That was Parade’s experience when he hosted a mate from the outskirts of Sydney for a visit on Friday night and Saturday.

Parade and his mate did the usual stuff you do when you catch up after a long while: have a few beers, reminisce, tell each other the same anecdotes you always tell and then laugh at the same spots.

But Parade also acted as tour guide on Saturday afternoon and took his mate on a trip around the city to show him some of the notable features and some of the things that are changing.

Parade is biased, obviously, but he thought Bathurst scrubbed up pretty well.

The terraces and historic homes in the inner streets looked terrific and Parade’s mate was also interested to see the new housing estates marching across the landscape and big developments like the Westpoint expansion and the former Mac and Mac building revival.

There was a spin around Mount Panorama (that’s non-negotiable) and lunch at one of the pubs and then a visit in the afternoon to the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum (Parade’s mate is far from a mineral expert, but he likes a good museum, particularly when its contents can be discussed later over an icy cold beer at the bar).

All in all, it was a good trip. Parade might have to start doing organised tours.

THE one part of the weekend that didn’t go according to plan was the weather.

Parade’s mate has heard about 101 stories about how cold the weather is in Bathurst, so he looked a bit nonplussed when he turned up and it was 30 degrees at 10.30 in the morning.

Parade tried to explain how Bathurst got down to -7 degrees a couple of times during the winter just gone, but it sounded a bit unbelievable as the sun beat down, the plants gasped and the trees wilted.

Maybe the next visit should be in April. Or in May. But not in June or July. Parade doesn’t think his mate is ready for June or July in Bathurst just yet.