I was up way before Bernie this morning and enjoying breakfast in my comfy seat when a man came up to my open side door and introduced himself as the property manager and asked if I was just hanging out. It was bloody obvious what I was doing and he proceeded to tell me that they have a real problem with people parking overnight and that it is not allowed and indicated the signs that said as much. I told him I’d seen the signs, but got the impression they only applied to one side of the carpark, not the whole lot. He wasn’t too narky about it, just asked me to move on once I’d finished my cereal.
This put me in a bit of a pickle since Bernie still hadn’t surfaced and the guy was working on the roof of the nearby building so would see Bernie walk out with his camping gear, which is definitely a violation of the rules if parking is not allowed. I sussed out a window of opportunity when the guy wasn’t looking and walked casually over to the hedges. Bernie was still wrapped up in his sleeping bag but I woke him up with a “good morning!” and he stirred. I told him of our predicament and we packed his gear up and carried it out together. We were in full sight of the guy on the roof, but he was engrossed in what he was doing so didn’t notice us. We threw Bernie’s stuff into my car and drove away to the nearby Maccas.
Bernie got a coffee and I sat us down at a booth with a powerpoint so we could both have a tech session. Bernie is using this ancient tank of a Mac with a shot battery so he needs to plug it in to use it. We ended up staying at this Maccas, draining their Wifi and their power until well after lunch time. I had plenty of blogging to catch up on and so did Bernie. I reckon he did about an hour of solid work in between chatting to different people inside the restaurant (and outside of it when he went for a cigarette). We both got restless and hungry around the same time so made a plan to go to a Perkins restaurant for “brunch”, often Bernie’s only meal of the day and this restaurant is one of his faves.
I navigated us to it and, despite the late lunch hour, we had to wait a few minutes for a table. I got a vanilla milkshake which kerbed my hunger a little before food. The waitress wasn’t sure what to do when Bernie wouldn’t sit down at the table to look at the menu and order. He’d gotten talking to a family at the booth across from us… Eventually I asked the waitress if she would take my order anyway and that would force him to return to our table, which it did. He went out for a pre-brunch cigarette and by the time he was done, our huge meals were brought out to us. We both had breakfast with eggs, tater tots and pancakes, all delicious in that disgusting kind of way and super filling.
I limped outside, so full from the food and we sat on the bench at the door while Bernie had a cigarette and I lapped up the warmth from the sun after the way-too-cold air conditioning of the restaurant. I resisted the pull of a food coma while I listened to another of Bernie’s stories.
On the way back to The Meadows tennis club, we stopped at a servo so Bernie could refill his cigarette supply then carried on. The club was dead, hardly a person in sight so there were plenty of courts around for us to use. I called John and let him know we were about if he wanted to come over for a hit, which he did. Bernie only wanted a fifteen minute session to make sure he didn’t overdo it before yesterday, so John’s timing was perfect. Bernie sat on the sidelines watching and talking on the phone while John and I hit around. After about half an hour, John started coaching me on my backhand, trying to bring back the power the skill I once had. He was a wonderful coach, telling me just enough and when I needed it to bring my shots back. I was so grateful for the help and he was grateful to be helping!
After our play, Bernie and John proceeded to discuss my potential to become a professional tennis player, ranking me at above a 4.0 (whatever that means), I was flattered and promised that when I return to a stable life (ha, ha) I will pick up the game again. They made me realise how much I miss playing.
The men and the dog proceeded to the bar while I used the club’s facilities to have a warm shower. I had the place to myself and thoroughly enjoyed it. By the time I was done, Bernie had a beer waiting for me. We sat out on the patio as the sun set and talked. Mostly, John and I listened to Bernie talk as he went off on another of his stories, but we didn’t mind. John left us when it got cold and Bernie and I finished our drinks (the round costing only $5!!!) and choofed off too. We hung out in the carpark for a bit while Bernie smoked, then drove twenty minutes to our Walmart camp of two nights before. We didn’t want a repeat of this morning, so opted for the nicer campsite.
We parked up in our usual spot and, not having any need for dinner after our HUGE lunch, we each chatted to friends on the phone before Bernie went inside for some shopping, surprising me when he came back out with a tub of ice cream (which we couldn’t finish and let melt) and a Valentine’s gift of a toy dog in a mug. His name will be Ernie, after Bernie the quarterback and Ernie the fullback. “Bernie & Ernie”.
