Last night I shared an email conversation with one of my living relatives!  I am really excited to be able to share family information and find out how the Australian branch is doing and how big it is getting.  This relative lives in Sydney and has very kindly extended an invitation to lunch if we can match dates.

When I woke up this morning I had a look at the yarn shops on my list to visit.  As it was a Sunday I was left with one possible!  All the shops I visited yesterday were open today but obviously my planning when a bit haywire.  Anyway, I decided to visit the one shop and then go the Springvale Cemetery – it seemed like a good idea on a Sunday.

I jumped on the tram and made my way to the Woolbaa.  It was an extremely easy trip on the trams which I just hopped on and off.  I must just say here that I am very impressed with the tram system in Melbourne and haven’t had to wait more than about 10 mins for any of my connections.

The first thing that hit me when I arrived was the sale boxes – I do love a sale box!  Leonie was busy with customers when I arrived but managed to help me in between a couple to point me in the right direction.  I had a good rummage in the sale boxes to find some yarn and a couple of patterns.

  
The cream yarn is 100% wool, the grey is 100% alpaca and the purple is alpaca and merino yarn and it all smells wonderful!  After I had made my purchases we had a lovely chat about running a yarn shop and all sorts of other things too,  here are a couple of photos to show you Leonie’s shop.

  
  
The Woolbaa has also taken part in yarn bombing around Albert Park over Christmas and there was still some of it left for me to see.

  
I then made my way back to the tram stop and after a short wait I boarded a tram for the city.  I got off a Flinders Street Station and boarded a train to Sandown Park train station.  It was quite a long journey so I got my knitting out and did a few rows on the train.  I know I haven’t shown you how my knitting has been getting on – I will catch up with that on a quieter day!

When I arrived at Sandown Park I realised that this may not have been the best idea I had as there were no buses running on a Sunday but not to be deterred I started what one shop keeper said would take me about 15 mins!  It was a lovely warm day so I put my hat on and reapplied sunscreen.  I made it to the first junction in about 5 mins, then crossed one of the most dangerous level crossings in Australia – and survived. A few minutes later I checked with a lady with a pushchair how far it was.  She said it is all the way down the end of this road too far to walk!  Umm, I don’t walking but I kept going – what other choice did I have and it shouldn’t take me too long.  I had my water and my hat.  An hour later I reached the end of the road! Very hot and very tired.  I recovered, in a bar attached to a casino, with a glass of lemonade and a packet of crisps.

Here is the road…… 

  
Fortunately, Springvale Cemtery was at the end of this road so I made my way slowly to the information office and was greeted by lovely staff who helped me locate the memorials I was looking for and booked me a cab back to the station.  Unfortunately, it took me a long time to find the memorials to the point were I was getting quite frustrated with the whole thing.  But as you all know I am not a quitter so I kept going and eventually found what I was looking for.  I cleaned the memorial plaques and placed two vases with flowers and sat with them for a while.  I took photos for my Dad but am not going to post them here out of respect for the family.  

On the way out of the cemetery I found a bench and sat down to wait for the cab.  It was very peaceful and my thoughts were of the lives of the deceased and the choices I have made in my life particularly recent ones!  I am, very selfishly, happy that I gave up teaching.  No time to resign would have been good for the pupils that I taught but that is my only regret.  I would rather have a long walk down along road followed by a long search than be teaching.  What I shall do instead I shall see perhaps work in a registry office to record births, marriages and deaths?

  
Hooray!  The cab was early for which I was very grateful and was whisked off to Springvale Station to do my return journey. Needless to say, when I got back to South Yarra I was very hot and tired but very happy that I achieved what I set out to do!  The couple of glasses of “Bob” I drank went down very well indeed!

Today’s quote can probably be guessed….