The things that pop up

There’s a thingamajig called The Fountain of Goose that’s popped up at Circular Quay and I was lucky enough to go to the launch last night with my friend Jemma.

I can’t remember how Jemma and I met. It was one of two ways and I’ve forgotten which came first. We used to work together at Woman’s Day magazine many moons ago. We also shared a nanny when the eldest was nine months old, after we put an ad in the local newspaper.

While the kids have drifted in separate directions over the years, Jemma and I have stayed in touch and go for Bay Walk rambles a few times a year. But this time I figured we should raise a glass to the festive season together in trendy surrounds.

The Fountain of Grey Goose is lovely. It has an actual fountain in the middle of it, surrounded by outdoor umbrellas and deck chairs, and is very oooh-la-la. It’s designed to promote a French vodka brand called Grey Goose.

Grey Goose is delicious. I’ve always been a “just get the cheapest one at the bottle shop” kinda vodka gal, but since working at Drinks Trade I’ve discovered all vodkas don’t taste the same. Grey Goose is a very smooth tipple.

The fountain doubles as a bar featuring Grey Goose cocktails – we tried the Rose Spritz with Grey Goose, Martini Blanco, watermelon, rose syrup, fresh lime and soda water (our favorite); and the Le Grand Fizz with Grey Goose, St Germain Elderflower liqueur, fresh lime and soda.

OK, maybe we tried a few very large goblets of them … there was a fountain of the bladder kind when I frantically bolted to the Circular Quay bathroom after finally extricating myself from a Grey Goose deck chair at the end of the night. Jemma and I were the last ones to leave! Dirty stop outs … at 8pm …

There were also lots of yummy little chicken sandwiches and asparagus spears and potato cakes with smoked salmon. Mmmmmm.

The Fountain of Goose is a play on the Fountain of Youth and has its own wishing well, with visitors receiving a Grey Goose coin to toss into the Fountain.

We were too busy chitter chattering and forgot to toss, which was a bit remiss of us when we could have been wishing to win the lottery.

Here are some pics from the pop-up when it was on the Gold Coast (before the air became thick with smoke and heated debate over climate change):

The Fountain of Goose is at First Fleet Park, Circular Quay from November 20-24 and at Federation Square, Melbourne from December 7-11.

Here are some of my happy snaps:

After we were kicked out of the fancy fountain thingamajig event I went home and tipped buckets of water on the parched roots of my new hedge and packed the dishwasher. It was a night of watery contrasts.

And that’s me over and out for the week. I’ve had a few messages from people who aren’t getting the blog in their Facebook feeds, sorry about that, Facebook is being very stingy with its sharing at the moment.

Have a good weekend, mine kicks off tonight with birthday burgers for the eldest, then I think I’m having a quiet one. Although I shouldn’t speak too soon, as you never know with my crazy life …

Song of the day: Bette Midler “The Rose” (purely because it was playing in the cab on the way home last night, v beautiful tho)