caps, hats and cool rules top Sydney exit
Although our vacation was coming to a close, we still wanted to see the famous Sydney beaches (Manly and Bondi) and Nazy wanted to do a ‘little more shopping’. Naturally, we had time for both. We took the fast ferry to….
We took a stroll along the beach, had lunch and caught the ferry back to Sydney. It’s hard to believe, but we had become a bit jaded by the beauty of the Sydney. There are..
“…. limits to the number of unique angles you can use to take a photo of the Opera House, Nazy,” I commented while holding on to her purse as she leaned over the side of the ferry to make sure that the seagull was part of the composition. (It wasn’t, it flew away.) On the walk back to the hotel, we had time to stop at The Strand Arcade on Pitt Street. While Nazy looked at antique jewelry and designer clothes while admiring the stained glass windows, brass and woodwork of the building, completed in the late 1800’s, I zeroed in on the hat store.
“… and the last two times I bought an Akubra Hat in Australia, it fit properly when I bought it, but it was too tight by the time I got it home.” I explained. “I bet she thinks I bought the cheap models the last time,” I thought.
“Those hats can be stretched. And I can get you one that will fit — both here and in America.” She replied. “Of course you shouldn’t get a cheap one,” she thought.
Nazy was with me, so there was little chance of choosing the cheap alternative. In the meantime, Nazy had located a store with a set of estate earrings and a very gregarious proprietor. The earrings that Nazy wanted were: “ … on hold,” Francine said.
“Oh no!” Nazy replied.
“……. However,” Francine continued. “I’ve been waiting for the buyer to return for a long time, so..”
So? So, we ended up with one hat and two earrings.
The next day we headed to Bondi Beach, a famous surfing venue. For this trip, we took a bus.
We had a nice stroll along the beach and bought a Bondi Beach baseball cap.
“In fact, Dan,” Nazy interjects, “You also bought a New Zealand, an All-Blacks, an Uluru and a Japan baseball cap. And you bought two Australian cowboy hats.”
“But I found an Opal for you, my dear.” I replied.
“That’s true.” Nazy replied. “Except that I found it,” she thought.
“More to the point, Nazy, we need to find a discount luggage store so that we can get everything back to the USA.”
“Good idea, Dan.” Nazy replied. “But the opal isn’t that big.” Nazy thought.
We got a medium-sized, but very orange suitcase. (We should have bought the large size.)
Then we headed to the hotel for final packing before our departure.
Our flight home, although business class, was also long and indirect. We left from Sydney on Singapore Airlines, had a brief stop in Canberra (Note: There is NOTHING whatsoever to do or see in the Canberra Airport at midnight. It was so boring that I couldn’t even generate enough interest to visit the loo.) We had a somewhat longer stop in Singapore (which has the best airport in the world) followed by a somewhat shorter layover in Tokyo before a somewhat longish flight to LAX. Much to my surprise, Singapore Airlines did not have the most comfortable business class… they actually turned the seat upside down before making it flat.
In spite of all of these stops, we arrived in California on the very day that we left Australia. Something to do with the International Date Line, I think. The flight certainly confused FitBit which told me that I had “met your goal 6 of the last 5 days.” It was too complicated for Nazy’s FitBit which not only refuses to synch with either her phone or her computer, but also continues to insist that it is tomorrow,
Back in Santa Barbara, the boys and young Azelle were very happy to see us — as we were also very happy to see them. Azelle had learned to crawl while we were away. And Tiger brought us up to speed on the …
“… rules, Dan. Everyone has rules in our house.”
“Really?” I replied. “Does Monster have rules?”
“Yes. Monster can’t scratch, bite or eat our food.”
“Good. And are there rules for Arrow?”
“Yes. Arrow can’t yell, run around or throw our food.”
“And how about Tiger?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I have to be cool.”
(We discovered, later, that when he does something that Melika does not approve of, she tells him: “Tiger! That’s not cool.”
Almost as soon as we arrived back in California, Nazy flew to Bellingham to help out with the newest granddaughter — Darius and Christiane’s Auriane Lynn Martin. I came up shortly thereafter. More about that trip in the next issue of The Weekly Letter.
For last week's letter, please click here
Dan and Auriane — the newest grandest daughter