11^th March 2012

Well 2XS is still in the middle of Melbourne and in the middle of the Moomba Festival.  More luck than good management, but what fun!

The bikes have been, yet again, invaluable.  Pete and I have ridden happily for many miles along the bike paths which line the Yarra River.  We met up with Pete’s daughter and family, who are staying at Quay West hotel, not far from this marina, just behind Flinders Street Station.  We took over from Nicole and James in the midst of the Moomba Merriment and sent them off shopping (Colette Dinnigan was having a big wonderful sale…)  Suddenly we stopped being carefree people on bikes, stopping and staring at this and that, and became cautious pram-pushers and hand-holders.  (The bikes were safely stored in the basement at Quay West so fear not!)

Matilda, who is only just one, was fast asleep in her stroller, and the older two, Grace (8) and Olivia (nearly 5) were very keen to WIN A PRIZE.  Oh dear… Off into the hellmouth of rides, games, sausages and fried potatoes in batter on a stick.  Poor Matidla awoke to find herself in NoisyWorld and was most startled to become the proud owner of a bright yellow plush banana with big googley eyes – I made sure the girls won THREE cheap-o prizes not just one or two.  She looked most unhappy – where were Mummy and Daddy??  So we made our way very swiftly to the only icecream stand available to buy fruity icy poles.  Oh dear they had run out…only magnums and cornettos available.  Pete bought three magnums and Matilda changed from imminent tears to current joy.  At one stage Pete thought she might like to swap her great big fat choccy icecream for his small remnant.  Dear little dainty Matilda suddenly developed great strength in her fist and held on for dear life to her big fat choccy treat.  It melted, of course, all over her dear little dainty outfit and she was very soon a sticky slimy vanilla-and-chocolate mess.  I took a photo and sent it to James and Nicole, in Colette Dinnigan’s elegant South Yarra shop, saying, “Aren’t we THE BEST babysitters ever?”  People passing by stopped to stare at our sticky baby in amazement, and everyone seemed to find it all very amusing.  We got back to the hotel before Nicole and James and whipped everyone swiftly into a big deep bath.

We went to dinner at Tutta Bene just round the corner from Quay West.  Back at the hotel we watched the fabulous Moomba Festival fireworks, to a loud and crashing Carmina Burana soundtrack, very appropriate, from the 13^th floor where the Darcey family had been evacuated after a flood in the 6^th floor rooms (yes it was Pete and me, washing the chocolate-encrusted clothes in the handy Bendix washing machine…Who could tell it wasn’t properly connected???)

(I had a few pangs of longing for my own “grannies” and rang Katy, to find that the children were all very happy and playing a wonderful game involving jumping off the outdoor table and throwing potatoes into a bucket.  Much fun and probably less exhausting than traipsing round the Moomba Festival in search of light refreshments.)

At about ten we retrieved our bikes and whizzed back to our lovely Southbank marina.  It was a totally enchanting bike ride, wending our way through the cheery crowds, riding past buskers singing, strumming, miming, joking.  And here we are again, moored in the Yarra, with party boats passing by – all the women inside dancing (“I Will Survive” is a perennial favourite) while the men stand on the outside deck, drinking beer, laughing, smoking.

We are very happy.