Last night after work, I caught up with ‘Piro’, an old online>offline friend that I’ve known for about 11 years now – and in fact, it occurs to me just now that, along with RetroSuper, that might be one of my oldest online friendships. Crazy world.

Hailing from Sydney, Piro was in Melbourne this past week for the UX Australia conference. We managed to squeeze in a drink and some eats last night, which was great because I hadn’t seen her in about four years, maybe more… time has some mighty wings, that’s for sure.

We met up at Gin Palace where the organisers of the conference had thrown an open-bar for the attendees (not I, sadly!), but thanks to Piro’s grumbling tummy and a too-loud-to-catch-up atmosphere, we took off for some eats.

A new acquaintance of Piro’s led us to a place just off Tattersall’s lane, allegedly known for its badass dumplings. But, upon seeing the line, our stomachs decided we were heading elsewhere!

So, back out onto Bourke Street, we marched up to Ito, a fairly decent Japanese restaurant. Oddly, despite the fare being of a pretty decent standard, the highlight of my visit had to be the Dyson hand dryers in the bathrooms.

I thought the damn thing was going to saw my hand right off with air alone. Phenomenal.

After dinner, we headed to Lonsdale Street with plans to grab some sweets from one of the Greek pastry stores, but decided to head over to Brunetti in Carlton for a hot chocolate and some macaroons instead.

It was great to catch up with Piro, it’d been far too long. Must make sure the gap’s not quite so big, next time.