I got up about an hour earlier than the alarm, and rather than wait around got ready and ended up catching an earlier train than I had planned. The trip was good in many ways:
1) It was cheap! Only A$7.80 for a one-way ticket. That’s about a tenth what a comparable trip would cost in the US.
2) It was comfortable! The ride was incredibly smooth – almost at the quality of a Japanese train. Obviously the Sydney-Newcastle line is kept at very good repair.
3) I read a new Kim Newman novel, er gamebook. It is called Life’s Lottery and Adam graciously lent it to me for the Newcastle leg of my trip. I read/played through two different lives of the protagonist and was greatly entertained.
4) I saw a wallaby! It was small and brown and had a fat tail. It was just hanging around by the side of the track near Wyee.
Eventually, I arrived at my parent’s house. This was their reaction:
🙂
After the divesting of the Christmas gifts, a quick jaunt to Beaumont Street was in order. This led me inexorably to a kebab joint – recommended not even 24 hours previous by Pat. I salivated as the Kebabber sliced the brown beeflike foodstuff into the pita and handed it over to me:
The day was hot, and the sun bright. The kebab was about 1736 degrees when he gave it to me, and as I ate it I could feel my bones melting. Good thing I had a refreshing bottle of beverage nearbye…
After I had finished I stopped into a used bookstore and bought a gamebook. I then lazily headed home, fat with kebab regret and happy to be with my parents again.
Lucky is ambivalent to my presence. He seems to be spending his time gazing into the next world.
Here’s a bit of our dinner:
When it comes to purple food, there is nothing more Australian than beetroot. Even though only three of us were eating, very little (if any?) of this bowl survived the dinner table. I ate mine on bread with cheese, lettuce and tomato. It felt good to finally eat a vegetable again!
After dinner we got down to business.
For reasons that elude me, no-one in the US ever wants to play Monopoly with me. Happily that isn’t the case here, and our game quickly turned into a storm of wheeling and dealing that eventually led Mum to a decisive victory. Next time both dad and I shall have to keep an eye on her deceptively hands-off approach.
Lastly, culled from the files in my dad’s picasa folder, here is a collage of… well, of me! (It’s quite big… click for full resolution…)
