LAWSONS

FRIDAY 28th JANUARY

  I got up fairly early and got down to creating the first CD of 25 tracks of 1961 UK Hits.  I got it finished just after midday, and then set off for Eastwood.  I got fresh batteries for my camera in Woolworths, a salmon roll for lunch and the Daily Telegraph to read on the train.  An express train stopping only at Strathfield on the way to Central arrived within 3 minutes.  I came out of the station and started walking down Pitt Street, only to discover after a 100 yards or so that I was heading in the wrong direction!  However it was far enough for me to be approached by a neatly dressed young chap asking me if I could spare him any money for something to eat.  I quite liked the look of him and thought him to be genuine so I gave him all the change that I had which was about $3.00.

  My first port of call was Lawsons where I found two 12th Man CD's in the comedy section at $5.00 each (I later saw the same ones in JB HiFi at $27.60 each), so I guess I got a real bargain.  There was a Della Reese CD for $7.00, a French double CD of Cliff rarities from the '60s, a double best of Canned Heat and a New Seekers CD of their CBS recordings.  All in all a grand haul for just over £20.  I subsequently went on

to one of the many branches of JB HiFi in the town centre.  I picked up a Keith Urban CD.  Urban is an Aussie country singer married to Nicole Kidman. He has made it in the States as a country artist.  Roddy drew him to my attention, so I thought I would check him out as one of his CD's was reduced to $9.99.

  I then decided I had enough and walked on to Town Hall, where I caught a train back to Eastwood and then the 545 bus home.  I spoke to Robert about 5.00pm and told him I would catch the train out to Mount Druitt and ring him when the train had reached Seven Hills.  Again I caught the express train to Strathfield within a few minutes of arriving at Eastwood station.  However my luck then changed as I had a 20 minute wait for a Penrith train.  Just a couple of minutes before the train was due in, my mobile went off.  It was a call from the President's office in Warsaw.  They had the introduction done and translated into English and confirmed they would e-mail scans of both to me.  However they wanted to know where to send the original as it was personally signed by the president.  I told them to send it to me in London and confirmed I would e-mail them my home address.  This I did, but the e-mail with the two versions failed to reach me so hopefully I'll get them on Monday as the publishers have been waiting for it since early December.

  Robert picked me up and we called in at a bottle shop to restock the wine supplies.A domestic crisis awaited me in Oakhurst - the gas oven wasn't working and Jeannette was cooking her quiche on the BBQ.  Further drama - the gas ran out!  Finally she tried to complete the cooking in the grill, but wasn't happy with the pastry.  I found nothing wrong with it nor indeed the whole quiche which contained home grown spinach.  I wolfed down two large portions along with accompanying salad.  Robert and I watched Andy Murray win the semi final in the Australian open and cracked the crossword in the Daily Telegraph. As Jeannette is due to work tomorrow - stock take - she adjourned to bed relatively early. Without quite realising it I think I imbibed more of the Hardy's red wine than I intended and was asleep in no time!