The Geelong cars

There was some kind of individual car time trial happening. I don't understand. The event over the weekend seemed very popular, although I expect it would have more so if not for the 39 degree heat on the Saturday and then a wet Sunday morning. The rain had cleared by about 9.30 and the chamois came out to dry the cars to a state of sparkling. 

Bad luck if you have no interest in cars. 

This is a Mazda from I think the 1970s. My step mother's brother in law bought one. The rotary engine is quite different to conventional engines. As I recall, the engine was invented by someone called Wankel. The downside of this car was that it used a lot of fuel, not a problem until the late seventies when the price of fuel rose to a high dollar figure. It was very powerful but also burnt quite a lot of lubricating oil.

A General Motors local Holden car, and EH model.

It was a straight six 180 cubic inch/3 litre motor. This V8 cylinder engine is certainly not original. 

My grandfather had a Ford Zephyr, an earlier model than this one.

It immediately attracted my attention.

Again hardly original but the speedo and instrument displays were the same as my grandfather's car.

I was disappointed when I did not see cars like this travelling the streets of New York City. 

Again, not original and a hole had to be cut into the bonnet to fit something.

Fearsome. It's a Plymouth Belvedere. 

It's rather lovely inside. 

This is a Ford Fairland from I think the 1980s. My step father owned one.

It came in other colours.

I believe this is an XK Ford Falcon. 

I'll give it the prize as it seems to be quite original, aside from the colour. 

I does DIY

It wasn't hard because I could do it while standing. Kosov was most impressed with my tool skills once he arose from bed at 2.30pm. 

At some point our seven year old bathroom basin plugs ceased to work. They needed cleaning, and I did so and they worked again. I told Ray that they must be used to keep them working. I think he did until something broke early this year. Now mine had failed because I think the rubber has failed, and a failed rubber is not great. 

The big green shed did not have the required plug mechanism replacement, and I had to return for a refund what I was assured was right. I went to the company who supplied the bathroom furniture, which was a bit of a laugh. I planned to do so after shopping today, checked the address and drove from the carpark to about 100 metres away and then had to find a car space. I could have walked in a couple of minutes. 

A charmingly friendly young man attended to my needs, assuring me that his parts were correct and would be a perfect fit for me, and he was right. 

I scrubbed out the plug holes of any gunk with a toothbrush and fitted the new parts, and voila, the plugs work perfectly. 

The bits. Both rubber ring seals had failed and the push down, pop up mechanism had failed on one too. I just replaced both, including the chrome caps. 

Working perfectly.

The new salt and pepper grinders. I don't use salt, but plenty of pepper and I think the salt is from the Himalayas. Salt to me, no matter where it is from or whatever colour, still just tastes like salt.

An outing with Kosov

The pepper grinder had run out of pepper again. Where is the boy? Kosov! Come! Yes Andrew.

Kosov, the pepper grinder neck is narrow and it is difficult to pour in the peppercorns. Can you oblige please. Yes Andrew.

Kosov, wait. The salt grinder is kind of broken. I need to buy a new set. Don't fill the pepper. Yes Andrew.

Before bed, while he was at work and returned here late, I left him a note. He had been asking if we could go out for brunch one day this week. I am not stupid. This was his way of ensuring he could stay here another night, and then another night. My note said, 'Would you like to have brunch tomorrow and you can help me choose new salt and pepper grinders. I will leave at 11'. I knew Kosov would not be happy with that time, but nevertheless he replied to the note and said yes. I heard his alarm go off multiple times and he was ready before 11. 

We had a pleasant lunch and I took him to the department store Myer where we perused the salt and pepper grinders with intense scrutiny, as if we were choosing a bridal dress. Eventually a decision was made and while expensive, they were reduced by fifty percent. I am happy with them and this time, I really hope they last. 

Kosov needed a couple of things at the supermarket but instead of walking directly to the one in Elizabeth Street, I took him down Royal Arcade and then Block Arcade and he was suitably impressed. We had just missed Gog and Magog chiming.  He worked for one day next to the Elizabeth Street supermarket at an Indian food shop, and was paid $12 an hour as a casual. That is absurd and illegal. Where he works now as a casual, he is paid the minimum casual wage, $32 an hour, plus a 11.5% superannuation employer contribution. 

Come along Kosov, I've had enough. I want to go home. Please Andrew, can't we just have a Walker's doughnut? Ok. Andrew, you will love the doughnut with Nutella inside. I doubted that but I ate one and while I didn't hate it, I would not buy another. Fortunately he bought some jam doughnuts too. 

Kosov was good company. I was scrutinising faces to see if anyone was taking much notice of a 67 year old white guy with a 21 year old Indian guy, but I saw nothing.

He has just mopped all the tiled floors and vacuumed the carpet, and fed me a delicious chicken snack of something with yoghurt. No Kosov, house work is normally done during the day, not at 9pm, but at 9pm it was done. He is a creature of the night.  

