...the 17th day...

(30-05-13)

This morning we pushed to get ready earlyish so that we could get to Maryborough markets at a reasonable time. We got there around 10am and met Mama and Papa there. We spent quite a time wandering around there: they are really good markets.

Mumzies and I found an awesome spice store. They had tables and tables of different spices and seasoning mixtures in plastic containers. And you could stick your nose in every one and stiff it! We spent ages there sniffing and choosing. Then we wandered around and bought some produce for cooking with.

And then…(horrors for the boys!) there was an op shop in the street that the market was held in. Of course we couldn’t resist! So we went in and combed it through like is our custom.

And then we met Ken. Ken is Maryborough’s own town crier. Of course he is made redundant now by newspapers, TV and radio but now the town crier is become and ambassador for his city. Apparently there is a whole group of them that gather at the Alice to have competitions and I don’t know what else. So I learned something new today.

Ken invited us to the weekly firing of the cannon in the town green. “In times past” it used to be fired every day at 1pm so that people who had forgotten to wind up the clock, and captains coming in from far lands, could reset their time devices. These days it is fired every Thursday at 1pm as a historical reenactment. 

So we hung around until 1pm and met Ken at the town green. Ken was there in his Captain Cook outfit and “Mary Heritage”, citizen of the year, was there dressed in the style of the 1800s. And then there was the boss bandsman of the town band or something like that.

At exactly 1pm, after “Mary Heritage” had done a little history talk and Mr Bandsman had given us a little fanfare, the cannon went off: BOOM!! That was so cool! Everyone jumped I think and Everyone laughed and cheered.

We had lunch at a little asian takeaway kinda place, visited the Mary Poppins statue. Maryborough is the birth town of the authoress of Mary Poppins - the book.
Then we went home and “the evening and the morning were the 17^th day…”