Tag: London

Lake Burley Griffin becomes a friend.


I had the alarm set for 5am on Sat morning but Tress was up at 4.30. I decided to get up a few minutes later and just before 6am, we were in the car and started the trek up again. We only made a couple of stops for toilet and coffee and by 1pm we were at Burton and Garran Hall again. It was great to see Kiddo again.

We unloaded the stuff we brought up with us, and then Kiddo jumped in the car and we took the much shorter drive across town to Campbell to our B&B (sort of). After lunching at a Korean joint at the Civic we went to the shops for a bit before going to Weston Park at the Lake Burley Griffin, for a walk/jog. The little black jedi had a whale of a time as we let him run around off lead for a while. The late afternoon scene lakeside was really nice and it was just great for the 3 of us (plus the little pooch) to be there together. The lake is huge and to get to know this place takes quite an effort.

That night we went to the Civic again, and looked for a place for dinner. We settled on “The London Burger and Beers”, a place bustling with young people. The burgers were gorgeous, as were the salads. We were to return the following night as well – another discovery of a nice eatery in Canberra. Later that Saturday night we drove to the Old Parliament House which had an architectural projection type of show on, and the building was opened as well for touring so we walked around and outside the building and it was really late by the time we got home.

On Sunday we went to the Old Bus Depot, went to the Fyshwick food markets for lunch and then went back to the Lake, this time to walk around the Carillon and also took a ride around that area on a paddle bike which took all 3 of us (and Scruff). The bike was christened “John”, a reference to John Howard. All of the bikes were named after past Prime Mnisters of Australia and we saw “Billy”, “Paul” and “Malcolm” go past us. As far as past Prime Ministers go, I cant wait for a “Julia” to appear. The Lake has truly become something more familiar. It is very large and I guess it will take loads of effort to know it really well.

We went to the Crossroads church on campus (at the Manning Clark Lecture Theatre) on Sunday evening, then went back to the London for a late dinner. We again drove around to catch more light projections on buildings and went to the National Gallery.

On Monday morning we spent some time in Kiddo’s dorm room, with some housekeeping stuff and then went to the “Scholar” – a Chinese restaurant for Yum Cha. It was pricey but the food was very good – another discovery of a good place in Canberra.

We left Canberra close to 3pm, and got back to Melbourne just after 9 – a record time for us. I guess we have become accustomed to the drive.

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The Crossroads church was very impressive, content wise. All of the songs were unfamiliar to us but they all had strong emphasis on Christ, the cross, the Gospel message and such themes. There were very little material on power for us, our needs, how much he means to us… in other words, the worship was all about God, not about me or us. What a refreshing change.

The message (“The King’s Speech” – Matthew 5 & 6) was also Kingdom centred and focused on what it really means to be godly and not just religious – again it was all about taking the focus away from us and turning to God.

It was a refreshing change, again.

So often, our church life is centered on ourselves – what the church can (or even ought) to do for us. If a church somehow misses the mark in terms of addressing our daily needs, we turn our backs and maybe even become bitter. I guess when we have needs which appear to be overwhelming and no one seems to care it would appear that we have a legitimate expectation that the church ought to do something. Maybe to a large extent the church ought to, and perhaps the local church ought to take its eyes off lofty notions like discipleship and mission and tend to the daily needs of its flocks. To some church goers, that would be a reasonable ask. Can we discuss discipleship without caring for members’ needs? I dont know.

I’m not sure I know how to deal with needs of church friends and “quasi church” friends. Especially needs of Christians who have been Christians for a long time. Life in Australia is often busy with cares of everyday living. One wakes up and goes to work, comes home and potters around the house with 101 things to do, leaving the “big jobs” for weekends. Many take up further courses of studies like yours truly and whatever free time in the evenings is taken up by work on these studies. Weekends see us catching up with more everyday living stuff – grocery shopping, house cleaning and other such or related chores. Then we have a little bit of time to catch up with friends and be socially alive. Often this means dinners on Sat nights or lunch on Sunday arvo. Either event means more time needed to plan, shop, prepare,  clean etc. Often this has to be rotated around so that different friends of different family members get time spent on them and we maintain our social networks that way, no matter how pained or little “value-add” in terms of strengthening these relationships.

One cant be doing that on every weekend either as some weekends are taken up with other stuff which invariably crop up – school events, weddings and birthdays, farewells, or even spending a Sat night at home catching up with work or with each other at home.

So the best one can do is maybe spend a bit of time, every few weeks, with some friends. I dont know if that is enough. I dont know if it is reasonable to expect more. It does become a bit of a pain when one has to work all these out, just to be satisfied that we’re ok. I would have thought it is a no brainer but apparently not.  Maybe we are meant to give up our everyday living demands, so that others can have their needs met. Maybe the answer lies in foregoing everything just so your friends are kept happy. I have to work that out further. Maybe keeping some friends happy requires a bit of effort. Much like getting to know Lake Burley Griffiin well.

