Kaia star of the show

 The afternoon was a well organised three year old birthday.  At first Kaia seemed unsure of getting all the attention but seemed to get used to the spotlight by the end of the day. The main banquet table was just the right size to handle 12 ankle biters with a steady supply of  sausage rolls, pies, sushi and quiche, don't forget the ice cream. The adults also got plenty of that finger food as well. The highlight was the pinata for the kids and the cocktails for the mums.  That was a long fun weekend now for a rest day.

Sunday Sweat Club

 Yes we started the day with a gym session, as we are trying to beat current PemBro side effects and is also now part of the recovery phase ie try to have one physical session per day.   We have our own gym here but the Willie gym is better.  I used the bicycle machine while Debbie did a rotation thru just about every piece of equipment. We went around to the library and I had in the back of my mind the parking committee at that other famous retirees village. I was imagining the library committee here headed by a Mr Tulk lookalike and sure enough when I looked back thru the pages of signouts, I finally found the entry for the overdue book I was returning. It had a pink texta highlight right across where I had to sign the book back in. We now have the eye of the book detectives on us.  And guess what I found on the shelves "The Man who Died Twice" so now I can get back on track.  

Bicycle Beach

 We have been wanting to try this and had to get a bit makeshift.  The bikes were still prepped from the morning effort and I found that if I slung the large umbrella across my back I could still peddle freely. Keeping it there was tricky.  I emptied my backpack and we gould get two towels as well as four travellers in there with the weekender questions and a packet of snacks. The drinks were wrapped in a cooler bag with ice blocks.  It was the biggest crowd I have seen for a while on Williamstown beach and the water was inviting.  The transport worked well and was an easy breezy ride of 15 minutes. There are many options with kiosks at both ends plus a restuarant and a cafe.  They are all the things we don't have at ours but get a beach on your doorstep first.

VeloWay All the Way

Hooray, this time we were allowed onto the veloway after finding it was all locked up about a month ago when we last tried it.  This is an engineering masterpiece with large sections suspended over Footscray Rd. The whole area is unrecognisable compared to when I was riding thru here to MMBW and MITS last century.  We stopped at Docklands for the 2nd day in a row.  We haven't been there for years and now it is twice in two days. The veloway is a dream run and gets you there in 14km of largely uninterrupted riding. Don't be a pedestrian on the suspended section.  It crosses the Maribyrnong but not the Yarra, you will still need to use the bike ferry to do that but this way gets you to the city in good time. We took 40 mins each way for the total 26km.  There is also some video which I need to unload soon.  At least this way I cleared the sinuses.

Bill the Nerd

 We got to the Christmas present last night and its name was Bill.  I read a few of his books which have a lot of humour but the most factual is the "History of nearly everything" which I thought was the best. On stage he was hamming it up with readings of book excerpts, interspersed with video clips and some of the walk in the woods film.  He was gloating over the choice of Robert Redford to play himself.  Bill has a lot of facts and revelations in his head but if I had to write one down here it would be the sheer size of the universe and its starting from one point somewhere.  This means there are plenty of other inhabited planets out there but their distance is so far away that we are effectively alone, as trying to cross 200-300 million light years is not going to happen.  We are a speck of dirt in an ocean of nothing. 

Three Part Day

 Part One would be getting up in time to drive our way to town for an unscheduled Alfred appointment by 10:30 am.  Fortunately a cancellation meant there was more time for the Doc to see us. I sat this one out downstairs due to this head cold that seems to be clearing slowly. The waiter service was good down there who brought me free cappuccinos and biscuits just like in Thursday Murder Club. We were able to get around to Docklands Urban Alley for Part Two which was a luncheon appointment at 12:30.  They have a good $20 lunch offer which most of us used and of course you had to try the amber stuff they brew in house. We have now made it back to Williamstown for the afternoon snooze to be ready in time for the Uber pickup at 6:30pm for Part Three. I haven't done this much daily activity since I was working. Phew!

Part One - Lobby Service

Part Two - Beer Service

Part Three - Author Service

The Late Show

 I have read quite a lot of Michael Connelly and there is nothing like a cops and robbers theme. You've got your good cops and bad cops, throw in some criminals, a body or five and there is another crime caper right there.  This is the first of the Ballard series and there are at least 5 more books. I have also watched the TV series but I could not remember it exactly.  The books eventually get the retired Bosch back on the scene and I do remember him making an appearance in the show as well, however this is the Ballard the crime buster from now on and series 2 is on the way.