The weathermen said it was going to be a scorcher last Saturday. So Tress and I got up early and headed to the park across the street, to walk the little fellow. I did a shortish run and when we were heading home, it had become warm and the poor little fellow was actually struggling a little bit. He probably ran more than normal, and for longer.

After breakfast and dry cleaning drop-off/pick-up, we headed into the city. Tress was going to look for a Christmas gift for a colleague and we decided to shop at the Queen Vic market. It got really warm and when we got home I thought it would be good for us to head back into a shopping centre and do something like catch a movie, to escape the heat.

We opted for the latest Bond saga – Skyfall. When the movie was over, it was just before 6pm and the cool change had – thankfully – well and truly arrived. We came home, did a quick barbie of some fish and egg plants, and spent the rest of the evening just surfing the net, watching tv, etc… and went to bed early.

 

 

After my long boozy lunch earlier in the arvo with colleagues, Tress and I went to a young couple’s home for a Korean styled dinner. They have been part of a cell in church with us, for maybe 4 years now and we have become good friends. They wanted to catch up with us to talk about church and I felt I owed them an explanation. So with just the four of us (along with their little girl) I took some time to explain to them the basis of my decision. I have taken all steps to ensure there was nothing left vague or unexplained.

The department had a Christmas lunch last Friday. We went to the Longrain restaurant just a stone’s throw from the office. Even though the place was known more for its cocktails, the food was fabulous. It was an Asian/Thai place and diners were encouraged to order dishes for sharing. With drinks, the bill came up to about $550 for seven persons which wasn’t too bad given the amount of drinks and the quality of food on offer.

We left the restaurant just around 3pm but decided to move around the corner and down Spring Street to find a place to just sit and chat some more over more drinks. The idea was to while the afternoon away without returning to the office for work I guess. We settled on a pub and sat outside and watched the Spring Street traffic while we had a few beers and just chatted. The weather was great so it was a wonderful afternoon all in.

We came back to the office just before 5, and I packed my stuff up and left for home. The drinks made me very relaxed and light headed, but it was the dinner ahead later that night, which made me uncomfortable – just a tad.

Watching the Champions Trophy final between Australia and Netherlands and thoroughly enjoying the contest. Honest hardworking can-do Aussies against the technical resolute firmness of the Dutch, makes a wonderful match. The cold beer is just an icing on the cake on this gorgeous arvo.

A last minute chance missed…

Tying up loose ends after leaving a church is both painful and tedious. It isn’t painful because it is tedious. The pain is all emotional. The tediousness is on account of working out the level of details I should go into.

It almost doesn’t matter if the person you think you owe an explanation to, doesn’t provide any sign that it mattered – both whether you stayed or left, as well as whether you explained your leaving or not. I guess to many, life just goes on and there is no need for all of these communications. Such characters aside, the exercise takes up time and depletes the emotional bank account somewhat. It is necessary however, to undertake these communications.

So I started to send emails. All bcc, just so (1) no trails of emails with group replies abound; and (2) it doesn’t look like I was making an exit spray. I only sent to those who made direct enquiries. There’re not many – all in probably not more than a dozen recipients. I met a few people, made some phone calls. I think that should be it now.

In any case, this is a busy time of the year, with lots of activities swimming around most of us. It is likely to be missed completely so I guess this has been a good time to do this. Pain notwithstanding.

Last night I was supposed to speak to someone on the telephone. She rang the day before, after receiving my email, and asked if I could ring her back. Tress and I were both very tired last night and went to bed early – just after 9pm – so I didn’t get around to speaking to this lady. I need to ring her tonight.

 

The house has been messy for over a week. Just a couple of days before we trekked up to Ngambri the previous weekend, a tradie came around to do some work and the residual mess looked too much to be left alone but we simply didn’t have the time. Until this past weekend.

After waking up late and doing our usual round of brekky and dry cleaning drop off/pick up as well as some grocery shopping for a dinner party we were going to later that night, Tress and I got stuck right in. Tress spread out the dirt and mulch combo on the front and attacked the weeds. I trimmed, cut, pruned, raked and generally had a good go at the ever growing hedges around the house. It is probably around 6½ feet or so now. I left a couple of plants right at the far corner of the backyard, which have only been pruned once or twice. They’re probably around 12 or so feet tall…

After the hedges, I mowed and did further trimmings and kept going as long as the bin had room. The weather forecast had expected rain so we wanted to get as much done as we could… after sweeping up and putting all the tools away, I decided to give the car a wash. It was that sort of day where one expected the weather to turn for the worse and in trying to do stuff before that happened, ended up cramping a lot in. I think I overdid it – it was about 6 hours after starting that I finally hit the showers. After a long scrub and wash, all I could do was sit for a bit and dozed off a little while before we headed to Gerry and Jess’ for a dinner party.

The dinner was very good. Jess has been smitten with all things Korean so she laid on a full spread of Korean side dishes with the ubiquitous kimchi, while Gerry did the Korean styled barbequed beef and chicken. They also made a soup and served Korean rice wine to go with it all – really great touch.

After dinner I got cornered by someone – made me go through the whole story again about why I left LifeGate Church. It has become more matter of fact but it was still painful. LifeGate – ICC before it – had become an integral part of Tress and I. Leaving this church was always going to be an emotionally difficult exercise. It was however, a process I would have to go through – telling various people why I am doing this. I owe it to them. So this arvo I sent Gerry and Jess and email. I was going to tell them in person but having this person speak about it meant in all likelihood, they overheard my conversation and sort of knew bits and pieces of it.

Sunday was very quiet and peaceful. After church I did a quick check of the Wesley Mission food boxes at Blackburn North, and then headed home and went out to lunch with Tress, at Madam Kwong’s. Tress had a wedding later in the evening and I took the little black jedi for a walk – it was really nice.

We slept early, and I went to the gym this morning after a week’s break. After gym, I received a text with good news – Kiddo has successfully completed Year 1. She got the HD average that she needed to stay in the program, and hopefully she continues to work well next year. I hope this means it would be a restful summer…