January 24. Day 24. Free as the birds

It is a rare and beautiful thing. A day with absolutely on the calendar and nothing on the to-do list. Nothing I should be doing and nothing I was avoiding doing. So it was when I woke up in Melbourne this morning. After two huge days at the tennis, my mother and son decided they really wanted to chill and would happily laze about the hotel which left me with a free pass. Free as a bird with a big city to explore and so without a look back I was off with the camera, a water bottle, the credit card and barely a look back.
I spent a lovely few hours wandering along the banks of the Yarra (where I watched these birds at play around a water bubbler which happily for them refused to properly turn off) and then into the city.
I love Melbourne's alleys and arcades and with no-one to whinge about hurrying up I was having a very nice time thank-you very much.
Of course the idea that you can completely divorce yourself from your responsibilities is a  complete flight of fantasy.
I spent more money on the boy than I did myself. My bag was packed with fruit for their breakfast and I was in the chemist buying products for the young man's infected toe when the phone rang.
"We're hungry," they said. What? A 15-year-old and his 71-year-old Grandmother can't work out how to ring room service between them?
Never mind it was time to give the credit card a rest in any case and when you get to my age there is only so much fun you can have before you need a little lie down.
So lured by the rumbling stomachs of those at home and the prospect of clean, fresh hotel sheets and a bed made by someone else I returned for an afternoon nap.
It was nice while it lasted.