Melbourne Day 3
A little out of order, but here's the continuation of our Melbourne trip.
We woke up relatively early at my sister's place. We had to head back to my Dad's place to start going through the new shipment of my belongings that he had collected from my old apartment. Dad had already exaggerated about how many boxes I had to go through, so I wasnt looking forward to it. Jyan and I said goodbye, and went back to dad's. First though, we wanted to visit Garden World in Dingley, because both Jyan and I have developed a liking for carnivorous plants, and I knew that we could get some from there.
I couldn't remember if Garden World had a cafe or not, but knowing Melbourne there was pretty good chance there was.
I had savoury french toast with bacon... the wedges I shared with Jyan.
Jyan on the other hand had a cheese and tomato croissant (not shown), and a chocolate milkshake.
After breakfast, we had a look around the nursery. We found the carnivorous plants, but we decided that they would be too big to take home with us in the car. I suggested that there must be a big nursery here in Sydney were we can get the plants we want, and Jyan agreed that it would be a better idea.
I liked the tropical plants quite alot, but without a glasshouse we'll have a hard time growing them.
Jyan liked the asian gardens. I'm a huge bonsai fan, and used to grow quite a few of them in my late teens. Right now though, I enjoy looking at them but don't want to get back into it at the moment.
Back at Dad's, we found a collection of boxes full of my gaming material, CDs, and DVDs. We settled in to sort through them, and I quickly learned that Matt and Steve had been a little nasty and held onto a good proportion of my collection. Dad said that he was told some of the stuff was too hard to replace, so they held onto them, including CDs that I had entered the relationship with, DVDs that had been given to me as gifts, and role playing sourcebooks that they don't use. Frankly, I wasn't surprised, but I was angry at the lose of some of my favourite DVDs and CDs...ah well.
We packed away the ones we wanted, put all my comics, some of my graphic novels and D&D books reay to take them to my sisters, as she said I could store them there for a few months. I was hoping to bring everything back with me this trip, but it would be impossible to fit it all into the one car. I ended up giving away nearly all my paperback novels, which was hard, but necessary. All in all, it ended up taking a few hours, so once we were done we headed out to get some dinner.
I took Jyan to my favourite Vietnamese place in Footscray and orded some beef sausage soup. I was distracted through dinner, feeling like I had to do something to feel closure with my ex-partners. I discussed it with Jyan, and we agreed that I would go back to the apartment were we had lived so I can talk to them one last tme; to thank them for packing my stuff, try to get back what was mssing, and to warn them off from lying about us.
Unfotunately neither Matt nor Steve were home, but somebody else came running when he heard my voice.
It seems that Claude hadn't forgotten me, even if he had put on a bit of weight and lost his collar.
I had missed the old bugger...
Much more than I had realised. It was hard to let him go. To be honest with you, I wanted to go to Puckle Street, buy a cat box, and take him home to Sydney with me. In reality though, I couldn't do that. Khan would probably be fine with Claude, but Claude would have been far from fine with Khan. I couldn't drag Khan out of an environment he was happy in, and he was content. He purred loudly me for me, and I shed a tear. Jyan came to stand by me as I popped Claude back on the ground where he flung himself on his back and demanded a tummy rub.
After taking a pic to record my last visit to the apartment I once lived in, I drove away. I won't be back.
I asked Jyan if he would like to check out a few places where I had grown up. He said he would, so we headed north to Reservoir.
The first place I took Jyan to was the house that I primarily grew up in. This was my grandmother's house. So many good times where had there, but there were quite a few ugly ones as well. Still, it was great to see the old place, and I'm really happy with what the new owners have done with it. I think both of my grandparents would have been happy with it.
I wanted to hang around a bit longer, but the owners of the house where feeling a bit uncomfortable with us hanging around outside, so Jyan hurried us long. Of the two of us, he is always the one to be mindful of other people :)
Next, I took him to my old primary schol. When I started there, there was a total of about 12 students in 2 grades. Our school room was also the church floor, and we only had one teacher. By the time my sister started school, we had about 30 kids in 2 classes with 2 teachers. I remember Mrs Salter quite clearly, but the other teacher I can barely recall.
The school is very different now. There are two large buildings, different playground equipment, the works. It was great visiting the old place, and I could still hear and see all the kids in the schoolground as it was when I was young. Admittedly, my memories of school are far from nice, but it was still good to see the old place.
After St Margerets, I took Jyan down to the creek where I used to go to be alone and to walk my dogs. The creek itself hadn't changed but houses had now been built almost to the very edge of it, but I could still make out the paths I used to walk on. Of all the places I visited that night (it was starting to get dark by now), the Derebin Creek was the place that I felt most attached too. So much had happened to me down there, and the memories of it will always be good.
Lastly, I thought I would see if an old mate of mine still lived in the same house he did when I was growing up. He was the father of a mate of mine, who quickly become a surrogate father to me. To be honest with you, I had a massive crush on the man, and he helped forged me into the man I am today. I will always love him as a father figure. Fortunately he was home, and I introduced him to Jyan, and we spent about an hour or so catching up. I left after giving him a huge hug to thank him for every thing he had done for me.
With my stroll down memory lane complete, we headed to Club 80, where we intended on spending the night. We had booked out the big room at the end of the third floor, and we took with us quite a few toys so we could enjoy a raunchy evening of fun.
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