Busiest Day so Far!

Tuesday 24 November

A lot was accomplished today. Went to Chadstone this morning, people always rave about how large this shopping centre is, but I just don't see it. I mean, it's big and everything, but it doesn't feel supersized. What was interesting (and disturbing) was the exhibition of handbags. Now, I know that us males aren't supposed to understand handbags, and I also know that we have no appreciation of style; but just what on earth do these Gucci and Louis Vuitton bags need four suited, armed, and scary-looking security guards defending them? After fighting a losing battle with Virgin Mobile in Swanston St, I decided to try the one in Chadstone whilst there. The guy who served me must've been new, as he didn't even ask me for ID (which was one of the main problems with the one in Swanston St.). That done, and no other shipping needs to be satisfied, we retired to the city, then onwards to St. Kilda for lunch.

And my, what a gorgeous day out on the waterfront. The place we chose to eat offered some fantastic meals, albeit slightly more expensive than was expected. We enjoyed a meal while watching a huge ship slowly float into Port Phillip, which I must say is an amazingly huge stretch of water. You look at it on the map, and it looks just like a small body of water. However, in practice (and I noticed this especially when travelling to Frankston the other day), you can't see across it!

After lunch, we headed off to find a desk for my room. Rhonwyn said that Ikea would be a good place to start, and oh my was she right. The place was mammoth. I haven't seen anything like it in my life. The showroom (unpictured) was a maze of little mock rooms: kitchens, lounges, studies, bedrooms, etc. We found a desk I wanted and proceeded to go and actually pick it up from the warehouse. And that was bigger again. It was just aisles and aisles of boxes with kitsets in them. After purchasing, we decided to carry (thats right, carry) it to a tram stop, then through Parliament station, onto a train, and through to Mentone, before carrying it further to my place. The arms and back hurt for a while after that!

Having received a phonecall from Virgin earlier in the day (stating that they are moronic, and I did need to bring in some ID), we hopped on a bus and headed for Chadstone once again. an 8km journey never seemed so long. There was no airconditioning in the bus, and it was sweltering. The "cool" air outside (of 28 degrees) was incredible when we finally stepped off at Chadstone 45 minutes later. The Virgin salesperson had also overcharged me, so I was told, so not only did they not even look at my ID (when they asked for 100 points, I gave them 2 of the same bank cards...), but I got my dinner for free too; which was some quite tasty nachos.

The best news came about lunchtime, however - I passed ACCT310. I now qualify forgraduation. I have my degree!

Overall, a very busy (and hot) day. Glad we filled it in though - and we got most of the things sorted that I needed to. Tomorrow we have to go to the flat and wait... and wait... and wait for the bed to show up. Here is hoping they won't be too late. Out.