The Bells! The Bells!
3rd August, Perth CBD, Australia
We had a quite a few things to do today around the city. It started with a trip to the post office to send a package back home, something that ended up costing quite a bit more than we thought it would (damn those infernal heavy books!). What with that and the parking for the day, we'd managed to spend $75 dollars in a matter of a few minutes.
It was 10:40 am, just 10 minutes after McDonalds stop doing breakfasts. Rats! I'm not a big fan of Maccas, but I do like their breakfasts, and on a day like today when I woke up hungry, those ten minutes can make all the difference. But we were in luck - they had some brekkies left and were shifting them at half price. Excellent news! So, we placed an order, but changed our minds a couple of times because they didn't have precisely what we wanted. We must have looked like a right couple of imbeciles, I mean it's not like it's a difficult decision to make? But then we weren't done yet ... when it came to pay, I opened my wallet and found I had no notes in there (blame the postal costs), and no change in my pocket (blame the car parking). "It's OK," Manda said, "I've got $10 in my ...". The wallet was empty; she'd already spent it. OK, so I handed them a card - my Australian bank account that I will be closing soon but should have enough money in to pay the measly $6. Oh dear, transaction declined.
Help! Get us out of here!
Somehow, we managed to scrub together some change though - Manda still had some in her pocket. It wasn't quite enough, but the assistant just took what we had (probably just wanted rid of us!), so we didn't have to go find an ATM to pay for our cut-price breakfasts. And somehow, we managed to get 3 McMuffins - 1 sausage and 2 sausage and egg. How that works, I have no idea, as we thought it was a 2-for-1 deal. Heck, we didn't stick around any longer to work that one out, we just sat down, ate and got out as soon as we could! As we left, Manda looked over and said goodbye to the person at the counter, and she replied: "Excuse me sir, you left your card." Oh nuts, it just gets better, doesn't it? And the irony of it all, there was an ATM right outside McDonalds, literally plummed into their wall.
So, having failed miserably to manage something so simple as 'order a breakfast and pay for it', we set about our next task: submitting a visa application for our impending visit to Thailand. Heaven help us! We're not normally scatty like this, so we really must have needed that breakfast!
Thankfully, the rest of the day was nothing like our poor start. We got the visa submitted and approved without a hitch, so that's one less task for us to do now. Along the way to the Thai Consulate we passed some kangaroo sculptures that were pretty impressive. I sure hope that there are no 'roos quite as big as these fellas. There's no doubt that hitting a 7-foot-tall 'roo would do some serious damage to any vehicle.
We walked on down to the Swan Belltower. As mentioned previously, the tower is free on the first Tuesday of every month (today was that day), so we made our way up to the observation platform to get some views of Perth to the sound of the many bells ringing two floors below us. The bell ringers are only there a couple of days a week, and only at certain times of the day, so we did well to be there when it was free and the bells were in full swing.
The bells inside Swan Belltower spinning around, making a heck of a noise
(even when viewed through two layers ofdouble glazing and sound-proofing)
We also watched the bell ringers for a while through the smoked glass windows (so as not to distract them and put them off their rhythm). It seemed strange to match up the sounds with the actions of these people two floors below their 'instruments'. I don't know how they get a feel for what they are doing - it can't be like playing a guitar or a piano where your fingers are there on the strings or keys, giving you instant feedback. Having said that, I don't think people notice a bell out of time as much anyway - the general public are quite forgiving on that front!
After a few more tasks to do around time, we met up with a couple we know from back home, Jason and Jess. Jason has been a friend of my family for years and came out to Perth earlier this year to stay with relatives (he described his aunty as one of the 'ten pound poms' - she came out to Perth on a boat for £10 over 40 years ago, a journey that took 6 weeks from England!); Jess joined him shortly after and the two of them were about to make tracks again, further north, around the top end of Aus and over to Queensland. We were lucky to catch them, as they would be leaving on Sunday.
We took a walk through Subiaco, where they have been living with Jason's cousin Phil, to their local pub. There we caught up with everything they had been up to in Perth, their plans for settling permanently in Australia (they hear back from the immigration department this coming Friday) and what's happening with their folks back home (for Jase, back home is England, for Jess it's Wisconsin, US).
It was great to have a good long chat with the both of them, with no other distractions. As we left them for the evening, we said our goodbyes and then it struck me that this might be the last time (or at least for a very long time) that we would be saying goodbye to them. Somehow, I hadn't really absorbed the fact that this was intended as a permanent move for them but it struck me then and there. We promised to try to squeeze in one last visit before they left, which may be difficult as this week they would be insanely busy. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed on that one!
Jason, Jess and Manda outside their place in Subiaco and in front of the
van that will be taking them around Aus very soon, just like our Ethel brought
us to this point.
