Another sunny day, in Manly

Today is a test of flexibility as I am again in the Central Coast train at 8am to revisit Malcolm in Woy Woy to retrieve my two Macintosh chargers I inadvertently left in his power board yesterday. However it will give me yet another opportunity to have a coffee and a chat with him, always a source of pleasure and information. I have managed to put back my RV with Simone to 1.30 at Manly Wharf, so all is good. It is a salutary reminder for when I do serious travel, i.e. next month to Birmingham, that these rechargers are number one in my travel accessories - never to be forgotten. I may even buy an extra cable and keep it for emergencies permanently in my back pack.

The purple seated carriage, a quiet one.

Last night on ABC telly I caught an excellent Four Corners program about a man with a disability who has just published his autobiography and called it 'Ugly'. Not a very encouraging title, but one under which he has led all of his forty-five odd years. He was born with a large tumour on his face resulting in a grotesque deformity which needed several major operations to remove and then more serious cosmetic surgery to replace both his eyes which were originally on each side of his forehead. But wait, he also had no legs! This man Robert Hoge, is a prodigy. His mother, at first in total shock with already four children below ten, frankly in her detailed and exquisite diary, relates how she wanted him to die, but on a unanimous family vote they kept him, and thank goodness for that. 

This chirpy, super-intelligent child has grown up to have two marriages, two children, and an enormously productive life. He wears two protheses on his knees which allow him to walk unaided, and his attitude is so positive he shames the rest of this so-called 'able' world. As a result of the many facial reconstructions  he has an unusual face, but his lovely young second wife has expressed how handsome she finds him, and sexy, which I must say, I did also find him.

Bravo to the ABC for showing this amazing man and letting people know how lucky they are, but really, how prodigious he is, to have surmounted such amazing setbacks in life. He would he a great man to meet one day. He was written about by famed journalist Hugh Lunn, who went on to become a good friend of his, and I believe a literary mentor, as he, Robert, is now an acknowledged author with his published autobiography.

Needless to say, this was a salutary reminder of how lazy I am in the writing department, as that is my next goal, something which I will pursue and hopefully reach, in New Zealand, my newly adopted country.

Return trip, busier, sun still shining

Circular Quay...

Past the sails....

...in our wake.

Lunch with Simone, Arnaud Camille et Morri 

Some happy PNGers enjoying Manly

At the Manly wharf I caught up with my dear friends Simone, her French hubby Arnaud and their two gorgeous kids, Camille et Morri. We had some clam chowder soup at the nearby Bavarian Bier Café and Arnaud insisted on inviting me. It was a delicious soup and the company was delightful  - so nice to see them after so long away, it was a  really happy lunch and they were all in great form. Thanks so much to them, merci, mes très chers amis, and Camille and Morri are really beautiful.

Back after a long day to a quiet evening in front of the telly, but nothing much on so I can read the book M kindly gave me, a very humourous short tome by an incredible English cad, but with pen of an angel, called Simon Raven.