turned to rain and it got darker and darker and darker.

The roads got wetter and wetter. The wind picked up.

We stopped at the Ballan services for fuel - and both got soaked as the wind blew the rain in under the canopy.

It was horrible driving down over the Pikes Creek Reservoir bridge, but fortunately there was a roadwork truck emblazoned with lights ahead of us, so we could at least see where we were going.

Then it all lifted a bit and was much easier driving by Bacchus Marsh and Melton, down past the Western Ring Road and onto the Westgate Freeway.

Until we got to Footscray, where it got very, very dark, the heavens opened, hail came to join the party and it was almost impossible to see. They've been doing roadworks along there and in the rain it is impossible to see which road markings you should be following. The traffic had slowed to a walking pace. We all inched along and took very great care.  Except for the idiots who decided that they didn't need to put their headlights on and so were very difficult to spot. Made merging lanes an even greater challenge than it would have been anyway.

We all inched our way over the Westgate Bridge, heading towards the city.  It didn't look as though there had been a storm in the city and when we emerged from the Burnley Tunnel everything was pretty much dry.  All we encountered from then on were patches of drizzle.

We had a good time at Mount Martha. Stella and Tony both seemed to be in reasonably good form. We had beef and rosemary pie with roast potatoes and veg, followed by apple pie for lunch. We looked at some old photos and postcards. It wasn't a long visit but we enjoyed it.

Heading back home again we had reasonable weather and good driving - until we got back to the Ballan/Gordon area where once again the heavens opened and we had to drive with even more care than usual.  I am coming to think there is a permanent weather system tethered to that bit of the world.  The last few times I've been through there with Lindsey it has been pouring down.

We had dinner and then stayed over at Lindsey and Ian's place on Sunday night. Lindsey and I left early on Monday morning to go to work. Ian also left for Melbourne. Jim, Rupert and Hugo were left in charge at Mount Helen until later today when all three of us, but separately, will return.

This was my view from East Melbourne this morning:

And a quiet week

And we did indeed have a quiet couple of days at the end of the weekend.  I made soup and cooked a lamb backstrap for Sunday and Monday evenings.  We dropped down to our place to check up on it and to make sure it remembered us. I made stew for Rupert and Hugo for the week.  Otherwise we didn't do anything very much.

I went down to work on Tuesday morning and stayed over in the flat.

Lindsey and Ian came back from their exciting trip to Canada.

Lindsey reclaimed her car ;-(

She and I came back to Mount Helen late on Wednesday afternoon, leaving Ian languishing in Melbourne.  Rupert and Hugo seemed mildly pleased to see her :-D  Rupert behaved as though he had springs on his feet and their tails wagged and wagged. They were quite pleased to see me too, but I had only been away overnight so my reappearance wasn't quite as exciting as Lindsey's return after almost three weeks.

We stayed at Hill House overnight and then moved all our stuff back down to Tani no uchi yesterday morning.  It was surprising quite how much of our stuff had made its way up there. Last night we abandoned Lindsey to her own devices, and ate and slept at our place for the first time in three weeks.

For mysterious reasons I was awake at 4:30 this morning.  This was slightly annoying because I really needed to be up between 5 and 5:30 and it's hardly worth lying in bed trying to sleep for a mere 30 minutes.  It seemed a bit odd not to be greeted by sleepy Great Danes when I went to put the kettle on, but it was quite nice to get dressed ready for work and not to get muddy marks all over my clean clothes!

It's been a quiet-ish week.

So.  A cup of coffee, I think, and then Lindsey and I will head back to Melbourne for a day in the surgery. I must remember to take the lunches I prepared yesterday evening!

Oh - and after I published this I noted that this is my 1600th blog post. I completely missed the 1500th. I was slightly surprised to note this milestone. When I started the blog, largely by accident, I wasn't expecting to write more than a dozen or so posts.

Right.  Must get ready.  Lindsey will be here soon to pick me up.

Peace and Quiet

It is early on Sunday morning, halfway through my personal long, long weekend.  It is true that it is a long weekend in most of Australia for many people. Tomorrow is a public holiday in most states.  My long weekend is even longer than that, because I worked on Thursday  last week rather than on Friday, so I got a four day weekend.

Not only that, it was a long weekend for which we had no plans at all.  A rare and unusual event!

And we haven't done all that much.

We went out to the Delacombe shops on Friday, to visit the butcher, the fruit and veg shop and the supermarket.

We went to Lake Wendouree yesterday morning to visit the farmers' market

We have sorted out the carrot tub and potted on some cabbage and cauliflower seedlings

We dropped down to our place to see how it was getting on without us.

I had an online Japanese lesson

We have played with the dogs and kept them fed, watered and entertained.

We have taken things slowly and gently and done no rushing about.

So far it's been lovely!

