Last Saturday was no different from the Saturdays I have had since re-starting work. I’d sleep in, make breakfast for Theresa, do my quiet time and after all that at around 8.30am, start to clean the house. Depending on how clean I’m in a mood to make it, the task would finish just before 10.30 or a little closer to 11.00. Last Saturday, we had a bit of shopping to do and since Kiddo’s class at 10.30 was to be a 1 hour 20 minute one, we decided to do some shopping while waiting for her. So I opted for a somewhat truncated version of house cleaning and finished in time for a quick shower and dash out the door with the family.

We picked kiddo up around 12pm, and after lunch, Theresa had another of her ladies’ fellowship meeting in the afternoon. After picking kiddo from her second class at 2.30pm, we went to pick up some DVDs, after which I went home, took out the washing, become the Iron-Man, and cooked. It was almost 6pm by the time I was done, and Theresa came home with loads more food which meant we were all stuffed that night. We had gone to Sofia’s again on Friday night so we had the usual leftovers – Kiddo and I had the re-heated ravioli, the cooking I did was frozen but we had the red-bean soup which I made, along with the range of finger foods which Theresa came back with. The “Onde Onde” was very nice.

We picked “Syriana”, a George Clooney/Matt Damon flick with Sodenbergh as a producer so the usual documentary style story telling was used and it was quite riveting, though it took us a while to figure out what was happening. It was a typical Hollywood take on the conspiracy theories which find such fertile ground in the fast drying oil fields of the middle-east. The problem is, it no longer feels like a mere conspiracy theory and it wouldn’t be surprising if it was all true. The other movie was a more light headed one, Nicholas Cage in “National Treasure”. I had watched it years ago, but Kiddo hasn’t and it was quite fun.

Yesterday was a good day, and today is a great day, as far as Man United is concerned. We took down Man City, Michael Ball’s stampede on Ronaldo’s belly notwithstanding. Van the Man let his leg do the talking and this morning, notwithstanding Essien’s beauty (he who was hijacked from us by the despicable Peter Kenyon) Chelsea could only manage a draw against the Arses so the title is back with us, after 3 years.

After church yesterday, Kiddo had a jamming session in church (practice for a youth service session) so Theresa and I went for lunch on our own, at the “Proud Peacock”. We met Matt & Aida, Greg, Kathleen (they of the U Seng/A Ann clan). As usual, Aida rushed to pay for our meal and we’re left red-faced again. She is such a generous person. I have dined with so many others who are so slow to the draw we always end up paying but with her, even when we are not at the same table, she’d make it a point to beat us to it. Very Chinese. After lunch, we went for a walk in Blackburn Lake Sanctuary and it was really nice. Autumn in Melbourne is beautiful. It is at times like this that I feel we’re getting some return for the big taxes we pay, both in terms of income tax and council rates. The sanctuary was well kept, clean, with healthy natural habitats for ducks, birds, and even snakes! (which we didn’t see). We walked for about an hour, and decided we have to take kiddo here for some exercise now as often as we can. We then went home and Theresa went back to church to pick Kiddo up and was supposed to play table tennis with a few of our home group members but no one showed up so she came home when kiddo was done. I tried logging in to my office network to check on my emails and do some work but couldn’t log in, so I decided to cook again. I made some potato cakes, which Kiddo enjoyed.

My knee played up last week and this morning when I tried to run again, it remained a problem. Sigh…