January 24th

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Parramatta, Australia - January 24th - 10:24pm
Well today was a little hectic. I woke up to what I thought was an easy day, I was soon mistaken. But I did feel well rested as I got a good night sleep on the couch! It was still hot with the a/c going so I’m glad I wasn’t in my sauna room.

So I got up and took it easy like I usually do. Things seemed to be going nicely, not that I really had anything to do but go into Parramatta to check out an apartment at 3pm. So I puttered around the place for a bit until I decided to get ready and walk to the train station. So I got on the bus and headed towards Parramatta, seems good so far, until. I got to St. Mary’s and the announcement said that the train was stopping at all stops towards Penrith. “Well that’s not right, I just came from that way, they must have made a mistake and meant to say Parramatta not Penrith.” is what I thought, no one was around to ask so I remained on the train and there was only 1 other passenger so it wasn’t obvious what was going on. So I right before the train left St. Mary’s they played the same message over the announcement and closed the door. “OH UH, this isn’t good.” Sure enough the train went right back the way that I came. My stop is Kingswood (1 stop before Penrith) but I figured that if I didn’t notice anything when I got on the train then it wasn’t going to tell me anything different.

I decided to go to the next big station (Penrith) and ask someone. So we got there and I asked one of the workers when the next train to Parramatta was, his response “There isn’t one, you have to catch the next bus over there” pointing in the direction of the car park and looking at his watch, “It’s leaving right now”. Oh shit, so I booked it to the buses and sure enough there were signs all over this station. The dreaded word…TRACK WORK! YUCK.

So I finally got on the right bus at 1:50. I figured I’d ask the bus driver how long it’d take as I had to be in Parramatta by 3pm. His response “I’m not sure this is my first run but I believe about an hour 20 minutes.” WHAT, I’m going to be 10minutes late, is there much point in me going all the way there to realize that I missed the open house. Ahh that’s not good. I figured I’d give the driver the benefit of the doubt and thought he’d get me there on time. So I sat on the bus for an hour, sure enough we got into Parramatta at 2:50pm, I had about 10minutes to walk to the apartment.

I walked into the car park just as the realtor was walking into the building…perfect timing. Long story short, the realtor had no idea what she was doing. She tried her key in every door but the correct door, about 5 minutes later she finally got the right door after calling her office for the correct door. So we got there and the place looked just like the pictures. It would be perfect for me, just a little studio but they are asking the tenant to sign a 6 month lease, so we’ll have to see. She then attempted to take us to the pool and gym…well we got to the pool after walking around the first floor only to realize it was on the second and we never did find the gym. So people are just clueless, I would have done my research a little bit before taking 5 people around the building. Unbelieveable.

So I got the application and took off. I figured since I was here I’d look for a gift for Lee (can’t tell you yet Lee) and look for a new purse as mine fell apart the other day. Guess that’s what you get when you buy cheap things in Turkey or was it Greece…Might have been Malaga, Spain. I guess that’s a sign that I’ve travelled too much…NOT.

Last night Jean told me that the group of Miata people were heading out for dinner after the track day today and I was invited. Actually I guess a few of the guys have been asking about me because the other people in the group have been talking and say that Jean has a house mate living with her from Canada and she’s a massage therapist. It never gets old even when you are on the other side of the world. So I had planned to be back for 6:30 to get ready and go to dinner, I got a message from Jean saying she was on her way home but it was only 5:00pm so I was a little disappointed because I thought she’d have to go early but she informed me that she was just home early. So I jumped on the bus and sure enough an hour and 20minutes later along with 2 buses and a train later I finally walked into the house. It was so hot and sweaty on the bus that I crossed my legs for 2 minutes and sweat was dripping down my leg. So I got home and jumped in the nice cold shower. I was ready in 20minutes just to jump in the car to go for dinner.

Jean had given me the heads up that these blokes were a little crazy and would give me a hard time…she’s never met my Uncle Barry or even my Uncle Denis and his good mate Jason. Between the 3 of them I think I’ve seen and heard it all. So we finally got to the Thai restaurant and sure enough everyone was there. I was introduced to everyone and they all seemed pleasant, Joe was the one I had to watch as I shook his hand and he very softly and delicately kissed my hand. I was a little shocked and didn’t know what to do! Joe is a 71 year old male! Haha The rest of the night went very well. I had a good time with Tony, Ken, Chris, Gai, Lou, Lee (sorry hunny not you!), Joe and Jean. They mostly talked about MX5 things and race cars but there were a few good moments. I think the best was when Chris pointed out that the nice young bloke had taken his date out for dinner in the car park. Haha it was actually on the sidewalk just outside the restaurant but it looked like it was the car park. Nothing’s more romantic then flaming sorbet in the car park! Haha
As we were saying our goodbyes the lads asked if they’d see me tomorrow at the track and that brought the thought to mine and Jean’s mind. So on the ride home I thought that I’d go along to the track tomorrow and see how things went along. I figured I’d go now before I didn’t have another chance. There is another track meet next weekend but I can’t go because LEE will be in TOWN! YEPPIE!!

Better get to bed as I have to be up early tomorrow morning to make it to the track for Jean to be on time.

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