The run-up to the new year

The lead up to the new year in my life was very good in a number of ways. On Wednesday 28th I drove out to Zoe's place at Redbank Plains. She had told me of a big OpShop out her way -- in Jacaranda St Booval -- and we had arranged to have lunch together and then visit it.

I arrived as agreed at 12 noon and found that Zoe's gorgeous friend Ana was there already. All 3 of us were to have lunch and visit the shop together. Zoe took about an hour to get the lunch ready but all 3 of us had lots of jolly chats while that was happening. And I enjoyed the lunch.

After lunch tradition was observed when the ladies cleaned up and washed up in the kitchen while I sat and merely observed. During that process, the ladies talked in Serbian so I felt as if I had temporarily been transported to Serbia. I was pleased that they got the chance to speak their native language -- something Zoe greatly values.

The OpShop was as described -- an enormous iron shed filled with an incredible quantity of merchandise. I noted that there was a large number of attractive dining tables. Zoe bought a 2 seater sofa, Ana bought some socks and I bought a wooden footstool which I had a good use for. Jenny says it is actually an egg-rack but I am sticking to my theory about it



I drove home at about 3pm. Zoe and I normally spend about 3 hours together on our visits to one-another

Then on Thursday morning the 29th, Jenny and I had one of our usual enjoyable outings, breakfasting at the Phams followed by some wide-ranging visits to Opshops. I bought Jenny a cooking pot and a bangle she liked and I did well in finding an as-new pair of denim shorts that fitted me well -- for $5

Then that afternoon at about 4pm Anne visited. She had just had a long lunch with one of her sons and called in on me on her way home. So we had a very pleasant time until she left at about 5pm

Friday 30th was a bit quiet. I went over to Jenny's place for lunch and had party leftovers from Christmas. I spent the rest of the day productively catching up with blogging tasks

Then on 31st Anne and I as usual had Saturday breakfast together -- a good one at The Clove & Honey. I had my usual toastie and Anne enjoyed the pea and Haloumi fritters. After that we visited the nearby Lifeline where Anne bought George a quality leather belt for a good price.

As usual we lay down and listened to music when we got back to my place. We listened to a range of old favourites -- starting with the young Leonid Kharitinov singing Volga Boatmen, then Dmitry and Netrebko singing Moscow Nights in Red Square , then Walter Berry singing Mache dich mein Herze rein, then Monteverdi's Zefiro Torna then Peter Dawson singing Floral Dance -- and so on. We finished with Beethoven's 6th from the Wiener Philharmoniker

Again as usual, Jenny came over that night to cook me a dinner. It was one of my favourites: Wiener Schnitzel. She did very good potatoes, cabbage etc to go with it. We had a bottle of German "champagne" (Henkel Trocken) to wash it down. Afterwards we rewatched one of my favourite operettas: Wiener Blut. She stayed overnight so we could see the new year in together.