I’ve heard it said that autumn is the best time in Melbourne, and spring is the best time in Sydney. The converse is also true, and autumn is not so nice in Sydney whereas spring is quite poor in Melbourne. And so it was over the past few days. It was very warm on Thursday and pretty average on Friday. Then on Saturday, it rained, and hailstorm struck. On late Saturday arvo, when Tress and I had just come home at our driveway, the hailstorm greeted us as we sat it out in the car. It took only a few minutes, but they were dramatic minutes.

Throughout Saturday, with the rain coming down intermittently, there was little I could do. Tress had made a remarked that she’d like us to have some barbequed fish again and I had procrastinated with the cleaning of the weber for far too long. I decided to charge head-on, rain notwithstanding, to give the weber a scrub. So, after a home cooked “big breakfast” of bacon and eggs and tomatoes and mushrooms, the work started. I checked out the gas tube, gas head, and all the connections, with the regulation soapy water rub. No bubbles in sight, I fired it up to ensure the gas ring was still being fed the fuel. Then the scrubbing and cleaning began. An hour and a half later, the weber looked ready for use again. It was however, still belting down.

We went grocery shopping after that and when after waiting out the hail, we got in and I prepped Sunday’s cook, cooked the little black jedi’s dinners, and then prepped the barbie. Salmon fillets, asparagus and egg plant went on the weber and soon Tress and I were again reminded of the rewards of home cooked meals. For the second time that day, we enjoyed good food at a fraction of what it would have cost us had we eaten out.

That night, the original “Episode VI” of Star Wars was on TV and I feasted on Mark Hamill’s first poke towards Jedi folklore.

On Sunday, it was an “all age” service at St Alf’s and the children’s ministers and the kids delivered a great service. I was again reassured that in the midst of the anti-Christian sentiments in a “western liberal democracy” such as Australia at this time, there are pockets of faith communities such as St Alf’s which remain true to the scriptures and its ways. I hope those kids stay the course.

It continued to be a dirty day as the rain continued its intermittent downpours. Somehow, Tress and I managed to sneak in our chores in between downpours. She managed to give the little guy his walk and I managed to quickly mow the lawns and sweep the driveway before the serious rains came down.

I then did the week’s cook and shared some of its outcomes with Fay, a friend of ours from the dog park oval.  With time still on our hand before the arvo ended, I did some office work before the Sunday night home renovations reality TV show started.

The rains may have been unrelenting but the weekend has somehow been productive.