just read bb's entry on her page - really miss her - and she was right - mm did sigh when she read about the *free* internet, and was amazed to read about the cool lift ! feeling even more sorry for mm's partner who considers e-fax is cutting edge technology - we are in year 2005!!

mm had lunch with her partner - yes, same one as mentioned above. talked about various things, briefly as follows:

1. he took mm to dot cXX at basement of the building in which mm used to work. he didn't make any reservation - bad! quite busy, rather than hanging around, mm suggested taking one of those bar tables. mm had smoked salmon salad (which came with only a bit of veg) and a Thai fish red curry with rice and veg. ok lah.

2. whilst they were making their way to that restaurant, he started saying the thing to do now is to advocate with the other partners to make mm up asap. this was the forward for marketing issue. mm just listened, then told him about the drinks, coffee with her contacts with insurance companies and difficulties - (i) it's inherently difficult to market for litigation - can't go round and suggest to people to sue each other! (ii) the insurance companies are looking for reciprocal arrangement. it doesn't look good on us to try to sell one insurance company's products to our client - we are simply not their agent and we want to look impartial.

3. then he suggested The Lady - he said surely she has other cases - nothing new there!

4. funny enough, he also mentioned about mm's secretary - he asked mm not to push her too much and should try to encourage her more. the thing is : mm didn't even think there's an issue between her secretary and herself! so mm asked her secretary to lunch tomorrow, but she called this morning to say she's not well - again! apparently, she's pregnant - mm guessed right, but her secretary wouldn't confirm. mm is not bothered.

5. he said it has been agreed within the firm that emphasis will be placed on team work hence team player. he said there should not be competition within the team/members of the firm. mm's question is: did he just want to share the info with mm, or was it an issue he wants mm to address?? then he said he would like mm to supervise junior associates, but acknowledged at the same time that it all depends on the complexity and size of the work. well, of course! if the claim of a case is for say, $20,000, it does not justify having more than one lawyer to do it !

6. the sugar part of the conversation was: he said she's been "very impressed" with mm - no surprise (so *bold*!!), although mm thinks if she believes that she's believe anything under the sun. mm asked with a smile what about the arguments they had on cases? he went "I didn't mind that. We had not worked together before and takes a while to get used to." so he minds - why can't he just admit it??!

mm felt unfair because he doesn't go round to "tall guy" and grill him on this sort of thing - why mm??

Evening - mm had dinner with a partner from B&M with Uncle Leather. went to Der*y Room with Jock*y club. had foie gras and baby lamb. foie gras was good, baby lamb so so. some red wine. had peppermint soufle with chocolate for desert. it went ok.

mm felt that partner was trying to find out mm's relationship with The Lady after she left her old firm. so mah fan. guess it meant to be a political dinner in the first place. nothing about asking mm to join. in fact, he said their head of department had something against mm's ex-partner, and so would not hire anyone from that team. but he was being inconsistent - he said when The Lady asked if B&M could take over the Main action, he told her he would do so only if Marilyn would join them! liar!! guess that's to mm's benefit as she'd been debating whether to leave here for another place, and that's one possibility down. don't want to sound like sour grape, but the truth is that partner at dinner as he's not generally respected in his firm, so mm wouldn't want to be recommended by him.

**********************************************

Enough reporting - let's talk about something else.

mm is thinking to join a gym - yes again. mm is concious she needs exercises - not just those lah, bb! it'd be good to go with bb because bb can push lazy mm. been thinking of which one. mm is thinking of the one bb has joined. the issue is that's quite some way from mm's office so it may be difficult for mm to go during lunch time - the time when bb goes. if mm goes at time when bb is not there, that defeats the purpose and mm would fall back to her lazyness. The trouble is there's none close by that's good for lunch time gym. mm's colleagues go to one in Wanchai - yes, they do. and they leave early and come back late during lunch time, and partner is ok. mm not sure if she wants to follow.

