February 22, 2014

A flying visit from one McKiernan...


It was occurring to me that I hadn’t seen my two favourite Aussie sisters in a rather long time; the last time I saw Jess was during my fortnight in Dunsborough over Christmas (almost two months ago – Jesus!) and I’d only caught up with Candice very briefly when she came up to Perth for a few days last month. This is the reason that receiving a message from Candy informing me of her impending arrival made me especially happy. Jess had to pull out of a Perth excursion at the last minute due to work, but she’ll be moving back in with me permanently in the next two weeks as her studies are resuming at the beginning of March. Yay!

My Thursday at work went by particularly quickly knowing that I would have company when I arrived home and I was just locking my bike up after a particularly sweaty ride in 37-degree heat when Candy walked up the garden path. We had a catch up on all the important Perth and Dunsborough news before some old school friends picked her up for a night out in the city; I was very responsible and declined due to a busy Friday in the lab.

I caught the bus to work on Friday and tidied up a few loose ends in the lab, then ended the working week with Kebab Fridays with the EaRN gang. With all my work completed and big plans for the afternoon, I left campus and hopped on a bus into the city to meet Candy. We met by the fountains in the main shopping district so I could have a look at her day’s purchases before we took a stroll to The Trustee for some beverages to welcome in the weekend. It was super hot, so two pints of cold cider went down very easily indeed and we enjoyed the celebratory Friday atmosphere, then left the bar for the train station via some very tempting shoe shops.

Back at home, we crashed out in front of the fans in an attempt to combat the heat before getting ready for the party. Candy had wangled me an invite to her cousin Jack’s 21st at a yacht club in Fremantle and I was very glad of the opportunity to get into a nice dress and a pair of heels after what seemed like weeks of shorts and flip flops! We had a glass of wine while getting dressed up, then got the train to Freo, where Terry and Maggs picked us up from the station and took us to Swan Yacht Club on the river. It was a typical 21st celebration; an odd mixture of Jack’s hipster mates (so many topknots) and respectable relatives, embarrassing baby pictures and free champagne. We were particularly happy about that last point. Candice’s family is even bigger than mine (her Mum is one of twelve children) and I was introduced to multiple aunties, uncles and cousins, who were all lovely. We enjoyed a dance and several glasses of fizz, listened to the speeches and tucked into some awesome profiterole cake; before we knew it, it was midnight and time to go home. I was very glad of a night out and had a lovely time letting my hair down.

Terry and Maggs came to pick up Candice bright and early just as we were finishing a slightly hungover breakfast; she had to get straight back to work in the afternoon so it really was a flying visit. I miss her already, bring on Jess’ return!




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