Left Evan’s place around , then went and payed my last rent for Rosella street, a symbolic thing and especially enjoyable after being ripped off and pushed around by Biggin and Scott in Carnegie — the agents. Then off to breakfast at Rita’s before going home and trying to get some fresh air into the place. It is an absolutely beautiful day — later in the day I sat on the beach at St Kilda, surrounded by hundreds of people all lazing about….
I called in at Gran Prix cycles to pick up a few odds and ends — some replacement sunglasses for the ones that I broke recently, new brake pads and a couple of inner tubes. I was talking about how I would be going away touring and was looking for some decent inner-tubes, something a little better than the ordinary no-name Chinese rubber that most seemed to be made of. The guy in the shop swore that many people used 650c triathlon tubes in their mountain bikes, and that there was nothing better than the Michelin ones that he stocked… as a result, i spent around $70 in just a few minutes without even trying. Afterwards I headed off down the road to get a coffee, sat and waited… and waited… then left after a long wait with no waiter. Rode over to the Turtle Café in Elwood and had instant friendly service. Amazingly, I ran into an old acquaintance from Canberra — Phil — one of Spike’s mountain biking friends. He told me that she’s had a baby, something I had trouble getting my head around! Phil is currently working as a bike courier in the city.