still rattling her brain re long weekend - must try to take a dip at bb's pool ! :)

bb has left for Tokyo on a business trip this afternoon. mm had a one day meeting with lawyers on the other side - who raised stupid comments and questions throughout! meeting was broken for lunch, and mm had it with her colleague on the same transaction, and bumped into her first supervisor and wife ! but didn't get a chance to speak to them as mm and colleague was in a rush - they broke for lunch at 1:40pm and meeting was meant to resume at 2:15pm, but then the other side was late! they only turned up at 2:45pm!! only if mm knew, mm could have lunch with bb - which bb offered notwithstanding the hectic schedule she had today - wonderful bb!

bb will be off until this friday, then there's this long weekend holiday - yeah! in the meantime, mm will use the time constructively and think of plans with bb for the long weekend :)

been watching another korean drama. came across this English song and found the lyrics on the internet yesterday. here it is:

L-O-V-E
by Nat King Cole

L is for the way you look at me
O is for the only one I see
V is very, very extraordinary
E is even more than anyone that you adore can

Love is all that I can give to you
Love is more than just a game for two
Two in love can make it
Take my heart and please don’t break it
Love was made for me and you

L is for the way you look at me
O is for the only one I see
V is very, very extraordinary
E is even more than anyone that you adore can

Love is all that I can give to you
Love is more than just a game for two
Two in love can make it
Take my heart and please don’t break it
Love was made for me and you
Love was made for me and you
Love was made for me and you

really nice song.

yes, the korean drama was obviously one of those love story dramas!

mm had been feeling bottled up and frustrated and annoyed here yesterday, and it got pretty bad by 5:30pm/6pm. so mm just wrapped up what need to be done and rush out to the door and left office, and went for a haircut! she really needed that. even her hair stylist said it's out of shape! so much hair was cut off and mm felt much better afterwards. may be it's the hormones?!

also got a call from ww yesterday about business. their underwriter has a new product and would like to explore a mutually beneficial arrangement with us ie we refer their new product to our client and if any of such client makes a claim, then those cases will come to us. the idea is ok but need to think more about it. ww said he's fix up a drink with their underwriter and I. will see.

today had been a little bit more busy. came in early for usual breakfast meeting that comes on every alternate wednesday. the people's style and culture is very different here. at those meetings, we are meant to share knowledge and professional info. usually, a colleague will report one or two recent cases that are of interest. after such report, the head of dept usually cannot resist the temptation of showing off - unfortunately, not that he has something to show off. eg if it's a defamation case, he'd ask "do you know what those defamatory words were?" that was followed by a long pause of silence. then he'd say "I know. it's ... etc etc" ! almost like kindergarden! whereas a mature or normal person will say something like "yeah, I came across that case and the defamatory words were ... etc etc." there are very strange things in this firm, and that's only one example, and it's a very mild one.

another surprise that happened with mm is that the partner from b&m called and asked mm to join him and ww for lunch! wow!! now the thing is there's no free lunch in this world and mm wonders what he's after ... ?? that said, he's a nice enough guy and mm feels comfortable enough to say yes - comfortable to the extent that he's not harmful. even sf said he's a nice guy, unfortunately not much brain, and he's therefore not well respected in his company.

still thinking if mm should make enquiries of other opportunities available ...

bbmm went south today - still staying in sydney, but going south for the day. went to shell harbour first, nothing to see and we just stopped by the information centre and used the washroom before moving onto kiama, a place which both bbmm agreed it looked and felt very much like westgate in uk! shared a hot seafood platter for 2 - two fried fish (can't remember what they were, not even sure we know what they were actually - oops!), two fried scallops, two fried squid or something (can't remember again) and two fresh oysters. bbmm agreed the oysters they had in sydney fish market is better, but atmosphere in kiama was good. It's very relaxing - well, it felt like westgate in uk - what do you expect??! ha haa haaa!

