The younger of Tress’ 2 younger brothers has 2 kids. The older one, “M”, was just a few months old when we left. The younger one (“Z”) was born when we were already here in Melbourne. So I didn’t know either of them very well. They certainly didn’t know me at all. “Kor Tiu” is what they call me. Until 2 weeks ago however, I think I am little more than just a name to them, “Kiddo’s dad” at best. In the 2 weeks we were in Klang however, we spent a lot of time with both of them. I played with both of them, especially “M”. When we arrived in Melbourne on Monday night and Tress called her dad in Klang, “M” picked up the phone. Know what happened after Tress and Kiddo spoke to “M”? “M” asked for me. Woo Hoo!!
Category: Family
Indian Barber in Klang
My younger sister Mei lives in Xuzhou, not far from Shanghai. Her husband works there as a designer of luxury yachts and other recreational vessels. They have a child, “Y”. Just a few days before we left, Mei and Y returned to Klang. They were to spend Chinese New Year there. We saw them the day after they arrived. I asked “Y” if he wanted to go and get a haircut as I was going to get one. I didn’t bribe or coerce him and I was certainly very benign – friendly uncle and all. So it was to my surprise that he agreed.
We went to a tiny barber shop near my mum’s house. There were 2 Indian barbers. One of them was free. He looked tentative and moved extremely slowly, demonstrating neither dexterity nor confidence. To my shame, I asked Y to go first. I thought since he was only 8, his social life would be a lot more limited compared to mine and any professional incompetence or negligence on the part of the barber would have limited adverse consequences. I on the other hand am a fully grown man who is starting to lose hair so every strand was precious commodity. I also had a few more social engagements before leaving Malaysia and I didn’t want them to think Melbourne has somehow damaged my hair.
So I cowardly observed how this sloth-like barber performed before I submitted myself to his snipping prowess, or lack thereof. To my partial and temporary relief, the other barber who looked like he had comparatively more panache, finished his job and was available to work on me. It was a temporary relief only because when I tried to tell him I only wanted a little bit taken off, I then realised he spoke little or no English. He was equally hopeless in Malay so the obvious thing for me to do (apart from getting up to leave to save my hair) was ask him if he came from India.
To coax my barber to communicate more I mentioned Sachin Tendulkar. That worked for Mr Sloth. Suddenly he worked on Y on a more urgent tempo and I think thanks to the little master (Tendulkar, not Sloth) Y’s haircut turned out better than it would otherwise have been. I continued throwing more names of the Indian cricket team, hoping that what worked for Y would also work for me. I mentioned Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh and the rest of the team. I knew those hours watching Australia v India would come in handy. I simply said “Ganguly Bengali?” and I would get enthusiastic nods and the snips would go faster and sharper. The next obvious one was “Harbhajan Punjab?” and it worked again. I then stabbed at Tendulkar and said “Tendulkar Bombay?” and both barbers stopped. A 2-minute deliberation between the 2 barbers ensued. I wasn’t given a clear answer as to Sachin’s hometown but I had injected some life into that place. I thought to keep up the tempo I would say something similar like “Laxman Kartaneka?” but decided I wasn’t going to create further deliberations to interrupt my haircut. The job was done – I had created more enthusiasm and they could relate to me so would be less likely to cause serious damage to my hair.
At long last, the job was finished. I got up, reached for my wallet and to my utter amazement, the cost of 2 haircuts was a grand total of RM14.00 – less than AUD5! I don’t think our shared enjoyment of cricket brought about any discounts. It was one of the joys of spending our holidays in Malaysia – cheap food and cheap haircuts.
Back Home
We arrived home last night. It’s great to be back where the air is fresher and the humidity is next to non-existent. The 21 deg temperature when we touched down immediately soothed a body which had started to come apart in my last 2 days in Klang. After driving to KL on Saturday 26/1 to pick up Tress’ mum, I felt ill and was really tired. I ploughed through the next 2 days, both of which were great in terms of catching up with old friends and relos.
May and Yang had returned to Klang a few days before and on Saturday night David treated us all to dinner at Bukit Tinggi. Outside the shop we bumped into Albert, a childhood friend. I had talked to Tress about seeing him so it was a great coincidence.
