We awoke at half past six and, once I had shaved, I hung out the washing in the drizzly rain. I drove to St. Peters and walked through fairly heavy rain to the railway station in Sydenham before boarding the train to Town Hall at half past nine.
At Diamond Traders, in Park Street, Tiki’s engagement and wedding rings were handed over to be polished, free of charge. A thoroughly charming, spectacled woman, who was probably in her late fifties, showed me an array of earrings for pierced ears. However, none was really a drop earring; the type I wanted to buy for Tiki’s birthday.
Therefore, the woman had Mr. Allison sketch for me a design. It was perfect!
A deposit of fifty dollars was left, with the balance of three hundred and fifty to be forthcoming when I collect the finished product on the seventeenth. The Shop, on Pitt Street, specialises in products by Adidas and it was there that I chose a pair of deep blue ‘Hurricane’ shoes at a cost of eighteen dollars and ninety-nine cents, to replace the faithful ‘Rome’, that I had purchased in 1971.
In David Jones’ store in Elizabeth Street, a woman of foreign descent assisted me in selecting a maroon handbag for Tiki from those marked as being on ‘special’. I wrote out a cheque to the sum of seven dollars and ninety-nine cents and left with the bag in my possession.
At a cafe by the M.L.C. Centre, Alfred “The Young Doctors” Sandor and Jill Perryman were having lunch in the company of a younger woman.
I collected Tiki’s rings from Diamond Traders, at half past twelve, and walked through the new St. Andrew’s Arcade, which is near to Town Hall Station, and listened to a woman with a guitar sing Bonnie Tyler’s current hit, “Lost In France”.
It continued to rain this afternoon. “Willesee”, “The Muppet Show” and “And Mother Makes Five” were followed, at half past eight, by Tiki’s boring choice of movie,”Paper Man”, from 1971. Dean Stockwell and Stefanie “The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.”/”The Feather And Father Gang” Powers are among its cast.