Stalking Pete...

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My back's decided to play up today so instead of going to watch day 2 of the cricket, I decided upon water therapy. To the beach...

I really didn't need an excuse to go to the beach at Glenelg. It's absolutely stunning. Just a couple of apartment blocks and a hotel, a water park and some lovely beach front shops and restaurants. The even better news is that today, there's hardly a soul around. I could have my pick of the sand to pitch my towel. Perfect!

Once on the beach itself, I went hunting for shells for Jacob - I saw some Paua shells washed up on the beach on Sunday but sadly, was out of luck today. Hopefully he'll be pleased with the ones I found all the same - don't want a 6 year old unhappy with the presents that his auntie was painstakingly searching for all morning! A few shells embedded in my feet later, and blisters that are increasing with every footstep, I lay down on the sand to relax...

Whooooooooosh. The wind picked up as soon as I was horizontal and in 10 seconds flat, I was covered in an all over body wrap of sand, stuck to my sunscreen. Scraped myself up off the ground and went for a swim expecting the water to be as warm as it was on Sunday. It wasn't. Washed the sand off and went back to reapply sunscreen. Lifted up towel and carefully got rid of the sand that was now covering it. Lay back down. Whooooooooosh....and so began the cycle of sand, sea, suncream for the next 2 hours.
Bored of my free but probably much needed exfoliation, I headed back to the Sparkes via town to pick up a present or two for them to say thanks for their hospitality, hopping through the pain of my blisters. We're going for dinner tonight too - which I don't think I'll get away with paying for so present shopping it is.

Dinner at The Strand was amazing - the portions, as per Jules's warning, were enough to feed a backpacker for a month, and as a result I felt like I left more of the mushroom risotto on my plate than I did in my stomach. Great food though - just felt so guilty for leaving so much behind!

The conversation turned to work from days gone by and about trips abroad that we'd taken to see clients. Paul started recounting a trip to see a global manufacturer of small sticky labels and tape (and sandpaper too - who'd have thought) where he completed the work in 3 hours but stayed all week, with the client asking him to speak so they could listen to his accent! The laughter started and continued as Paul continued to talk about his contacts at the client, Pete and Sherri, who he clearly got on with really well. As most consultants will testify, you ordinarily work for a client then move on, without really keeping in contact other than to tout for more work. Not so with Paul, Pete and Sherri - turns out they kept in contact for ages afterwards, with Christmas cards, wedding photos and even CDs being sent in the post. It gets better - one of Paul's musical influences is as a result of meeting Pete and being introduced to the band Creed. This clearly was no ordinary client...

Laughing at how much Paul was going on about this particular client (he appeared to know their full life histories, which Jules and I found hilarious), he decided to look them up on Facebook. Imagine how his face lit up as he found Pete, still working for the same company in the same place. Imagine Pete's subsequent surprise when he received Paul's friend request...

Not content with using Facebook alone, Paul turned to Linkedin and stalked Pete on there too. Drew the line at Twitter (for now at least). His attentions then turned to Sherri. She turned out to be more difficult to trace. By now we're all laughing so much that the restaurant is clearing around us. He was a man on a mission - trying to reignite the friendship flames after all these years! Inevitably our conversations became more elaborate - 'wonder if Pete would like a holiday to Adelaide?', 'Jules, there's something I need to tell you about my relationship with Pete...', along with various unrepeatable quotes and jokes about the company making small sticky rough things...etc. We were crying with laughter. And do you know what? That laughter carried on all the way home too.

It's probably one of those stories where I guess you had to be there but at the same time, I don't want to forget a minute of it because it summed up why I've had such a lovely few days in Adelaide. Great company, with friends that you've known for years who have made the trip so full of laughter that I'll have great memories of the time I've spent there.

Who knows whether this is the beginning or the end of the reconnection with Pete...hopefully he'll never find out that after our conversations over dinner, he's now a major celebrity in Glenelg!

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