Tomorrow will be the last day for the outgoing CFO/Deputy CEO of my employer. He interviewed me (second interview) for the job, just under 3 years ago. His EA was just speaking with us earlier this arvo. She is one of the nicer EA’s around so we appreciated her coming down to have a chat with us. She was just going into the office of the strategy head in the room next door to us, to look at what he’s got left behind in the office, having suddenly been made redundant yesterday.

With all the goings and the talks about the future of the legal team being anything but positive, the pervasive sentiments of the team remain that of whistling past the graveyard.

As there is not much going on for now, I’d spent the last hour or so cleaning up my desk. Threw out old conference materials, team building stuff, this and that – it would speed up an exit process if it comes down to that. The lawyers in the team have also chatted about scanning our CPD conferences and storing them on the Google drive, in case we get audited by the legal services board. So the mood has been that sort.

I think I’d leave even earlier today – 4pm maybe…

As the train pulled away from Richmond station this morning, I noticed the sky colors. They were hues of red, pink.

When I got off at my stop, I turned around to see if they were still there. They were. Like so:

 

I put the pic on FB and got a comment to say “wine and roses”

If only the days of 2015 will be like so…

I left the office early again last Friday, to pick up the car which I had dropped off for service in the morning. We had a barbie dinner at home, and pretty much stayed in the whole night. The next day we took the train into the city and went to the market in South Melbourne. We did the usual thing – wandered around, ate some oysters a la natural, bought some cheeses, wines, fruits etc. We bumped into Uncle Marloney and Auntie Hooi there too. Later we went to Myer and I picked up a pair of jeans and a suit. We then headed home, walked the jedi and settled down to play cards for the entire night.

Yesterday arvo after church and lunch at Madam K, we spent a bit of time walking the little jedi again. It was however a beautifully sunny and cool afternoon and the walk was terrific. We came home and played cards some more. Kiddo had also given me some document to be scanned in the office. There were far too many pages to be done on our home scanner. As I did them this morning, I read a few pieces and rediscovered how well Kiddo did in school. It’s a reminder to me how much she has grown and how smart she has become. It is a message to me: I need to listen to her more and more because there is so much I can learn from her. I’m so proud of her.

As I started the week this morning and with my boss returning after his summer holidays, the weekly Monday morning team meeting served only to confirm the uncertainty facing yours truly and other members of the legal team. On the bright side (yes, trying) it may be a case of being presented with a blank canvass for me/us to paint the picture I/we want. Ah well, one can only try…

I was washing up my salad container at work and having a chat to my colleague. We were talking about barbies. He got himself a weber barbie – something I have been singing the praises for. He also got the stand, a trivet, and some roasting trays. He’s fully accessorized his weber.

It occurred to me that blokey aussie male has just acted on the advice of a chinaman migrant on the matter that is of national significance viz., the BBQ. Strange day.

I might celebrate Australia Day with a bit more gusto this year.

We went away to the coasts from 2-9 Jan. Port Albert is a bit at the top of Wilson’s Prom, almost at the start of the 99 mile beach. Tress and I had passed there a few years ago, having originally booked to stay a night. We decided against staying and drove home instead, en route from a NSW/Vic coast road trip back from Canberra. Somehow we decided to go there again and the quiet, almost deserted, atmosphere was quite fun and of course, relaxing. We were there for 3 nights, came back home for a night and then pushed off in the opposite direction, and headed to Portland. Portland is much bigger than PA but just as relaxing and fun. I did however, come back with dozens of insect bites which remain red and itchy.

This morning I came into the office to be greeted with emails from the big boss with a departmental meeting invite. She would be leaving by Easter. At mid day, an email from the new CEO announced further but not unexpected changes. The rumour mills have made their rounds and that email merely confirmed what we have heard for a few weeks now. What remains shrouded for now, is the fate of the those lower down the chains, such as yours truly.

Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been around these traps before, or maybe we’ve mentioned and laughed over this so often now, but somehow the specter of  being made redundant as I await my 50th birthday, has been less jolting than it should have been. I must admit the thought (and fear) has been lingering in my head – never leaving for more than a couple of hours – but it hasn’t gotten hold of me as much as the thought of being unemployed used to. I kind of hope this is proof that I do learn and I am now trusting God more but the test is yet to come though. If the decision is made and delivered and it is not the outcome I had wanted, I wonder how I would react. God provides, yes. I just hope he would do so by allowing me to either keep my job, or find a new one soon.

Happy 2015? I guess…

In so many ways this has been a difficult year. Not personally but in terms of events around us, both near and far.

When surrounded by difficult circumstances, it is easier to harbour doubt and despair. So the word of CS Lewis (as cited by Alistair McGrath) again comes to mind:

“Be not deceived, Wormwood, our cause is never more in jeopardy than when a human, no longer desiring but still intending to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe in which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

Maybe reading John Bunyan’s classic would be a good way to start the year. Perhaps it is time to revisit the idea of us all being pilgrims.

Christmas Eve

I knocked off work early. Really early. Like 11.00am early. I guess that’s reflective of the mood of the workplace – as in no idea what would happen in 2015 – especially for the legal team.

