Tress and I visited kiddo in Singapore for a week and returned to Melbourne last week. Days before the trip, I was in and out of thermal phobic behaviour – every time I see a photo (anywhere) of someone in the tropics, I wondered how hot it was and how I was going to cope or suffer.

In so many ways, we have become people of this land down under. Confronting the hot and humid tropics has become a challenge, especially in the middle of a cold spell in winter Melbourne. I have also recently taken to sweating profusely every time I eat spicy food. I wasn’t like this before and had only in recent months (maybe in the past year) become like that.

When in Singapore we caught up with Jacqueline, an old friend of Tress’s as well as Lisa (my cousin) and her husband (Sam) and their 2 kids. For the latter, I had arranged to meet them and they had offered to come and pick us up from where we were staying (at the Visitors’ Lodge at NUS). I had assumed we were going to their home. Instead they picked us up and we went and ate in a Japanese restaurant in a shopping centre. Later the next day, I said to Tress and kiddo taking someone out as a way to host them is an Asian thing (as in something done in Asia, and not meaning something done by Asians). In Australia, a host would have prepared something in his or her own home. That I had assumed we would go to their home was a reminder we have left that part of the world for a while now (nearly 10 years).

Both our hosts were very generous and gracious. Jacqueline and her husband (Heng Yee) took us to the Cantonese restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental. The siew yoke is something I would never forget. Light, melt-in-the-mouth fare with crispy but ever so light crackling that it stupidly evoked images of Milan Kundera’s work (Unbearable Lightness of Being). Almost sensuous siew yoke, yes. The drive through the city after dinner, the stop over at the Barrage and other little things all told us of the incredible courtesy and generosity shown to us.

 Ditto Sam and Lisa. After dinner in a very interesting Japanese place (they sell Japanese produce just outside the restaurant) we went to an ice cream place (delicious durian ice cream) and on the way home, I asked a favour which was granted without any hesitation. They stopped over at Kiddo’s place and allowed us to pick up her considerable bag/luggage to be taken back to where we stayed (which we then brought home to Melbourne with us). So it was full service on both occasions and difference of cultures notwithstanding, the hospitality was unreserved.

Other than catching up with these folks, we did some interesting things too. We visited the Jurong bird park, the night safari, a couple of museums (Asian Civilisation Museum and the NUS Museum) and walked through places like Boat Quay and Clarke Quay. Tress and I also spent a few hours strolling through Chinatown on our last day there and of course, fillers of the ubiquitous shopping and eating completed the experience.

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We got home last Thursday night, went back to work last Friday and after work, picked up the little furry ball. It was great to have him back. On Sat night we had a steamboat dinner at Gerry and Jess’s together with Jason and Mel and Tress and I had a go at making wontons to bring along. They were quite nice and we had a good time together with them – all with Singaporean ties. Jess is from Singapore, and Jason worked there for a couple of years.

Early on Sunday morning I woke up early to catch the Oranje match against the sorry Brazilians who tried but could not recover from the massive blow the Germans had given them. After church I suggested we went to Westfield for a “walkabout”. It was another cold day and walking through the shops sounded like a safe thing to do. I had half expected to look for a bathroom mat too but we ended up in Myer with me getting a new suit – the temptation of a good fitting suit and super cheap bargain was too much to resist and I succumbed to add to my modest wardrobe.

We got home after that and Tress and I took the little fellow out for a walk. It was still cold and had become grey and overcast so not long after we started Tress decided to return home. The little guy probably didn’t realise she had gone home till maybe 100 metres later and he then kept looking back, kept searching for his missing owner. My assurances that “mummy went home” only made him perk up more in ever more earnest search. He was so very endearing.

When we got home, we did some cooking – three days’ worth of soups. I had got the hang of making a good roasted pumpkin soup, and a leek and brocolli/potato soup recently. The former is our favourite and in winter it’s very satisfying for a very quick meal on weekdays. So I made that as well as a broth for some leftover wontons. I also fixed lunch and brekky for work. We went to bed early, and I got into the gym as usual this morning and caught the final on the little treadmill monitor. Goetze’s very good goal settled the game late on.

