We've driven across it often enough since its opening last year but today we decided to climb up the steps and walk its full length. I don't know about Sydney Harbour Bridge but the bridge across the Clyde River in the Bay will do me for height and views anytime.
Not that this was the main purpose of our drive into town: despite my driver's licence still being valid until 2026, because of my advanced age I'm required to see a GP once a year for a medical assessment. Eighty dollars later I had passed it but to round things off, the GP also gave me a referral for a blood and urine test for tomorrow morning which means fasting from 8 o'clock tonight. Just as well we'd already had a big lunch at our favourite Thai restaurant. To wash it all down, I'd gone to Dan Murphy and bought the tiniest 187ml bottle of chardonnay for $2.99, ignoring all other offers which would've given me a financial headache.
Who drinks all that expensive stuff? Not me, as I'm just as happy and just as drunk on a two-litre bottle of Greek Retsina for a mere $13.99.
Of course, no visit to town is ever complete without a visit to Vinnies where I picked up a few more gems: Clive James' "May Week Was In June" (I thought I already had this one but not being sure I picked it up anyway); Alan Titchmarsh's "England, Our England"; Salman Rushdie's "Imaginary Homelands" which is a collection of his essays and therefore easier to read than some of his books; a beautiful little volume by Ann Tündern-Smith, "Bonegilla's Beginnings", which should bring back memories; another memory-invoking book by Aung San Suu Kyi, "Letters From Burma"; and another Robert Lacey book, "Great Tales from English History", which I'd become aware of when I ordered "Inside the Kingdom" which is a sequel to his "The Kingdom" which is all about Saudi Arabia.
Despite a frosty start, it's been a good day out, the sun shone and the air began to warm up just enough to let us take off our puffer jackets.
