i was wondering why my dad's phone ringtone sounded so familiar, though you never quite can tell with these electronic tunes the timbre's so peculiar, but when i got hold of his phone and had a look at the file name: 'chopin,' i realised it was the minute waltz! welcome to just a minute! which reminds me that i haven't listened to the radio for nearly three weeks, in part because minyin has dialup. we did get through one and a half paul temple cases (conrad case and alex affair) in the car on our drive to and back from the dandenongs though.

i quite enjoyed our trip to the dandenongs. we started rather late that day, and arriving at the foothills between breakfast and lunch, decided on morning tea at the first village we came to. there were a few tea rooms open, and i chose the one called fortnum's tea room because of the view of camellias. after scones and darjeeling, it was through the next village, olinda, and then a walk through the national rhododendron gardens. not quite what one would call scenic at this time of the year, more of a burkean sublime, but the camellias were in bloom, and the daffodils had just emerged from their winter sleep. there was a kookabura in what was decidedly not a gum tree, and a few ducks were on the lake. stopped several times to shake out a piece of stubborn gravel from shoe, but not before it nicked a hole in my socks. minyin vetoed the puffing billy so we drove back to olinda for a late lunch of lamb shank and creamed potatoes, pumpkin-eggplant-feta pie, and afterwards, a delicious slice of lemon tart. then to the arboretum, though i was too sleepy by then to get out and walk. i would love to go back in the spring when the gardens are flowering.