Downtown Southport, as I discovered after I'd alighted at the Library, has been significantly reconfigured to make way for the light rail tramway that is still under construction but seems to have been realigned.
My original game plan for the evening had involved an Italian place on Nerang Street, but research along the way suggested it wasn't there anymore, and it isn't the only familiar place that has gone as the area gets a significant makeover. I probably wasn't going to be buying anything from the Black Cat Newsagency, but if I had been, too bad. It's gone as well.
Once I'd let myself into The Unit I set about unpacking, sorting and setting up, working on the principle that I'm here until Wednesday morning, so I might as well make myself comfortable. Having done that, lacking the password to hook into the WiFi network, I rested quietly until Number One Nephew returned.
A discussion of matters relating to The unit was followed by a lengthy analysis of the dining options in the neighbourhood, which seem to be taking an increasingly Asian predominance. The long and short of it was that I might as well resign myself to a couple of spells at the stove if I'm looking at Italian! and much would depend on what I found when I made my way over to Ferry Road markets on Saturday.
In the end, the consensus was that the night's meal might as well be a takeaway from the Wok and bowl operation we'd visited last time, which is conveniently opposite a decent bottle shop.
The bottle shop yielded a Jim Barry Watervale Riesling, a Some Young Punks Monsters! Monsters! Attack! Take on the same variety and a Turkey Flat rose that should be fairly non-confrontational regardless of what I line it up against.
Well, maybe not fish and chips, but we have a Riesling for that, don't we?
Dinner proved to be satisfactory without hitting any great heights and general weariness saw everyone toddling off to bed shortly after nine. The Nephew has work commitments in the morning, and it will be interesting to see whether I beat him in the Wakeful Stakes.