The next day in Klang church we caught up with various people, including Ms Ang, a pastor who had been in that church since I was a kid. Later that night we had yet another dinner with some relos (Uncle Mak and Wee Chen, U Seng and A Anne, Pak Soon and partner, and Tress’ parents) after which we went to my mum’s house to say our goodbyes.
We left Klang early Mon morning, and now, back in Melbourne, it’s back to the grind. It’s good to be home…
In Klang
We arrived early on Saturday morning. My brother David picked us up from the airport and after a breakfast of Indian roti’s we went to my mother’s house. Elysia was going to stay there while Tress and I would stay in her parents’ home. I needed to have internet access to do some work while here and Ben her brother has had wireless connection hooked up for a few years now.
After freshening up, we went to my grandmother’s for a tea ceremony for Joy and Andrew. It was very hot and humid and the couple of hours or so we slept in the plane didnt help much so I felt really tired, as did Tress and Elysia. Anyway, because it was a happy occasion, we felt very little of it and sailed through both that tea ceremony as well as the dinner later that night. It was great catching up with everyone, especially my mom and grandmother, who hasnt been well but looked alright.
It has continued to feel very hot and humid. I dont feel energetic at all and have only done minimal exercises since getting here.
Malaysia still feels like home of my past life. It’s great to be with family again and the cheap food and cheap street shopping have been a bonanza but everyday, I still think of our Melbourne home and longed for the more serene lifestyle and cleaner air. It is always a tricky balance, I guess.
On Friday we leave for Singapore for a few days.
Short Round Up
Work
We moved into the building next door today. I spent a couple of hours unpacking and settling down, and with a number of meetings from 12pm onwards, it was a pretty full-on day. Tomorrow promises to be more of the same.
Family
Kiddo started her YEP (“Year-End Program”) yesterday. She went to an IMAX show yesterday, stayed in school today and would be going to the zoo tomorrow. She’s enjoying it, I tihnk.
Theresa went to pick her car up from the panel beater this afternoon, having left work a bit earlier than usual. She dented the front fender a few weeks ago and I sent it in to a workshop in Springvale last Saturday. What a bomb for a little dent – $800!! And that was a lower quote too! It would have cost us maybe RM300 in Malaysia I think.
Church
Tress and I were at the church prayer meeting last night. I was up at 4am yesterday morning too, fulfilling my slot responsibility for a prayer for the Christmas outreach program this Saturday. So it was a long day for me, as it has been today as well.
Malaysia
Mum goes to Israel for a holiday in a few days. My sister goes to Shanghai a day before mum. My brother just came back from Israel (why is everyone going there these days) so the Malaysian gang has been travelling a bit.
The Indian issue continues to fester, with the AG charging 26 of the Hindraf activists with attempted murder. The bloody mindedness continues. The ongoing stupidity would continue the bleakness of Malaysian future. The AG showed up personally in court, apparently. He’d have something to say about racially and religion based public demonstration undermining public security but it is racism pure and simple. The Malays cant stand the Indians standing up for their rights so it’s time to show who’s boss. The Malaysian authority knows racism above all else.
Remembering My Father
This time last year, I was in a daze. Jean, my brother’s wife, had called a few hours ago, saying my dad had passed away. I had then made my way from travel agent to travel agent, trying to get air tickets for KL.
No one really knew the exact time my father died. It could have been the night of 29/11/2006, instead of the morning of 30/11/2006. When my mother found him on the floor early in the morning and cried for help from an uncle, it was obvious that he had died for several hours already.
Tom, an uncle (my father’s younger brother) was in Malaysia on holiday at that time. He has lived in Sydney for more than 20 years but regularly spent his holiday in Malaysia. He was there a few days before my father died, and saw my father in the hospital. My father looked well at that time, apparently. He was the one who responded to my mother and found him on the floor at home that morning.
Time heals all wounds. Some wounds take longer than others but over time, most wounds get healed. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to heal this one. While it no longer hurts like it did in the beginning, it hasn’t completely healed.
Cup Day 07
The office organised a late sweep for today’s “Race that stops a nation”. I plonked in 2 bets but the draw came out pretty hopeless. “Tungsten Strike” is poised to strike, and “Mahler” would not I think, ride to a pretty symphony. So my attention remains with work, our current boarders and Howard v Rudd.
