Epic Park & Drive for an Espresso

Epic, Maud and Other

category: Trips Out, author:

Agamedes

26 August 10 and even earlier, on 11 August 10)

day one: 11 August 2010

It all started quietly enough, with an arrangement to meet at Epic Espresso in West Perth. Best coffee ever! is one opinion. Will it be as good as my usual instant? I wondered.

We agreed to meet at 3:30. Epic, at the corner of Outram and Hay.

I was there a little early. I walked up Outram to Hay and searched the intersection. No Epic. I walked along Hay. No Epic. Walked back along Outram -- and there it was...

I had walked straight past Epic, without even noticing.

So we had a coffee and chat. And picked up my souvenir cafe sugar packets. Nothing very exciting, just bulk-buy packets of sugar. The coffee, however, was very pleasant.

And so was the chat :-) So pleasant, in fact, that we ignored the obvious signs that the cafe was closing... You know, outside tables being brought in, inside chairs being stacked, floors being swept... But it was too difficult to ignore the waiter who -- apologetically -- told us that the cafe was now closed.

Another coffee, perhaps?
We wandered back towards Hay Street and into Miss Maud's. Picked up some sugar samples but decided that one coffee was enough for now. A bit disappointing, to the budding sugar collector, that Miss Maud did not provide Miss Maud-branded sugar. Still, it's all a part of the rich provenance of the sugar collection!

And so we wandered along Hay Street... avoiding most of the light drizzle... and enjoying a wandering conversation. Which brings the story wandering along to...

---

... day two: 26 August 2010

This Sunday is race day: the 2010 City to Surf "fun" run. The Thursday before the race is a good day to pick up our race packs.

This is our fourth year in the event and we have generally supported -- joined -- my wife's employer's team. Year one, they had a free t-shirt and a sausage sizzle at race end. Year two, there was a sausage sizzle and they picked up the race packs for all team members. Year three, they picked up race packs. This year... there is a team name. That's all.

Ah well. The difficulties of working for the public service. Supporting healthy employees is all very well. Actually spending money on employees keeping healthy, well, that's subject to too much public criticism.

So, Thursday, off to the city to collect our race packs. It is all very carefully planned.

We park on Spring Street. There's a quiet little garden off Spring Street which, apparently, contains a hidden geocache. Apparently? Well, we do not find it.

Mind you, it's in a difficult location:

First up, the park is closed outside business hours. As we found out, the first time we thought of searching. Next... We're not very good at looking foolish in public.

Don't get me wrong -- we may be very good at looking foolish in public! It's just that we don't like to do it deliberately.

When you're in a public park -- even though there are very few other people -- but there are signs saying, This area is under constant video surveillance... Well, you feel a bit silly, poking and peering around and under all sorts of fixed objects.

We poke and peer, for a while. Then carry on to pick up our race packs.

Across a couple of roads. Traffic lights with a pedestrian crossing in the cycle. Very, very busy roads but no trouble for patient pedestrians.

At the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre we can see the room that we want. Through glass doors. Glass doors which are locked. We walk all the way up to an open door then back again. Bag pickup is very efficient.

Push our way through the crowds in the compulsory buy-me section of the room... there's no other way out. All the way back to the open doors then back along the outside. Ah well, the City to Surf is all about fitness and exercise :-)

We have another quick look around the very pleasant park -- no geocache -- then back to the car.

As we drive home I think, What about a cup of coffee? Of course! We can drive through West Perth and stop at Epic.

There is even an empty parking spot, very near the cafe. Okay, almost empty. A Post Office courier bike is parked at one end.

The postie has parked carefully and left plenty of room. I park with one wheel on the kerb and one corner of the car just poking out of the marked parking area. Close enough, I think. Then the postie reappears.

I point up the road, say, You order and I'll tidy up the position of the car.

The postie is very, very slow. I wait. Suddenly I realise -- there are two cafes!

I rush up the road, say, Wrong queue, it's the next cafe up -- and rush back to the car. That was close!

By now the postie has left. The parking space is clear. I move the back wheel off the footpath, decide that the nose is not too far into the traffic -- and find one more problem.

We are parked in a ticket parking zone.

But wait! Cast our minds back to Spring Street:

Spring Street was also ticket parking. We paid for two hours -- in a machine which did not give change -- and paid 30 cents too much. That ticket still has twelve minutes to run. Twelve minutes! Excellent :-)

I put the ticket back on the dashboard. "City of Perth"? West Perth? Probably the same... Close enough, anyway. "Spring Street"? Well, I'm sure that a parking inspector will not look that closely.

With a light heart and an almost clear conscience, I go off to enjoy my flat white and half a friand. Very tasty! Though I have to admit that my conscience is a little bit tense.

Plus the knowledge that the parking ticket -- no matter whether it is in the same city or not -- is very soon to expire.

We enjoy our coffees but do not linger. And then we head back home.

An enjoyable outing. Multi-purpose. And a very effective use of time.

..o0o..

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