An Australian breakfast and a Szechuan dinner

Joe got back from overseas yesterday (Saturday) and took the airtrain straight to my place.  We didn't talk much as he was jetlagged and had a lot to do but he arranged for us to resume our customary Sunday brunches at the pie shop.  We both like the bacon & egg breakfast there.

So we had that this morning and, as usual, had quite a long chat.  This time substantially about Mr Trump.  Mr Trump must be the world's most discussed person at the moment.  Joe and I both like Mr Trump though we can of course understand the reasons why many people do not.  Regardless of his hair and other personal flaws, we think his policies are mostly about right.

Trump is certainly the most amazing politician in that he is doing exactly what he said he would do and what he was voted in to do.  Has there ever been another politician like that?

We also talked about Real Estate.  Joe wants to get his name on something as soon as possible and both he and Kate are saving up at a good rate so should be able to buy jointly a Brisbane house in the not too distant future.  As I know Brisbane Real Estate very well I was able to help Joe think through the various options involved.  He is pretty firm that he wants to buy a house and not an apartment. I agreed with him on that.  I nearly always bought houses before I went into the stockmarket instead.

Joe's idea is to continue living at my place and let his house out.  He gets free accommodation and utilities at my place and he now has a small one bedroom apartment for himself and Kate so he can save money in comfort that way.  I am of course pleased to have him under my roof as long as he wants.

And I know that just about every spare penny will go into savings.  Joe has a very Scottish attitude to money. He makes sure he gets best value from everything he buys.  But what he regards as good value can be surprising.

In Edinburgh he spent about $100 on two big and HEAVY books he saw in a book shop.  They were a detailed history of a computer game company.  Joe has been big on computer games since he was 2 so the purchase was not entirely surprising.  The surprising thing is that, rather than mailing such heavy things back to Australia, he carted them all around Europe with him and has already read every page of them: A true eccentric.  But since I too have many eccentricities I am delighted to have an eccentric son.  I have a large brass Hindu idol in the entryway to my house so that is a warning of eccentricity ahead.

As we were finishing up breakfast, Joe mentioned that Kate had not had a chance to talk to me since they got back to Brisbane and suggested that the three of us might have dinner together.  So this evening we did that.  We went to the Memorized Place, a strangely-named Chinese restaurant that has excellent Szechuan food -- and waiters with a very limited comprehension of English.  So ordering is always quite a trial but the food is worth it.

I had satay lamb and Kate had BBQ Pork with plum sauce.  I forget what Joe had.  The food was good as usual.  We talked again about Real Estate and the future generally.  We avoided talking about the entertaining Mr Trump as Kate is still in the grip of a university education.

I was told of a forthcoming event that I am not allowed to mention yet but it involves the Eiffel Tower.  Gustave Eiffel can have had no idea of how entertaining his tower would be. It's basically a bridge turned on its ear.