School, a Guide and Cockatoos

 Downtown Melbourne by Flinders Station.

 Megan Hassett and I.

Jess, Cemil and Megan in Jordan

 The Yarra River

 Long-billed corella

rose breasted cockatoo

Tuesday, February 9^th.

I rode the bike to school again. Another nice day for riding. The day went by well and quickly. Today was the last day with 4G, tomorrow I get Claire's class. I rode home again, had dinner and then decided to go to the beach for a swim. The water was warm and choppy. I lay on the beach for a while eating lechye nuts and reading John Cleese. Then back home to listen to music and type.

Wednesday, February 10^th.

I took the train today. Today was the switch day, I got Claire's 22 kids and she took mine. But they had to move all of their books and pencil cases from one room to the other. In addition, Don was away today, so I experienced what happens when one of our team is away. I received five of his students. I didn't know anything about them and had no desks for them. So the morning was a bit chaotic, but we got through it. Claire and I have decided to do the switch at the end of Tuesday next week instead of the Wednesday morning. We had our hour sign along with all 160 grade three and four students. Joel, the music teacher, is teaching them a number of different songs but also the Australian national anthem, so I hope to lear that.

After school I took the train into the city and got off at Flinders station where I had arranged to meet up with Megan Hasset. She was one of the three guides I had on my Jordan, Syria and Turkey Intrepid trip in 2011. The other two were Jess, from Christchurch and G from Turkey. After our trip ended she did one more tour which they had to abandon half way through because Syria became too dangerous and they had to leave. Since then she has given up guiding returned to her native Melbourne where she works as a kindergarten teacher. Kindergarten in Australia is our pre-school. Their prep is our kindergarten.

We went for a drink at a bar along the River, but it was so noisy their that we had to shout at each other, so we left, crossed the Yarra River and found a quieter restaurant where we could catch up, have a drink and dinner. Dinner was not great but it was good to catch up with her. We talked about what has happened to Syria since we were there and commiserated about where all the Syrian people we met are now.... and about how Isil has destroyed the Roman ruins in Palmyra. We talked about other people on the trip and caught up on what we have been doing since. Megan had just come back from Columbia where she spent her holidays before school started again. She also met up with Krys in New York City. Krys lives in London Ontario and was also on our trip. Two other members of that trip, Graham and Tess, also live here in Melbourne and I hope to meet up with them soon. They now have two young children. After that tour ended I spent a few extra days in Istanbul with Krys and her husband and Graham and Tess.

I headed home about nine and took the Frankston train. It should have been an hour trip, but with memories of the TTC in my head, I listened on the train as the conductor announced that there was a problem on the line and the train would terminate at Mordialloc and buses would be arranged to complete the trip. All the passengers got off and walked out to the street where we waited about twenty minutes before a bus pulled up whereupon the driver turned it off, the lights went off and he walked into the station. We filled up the bus and sat in the dark waiting about ten minutes for him to return. When he finally did we continued on our way. I finally arrived home by about 10:30 and I went straight to bed.

Thursday, February 11^th.

I rode the bike to school again this morning. Today went more smoothly and the new class now understands my rules and routines.

After school I decided to take the scenic route home, so I rode west on Balaclava Road to St Kilda (where I had discovered that amusement park a couple of weeks ago. From there I rode south along the Beach Road. This route has a separate bike path off the road so you don't have to stop for lights and the like. It is a more relaxed and scenic route, right along the bay, but the head winds! Yikes, I was pedaling about seven kilometres an hour slower because of the wind. It is also about ten kilometres longer.

When I got to Mordialloc I took the gravel path that I have ridden on before that takes me back to Chelsea. En route I found three long-billed corella, which are members of the cockatoo family, eating on the ground along with a few rose breasted cockatoos, also known as pink and grey galahs. I got off the bike and got quite close to them for photos.

I stopped at Woolworths for a salad and then rode home. I got here about 7:30 and ate watching Fawlty Towers. Then typing and to bed early.