Two anticipated experiences have come and gone. Our trip to Singapore and the World Cup 2014, both great experiences, are now behind us. I now have to find something new to look forward to lest the withdrawal symptoms become too much to bear…

It was an appalling weekend, weather wise. Winter was well and truly in full force and so for the briefest hour or so on Saturday morning, I hurriedly did some tidying up on the gardens and lawns. Tress stayed inside and cleaned the house and later that morning we went to the house on Edinburgh Road to sort out the locks and keys.

Madam Kwong’s was closed and we were a bit lost as to where to get lunch but then settled on some less exciting fare at PPR, before proceeding with our more regular activities of laundry/dry cleaners’ and grocery shopping. We bumped into Gerry and Jesslyn, sat down and had coffee with them, before heading home. Before that however we did a small detour to head up a level at the shopping centre to check out the movies on offer.

We then went home and walked the little fellow. It was cold, windy and unpleasant but at least it was still dry (somehow) so we thought we’d better make the most of that, although I had given him a good run-around earlier, when I was working on the lawns. I had played tug-of-war with him with a rope and at one stage managed (as I often did) to toss the rope up to the roof. The poor fellow was whining away, wondering how come gravity didn’t do its usual trick to bring the rope back down. I had to lug the ladder out from the shed, get onto the roof and get the rope – all the while with him whining away. Anyway, Tress and I were well rugged up when we gave him that second treat and walked him.

We then went and watched Angelina Jolie’s Disney flick of “Maleficent”, a re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. Good turned bad did good turned good (Maleficent). Good did bad did bad turned bad (King Stefan) were the over-riding themes, overshadowing the character of Aurora the little princess. It was a kiddie flick but done just enough for some adults to also enjoy. At $10 a pop – being the movie club’s movie of the week – it was a good way to spend a couple of hours (all in) in a warm place and told a good yarn.

At home later that night, we teed up a yum-cha lunch with the Hii’s and Chew’s after church. It was good catching up again over lunch, followed again by coffee thereafter. Jason looked better, Mel was excited about starting a new role today with a restaurant chain (but still doing account stuff) but he said to me he was still affected by seeing images of Tham Fuan regularly, which riled him. I feel sorry for him. A couple of months ago when we were in Bright for a holiday, he said to us he had been physically sick that morning we were travelling, having just had a bad dream over the whole saga. So it looked like the end-flushing process is still being played out. Hopefully it would ebb soon.

I believe the noise around the action of the leadership of a local church over the past year and a half (approximately) has finally and completely abated. I think this is a good and necessary thing, especially for Jason and Mel. Perhaps one day there may be meaningful re-engagement of sorts which would allow some closure. At this point in time however, it is probably best for them to both walk away. This sounds unsatisfactory but given ongoing unwillingness to mutually each other’s’ needs (or requests/demands) this looks like it would not be resolved anytime soon and it’s best for parties involved to not wait before looking at how they could best serve others and themselves in the days ahead. So it’s good (such as it is) to not have anything written or said anymore, which have been written or said countless times before.

Tress and I were walking the little fellow last night when I said to her I thought I’d not do anything for Uncle Jin anymore. He still wants to draw up a simple document to acknowledge his interest in some bank accounts held in his children’s names. This looked too much like a means of circumventing welfare entitlement rules and I feel uncomfortable in what is too close to an aiding and abetting role. The trouble is I don’t know how to say this to him/them. Uncle Jin would have started another round of chemotherapy treatment yesterday and he’d be in poor state of health for the next week or so, most probably. I guess this can wait, so I’d convey my thoughts when he is in a better state, maybe several or a couple of weeks from now.

Tress and I have been attending a small group of our church, since February this year. So we’re into the fifth month of engaging this group. It is such a talented bunch of people. I keep telling Tress we are probably in a place where we can only soak up everything thrown in. Anything we put into the pot would be helpful only in the sense of providing some assurances that we are participating in some ways, without necessarily making a difference to the end product.

