Expensive Easter

So it's Easter, which means a few days off and maybe some chocolate. I was once happy to receive these gifts but at the moment I really want to save as much money as possible and having two days off has cost me $200, plus I've lost a bit of weight with all the cycling and that, so chocolate is something that isn't as important as I once thought.

Thursday I went to the market at Footscray because there was a problem with the date tags on the Aldi bags. Ati, Alan and I cruised down the road and in no time we were in the suburb of Footscray. A multicultural hub that was also known for having a problem with drugs and general unpleasant doings, not a place that is mentioned on the tourist maps.

To the wholesale market, just in time to see everybody packing up as we re-tagged the Aldi bags before picking up a free watermelon and flying back up the free-way to Millbrook. A nice break from the norm and  a good deal of time spent doing nothing, which is what I would be doing for the rest of the Easter weekend.

Putting the loss of earnings aside I decided to spend my Good Friday killing time by riding my bike to a nearby body of water of which I know not the name, but it is by a pine forest, if that helps.
I turned off the road and down the bank to head under the train tracks, past the graffiti and dirty water to look upon an area of outstanding tranquillity.

Trains...

Profanes...

And garbage. (Couldn't think of a third rhyme)

Suddenly, none of the above.

I ditched the bike in some bushes and walked for a bit to found a distinct lack of anything. Normally I would assume there would be loads of things to photograph in a forest, but aside from the odd small bird and toadstool there was very little that caught my eye. The floor was a blanket of needles covering every inch of the ground and with it removing the chance for anything else to grow.

Except this guy.

I continued to follow the river downstream where it began to open out into more of a lake and now away from the road and train tracks there was barely a sound. The trees cracked as the wind tilted their heads and the water's movement was like a blanket of silk rippling in one direction. Two swans made their decent to glide past my vantage point and head upstream and it wasn't long before I headed in the same direction.

Not before a quick photo though

And another.

Back upstream I happened upon this little fellow warming in the sun 

And with that I lifted my bike from the bushes and rode back to Poverty Peak. The wind had picked up now and was against me and had invited a cloud of rain to follow me. Fortunately the rain was polite enough to wait until I was inside the house before falling towards me. And that was that, so before ending this blog post here's a picture of a pony, I call her Dumpy, because she looks a bit, well, dumpy.

HURR DURR!

She'd probably make a good sidekick in a family adventure, so here you go Hollywood, my idea for a family adventure in which an Englishman and a pony have to stop a drug cartel from transporting drugs in kangaroo pouches...

Pony and the Pom
(This is the scene when the duo reunite to take down the bad  guys after they reconcile their differences. It happens about 20 minutes near the end)

Instant $100,000,000 box office opening weekend smash!