A long outing 'downtown'

Last night we had the evening off, so about half of the writers went 'downtown'. We were led to believe it would be a relatively short expedition down to a ferry to see the harbour. Little did we realise that to get to the ferry we'd have to walk down the steep hill we are on, catch a bus for an hour into the city and walk another 20 minutes to the ferry.

The ferry ride was indeed short, but when we got to the other side someone proposed we go for a bus trip up "The Peak" for a great view of the city. Sounded do-able, so we took off to find a bus. It turns out that "The Peak", which is indeed a very impressive large "hill", has a road up it that is very windy. Lurching around blind corners at the top of a double decker bus seemed fun to start with, but I soon grew woozy. By this time I was ready for bed, but we hadn't even started back to our lodgings.

One of my fellow Aussies also expressed extreme weariness and was experiencing motion sickness too. I knew we were in trouble when she fished out her personal sick bad and held it in her hand, 'just in case'.

At 11.15 we were still a good half an hour from home when one of our group came up to the top level of the bus to tell us our friend was throwing up. We quickly decided that three of us would get off the bus with her and take a taxi home.

I didn't get into bed until midnight. At least it cured me of the difficulties I've been having getting to sleep recently. I slept soundly until 8am, rising only just in time to catch breakfast.

Today has been more teaching about writing and writing. A little less teaching and more writing. I did get to spend half an hour with our speaker. She went through one of the articles I wrote yesterday and after making quite a few fairly cosmetic changes declared it publishable. Wow! Such an encouragement!

On a less lofty note, my bottom is sore from sitting. Obviously I need to get out and do some more exercise, although I think the start of last night's adventure, walking down our steep hill, probably hasn't helped my glutes too much.

Once again it is dinner time and then another two hours of writing-related time. We're listening to excerpts from everyone's writing. That means I need to read something too. Good thing I've been doing a lot of writing this week...