came back to sydney for din din. went to king's cross, walked around but saw nothing of interests. thought about getting some take away and eat in hotel then bbmm can enjoy the Traminer from yesterday. then bb came up with a brilliant idea - Harry's de Wheel. they sell only pies and hot dogs. it comes with mashy potatoes and peas. what they did was they placed a generous portion of mashed potatoes on top of the pie first, followed by another generous portion of mashed garden peas. they depressed the centre of that a bit and filled it with gravy. bbmm had a meat and a veggie pie respectively (but of course, they shared their pies!) by the river that's next to the stall. the weather was mild and no rain that evening. And bbmm enjoyed that very much. the gravy was well made - the english usually make the gravy very thick - or may be it's been heated or re-heated for a long time - the one bbmm had was just right and not too salty. just right for bbmm, or perhaps mm is biased because anything with bb will be good and enjoyable!

after that, they returned to the hotel where they started packing as they are moving north tomorrow, and had a nice and peaceful evening.

PS this blog was started on the time recorded, but finished on April 1, 2005, at 8:14pm whilst mm is waiting for her colleague to return to the office so that she could speak to her about something that needs to go out that evening.

it's mm's deadline today - just after bb reminded mm of it yesterday.

yesterday's entry had been devoted entirely to bbmm's holiday in Australia, so this entry will be devoted to what actually happened yesterday, as there were something worth mentioning.

mm didn't sleep well sunday night. mm couldn't quite sleep and when she eventually did, it wasn't deep sleep and she woke up a few time at night and early in the morning. then the alarm clock goes off and she felt really tired. that tireness is both physical and mental. sometimes just don't feel like going to work, particularly after such wonderful holiday!

thinking that there may be a lot of emails etc, mm made an effort to go in early. she planned to go in at 8am or sometime soon afterwards, but eventually got in around 8:45am. so she read all the emails, and there was nothing to do! at the end of the day, the only chargeable thing she had done was to write a short email to client.

mm did some non-chargeable marketing too. bb sis's colleague sent mm a formal invite to speak at their firm's seminar on a Friday morning at 8:30am - yes, friday morning 8:30am, date to be fixed. mm called bb sis up to discuss the subject matter for the seminar. then bb sis moved on said one of her colleagues had met mm's ex-boss from city firm and thought he was nice. at that time, mm didn't get the hint. then bb sis sensing that mm didn't get the hint said: wonder if he's single! mm said yes and told her all details, including her ex-boss's kids were studying in uk, the eldest son was in Cambridge, so no worries for her colleague etc etc. Can you beat this?! don't get me wrong. all those descriptions about that ex-boss are correct. mm won't say he's not nice. it's just that ... he's boring and a bit pretentious! he likes classical music, read books, work, and swims because he has pain at his back. he's chinese, went to manchester uni for his law degree. worked hard then and got some award. worked in london for a while (not any city firm lah) before returning to hk where he joined the existing city firm. and yes, he had never change firm. the odd thing about him is that there's nothing wrong being a chinese and be himself, but no, he wanted to stay in the firm and tried hard to fit in such that he tried to act as though he's a "gui lo" but he did it so poorly. sometimes, mm hopes he didn't push it because he'd only made things worse!

bbmm were to have lunch yesterday, but then bb went with her colleagues. bb usually brought her wonderful homemade lunch but because they just returned from holiday, bb was not prepared. but mm was pleased for bb to have gone with her colleagues - her colleagues must like her enough to do so - or perhaps it's the magic in the Julique handcreams and eye gel that she brought back for them??!

April 4 2005

It's mm's birthday! mm woke up and bb was next to her, saying happy birthday to her already. nothing is better than that.

after they had breakfast at hotel (and been to the washroom!), they set out for port stephens, headed for Nelson Bay. it's some distance from sydney. bb was driving fast, "occasionally" breaking the speed limit. they got there by about 12:30pm; not bad. booked ticket for 1:30pm trip that's going to last one and a half hour, then went to have fish and chips before they boarded the cruise. it's AUS 19 each. mm thought it's cheap, as she expected it'd be more expensive than that.

