It has been quite an eventful 7 days:
Wednesday:
Went to the Fitness First gym near our home for a “trial work-out” for free. Ran a whole hour and had that wonderful sense of déjà vu – wet vest sticking to the back, wiping off spots of sweat from the thread mill after. Still enjoying the high of the endorphin, I hurried home to tell the wife, forgetting to collect my driver’s license which I had left behind for identification.
Thursday:
Went into the city twice. Client’s transaction was thought undervalued, the state revenue office refused to stamp the transfer at the stated value. Went back to office, discussed with boss and client, and went back to the city. Revenue was then ok, but the transfer couldn’t be lodged as the computer system was down at the land registry. Ah… bureaucratic bungling finally rears its ugly head, even in Melbourne Australia. This is something to write to my Malaysian ex-colleagues about. It happens here too! Anyway, my mom, sister and nephew were coming to Melbourne the next day and I had asked for the day off. How now, brown cow? It was an urgent transaction; client had wanted the transfer done that day. I told the boss I didn’t mind dropping by the land registry on my day off; was in the city anyway. Easy points to score, and I did. Went to the Fitness First gym again in the evening, supposedly to collect my driver’s license but really to only get another free work-out. This time however, the salesperson cornered me and closed the sale. I signed up! After all, I was planning to resume regular gym use.
Friday:
Kiddo took the day off together with me, and we drove to Tullamarine excitedly in the morning. After circling the pick-up area twice, we saw them on the third time. We picked them up, and headed into the city to do my transfer at the land registry. I was nervous, as I had not made a land transfer for a long time (over 10 years!) and this was the first time I was doing this in Melbourne, and it was an urgent transaction for the client. It went through, miraculously within 20 minutes. I even had the transferred title with me, on the spot! The computer system may be subject to the usual vicissitudes but when it is running, the system as a whole really works, and works efficiently! By noon we were driving home with my work done and my family happily looking forward to 10 days together! We went home, settled them down and took them to the markets in the afternoon for a bit of grocery shopping. Mom was excited, as usual, with the produce on display. That night we had a wonderful dinner together.
Saturday:
We took a drive to Phillip Island, minus the wife. The Australian road laws require all passengers to belt up and that meant a sedan like our can only take five persons. We had 6. It was a shame as the trip was fun and relaxing. The nephew (YY) was particularly excited as he has always been an animal person. He’s the sort of boy who can spend a whole day outdoors with animals and not utter a word of complaint but leave him in a shopping centre and he would be whingeing within 20 minutes. He has become a lot more chatty since we last met him and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to him. We went to a Koala park (not so good), a Wildlife park (apparently much better, but I didn’t go in for this one – waited in the car for a bit of snooze) and of course, saw the lovely penguins. We left the place around 7.30pm and got home by about 9pm. Theresa had cooked a wonderful chicken rice and had it all warm and ready for us when we got home, and we were all very hungry by then.
Sunday:
Sister and Mom didn’t want to go to church with us, so Theresa took them to the QVM in the city. I baby sat kiddo and YY – they played PS2 while I hung around, cooked lunch, before dragging them off to a park for a bit of fresh air and sunshine. The ladies returned from the markets with some wonderful seafood (fish and scallops) and we again had a wonderful dinner (Theresa and I cooked).
Monday:
Went to the Fitness First gym early in the morning, did my run on the thread mill, before going home to prepare breakfast for kiddo and sending her to school. Took mom, sis and nephew to the train station on the way to work, for their visit to the city. They were going to the aquarium. After 2 days of very nice but rich dinners, I cooked a largely vegetarian dinner that night – cabbage, vegetable soup, and had some leftover chicken cooked with carrots and mushrooms. While cooking, had a good chat with mom, caught up with news about uncles, aunties and most of all, about dad. Not so hot to hear he has resumed heavy smoking and having heavier insulin shots than before.
Tuesday:
Went to the Fitness First gym early in the morning, did my run on the thread mill, before going home to prepare breakfast for kiddo and sending her to school. Took mom, sis and nephew to the train station on the way to work, for their visit to the city. They were going to just wander about and do some shopping. They bought some lovely fish and cooked dinner! I went home to a lovely meal. Unfortunately, Theresa was having dinner with some colleagues and only came home rather late. Drank a bit too much wine while waiting for her.
This morning:
Decided to take a break from Fitness First – mainly because I felt tired, possibly because of the excessive wine last night. Made myself a strong Espresso the moment I stepped into office. Mom, sis and nephew decided to stay home this morning, and let the kid sleep in a bit more. Will pick them up during lunch and drop them off at The Glen and Kingway shops. Will then pick them up again after work.
Ante 