The leader and her husband are Americans. Susan works part time for a non-profit organisation (Good Shepherd) and is a community development researcher. She has mentioned doing work on parent engagement and her work has been relied upon by State government. Her husband Matthew is the country director of TEAR Australia. Another Susan (Sue) is the head of church relations for World Vision and her work in bringing Miroslav Volf to an Arrows Leadership conference in Sydney recently led me to reading Vold again. She is very articulate and very caring – she’s the first to invite us to her home when we first came to this church. Her colleague Bill is a policy researcher and his son is a medical doctor and missionary for CMS in Rwanda. Mike is also a doctor and her daughter is married to the youth pastor. David and Pam used to be missionaries in Tanzania and while David has returned to secular work in a steel fabrication and installation company Pam remains in ministry as the General Secretary (or something like that) in Missions Interlink, an Evangelical Alliance missions arm. She is also on the board of CMS. Maree is a retired Chaplain of a girls’ school in Brighton and her husband is a respected figure in the mission circle in the bible belt that is the eastern suburbs. Mark is a church board member and used to be in the mission field in Nepal and I think he’s a missionary kid too. Elena is a researcher or sorts in CBM. Finally there’s Tress and I… you get the picture… like I said, we only soak it all up.

This is also generally true in relation to the church as a whole. Talent abounds everywhere. I don’t fear wrong teaching prevailing because the orthodoxy is solid without being stodgy as there is strong and constant recognition that the engagement is beyond the intellectual or cerebral. The regular liturgy provides constant reinforcement of the basics of our faith, which is rich and comprehensive. The prayers and conversations demonstrate a rich engagement with both domestic and international current and pertinent issues. Yet at the same time the self-effacing, funny and lack of self-importance disarm and relaxes, which make it all so much easier to “soak it all up”.

The flip side of course, is I guess St Alf’s would have a lot to answer for. So many talents… what has it done with them?

We’ve been either very cheap or lazy. It could be both. This practice of walking into Coles or Safeway to pick up a cooked chook and some salad, has become an easy and cheap option for Tress and I, especially on Friday nights when we’re emitting low battery warning signals and don’t want to go out. The couch, the tv and the coffee table look perfectly acceptable, indeed quite inviting.

So last Friday we again picked up a cooked chook, except this time it was from a chook shop (as was last Friday). But we picked up the salad and some cheese from the supermarket and then headed home. It was good to just be home, put up our feet and look forward to the long weekend – the last one for a few months. There would be no more public holidays until Cup Day.

The next morning I woke early and went to a men’s breakfast meeting in church. Someone from Destiny Rescue spoke. DR rescues sex slaves from brothels and bars in Chiang Rai, Thailand and they do great work. I came home thinking if I should re-direct some giving to them instead. Later that morning the little fellow got his haircut, then we did some errands, including dropping into a local branch of our bank, and then we went into the city. We had wanted to get to the South Melbourne Market for lunch but while in the city we decided instead to go to this place known as the Little Ramen Bar. Gerry had raved about this place for a while now and he was right. That place had delicious ramen and we were very happy we went there. After lunch we headed to the market and spent a few hours there, picking up cheeses, coffee beans, a bottle of port, some deli stuff and ate some oyster au naturale. We got home late in the arvo, took the little fellow out for a walk, and then vegged out on the couch again, with a copy of “The Company You Keep” from AppleTV.

Earlier on that Sat afternoon I took a call from Gus, an ex-colleague and friend I had not heard from or met for a while. It was good of him to call and keep in touch and after chatting briefly we agreed to meet up again. He sent a text the next day and we tentatively teed up a catch up a couple of weeks from now.

We visited Uncle Jin at his home again on Sunday, and had dinner with him. He and Auntie Pin had asked me for help with their Wills and those Wills got signed on Sunday night, with Tress and David her cousin who’s a doctor in Geelong, as witnesses. Auntie Hooi and Uncle Marloney also had their Wills witnessed so four Wills got signed that night, before we started on a very nice steamboat dinner. Uncle Jin also wanted help with some bank account dealings he and Auntie Pin had. I feel uneasy with these as they are clearly designed to circumvent welfare entitlement rules. I didn’t mind helping them with their Wills but this other matter is a different kettle of fish. That Uncle Jin is now sick should not have any bearing on this. I had nevertheless prepared draft documents which needed some tidying up but at this moment, I am inclined to leave those documents without any further work. I wonder though, how Uncle Jin would feel about this.

