The very warm weekend was almost like a big intro to the summer. Officially that starts today. On Sat though, it was in the high twenties for much of the day. That gave Tress and I the perfect excuse to take it easy, which we did. For the first time in perhaps many months, we took a nap in the afternoon.
We had woken up early that day, had a quick toast with coffee, and went to vote in the State election. The ALP won and Victoria according to many experts would be on its way to financial quagmire again. We were at the voting station just on 8am but there was already a queue of about 10 or so persons. LBJ was with us and we had to tie him to a fence as dogs aren’t allowed inside the compound of the station. He was safe and well looked after though as voters and candidates’ workers were all taken by him.
The election staff was slow and fiddly and I said to Tress I am surprised everything is still done manually. The electoral roll is a thick printed register and the staff couldn’t even work out alphabetical orders so the identification process took a long time. I would have expected an electronic register, even if just for checking and verifying the roll.
It took about 30 minutes for us to work our way up the que we got back and after Tress put the laundry out we went to Simon the hairdresser. It’s a nice feeling to now just take my seat without him asking or me telling him what I’d like done. I’m a regular now. I said to him my coffee place at work does the same thing. I simply walk up the counter and pay. They know my coffee. With Tress it’s a bit more tricky – she had to tell him what she liked done…
After Simon’s we did some grocery shopping and then to Madam K’s for lunch. We the got home and walked LBJ some more. Then we meant to do some gardening but the warm weather gave me a perfect excuse simply to laze around. We both took a nap on the sofas – which was very nice.
That night there was a celebration in church – to celebrate clearing the building debt. Dinner was followed by a bush dance and then Peter took us through the history of the church building. A 3.5m development was funded by a 500k grant from the Federal Govt and a 900K loan from the Anglican Dev Fund. So the 600+ members funded a 3m project inside 10 years. The members we have come to know don’t appear rich so the giving must have been really generous and sacrificial.
Sunday continued to be very warm. Alland Remond from NewHope Baptist preached in a 3-way pulpit exchange. It’s the 10th year the 3 senior ministers have done this. Last year David Ratten from One Community in Blackburn preached.
After church and lunch we went to a shopping centre to cool off the 33 degree arvo, before going home. I picked up a new pair of sandals for the summer. I had looked at these new sandals for a while now, and when in Malaysia last month, checked them out only to find they cost the same or even more there. I then did the usual weekend cooking, before taking LBJ for a walk later in the evening.
Right through the weekend I was decked out in shorts and sandals. Other than the long hours of daylight, that’s the best thing about summer…
Ante 