Go Get! Who, What, Where?

Last week-end we had a couple of fun and productive days. Since we moved here we haven't owned a car. We get around on the bus, trains, and taxis. Public transport is great most of the time. We don't have to worry about parking, struggling with crowded streets, gas prices, or directions.

However, there are times when we want to be bourgeois and just sit in our own, quiet car, and go wherever we want or need to go. For those times there is a company/scheme here called "Go Get". We signed up and only have to go on-line to reserve a car for a designated time. We can do it in hourly increments or by the day. There are three of them within a block of our house so we can usually get one without trouble. The hassle is that you have to know how long you need it, and you can't take it from one place and leave it at another. Overall, it is working for us for now and it is cheaper than owning a car.

So, on Saturday, Valerie needed to get to her camping start point which was way up north in an out of the way place. We got the car at 8 a.m. and David (with the help of google maps) navigated the tunnel, freeway, and small streets with only minor backtracking. We got her there at 9:05, just past punctual. The kids and leaders from the Duke of Edinburgh scheme were getting ready to leave, and Valerie found her friends and disappeared into the crowd. They treked a day in, set up camp, and treked out the next day (just like last time only the weather was better, the terrain was more interesting, and the leader was nicer). Valerie took the train and bus home Sunday and had much more positive reports.

After we dropped her, David, Mira, and I drove to a northern beach called Balmoral. It was quiet and beautiful with a lovely park, cafe area, and walkway. It is a cove so surrounded by cliffs and land except for the distant opening to the sea. The haze of the morning was still hanging around so we sat at a nice Italian cafe and had eggs and toast, coffee and delicious Italian biscuits. One had fig filling and one had crushed almonds and mixed dried fruit. Yum! The waiters were both charming with their friendly smiles and lovely Italian accents.

We had to motivate ourselves to get back in the car and drive back home because Mira and I had a fabric event to go to, and we had errands to do with the car. When we got back to Redfern, David dropped Mira and I at a warehouse where we climbed 4 flights of stairs to the first annual Fabric-a-brac. It was a fabric and trims swap designed to get crafty people together to buy or sell their excess materials. There were lots of nice pieces but the prices were a bit high. I expected it to be more of a flea market type thing but it was really more of a design sale. Old scraps were called "Vintage" and sold for over a hundred dollars. It was fun to be sweating and digging around in an old warehouse, but I went away with nothing other than the thought of how much I could have made if I hadn't given or thrown away so much of my stash before I moved.

After that David and I went to the "Supa Centa" - yes that is how it is spelled. To make a long story short, we got a BBQ, patio chairs, and three fans. We were gearing up for summer! We packed it all in the little Go Get car and came home. We cleaned up the patio and set everything up. It was satisfying to get so much done at once and it made the house seem more like our home (even though it is not).

We finished the day by getting take away fish and chips and sushi, and going to a Southern beach that we had never been to. The interesting thing there was that the beach was large and pretty, but the area was not so nice and the buildings were a bit grungy. How waterfront property can go unmaintained is a mystery to me.

We dropped the car at 8 p.m. at the same spot, walked over to the wine store, went home and chilled with a white wine in front of the fan, the noises of Saturday night partiers in the streets outside.