We left Point Cook just after 9.30, and went to bed late after watching MasterChef on the AppleTV. Monday morning we slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, and then went out to look at some blender/soup makers at Myer in Eastland. There was nothing – Myer’s “pop-up” sale appeared half hearted, so we would probably wait till their stock take sale (proper sale) later. We then went for a late lunch at Studfield (Golden Chilli Nasi Kandar) before heading home for another quiet night before the working week starts again. This restaurant was next to the one we had intended to visit, but was closed on a Monday. It was a good outcome as the food was delicious and very satisfying. We had a brief chat with the owner too, which was nice. He had been running a little Indian restaurant in the city but decided to move his business out to the suburbs when his little baby boy arrived a couple of years earlier. Good for us too…

It’s now a little over 3 weeks before we visit Kiddo in Singapore. I’m just starting to get used to the crisp cool mornings of early winter in Melbourne so the thought of a 35deg day – highly humid one – scares me, but everything else about the visit made me look forward very keenly. Especially catching up with Kiddo again.

When Ruth and Jonathan were with us last weekend, they mentioned their parents, my Uncle Stephen and Auntie Paddy were in China and Hong Kong. They were in China to visit the old ancestral home in Hui Ann village in Fujian and in Hong Kong to visit Pai Li, a cousin who moved there with the family several months ago. Pai Li’s husband Shao Lead works for Intel and they’ve been expat-ting – previously in Costa Rica and now in Hong Kong.

A short while ago Uncle Stephen sent an email to a number of us, attaching some photos of the ancestral home. It was the home my late grandfather was born and grew up in. While in Malaysia, he asked the local church to use the building. That church has since moved to its own bigger and newer premises. 6 Chek took a photo of that building too, which is only about 100m along the same road. 6 Chek has accurately described the new place a pretty building.

I wonder if at different stages of our lives we are affected by different expectations and aspirations and therefore react to memories differently. Years ago I reflected more and looked back in the rear view mirror of life with more affection. I appreciated history more. I had a more acute sense of wanting to connect with the past. In as much as those photographs carried a lot of meaningful history, I couldn’t connect with the sentiments those photographs deserve. I could evoke little.

As a boy growing up in Klang we visited our late grandparents regularly – often at least once a week. I had made entries in this blog about the family altar practice my grandfather started and maintained and how that allowed so many of us to be well rooted in what I consider good things. Often in these family settings, I’d hear about this grand old house in Hui Ann, Fujian. Everyone who paid attention to what grandfather said and what grandmother griped about (he was always sending money for maintenance and up-keeping of that house) would not have missed the connections he, grandmother and some of the uncles and aunties had with that house. So those photographs should have evoked warmer and better affections. But they didn’t.

Maybe it is simply the elapsing of time. My grandfather died in 2002. That was 3 World Cups ago. I still remember a lot of the things he said. Things he said to me, things he said to the family, things he said to my late father and things he said to the public – in church, in community meetings, in weddings and in funerals. I remember his mini sermons he gave over the family altar. His prayers. His admonishments. His praises and encouragements. I still love him and I wish I can now have long conversations with him. In other words, my memory and affection for him remain vivid and strong. So I cannot account for the lack of connection I feel with those photographs.

The only reason I can fathom therefore, is I’m in or at a phase where the memory of past resonates less than expectation for the future. That is strange because it feels counter intuitive and inversed to how I (and perhaps others) generally expect our connection with the past to grow. I would have expected my sense of history – the desire to connect with my past – would grow as I become older. The opposite has proven to be truer. Maybe I’m hitching my outlook on something external to me…

As is often the case in recent months, Tress and I found ourselves depleted of all useful energy on Friday night. So we did a lazy dinner at home – picked up some cooked chicken from Safeway – and just stayed in front of the TV.

Uncle Jin had rang earlier so I returned his call and spoke about his will and stuff for a bit.