I got home and after lunch with kiddo, went home and made a seafood salad (smoked trout and prawns) for the dinner at Hipo’s that night. Jason and family (together with Brendon, Sammi’s BF), Tim and Kenji and a few of the Hipo’s church friends were there. We left around 10pm and headed to church for the Christmas Eve service.

The church was jam packed and though we arrived a couple of minutes before the start time of 10.30pm, we could only find seats at the foyer. The focus on readings from the scriptures and proper carols was terrific. It ended just after modnoght

Christmas Day

We were at church again for the morning service and Peter was surprised to see us again. He had administered the communion at the foyer for the Eve service and so saw us there.

After church we came home and prepared for dinner. We had a quick lunch too…

For dinner we had Jason and family over, as well Steven and family. The number (14) was just right for a little house like ours and it was a good night of just catching up with those folks. We finished up just before midnight.

Boxing Day

We trotted off to MCG, leaving for Blackburn Station on 9.15am. The trains were packed, and early reports of a big crowd for the test are proving accurate. We got to the G just after 10, and settled down to a great day of cricket, in a wonderful atmosphere. Kiddo and Tress were with me for the first time and I recalled the first Boxing Day test I attended way back in 2005 when South Africa visited and I was at the G by myself, with Tress and Kiddo in Malaysia.

At the lunch break Kiddo led us to a cafe just on Wellington Road.

To my surprise, my ladies decided to stay for the entire day and we only left just before 6pm. For dinner we had leftovers from the Christmas Day dinner.

27/12

I made another seafood salad and we went to the Tim Neville arboretum to catch up with old uni friends. Ing Tung and Chin Moi had worked hard organising the whole thing and it was wonderful catching up with them and William and Jackie (visiting from Malaysia) with their 2 daughters. The Ruhls, Chews and Chui Boon and Patsie were also there (hubby too for a short while). The conversations were good, the food just as good and it was a great afternoon.

28/12

After church and lunch at a different joint (Madam K was closed) we tried shopping at Doncaster Westfield but couldn’t get a car park so we headed to Forest Hill Chase instead. Kiddo picked up some clothes, I bagged a pair of shoes for work, and got some other stuff.

As I typed this, my mind is working hard to focus on our getaway this weekend to Port Albert and thereafter to Portland. I’m trying not to think about what 2015 would bring work wise. Bigger events have taken place. Another plane had gone missing (Air Asia flight from Surabaya to Singapore) which really made me think we did the right thing to just travel locally this summer. 2014 has been so traumatic for so many. I have sort of withdrawn and tried not to think too much about anything else other than warm positive experiences I can avail myself to. Maybe that’s a coping mechanism. Maybe it it weary to keep reading and viewing bad stuff happening all around, almost on a daily basis. MH 370 and 17, Lindt Cafe siege, Phillip Hughes, Syria, killings in Afghanistan, Taliban killings of children in Peshawar, Russians muscling, North Korean cyber attacking the US, Americans wilting under Obama, the Coalition government fumbling through a mixed up upper house and screwing the budget in the process, relationships remaining unmended (Jason/Tham Fuan), my employer being taken over, uncle fought cancer, father in law health becoming fragile, the list goes on…

There’re lots of positives too. Kiddo’s Singapore adventure is complete, Tress and I have settled into St Alf’s, Ruth and Jon are expecting again and moving to Melbourne, making new friends … many more but I need to go eat lunch now. 🙂

I’m just grateful I can still come to work every day, read the Scriptures every day and attend church every week, and stay healthy and enjoy Tress’ wonderful company constantly. The positives have enveloped me well and I can go eat my lunch feeling safe and warm inside…

 

Encore and farewell. That was Saturday arvo when we went to the theatre for the Les Miserables musical for a second time for Tress and I, but the first for Kiddo. We visited her in Singapore in July this year and worked out that she would not be back in time so the both of us decided to go ourselves. We did this back in September. A few weeks ago however, we worked out she could come back in time for the final day’s performance – last Sat. So we went and gorged ourselves to the sumptuous delivery.

After the performance we headed to a really nice restaurant at the Movida Aqui. Kiddo had bought a gift for my birthday and we had a wonderful meal there, leaving only after more than 2 hours there.

Yesterday after church and Madam K’s we did some grocery shopping, went to a phone shop to get a SIM card changed for Tress’ new iPhone 6 (her Christmas present) and then we went home. It was a very hot day, so we just chilled at home and I fixed her phone updates etc, and waited till it cooled off close to 4pm, before I did a quick mowing of the lawn, then cooked dinner on the barbie.

I took my time this morning at the gym, came in a little later but there was still no one from the team. People have begun taking things easy. When the boss got in, we sat around and just chatted away for a while.

Last Friday the deal was inked and ownership of my employer changed hands. The new owners – Link Group – is a private equity concern. It became apparent from the chat with the boss this morning, that there’s a high chance the legal function would be folded. So we’re likely to be given a redundancy and I’d have to look for work again. I have already started anyway but the climate/market is not getting any better and nearing 50, I’m not exactly the sort of candidate employers would be looking for. I was telling Tress, that I’d be comfortable doing any sort of job. Like driving a bus even.