as to the fish and chips, mm had sword fish and bb had catch of the day. mm's was more expensive but bb's fish turned out to be more fresh and tasty. mm's fish didn't have the usual sword fish flavour. price was not cheap but modest. bbmm both thought their batter was good. neither of them liked fish and chips in uk. their batter was usually not crispy, oily and rather thick. the aussi did it well. it tasted light and crispy and bbmm enjoyed that.

it was windy and it rained a bit. the sea was rough at times. on the cruise there was a korean tour group plus a few others. the korean were great! they provided excellent entertainment. when there were waves and the boat was tossed up and down, they screamed and laughed, and you can tell they were really enjoying the cruise and were having a good time. it rained a bit when we were on board, although not heavy rain. two korean ladies brought a towel they probably borrowed from the hotel and were covering their heads with it! some of their actions were caught on video. just have to wait a bit to see that as bb would have to upload the photos and video clips onto here. probably for the full first half hour/45 mins bbmm were amused by the roller coaster and the korean tour, and just being together. it was not until the cruise turned back to Nelson Bay that they started to spot some dolphins. well, it's the staff who spotted them and pointed them out. Initially, we only saw them at some distance and there's no way of capturing them in photo or video. later, they saw dolphins at a closer distance but still not as close as you see them on tv and films - that in a warm sunny day they swim next to you or your boat. but we saw quite a few of them, so that's some consolation lah.

after cruise, bbmm walked around there and mm took some photos - here they are. Before they headed back to sydney, they booked hotel for their 4th evening in aussi. mm was particularly fussy and difficult with hotel and that day, but bb was nice and let her off. on their way back to sydney, they stopped by a winery. they thought it would had been closed as it was getting late - in aussi terms, as it was only around 5pm. bb said aussi closed early. when they got there, it's still open and they got lucky. the lady owner served them. she's really nice. she let them try the Reiseling, Chadonnay and Traminer. having tasted the Traminer, mm said it tasted and smelled very much like Gwutzertraminer in Alsace. the lady said yes, that's what it's meant to be, only that the aussi call it Traminer, taking only the latter half of the same word. bbmm were told that whereas the New Zealander call it Gwutzer ie taking the former part of the word. how funny! eventually, bbmm bought 2 bottles of Traminer, but the lady also gave them the Traminer they were having for their enjoyment! the shop was closing, the lady said she likes chadonney best, plus she also has Reisling. just can't finish all of them. how very nice of her. :)

so bb drove all the way back from port stephens to sydney. as said above, it's a long drive and other than the stop at the winery, bb didn't stop at all. mm got worried, but bb insisted on driving mm back to sydney. mm was so worried that at one stage, mm was mad about bb being so stubborn. then bb explained that she insisted because it's mm's birthday and she take mm "home." then mm realised how stupid she'd been and apologised. And bb has a big heart!

bb let mm chose for dinner. mm asked to have thai and left the choice of restaurant to bb. they went to this area in sydney called paddington. yes, paddington, just like in london. they walked around the area, looking for a nice thai but nothing seems appealing. whilst they were walking around, they noticed an Indian restaurant was offering lamb shank. both bbmm liked lamb, and that sounded good. initially they resisted that as they had set their heart to thai. but having looked around, they didn't see anything particularly appealing and eventually they settled for that Indian restaurant only to find that lamb shank was not available that evening - tough luck! they ordered 3 (or was it 4) dishes, 2 of them were vegetables, one of them was lamb, plus two naan. bb had a beer. they enjoyed the food, but not the service. to start with, it's more than apparent that the waiter's trousers had longed needed a wash; the table cloth was not entirely clean; after dinner when mm went to the washroom, on her way there, there was this huge rubbish bin that's unsighting and sick! couldn't remember exactly the issue about the ladies, but it wasn't exactly great experience either. when mm told bb about the rubbish bin, bb said she didn't see it when she went to the ladies after they arrived at the restaurant. yes, admittedly, they were the last table and seems that the restaurant was waiting for them to leave so that they could close for business for the day, but even so, they could not just left that bin there!

