Friday, January 08, 2016

January 2nd 2016

 There are some inevitables in life - I guess Teddy loving Star Wars would be classified as one of those. It would come as no surprise to many that we had all been to see Episode VII twice before Christmas Day (and not to be the last times either, I suspect). And as a games nerd it would also come as no surprise that Ted was quite enamoured with his Star Wars Episode VII chess set. Not only can we play chess with it, Teddy can also create elaborate games that have nothing to do with chess and, instead, have everything to do with space, battles and "epic" storylines. I think this is the aftermath of such a session here.

 I would also hazard a guess that if anyone reading this knows me and also knows of the experience of 'escape rooms' then you would be similarly unsurprised to find out that I have been DESPERATE to go to one for years. Of course young children, then a degree, then a job I (very happily) prepared seemingly round-the-clock for, left little time for such an experience. James stepped in this Christmas to announce that enough was enough - we had to go. He bought me a gift voucher for an escape room in Sydney but I was so excited that I insisted on looking up rooms in Perth as well.

And so it was that a few days before this James and I had been off to an escape room (which we didn't escape) and decided that the children would also enjoy the experience. Hello? Puzzles! Time limits! Mystery! Narrative immersion! The only sticking point could potentially be the whole 'locked room' part of it. For the record they don't actually lock you in due to Health and Safety, but the closed door, small confines and moody lighting left us slightly worried about Ted's ability to handle it all.

When we arrived Ted was fine for the start of it all, but when the guy opened the door and the room inside as bathed in red light with a body outline on the floor in tape, Ted freaked out and insisted on keeping the door open. Which was completely fine and we managed to complete the room and escape with an easy 15 minutes to spare! I surmise it was all that extra oxygen flooding the space. 

We ate beforehand at this cute little bagel and coffee place in a back lane of Fremantle, which Jan and Mike took an immediate liking to and now use it as a regular stop-off on their bicycle rides (see? Sydneysiders having to fly in in order to scour the best spots for coffee). This shot unusually depicts Teddy looking angelic and Harriet collapsed in giggles. For the life of me I can't remember why.

Then it was back home for lunch with Judy and we bagged some delicious cheeses on the way. James and I were off to a movies and dinner night on our own which happily ended up being an excursion to Luna to see The Lobster (which we had missed in Sydney). When I asked James if he enjoyed it his reply was "I don't know". Over dinner (a curry house where we heard two customers complaining as they paid the bill but where we had a delicious experience) we decided that it was "uneven" but "excellent". At the Movies with Cass and James.

In fact the most exciting elements of the day weren't photographed - inside the escape room, heading off to the movie (where we drank the worst sangria known to humanity; literally watered down red wine with a slice of orange on top) and devouring our hot as Hades curry. We also went exploring to try and find an blood alcohol measuring device for James and which we inexplicably could only find tucked inside the back corner of a kebab shop. For a state that has an anti-drink driving ad on every five minutes, it would seem sensible to back this up with the equipment required to ensure compliance. Why wasn't there one for free in the car park? Ah, what do I know?

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