Well, almost …

First up: it’s Andrew’s brother’s John’s birthday (3 possessive case!). We don’t leave from the airport until 9:15 pm so we have family stuff lined up until departure, starting with Vietnamese at St Kilda.

It’s a beautiful day when the tram/light rail from Southern Cross Station deposited us. We walked the final 2 km along the St Kilda Esplanade to Acland Street arriving right on time.

The food disappeared despite my thinking we’d need several ‘doggy bag’ containers for the leftovers - don’t ever get between the Milliken males and food!

We then whizzed off through the city: Alex at the wheel (with Alison and I squashed into the 3rd row bench seats at the back of the car) for the steam train event from Mernda to Reservoir in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. 

Very exciting for the kids as we clacked along and through a couple of tunnels - although we could have had a bit more whistle-blowing - a wonderful old ‘red rattler’! 

Andrew and I didn’t do the return trip as we were getting nervous about getting to the airport - a good call as the trains were running a bit behind schedule and in any event, we had our suitcases in storage at Southern Cross so had to collect these enroute, then train out to Broadmeadows.

From here it is bus to the airport and this went amazingly seamlessly - 5:20 pm we were at Broadmeadows; and we were at the airport and through security and passport control by 6:10 pm. Incredible.

But quite relieved to be through the formalities and we enjoyed a coffee.

Flight to Dubai uneventful - 14 hours. And FINALLY (!) I finished my The Bridge over the Drina book - tick! After a slow start, I motored through the remainder (although the last few pages were tedious - possibly because I was struggling to stay awake!).

Whilst only a tad over 300 pages in length, the writing is very dense. He writes so well that you can’t really skip any passages. I could see why the author won the Nobel Prize for Literature for this: it is a wonderful collection of characters showcasing major events in Bosnian history with the bridge as the connecting backdrop. 

It has certainly been a wonderful read, providing an historical summary and depiction of the suffering endured by the people during the overthrow and rule of the Ottomans and the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the late 16th century to WWI.