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It hardly seems like seven and a half years since I wrote this. i’m re-posting this from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, a relatively small city dominated by a big river– the South Saskatchewan. You see canoes and paddle boards and jet skis on this river, but I doubt if it hosts anything like the Henley regatta.
Despite my recent rant against the Grand Prix, I am as addicted to the convenience of the automobile as anyone else. I use our car for errands, occasional grocery shopping, carrying my bicycle to the starting point of group rides, and, (here comes the hard part) going for walks.
Two or three times a week my wife will hold out an imaginary leash and do her best Barbara Woodhouse imitation of “walkies.” For those of you too young to have seen Barbara on TV, suffice it to say that she was the Margaret Thatcher of dog training. Viewers sat up straighter when her show came on. Dog owners knew instinctively that they were the ones being trained; not the dogs. My wife doesn’t drive, so if she is to have her favorite walk, I’m part of the deal.
The walk she has in mind is a four-kilometer loop down along…
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Needless to say, the photo hardly gives credit to the handsome, distinguished people we are now, nearly twenty years later. Lygon Street is still bustling and Brunetti has re-installed itself in grand fashion back in its old location, tempting all who wander by with cappuccino, pastries and cake.
It is hard to credit now, but I actually arrived in Melbourne for the first time ten years ago this month. We were living in Hong Kong at the time, which needs some explaining but that will have to wait another day.
My wife had been invited to teach an intensive ten day course at the law school where she is now employed on a permanent basis. We decided to make a fortnight of our trip and squeeze in a little sightseeing at the end.
For my daughter and I, the whole trip was a holiday. I can no longer remember how it transpired, but we convinced the parents of my daughter’s best friend to let her come along. Her name was Leesa and she was a fine companion for my daughter, the absolute opposite of the spoiled, expat child one sees so often in Hong Kong.
While my wife…
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It doesn’t seem like much on paper. Sixty-six miles. You cover that in an hour on the highway at cruising speed. I have been doing my preparation, getting out on the bike every other day for the last couple of weeks and clocking from 30 to 50 kms on the bike path. Yesterday, however, it was a different story.
The event is called “Around the Bay in a Day.” It began 14 years ago with about 2500 riders. Yesterday there were some 14,000 cyclists. It is a fund raising event for a charitable group called “The Smith Family,” which raised nearly half a million dollars last year for disadvantaged children. I don’t know how much they raised yesterday but there were a lot of corporate teams in evidence.
I wasn’t up to 250 kms, or even 210, but I didn’t think 100 would be so hard. The official start for…
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Down Under 