- Am expecting a massive dieback on the plants - the tomatoes in particular are not expected to last;
- It will be interesting to see how the bathtub(s) survive; and,
- Many of the portable plants, e.g. pots & stag horns, have been put into the bath, with water.
Left in a bit of a rush, but only just made the bus! From there, however, it has been a reasonably smooth run - everything else has been niggling only, e.g. getting to Avalon too early to drop off baggage. But that then gave me an opportunity to use wi-fi to check into accounts. Also dictated testamentary instructions, should the unexpected happen & emailed to Simon.
In other news:
- Possibly because of my desire to consume all the vegetables, I had a rather interesting pizza - used zucchini & daikon on the base, so that they complemented each other. Also made up a rather interesting egg dish, with chilli, mushrooms & corn in it. The end result of all this was incessant toilet visits, however;
- Consequently, nowhere near enough riding :( Started the week with the goal of just doing a couple of leisurely rides & anticipated that this would then take me to some 12 month highs :) Instead, did two (2) shorter rides, just around town :( Sunday was 65 km, on Greg’s 100 km ride. But, wanted to get back to watch TDU, was quite exhausted after the initial hills & they ended up spending a long time having coffee, which I am never a big fan of;
- Spread a lot more of my mulch around. Still (quite) a lot more to go, but it is slowly getting distributed. There is quite an exciting mix in the composition of the pile, so I hope that I do not inadvertently give any plants a bad shock! Really is a job that would be best achieved by another barrow & another person, but half the fun (!) is loading, dumping & then spreading it around the plants;
- Must be said that the TDU this year was quite exciting. Pretty much live coverage by Channel 7, with main commentary by Liggett & McEwan; Meares, O’Grady & Voight also added insights. Main complaint would be that coverage, particularly the beginning of the day, included a lot of FaceTime with the presenters, rather than images of the cycling & them speaking over the top. Also, too many ads & too often … if I didn’t funeral/income protection insurance before it started, they sure tried to enforce that I did during the coverage. Porte won Willunga again, but did not really compete for overall - despite the Ochre jersey winner Bevan having a bad fall on the 2nd last day, so was out of contention & so Impey won. Again - 1st time that has happened back to back in 21 years;
- Counselling has been quite useless :( the last time, 90% of the time was spent discussing Liz & e.g. her predilection for coffee. Also discussed her interpretation of the USA shutdown as being indicative of the American system squeezing the middle class into non-existence. Tried to explore that with her - classist analysis? really??? I tried to discuss how I had a strong antipathetic reaction to going past the ATO, even just on the tram. But that got acknowledged & was then brushed aside! As this would be the 3rd time/visit that I have tried to introduce and/or discuss my concerns, I am quite put out how to best respond; and,
- Went up to meet DJ, to go to tennis. His communication skills are quite abhorrent - my understanding was dinner at Nobu, then go with him to tennis, spend the night up in Melbourne & then have a leisurely morning hanging around, doing coffee & breakfast. Not so …
Nobu was an absolute disaster:
Had a bit of a chat with Tom (Grayling) & it turns out that he does a bit of riding himself. Did not press him too much, but would seem that he is into the racing. We discussed that circuit of going over Ceres & then turning onto Cochranes, which he also approved of - apparently, he then heads across to Hamilton & back in along Shannon, to Belmont. It was particularly noticeable on Sunday that my hill climbing abilities have degraded significantly :( short bursts, at a high(er) cadence were good, but it literally was only for a burst. Similarly, the climb out of Russel’s Bridge I was unable to complete sitting down (!) & had to stand up to pedal for a period. Which is why, at least partially, why I turned for home once we reached Midland Highway …
Oh well, it is a life ;)
- Pre-booked, but when going to pick up tickets, they had no idea how to process them;
- Then told that we needed to get another ticket (grounds pass) to actually get to the restaurant;
- Food was dreadful - very little imagination had gone into the menu items; there was very little of it (3 courses); and, it was extremely low value for money - too much money for too little;
- DJ ordered chicken from waiter, which caused a bit of hilarity, because waiter had written down steak, but we discussed & clarified it. Twice. When it came out, it looked & tasted like shoe leather, rather than a soft & delicate piece of chicken. Which was because the waiter had brought out the steak, not the chicken; and,
- The positives were that the sashimi was nice & there was an unlimited drinks package - unfortunately, I was not drinking much, however.
Had a bit of a chat with Tom (Grayling) & it turns out that he does a bit of riding himself. Did not press him too much, but would seem that he is into the racing. We discussed that circuit of going over Ceres & then turning onto Cochranes, which he also approved of - apparently, he then heads across to Hamilton & back in along Shannon, to Belmont. It was particularly noticeable on Sunday that my hill climbing abilities have degraded significantly :( short bursts, at a high(er) cadence were good, but it literally was only for a burst. Similarly, the climb out of Russel’s Bridge I was unable to complete sitting down (!) & had to stand up to pedal for a period. Which is why, at least partially, why I turned for home once we reached Midland Highway …
Oh well, it is a life ;)
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