Work is becoming very busy, even busier than before. I feel less in control now, with events hurled at me endlessly and the things I want to do and the manner I want to do them in are consistently shoved aside, to take care of urgent tasks. Still, I’m just glad to be at work whenever I can, including bits of it on Cup Day!
We have a couple of boarders with us now, migrants who arrived just last night. They are setting things up for the rest of the family. It makes the home more lively and we are a bit more conscious of cleanliness, appearance etc and that’s a good thing. Hopefully they would not take too long to settle down or feel more at ease in this new home and country of theirs.
Howard remains a catcher-upper to Rudd, but while he appears to be closing the gap, it looks too laboured and may just be too little too late. I’m following events closely, just to see how Nalliah goes…(see earlier entry on Prophecy…)
Smorgasboard Again
Work
Just a little over a year ago, after a miserable 2 months, I resigned from my role as a solicitor with the Melbourne Market Authority. I left that organisation at the end of October 06 and began a personal downward slide which lasted a few months. I think the wounds from that episode are still felt every now and then, which made me appreciate all the more, the fact that I am now engaged in a challenging and satisfying role. A few days ago a colleague from an associated department came around to tell us he has just resigned. He’s a really top bloke and our favourite guy in that department. He was going to do a course on primary school teaching after which he planned to get a job much closer to home (it is now a 1-hour drive in to work every day) so that he could spend more time with his 4 children.
This tells me either one of 2 things – that the culture here permits such great flexibility for career change without allowing money to get in the way, or that there has been issues which have caused him unhappiness here. The Asian heritage in me tells me there must be a degree of unhappiness in his relationship at work because the sacrifice in terms of income would be too great. There is no way a primary school teacher can earn anywhere near what his role here would have been paying him. I would not be surprised if the drop is somewhere in the 50% region. In addition, he’d have to fork out a considerable sum to enrol in a primary teaching course and be without income for the duration of that course (7 months). Financially, it represents such a high cost. Like I said, the Asian in me tells me there must therefore be something else, which is a strong push factor, which has contributed significantly to his decision. I hope he continues to be the happy, positive and chirpy person we have come to know.
Work pattern in Australia has surged ahead so that in many organisations, it is now commonplace for employees to be working late into the night. Just over 2 years ago when I was in a suburban legal firm, work is almost always done by 6 at the latest. Maybe that is the way suburban work operates. Stil, I had to brief barristers every now and then and invariably that involved trekking into the city. Even the city lawyers didnt want to stay very much later than say, 6.30. Now however, I find many colleagues still hanging in and plugging away way past 7.
I have been driving in to work since we moved into our new place, as I have had to drop kiddo off at school in the morning (we are now too far away from her school for her to walk). As I have become free from the constraints of public transport, I have worked later than I thought I would when I came to this country. What’s more, I find myself not alone! While the vast majority are well out of the office by 6.30, increasingly unhealthy number of staff work well into the night and it is not uncommon for the odd person on the odd occasion to work close to midnight. Sad, but true.
Like I said, I have been driving in to work recently. Since moving into the new place, our routine has changed somewhat. While I still get into the gym as usual, I now drive back home after that, and pick kiddo up for school. I drop her a bit before 8, which isnt ideal for her but under the circumstances, is the best arrangement available. She probably has to wait around 30 minutes before her mates arrive – I feel sorry for her but like I said, we really have no choice. As it is, by the time I pull into the parking space, it leaves me just enough time for the 10-15 minute walk in to office. A week into this new routine, I have become a little more comfortable with it though if given half a chance, I would revert to the old one in a flash. I really prefer coming in early – gives me a certain comfort to be the in early, making sure there are no surprises for the day!!
