Shopping Shush

There is only so much partying you can do especially only a day before going away on another seven day party. We had a gym session for around 30 minutes just to get the body going so it was an energetic start to the rest day. The resting part will have to be in the afternoon as there seems to be compulsory shopping required before you go away in order to cover all the shushes, like new shorts, shoes and shirts. We were also on the lookout for one of those finicky USB-C adapters. We have had USB covered for the last few years however more and more gadgets are requiring the smallest plughole for recharging. I have not been to Highpoint for years and now I have been three times in a week. 

Thru the looking glass

Shop Saga

 Shopping has not been one of my best pursuits and you do need to be paying attention especially if you have been sidetracked by recent events or some such.  First off, we were distracted due to the roads being closed near the shopping centre, requiring convoluted detours and turnings.  The item we are after is a present that requires two parts to be matched together and we successfully got both in the same store. Hooray, however I left the rather large and obvious part at the checkout when I walked away and there were two of us without a clue we had left it, until we got home.  So I drove back, negotiated the detours etc and found the item intact, so all was restored.  Much later that afternoon, after a rest period, it was time to put the two parts together.  Wrong, the second part is now also missing.  This part is smaller but cannot be found, not in the car and not in the bags. It has also been left in the store. !!#$%!!  So this morning a third trip was made to retrieve the situation. Turns out it was handed in to Lost&Found. Now I just need to find the sticky tape.

Free Toilet paper

Ka  Ching!  I was at the checkout or was it a slot machine. I had just scanned in the FlyBuys card and my number came up. Congrats you have had your grocery bill reduced by $50. My bill was only $35 or so but that's OK we will give you credit.  When did these points cards start having real money attached to them? I haven't enjoyed toilet paper this much since COVID when we didn't have any.  Back then you had to scrounge for some old newspaper or phone book pages.  I forgot, there are no phone books any more, so we must have just held on.  Now I can't say I never win anything.

Bike Repair

 We have used Hendry Cycles in Ocean Grove quite a few times.  What I remember is that they were not cheap but the rough quote to get the rear cassette replaced was $80 and they are getting it done quickly so we can try it before Saturday's Cadel ride.  We checked out the main street over there as we have not walked it much since the Collendina days.  The Bay IT shop I use in Drysdale has a sister store now over in OG.  The fashion shops are still there and a bookshop, as well as three banks out of the big four.  So business is booming. We stopped at the Driftwood cafe. This was good service for coffee and tea and the menu looked OK for meals as well. 

Weddings mean Shopping

I don't think anything I am wearing in Sydney is old.  Even 'after parties' have to have new clothes.  Between nursing Charlie for another two hour nail session and squeezing in a trip to Geelong for gladrags and handbags, I will need a week to recover before any partying.  We also swapped over my shaver for a complete replacement as the one I had refused to charge up and it was only a few months old.  So even the shaving is going to be new.

an old bag wont do

Geelong Morning

A number of times we have said lets just stroll around the Geelong shops one morning.  Mid week is great for easier parking and not that crowded.  Our first stop was a flop.  I took my camera for a clean out but he had a note on the door saying back at 1:00pm.  So I am still using a phone.  We also brought two small paintings with us, from the Lester Gallery in Fish Creek. These need frames but we could not find anything to match.  The Westfield bookstore had sold out of the 2021 Hugo winner "Network Effect', so I ordered that as well.   Not actually  spending anything but I did have birthday cash.  So I can now say my Mum's $100 birthday cash was spent on a jumper from Myers. We finished off with lunch at the Japanese restuarant and then headed to Williamstown.

Clean Up

I am using both recycle bins tomorrow as all the cardboard from the two recent mattress boxes has been crammed into them, not to forget the 20 metres of plastic that encased each one as well. That stuff is going into the rubbish however it has to be one week at a time, as our second rubbish bin currently has garden stones in it.   That was this morning, in the afternoon we got to the shops in Geelong. Christmas shopping is full on here and Santa has kids queuing up.  We got new sandals and books.

Sunday Lunch Not

It was only last Sunday that we were out and about and telling ourselves that we should book ahead during these days of half empty space being required everywhere.  So we are lining up in this huge queue to get into spotlight and it takes about 15 minutes to get in. Then it turns out the pieces of our broken blinds are not sold there. However they do have some garden decos so it wasn't a complete loss.  Finally at the seafood place we could not get anyone to answer the phone, let alone see if there was space to sit. We decided to have lunch at home and absolutely positively do more mid week and also to book ahead.

At least the Sun is still setting

Pakington St Town Hall

Went to the Book Fair which was a fairly haphazard throwing of books onto trestle tables in rough categories.  The SciFi table was small but with a lot of commotion and not many books and not a hugo in site. There were two prices - hardbacks  $2 and paperbacks $1 so good value if you found a book.  Four large paperbacks were purchased for $4.  Pakington is a mecca for shopping and the 63 Degree cafe was good for a cappuccino but they should change their name to 83 Degrees.

30000 books to sell

IKEA

In many ways IKEA is an annoying store. It's a 1km walk on the top floor and another 1km walk on the ground floor before you can exit.  But we only needed the sofa section which was close to the front of the trail.  We did find one short cut which saved 500 m.  There is a growing trend where companies are putting as much onto the customer as possible.  IKEA will charge you a fee to pick your goods off the shelf.  So if the customer spends the time to pick the goods then it seems to me you can send IKEA an invoice for your time.  Say $300 an hour, so send a $150 invoice for 30 mins. The other day we spent at least an hour printing and sorting through 50 pages of bank documents that we have to sign.  Time is money so I would say a $300 invoice for that hour.  The sofa doesn't fit in the car so we paid another $90 to deliver it.  And after the move it will cost $250 to deliver the second one to CS.

Shopping Day

Who has ever heard of shopping day? I've heard of Christmas Day and Australia Day but why would you want to go near Highpoint on shopping day? I said to the Rebel lady that these knicks were on the wrong size hanger, that is why they are too big.  That's annoying she said, but you have cut off the price label! I said whats more annoying is that the road to get here is blocked off so a long detour is needed to get past it. Then when I get here, there are no car parks. You can park 3000 cars here but there are no spaces. That's annoying. I spent 20 mins out there. I tried to call home but my phone says there is no credit for calls because the credit card has an issue. That's annoying. When I did get inside I couldn't get my face painted because the queue was so long and then the lady with the sausage balloons ran out when I got to the head of the line. That's annoying.  The rebel lady said OK I'll just swap these for the right size. Thank You.

What no balloons left

Noosa is busy

There were no school holidays, it was only a Monday and also it was the off season but we went around car parks more times than spit on an escalator.  Eventually we paid $22 to get into a commercial car park.  Hastings St is the preserve of the beautiful people.  Just as I remember it about 14 yar back during the Triathlon. Nothing had changed at all. I think the same woman we saw sashaying was still doing it.

Pulled Mussel at Chandons

Big Day on Lake Garda

We took the Rapido service to Bardolino then walked the 4 km to Garda along the Lake shore. In between there was some shopping that saw a new summary dress bought. The Rapido took us back to Sirmione where we got organised for a lake side picnic. We waded the length of the peninsula to the end underneath the remains of the Gaius Severius Catullus mansion,  We found some shade under ancient olive trees for the rest of the afternoon.

New Dress Italian Style