It has been just over a month since my local church made the decision o merge with another church. It has been a long and challenging journey, and on our side it probably started about 4½ -5 years ago. On the eve of our holidays last month, members gave their “eyes” and we have also filed the necessary papers with the local regulators.

After the long journey, often involving pain and stress with leaders and members who for reasons unknown had chosen to oppose the proposal, the early days of the merger are now taking shape.

Running up to last months’ decision, both churches have come together on a monthly basis to meet together, on the last Sunday of every month. This will continue until both congregations start to meet as one in the same place, from December onwards.

The next combined meeting will be on this Sunday. The pastor had met with some of us last week and worked out some of the things that needed to be looked into.

A few hours ago I received an email from the pastor, setting out a detailed plan of programs and people responsible for them for the combined meeting. I was sort of relieved my name wasn’t in any of the tasks. Until of course I came to the last item. The job? A tour guide. I kid you not. One of my early tasks in this new church is to be a tour guide and bring people through the church premises.

I don’t know what made the pastor think I am suited to the job. I much prefer being in a corner somewhere with a book in one hand and a glass of wine in the other (or cup of coffee). Bringing groups of people around while talking incessantly isn’t a job I had ever thought of doing at any point in my life but there you have it. It is the strangest thing for him to be asking of me.

The only way to deal with this interesting turn of events is to meet the task head on. Forget about whatever sentiments or values the task implies and see it simply as something the pastor has asked of me. In fact my reading this morning was Matthew 25 and verse 23 said this. What a timely reference – now this is what I think the “word of knowledge” should be all about, and nothing more! A tour guide I shall be, and I shall give it my all.

I wonder if SAF is really up the creek without a paddle this time around and there is substance to Rooney’s gripe. I know Keano has come out in defence of the club and that is fantastic. Among present players, Fletcher too has said the same thing. I’m curious though why other senior players have remained silent. Surely a word in defence of the Boss will put them and the club in good stead. The fact that they remained silent sort of gives weight to that gripe.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to be wondering, back during the off season, why United was so quiet in the transfer market. Sure the free spending days are probably over (with maybe the exception of our fuel injected neighbours) but the lack of fight to secure standout players was a screaming question in my head. No one can blame fans for thinking the big operating loss of 80m surely had a hand in this lack of activity. Hence Rooney’s gripe cannot be dismissed and the “emergency meeting” Gill was reported to have had with SAF overnight also tends to suggest Rooney’s claim was uncomfortably close to the truth and it appears to be very raw and sensitive.

I wonder if the rules governing club ownership need overhauling – there is plainly an unfairness amongst the big clubs in the way they are owned and operated. Clubs like Real and Barca which are member owned along privately owned clubs like Chelsea and ManCity have no financial restrictions other the owners’ own cheque books. On the other hand, clubs like United being PLC’s operate under all sorts of financial and commercial rules and constrains. The likes of Chelsea and City can go on spending regardless of operating losses and whatever the noises about ambitions and medals, if a player is offered double his pay, he has to be mad to ignore it. United on the other hand appears to be shackled by operating losses, especially given current losses have reversed recent trends in profitability. It behaves as a normal economic entity and stems outflows.

The comfort is SAF is his usual self in fighting back. His claim that the younger players have potentials which he has proven he can sniff out, tend to provide an uneasy leg to stand on. The likes of Hernandez, Macheda, Obertain, Gibson etc look far from the 18 year old Rooney from the Toffees or the young Cristiano Ronaldo fresh from Sporting Lisbon colours. Let’s hope SAF is right and these are players who will develop and blossom to continue the winning ways of United and the lack of activity in the transfer market wasn’t a sign of an era that is ebbing.

This time last month Tress Kiddo and I were on the highways outside of Hangzhou, in the province of Zhejiang in China. We left the city of Hangzhou early in the morning and was headed to Haining where the Qian Tang river was to undergo a very interesting phenomenon resulting in tidal waves. Thousands of tourists cramp along the banks of the river every year to witness this annual occurrence. It was supposed to be a spectacle and many in our group had made this trip to China mainly to see this. We came for a holiday and spend time with family but to these folks, the Qian Tang river tidal waves was supposed to be the main event.