Fun at Work
We recently had an Amazing Race style of event for the company. Over 3 separate days, up to 20 teams (for each day) went out for half a day and covered the Mebourne CBD completing various tasks and challenges. My team had someone from Project Management, a couple of guys from IT and well, me. We left Fawkner Park on Commercial Road around 1pm, and tracked around the CBD, solving puzzles and completing tasks and challenges. It was a great way to interact with colleagues we would otherwise never have a chance to even talk to. The appointed finishing time was 5pm when we were supposed to meet at a Beer Cafe just next to the office building. My team was an all-male fit and competitive outfit so we ran right through the entire race and finished just before 4pm, a record time! I must say I struggled to keep up (and I thought my fitness level was alright!) with my team members. A little trophy now sits on a filing cabinet at the Legal Department… It was fun but I was zonked that night – slept like a baby!
Malaysia
Last Saturday, I had lunch with an old friend. He is a family friend. When he first went to uni in Sydney, he stayed with me for a little while. I cannot remember how we hooked up but with a family friend that could have been through any one of our many uncles.
Anyway, the last time I met him was more than 15 years ago. About a week ago he bumped into Theresa in the train while getting in to the city. It was a strange and unlikely coincidence as Theresa didnt normally take the train on that line or at that time. Anyway, Theresa gave him my contact details, he called and we caught up over the weekend.
He had been a partner in one of the big 4 accounting firms, in the KL office. He’s younger than me so you could say he was young. A young professional who has made it as a partner in a big 4 accounting firm has a lot going for him. His wife worked as an corporate deal/transaction analyst a tycoon who used to own a bank. When he sold the bank he continued to retain her on his personal payroll, to work on his personal deals and businesses. So she must have been a pretty good talent too. Yet, they have both decided to come and live in Melbourne. He sounded a little down in having to adjust to work at a more junior level. He’s still with the same big 4 firm, but not at the level he was in KL. He and his wife have both given up comfortable professional lives in exchange for personal struggles in many ways, in a new homeland. I do not envy his journey ahead, for the next say, 12-18 months. It is going to take a lot of adjustments. It is a journey Theresa and I have taken and continue to take. It is, unfortunately (or should it be fortunately) a journey many Malaysians have taken and would continue to take.
Just like many before my friend, he too relayed incidents of habitual corrupt practices, economic mismanagement, erosion of law and order and a total lack of leadership or accountability on the part of the Prime Minister. Earlier suggestions that the PM was merely adopting an “elegant silence” were at best, to borrow Alan Greenspan’s famous line, “irrational exuberance” on the part of those who attempted to defend the PM. The PM was, has always been and remains a cause for concern and a major reason for Malaysia’s ills. At the beginning of his watch, Malaysia required urgent attention to cure the ills which Mahathir had inflicted. Instead, he simply made matters worse but creating an envrionment for more of the same, except this updated version of corruption, racism and mismanagement has become an “open source” system of sorts. What I mean is that while Mahathir’s reign heralded big-time corruption by individuals based which created total mismanagement, it was at least confined to a select few. The seriously corrupt and rich were always aligned to some politicians who were in turn aligned to Mahathir or Daim or while it lasted, Anwar. Under Badawi’s watch, no such order remained. It became a free for all, because Mahathir’s successor was asleep for the most part. The system or culture created by Mahathir was at least under control in that Mahathir was a strongman who made sure the order of things remained. With Badawi, the corruption and mismanagement remained but the order was gone. With the strongman gone, it’s the proverbial foot soldiers who have all swarmed in to place their grubby hands on the soiled and shrinking cake. Pretenders like Khairy and the so-called 4th floor boys think they have a good chance to take over but every single person I have spoken to think poorly of him and his mob so things dont look too flash for them.
Meanwhile, i think Malaysia would simply continue to suffer an exodus of the middle class, especially the skilled professionals. Like my old familyi friend said. the very rich would stay because they have too much at stake and they could always buy their way out of trouble should serious trouble come about. The poor or not-so rich and unskilled would have no choice so they would remain and cop whatever comes. All the others who could leave the country, mainly would if they have not already.
