The week ending that was ...

Ending on Friday night, it was off to the Wok Express out at Moonee Ponds with Craig to visit his old TL, be introduced, and for him to deliver a set of rosary beads, from his trip to the Holy Land. She was, needless to say, suitably impressed, finding them to be quite pleasing to the eye and hand, as they were (are?) of a solid texture, almost metallic. The intention was to just meet her, hang out for a hour, but inevitably we stopped for something to eat, and so I ended up having a chicken with noodles, Vietnamese style ...
Of course, at 1945 Felix rings up to say that he + Kristy are sitting at my place, waiting for me so that we can all go out together! So I went back in and bolted my food, said my goodbyes, and toddled up the road to the train station ...
Where I discovered it would be another 20 minutes until the next train ... which meant that there would be no easy connection to a Geelong train for about another 30 minutes - this being Friday night, after all ... So, thought I may as well wander in and around Southern Cross station ... where there was a tremendous police presence, doing 'random' weapons checks, as well as 'transport' police checking tickets ... got out of there and wandered down the road to the new offices - which were not quite finished ... and there would seem to be a sense of isolation surrounding them - get in, do your work, go home - although there are some little parks about a block down to go and sit in the sun (?) during lunch break, so we will see ...
Got back to Southern Cross to hear the announcement that the train had been replaced by a bus ... which kind of sucked in that it was a bit more cramped than usual, and more people were closer together, so I learnt a lot about interpersonal human psychosexual ambiguities than I usually readily assimilate on my nightly journey ... But was also kind of cool because it was different; we went down the freeway; we left 10 minutes earlier; and, got in at almost the same (expected) time ... Which may well have been a tad earlier, except that the driver managed to almost get lost before going into the Geelong station, and had to turn around ... which was quite fun in and of itself ...
Went out to the White Eagle, had two (2) beers and a rather nice Polish vodka, plus a few games of pool, which Felix kept winning convincingly ... Kristy had bought over a 'cheap' bottle of vodka, so a lot of that got consumed during the evening as well, usually mixing it with limes and soda water, whilst Felix had got a few cans of Bundy Red to enjoy ...
Then up in the morning, Kristy out the door, quick shower to refresh, pulled the lycra on, fiddled with the settings on the Yukon - even remembered to change the bike settings on the Garmin :o then off on the wide pathway down the Bellarine rail trail ... which seemed to be sealed almost ALL the way past Leopold to the Portarlington road ... and the great big dip has been filled in, so that you just go around it now ... Got to the little park just outside of Drysdale, next to the train station, and had a quick breather, called Simon, left a message, then set off back along the Portarlington back into Geelong - bit bloody windy on the way back, I tell you! Anyway, the only real besmirchment on this wonderful trip, leaving aside the pleasure(s) that I forewent having it so sealed, was that as I crested the hill out of Leoplod, an 'elderly' couple were meandering along the path, with the man having a mirror on his handlebar, but still neither moved ... so I politely said 'Passing on the right' to which the old girl almost fell off her bike but eventually moved over. As I passed her by, she said 'Have you got a bell?' but when the m,an said the same as I passed him, I turn to him and replied, 'Yes, it is called the 'get the fuck out of my way' bell' before pedalling off on down the slope ... However, once I had turned the corner and was out of their sight, I looked down and realised that it was an accoutrement that I had not yet replaced on the bike ...
After I got back into town, I kept going for a pedal around town, visiting BOQ for some $$$ before shooting over to the PO to check out PO Box availability and redirection costs. After that, I toddled over to West Geelong, thinking to visit Cafe 9 zero (no longer there), Michael's (extremely busy), and so off to Bicycle Factory for a reasonable chat with Greg - and Nick was there too - about what had been happening in the GTC, life in general, etc. Heading back to Pakington Street, but Michael's was if anything, even more busy! So I set off down to the very end where I negotiated the rather tricky pathway, listening to my discs squeak in agony as I headed downwards to the riverside path, for a little meander to check out the times that E & S were open that weekend ... Which turned out to be quite fortuitous, for the fellow I asked about the hours turned out to be 'the' man, the capo of the establishment ... who promptly offered to have the 'boys' drop the washing machine around later that afternoon. Which I promptly accepted. So, sat at home pottering about, rang Simon and advised I would catch up after the delivery was made ... Whilst waiting, I prepared a slight variation on my sliced vegetable frittarta, with the remaining cous-cous mixed in, held together with eggs, and then pouring a lot of parmesan over the top, before sealing under the grill. Used a lot of thyme in the mix, which seemed to emanate throughout ... When it got there, I gave the boys a stubbie each for later, and followed the promptings to put a 'dummy' load on, with half the required detergent. Thought at the time how intelligent the machine was to display the actual time of day, although it was slightly out, but then realised that was actual the time required to do the load of washing - 2 hrs, 43 mins :o Anyway, once it was on, I was free to toddle off to visit Simon at the Fig & Vine Deli (it perhaps being a little late in the day to go to Gobble), where he promptly gave me his Nalini 'Base' top that he had rediscovered in his drawer recently ... Insisted on giving him $20 for the jacket + afternoon tea, which he seemed happy to accept (I hope) ... But the  memories of that jacket! Hope it holds up to expectations, as I admit that I may well have a slightly skewed perspective in regards to its breathability and water resistance ... Also discussed a few other topics, such as the ideals for an urban, around town machine and what his plans may encompass, as he seemed a bit down, or disorientated, but then perked up with considerations for September rides ... Got home and finished off the grilling of the other side of the frittarta, before eating it, sipping a beer, and going to bed early!!! Bit shagged from last night's endeavours + riding ...
