No dawn service for me

I didn’t fancy getting up early and standing at a cenotaph so I stayed in bed and let Mitchie do it for me.

We had a few visitors today. First Trace turned up quickly followed by Felicia (Chris’ new partner) and Taylor (their son). Denise then dropped in to say good morning before heading out for a mystery appointment.

Taylor wonders what’s going on

Just after the above photo was taken, Taylor decided he wanted to play with my phone and take a selfie. Which he managed to do. This is the result:

Not quite mastered the looking into the camera bit yet

We had a lovely time with them, being entertained by Taylor’s inquisitorial antics…though I’m not too sure about his love of train carriage chewing. Hopefully it’s just a teeth arrival phase or else he unconsciously hopes to be an engine driver when he grows up.

There was also some sad chat about someone who drowned yesterday until I pointed out the millions of people who DIDN’T drown yesterday which was bit more cheery.

Eventually, Felicia, Taylor and Tracey went off to the Happy Valley playground and Mum and I sat around and waited for Denise to return so we could all go down to Bulcock Beach for a fish and chips lunch. Or, rather, mum and Denise had fish and chips. I had calamari and Greek salad.

Bulcock

We had a lovely chat by the beach (mum managed to bag a table while we waited for the food) including plans for Denise’s upcoming trip to Europe and how she’s going to spend New Years with us. The silly thing thought we’d be out partying into the wee small hours rather than sitting around waiting for the Big Ben bongs before going to bed. It’s called old aged relief rather than joyous exuberance.

After lunch we tried to find somewhere to have coffee but everywhere was closing early (it was ANZAC Day after all). Eventually we tried my usual cafe at the end of the boardwalk and, although they were closing up soon, we had time for a coffee. And, as luck would have it, we managed to get a seat over the water, something that happens only once or twice in a lifetime.

Denise then dropped us back home.

A lovely day with the inevitable video: