Not Quite as Planned

Thanks for all the comments and encouragement regarding my weight loss goal. So far so good: I haven't succumbed to any of the sweet temptations but I did have 3 slices of pizza for dinner the other night. Considering I would normally eat a whole pizza in a sitting this wasn't as bad as it sounds. I did eat the rest for lunch a couple of days later but only in the interests of not wasting food. I live with three gluten-intolerant family members so if I didn't eat eat it no-one else would or could. In the interests of honesty and the spirit of self-disclosure, I really enjoyed it! A guilty pleasure.

On Saturday Sport Boy and I went to Melbourne Heart's last game of the season in the A League. He spent the last couple of hours of my shift riding the bus with me then we planned to take the train to Melbourne. Unfortunately we missed one by 5 minutes and rather than wait another hour for the next one I decided to drive. There was a lady waiting on the platform who had missed it as well and consequently was in danger of missing her connecting train to Shepparton. 

I offered her a lift with us and she gratefully accepted.  If I'd known that 10 minutes down the highway she would admit to being a Collingwood supporter I would not have been so magnanimous but by then it was too late. These recurring acts of kindness towards Magpie fans must not continue! (Warren, you have been warned). Deb, said CW fan, did give me a good tip on a short cut to Spencer St via Barkly St Footscray so it wasn't a completely negative experience! 

I spotted this sign in a shop window while we were stopped at a red light!

Don't ask me what "eyebrown waxing" is but the mind boggles!

Deb was appreciative when we dropped her off at Southern Cross station and I trust she made it to Shepp for her grandson's birthday.

Sport Boy and I parked the car near Nth Melbourne station and took the train and tram to AAMI Park for the soccer. It happened to be John Aloisi's (he of the winning penalty to send the Socceroos to the 2006 world cup finals in Germany) last game so there were special celebrations beforehand including a helicopter delivering his kid with the match ball and a line-up of former teammates and Socceroos including Mark Viduka.

The game was entertaining and despite having a man sent off the Heart led 2-1 with 5 minutes to go courtesy of a goal from man of the moment, Aloisi, before Sydney finally found a way past the dogged 10 man defence to snatch an unpopular equaliser.

As soon as the game finished SB and I took off to catch a tram to Docklands and arrived in time to see the last game of the NAB Cup triple header round-robin between Collingwood and Carlton. We scabbed a couple of tickets from some Tigers fans who were leaving so at least I wasn't guilty of paying to watch the two most hated teams in the AFL! We were barracking for Carlton on the principe of "the lasser of two evils" but sadly Collingwood won! Not exactly a surprise but not something you can ever enjoy or get used to.

We also had the misfortune to be sitting right next to the aisle where the Collingwood coaching staff made their way onto the ground. At least Mick wasn't amongst them, having handed the reins to Bucks who is set to replace him as senior coach at the end of the season.

We were pretty late getting home to Ocean Grove and subsequently slept in and missed church. Mrs Holt Press was feeling crook with a headache and hay fever so she didn't make it either.

After lunch Favourite Daughter and I headed back to Melbourne, this time to go and view some footy badges about to be auctioned in a major footy memorabilia auction at Charles Leski's in Hawthorn. We'd hoped to combine that with a visit to see the "Bald Archies", a satirical portrait competition response to the Archibald Prize. Unfortunately the Bald Archies exhibition is currently in Canberra, not very accessible! 

We took a tram along Toorak Rd only for FD to discover she had lost her wallet, presumably on the train. We rang V-Line but they hadn't found it or had it handed in and the conductor on the train home later wasn't able to locate it despite ringing the "connie" who had been on our earlier train.

By then we had been walking for quite a while and FD suggested we check on the directions via iphone and we discovered we had walked too far. Back-tracking it dawned on me that we were going to be too late to get to Leskis in time for the viewing. Sure enough when I rang them there was no-one still there and our trip was in vain!

Three strikes and we were out!

We continued walking back towards Auburn train station and found a few little places of interest and treasures along the way so the trip wasn't a complete waste of time!!!

We had some dinner at a sushi place in Flinders Lane that wasn't particularly impressive ( the food that is) and then caught the 7 o'clock train back to Geelong.