Family
It’s been almost 2 weeks since we moved into our new place. I’m at the tale end of a lingering cough, as is kiddo. Theresa is tired, and I’m thinking we could all use a break. On the first Saturday after moving in, after the routine cleaning and the lunch with the friend from the big 4 accounting firm and cooking it was almost 5. The cooking included boiling 80 eggs and dyeing them red (with helpful tips from a cyber friend as well as a church member), to celebrate a church member’s 80th birthday. It was something fun to do – to celebrate an anglo-saxon Aussie’s birthday by a traditional Malaysian Chinese way. I think the birthday boy appreciated it, which was good since we did it because we appreciated everything he has done for the church for so long. Incidentally, his initials are “JC” so he must have thought he has a lot to live up to. Kiddo had a church thing at 5 so after cooking we sent her there, came back and did some cooking (completed the egg dyeing) and by the time we were almost done, it was time to pick her up from church.
On the way home, we picked up a dvd and light and fun as it was, I could barely keep my eyes open as kiddo stayed glue. Theresa of course, was long gone way before me. We hit the sack relatively early, bearing in mind we were to adjust the clock to make room for daylight savings (we lose an hour). I pushed the clocks an hour ahead, went to bed and woke up feeling like I needed more sleep but couldnt get any more.
Aussie Pollies
Mr Rudd was at it again – doing his chameleon thing. For such a long time, he criticised John Howard for not signing the Kyoto Accord on greenhouse emission standards. John Howard’s stance of course, was that Kyoto has a huge gaping hole in the form of the absence of the US and China, 2 of the largest polluters. Kyoto also meant new costs to doing business so the Aussie economy would suffer. Why pay for something when others wont pay their shares and we wont get what we pay for? As unpalatable and unpopular as that sounds, I think John Howard is right not to go with Kyoto without US and China participation. I think it is classic Kevin Rudd playing to the gallery by suggesting he would adopt Kyoto. He has said it all along, including at the televised leaders’ debate.
Perhaps it is because the general public is now seeing the ineffectiveness of Kyoto unless the big 2 came along. Whatever the reason, when Peter Garett (the retired rock star of the Midnight Oil fame) the shadow environment minister said the Labour government would sign Kyoto irrespective of US and China participation, it hit a wrong note. Kevin Rudd then did to Peter Garett what he did to Rob McClelland, ie he gagged his team for saying something he himself has been saying all along. I dont know what this says.
With Rob McClelland it was the same thing. Kevin Rudd has been saying, for a very long time now, that he was against capital punishment wherever it took place. He said he condemns it, even if that meant criticizing other countries. Recently the country remembered of the Bali bombing of 2002. While Australians have generally condemned capital punishment especially when one of our own was at the receiving end, there was only muted objections to the execution of the Bali bombing perpetrators. It is understandable. Over 80 Australians were violently murdered. While inconsistent, the muted objection to the bombers’ execution was totally understandable. So no Aussie pollies voiced objections against capital punishment, certainly not during the anniversary of the murder of 80 Australians. Well one honest polly did – Rob McClelland the shadow foreign minister. Kevin Rudd however, decided the gallery must take priority so he went against his shadow foreign minister and gagged Rob, never mind that Rob was only saying what Kevin has said all along. Add that to the dossier of Kevin Rudd’s hypocritical acts, and you’d get a picture of someone you cant really trust, someone who tells you what you want to hear, not what he actually believes in and would do.
I’m afraid if the polls are accurate and Kevin Rudd becomes PM, we’d have a smooth media presenter with a chaotic and out-of-tune cabinet lead by a smooth but not to be trusted operator. Dont tell me we are going to get a Malaysian-style cabinet, please…
Moving In
We moved into Vicki Street on Saturday 20/10/07. I had taken leave from work the day before. There were myriads of things to do. I had also left work early on Thursday, to collect the keys from the real estate agent. That happened around 4pm and almost immediately after that, I went back to our old place at Hotham Retreat, picked up the vacuum cleaner and some scrubs and cleansers, and headed for a cleaning mission. I had no idea how to properly clean a timber floor. I vacuumed cleaned it at the first instance, and when it looked clean enough, proceeded with the other parts of the house. It didn’t help that a minor gout attack has been niggling all week. The attack lingered right through up until Monday morning, when to shake off the tiredness and to some extent the lethargy of the packing, moving, unpacking, sorting and yet more cleaning and tidying, I headed for the gym to do a quick 30 minute run and some stretching.
