I’ve been saying to Tress, that I’m tired. I sense that many are, most of the time. There could be a range of reasons why I, like many, increasingly feel this way. I’m a bit schizophrenic about having a “smart” watch that tells me my sleep score. Often, it helps to know my body has had a good night’s sleep but sometimes, it adds to the stress of thinking I could do better,
Last Friday night, other than feeling tired, I just couldn’t think of going anywhere for our usual Friday night dinner. Our usual places have been pretty ordinary lately, and with prices going up substantially, I’m starting to think “why bother”. It can be fun, and even relaxing, to just chill out at home and cook something nice to finish the week.
So I picked up a nice piece of steak from Forest HIll Chase, along with a beautiful piece of fish for Tress, and some broccolini, salad kit and some ice cream and cheese. Tress toasted some walnuts to go with/add to the salad kit, I washed the broccolini and prepped it along with the steak and fish, and cooked it on a cast iron grill pan on the stove top. I had a glass of a decent red in hand as I did all that, and got Alexa to play some beautiful music. I had pieces from Verdi’s Nabucco, a few from Gilbert & Sullivan and let Alexa take me on detours after that.
The home cooked “Thank God It’s Friday” meal at home turned out very well. Sure I had to clean up after, but with a right mindset, that too became relaxing and enjoyable. It also cost us only a fraction of what that same meal would have cost us had we gone out. I think I also slept better that night…
On Saturday, we took the younger fellow for a walk, came home and pottered around with some cleaning and then headed out for some grocery shopping. We then headed to Brandon Park for a spot of Malaysian food for lunch, where we bumped into Jason and Mel and Raymond, one of their hometown buddies. We sat down and chatted over some very good Malaysian lunch (nasi lemak and pan-mee and a curry puff). Sammi, Jason and Mel’s daughter, will be heading to Hong Kong soon for work. It could be for a little while. Raymond had worked in Hong Kong for years so they lined up some folks to lend some support when Sammi and Brandon, her husband, head there in July.
After lunch, we came home and I swept up the leaves that had littered our lawns. Autumn is officially over, but our neighbour’s ornamental pears and our own Japonica don’t know that and continued to shed. We then walked the little fellow again before settling down for the night.
Tress and I have been watching the “Ten Pound Poms” series on Stan, so we continued with that. We then went to bed but about an hour and a half later, I woke up to catch the FA Cup Final. I had barely settled down on the couch when I saw the score is already 1-0 for Man City. They had scored one of the fastest goals in FA Cup Final history. Man Utd equalised via a penalty about half an hour later but City was just too good. The quality of players on their team are better and while United put up a decent fight, City prevailed in the end, coming up 2-1 in the end, to lift the second trophy of their treble chasing season (they’d won the League earlier last week). 24 years after United’s own historic treble, it looks like City would repeat the feat. The Champions League is the last hurdle but Inter Milan looks like they would be outclassed by this very good and classy City side that Guardiola has assembled.
After the final whistle, I went back to bed a little after 2am, and Sunday felt a bit groggy as a result. I was reminded on why I have stopped following English soccer. Other than AFL being just as exciting (if not more) the time difference just makes it weird for one to follow that code in that part of the world. It took a while on Sunday morning before I could settle down during the service at St Alf’s. Lauren Weatherlake delivered a very crisp and really good closing sermon on the Deuteronomy series and there was a “rotating lunch” after that so there was no morning tea. Tress and I had attended a “rotating dinner” several years ago (also at St Alf’s) and it was very enjoyable but as we’d be away next weekend, we thought we’d skip this lunch, which would have taken several hours.
We went to Box Hill and wandered around looking for a place to eat. Many places levy a “Sunday surcharge” these days, and we walked into easily half a dozen of these places. We walked straight out each time. Prices have already become expensive and these surcharge make it a very unpleasant experience. We eventually settled in “Malay Kitchen”, which had very good food and didn’t levy that surcharge. I have a feeling though, that this dreaded surcharge would soon become a norm and we’d have to either suck it up or just eat out less on Sundays. Or maybe go to a food court or something like that.
Later that arvo, Tress and I did the usual cook for our lunches, then ducked out to get a few bottles of red (the wine rack has looked empty for a while) and filled the Mazda with enough fuel to get us through the week, before we fill her up fully for that trip up north next weekend. We then came home, walked the boys, and then watched the rest of the Poms’ series. Theirs were stories of woes and strives of English migrants in 1950s and they were not unlike many of the stories we hear and lived as we, along with other migrants of the later waves, ride the waves of settling in a new country. I said to Tress it’s often not racism that’s the problem (unlike what many choose to think). It’s just a common human story. We tend to treat people who are not like us, differently. We have to consciously modify this behaviour and it becomes easier when we see this as a humanity issue, as opposed to a racial one.
Just before I started my run this morning, my “smart” watch told me my sleep score last night was “90”. I did feel more rested, Monday morning notwithstanding.