WEATHER LOOKING GOOD

THURSDAY 7th APRIL

  Quiet start to the day.  Had another bath to try and ease the back which is still playing up, took the dog for a walk, washed another episode of Spooks, and did some more work on the 1961 UK Hits.  I also ironed a couple of shirts and two pairs of Bridie's trousers that had gone in the wash.  The weather was looking good with just a few clouds in the sky but mainly warm and sunny. The girls in the meantime had set off for the Rocks.  Armed with passport and airline tickets, they found the item they wanted, had to fill in a form, and were about to pay when they were informed that the purchase had to be put in a sealed bag, which would have to be produced for inspection by Customs when leaving the country.  Mission aborted!  They went on to visit the Botanical Gardens and were amazed by the masses of bats that dwelt therein.

  I set off at 3.00pm driving to Shinnick Drive where I parked the car just around the corner from the bus stop.  I then waited half an hour for the bus to Mount Druitt, and upon getting there discovered that there were several free parking spaces quite close to the station!  At least I didn't have too long to wait for the train to Strathfield, and the connection to Epping was just pulling in as I alighted from the train.  The girls had beaten me to it in Epping and I got a text from Bridie that they were at the Nero Cafe in Oxford Street.  It took me a while to figure out that it was on the opposite side of the railway tracks to the Epping Hotel, and was in fact the cafe where Robert, Mark and I had had a meal just before Christmas, a venue where Robert had refused to pay the corkage charge on the BYO bottles of Chardonnay we had had on the grounds that they were screw tops!

  I arrived at the cafe just as they were finishing their meal, and once done we moved on to the Epping, where I had a beer, whilst the girls drank orange juice.  I established contact with Robert, who, it turned out, was already in Epping and appeared a few minutes later.  Not sure if Nick's football training started at 5.30 or 6.00, he left us to see and we followed later.  In fact it was a 6.00pm start.  I sat on a concrete wall which didn't do my back any favours, and I eventually walked over and watched the match the lads had at the end of their training.  Nick scored the winning goal, let's hope he continues in the same way on Saturday.

  We drove over to Carlingford Court where Rob, Nick and I had something to eat - Nick KFC, Rob McDonalds whilst I had a chicken and a mushroom curry, whilst the girls went off looking round the shops, and then went to Woolies to buy some milk.  I returned Bridie's trousers to her, both her legs look terrible with large patches of red covering the entire shin and ankle on one leg and the whole of the back of the calf on the other following the bites she received.  We then drove down to the flat in Carlingford, where I played handball and football with Nick - he abandoned the game at 3-3!  Jane got back from her Pilates about 9.30, and we then dropped the girls off at Eastwood and headed on for Oakhurst.  As we were hurtling down the M4, I realised I had left my glasses and iPhone at Jane's!