Monday 7^th May

Pete has been in hospital, for what he calls “a bit of maintenance.”  He stayed in a few days longer than expected and had to have blood transfusions and a big dose of morphine.  When I went to pick him up at 4.00 on Saturday, I expected a pale and shaky person to limp out to the car, but no, there was Pete, his usual buoyant self, striding down the corridor.  A very welcome sight!

Pete’s favourite meal in the entire world is…lamb chops with potatoes and broad beans.  I thought very seriously about producing this sort of meal for his Welcome Home but…this is very much the sort of cooking I am not particularly good at.  Much better to try an entirely new recipe for a special seafood risotto with lots of white wine and a bit of sour cream.  I had found this on Kirsty Rice’s blog, Shamozal.  She made it sound so enticing I just had to put on an apron and give it a go.  Fortunately…she was right and yes it was delicious, and probably better for Pete’s delicate convalescent system than lamb chops would have been.

And no he didn’t take it easy enough on Sunday.  We went to lunch at the Crescent Hotel with Greg, and also Dad and Fleur.  Dad and Greg were very much engrossed in a conversation about classical music, and why the Germans have produced so very many of the best composers and scientists in the modern world.  The rest of us ate our lunch and chatted about less elevated matters. 

After lunch we took Greg to MONA – he can’t spend all this time in Tasmania without going there, now can he?  Pete isn’t allowed to drive for a week, and then only for ten minutes a day, so he and Greg had to put up with me as their chauffeur, which I am sure was not entirely pleasant for them, but never mind!  We got there and back without mishap. 

Pete had barely got to the front door when he turned a not entirely pleasing shade of off-white.  MONA has state-of-the-art wheelchairs and he very gratefully sank into one, nicely padded and upholstered in black.  I was very happy; I love having CONTROL.

Later that night Emma, one of Pete’s tenants, popped in while we were cosily ensconced watching MasterChef, so I was able to get a variety of opinions on MONA to present to you:

James Headlam (29), by textmessage: MONA sux

Greg Soraka (62), in person: kinky!  And why this juxtaposition of antiquities and extreme modernity?  Tasmania is…weird!

Emma (23): MONA is amazing!  Wouldn’t it make a GREAT nightclub??