We then trailer-surfed on Apple TV for a bit and found this Afghan flick titled “Kite Runner”. It was cheap too – $0.99! So we sat down and enjoyed this movie and what a wonderful film it was. It was a tale of loyalty, fear, making right a wrong committed a long time ago and the courage the act of self-redemption took (and the rescue of a child). When we purchased the movie we thought we would struggle to keep awake (due to our tiredness entirely) but the story was such a compelling one we were wide awake right to the very end of the 2-hour “reel”.

On Saturday Tress went to get her hair cut while I prepped to do some gardening. I didn’t want to start the hedge trimmer and mower till at least 9.30 in the morning, to avoid becoming a pesky inconsiderate neighbour but when it was finally 9.30, the hedge trimmer wouldn’t cut. I had bent the blade a couple of months earlier and had sent it into a repair shop. Obviously the repair wasn’t effective. So I waited for Tress to get home and then we both took the trimmer back to the repairman. It’s only a little Ozito unit and I had spent $40 on the repair bill so I told the guy if it was going to cost more money I wouldn’t want it done. These machines – while not cheap – are not expensive enough to warrant large repair bills. There’s a high chance now I probably need to get a new hedge trimmer soon.

Anyway, we got home and I did some work manually, having already taken out some tools as well as the ladder. I spent a couple of hours trimming, mowing, weeding and cleaning while Tress got the laundry done, vacuumed the rooms and got the guest room ready for Ruth and Jonathan who were going to visit and stay the night.

After lunch at Penang Inn (Madam K was packed) we went to the estate agent (Noel Jones Blackburn) to sign some docs for them to manage the Blackburn South unit for us. We then did some grocery shopping and went home where I vacuumed the lounge and did some general cleaning while Tress walked the little fellow.

Just after 4, we drove to St Kilda Road and picked up Ruth and Jonathan. We then headed straight to Old Kingdom at Surrey Hills. After dinner we headed straight home and talked with them for a bit before retiring for the day.

Sunday all 4 of us went to church which happened to be an “All Age” service. Ruth knew Karen Winsemius’s (the children’s pastor) brother from Canberra so caught up with her for a bit.

We then took them to Madam K – it was just as packed as on Saturday but we weren’t in a hurry this time, and we had a hearty brekky too so we didn’t mind waiting for a table.

After lunch we headed for the Tulla and dropped Ruth and Jonathan off. It was really good catching up with them again.

We then headed back towards home and on the way, stopped by the library at Nunawading. Jonathan had told us how they used the library resources at Adelaide and we realised how we’ve neglected this wonderful resource. We had used the Mount Waverly library quite a bit when we first arrived but had not used the Whitehorse services. So we signed up at the Nunawading library, Tress got a few DVD’s and I got a Zadie Smith book. I also tracked down an aboriginal history/community development book (Richard Trudgen’s “Why Warriors Lie Down and Die”) that Bill Walker from the church home group had recommended. The book was in the Doncaster library but the librarian had kindly rang and asked that it be sent to Nunawading and I should be able to pick it up tonight if I wished.

We then went home, I did some cooking (pumpkin soup) for later in the week while Tress did some ironing as well as putting away the linen and stuff from the guest room. It had rained all day so the little fellow didn’t get his walk but he was very good all the same. Later, a friend dropped in with some “Zongzi”- rice dumpling for the dragon boat race festival. Tress and I shared one and it was delicious.

We settled down that night somewhat happy and satisfied – we’ve caught up with very dear cousins, the house was cleaned, we had quite a bit of food in the fridge and things have settled into a peaceful and hopeful rhythm. I only hope my dear friends and brother/sister – Jason and Mel – could also move ahead and settle down to such serenity.

We went out for dinner with Jason and Mel on Friday night, at the HD Grille just off Burwood Road only a few minutes from home. We took our time, chatted and generally had a good wind down. Tress and I continue to hope this couple turn away from what has been bothering them for over a year now, and head in a fresh and new direction which would do them good.

On Saturday we took the plunge – and bought that investment property we have been thinking about for a while now. We went to the inspection at 10.30, hung around for the auction at 11, and ended up as the highest bidder. Our bid was nevertheless under the reserve price so we were asked to stay behind to negotiate with the seller. We did, and ended up buying it. By the time we finished all the related administrative stuff it was nearly 1pm. We then went about with the rest of the weekend routine – not that buying a house was a weekend routine of course.

