The evening news in recent days have been saying this winter has been colder. We’ve had a number of days which have been the “coldest day since”, and the comparisons have been with days that were 4-5 years ago.
So towards the end of last week, Tress and I looked at the weather forecast for Saturday and decided we’d look for a place with hugging warm food. Before that, we caught up with Jason and Mel on Friday night, at the Shangrila Inn joint in Brentford Square, and the food there – sodium content notwithstanding – hugged us well enough. We had food that probably reflected our mellowing tastes – braised tofu (“homemade”, with pork mince), steamed fish ( a very good patagonia toothfish) and a beans and eggplant medley that I totally mispronounced when I tried to say it in Cantonese, and embarased myself no end. All I could do was laugh at myself. Note to self to not try again… but the laughter helped. Laughter is a wonderful way to deal with one’s own little follies.
On Saturday, after sleeping and walking the little fellow before the forecast rains arrived, we headed to Mitcham and had bowls of steaming hot noodle soup. The “pan mee” was as close as could get to our hometown versions so it was very satisfying. After lunch, Tress joined in her ethereal fun while I headed to The Glenn for grocery shopping and just walking inside the mall as it was cold and wet outside. Tress was supposed to join me later but as millions of others thought the same thing, she could not find a parking space so I went home to join her instead. We decided to drive to Knox, walked a bit in the mall there, and grabbed a coffee.
Later that night, we came back and rested and treated ourselves to a couple of streaming fares. We had Denzel Washington’s old “The Great Debaters” (or something like that) that had the story of an African American uni known as Wiley College debate team surprising many other unis (colleges) in a trail of debating wins that ended with victory in Harvard. It was a saccharine tale but admirable all the same, and good stuff for a cold winter Saturday stay at home.
On Sunday at St Alf’s we had Ben Clements continue with the series on Isaiah and after that we headed to Donvale to our usual Sunday lunch spot, and continued our quests for warming bowls of soupy noodles. After that treat, we came back and I did the week’s cook while Tress continued to steal windows of sunshine to take the little fellow out. I did the same after I finished the cook and needed to get out for some fresh air. It was cold and gloomy so I was rugged up, including a very cosy beanie, that hid my headphones as I listened to some Paul Simon oldies while I walked the trails of Mahoneys Reserve. It was only a 30 minute walk but it was enough for me to feel better and refreshed.
Later that night, as we sat down to enjoy a feet-up time, Tress took a call from her dad. He sounded very bright and in good spirits. He rang to thank Tress for the flowers she bought for her mum’s birthday. He took some pictures to show her what was delivered and we had great laughs over his photography skills. It was really nice to hear him laughing unreservedly. It was infectious and it sent Tress and I into fits of laughter too. It was a wonderful way to celebrate her mum’s birthday, and deal with the drab, grey and wet winter that Melbourne has been dishing out. Laughter is really a wonderful medicine.
Ante 