We drove the twenty-five clicks to Moruya for some shopping at the Saturday morning market along the Moruya river. Big turnout as usual!
We bought baklava and pita bread from an Eqyptian vendor with whom I practised my almost-forgotten smattering of Arabic, two kilos of honey from an authentic bee-keeper, and, from a stall-keeper who sold nothing but baseball caps, I bought a cap inscribed with the words "Grumpy Old Man". I am sick and tired of being mistaken for Robert Redford!
Walking back to the car, we passed The Reading Room, except this time we didn't pass it but stepped inside. And what a find it turned out to be! It's a bookshop-cum-café which has regular Book Club meetings as well as readings and, twice a month, a Musicians Meet.
It was like a café littéraire of yesteryears and I could have sat there all day! And almost did! (that's me in the checkered shirt) Two cappuccinos later I was still engrossed in The Essential Dave Allen, so Padma suggested I put up the $2 and buy the book so we could take a leisurely drive along the Moruya River *).
It's 3 o'clock on a very hot Saturday afternoon and we're back at "Riverbend". Padma has gone to the village hall to help Betty with her Trash'n'Treasure sale and I'm deep into The Essential Dave Allen.
*) Of course, I didn't just pick up one book but three more: Hunting Pirate Heaven which is a voyage in search of the lost pirate strongholds of the Indian Ocean; No Chopsticks Required, a family's unexpected year in Shanghai; and James Michener's The Drifters which was one of those life-changing books I read in the 70s and which I now give as present to people half my age. In fact, I may send this one to Horst even though, with over 800 pages, the postage is a bit of a killer.
