Market, lunch and footy

Hello all,

Last night we each had a chicken parma at the Courthouse Hotel. It was so nice to sit on their outdoor deck in the warmth of the evening and have a bite to eat. We headed back shortly after this and caught up on ‘Have You Been Paying Attention’ from last Monday before going to sleep.

I don’t have too much to report today. But we got up and walked into town along the beach, and headed to the market. It was like being back in 2019 - people everywhere, no distancing, no mandatory check in and hardly a bottle of sanitiser to be seen at all. But do you know what, it was great. It was the first time in a while I haven’t felt anxious in a crowd. The difference up here is that even now in the winter the weather is so great that most things you do are outdoors, so the risk is low.

We window shopped at most stalls, but I also bought some earrings. There were lots of jewellery, photography and juice stalls. Then we walked back down the Main Street to the beach, and ran into Robyn, Michelle and Mike on the way.

We sat by the pool for a little while once back, and then drove back into town for lunch at Salsa’s. Coincidentally, my uncle had booked a table at the same time and same place as us. We realised ahead of time, so he called them and changed the reservation for us all to sit together. We were twelve in total - myself, Rob, Ian (my uncle), Robyn (my aunt), Michelle (my cousin) and her husband Mike and daughters Ella and Sophie, and Di, Rick, Levi and Adi (Robyn’s sister, her husband, son and partner). We enjoyed a nice lunch, I had salmon risotto and Rob had gnocchi. It was great to catch up with Ian, Ella and Sophie particularly down our end of the table. We are seeing them again on Tuesday night.

Rob and I headed back about 3pm, and we found ourselves a good spot by the pool to watch the footy. Collingwood were atrocious, I wish I wasn’t so loyal. We kicked 1.5.11 to half time, so I got a cocktail during happy hour. Even more frustrating was the fact that we finally played some attacking footy with 15 minutes left and only lost by 9 points.

We are now watching North Melbourne vs Bulldogs. Looks like North will likely lose too. So we are off for a bite to eat and some ice cream soon to cheer ourselves up.

Love to all,

Claire

Xoxox