Saling Around Busselton, Picnic @ Port Geo

There are few things I enjoy more than a leisurely morning of garage saling and there were plenty to choose from in Busso today. I persuaded Mrs Holt Press to come with me and we set off, list of classifieds from the local paper in hand, money in the wallet and eyes peeled for a bargain. Below is a selection of the booty. Number 1 on the hit parade was the pale green cane coffee table which Mrs HP committed to buying before even finding out the price! It took about half an hour to get the price reduced by one dollar!! Before you jump in, let me say that the time was spent assembling a range of scrapbooking goodies for my Mum while I negotiated! I rang Mum to check out the suitability of certain items, then tried to convince the three scrapbooking addict proprietors to lower their prices. There was a lot of repartee, cheek and laughter before I finally handed over $55 for the collection of craft materials, and the coffee table!
Talking of Mum, I had her in mind when I bought the metal Bed & Breakfast sign.
The boys were the intended recipients of the Playstation Steering Wheel accessory for which I paid $5. The few times I've tried playing driving games with the kids I've found the hand controllers very difficult. Theoretically I, and they, will feel more comfortable with a steering wheel in our hands. It comes with foot pedals for accelarator and brakes too!
I happily paid another $5 for the book you can see Sport Boy reading, the 1961 Eagle Annual. Apart from being an exceptionally good year, these boy's adventure annuals were a favourite of mine as a kid and by the way Sport Boy became rapidly engrossed in it they may still hold their appeal for 21st century boys. In the middle is an assortment that includes some of the afore-mentioned scrapbooking gear along with a Buzz Lightyear talking doll which will make an excellent mascot for one of the teams on this year's Cool School Race Camp, and a Lego Bionical that will join the assemblage suspended from my office ceiling. Next is a $5 sledge hammer. Every year at Augusta when we set up the big marquees we need sledge hammers to pound in the star pickets. Now I've got one of my own. In the bottom corner you can see a rough hewn bookend, one of a matching pair that cost us a massive 50c and are securely supporting the books on my bedside cabinet. The last two items are electronic toys, a battery operated drink can RoboBug and an animation praxinoscope, a replica of early animation machines. This and a couple of other intelligence toys will join the collection in my office. Add to this an X-Box game for The Hair, a small wind-chime bell, a couple of books and a $2 box of bric-a-brac bought for the several rolls of fishing line it contained and it was a very successful and enjoyable expedition.

Tonight we went for a family picnic up at Port Geographe. I should say we had fish and chips and a tub of ice cream rather than a traditional picnic. I chose a park I'd spotted one day while driving the taxi, a lovely shady spot with lots of trees, play equipment and picnic tables. Our extra guest was a young lady called Victoria who I "discovered" in The Hair's room this afternoon!! (All innocent and above board). Unbeknownst to me she had arrived earlier with The Hair and The Girlfriend. Victoria is a German exchange student who goes to the same school as the kids and lives nearby with a host family. I invited her to join us for a family picnic and she happily accepted. We had a lot of fun, talking, telling jokes and stories and playing games. Before coming home we went to check out the impressive new pedestrian bridge spanning the canals at Port Geographe. It was a beautiful evening and a lovely end to a great day.

Actually, the icing on the cake to the day would be a Tottenham victory against Bolton tonight to help ease Spurs away from the relegation zone in the English Premier League. It's on too late to watch live but Glass Dave is recording it for me and hopefully I'll get a chance to watch it tomorrow.