Our old friend Alex was throwing a dinner party and Tress had been asked to bring some fruits so we went to get some.

We got home, and while Tress did some housekeeping stuff at home, I took the little fellow for a walk.

There was a soccer match on the Nunawading City FC ground. I had that little fellow off lead as usual when we were on the “second pitch”.

First some background to my story. Mahoney’s reserve comprises some parkland which includes 3 pitches. The whole area is off lead for dogs.

The fenced cricket pitch directly in front of our home is the one most used by dog owners. In winter months it is used for soccer and very occasionally, footy. The next two are open fields (unfenced). There’s a fourth but it’s all fenced in high and the Nunawading City Football Club (soccer). The first of these two open fields is just next to the Nunawading City FC space.

Whenever we take him out while it is still light and conditions are dry enough, we take him first to the cricket pitch, then to these two open fields. He’d bounce and run around, chasing birds and sniffing at everything, sometimes playing with other dogs. So we generally leave him off leash.

On Sat he was off leash on the first of the two open fields when I was watching the football game being played. When I looked around after a few minutes, he was nowhere to be seen and to my horror when I saw him he was inside on the football ground where the match was under way. He was near the sideline. As I ran around the fence to get to him, he ran towards the middle of the ground, to the howls and jeers of the spectators (a couple of hundred people). One of those spectators said to me I better put him back on the leash, now that he has succeeded in stopping a game…so I leashed him up, ran him across the second field and only when we were safely on the third and last field did I unleashed him again…I don’t think he realised he had his 20 seconds of fame.

That night we went to Alex’s and caught up with some old friends again, which was very nice. We came home and I was a touch inebriated and so went to bed pretty soon but woke up early on Sunday morning for that Champions League final which was a very entertaining game. Real Madrid won after extra time. The very good game meant Dr Miriam Kammel’s message in church wasn’t given the attention it richly deserves, but I followed it anyway.

After another long walk with the little fellow on Sunday afternoon, we just rested for the rest of the weekend, getting ready for another week of the work rest routine. Life has taken on a steady tempo.

Tress and I had dinner at Enrik’s on Friday night. It was great to unwind in a nice joint without too much hassle – the place is a stone throw away from Blackburn Station and we just walked across after getting out of the city into Blackburn.

After breakfast in a place called Graceland Cafe in Doncaster, I was playing with some rough numbers in my head on Saturday morning, as Tress and I ambled up Jackson Street, a stroll away from where we are. The unit was well built and had a simple layout which we thought would suit our later years. My numbers game landed on a figure and I was disabused of my dream from the opening bid. We laughed it off but the pain which comes from crazy auctions is often difficult to shake off. We saw several other properties later that day but each property confirmed for me that the process of finding a little investment property remains a bit of a dream.

In between property hunting we had lunch at Madam K’s, bathed the Little Black Jedi and tidied up the front lawn a little bit. I then checked out some you tube concerts by Mark Seymour and later that evening we watched a movie at The Chase – Spiderman and his latest battles with cartoonish baddies like “Electro”, badly played by Jamie Fox. After that movie we came home to more superhero stuff, this time watching The Dark Night on tv.

First thing on Sunday morning, I checked out the football news. The Gunners won the FA Cup and Barcelona failed to beat Athletico Madrid, allowing the latter to win the La Liga for the first time in close to 20 years. Man City had won the English league on the last day of the season, battling it out with Liverpool but winning easily in the end. This weekend sees the pinnacle of European club football played out in Lisbon, between Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid – all Spanish final. It has been such an exciting season but Man Utd were just outside looking in, nursing the hurt of being out of Europe for the first time in decades and out of running from all competition weeks ago. For Man Utd, it’s an annus horribilis.

