Friday

On the spur of the moment yesterday, I decided to take today off - call it my birthday present to myself and, since M was already going to Brisbane for a seminar I suggested S and I go up with her and spend some time trekking around Brisbane while M learned about search warrants. Alas, S turned up a little worse for wear this morning - she thinks it may have been something she ate last night - although the only thing she had last night that she doesn't usually have on trivia night was ice cream cake. Hopefully that wasn't the cause of her discomfort - but we can't think of what else it might be. Long story short, S decided to stay home - and while I offered to stay home with her, she thought it was best if I stayed with the original plan and took Nik with me to do some photography as I wandered around Brisbane CBD. It would be a good break for me - a day out of the office doing something completely different. (Thanks S you were right.)

Brisbane was fun but much hotter than I thought. I had taken Nik, both lenses and a bottle of water - all very sensible - and a vest which lasted until mid-morning before being stowed into my bag. It took me a while to get into photography mood/mode and in the end I decided to concentrate on still life - the various statues around Brisbane - and there are a few. There were a couple of shots I was happy with and still I managed to be at the bus stop on time to meet M for our trip to West End for lunch at the Viet Hoa. Imagine my surprise when I looked up at the bus stop to see Sy standing there. What a coincidence was that! All of Brisbane and she and I happened to be at the same place at the same time. Of course, it all made perfect sense when she told me that it was no coincidence - she and M had talked earlier in the day, and Sy was joining us for lunch.

It was a great lunch and a great cup of coffee afterwards at French Twist, a lovely ye olde world coffee shop, also in West End. Which was good because we then walked back into the CBD - which was surprisingly close given how long it seemed to take to get there on the bus. Back in the city, Sy bade her farewells, still waiting to hear from the vet about CoCo who was being operated on today - having a toe amputated to remove a cancer; amazing because this type of cancer usually occurs in joints and means the dog's entire leg has to be amputated - but luckily, that's not the case here. But, ongoing, CoCo will need to have chemotherapy - even though x-rays and blood work have failed to find any other masses.

M shepherded me into The Brisbane Big House - not difficult because I desperately needed a cold drink to bring down my exercise-elevated body temperature - and that was where the car was parked so we needed to go through there to get home.

I cannot believe how bad the traffic is on the way back from Brisbane - especially as we had had a dream run up this morning (under an hour door-to-door). There was a build-up near Springwood and it didn't really thin out until we were nearing Ormeau.

Meanwhile back at Latimers, although S wasn't feeling 100%, she had managed to bake a batch of Anzac biscuits which will be great for work on Monday.

All in all, I'd call it a good day!