Anthony Malloy Between Coffees

Well, the zoo went well. I have learnt that six year olds have an unhealthy fascination with monkey poo - every stop on the monkey boardwalk involved some new question about its origins, their abilities and methods of disposal. This was only topped when we were viewing a tiger pacing centimetres away on the other side of a glass wall. My little girl pipes up “Dad, it looks like a real tiger”. I was so proud of the surrounding crowd - not one person laughed.

Wish me luck, today is my first full school holiday with Phee - and I’m all alone. Rae has run off to work so it’s me and Phee vs the demons of six year old boredom. I’m diving in at the deep end too - we’re off to the zoo. Then, if she’s not exhausted after kangaroo watching we might tackle the observation deck at the Rialto

Ah ha! The whole reason for this blog gets its second entry.

Friday afternoon on a day off is a perfect time to take a book (that is disappointing me, so much so I’m only a hundred or so pages in) and try a new café.

Coffee : Latte
Area : 5/5
Café Atmosphere : 3/5
Staff : 4/5
Coffee : 4/5
Total 16/20

Take a left out of the Newport rail station, another left at the end of the subway and at the top of the ramp (if you make it) you’ll find a groovy little place - The Peppercorn Café. You can sit inside at the bench (that, and this is a major plus, is deep enough to read The Age on) and watch the passing parade of trains and people or you can sit outside on the mandatorily mis-matching retro chairs.

I was reading and didn’t feel like any food so I ordered my latte and chose the red chair outside. The coffee was good, surprisingly so. Good strong body, milk at the perfect temperature and a great chocolate taste. If I wasn’t off shopping I would have had another - and that’s as high a praise as I can give.

I think this is a new place - he had no business cards when I asked - so we’ll need to keep track to ensure standards don’t slip. But with coffee this good and being so close to home that won’t be a chore at all.

If you want to have a quiet, peaceful day off don’t take it when the kids next door are home on school holidays.

My mate Mark is living in America now. I didn’t realise just how much I am missing him until he called today - yep, a half hour chat from Ashburn VA. Gee it was good to hear from him, especially as work picked up the tab when they forwarded his call.

I went to see Trish yesterday and her beautiful new baby, Candice. I could go on and on about how beautiful she is but just look at the picture. Perfect.

It’s been a rough week but this has made me smile.

I first noticed the shoe when it was just in front of the car you can see. In three days it has made its way about fifty metres down the road. There’s been no rain to help it sail down the gutter so I wonder how it made it here - and across the cross road.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, many things are happening that are taking me away from the computer and in to the real world - and it’s not always a happy place to be.

Today I did reconnect my webcam so if I’m on-line at home you should be able to see a picture of me staring at my PC. Don’t worry, the odds are slim as I’m generally only here for an hour or so each day and most of you are probably asleep at these times.

His covers have changed! It was the first thing I noticed (obviously) when I opened the package - the cover was not the normal striking black and white graphic. Now I discover they have redesigned the cover of every book. How can they do this? Now I have to purchase each one over again.

Why Iain, why?

We are now approaching the suburban ideal. Last night Rob, Knackers and Zita gave us a belated house warming - a great outdoor table setting. All we need is the four wheel drive….