ah! there was an issue on that day that must be mentioned, as that sort of ruined bbmm's day. mm came up with the idea of taking a looking at the office of her firm's branch in sydney and similarly, ww firm's office in sydney. not that she's going to go *into* the office but rather, just to have a better picture of where the buildings were. she didnt' bring any of those addresses. so she sent sms to her secretary. it took that secretary a long time to get back to mm and before that, mm got a sms from ww questioning mm's intention of asking for his firm's address! And that's where it all started. mm was furious, very unhappy! she figured out what happened was that her secretary got her sms, then thought mm would be going into ww's office to meet with his boss (as mm's firm has been trying to get business from them) by passing ww, so she tipped off ww and didn't respond to mm's sms! mm was furious because of ww thought mm would be so indiscreet, and because her secretary had *betrayed* her like that! that girl can't be trusted! then, mm had to send sms to ww to explain the intention etc etc and then ww called to apologise etc. the whole thing was just so unnecessary. mm said she could understand from ww's point of view and in fact, he should never had been troubled. it's all her secretary's indiscretion. mm said she'll speak to her secretary when she's back. ww, who is a good friend of her secretary and obviously felt that he had to protect her as she did all that for him, asked mm not to blame her secretary etc. mm actually said to ww that she was disappointed that ww had seen mm in that light - that mm would be that indiscreet; mm had thought ww should know her well enough to know that she won't do something stupid. Anyway, that kind of spoilt mm's birthday.

but good bb won't let that happen lah. she made it up to mm later - they had nice dinner, even taking into account of the above; she took mm to a ride around the city, took her to see those buildings and took pictures with her. mm was happy again.

ah yes, during the day, mm had received sms from her friends wishing her happy birthday. But until around 8pm, mm still hasn't received good wishes from sf, so mm "reminded" him and eventually, she got her message. sf insisted that he didn't forget. mm was so thick skin lah! sf said "what thick skin? only cuteness!" ha haa haaa!

PS Another long entry started yesterday, finished at 11am, April 12, 2005 - yes, mm did it during office hour, as again she has nothing better to do!

first day back in office - did nothing! more accurately, there's nothing to do!! there's not much progress on the case for which mm's boss hinted that mm should cancel or postpone her holiday - yes, he did hinted. When he heard there was some hiccup with bbmm's holiday, he said "you may want to postpone it for a week" and left mm's office. It's all in the delivery! - anyway, that was ignored; mm played stupid and did not understand. mm's glad she did because she had a *great* time with bb in Australia - yeah!

bbmm went to sydney together in 1999. they did not think much about holiday-ing in australia. But the trip they just had had changed their minds. now, they want to go back for more holidays, and may even retire there! They went for a week: from 2 to 10 April 2005. bought a quantas package going to sydney including 3 nights hotel accomodation with breakfast at Four Seasons, returning from Brisbane. That costs around HK$7,400, inclusive of travel insuranace. Here's a summary of the fun they had.

Day 1 - HK to Sydney

Day 1 started on 2 April 2005. They took the evening flight, flied with quantas, arrived in sydney around 8am the following day, April 3. the package they bought included hotel transfer, so they waited for the transfer to arrive. got to hotel, checked in, took showers and by about 10:30/11 am, they were ready to explore the area. They took showers at the same time. well yes, there's different from having a shower together. the bathroom has a bath and a separate shower - see?! that was a good suggestion/arrangement: mm usually takes much longer to have her shower, then to put cream on ... etc. so that shortened the time or lengthened the time they have to explore the city.

