EASTER SHOW

MONDAY 18th APRIL

  Arranged to go over to Carlingford this morning and do something with Nick.  The journey was not the quickest, with a 35 minute wait for a bus and then another 20 minutes for a train to Clyde.  Fortunately it was only about 5 minutes for a train to Carlingford.  Jingles appears to have recovered and was prancing around the place and eating his food.  We had to hold him tight whilst Jane squirted his medication into his mouth with a syringe, well at least 80% went into his mouth, the rest went elsewhere!

  After being asked what I wanted to do, I managed to elicit from Nick what he wanted to do and that was to go to the Easter Show at the Olympic Park.  This apparently had started out as a farmers' show with them bringing their livestock and produce to the fair, but had grown and grown to include a funfair, and all sorts of stands and produce stalls.  We caught the bus from outside Carlingford Court where the fare included entry into Show.  As a senior mine cost $26.00.  I recognised Silverwater Road as well as several other places enroute.  The bus dropped us off right outside the entrance, and once inside the Show it was a case of where to go first.

  In the end we headed for the animal pens and the area where various animals roamed around and the children could go up and touch them.  Nick was fascinated by the incubators where chicks hatched out of the eggs.  There was an adjoining area where the chicks mingled with the hens, and another that was full of baby ducklings.

  There were also assorted pens with a host of different animals ranging from angorra goats, through sheep, varieties of pigs, to cows and bulls.

Further along we came across a lumberjack display with a man climbing up to the top of a tall pole and performing various tricks on top such as juggling three balls and then dropping them!  He pretended to lose his balance several times and stood swaying with his arms windmilling furiously.  He certainly must have had a good head for heights!

Then game the Giant Slide with Nick going down with Jane and then repeating the dose with me.

We stopped after this for a bite to eat after visiting all the animals, Nick had a pancake, Jane had a giant sauage on a stick coated in battered cheese and I had a steak and salad roll.  We then had a look inside the stadium where the 2000 Olympics took place and England won the Rugby World Cup.

 After that came all the usual fun at the fair items, with Nick posing as Jackaroo.

 He had great fun with the distorting mirrors going through them all several times, laughing his head off!

 We then moved onto an indoor hall with a whole host of companies having their wares on display, and Nick was most taken with a working double jaccuzi, which would just about have filled the living room in the flat.  However the stand that really attracted his attention was the Nintendo stand where they had their latest 3-D models on display, already for trials.  Naturally Nick availed himself of this facility (as did many other youngsters!).

Another hall contained various food produce as well as displays from the various areas - Pictured below is the one from Southern Districts. 

There were various wine samples and I tried some excellent Sauvignon.  By this stage we must have covered several miles by my estimation!  We then came to the Sea Circus that decided to go into on his own, emerging unscathed.

However there was another item that caused far greater problems.  It was called the something or other Swinger and consisted of seats suspended from the circular top.  The central column then lifted taking the seats high up in the air, and the whole thing started swinging around on an angled base that made the seats go up and down as they swung round.  Nick expressed a desire to go on it then changed his mind and kept saying no.  I offered to go on my own and prove to him that it was quite safe, and then he could have a go with Mummy.  I duly whizzed around up and down and reported back to Nick. 

After a couple of abortive attempts he finally decided to go.  He got in the seat, but at the last minute he lost his bottle and scrambled out of the seat claiming it was just too high and that he felt dizzy!  Jane was left with the task of re-claiming their tickets.  After some discussion Nick decided to go on the the Log Water Ride.

He happily survived the dive into the water pond, which unfortunately I failed to capture on film.  By now the sun was setting and dusk was starting to fall, and we headed for the hall with all the different show bags.  These varied from $2.00 to $20.00 from what I could see.  Nick got a Garlield bag as well as werewolf one and he happily wore the mask most of the way home.

Jane made a purchase of an Arnott biscuits bag and we eventually set off for the exit, stopping enroute for me to purchase an ice-cream with fresh strawberries, and Jane a large plate of curly chips.  Having eaten our fill we proceeded to the bustop.  I had taken the precaution of bringing a long sleeve top which I donned as a third layer and Nick had a long sleeved top to put on, but Jane only had her short sleeved top on.  I truly felt for her!  We had about a ten minute wait for the bus that took us back to Carlingford, and I then had a half hour wait for a train to Clyde and another 15 minute wait at Clyde for a train to Mount Druitt.  I phoned Robert when I got to Seven Hills and he said he would come and pick me up. It was well past 9.00pm at this stage, and my feet were definitely sore!  I arrived and saw his car on the other side of the road.  He waved to me so I got back in the lift and crossed the bridge to the other side.  He in the meantime had decided to drive around to the side I had initially emerged on, so we again stood on the opposite side of the road to each other!  I decided to stay put as I could see this game going on add infinitum!  Eventually we were both on the same side and I climbed into the car and we drove off to Oakhurst.  Robert had cooked the dinner, as Jeannette had had to work late with one of her colleagues having gone to New Zealand following the death of her father.  The week before Easter is an especially busy one in the drink trade. Robert had kindly kept a portion aside for me.  After warming it in the microwave, I duly wolfed it down.  It was agreed that I would cook a curry tomorrow as Jeannette was going to be late home from work again.