Here was I, thinking that the Royal Funeral had got it right by insisting that visiting dignitaries should get the bus to the Abbey tomorrow, when I discover that, some people are more entitled than anyone else. It seems that Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, and President Isaac Herzog of Israel are allowed to be driven. World leaders? Self-important, over-privileged, cowardly arseholes, if you ask me.
I also read that the Arabs were unhappy with the bus thing as well and are, therefore, not coming. Excellent. Why pander to people who think they are superior to everyone else? It should be ‘obey the rules or stay at home’ like things are for the rest of us.
Not that we were really thinking about that at all today. Originally, we were going to some open gardens but, instead, Mirinda and Fi took Archie for a ramble around Katoomba Falls before the three of us had a wander around Everglades.
Visiting Leura Everglades is another one of our pilgrimages whenever we’re in the mountains. Here’s one trip from 2010. In saying that, I don’t remember ever visiting at this time of year when the daffs are flourishing and the tulips have started appearing.
The whole place was alive with early Spring flowers and not many people. Unfortunately the tea room was closed but, given we were going out for a special meal later and there was hummingbird cake, this was probably a good thing.
We managed to wander around the whole place, except for the grotto because I didn’t fancy my chances getting down the steps and remaining on my feet. Of course, I’ve seen it before and, anyway, Fi ran down like an agile young gazelle. Like sensible adults, Mirinda and I sat at the lookout and waited for her.
Something else we try and do when we visit Oz is meet up with Sally and Mark. Sally and Mark live in Orange and their kids are Kate and Will. Will, loves a bit of lobster as we discovered back in 2017 when we all met up in Canary Wharf.
We managed to meet up with Sally and Mark tonight at a Leura restaurant called Mr Collins. It’s where Silks used to be before they moved to Wentworth Falls. I’d spotted the menu the other day when we wandered up Leura Mall and, having read the entrée entry for seared scallops, I really, really wanted to eat there. And, boy was it good.
Obviously I had the scallops which I followed with the pork belly and cheese to finish. It was all divine, including the wines – a Sancerre to start and a fantastic cab sav to follow. Here’s my pork belly.
I thoroughly enjoyed the meal but I do have a complaint. There was no coffee. I felt like I was in Naples. Actually, that’s not entirely true. There was a coffee machine and there was coffee mentioned on the menu (for afters) but it was never offered. The others said they were fine with no coffee as it would keep them up all night. Sally reckons I’m too European. Still, there was an espresso martini on the menu and I’ll forever regret not ordering one with dessert.
But the rest of the evening was wonderful, with some extremely funny stories, mostly about Mark’s Covid knee and Sally’s attitude towards her own dogs. And, of course, Mark’s grandmother who died of a heroin overdose.
She checked into a hospital complaining of some pain but when she was examined, no-one could find anything wrong with her so they gave her some very strong pain killers to ease it. A few days later she died. The autopsy revealed there was nothing wrong with her and she’d died of the drugs given to her by the hospital.
Mark reckons it’s an updated version of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Okay, it’s inherently not funny, but the way Mark told it, it was hilarious.
We parted ways outside and they wandered off to their hotel room while we went back to the house. An excellent meal, in excellent company.
In the meanwhilst, King Chuck III held a special reception at Buck House and most of the invited guests came by bus. And the first off the bus was Felipe VI, the King of Spain. Now that’s a proper kind of leader; a brave man of the people. And, as you’d expect, our own Gustav and Silvi were also on a bus.
Oh, and today marked the 50th anniversary of the TV version of MASH.