This is was supposed to be the fortnight that we played around in the kitchen of Felix, on Saturday afternoon, exploring a few life skills, to see what could be seen in terms of developing a sense of satisfaction for completing set tasks, but ... he had a family weekend! Which is, I suppose, humbly admitting it, of at least equal importance? Maybe.
Then there was Sunday ... Waited for 8AM, popped over to station to see Greg (+ Rolf and Harry) off on a mysterious tour that was to do 100k through Ceres to Steiglitz, then went off to the markets, at the Showgrounds ... Not much in the way of plants this time, but I picked up some proteas, eggs, bread (lots of bread), vegies (zucchini, apples, garlic, eggplant, onions, mushrooms, chillis (mild, hot, hotter), carrots, etc.), and a lemon-macademia cookie ... Threw it all into the bag, jumped on the Yukon, and headed back. As I came past the station, saw Geoff, so cried out that I was just going to put a load of washing on, would be there ASAP, but probably be about 5 minutes late, and promptly rode into a concrete bump at the end of the parking spot ... much to the amusement of Pam, Dave, etc. who I had not noticed lurking in the shadows ... Anyway, went home, dumped bag of stuff, threw wanshing on, changed into lycra, checked settings on Garmin, changed it to the Opera, and rushed over to join the mob, only to see so many people I had ridden with before! This is why I came  to Geelong, to ride with people, to get on, fit in, and have fun. Pretty much went out the Bellarine Highway, turned left up Swan Bay Road :) and then into Drysdale for morning tea. Finished that, came back in along the Portarlington Road, before turning off at Curlewis, following the sealed railtrail to the bottom of Leopold, where Geoff, Pam (although she then turned for home), and I headed back along the Bellarine Highway again to meet the crew where they crossed and then back up the rail trail back to the station. At the end of which, there was only Geoff/Heather, Simon, and John ... although Lindy said a fond farewll as she kept pedalling and Bruce came over to say a quick goodbye. Showed John the outside of the place and Simon the inside, where we had a cup of tea, some ricotta/honey on toast, and then got him to assist me with the sliding door into the lounge (my bedroom), as it transpired that the guide had been flared at one head, so was not sliding correectly, and was slipping upwards to get jammed! However, once that was rectified, I hung the washing out, jumped back on the bike, and went with him back to East Geelong, where I did a bit more shopping - more herbs, some butter, milk, ham, yogurt, anchovies and capers (I think that was all?) ... Then it was time to head home and play with the carnivorous plants, finding that they were all a bit dehydrated, so I set them up with some plates, and pushed one up into the closest tree ... but am unsure if that was the best option, as it seemed to have a little heat stress on the leaves, so will reassess this next weekend, maybe move it to the other tree (as I had originally considered)? Finally made a ham sandwich, grabbed a beer, and lay down in the beautiful warm room, snug as a bug beneath the quilted rug, with the heater going ... only to have Felix arrive, so was off to the Lemon Tree Laundromat to put the clothes through the dryer, as they had not dried enough during the day - note to self, maybe Saturday is the better day to do washing, cleaning (not that anything much got done this weekend), as it allows more time for unexpected delays ... Anyway, whilst there we argued the toss in relation to the messages which he claimed he had not received, and when I checked my records, I had sent them through to his home phone, so that would seem to explain why he had not received them ... Whilst there, also ran into Drew, who had used to come to Harvest Liquor, back in the day, and has since: got into fencing, as a sole trader; has a 3 year old boy, that he absolutely loves, and spending time iwth, as they both a lot of energy to expend - such as going for swimming lessons together; and, seems to be consuming a bit of alcohol? Anyway, after that little adventure, went back and showed Felix how to access/download apps for 'Mavis', such as Internet radio, Golf, and a Scrabble game ... on which we finished the night with me withdrawing in disgust, as he resoundly thrashed me at a game!!!