We had to stick around the house for a business-related phone call (yes, they knew we were on holiday, but I guess some people don’t pay attention…) but before that, Mitchell and I took Karma the Cat to his holiday rest home, Cat’s Cradle. He was due to spend the next week there while the rest of us were off exploring the northern wastes (i.e. British Columbia and Seattle) on our holiday.

Packing for our trip was complicated by the fact that we were going to be taking a helicopter from Seattle across the bay to Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, and the luggage weight restrictions were such that we had to pack two separate bags – one for the Vancouver leg and then another with clothes and extra things we might need in Seattle upon our return a few days later.

Something else odd happened while we were packing: someone in 12 Carrillo St, San Rafael, rang up and said they had a courier package for me that had been delivered to them by mistake, sent by the ASB Bank, NZ! I was expecting a new credit card from the ASB, because my current one was expiring this month, and they don’t mail new cards internationally. So I decided a couple of weeks ago to take the option of them couriering it. I did expect them to get the address right, however! I drove around the neighbourhood to Carrillo St and picked up the package. Indeed, it was the credit card.

Derek showed up in the afternoon and watched the West Wing episode we’d taped earlier in the week, and I demoed the music studio to Mitchell.

For dinner, we went to our favorite family-style Chinese restaurant, Royal Mandarin. The plan was that Kevin would join us, but as it turned out, he rang and said he’d be catching up with us later on due to work commitments. When we spoke to him, he was still in the South Bay driving up from Santa Clara.

After dinner it was off to the Marin Civic Center Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium for a concert by Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. They played improvisational jazz duets, about five 20 minute long pieces. I liked some of it, and they are very talented, but it was pretty inaccessible stuff. We had no idea what to expect, we just figured Mitchell would enjoy some live music in that wonderful venue.

Kevin showed up for the last couple of pieces, so that was all right.

After the concert, we retired to the house and drank coffee and Kevin gave us a hilarious recitation of the infamous “Party America” urban legend by the master himself.

Early to bed that evening, because we had a flight to catch the next morning.