Lunch with Carmel

We had lunch with Carmel once before, back in July. Today I wanted to buy some weather calendars from the Bureau of Meteorology, and Carmel works in the same building so it seemed a good opportunity to catch up again. We had intended to bring our own food and eat in a park, but when I arrived it was raining a little, so we decided to go to a nearby café and eat our sandwiches later.

It was a bit too crowded in the café to feed Louka, so Carmel suggested we adjourn to her staff-room, where we could also eat our own lunches. It is a pleasant, quiet room with a piano! which Carmel has never heard anyone play. We ate our sandwiches, and Louka had some of her apple-and-quince purée, but she'd only had a short nap this morning and was a bit tired and grumpy.

As well as being a technical writer, Carmel writes fiction and poetry. She recently won second prize in a prestigious short story competition, and tomorrow is off to Dubbo to a poetry prize-giving to which she was invited, as a possible finalist.

When Carmel had to go to a meeting, I walked up to the CBD to see Graham. He was able to get away for a hot chocolate at the Lindt Café with us. Louka had fallen asleep in the sling, and only woke after we got to Graham's work, so she was in a good mood.