First thing first: need to pick up their car from hertz. there's little story to tell about that. the booking was made on the internet. usually, that's bb's job so bb went ahead and made booking, guaranteed it with her credit card and gave her hertz discount no., assuming that she'll be given the best deal. then she reported all that to mm and gave her the confirmation no. mm being mm and a typical lawyer, went to the internet and checked. not that to see if anything is wrong with the booking, but to see what cars are available. when she's on that website, mm being mm again, put all information in but this time without the discount no. to see if bbmm had been given the best deal. usually, you would expect that to be given, but mm was surprised by the result she was given: she was quoted some AUS100 less than what bb was quoted and reserved. she called bb. they discussed it, then mm went to the web and reserved with the lower quote and cancelled bb's booking. but that's car companies - not to be trusted when you are told you have been given a discount. you never know - you may end up paying less than if you have a discount card!

back to the trip. they got to hertz, told that no cars are available for the category they reserved so they were offered a car in the next category up. the only difference is that what they reserved was a manual car, and they ended up having an automatic. same brand, same model, possible same colour - white. It was a Nissan Pulsar, 4 doors, white, automatic, no sunroof (not a standard or usual gadget, don't know why considering their good weather), CD player, and a car boot. bbmm is smart this time: they brought CDs. And many thanks to bb for choosing and going through the trouble of downloading those wonderful songs onto disks. smack!

The car is nice. it was able to accelerate pretty quickly and that's good when you were stopping at traffic light and know that after those lights, 3 lanes will become 2, because that would give you a headstart. it also has a "special feature" as bbmm found out later in their trip: the car tends to slow down and/or had difficulty when going up hill, even when it's already running on highways! that reminded bbmm of the white escort they rented back some years in uk. could it had been a car rented from hertz too?? there may be good and/or security reason for it, but that's just beyond bbmm.

the first place bbmm headed to was the famous sydney fish market. bbmm had separately been thinking about their lunch without telling the other. when bb suggested it to mm, mm said she thought of that too. great minds! bbmm had a go at the seafood. they really tried! between them, they had a dozen pacific oysters (they were the most expensive types available in the fish market - some AUS 13 for a dozen, which was about HK$78 ie cheap), a lobster and 1 kg large prawns. For drinks, bb went for a beer (it was hot that afternoon) and mm went for diet coke to recharge herself with a good caffein dose! she slept a bit on the plane, but not well. bb likewise. all those came to some AUS 50 (bb is that right?) and that's a real bargain.

they sat at one of the tables outside the covered market, next to the harbour. that was a very hot day, and was very sunny. for some odd reason, the table was made with metal with an umbrella, but bbmm were practically sitting under the sun with their backs facing the sun. their drinks got warmed up pretty quickly. the table was shared with 2 couples, they knew each other. after a while, they left and before bbmm were able to take their seats (because that would get them away from the sun and that was really hot), they were occupied by two guys. those guys knew each other, but they did not speak to each other for the first 15 minutes or so. in the meantime, bbmm continued enjoying their really fresh seafood and bb's much loved lobster and mm with her head down tackling her half of the lobster, when one of those guys said "nice day, isn't it?" mm didn't answer as she thought he was speaking to the other guy. a few seconds later, bb said "yes" and only then, mm realised that the question was directed to them! oops! that's a very memorable event too in that when people chat up bbmm, mm usually do the talking whilst bb keeps cool, but not that time!

later, bbmm reckoned that those 2 guys probably know each other through business, and the Amercian may be visiting sydney and the other guy who sounded local took him out. but you would have thought that for business lunch/meals, you would take the guess to a restaurant, and there's a good and not too expensive restaurant at the fish market. but the American guy was apparently taken to the ordinary fish market, may be the idea was to let him feel the vibrant in the area, and eat whilst you protect yourself and your food against the hungry and persistent seagulls ... ??!

April 3 was a Sunday, so after lunch, bbmm moved onto the 2 Sunday markets. there were debates as to whether they had enough time to cover both, but eventually they did. they went to the one next to China town first. that felt a bit like Camden Town in London, but a bit more decent stuff and not second-handed. just as in Camden Town, there was a stall for massage and bbmm were tempted as they just got off the plane that morning, and were tired. so they both fell for it. on the menu, it said "head and shoulder AUS 17" etc. bbmm asked for how long. the guy said about 10/15 mins. they also offer head, body, and other types of massage. it was not even a proper stall; just a space where they had put several foldable round stools and a massage bed. when it came to paying, the bill was just under AUS 50! bbmm were told that's because they had a head or some other area's massage and that all added up. bbmm paid, but felt they had been coned, but they needed that massage. and it's just one of those things that you must anticipate to happen in any holiday trip. the important thing is they felt better.

