Marguerite
Active Member
What a day! At least we had the chance to sleep in!
We left home mid-morning to drive to the highway and park the car at the railway station. The party comprised me, husband, difficult child 3 & mother in law. We were heading in to Central Station (the main rail terminus in Sydney's heart) for a one hour steam train ride. We also used it so mother in law could have a dry run for a planned train trip with her daughter, a few days before the wedding. husband & I will be too busy to help them get to the city & back (they're going to see "Wicked") but since the theatre is very close to Central Station, we showed mother in law where the elevators are, where the escalators are and the best route to get to the theatre.
The steam train trip - wonderful! It was the first trip for this recently recommissioned train in 40 years. It's owned by Powerhouse Museum and it's taken a lot of work to restore it. The carriages have also been restored, we had a very comfortable and relaxed ride. The line we were on has a lot of curves on it and we were in the last carriage, so we got some great views of the locomotive out the front, every time we were on one of these long curves.
Other trains on the network would salute with a whistle and there were people with cameras on stations we passed as well as other vantage points beside the tracks. husband got loads of photos (so did difficult child 3).
We got in there about an hour early, so I got mother in law settled on the train early (more comfortable for her) and went in search of some sandwiches for lunch for her and husband. Then I gave difficult child 3 some money and sent him to a burger place. We were able to eat our lunch while waiting for the train to start.
The media were there, plus there has been some coverage of this run.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/steam-team-breathes-life-into-an-old-boiler-20090918-fvct.html
I haven't been able to find coverage of the run today, I'll keep looking.
On the way home I linked up with easy child 2/difficult child 2 who was visiting a friend nearwhere we had parked the car. husband dropped me there while he took everyone else home. easy child 2/difficult child 2 was measuring out the last bridesmaid's dress (for BF2's sister who had a baby last weekend) and trying to work out how much fabric to allow for the still-obvious post-baby tummy. She broght me home, we dropped in on my good friend who has been helping out so much, and cut out the fabric. We're planning at the moment to organise a sewing bee on Tuesday. I have two days free this week. Tuesday is one of them.
Tomorrow I am double-booked. difficult child 3 has a study day at school (which requires me to take him in tere and stay withhim) plus I should be seeing my neurologist. I will take my scans etc in the car, but call the neuro to try to change my appointment if I can. And while at school I need to talk to difficult child 3's Maths teacher about the exam they want me to give him the following Monday - I just can't do it, I need to give it to him earlier (say, Friday). I need permission for this but I think I can justify it. The wedding is beginning to really create havoc in our lives and timetables. We're now down to just under two weeks to go now. I still have my own sewing to finish before the wedding, and with so few free days, I'm running out of time!
But today was fun. husband had a huge grin on his face the whole day, he had a ball.
Now I'm off to bath, to wash the smuts out of my hair and the ingrained soot from my skin... my hair is a tangled matted mess from the wind, from sticking my head out the window to watch the trian, especially in the "full steam ahead" final run back into the city. But it was worth it!
Marg
We left home mid-morning to drive to the highway and park the car at the railway station. The party comprised me, husband, difficult child 3 & mother in law. We were heading in to Central Station (the main rail terminus in Sydney's heart) for a one hour steam train ride. We also used it so mother in law could have a dry run for a planned train trip with her daughter, a few days before the wedding. husband & I will be too busy to help them get to the city & back (they're going to see "Wicked") but since the theatre is very close to Central Station, we showed mother in law where the elevators are, where the escalators are and the best route to get to the theatre.
The steam train trip - wonderful! It was the first trip for this recently recommissioned train in 40 years. It's owned by Powerhouse Museum and it's taken a lot of work to restore it. The carriages have also been restored, we had a very comfortable and relaxed ride. The line we were on has a lot of curves on it and we were in the last carriage, so we got some great views of the locomotive out the front, every time we were on one of these long curves.
Other trains on the network would salute with a whistle and there were people with cameras on stations we passed as well as other vantage points beside the tracks. husband got loads of photos (so did difficult child 3).
We got in there about an hour early, so I got mother in law settled on the train early (more comfortable for her) and went in search of some sandwiches for lunch for her and husband. Then I gave difficult child 3 some money and sent him to a burger place. We were able to eat our lunch while waiting for the train to start.
The media were there, plus there has been some coverage of this run.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/steam-team-breathes-life-into-an-old-boiler-20090918-fvct.html
I haven't been able to find coverage of the run today, I'll keep looking.
On the way home I linked up with easy child 2/difficult child 2 who was visiting a friend nearwhere we had parked the car. husband dropped me there while he took everyone else home. easy child 2/difficult child 2 was measuring out the last bridesmaid's dress (for BF2's sister who had a baby last weekend) and trying to work out how much fabric to allow for the still-obvious post-baby tummy. She broght me home, we dropped in on my good friend who has been helping out so much, and cut out the fabric. We're planning at the moment to organise a sewing bee on Tuesday. I have two days free this week. Tuesday is one of them.
Tomorrow I am double-booked. difficult child 3 has a study day at school (which requires me to take him in tere and stay withhim) plus I should be seeing my neurologist. I will take my scans etc in the car, but call the neuro to try to change my appointment if I can. And while at school I need to talk to difficult child 3's Maths teacher about the exam they want me to give him the following Monday - I just can't do it, I need to give it to him earlier (say, Friday). I need permission for this but I think I can justify it. The wedding is beginning to really create havoc in our lives and timetables. We're now down to just under two weeks to go now. I still have my own sewing to finish before the wedding, and with so few free days, I'm running out of time!
But today was fun. husband had a huge grin on his face the whole day, he had a ball.
Now I'm off to bath, to wash the smuts out of my hair and the ingrained soot from my skin... my hair is a tangled matted mess from the wind, from sticking my head out the window to watch the trian, especially in the "full steam ahead" final run back into the city. But it was worth it!
Marg
