A wonderful thing about living far from the equator, is the cycle of seasons. It has been gradually “lighter” (as in more light) at an earlier hour, in recent weeks. As I walk up Market Street from Clarendon to head into the office each morning, the skies looked brighter as we emerge out of the dark, gloomy wintery days. It’s officially spring now, and it felt warmer already.
It was a sunny and balmy Saturday. Tress and I however, had teed up an appointment to see our tax agent that morning so after a quick brekky we saw to our returns, with the able help of the agent. We then quickly did some grocery shopping, I had a quick haircut, and we then headed home to unload the shopping before heading out for a quick lunch. I had wanted to make the most of the sunny conditions to start our spring-cleaning process.
Around 1pm and back home, Tress started some vacuuming while I started to clean up the lawns and hedges. The winter weeds had gone troppo and while Tress and I (mainly her) have been plugging away at weeding, it was a losing battle. So the advent of spring is a signal to start a more wholesale approach. I trimmed the hedges, cut back some shrubs, snipped and slashed at others, and mowed the lawns in preparation for some feed and weed stuff for the following weeks.
After pulling out the blower to clean up the footpath, driveway and carport, I gave the deck a scrub. Pesky noisy miners have been crapping on it and the outdoor furniture, and the hosing and scrubbing cleaned up some of it but it still left stained patches, which would probably require more work like staining and oiling. The next few weeks should keep me busy.
The sunny conditions meant I was happy to be out all arvo and I only got back in after 5pm. It still gets dark by 6pm, so that gave me just enough time to clean up, settle down and put my feet up.
The night before, Tress and I caught up for dinner with Jason and Mel in an Indian restaurant near the station. We hadn’t had Indian for a long time so it was a delicious change. Early on Saturday morning, before waking up to attack the spring-cleaning day, we had received messages from Klang. YY, aka Stanley, was at the airport, heading to Taiwan for his university days. Earlier, a week or so before, Isaac had left for Hong Kong. They are both starting first year in uni and they sounded excited. I hope the next few years turn out to be exciting and memorable for them.
Kiddo too, has taken a turn in her journey and would see out this term in her current school. She has been offered a new position in another school nearby. A private Christian secondary school, it would be a relief for her – to get away from challenging socio economic environment that her present school had presented in the past 3 years. With Mic also only started a new role in a competitor “Big-4” firm, they both seem to be heading in the “right” directions.
Tress too, was recently seconded to a different department, to perform duties closer to what she had been doing for some years.
Spring is here; new paths have opened up for many around me. They sound exciting and it would be really interesting to see, in a few years’ time, how these new paths make a difference in the lives of those who mean most to me. The circle of life, like the cycle of seasons, continue to turn.
Ante 