So the very nice weekend we had may be the last time we blew a small fortune for a very nice show. Job wise – encore hopefully but farewell quite likely.

 

I walked up the ramp towards the platform this morning, only to be greeted with a notice that the 5.30 has been cancelled. The 5.45am stops at every station so it would be easily 6.30 before I would get started in the gym.

Never mind – I shrugged, sat down to read on my iPad mini and waited for the dreaded 5.45.

A few moments ago I saw this:

Fare changes for 1 January 2015

Added: 17 December 2014

From 1 January 2015, public transport fares across Victoria will rise by an average of 2.5% plus Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 2.3%.

Tram travel within the Free Tram Zone in the CBD and Docklands will be free, and customers who travel across Zones 1 and 2 will be charged a Zone 1 fare.

There will be no change to Early Bird fares on 1 January 2015.

For more detailed information on the fare changes, download a document below or see, More affordable public transport from 1 January 2015

Public Transport Victoria 2015 Fare changes (PDF) 401 KB

Public Transport Victoria 2015 Fare changes – accessible version (XLS) 37KB

A hike of nearly 5%, when service has deteriorated. How can that be? How is it we now live in times when hikes are looked upon as automatic regardless of track records? Does performance matter no more? Is the entitlement age so entrenched?

Kiddo came back on Sunday morning. We had a busy day. Had I flown back from Asia overnight, I would have been too tired to be traipsing around during the day, the way we did for most of Sunday. We went for coffee and breakfast in Hawthorn, then home to unpack and refresh before heading out to a shopping centre to get her phone teed up and do some shopping on the side. Our coffee machine (the capsule on) had broken down after about a couple of years and we got a replacement. Once home, she set up all her stuff on the new phone and I made the soups for the week, and barbied some fish for dinner, made some our lunches and breakfast smoothies.

We went to the Whitehorse Carols in time for the combined churches choir performance, at 8pm. Tress correctly predicted many families may have chosen to leave by then (the event started around 4.30pm) so we got a park and ground spot (to lay out the ground sheet) fairly easily. We stayed for about an hour before coming back once it got dark and a bit cool. At home, we settled down for the night. We had been adjusting to an empty nest but it feels far easier to adjust to the ex-fledgling coming home, albeit for just a few weeks. It was a great way to end the weekend.

The weekend had started early. The legal team left just before 1pm, and headed to the Stokehouse City joint for the team Christmas lunch. The boss shouted a bottle of champers to start proceedings and after lunch we meandered along Bourke to look for a place to have a sit down over a few beers. We settled down at the Mess Hall and later the boss’ wife who works around the corner up the street, came and joined us. The conversations were interesting, as they mark what is probably, the end of the road, for some or all of us as lawyers for this company. The sale of the company, scheduled to be signed by the end of this week, hasn’t been cause for optimism for the boss and the team.

Maybe it is just a case of whistling past the cemetery but the way the team joked and laughed about the “end days” of our tenure had a ring of resignation around it. Or maybe it genuinely is a case of not being able to do anything about it. I have been looking for another job but as usual, this is a long process fraught with ebbs and flows of opportunities and emotions. I’m just trying to let past experiences of not successfully turning to God and leaving things in His hands, be lessons learned. It is hard in some ways. I spoke to the HR department of a potential lead earlier last week, who said he would revert by the end of the week. Not surprisingly, that did not happen and though I harbour deep hopes that would change soon, a part of me still calls for me to really just wait and see what God has in store. I guess in some ways I have learned a little bit, as the level of anxiety is probably a notch below what was in the past. I just hope I find something soon, or this place offers continuing employment. Knowing God provides – would a father give his son a snake when he asked for a fish – is one thing but asking God to make it possible for me to have something better than a fish, is quite another I suppose.

We left Mess Hall and I got home maybe 6.30pm, and Tress picked me up and we went to get some sauces to marinade some ribs she had bought, for the dinner at Alex’s the next day. The ribs done and kept in the fridge, we settled down to watch a movie on iTunes. “The Intouchables” is a French movie with a story about an unemployed Senegalese finding work as a carer for rich aristocrat who was a quadriplegic – it was very a cute, funny and heart-warming film and it only cost us $0.99. Kiddo watched it last night too…

Sat was very warm. We went to church for a wedding of a home group couple’s son. We helped out with bits and pieces, sat through the wedding, and quickly went home late morning to change into shorts and t-shirts for the rest of the day. After lunch at Madam K’s we went home and I worked on the garden while Tress vacuumed and cleaned the inside of the house, and got Kiddo’s room ready. We finished just after 4, I roasted the ribs for the dinner party and then went to Alex’s to catch up with them. They’re going to Malaysia tomorrow for their annual visit/holidays. It was good to catch up with them – haven’t done this for a while now.

As I write this over lunch, Sydney CBD (Martin Place) is witnessing a dramatic event. A gunman is holding some people hostage in a café, and some of those hostages have been asked to hold up an Islamic looking flag against the shop window. Police are everywhere and everyone’s emailing and texting and face booking everyone else about it.

Kiddo’s back, Employer’s cracked and Sydney’s jacked.