It goes without saying. These cowboy boots rock! I feel like a bad girl in ’em but damn, you should’ve seen the bruises on my calves!

Well, I didn’t, really.

It wasn’t until the next day at Kmart and my sister was like, “Why are there bruises at the back of your legs?!” with a mild undertone questioning if there was some domestic violence involved.

It was the car. With the passenger seat so low, the back of the boots kept pinching the fatty bits of my thigh I had to take them off during the ride to Melton which was about 2 hours away but with the heavy traffic and the glare of the late afternoon sun like laser beams straight into my retina, it felt like a day and a half. In hell.

I don’t think I can ever live in Melton and work in the city at the same time. I don’t know how the locals do it, especially with the ongoing roadworks and the crawling traffic.

Just as I don’t know how we managed to survive the drive with the petrol running on empty.

“Don’t worry,” Jeff said. “We have at least 10kms to go before it starts blinking. By then it means it’s really low.”

Ten minutes later, it was. I checked Google Maps for nearby petrol stations. There was one about 1.8km away. I swear I was actively developing gastric ulcer watching the distance close in so we could veer off the congested freeway.

As fate would have it, we missed our promised exit. I blamed the confusing road barriers and traffic cones. Jeff blamed me. It would be a while before the next petrol station. The indicator blinked mockingly.

In my head, I was already busy formulating a contingency plan. Jeff continued to drive with trust in the universe that she will deliver us out of the mess we got ourselves into when we kept forgetting to stop by a petrol station in the city.

Long story short, the universe did not disappoint. We got off the next exit and just held our breaths from there.

Thank goodness they had Red Horse beer at the Filipino restaurant we went to, where Jeff was supposed to meet with some Filipino rappers who were on their Melbourne tour.

After all that stress, a cold strong beer is all you need.

Also, nothing like having a little photoshoot in the back alleys of Springvale. Can’t get any more legit Asian than that.

*Raven at 3 years old