You know how the
saying goes: You wait two months for a McKiernan, then two come along at once,
or immediately after one another anyhow. I got a very pleasant surprise on
Wednesday afternoon, when I arrived home on my bike to find Jess and her
boyfriend Pete sitting in the living room. After a very sweaty (on my part) hug
with my favourite Aussie, Pete strategically went for a walk into Cottesloe so
that we could have a long overdue girly catch up. We discussed all the usual
topics: Boys, shopping and, most importantly, all the new restaurants we need
to try around Perth. Pete returned armed with ice tea and passionfruit
cheesecake from the fancy bakery for us to share; Jess has great taste in men!
Having settled into a
very dull routine of spending my evenings making dinner and watching TV, I
didn’t hesitate when Jess suggested taking the train to Fremantle for dinner at
Little Creatures, a.k.a. my favourite place in the entire world. I felt a
little weird (and depressed) being the third wheel to start with, but the situation
was about to get more odd; Jess was meeting Pete’s parents for the first time!
They’d just flown into Perth from the UK that day (of course, Pete is Cornish)
and were staying in Freo for a few nights before spending the remainder of their
month-long stay down south in Dunsborough and Margaret River. As the two of us
settled into a booth with a pint of cider while Pete went to meet them at their
hotel, Jess confessed that she was fully freaking out, as she’d never met a
guy’s parents before. She had nothing to worry about though; they were so
lovely! Pete is a carbon copy of his Dad, who is still surfing in his 60s, and
his Mum is really sweet. I felt bad chatting to them about Cornwall when they
should have been busy falling in love with Jess, but they knew our old
neighbours and it was nice to have a connection to home all the way out here.
Jess also told me afterwards that she was very thankful that someone was there
to take the focus off her for a minute or two!
We had a few more
pints of Pipsqueak to wash down the absolutely gorgeous selection of woodfired
pizzas we shared; prawn and coriander pesto, prosciutto and mozerella,
broccolini, chorizo and feta… Yum! Pete’s parents left us around 10 for a
much-needed sleep and we stayed for another drink before going to the bar to
pay for the remainder of the bill. Turns out Pete’s parents paid for the whole
thing without us knowing! We felt really bad and very grateful, so the plan is
to head down south during their stay and treat them to breakfast to repay their
generosity. Very happy to have had a good meal, we hopped on the train home and
crashed out.
I had to leave early
for work the next morning, but Jess and Pete were already awake as they were
heading back down to Dunsborough for the long weekend. Unfortunately, UWA
doesn’t count Labour Day as a holiday, so I couldn’t get the time off to make
coming down worth it, which pains me because Candy and Jess are holding a
wardrobe sale party. Pretty much everything they own is gorgeous, so I could
have bagged myself a bargain and had a few glasses of champagne with the girls!
On the bright side, this’ll be my last solo weekend, as Jess officially returns
to Perth on Wednesday for good. Yay! Friends at last!
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