A Geelong break

It is amazing how time disappears while you achieve nothing. In the morning of the full day I stayed there, I popped out into to the heat every so often to check the cars on display. It was a stinking hot day, back in Melbourne 37 degrees. 

I visited a cafe where I ate raisin toast with coffee. I was to meet Sister for lunch and I misread her text message and so I turned up at the venue for lunch as she turned up at my hotel foyer. It only took five minutes for her to get to the restaurant. We had been seated in a kind of an alcove with about six tables. But there wasn't direct cooling, so we asked to be moved to the main area where it was cooler. Our lunch at the wool museum building at Black Sheep restaurant|gin bar was very nice, with great service although at bit too much checking with us that everything was ok. Once is acceptable. 

We had a couple of hours to kill between lunch and seeing Jo perform. We went back to my hotel and Sister started to watch cricket but I think it was one sided, so she decided to shop for Christmas gifts at the nearby shopping centre. I thought I would have a swim in the hotel pool and I had brought my bathers and rashie but again time disappeared as I did nothing. It was time to meet Sister on a street corner and walk to where her car was parked in secret parking space. She didn't buy anything for Christmas and decided to visit charity shops to buy gifts. 

Oh god, it was even hotter as we stepped out of the car at the venue. Pray the school auditorium has air con. It didn't and we sweated our way through the terrific abbreviated show, The Newsies, which was about newspaper street sellers going on strike in NYC in the 1920s. The show was 90 minutes and I was pretty relieved to get out into the fresh air that had cooled down from 39 degrees to 30. Yes, I am biased but Jo shone in her role. Great acting, singing and I didn't know she could tap dance. 

Sister drove me back to my hotel and was going back to seeing the 7pm show with Jo in a different role, that is after she had a bite to eat with her wife Bone Doctor. I was back at the hotel for happy hour again, another glass of wine and four oysters.

After a big lunch I wasn't very hungry so I returned to Hecho en Mexico and bought a take away taco this time, rather than dine in. 

Unusually the check out time was 11.00 the next day, rather than 10.00, which meant no rushing in the morning. I had coffee at the large shopping centre and then fronted the hotel desk and told staff, 'I am ready to leave, 'can a boy bring my car to front door please'. The 'boy' turned out to be a young Moslem lass with a headscarf. Such is Australia, and I like it that way. With a stop off at Routley's Bakery on the way, I was home by 12.30. 

I will post car photos in another post. This is my hotel room.

On the very hot day children were walking along this water flow.

Happy hour made me happy.

From my hotel balcony.

This must have been at Hecho en Mexico. I've never seen Melbourne hot sauce before. 

Cunningham Pier. 

The bar at Black Sheep. 

Hotel water feature.

Looking away from the sea to Brougham Street and the shopping centre.

This lift did my head in with no ground floor. Floor 1 was ground floor. You should have to go up to get to the first floor. 

I was a bit emo

I had a nice weekend away. The hotel was not that posh but quite nice, and on the Geelong waterfront. Unbeknownst to me until an hour or so before I left home there was a huge car show right in front of the hotel and it was crazily busy. The waterfront area is great with many places to eat that aren't over the top expensive. 

I'll put up photos in a another post later. As I drove to Geelong, the Friday afternoon traffic was hideous and it took much longer to get there than I thought. I had taken food with me, including breakfast cereal and cutlery, along with wine and soda water with which I water down my wine, but I forgot milk. I visited the nearby supermarket to buy some and bought a packet of crisps. The hotel had a happy hour, from 4 until 6, so I bought a glass of wine and along with four $3 oysters Kilpatrick. Delicious. I had eaten so many snacks, I wasn't that hungry at dinner time, so I went to the nearby Hecho en Mexico and dined outside on a single small chorizo taco. A cool breeze had arrived and I felt a bit chilly while outside. I futzed around on my tablet while half watching tv in my room that evening and I slept well, in a king size bed on my own. I'll leave the rest of the stay for another post. 

But what seems to be happening is that I get upset when I am away from home without Ray. It happened last weekend when I was a away and again this weekend. I am pretty good at home, but my grief seems to bubble up when I am away from home. 

Kosov seems to be staying here rent free. I don't care. He is a sweet guy and good company. I can't remember how it arose now but, "Kosov, look at my clothes in my wardrobe. Look at my unironed winter shirts I've been wearing. Look at all my beautifully ironed short sleeved summer shirts that I am now wearing, ironed by Ray". I burst into tears and he pulled me in with a comforting hug. My embarrassing emotional outburst was over quickly and I apologised. I should not have lain my grief on him. 

Some of you will have experienced grief at the loss of life partner, and some of you will. Your responses and how you cope with it will be different to mine but you have to remember, none of us are the first person to go through this. It is part of life

I have no more time away on the horizon until the new year when I will stay at Sister's to look after her cats, and perhaps that is just as well.