I did spend the better part of a morning trying to unblock Lindsey and Ian's Dyson vacuum cleaner - with no success.  I think I know where the blockage is but I can't get to it. I had more success unblocking their Dyson dust buster but it took ages.  I understand that Dysons aren't supposed to block up but I can't say that that has been my experience at all. And when they do block up you often need to take them apart with a screwdriver to fix it. I am emphatically not taking Lindsey and Ian's expensive vacuum cleaner apart with  screwdriver!!!!!  We ended up bringing our not-very-expensive Vax up from our place and using that. We bought it when we moved into Tani no uchi so we've only had it three months but so far it hasn't got blocked.  If it does I don't think we will need a screwdriver to fix it.

My plan for today and tomorrow is to be relatively lazy, to prepare meals for the coming week,  to take advantage of the sunshine, to potter and meander.

So nice to have a few days in which there is nothing very much to do.

Sunset, East Melbourne from last week

Vikings and a bit more feasting

It was a lovely morning on Sunday.  Jim and I set off to stroll across to Carlton, through the Exhibition Gardens to the Melbourne Museum.  The museum is another relatively new building.  It was opened in 2000 and was another building that I have walked past many times but have never been in.  This is partly because I was living overseas when it opened and almost entirely because I have been walking past on my way to Lygon Street or other parts of Carlton.  Every time I walked past I marked it as somewhere I should go. Recently I noticed that there was a Viking Exhibition on.

Wendy and I have been trying to arrange to get together for lunch or for coffee since December! We have seen each other at various family gatherings but finding a time and, more specifically, a location that suited for lunch or a drink was quite difficult. I suggested to her that we should do it this weekend when Jim and I would be in Melbourne. She juggled her diary. I bought tickets for the three of us to the Viking Exhibition.

We enjoyed the exhibition. Not so much Jorvik as British Museum in style. Lots of things to look at. Lots and Lots of panels to read. A few things to play with.  Then we went out to look at the rest of the museum. It has a forest in the middle of it.  No, really it does:

It has dinosaurs:

It has a hippo:

It has fishes and seals:

We did about half of the museum, I think.  The natural history side of it. Next time we'll have to look at the other half.

We walked across to Lygon Street and had lunch in Toto's. Then Wendy wandered off back home and Jim and I walked back to the flat, picked up the car and drove back to Mount Helen where Rupert and Hugo were very pleased to see us.  It was a good weekend.

And now you find me back in East Melbourne.  I am working Monday to Thursday this week and I had to be at work yesterday by 9:00.  I left Mount Helen just after 6:30 yesterday morning and will base myself in the flat until I finish work on Thursday.  I seem to have spent an awful lot of time on the Western Freeway over the past couple of weeks!

Feasting on Saturday

Jim and I drove down to Melbourne on Saturday morning, leaving Rupert and Hugo to look after Ross, who had stepped in to house sit while Jim and I went gallivanting for the weekend.

We took the tram from the flat in East Melbourne to the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre.  For the avoidance of confusion, this is not the Royal Exhibition Building, which is a Victorian edifice in Carlton. The MCEC is a relatively new building in Docklands, by the river. I had not been in it before, though I have noticed it and even walked past it once or twice.

Some weeks ago I had an email from the Maggie Beer Newsletter, which I subscribe to, offering me a heavily discounted ticket to the Melbourne Food and Wine show. So I bought it.  I also bought a (not discounted) ticket for Jim.  In many ways it was similar to the BBC's Good Food Exhibition, which Jim and I went to a couple of times at the NEC in Birmingham.  Smaller, of course, but similar.

I enjoyed it.  I like pottering around, looking at things you don't find in the supermarkets and shops, and often not in the markets. I agree with Jim that there might have been more food tasting (there was LOTS of wine tasting). And next time we go we will go on the Friday, not the Saturday (a lesson I should have remembered from our Birmingham experiences; we only ever went once on a Saturday!). It was getting very crowded when we left. I will also book us into a masterclass or two and into one of the lunch experiences.  Having said that, we very much enjoyed our Wagyu beef and mashed potato, with a glass of wine in one of the not-booked lunch areas.  We had only had a couple of wine tastings so felt that we deserved a proper glass with our lunch.

We left the show and wandered down along the river, in the autumn sunshine, to the Factory Outlet centre.  I know that officially we have moved into the winter but the weather thinks it is still autumn. It was sunny and relatively warm, the deciduous trees are still wearing their autumn colours and the days are autumnal with misty/foggy mornings clearing to sunny days. Saturday was a lovely day for wandering around the Yarra in Docklands.

There is a pub across the road from the flat called the Prince Patrick.  We went there several times when we came visiting from Tupton. We drifted away from it simply because there're so many eating choices within easy walking distance from the flat.  Lindsey and I went in once, many months ago. It had changed hands and we felt no need to make a return visit. Last week there was a flyer in the flat's letterbox announcing that it had new owners, a new chef, a new menu and had been refurbished.  Jim and I decided to risk it for dinner on Saturday night.

I'm glad we did. We walked in and there were people sitting about. This was an immediate improvement on my last visit with Lindsey :-D  The menu is a classic Australian pub menu, but there is nothing wrong with that.  Our food was delicious. They make their own chips. My chicken parmigiana was beautifully cooked. Jim demolished his fish and chips with appreciative pleasure.  We will definitely go again - although there are, as I said, many, many eating choices around us.

We will simply have to come to Melbourne for the weekend more often.