A Melbourne RETRO Weekend.

As you may be aware, Friday night is bubbles night, the end of the working week and time to enjoy the weekend. Saturday for us was the first day of spring. Signs of spring were about with the grass growing once again and bulbs sprouting in the garden, along with weeds.

We had guests joining us for dinner Friday night and so we decided to light the open fire in the living room followed by a sit-up dinner in the dining room. Neither of these rooms get much use these days and with Spring and the impending summer, meals will be outdoors soon.

Possibly the last open fire for this year. Who's that in the mirror?

Bubbles with salami, olives and a dip. Ahhh! Friday nights.

It wasn't a late night, maybe in bed by 11.30 pm for a 6.30 am get-up to join my mates for the last Retro-Ride for the year. Our Retro-Ride is where we bring out our old racing bikes. No carbon fibre here, just old steel bikes with 10 gears, not the 22 that modern bikes of today have. We even dress up in the cycling clothes of the era. Bit daggy really but if you need to laugh at yourself occasionally!!!

Resplendent in my 1980s jersey road bike that has been  restored to its former glory.
Wish I could say the same for the legs. 
This picture was taken by my friend Ellen who has many great pic @ http://www.redbubble.com/people/ell-on-wheels

Feature of the day was my friend Bob's classic barnyard find, a 1930 Clifton Star racing bike.

On our return to where we start our ride, we discovered a classic car exhibition in the car park of the shopping centre. There was quite an array of interesting cars spanning the pre-war period with Austin 7s to some muscle cars of the 70s. I'm not big on the American cars but I do appreciate the work that their owners put into their restoration. I actually heard a like minded fellow utter the following statement. "It's amazing how such extraordinary bad taste in design actually has appeal today."
And I believe its true - those beautifully restored beasts look amazing when compared to today's homogenised shopping trolley cars of today where they all the same to me.

Sunday was our official second day of Spring and at the same time, FATHER'S DAY. Having a daughter in Queensland, and our oldest son in London, we had a quiet affair with our first BBQ for the season. My youngest son, Mitch who is back from Montreal cooked on the BBQ while I enjoyed a couple of ales he bought for us to enjoy. I rang my father who is also in Queensland so as you can see we are a bit scattered around these days.

To finish off the weekend, I may just kick back with a glass of red wine and watch the highlights of the Tour of Spain on tellie.

Hope your weekend was as enjoyable as ours.

 Back to work tomorrow.