A Melbourne Weekend

Weekends go quickly - my retired father (91) told me that he only rode his bike weekdays so he would know when it was the weekend. He'd read the paper first to ensure he wasn't in the obituaries and the drive down to the velodrome and do his one hour of riding in circles around the track.

For me its the opposite - I look forward to our weekends but they go sooo quickly and I never seem to get every thing done that should be done. Friday night it was the Argentinian dinner with our MG Car Club. The food was ghastly but we enjoyed catching up with old friends not seen for some time.

Saturday was a morning ride before Sue had me picking up some sofas she bought on E-Bay. She was impressed with $167 bargain and I have to say the effort of picking them up - lugging out the old ones and bring in the replacements was well worth it. The old ones had been destroyed by our recently dear departed cat Rosie.

The sofas are a charcoal grey and blend with the terracotta tiles with charcoal  grout.
This three seater opens to a double bed.
We are also thinking of repainting the family room in off-white with a charcoal feature wall. Do you think that will work?

These sofas are almost new - unmarked, a real bargain.

We thought a quiet Saturday night in front of the Tellie would be nice until we had a call from friends to join them for a dinner of mussels - impromptu dinners are great and so was the dinner and company.

These mussels were so chunky and delicious - in a tomato and olive soup.

I was hoping for rain Sunday morning as I had entered for a Fun Ride and I was looking forward to a sleep in after an already hectic start to the weekend - it was not to be. So at 6.00 am the alarm rang and I organised myself for the "MELBURN ROOBAIX".
Did I hear you ask - what is the Melburn Roobaix?

After arriving at the start, I was confronted by the thousands of entrants waiting to confirm their registrations but all went smoothly. I even met some friends from years gone by when standing in the queue.

This is the bike I rode on the day - it has only one gear and please note my French readers, it has a big "F" on the seat bar to denote my fondness for France.
It has kept me company on a past French visit in 2010.

Well its a parody of the classic bike race - the Paris Roubaix or the "Hell of the North" that is held in April in France.

Our annual classic is held in Melbourne on the cobble stone back laneways and no less gruelling and much more fun.
This year is possibly my 3rd or maybe 4th event. People dress-up in some very weird costumes - it really is a fun event over a 50 kms course.

While I write this, my body is aching from bouncing across kilometres of bluestone cobbles. But while the words appear on the page I think what a great day it was and I'm pleased that it didn't rain.

It seems that I'm being called for dinner - Sue is cooking a free range chicken that has been spatchcocked (by me), roasted and spread with Dijon Mustard then served with an orange scented gravy. Potato and pumpkin with peas - is that the perfect Sunday night dinner?
Hope your weekend was fun as well.