Friday Friends and Footy

Allan and Lorna, friends of the family for over 40 years, with whom I stayed last night. (And did my first lot of washing in a week and a half!) I picked up Mum and Walter's campervan which I'll use to get around Victoria for the next couple of weeks.
I wandered up and down Pakington St this afternoon looking for the Word Bookshop without success (turns out it was at the other end of Pakington St, and didn't have the book I was looking for, although they reserved a copy for me to pick up from their Melbourne store) but in the process of searching I found a fantastic Antiques and Collectables shop where I could easily have spent a lot more money than I did! I bought a Gary Ablett figurine, for me, and a Route 66 belt buckle, for Jordan whose blog name might become "Fashion Boy".
I resisted the temptation to buy this John Wayne statue but figured I'd post a picture here for the owner of Holtieshouse to check out just in case he wants to part with $50 to gain possession of it. (Let me know Pop) (it's about 15" high and is a bit chipped and damaged, as befits the Duke, a little worn and torn!)

I called in to visit my in-laws, Alan and Mary this afternoon. Alan's eyesight has degenerated dramatically in the last 6 months, though at 88 he's in pretty good shape. I asked him about his memories of following Geelong and he recounted players and games stretching all the way back to 1925 when he saw them win the Grand Final. He has the had the privilege of seeing the Cats win 6 Grand Finals in his life time! Although Geelong have won a premiership in my lifetime, in 1963, I was only 2 years old at the time and was oblivious to the event. As my readers will know, I'm hoping Geelong will break a 44 year drought to win the premiership this season and am devoting a chunk of my long service leave to the goal of seeing it happen. I recorded about an hour of Alan's reminiscences, not just of Geelong but of other teams and players and games over the last 80 years.

After going to the footy tonight to see the thriller between St Kilda and Adelaide which the Saints won by 2 points I'm now out in the far reaches of Melbourne at Doreen, staying with my old mate Gary. He's just gone to bed and I'm heading there shortly now that the Tour de France is over and the blog is up to date.