Friday
Last Sydney day – John and Nick are here – dinner at Harmsens again – off tomorrow, all things being equal

This morning I went – yes! – for a walk! It was sunny; no sleet, no scary wind. So I left Nick and Pete doing busy busy things on the boat, and walked around Mosman, and into Neutral Bay. All very pleasant; life back to normal after the evil weather which made even a brief walk to the bathroom facilities an ordeal. I got back to 2XS at midday and – guess what – back to Brookvale, back to North Ryde, with faithful NavMan helping us all the way. There was a short period of time during which NavMan lost its dulcet female voice. I helpfully read directions to Pete, but…he didn’t like this and insisted I shut it all down and program it all back in until calm, unflappable NavMan girl was back in our midst. Maybe her tone was less stressful (stressed?) than mine…

We are, you may be surprised to hear, about to go back to Chris and Karen’s for dinner…but this time we are actually taking a bit of food to them. We are also taking Nick Wood, and John Miedecke, who arrived this afternoon.

And did we get to the Archibald Prize exhibition?? Well…no… we got to the door of the gallery and Pete, who is favoured by the gods, found a carpark right outside. We were meeting John – had told him to catch the train and meet us there instead of picking him up at the airport. Cunning plan! But…the best laid plans… We told poor John to get off at the wrong stop for the wrong museum and then had a bit of find-the-friend in the busy Friday afternoon streets of Sydney. By the time we found him, plans had to change.

I left John and Pete to speed back for some spinnaker practice with Chris and Nick back in Middle Harbour and I – so brave – went To Town. I did enjoy this much more than Warringah Mall but it was all very testing, for a person with limited sense of direction. I was on a mission to find mesh bags to store our vegetables in on 2XS. Does this sound so very difficult?? I really wanted ordinary old string bags. Rare as hen’s teeth! I thought trendy kitchen shops would stock such things – well why not? Or bag shops. But everyone I asked turned up their delicate noses and said, “No, you need to go to a Hot Dollar Shop. Or out to the suburbs, to a Big W.” In the end I did have success; I found a street of outdoor shops, and I managed to buy three laundry bags, made of very durable mesh. Soon they will be dangling from the ceilings of 2XS full of cauliflowers, apples and cabbages.

I am listening with one ear to John, Nick and Pete. They are horrifying poor Nick, who was only born in 1968, with stories about hydatids – he had never heard of such a thing, and now we have given him nightmares for years to come. And John just told us – changing the subject - about some old codger he knew who had nine kids in nine years in the 50s, and then TV arrived in Tasmania. No more kids from that moment on!

Once again, all is well, life is good!