DARLING HARBOUR

MONDAY 20th DECEMBER

  Mark went off uptown whilst I stayed behind to sort out the blog, my e-mails and generally had a slow start to the day.  Late morning I wandered down to Eastwood Station and within a minute of my arrival there was a fast train to Central.  (You don't get that sort of luck often).  The only downside was that the train was packed and I had to stand all the way to Strathfield.  I went to the Metro Theatre in George Street and collected the tickets for the Fifth Test in Sydney and then perambulated along Pitt Street, Geeorge Street and King Street.   There was quite a breeze blowing in Sydney and with the sun behind the clouds it was quite unseasonally cool.  I was glad I had donned my jacket before leaving.  Mark admitted to being a bit cold in his short sleeved shirt when he first arrived in town.  I eventually phoned him to see where he was and we arranged a rendezvous at Darling Harbour in an hour's time.  Next to the Wildlife World there is a restaurant that offers steak and chips with salad for $10 Mondays to Fridays, and that is where we went.  The rumps were large without a bit of fat and were really good.  We did have to wait a while as there was a large group of people  from Westpac having their Christmas do, but it was worth the wait.

  We went our separate ways and I wandered around Darling Harbour and then sat on a bench contemplating the sights.  The sun had come out by then and it was sheltered from the wind, much more like the weather I would expect at this time of year. After sometime I set off looking for Christmas presents exploring Meyers, Dymocks and several other shops and found a couple - can't say for whom or what as the individuals concerned  may read this!  I finally found the second Red Eye CD Shop in Pitt Street and picked up the complete Shacklefords release on LHI.  I walked all the way back to Central and couldn't find the platform for the fast trains to Eastwood, so I went down to platform 18 and caught the local train.  Although the journey is somewhat longer it did mean I got a seat and had time to delve further into the biography of Olivia Newton-John which I had purchased in Adelaide for $8.00.  I never knew that she had been born in the UK, where  her father Brin John was a professor at Cambridge and didn't go to Australia until she was five.

  I didn't get to Eastwood until 5.30pm and went to wait for the 545 bus figuring I had walked enough for the day.  I phoned Robert whilst waiting in case he went off to Carlingford before I got back.  He was still in Eastwood with Mark, and told me he would pick me up.  All three of us went to Carlingford as Jane was going out that night.  Jingles was asleep when we got there but after Mark had comprehensively beaten Nick at football, Jingles woke up refreshed and whizzed around like a demented dervish.  After a while he took a fancy to tormenting Mark, who is not a great cat lover, to such an extent that Mark retired to the balcony for a while.  Jingles treated me with a bit more respect, sleeping for a while on my shoulder, but he still had energy to expend.

  Nick, who was wearing the South African top I had brought him over, is proving more advenurous in

 his handling of the cat, but when Jingles comes flying at him, he is still a bit wary!  Rob and I went to the Carlingford Shopping Centre where we got kebabs all round (I of course exclude Nick who after some considerable effort managed to devour a soft boiled egg, toast and a few roastie potatoes).  Later Nick retired to play his mathematical games on the computer.  He returned to the livingroom to

 watch TV with us but fell asleep next to me with Jingles on his lap about 10.00pm.  Rob put him to bed.  Jane returned about 11.00pm and Rob drove us back to Eastwood, and that was it for the day.