Rain, rain go away

Friday was Rob's last day at work. For the next month he goes into the IBM
'resource pool' and if he doesn't find a job within the company (unlikely since his jobs and all those like it are going to China - hence the redundancy) he leaves. It will be a big change for us, all as the whole time we have been together Rob has always done shift work. In recent years this has afforded him extra time at home with Scarlett during the week, including one day a week they spend together without me, that most blokes don't get working 5 days a week. It's not the end of the world as Rob has had to miss out on a lot in the past due to working weekends and nights and it's not a job he has ever had much interest in. It's also a chance for Rob to try something new. We shall see what comes up.
There's something about living in a city that has hot weather 8 months of the year that means when it rains and is cold you have no idea what to do with yourself. Or it is just me? Everything here is about the outdoors - the beach, the parks, the walks, the markets, the open air cafes, restaurants and bars, the harbour, the pools. A wet weekend in Sydney was forecast and I was wondering how we would fill our time. We piled into the car and headed for the mall on Saturday morning to do the grocery shopping for our dinner party that night. I made a delicious pea and mint soup, and a spectacular Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe for orange lamb shanks dish. Talking of fine food, I was lucky to be invited to an amazing champagne masterclass on Wednesday - a 6-course champagne-matched degustation dinner prepared by Tony Bilson one the Sydney's best chefs. I got to taste seven vintage champagnes including Dom Perignon 1996, Krug 1995 and the rare S de Salon 1996. It was all pretty amazing. On Sunday morning the rain held off and we went to the Botanic gardens for a run around. Great views and great morning despite menacing storm clouds. We stopped to look at the two beautiful metalwork sculptures by Bronwyn Oliver in the gardens, Palm and Magnolia. Bronwyn is a renowned Australian sculptor and is the partner of my colleague, wine writer Huon Hooke. Bronwyn took her own life last Monday so it was especially poignant to look at some of her best-known work. On a brighter note Scarlett finally succumbed to our pleas to sit on our shoulders instead of being carried on the hip whenever she gets bored of walking. Unfortunately it has taken until she weighs 14 kilos to show any interest in this pursuit so it is back-breaking work. What has greatly amused us of late is many many people mistaking Scarlett's doll for a real newborn baby (albeit with a massive head and eyes that never close). We regularly have people come up to us in the shop or wherever obviously about to tell us off for leaving the baby lying in the shopping trolley or letting Scarlett drag our 'baby' around on the floor. It's not until they come closer they realise it's a doll and start laughing. We are expecting a call from family services.

Winter in Sydney

A good couple of weeks despite Scarlett face planting on concrete at the beginning of last week, while we were enjoying a lively race down the hill from the shops. Normally an activity she only enjoys with her father (Mummy is much too responsible) it was actually Mummy who caused the accident by tripping Scarlett up on the front wheel of the pram I was pushing as I raced past her. Competitive Mum. A large sore scab has spent 10 days enlarging and now receding. We had a brilliant, chaotic family dinner with our friends Julia and Richard and their daughter Ella who were visiting from Japan. Scarlett, who is very affectionate - she kisses furniture, doors and windows before getting into bed - was particularly pleased to see Julia and Ella and threw herself into Julia's arms. Scarlett has got quite into the whole picture taking thing now and constantly wants to hold the camera and try to take photos. This pic of Rob, Pooh and I at breakfast is one of her first portrait masterpieces. On Saturday mornings we have started going to the Orange Grove organic markets held in a local primary school grounds. As well as a fantastic range of produce, bread, meat, coffee and a very nice man who turns out a mean salmon omelet in a roll, there is a bouncy castle. Needless to say it is a big hit with our girl. Mummy however is close to being blacklisted after threatening a seven year old who kneed Scarlett in the head only moments after I had warned the older kids to look out for the younger ones. She grassed me up to her mother who came and told me off for the way I spoke to her daughter. I didn't say it but wish I'd said 'I might have threatened your daughter, but she is a g rass. She won't last five minutes in the nick.' The weather at the moment is typical of Sydney winters - cold nights and early mornings, but then glorious sunny days with blue blue skies an d temps in the 70s. Not bad at all. Yesterday we me t up w ith our ol d neighbour George and her daughter Sophie, Scarlett's 'official' best friend. It was warm enough for them to strip off and run about in the all together.

Happy weekend

After a bout of gastro knocked me about later in the week sending me home to my sick bed on Thursday afternoon, I recovered enough on Friday for Rob, Scarlett and I to make it to Godfather Kendall's for dinner and a sleepover. As always Kendall produced an incredible dinner in his beautiful Elizabeth Bay apartment, where we enjoyed his fire, food, wine and company. Slightly worse for wear on Saturday we walked, slowly, down to Rushcutters Bay park on the water for coffee at the kiosk, that conveniently also has a ton of kid's toys out on the grass. In the afternoon we headed to the Royal Prince Alfred hospital, where Scarlett was born, to visit our great friends Melissa and Larry, who had their first baby, a girl called Lotus May, on Friday morning. Melissa featured earlier in this blog around the half way mark on her pregnancy. Lotus is beautiful and I have never seen Melissa look happier or more relaxed. We can't wait to watch our girls play, smoke, get drunk, bunk off school and lie about their exam results together in the years to come. On Saturday we got ready to head out to the Sydney Opera House to see Kiri te Kanawa, our wedding anniversary present to ourselves. Just as the babysitter walked in the door, Scarlett started vomiting in her cot - the dreaded gastro bug had struck again. While we certainly had reservations about still going out, Rob reminded me of the price of the tickets and we were out the door leaving Scarlett happy in a changed bed and bed clothes. It was a spectacular night as nights at the Opera House tend to be. Kiri was exceptional as always, accompanied by a single pianist. The opera house setting is remarkable and during the interval we grabbed our champagne flutes and headed out onto the terrace to look at the harbour and the illuminated bridge and city skyline. On nights like this there really is no other city in the world I'd rather be. We were home to find our little Miss all scrunched up in bed with no further sickness to report. On Sunday we had Julia, Richard and their daughter Ella over for dinner while they were in Sydney for a few days. They are wonderful friends who we have really been missing since they moved to Tokyo in March. Fortunately their stay there is only for a year and we will be visiting them in Japan in December for some sushi and skiing.