evening all

I need to fill in a couple of evenings.

The bit between another dull day at work and getting to Roger and Kitty (Lucy's parents) place on Tuesday was quite nice. I decided Concord West is close enough to Meadowbank to walk, a decision based largely upon my dislike of buses and Meadowbank having a ferry stop. Bonus point; ferry stops first at Darling Harbour, Sal's closest stop, and we therefore got the ferry. In the rain. It was one of the Jetcats that are nowhere near as nice as the old yellow and green (green and gold?) ferries that do the shorter Harbour routes. Jetcats don't have much character, being low and flat and with the windows closed they are a bit stuffy. But a boat is not a bus, and the view you get of Sydney as you travel West along the Parramatta river is not bad. Probably the best view you'll get when travelling West. If I ever have to live West, and I hope I don't have to because I want to be as close to the coast as possible, I would live near a river that has a ferry service that I can commute to work on when I don't feel like getting on the bike. Meadowbank is, as it happens, quite a hike from Concord West and we therefore got the train a couple of stops to shorten our stroll in the still iffy summer weather. And while Concord West is pleasant, Meadowbank isn't.

I didn't get a lot of sleep after Lucy's party. We crashed out at around midnight and were up at 05:45 bcause Sal had to be in work early. I struggled to stay awake through the day; actualy there was no struggle for the first half, what with fingers and needles and drops going in the eyes, but the afternoon, with no work...yep, that was a struggle.

It rained a couple of times, just showers, on the way home. That and the hills woke me up a bit. Sal was zonked on the sofa when I go home and I decided that with today's last energy I'd go for a short run and let her sleep on. The short run was another voyage of discovery; I decided to follow the bike path signs that show the way I should but don't on my way to work in the morning. As it hapens, with the exception of a steep hill, the route is quite a good one. Happy with that I turned for home.

I got close to home after about 23minutes and still felt good so decided to descend Flat Rock Gully and head for Middle Harbour. I took it easy on the way down, the rain having made the stone steps look very slippery. But I didn't slip on the way down and beyond were Sal and I had walked. Turns out that from there to the Harbour is pretty much flat; we'd walked to the bottom of the gully. The dirt track croses and recrosses the stream before heading to a widening clear area that goes under the Cammeray Bridge at Northbidge and on, past fields part full of Aussies playing team sports (touch footie) to a car park and boat ramp arrangement in Middle Harbour. Looks perfect for launching a kayak. I retraced my tracks back through the gully and the actually-not-too-bad-climb. Lets you know you've got muscles in your legs, and could be a killer when the temperature is up, but nothing too daunting yesterday.

Back at home I had a cold shower. Not through choice but through no hot water. No landlord to beat up. Bugger. I took a look at the boiler. Quite literally took a look at it. I think I put my hand on it an tried the pressure release valve. Nothing seemed apparently wrong to these lay eyes. I found our fuse switch box and flicked the hot water off and back on. No hot water. Sal, not prepared for a cold shower, headed off to the leisure centre to try her free pass and their showers. Ho hum.