Petrol, at my local station in my end of Geelong, now down to $1.85/litre.
A buck-eighty-five! Yeah!!
I know I filled the tank yesterday morning, but at that price, couldn't help topping up before I resume my work week tomorrow.
Clinical trial day. Happens once a month, for an experimental heart medication due to be approved.
I do get compensated for this. And that money actually covers the petrol I filled the car with this morning.
Let that sink in.
Heading off to a get-together with my most recent old co-workers (presumably in my honor, so they say), and riding that last leg of the VLine trip between Footscray and Southern Cross stations, I am reminded of a basic, emotional state of being...
Melbourne, I love you, and I am going to miss you.
There may be so many cucumbers in due time that I may consider pickling many of them, like my grandmother used to do.
#GardenUpdate, and things in the backyard fruit and veggie gardens are progressing quite well.
Strawberries are starting to come in; tomatoes, while still green, are beginning to sprout in numbers; one capsicum is holding steady and growing; and cucumbers are blossoming and growing!
I could actually see you doing that! 😂
But do me a favor, Ashlie: please be careful.
Nights like these really make being in the hospitality industry very worthwhile, even at my age.
A great night of service was paired with marvelous feedback not just from the guests praising service delivery from the team, but also from the team members to me, saying how much of a joy it has been to work with me and being trained by me as a supervisor.
The final night at the old job is now in the books. And really fighting back the temptation to shed tears now that it's over.
Onward and upward, after tonight!
If I do wind up at this Queenscliff gig for good (and I hope I do), and while a "never say never" thought persists, if this winds up being my last job in the Melbourne hospo scene, just let me say that over the majority of the last 22 years, it has been a wild and fun ride.
Meanwhile, I am currently off to Southgate, Melbourne, for my final shift with my other current restaurant employer.
It's going to be a very emotional night.
Queenscliff restaurant update:
Had a few long shifts this week. Very full-on next week, working almost every day, lunch and dinner shifts -- it's going to be intense, but very much looking forward to it!
#BackInQueenscliff
Started my new restaurant gig today, outside of Geelong.
Still have a week to go on my old one, back in Melbourne.
Going to be a busy week, but the sea change that I have been looking for, over the last 12 months, is finally happening.
#BackInQueenscliff
But Fatto Catto has something that Blubberbutt would only dream of having: a Disney+ streaming account of her very own!
Fatto Catto Keira taking up her position in the lounge as a couch potato cat. But nothing like her Grandmomma's old, furry, fluffy, fat, lazy momcat Blubberbutt was, Blubberbutt would actually lay on the sofa, cut the cheese, and watch what was on TV at the time.
Roma tomatoes and basil were fresh out of my sister-in-law's veggie garden, and worked out great.
Pizza night, homemade style, all the way down to the rolls of pizza dough that I prepped and froze at this time last month.
And felt like a classic Margherita Pizza, with tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and a homemade sauce.
Just had my first hydrotherapy session, for some lingering knee tendon and hamstring issues.
Amazing! Wish I had done this sooner. But great for someone at my age.
This lovable chonk, twenty pounds of housecat and all, does not like it when I leave for work, or to run errands, or leave the house at all. And she is constantly obsessed with having second breakfast, and trying to con us into it. But we do love #FattoCatto, as round as she is.
Friday therapy comes from the garden.
Planted some more strawberries (frames 2-4) in a fresh garden bed this afternoon, to go with -- in no particular order -- the tomatoes, rhubarb, capsicums, cucumbers and other strawberries previously planted.
This is Fatto Catto waiting patiently (supposedly) for her dinner.
And yes, she really is that round, tubby, and chonky.
Took a nice long, semi-pointless drive down along the Surf Coast this afternoon.
First through Anglesea, then through Torquay, onto Barwon Heads, then home. On a simply gorgeous warm afternoon.
Not a bad way to spend our wedding anniversary, in the quest for good coffee and cake.
And we're celebrating our wedding anniversary, No. 24, on Monday, incidentally.
Really hoping she will be OK through the weekend.
My other half just had another accident involving getting hit in the head, again. Third such contact she's had in the last 15 months (since November 2024).
You know what? I hate to keep witnessing these in her, and it doesn't make getting older any easier for either of us.
And it was delicious.
Chicken wings and potato skins are in the oven.
Thrown together? Last-minute on the morning of the game? Maybe.
But it is a traditional "tailgate" feed.