There was only a small problem however – our bus driver. The little twerp decided to take a short cut and the usual 1½ bus ride ended up taking almost 6 hours and we still couldn’t find the river. It probably would not have taken that long had we surfed on the river to get there. We must have travelled on every inch of the highways circling around the city of Hangzhou and the detours and u-turns meant we saw a great deal of the highways and toll booths of Hangzhou but there was no river in sight.

The poor tourists in the bus were mostly elderly folks – mainly friends of Tress’ parents who were also subject to the merry-go-rounds – which compounded the problem. I know for a fact that with age, the bladder weakens. A stressed and panicky bus driver however, tends not to be aware of elderly passengers’ bladder problems. Some passengers began screaming for the driver to stop, threatening violence if he didn’t. I myself was ready to empty into any container I could lay my hands on.

We finally stopped at a toll plaza. The passengers made age defying sprints to a building next to the toll plaza, practically crying. We soon found out that the building was useless to us. It had only one toilet and there were about 20,000 old folks all critically needing a leak at the same time. The women queued up for the one and only toilet and the men busied themselves creating a dozen new ad hoc ones behind the building. I was one of those standing with our legs apart and swaying away, making sure we were not facing the wind. The initial cries accompanying the release slowly turned into laughter. The humour revealed itself only after the pressure is released, as always. We were more than happy to create our own tidal waves and weren’t the least interested, at least at that moment, in the QianTangRiver.

We gave up the adventure. We also gave up the driver. We made our way around Hangzhou and visited the city’s attractions with the help of another driver. We did get around to seeing the tidal waves the next day (with a different driver) which as a bit of an anti-climax. The story of the previous day however, was already created and it had nothing to do with the famous Qian Tang river or its tidal waves.

Rooney’s departure looks like a certainty now. If and when that happens it will leave a hole in the United team the size of a hangar. No one comes close to being a possible replacement. Of the remaining current squad, Nani and Berbatov are probably the most talented but neither comes close to being an intimidating and fearful presence in the opposition final third. If Scholesy doesn’t play, there is probably no one else who can whack one of those raking passes cross field to catch the opposition totally off-guard. This means SAF would almost certainly have to buy anew come the January transfer window. Karim Benzema has been tossed around as a possible candidate but he has a terrible reputation work ethics wise, which would be a problem in the United set up. I guess this will again be a good episode to flush out those glory hunters and leave United to be supported by genuine football enthusiasts as opposed to mindless celebrity. It will certainly test the pedigree of SAF yet again. This test will be a stiff one, by all accounts. Maybe SAF will start to think age has finally caught up and he should at long last, put his feet up.

We have now lived in our current home for three years. 20 Oct 07 was when we first moved in. I remember simply by looking at my past blog entries – that’s the advantage of keeping a blog. I mentioned this to Kiddo yesterday morning and she said we should celebrate. It sounded fun and Tress was in for it so we went to our favourite little Thai restaurant not far from our home last night and had a nice little dinner. The last time we went there a waitress messed with a very good bottle of wine I brought with me and left pieces of cork swimming in that precious bottle. I had to bring it home to put it through a sieve – it changed the character of the wine but at least it was save, somewhat. This time around, I was running late so Tress got a very ordinary bottle – one that I had already opened but didn’t finish it in a hurry. It tasted just as ordinary, good food and great occasion notwithstanding. I barely made my way through that one glad and brought home the remainder, still unfinished. When we got home I made us some “Pu-Err” Chinese tea which was eminently more enjoyable than that very ordinary red. I put my feet up as I sipped the wonderful tea. I must be ageing although no where quite as badly as SAF and I certainly have no Rooney-type of issues.

During our holidays in Malaysia recently, Tress went through an old bag of clothes and stuff which we left in her parents’ home. It had some old clothes which we sometimes used as jammies when we’re there.

Also in that bag was a table top pewter business card holder, in the shape of Justice Pao Kong. It was something Chooi & Co gave all partners when I was there. For some reason I never brought it with me to Melbourne. That has now changed. A very grey Justice Pao now sits on my desk.