After church and lunch at Madam K’s we bought some food and headed for Uncle Jin’s. Even lighter traffic took us nearly 45 minutes to get there and since we were the only ones there, Uncle Jin and Auntie Pin discussed the matter of their wills with us quite freely. I took away some notes, made some suggestions and after a while, left for home. At home, we worked the gardens further for a bit, then Tress took the little furry black ball for a walk and I cooked some soup for later this week. We then skyped with Kiddo for a bit before getting ready for another week’s cycle of the usual grind.

When I started at my present job 2 years ago, there were 5 lawyers, including my boss. There are now 5 lawyers but only my boss and I remain. The other 3 are “new”.

The only female member of the team then left less than a year ago. We had a contractor fill the role for a few months and earlier this year, another senior lawyer took over the position. She didn’t last long either, as the constant tailspins made the work environment unsteady and often, slightly tumultuous. She left some 2 months ago.

We currently have another contractor, who is one of the most gentle and nicest female lawyers I have come across here in Melbourne.

Laura took a day off yesterday. She said she was going to Canberra. She must have assumed I knew who she was. I didn’t. I do now. Laura is Laura Smyth. When she started, I thought that name sounded familiar but did not investigate further. Laura Smyth was the ALP member for La Trobe. In the last election the Liberals won it back. She held it for a term. She was also prominent for a while, for backing Kevin Rudd to return as leader for the ALP, shortly before the last election.

I have for a long time now, suspected most if not all members of the legal department are on the left of politics. I suspect they are Labor voters, Greens even. One of them – a very likeable bloke towering well over six feet – may be the son of Peter Reith the former Liberal frontbencher and a stalwart of the Howard government but I can’t be sure he (the son) is of similar political persuasion. I understand his father is estranged from his mother and for all you know he might have chosen to cross the floor.

We rarely if ever, talk politics in office or when we’re out having lunch or coffee or drinks so I don’t know for sure and frankly, I care less about political persuasion than about principles, beliefs and practices. The former may well influence and affect the latter but there need not be a causal link between the two.

But there you go – in a legal department of 5, there are 2 connections to the politically prominent.

I have had a miserable cold from Tuesday last week but had soldiered on for the rest of the week, relying on “Ease a Cold” capsules. So when Friday came along and Tress came home from Point Cook saying the next day the troop planned to have lunch in Sunshine, I struggled to understand what was going on.

There were like 12, maybe 13 people so at least 3 cars were needed, to ferry the lunch party from Point Cook to Sunshine. For us out in the eastern suburbs, it was a 45 minute drive to Point Cook, followed by a further half an hour to Sunshine. For lunch. In a noisy, chaotic, sticky floored, Vietnamese yum cha place smack in the middle of an industrial hub centre surrounded by car and tyre workshops and the like. Wasn’t there an eatery in Point Cook?

And so I endured a miserable Friday night. Nursing a cold, watching Hawthorn struggling and then losing to the Sydney Swans, and wondering how I was going to go through Saturday putting up with an incomprehensible plan.

What price we pay to keep family harmony unscathed?

What price indeed, as it didn’t stop there. After lunch, the plan was for dinner, we would do a collective swerve of a bearing of approximately 30 degrees clockwise towards the city. The convoy would take off again. This time, from Point Cook to Docklands. To a little restaurant which must have struck a long term bargain to be supplied sugar at bargain basement price. Every dish was sweet, as in sugary sweet. That was a few nights ago when we had trudged there and I circled the Docklands precincts some 5 times before deciding to simply stay put and wait for someone to exit a spot which I could then take. On Saturday night the parking was much better but the dishes remained sweet. We drove from Point Cook to deathly Docklands for sweet dishes – 3 cars. At least we didn’t have to drive them back to Point Cook as the other 2 cars were sufficient.

Those annoying excursions aside, the family time was very good. I guess I have now grown a little older – old enough to be annoyed but to ignore or look beyond these little annoyances and focus instead on the positives of family times, which were very meaningful and fulfilling.

At least on Sunday we were spared the gallivanting across town escapades. We went to Point Cook after church and lunch and stayed there between 1.30 and 8pm, enjoying home cook dinner (Adam’s BKT) which was very good. On the way back from Point Cook last night Tress said she had a great and enjoyable week off. I’m thrilled for her because truth be told – I enjoyed the times I spent with the folks too…