Closing Time

We’ll I’ve ventured out of Melbourne. I went all the way to Richmond. The nearby suburb was a 10 minute tram ride from downtown. The brewery was fine. They serve 4 beers: an ale, an India pale ale, a stout and a reddish beer whose type I forget. The IPA was probably the best. I had a ‘sampler paddle’ which is a quarter-pint of each of the beers. I followed that up with a pint of the reddish Hightail. There were 6 or so girls from Team Box out and an equal number of boyfriends, husbands and housemates, most of which play for the men’s team here: Heads of State. We had a good time.

While there, I ate a small flatbread pizza with ‘rockets’ which I learned upon delivery only means greens. I’m not sure what I was hoping for, but something more impressive than greens. Realizing on the tram ride home that the 2 pints and smallish dinner would leave me hungover the next day, I stopped in a “late night” diner on the way home for pancakes, which were pretty good. The diner closes at midnight and I was probably their last customer. Everything here closes early. I haven't closed a bar yet, but i think they close at 2.

I haven’t figured out when people get anything done here. Any errand you might want to run opens after you get to work and closes before you get out of work. The dry cleaners are all open M-F 10-5. (Maybe I should look into that line of work.)

Anyway, my attempt to stave off the hangover by eating didn’t work and I still woke up with a headache and stomach ache. I guess that is just another similarity from home.

Today it was 38C/100F in Melbourne. I did some shopping in the GPO (General Post Office) which is a gorgeous old building restored with a high-end mall inside. I don’t need anything else, but somehow I bought some more stuff.

While I waited for it to cool down outside, I went to the Queen Victoria Market, which is up the street from my hotel about a 5 minute walk. It houses over 600 vendors and claims to be the largest open air market in the southern hemisphere. It was impressive, but I wonder if whoever certified that claim ever heard of India or Brazil. The market was daunting. There were vendors selling everything imaginable. Lots of food, clothing and antiques. It seemed like the kind of place Lynn really would have liked. I got out of there.

It started to cool down around 7 or so and I went for a run around the Royal Botanical Garden. Families were going into the garden with picnic baskets for an evening concert.
After I post this I’m off to a bar around the corner from my hotel that has live music. I’ll have to stick to just one drink tonight, since I have practice tomorrow (from 1-5, and it’s supposed to be 38C again, so I may fry).