dinner with J, S and DCJ

Not a huge amount to report on today. Woke up with a bit of an ache in the right nostril, not enough to keep me from having breakfast with Sal at the Parc Cafe on Clovelly Road. We then went our seperate ways, Sal off to Uncle Rick's 60th birthday party. I felt OK but only felt OK and spent a good part of the afternoon suffering on the sofa. OK, most of the suffereing was because I was watching the cricket, but some was a the eye and laying down with my eyes shut was probably a better option than partying. Shame though, because despite rumours to the contrary - admiteddly started by me - I was looking forward to the party. I certainly did not feel up to a party, and Sal reackons my eye would still scare kids. On my way home from the cafe I collected my new and rather spiffing (maybe even a touch bling) Asics Nimbus running shoes, a replacement for my increasingly shabby Cumulus. Looking forward to getting the miles in with them.

Before Sal and I parted she had been feeling (unnecessarily) guilty about abandoning me and so called JCJ to see if he could look after me. And look after me he did, along with Susan and David, his cousin. David is a top lad. I am not sure if he comes in any colour other than Englishman-after-4-hours-on-a-boat-in-the-sun red. But it kinda suited him. He's over here as a sort of stop-off-stroke-holiday added to a work trip to Tokyo. And why not? We went out for dinner at Bar Italia in Leichhardt, Sydney's little Italy. I had one of my yardstick dishes - penne arrabiata - that I use to judge one Italian restaurant against another and Bar Italia compares well. Then there was the gelato. Forget the pasta. Four scoops for $8 and I was feeling sick-but-happy. Their coffee is very nice too, presumably because they do not use anything other than full fat milk. Proper Italian. We chatted and laughed and talked about this and that and nothing in particular and it was really very nice. JCJ, dreesed a little like Rommel, took note of this blog site address in what looked for all the world like a circa 1970 British police notebook. Thought I'd put that in to see if he actually reads this (I am sure he will.) The evening ended with a stroll along Norton street taking in the sites that were flash cars from the men and low cut tops from the ladies, and we had a look in on the Forum.

JCJ then dropped me back home, a trip that took us on one of the worlds least used stretches of road - the Cross City Tunnel. A great stretch of road that zaps you under Sydney from West to East and cuts out all the hassle of the City itself. Hardly used because the powers that be tried to force people to use it by making it an utter pain in the arse to avoid it. And what with it being a toll road, and at $3.50 for 2km, that upset people. And the upset remains so it is still used very lightly. Apparently it's losing shed loads of money.