Early Friday morning (on the eve of the move), I did some minor touch ups in Hotham. I was up at the usual time, and after a quick coffee and quiet time, I started by fixing up the smoke alarm. I then loaded boxes into the station wagon we had loaned from A Hooi the night before (along with some tools). By about 8am, kiddo was getting ready for school and after fixing her a skimpy brekky with what’s left in the pantry (some eggs and milo), I took her to school. I had to drive very slowly as the completely overflowing wagon was feeling like a wagon from some black and white western. I don’t know how many horsepower was on tap for a Commodore wagon but I was probably using just half of a very frustrated horse. The hurrying parents all sending their kids to school must have sworn at me holding up traffic as I practically tip toed to kiddo’s school. It was just a blur after that – unloading boxes and touching up everything. I stopped for a quick coffee towards 11, and headed back to Hotham to dismantle the beds. In between dismantling beds, I loaded yet more boxes and waited for the fridge guys to call to let me know when they were going to deliver the new fridge we had bought to replace the much smaller older one.
That happened close to 1pm, after which I cooked the penultimate packet of instant noodle sitting in the Hotham pantry. Seldom does a packet of instant noodle feel so effective and satisfying.
It was back to the bed dismantling after that and as I’ve had practice with this task before, it was a whole lot quicker. The house looked in real shambles after that so I had to quickly rearrange the mattresses with the doona and pillows in a condition fit for one last night’s shut eye in Hotham. The bed ends and bases lay in different parts of the house and I then had to secure some bolts in the washing machine to get it ready for the move. That turned out to be a 2 person job as someone had to pull the drum of the washer forward as the bolt is secured at the back, so I went back to loading boxes.
I picked kiddo up from school a bit after 3pm, and we went straight to Vicki again to unload more stuff. It was great to have kiddo with me – always better to work with someone else instead of alone. By about 5.30pm, I was almost flat as a Siberian battery so we headed back to Hotham. Kiddo and I sat down to a drink and watched “Deal of No Deal” for a bit before I hit the showers. Theresa got home a bit after that and we took more stuff to the house and went for dinner at Sofia’s – quick, cheap and satisfying…
After dinner we had wanted to go to church for a special session but I was very tired and there was more stuff to do so we went to the Vicki street house for a while before heading back to Hotham to spend our last night there.
Saturday was again a blur – Theresa was up very early, I slept in a little later than her but was still at the kitchen sipping coffee by 6.30. We loaded the cars with more stuff then waited around for the removalist to show up. At 8.30 I rang them and they said they would be there within the hour so Theresa and kiddo went off first. They dropped my dry cleaning off before heading for Vicki Street. I waited around, and loaded yet more stuff into the wagon. They showed up at 9.30 and for the next few hours, heaved, lifted and panted. The piano was of considerable challenge.
It was the same removalist we had used when we moved into Hotham and he had used a truck with a hydraulic lift before (when we did not have a piano) but this time he showed up with a larger truck but without that hydraulic lift (when we had a piano). So between the 2 of them and I we maneuvered and exerted with all our strength to get that piano onto that truck. Several times I thought my heart was going to fall out, as the piano looked like it was going to topple over. I should have trusted his expertise though as he did the job alright, even when we had to unload the piano into the study at Vicki Street. This morning that piano underwent a tuning process and hopefully kiddo would be happier with it.
When the removalist had finished and has been paid, we tidied up a little (the rags and old blankets left a lot of fluff) and grabbed a quick lunch before heading back for more work. This time I had to assemble the beds back in order. Then it was to put the PC back into action, after being decommissioned since Friday afternoon. The cables, monitor, printer, webcam, microphones, speakers, modem, telephone, all had to be reconnected. When that was done and the PC turned back on ok with the broadband reconnected, I had to then move on to the audio visual stuff. When that was done, A Anne telephoned saying she wanted to drop in to let us have a wedding invitation. Matt was getting married to Aida on the 9th Nov at St Patrick Cathedral in East Melbourne. They came by, sat around and chatted for a short while. I was conscious of the fact that I was sweaty and probably didn’t smell too well but what the heck.
