Weekend Adventures

 Well now. That was a busy weekend.

It started with a Japanese lesson at 7:00 on Saturday morning. I do online lessons most weeks on Tuesdays and Saturdays, at 7:00 in winter and 8:00 in summer, Lindsey usually does the Saturday lesson too, but she is more likely to do a Wednesday morning lesson rather than Tuesday.

Then we made our way out to the lake for the market. The weather was cold and rainy. We left Mount Helen at about 9:15. And even so, the market was busy and it was hard to find a parking spot. Until, miraculously, someone pulled out of a spot right by the start of the market. It was parking worthy of Ian and Ross and absolutely rivalled the spot I found a few weeks ago when I went on my own.

We were lucky that it didn't properly rain while we were there. Just chilly drizzle. And we were dressed for it so it didn't particularly bother us. The people I wanted to be there were there - olive oil, tomatoes, citrus, spices. And other stalls, of course. We shared a spit roast beef sandwich. And went to Aldi and Mount Clear on the way home.

Around 12:30, Wendy and Sue turned up. We met Josh and his girlfriend in Mount Clear for lunch, then Wendy, Sue and I went out to the Farmgate Shop formerly known as The Mushroom Farm. And then Wendy and Sue loaded up Wendy's car with a pile of Stella's things (which is why they had come) and an extra TV I had lurking in a wardrobe and went away.

I watched Frannie-curated highlights from the Paris Olympic Opening Ceremony in the evening. It did not bother me that it had obviously been designed for televisuality - that, after all, was how I was watching it  📺

Sunday found me at the railway station, intending to catch the 11:15 train to Melbourne. In fact, the 10:15 train was still there when I arrived at about 11. A problem with the brakes, apparently. So I boarded it. I might have been better to wait for the train I was expecting to catch, for the train I was on was absolutely packed. Apparently there was a footie match at the MCG which almost everyone on the train was intending to go to.

I was not. I hadn't even thought about football matches at the MCG. Or anywhere else. I was on my way to Docklands for an exploratory mission. I had read an article in one of the weekend papers a few weeks ago claiming that Docklands probably counted as Melbourne's worst suburb. I thought this was a bit harsh. I quite like Docklands. I don't get there very often but when I do I think it looks like quite a nice place to live. I read the article and then had a look at the real estate websites to see how far out of reach property prices are there.

In fact, they aren't really out of reach. If I were happy to have a small, one bedroom flat, I could probably afford to buy in Docklands, maybe even with water glimpses, or a balcony from which I could watch the trains at Flinders Street or Southern Cross stations.

So I went to have a poke around. I met Simon for lunch at The District shopping complex. Freyja joined us later for coffee and a potter around. There are lots of things there. A Woolworths, an interesting Oriental supermarket, Dan Murphy's, Uniqlo, H&M, Toyworld, little shops, eating places, coffee places.  Lots of parking. A tram stop in the free tram zone (and the tram is the one that goes out to Bundoora, via Reservoir). A 1.5 km walk to Southern Cross station (or, of course, the tram would take you there). Plus, a small harbour, the river, the docks, the Bolte Bridge, a large football stadium. It seemed to be an alright place to live to me.

We had hoped to go to an inspection of a flat across the road from The District, which was advertised for 4pm in the afternoon. I have to say that this sort of time on a Sunday seemed unlikely to me, but I had registered for it anyway and it was on my Inspection Plan. Alas, no-one turned up and when I rang to see why, they didn't know about the inspection. I noticed, when I logged into the real estate app this morning, that I had had a notification that it had been cancelled - but only on the app. It hadn't been emailed or messaged and wasn't obvious on the website. And it was still in my Inspection Plan.

Not that it really mattered. I am not in a position to buy even a tiny flat in Docklands at the moment and I am not minded to put my place on the market in the immediate future. I really went because it was on a Sunday when I had no plans, and a potter around Docklands seemed a pleasant little adventure.  And it does seem that Docklands might be a nice place to retire to, when I am ready to sell up here and move somewhere smaller, even if the ferris wheel is defunct and Costco is about to leave. I don't have a Costco membership anymore, so that doesn't worry me. And maybe someone will revive the ferris wheel, which was a casualty of covid.

I came back on another very crowded train. It was a "football special" and was almost exclusively filled with people returning from the MCG. I got a seat in both directions, so the crowds weren't a problem for me. Parking at the station is free. At least it is on Sundays, I don't know about weekdays. And I have a Senior's travel card so I get reduced rates on public transport, which are even more reduced at weekends. The whole trip cost me less than $4 for the trains - and the trams because the trams were in the City Free Tram Zone, so didn't cost anything at all. I should go to Melbourne on the train on Sundays more often!

I was home by 6:30. Freyja and Simon went to see Wicked. Austin, Kaori and Tatsuki had gone into Nagoya to a concert, and Tabitha, Gareth, Cally and Flynn were at the Tramways festival in Sheffield. We were all well occupied yesterday!

This came by email today:

The Ballarat mayor and our federal MP.
And me