We attended a wedding on 8 Mar (Sunday). Tress’ cousin Adrian finally married Rachel, his long time partner. Kiddo didn’t want to go. In a previous wedding, she didn’t enjoy herself. The food (a kiddies menu different to everyone else’s) was totally forgettable and it was a night planned for adults. So this time around she got a few of her friends together for a sleepover. After all, the next day was a public holiday in Melbourne.

 

Tress and I left home about a quarter to 3 that afternoon and drove to the St Mary of the Seas church in West Melbourne. It was a beautiful church – much warmer than St Patrick’s in East Melbourne, with gorgeous lighting. After the wedding service and the usual photo taking we drove the couple of kilometers south of the city to the Crown for the dinner reception.

 

Tress’ cousin and his partner flew in from Malaysia for the wedding and we gave them a lift from the church to the Crown. It actually turned out to be a favour to us because they were staying at the Crown so enjoyed special free valet service. That removed our parking problems. With drinks starting at 6pm we didn’t have much time to kill.

 

A bit into the drinks just before dinner, as I was finishing my beer and starting on my first glass of red for the night, we were asked if we could provide transport back to the eastern suburbs after the dinner – namely Mt Waverly.  That put paid to my drinks so that glass of red was the last for the evening and I drank mainly water after that.

 

The dinner finished a bit after 12am, and by the time we organized transport, given someone a lift etc, we got home just before 2am. Kiddo and her friends were sprawled on the sofa and in the study, watching movies and playing computer games. The whole house was filled with teenage pastime paraphernalia. Tress and I just changed and went to sleep. Or tried to – activities in the house didn’t wind down till don’t know when.

 

We slept in the next day and didn’t crawl out of bed till after 9. After a quick brekkie I vacuumed and tidied up the place, finishing only close to 1pm. We went yum cha after that, with our friends David and Lee Leng and of course kiddo and her sleepy friends.

 

Later that arvo kiddo played tennis with those previously sleepy friends, after which she went to their house. When we went to pick her up, we were asked by this very generous, always cooking family to join them for a “simple meal”. That simple meal comprised of maybe 4 dishes, and chicken soup, finished with red bean soup. This family knows no bounds when it comes to cooking and eating.

 

We went home later that night filled and contented. It was a very good weekend.

 

In the midst of all these merry making (wedding, sleepover, yum cha and dinner with friends) we are constantly reminded about the turmoil around us, financially as well as from Mother Nature. I like to quickly scan through the Business Spectator page (http://www.businessspectator.com.au) and in recent months, the prevailing news has been negative and gloomy.

 

After months of reading lay off news abroad, local companies have begun the cull. Pacific Brand, the company owning popular brands like Hole Proof and Bonds, have been the most unpopular one and bear the brunt of public discontent. Scores of companies have also discarded more employees. This morning NAB said it was going to shed hundreds of jobs. A couple of days ago an old friend from Sydney emailed saying his wife lost her job. They are really moving closer to home now.