By around 7pm we hit the wall again and so freshened up and went to “Proud Peacock” a restaurant in Glen Waverley we have come to love recently, for a quick meal. We then went to A Hooi’s to return the wagon. A Anne was there so we stayed and chatted for a while. It was almost midnight when we left. I woke up on Sunday morning with a very heavy head and a swollen middle toe. It was going to be a hot day – it turned out to be the hottest October 21st for the past 80 years – with a forecast maximum of 33 deg. By around 8.30 am as I was moving some empty boxes into the shed at the back yard, it had already hit 25 deg. We all decked out in short sleeve cottons to head to church and when I got there and was asked to help with the communion, I could feel both my toe and my head sweltering. Church turned out to be pretty good. The youth – Ray and Eugene – did a fantastic worship session and David Searle finished off the last of his 4-part series on the 7 churches of revelations, with a bang. By the time we left church close to 1pm, my head was pounding and I told Theresa I couldn’t head to Hotham for the vacuuming, as originally planned. We went home, I cooled down and rested for a bit and allowed the headache to clear before heading out to Hotham again, just after 3pm.
We spent a couple of hours there vacuuming, and tidying and finished just before 5pm. We headed back to Vicki, I started on dinner, did some ironing and then ate the first home cooked meal as a family, in the new home. We then made a virginal go at the dishwasher and settled down to watch the John Howard and Kevin Rudd debate. Or rather, I did. Theresa went to dreamland within 5 minutes of the debate and kiddo was in the study, finishing off her homework. I packed lunch, got my clothes and gym back ready for the morning and crawled into bed just after 10pm, probably falling asleep within 10 minutes. It has been a long weekend but hopefully, the start to a phase where we can bless others through our new home.
Final Weekend in Old House
The company launched a product a few weeks back and last Friday, a party was held to celebrate that launch. I stayed back longer than planned and actually had more to drink than I would have liked.
Saturday morning therefore was a bit sore but after a lot of water and some coffee, we started work on our packing and other preparatory stuff for the move in a few days. We continued to pack the odd items of books, CD’s, pictures and other stuff like that. Then the guy who bought our fridge (we decided to get one with a larger capacity) decided to pick it up that morning itself. I had agreed with him that he would call a few days ahead before picking it up but it seemed the right time notwithstanding the late notice and also notwithstanding that we would be without a fridge for 5 days. So we cleared the fridge, starting with the notices and magnets on the outside.
We went out to do a final pre-settlement inspection of the new property, came back to attend to the guy who picked up the fridge, and took Kiddo out for some lunch before dropping her off to tuition. We then went to shop for a replacement fridge before picking Kiddo up from her class and going home to cook some instant noodles for our own lunch. Kiddo wanted to do a video presentation for a church friend’s birthday party so we busied ourselves with that and helped her out. We tried to figure out how to transfer a presentation mounted on Microsoft’s window movie maker to a DVD which can then be played back on a dvd player hooked to a television. It didn’t work and she had to settle for a USB mounted format, to be played on a PC.
When she was ready, we sent her to the birthday party and then came back to pack some more. I dismantled the DVD player cabling, the DVD recorder, the play station stuff and all the speaker units from around the lounge area. The area behind the TV was dusty and that was when I picked up a nasty eye-irritation which stayed on well into Monday. My eye became steadily more red and teary, and by Sunday morning had taken on a bit of a swell as well. Anyway, all the AV stuff were packed away and the TV area now looks so bare. The whole house is actually starting to look bare – fridge gone as well. In their places, though not directly, are boxes stacked ini a couple of corners. I hope they find their way to the new home safe and sound, in a few days’ time.
It was pretty late at night when Theresa and I decided to cook and eat some of the thawed food which we had removed from the fridge earlier in the day. We made some pork ball soup and microwaved a large piece of salmon. After dinner and washing up, we finally got a chance to put our feet up but couldn’t go to sleep as we had to pick kiddo from that party. That only happened around 11.30pm. My eye had also deteriorated and I was beginning to think if it might be a spot of conjunctivitis.
Church the next morning was a bit tricky as I woke up with a very red and swollen right eye. It didn’t hurt but it was very just a slit and it was constantly welling up with tears. The fact that it didn’t hurt gave me a lot of comfort as conjunctivitis would have been painful. All of the external signs suggested it was – it could possibly be a case of God protecting me and the family by sparing the pain and minimising the contagion effect.
Ante 