ST AGATHA'S FETE

SUNDAY 27th MARCH

  A superb fully fried breakfast prepared by Jeannette got us all of to a good start to the day.  However things went down hill soon afterwards when Robert called me away from my blogging to have a look at his car.  When he turned the ignition key nothing much happened other than a clicking sound emmanating from the bonnet.  My diagnosis was a faulty starter motor or possbly a duff ignition coil (always assuming that new cars still have such things).  Being an automatic it is not possible to bump start it, so I suggested leaving it in the garage and getting a mechanic out to look at it, especially as under the bonnet it is so crowded I couldn't even work out where the starter motor was located.  (Cars have got infinitely more complicated since the days when I used to tinker under a bonnet!).

  Ultimately we went off in Jeannette's car to meet up with Nick and Jane at the St Agatha's Church fete somewhere up the Pennants Hill Road not far from Beecroft.  We managed to park in the church carpark, and despite the sizeable crowd managed to located Nick and Jane fairly quickly.  Nick had talked about the "Sizzler" the day before, which was located near the dodgems, and Nick soon had Rob taking him for a ride.

Nick enjoyed it, Robert didn't!  I in the meantime had checked out the bookstall and acquired 5 books and a canvas bag to carry them in for $6.00 including three David Baldacci books I haven't previously read.  But back to the Sizzler, Nick enjoyed it so much that he wanted another go, so I was volunteered to go with him.  Although the whole area was covered over by a roofing net, when the rain started it went right through the netting.  I got pretty wet queuing there with Nick, and then his mate turned up, so I was informed that my

services were no longer required.  Unfortunately Robert turned up just in time to scupper my escape by declaring that all three of us would easily fit in the Sizzler cars, so I was back in the queue!  I nearly fell flat on my face trying to climb into the damn thing (and repeated the performance getting out).  Trying to take photos whilst you are spinning round at speed is no easy matter, but I had a go, results seen below:

After this thrilling experience I went to get a hot cup of coffee and attempted to dry out.  Nick relieved me of a $20 note in the quest for sweets, although I have to admit that he later offered me some change back, but I told him he could keep it.  He got a bag full of cuddly toys for $2.  Bridie got some books whilst Jane had a whole stack of children's books.  We got some containers of fresh fruit salads and Bridie bought a home made chocolate cake for Jeannette, so all told we made our contribution to the fete!

   We dropped the women back off at the Eastwood Hilton and made our way back to Oakhurst where we found Jeannette and her sister Charlene in paroxsysms of laughter watching a DVD.  Later Charlene regaled us with stories from her recent trip to Europe and Egypt and went on to recount tales of her trip to Fiji, going to some lengths in telling us that Sam had on several occasions abandoned her to her fate in the face of danger.  She scared Jayden by threatening to pull of his sore toenail with a pair of pliers, but then relented and suggested soaking it in salty water.  I suggested that Jeannette could tip all the salt she has given up for Lent into the bucket!

  Robert phoned Bridie and discovered that they had wandered down into Eastwood, replenished and enhanced their food supplies and had sampled the wares at BoJo's Cafe.