It has been a really wet past few days. I’ve had to put on a cover of sorts on the MX5, when I leave it at the car park in the station, and also when I come home to leave it on the driveway overnight.
The very wet conditions continued through most of the weekend. Tress and I had spent Friday night in the same “Chinese tapas” place we were in the Friday before. We ate, drank and talked and just spent time unwinding. I had come home earlier in the arvo, to bring the little black jedi in to see the vet. We decided to try this vet out as the regular specialist LBJ’s been seeing has had her consultation hours changed and we could no longer bring him in after hours.
The new vet was able to see us close to 5pm on a Friday so we grabbed the chance with both hands. It took a bit of wind out of us to walk with the little guy through that consult (annual vaccine, blood test and long term skin condition, other than his blindness and dry eyes) and when it was over, we were just so down and coupled with a very long and arduous working week, we decided to go and unwind in that “Chinese tapas” place.
Saturday it was gloomy – dark clouds, rain, and we both had backaches and strains – we decided to just find an indoor place to walk. Window shopping felt like an obvious option. The Glen had recently been completed and we hadn’t been there for a while so we decided to check it out. It’s all been tarted up and many of the shops were still there, new looks aside. We had lunch there (a really good beef noodles) and then went home and generally just “did nothing” for that day. I guess that was good.
On Sunday St Alf’s had a thanksgiving day and I had prepared a short note to share but the streams of people walking up to the lectern/microphones made it feel like there was no need for me to say what I had prepared. It was always going to take more effort to speak up in St Alf’s anyway. I guess it is partly the cultural ridge to get over but more importantly, that place is so filled with smart, articulate folks all well trained for really good public speaking.
After the service there was the AGM and we stayed on. Peter shared about his peek into a possible bishop’s role in North Queensland. That didn’t work out so the congregation was very happy to continue to have him as the senior man around. The meeting spoke about plans for 2019 and as always, I asked what could I do.
I had finished Revelations 22 last Friday so I had to think about whether it was back to Genesis 1 again this morning and in the same vein, I had also asked what 2019 would hold for me. The circle of life really just cycle through.
After lunch at the usual place, we went home and it was a touch drier than the day before so I started working on the gardens. The plentiful rain meant the growth was abundant and work was much needed to keep things under control. The cooler conditions also meant work was more pleasant so we kept going till it was way past 5pm. Tress had started cooking and prepping the week’s food and by the time we got cleaned up and put our feet up, I was so ready to snooze, but the back was starting to complain.
The last week of dealing with the rains on the MX5, and the back strain I had in the last few days, made me escalate my thinking about how long I can keep enjoying this little nimble machine. I still love it but the impractical aspects of the car took centre role recently and made me wonder.
As I was waiting for my train and tram this morning, I noted the dark clouds still lingering. I wonder if they are symptomatic of what I think confronts Victoria. Labor and Daniel Andrews won the State election again and their unfriendliness (hatred?) to the church and Christianity is going to mean Christians and the Victorian Church will continue to be on an uphill trajectory. Maybe that is how God plans to bless the church in the coming days.
Ante 