Ash Cloud Aftermath......and other stuff.......

I started this post last Thursday ........and it's now Tuesday ......not sure where the time goes really.......

This was the "G" at night........the only down side was there was no game on while I was there :(

 I arrived home on Thursday morning....picked up Rose who was delighted to see me......and went to work........I am sure Rose wasn't so delighted about that........but I thought I had better put in an appearance !!  The flight home was smooth.....and I got to watch Bear Grylls having "fun" in the desert on the in-flight entertainment - and indeed he is an entertaining man isn't he!?

My motto for the extra day in Melbourne...... "every (ash) cloud has a silver lining".........

The ash cloud / plume (call it what  you will) certainly caused disruption to travel plans for many people...but I for one would prefer that airlines err on the side of caution when it comes to things like this....I heard one idiot on the news (a disgruntled passenger) who said it was a cost cutting measure by the airlines (not to fly) to save on maintenance costs for the cleaning of the plane engines after they had been through the ash ......really?????!!! 

I did make an interesting observation during this event.......the difference between men and women (ok - I know there is one that stands out.......this was just another one I noted)......faced with cancellation of flights home (with the news that flights would resume the next day) many of the men involved booked hire cars - stayed the night following the conference and at sparrows fart the next morning set off on the 8-9 hour drive.......(or more if they lived further away than Adelaide).....the women......well....we stayed the night...slept in the next morning enjoying the luxury of a couple of cups of tea in bed.....readied ourselves for a fun day......packed our bags, checked out of the hotel leaving our bags in their secure storage area....and hit the shops.....we lunched.......toured the city....and the parks......enjoyed afternoon tea and made our way back to the hotel...picked up our bags.....caught a taxi (pre booked of course!) to the airport and caught our flights home...arriving there before the guys!! 

Hmmmm......the way I looked at it was I could spend the day driving....or having a day out with the girls....and I sure as hell didn't want to spend the day driving.  So I didn't!  I did log on and check my work emails and catch up on those during the day so it wasn't all fun and games. 

We lunched at the Chocolate Cafe........

I actually had a toasted sandwich....but that didn't look half as good as the hot chocolate!
So that was last week.......

the weekend came and went - far too quickly of course.  I went to a workshop on Saturday morning which was all about recycling books into other items......interesting!  Our local natural resource centre runs these and other similar workshops under their Recreate banner.  A couple of pics from the morning.....

These were some of the books used for inspiration.......

......then it was off to the footy to watch Mark play......not such a good afternoon...he injured his shoulder and is having more scans today to see what the extent of the damage is.  That's footy for you.........!  The first thought was that he might have to miss six games......he is hoping it isn't that bad!  there are only 8 games left before the finals!! 

I went straight from the footy to dinner with a group of work mates.....they had all been on a bus tour around some of the local wineries - so I  joined them for dinner.  Since there was no food in the house it was a good option!  There was some milk in the fridge when I got home........ it was six days after the recommended use-by date but I have a theory.....if it curdles when you put it in your tea it's off.......if not ....it's all good!...and it didn't....so I could have a cuppa at least!  Sunday is my designated  food shopping day and I couldn't change that and go on Saturday.......that just wouldn't be right!   

Back to Melbourne.....well not actually "back" to Melbourne....more back to talking about Melbourne......I saw a link to this shop here - and since it was Wednesday we went to visit....and we weren't disappointed!  here are a few pics ........Lovely.....L'uccello.....

Knitting anyone????

So glad we found this little gem...!  This is where I spent the majority of my afternoon...and I think you can see why!

On a stitching note.......haven't done anything for a while......picked up a head cold in my travels and have been feeling a bit sorry for myself for a few days....my eyes hurt so haven't been on the computer much - had yesterday off work and spent the day curled up on the couch with a quilt to keep me warm and a box of tissues handy.....Rose thought the tissues were for her to play with......!  Even dragged out the Lemsip from the pantry  when I could be bothered to make myself a hot drink.   (Rose hasn't quite got the hang of making a cuppa yet!)  Feeling much better today after a visit to the chemist for nasal spray/more tissues/more panadol/more throat lozenges/more echinacea - so have my own little pharmacy on my desk.  I sit in a pretty isolated position at work so shouldn't infect any of my fellow workers....mind you...I am pretty sure I probably picked the cold up at work in the first place....or on the plane........what a great germ factory planes are.....lots of people packed into a reasonably small place!  Still better than sitting in a car for 9 hours though!!

'til next time.................Lorraine