they didn't buy anything in that market. so moved onto the next one at The Rocks. mm bought a few gifts and bbmm had a nice afternoon tea at one of the tea house. bb had a tea with soda bread. the jam (mm thought it's raspberry) tasted good and smelled real fruit. mm had camomile with a scone which came with a pot of jam (strawberry) and cream. the jam tasted just as good as bb's. bb loved the cream and had quite a bit of it. And both soda bread and scone were good. they really enjoyed that.

they had planned to have dinner with their friend in sydney. well, that was bb's friend, and bb introduced her to mm some years ago, but it's bb who's close to this friend. mm never wrote independently to her - to avoid attracting unnecessary misunderstanding??! hahaahaaa!! they had some time before that, and decided to head back to hotel and get rested whilst waiting for their friend to turn up. they were to meet at 7pm. by then, both bbmm started to feel hungry. went to the lobby to meet the friend, when after a while, bb got a sms from her saying she would be late. so, they waiting, but their friend turned up much earlier than that. :) meanwhile, bbmm were planning the next day - which was mm's birthday! nice and thoughtful bb wanted to do something special for mm. they planned to go to port stephens to watch dolphins. bbmm were going to watch dolphins anyway. It was just a question of when - on April 4 or 5, as the weather forecast said it's going to rain. it was a tough call. eventually, bb decided that they should do something special on mm's birthday, and said they would go the next day, and mm was glad she made the call - and that was an excellent call!

in fact, bbmm went to ask the conciege for info re dolphins watching. there was only one guy there when they approached the desk and the first reply they had was he was new to the job - he had only been there for a few months and had no idea about our question! that was straight honesty, but not helpful. bbmm had to brief him - in a tactful way - that that's available in port stephens. then they asked if he had any brochure or leaflets etc. he went to their store room and re-emerged with one in his hand. that brochure was not particularly helpful but would do for the time being. mm has bb, so everything was ok and would only be second-best anyway!

had dinner with their friend at an italian restaurant at The Rocks. bbmm were hungry. mm was so hungry that she had the soup which came with 2 large pieces of bread, then a huge piece of garlic bread, before moving onto her main course - spagetti marina! the soup was tomato and was homemade. the texture and taste were great! they blended the tomatoes, as they all do, but left some in small chunks which added to its texture. bb had a rocket salad, one and a half of those huge garlic bread, and a vegetarian risotto, which was that night's special for main course. their friend had tomato and mozerella to start, one and a half garlic bread, and a pasta too. couldn't remember what she had though - mm's memory and/or age is failing her!

dinner was good. bbmm spoke about the very friendly aussis and the episode at the fish market! bbmm also shared with their friend how mm dozed off at a dinner then dropped dead as soon as they hit their seats on the plane to uk in winter 2001. that was funny!

after dinner, they strolled to the closest atm machine where the friend reimbursed bb for the ipod shuffle she bought for her in hk, and that's really cool! if mm had known that that's coming out, she might have waited for it, but then may be not because her sf wouldn't have bought it for her. that would be a tough call. it's probably better the way it is, and mm had the benefit of owning and enjoying having one a few months early. :) that sounded a little practical, but in fact, it was a nice walk around circular quay. mm enjoyed that.

the hotel was good. nice sheets, duvet, bath and shower, nice but not fancy luxurious decor. bbmm said they would go back next time, if they can afford it then.

And that's only Day 1 - so much babble already! how long would the whole diary be, plus all the photos and videos mm had taken??? mm had a 256 memory chip (although about half full already) and an extra 516 that was almost used up! may be it's better to publish each days separately, and that's how mm will proceed.

PS When bbmm got to their hotel room, they heard from the news that John Pope II had passed away on April 2, 2005. bb felt sad. mm felt sad too but that news only sank in a day or two after - slow mm.