Taxi
Comments(8) The day started slightly frantically with taking Andrew’s Mum and her partner to the airport to fly to St Petersburg. It’s always stressful going overseas, needing to get to the airport on time and as they are going to minus temperatures they had to take quite a lot of luggage too. Overall though I think they were pretty well-organised and we got them off OK but then we had to race back so I could get to the hairdressers on time. I was not going to miss that appointment and I was determined to be there on time. On the way, it started bucketing down with rain and forked lightning was jack-hammering down from the sky.
We had to take Ann’s car back to her place and swap back over to Andrew’s. Water was flooding the garage so my shoes got soaked and we ran in the rain to the other car. We were near the place - I had forgotten the address but Ann had told me where it was. However we couldn’t see it so I had to call up and get directions. Andrew dropped me off in a side street and I raced up the street getting soaked on the way and stepped in to the hairdressers looking like a drowned rat and feeling pretty frazzled.
Luckily Sonia the hairdresser was really nice and she towel dried me then sat me down and I asked for what I wanted to be done to my hair. There were no other clients at that time so it was relaxing with nice music playing and the rain bucketing down outside. It always relaxes me getting my hair cut and my eyes start drooping. It’s a bit embarrassing. I also can’t see much without my glasses. I had asked for a shorter style, a layered bob type cut with a longer fringe to one side. She did a really good job of it and I was happy with the outcome, feels much lighter and neater. And she didn’t charge the earth.
After that I caught the tram back home, knocking people out with my umbrella to avoid getting the hair style wet. Sonia had warned me it would go curly if I did.
Andrew came over at 7pm and we got ready. I put on the new dress I had bought a couple of weeks ago in a cute shop in Richmond with all kinds of retro decorations. They even decorated the paper bag the dress came in with a chocolate cake recipe from an old 60s magazine. There were golden books stacked up in the shop and pages from children’s books stuck on the walls of the change rooms. It was lots of fun.
Andrew wore his nice suit which he got from David Jones a while ago. It was a find - he didn’t have to get it altered at all and it fits fantastically.
After we were all primped, we took some photos before we went out with the timer on the camera.
We walked out and were thinking about whether to get a tram or train and then Andrew looked up at the sky and said “train” because it’s under cover. Good move - it started pouring while we were on the train and we were very lucky because a train came in just as we got to the station. We also later congratulated ourselves when we noticed on the way back home that there was a lot of tram works going on in St Kilda Road so it’s likely we would have been delayed on the tram or ended up having to catch a bus half way there instead.
Transport in Federation Square where we went is great. The top bar, Transit has a fabulous atmosphere with low lighting, comfortable leather couches and sophisticated music as well as fantastic drinks. I had a shaken, dry martini with an organic English gin which comes with 3 pitted green olives. Yum! Andrew had a cocktail with vodka, honey liqueur and Chi herbal mineral water.
We then went down to the restaurant, Taxi, to have dinner. The staff take you down when your table is ready. Very artistic presentation of meals which are delicious - it’s Japanese-influenced modern Australian food. I had seared tuna with green papaya salad for entree and Szechuan duck for main while Andrew enjoyed crisp pork belly for entree and veal with a truffle sauce for main. It is rather pricey but hey, you only live once and it was a great way to celebrate one year together.
We could see out from our table over the Swanston Street/ Flinders Street intersection - there’s always lots going on there. It of course fits the theme of the complex where we were, Transport.
We chatted away about various topics including Billy Connolly - talking about his inspiring interview on Denton last week and about my move to Melbourne, how good my new place is, and plans for moving in together later in the year. We also soaked up the atmosphere and enjoyed every minute.
After finishing the meal and paying the bill, there was only one thing to do. Catch a TAXI home!
. Well, what a rigmarole. The first place I called was fully booked. The second one said he could have the colour done at 9.15 then I would have to wait until 11.15 to have it cut (at leaat 3 hours in the hairdressers - no way) and in the middle of the conversation, he started laughing maniacally which made me mildly paranoid. The next place wanted to make it a 2 hour appointment so they could consult with me because I was a new client. I was about tearing my hair out (hee hee) by this stage. I can’t stand that kind of pretentiousness about getting a haircut. Yes, it’s good to look nice but really, it’s going to grow out pretty quickly and the styles they do never last unless you put a stack of product on it. And those kind of places charge a fortune.