Last Friday was a wee blur sort of a day. I had done a day trip for work to Melbourne the day before, and when I got back to Canberra, I felt zonked out. When the cab dropped me off at home, I got out of my work clothes, changed into shorts and tee, and had a snooze. I felt drained.
Later that night Kiddo Mic and I went out for dinner at Belco and Kiddo too said she didn’t feel too well. Her thesis is due for submission today and I guess she has had a few bumps dealing with the ravages of the tides of pressure as the waves flow and ebb in recent weeks.
So after a zombie like Friday I went to my boss’s office just on 4pm, and said to him I was leaving and heading to Melbourne. I went home, picked up LBJ and his stuff, and made that drive back to Melbourne. My mind was on Kiddo and her thesis, as well as on the book I had been reading. That day trip to Melbourne on Thursday had us on the tarmac for half an hour as we waited for air traffic in Melbourne to clear up. I took that time to plough on with the book I had started reading the night before. By the time I landed back in Canberra on Thursday I had reached the half way point. It must have been months since I ploughed through a book that way. Timothy Keller’s book on work (Every Good Endeavour) is I guess the right book at the right time sort of reading for me. So as I hummed down the Hume, my mind was drawn back to what he wrote.
We got back to Melbourne just on 11pm, and LBJ looked at home – and was pleased to be back in Melbourne again. Tress had done a quick instant noodle for me (at my request) with a beautifully fried egg on top. I devoured it, and was pleased to also note a little box of chocolate truffles. Tress had gone out for dinner with Jason, Mel and the Hipos and Mel picked out the chocolates at the place where they adjourned for coffee. As usual, I longed to be in Melbourne for these reasons – to be with Tress and amongst old friends.
On Saturday after brekky at home we did some work tidying up the gardens again. The hedges have grown thick and tall and needed much elbow grease as I trimmed and tidied those lush greens. Hedges trimmed, lawns mowed, driveway/deck swept, I gave the car a quick wash. Warmer months mean more moths and other insects and the grille and the front of the car was enmeshed with matted moths. Together with other grimy bits the car looked awful and needed a good cleanse. I wondered, as I drove back last night, whether some of those grimes were from bits and pieces of kangaroos and other road kills…
We finished the work just after 2pm. By the time we were seated at Madam K’s just after 2.30pm, I again felt zonked and thrashed. After lunch we did some shopping. While walking around at FHC Kiddo rang to say they were at Officeworks printing out her thesis. Pointy end… I asked if I could read her work. I just wanted to read and know what she had been working on in recent months. When we finally headed home for some much needed rest, we had the Netflix on and watched “India’s Daughter” – a documentary on the horrendous attack on the late Jyoti Singh in New Delhi on 16 December 2012. After that I said to Tress we needed to watch something less grave but after watching the news we ended up watching Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy in The Last King of Scotland – another movie on the ghastly depravity of man. It had been that kind of evening…
At St Alf’s on Sunday we heard Kara Martin from Ridley College speak on work being God’s gift to us. Reading Tim Keller’s book was prompted by Peter’s email a few weeks back, about the new sermon series on work. Kara’s talk was the first. I’d miss chunks of this series, as usual, but going by Kara’s talk and Tim Keller’s book I’m guessing the trajectory of this wouldn’t be too far off what’s starting to form in my head now. Putting it into practice would be the challenge.
LBJ followed me back to Canberra last night. We got in just before 8pm, having stopped at Murrumbateman for the little fellow to run around and do his thing while we still had daylight. After unpacking and settling LBJ down, Kiddo and Mic came back as I was on Skype with Tress. The next few weeks would be interesting and hopefully better than the past few weeks. Like other things and previous experiences, I’m again living through cycles of cold dark lonely days and warm, light and familial ones.
Hopefully things would pull more into focus and the listlessness and restlessness would ebb away.
Ante 