It kicked off with two electricians from ORIGIN ENERGY ripping out my analog electricity meters and replacing them with - well, smart meters, which operate like a smartphone and can be read by remote control from their office in Sydney or wherever it is.
Then it was off to the Bay for a spot of lunch at our favourite Thai Restaurant, followed by a visit to our favourite op-shops, both Vinnies and Salvos, where I picked up a couple of books and a DVD or two.
Then, totally on impulse, "Let's go to the Zoo!" and so we did. We found the animals behind the fence and the human zoo in front so totally entertaining that we immediately splurged on an annual visitors pass, and expect to be on a first-name basis with all the giraffes very soon.
Padma spent another hour at the shopping centre - to stock up on toilet paper, among other things. I stayed in the car with my latest book acquisitions, and observed an old man in a hi-vis vest, with grey hair and stooped shoulders, who collected shopping trolleys while a whole bunch of young, energetic working-age males skylarked all around him. Presumably, he'd been working all his life to know any different, while they had gone straight from school onto the dole without knowing any different either. There's something very, very wrong in this country!
After all that, I couldn't wait to get back onto the Kings Highway, and to see those magic mountains rise up ahead of us. Back to "Riverbend", to shut the gate, kick off my shoes, and sit on the verandah with a coldie.