What JP also reminded me of, was another pewter memorabilia I had. My erstwhile boss Rudy Koh gave it to me when I was called to the Malaysian Bar. That was on 20 December 1991.

Nearly 19 years on, the law is now so mechanised to me. I have a query I look at the facts, research the law and commentaries, discuss the issues and provide a written opinion or draft the relevant documents. By and large this is what I do. This is what I have done, for close to 19 years now.

I still enjoy doing it to a degree, but it no longer makes me tick. It no longer gives me satisfaction or challenges me. It is all so mechanised now and I sometimes feel an electrician would have greater satisfaction running some cables through a building. But from where then do I draw my spark?

It has been nearly a week since we spent the last day of our holidays in Klang. This time last week, Tress took Kiddo to the hairdresser for a “game changing” hairdo (LOL). I was at home alone with Ben’s kids and had a whale of a time playing with them. Later that arvo Tress and I went to the sweathouse – the mee hook kueh joint in Berkeley – and had a great lunch. We went back and I played with the kids some more.

Later that evening we had popiah, then packed and got ready to leave. We were all a bit sad but Zack’s reaction was the cutest. Just as we were about to head out the door, he said his eye was hurting. We all wondered if he was just sad. He and I had become real mates – he was letting me crash his Ferraris and Mustangs and teaching me how to let those babies fly through the steps separating the dining from the lounge, and land right side up. His sister Megan was already an old hand at this but yours truly was too afraid of scratching those beauties. I was really touched he let me into his inner circle and play with his treasured cars so I gave it my all and crashed those babies with gusto. As a result, I earned his respect and we bonded. That’s why his eye hurt, I’d like to think. I miss him too… as I do our beautiful holidays.

The other fellow I got to know a little bit more was Little Benny. Goh Yu Jie was born in SuzhouChina in Aug 2009. We saw him for the first time during our holidays. They were going to call him Benjamin but Little Benny would do it for me. He’s a gorgeous boy – a manipulative little bugger who would clap his hands when reclining in the stroller and suckers like yours truly would trip over running to him to pick him up. Whoever gets to him first would regret big time five minutes later because though he is cute as one of Snow White’s little men, in actual fact he weighs more like Shrek. His Michelin limbs are real tests of strength for ours. Most of us give up before 10 minutes are up and reach our for stroller again. He’d try his reclining and clapping tricks again and we’d be sucked in again and the cycle goes on… I was grateful to oblige. What a treat it was to be spending time with him, his brother YY, and of course Mei, Goh and Mum.

It really was a fantastic holiday.

Westpac’s supremo Gail Kelly is one of the world’s 10 most powerful women, according to Forbes. She is however, not as powerful as Lady Gaga!

See here: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/gail-kelly-in-forbes-list-of-worlds-10-most-powerful-women/story-e6frg8zx-1225935338055

We were in China/Malaysia for 2 weeks and got back on Sat morning. Gerry picked us up from the airport and we got home just after 10am. After a quick sorting out of the luggages, I rang the dog minder and arranged to pick the little black jedi up. We missed him. That little bugger was back with us by around 1pm, and for the rest of the weekend we were in a bit of a daze. For the first time in years, I took a Sunday arvo nap yesterday.

Came back to work this morning to be confronted by an Inbox breaking at its seams. 590 emails. That works out to be just under 60 emails per working day away. Which is just about right. I have sorted out about 2/3 at this stage (lunchtime), and am barely surviving the day thus far. Sort of payback time, I guess. 2 coffees and 1 tea so far has kept my eyes open, although only just.

It has been a wonderful break – time with family is always good. Spent  loads of time with Tress’ parents and sister, caught up with Mei and family and mum in Suzhou, and spent a moring with grandma, as well as dinner with my brother and his wife. All fabulous. Not to mention time with the little endearing rascals – Meg and Zack – as well as Brian and Eunice.

It’s back to the grind now. Apart from the stacks of emails and 2 meetings so far, I’ve had to deal with loads of other stuff. Thankfully a church board meeting tonight has been cancelled, although the reason wasnt good. TF/SC and family – my prayers are with you all.

Now back to my emails, but first another sip of tea…