Never break the chain

My sister-in-law Deb flew up to Sydney on Friday to spend a weekend with me … and see Split Enz perform at ICC Sydney.

We’re not officially sisters-in-law anymore, but “ex” is such a negative term for a relationship that’s still so close.

We reminisced about how long we’ve known each other and we reckon it’s since 1989. It’s only three years until our 40th anniversary!

I’ve always found it weird that breaking up with someone means never seeing their family again. It’s so sad that all those Christmases and holidays and Mother’s Days and family dinners that you spent together are suddenly and permanently over.

Deb and I still call each other pretty regularly and visit each other semi-regularly.

We last caught up in February when we went on double date with our partners to a great gig at St Kilda Memorial Hall.

This time around, Deb flew into Sydney Airport on Friday afternoon and caught the bus and train to my place. We spent the night chitter chattering and eating Vietnamese food at a casual place near my apartment.

On Saturday we kicked off with toasties at Wholegreen gluten-free bakery, as Deb is coeliac.

Afterwards, we wandered around Northside Produce Market in North Sydney admiring all the fresh produce and sipping homemade lemonade, made with agave instead of sugar.

Then we packed up the dogs and drove to DD’s place, where I took Deb on the gorgeous Newport to Avalon walk, which wends its way through bushland and past glamorous houses, with spectacular ocean views along the way.

We had dinner in Avalon at the Sea Wave Thai restaurant, which has a fantastic gluten-free menu, then wandered over to Avalon RSL to watch a Fleetwood Mac tribute band. It was a sell-out show and the fans were going wild, even a few octeganarians, which I suppose shouldn’t surprise me, considering Mick Fleetwood is 78.

A posse of oldies had tickers and they were ready to rock. One 82-year-old bloke spent the whole night convincing women of various ages to dance with him. That’s our friend Bron having a twirl with him. He was living his best life.

Deb and I danced together and sang like loons. The band was great, but my tip would be that your average Fleetwood Mac fan appreciates an earlier start and finish. The gig went from 8.30 to 11.30pm. Waaaaay past my bedtime.

Quite a few of the oldies missed the second half of the gig, possibly because they had a curfew at their retirement village.

But there were heaps of young ones there too. Fleetwood Mac transcends the generations. And we were all singing along to The Chain.

Sunday dawned cloudy and sleep deprived. I wandered down to get the newspapers (love the travel sections) and strong coffees.

After a mid-morning walk at Palm Beach we headed to lunch at the lovely Marina Cafe at Bayview, with a view of the other half’s yachts.

Then Deb and I packed the dogs back in the car and headed home (briefly) before setting off to see Hugh Jackman in The Sheep Detectives at the beautiful Hayden Orpheum Art Deco theatre.

It’s ostensibly a kids’ movie but the theatre was mostly filled with delighted adults. We loved it – laughter, tears, the works. Ten out of ten recommend it.

Saving the best til last, we have awesome tickets to Split Enz tonight. It’s going to be another late one, so I will skip blogging tomorrow to give a loving tribute on Wednesday.

Song of the day: Fleetwood Mac “The Chain”