So I had to be in Bridgewater at nine this morning. That meant setting off at eight, but since it was foggy and bleary I decided to start off a little earlier and a good thing i did. The car was frozen and it took some time to clear the windows sufficiently to see out to drive. And the drive down was a wee bit slower due to fog as well, so I got there at five to nine!!

After that I had to meet a colleague for lunch at 12:15 so had time to kill which is always dangerous where there are shops available. Fortunately I did have chook and cat food to collect so that took up some of the time, and then, by a huge exercise of will, I forced myself to go to the state library. After collecting another half dozen books, I popped them and my bag into the loccker so I could go up to level 2 which is the research floor. I have many hours of happy reading to get through that lot - they have an amazing selection of items either in their catalogues or on-line so a wonderful resource once i start doing work once more.

From there I strayed off the narrow path of righteousness and entered Spotlight, but it was OK as they had nothing remotely interesting apart from a spool of narrow black satin ribbon that I thought would be useful for tying up the end of my french braid. At seventy cents it was a snip. But then I saw the size of the queue which is notoriously slow in the Hobart shop. So I took it to soft-furnishings to pay and was at the patisserie by noon. Lovely food, and it is run by a chap who was at school at the same time as me, though I didn't spot him there (unless he has gone all wrinkledy and bald ..). Sat and chatted for an hour then headed home via quilting to give the girls a bit of a surprise with the full-monty work gear. Full lenght black felted wool coat, black beret, tartan kilt with dirk, high boots and so forth. They were duly impressed. Then home for dog games and firelighting and reading my way through two more books so I can take them back tomorrow when I am in town for quilting once more.