Johnblog

Good bike ride on Sunday. We’ve had some lousy weather at weekends, so this was my first ride for ages. We did some of the usual route through Bicentennial Park to the Parramatta River, the Armoury and back. This was 18 kilometres, a bit shorter than our full route.

I took along my video camera and clamped it to the bike with a device Chris gave me for Christmas. This was fun, but the results were a bit shaky. Next time I will add an extra strap to stop the camera vibrating over the bumps. Video to come.

Strange things seen on bike rides – three monks in full habit out for a walk, plus kids feeding the scary giant eels in Bicentennial Park lake.

The visitors, Ginny and Steve Cook, gathered with Chris and Viv, John and Jan, Norm and Lynn for a very pleasant meal at Verde in Stanley Street, East Sydney on Wednesday evening. Norm and I arrived early and had some drinks in the bar upstairs while the others wandered in. I had superb food – duck rillettes for a starter, my first rillettes since touring the Loire Valley many years ago.

The restaurant website says: “Our Head Chef, Antonio Ruggerino, has created a menu based on authentic Italian cuisine with a strong Southern Influence. Some of the recipes have even been passed on by our Nonnas from San Giovanni di Gerace – a small village in Southern Italy’s, Calabria.”

Lots of chat and a good time was had by all.

Steve and Ginny had wandered around the city during the day. They loved the Botanic gardens, but did complain about Circular Quay being a bit grubby and the City’s banners being tacky. How dare they!I promised I would fix the banners if Steve promised to fix the European Debt Crisis. Steve also complained about misreporting in the previous blog post on golf and said his scoring system was not at all complicated. He would say that, wouldn’t he!