Back home

[skyring]

I'm back after a weekend trip to Melbourne to deliver Ken home. Ken and The Canberra Times came to ending their relationship, which also had the effect of ending my daily rides with Ken - a little dose of joy each night.

I'm sure I'll see him again, but I'm going to remember these past few months as some of the happiest of my life. Rarely have I met anyone quite so witty, well-informed, thoughtful and friendly as Ken.

We drove down the Hume. I took us out of Canberra, but soon I had to hand over to Kerri, fading away in the back seat while Ken read aloud from a book of travel stories. I took over again somewhere north of Melbourne, and we navigated the various freeways and link roads down to Langwarrin.

Warm welcome there, dinner and an early night.

Next morning a late breakfast, and then we headed up the road to the National Gallery of Victoria. The international collection, which it's been a while since I saw it. I love the Australian gallery so much it's hard to turn away.

A Modigliani, a green Picasso, some nice nudes, and some mouth-watering Impressionists. I think I liked a Pissarro of a street scene best. It was dull and grey and cloudy, but it was Paris, unchanged in a century.

A fantastic lunch in the gallery restaurant. Expensive, but well worth it for the food, the company, the setting and the wine. An Astrolabe Marlborough Sav Blanc. A glass of New Zealand paradise.

Only a glass. It was a long drive up the Hume.

We got home before midnight. and i've a shift to drive this afternoon.

Comments

[skyring.livejournal.com]

I know the one! In fact I've got a small print of it somwhere. Looks just like my daughter at that age when she'd put on her grumpy face.