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pIGs


Silvio’s peccadilloes? No one’s laughing or simply annoyed anymore. Italy‘s sovereign risk issues have triggered a Wall Street bloodbath overnight. Another plunge – this time just over 3% n the Dow and nearly 4 on the Nasdaq – means things continue to look really gloomy, even worse than the storms in Melbourne overnight. I wonder if Europe PIGS scenario can get any worse. I’m really glad I didn’t take the London option back in 2004. What will become of the economic scene, I wonder…

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Max Brenner, St Michael’s, Manchester Superiority and Majan


Tress and I started going to Max Brenner’s about a month and a half ago. We never thought of going to this place, until we heard of how rubbish groups like Socialist Alternative and Justice for Palestinians started spouting anti-Semitic thrash. See this story.

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What a night of north England showing London how to play football. After Manchester City rolled Spurs over with a 5-1 thrashing, which I watched just the first half, it was great to wake up to an 8-2 victory over a troubled Arsenal. Newcastle got into the act as well, beating Fulham.

This is unusual for me to say but I feel sorry for Arsenal and Wenger at this point in time. Their stable has been raided and the players Wenger nurtured into brilliant play makers are now happy to deliver their services elsewhere for a range of reasons, not least money.

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Yesterday Tress and I went to a hairdresser down the street from our home. Majan Mahani had done Kiddo’s hair less than a couple of months ago (for her formal) and I needed a hairie badly so we (especially I) decided to go with Majan. She is a lovely Iranian, described herself as Persian, and was a bit more talkative than other who have worked on my hair before. It was the first time I ever had any Persian person work on my hair. She was also very polite. When she was done with me, she held up a mirror behind my head and asked me if I was happy. I asked if I looked like Tom Cruise now and she went all quiet. She must have struggled between being polite and being honest but Tress rescued her by letting a loud burst of laughter and Majan acquitted herself by saying most of her (surely middle aged) clients preferred to look like George Clooney.

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Sat we drove Kiddo to St Michael’s Grammar School in St Kilda East. For the entire ride to and from the school, which was easily half an hour each way, she and her friend Charlotte spoke in what sounded like Greek but was surely English. Their dissertation of various English Literature themes and writers thrilled me. At some point, I wanted to interject and ask “Which character did Brad Pitt play?”, but decided to stay silent and look a little more sophisticated. The VCE English Literature lectures there was from 9-3 and in between, I went to the MST library, did some shopping, took Tress to Madam Kwong’s in Box Hill and …

It was that sort of weekend…

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Nick Clegg and Britain Today


Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrat in the UK,  is the Deputy Prime Minister.  When he was 16, he wandered into a greenhouse and after playing with some matches to burn some cacti, set the whole place alight. The greenhouse belonged to a professor of botany who had collected cacti from all over the world. That greenhouse housed that professor’s lifetime work. Nick Clegg said he had drunk too much and admitted he was irresponsible. His punishment was to do community work. That he could go on to hold high office and potentially be the most important man in UK politics – due to a possibility of a hung parliament – speaks a lot about our current attitude towards wrongdoing and its consequences.

While it is fantastic that someone who was so irresponsible and culpable of such reckless conduct can go on to such great achievements, it is also a reflection of the British (and western? contemporary?) society’s attitude and tolerance for bad behaviour. There is now less fear for consequences of doing bad things.

It is a difficult issue. While one shouldn’t be punished permanently for past mistakes, what we mete out as punishment (can we even use this word anymore, as opposed to “consequences”, say) should also have that deterrent element. Somehow the message we are sending to the younger generation is not just that we will forgive past mistakes, but that these mistakes don’t matter in that we will in the end, forgive and all will be well. This message tends to remove any fear that what we do will have consequences and sometimes far reaching and irreversible consequences.

I wonder what the UK and other parts of western civilisation now thinks, after the recent riots in London and elsewhere in England.

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Everyone’s In London


I hopped onto a cardio machine this morning, and turned on the attached television screen. The set on the Today Show looked a little different. Also, Ben Fordham who was the sports presenter was decked out more formally than I was expecting, with a red tie to boot. I soon realised they were in London – the whole team. Karl, Lisa and gang are all there. I then recall Ross and John of 3AW saying everyone’s there now.

To confirm views that William and Kate are different to their predecessors, William was soon seen outside Clarence House, shaking hands with onlookers. It must have been about 10.30pm then and the prince was in an open neck shirt, khakis and sweater, greeting and talking to ordinary people lining up outside the royals’ residence. Nice touch. Certainly it bolstered the image of William being like Diana, the people’s royal personality.

The wedding program starts around 5pm Aussie time and I think many have teed up parties to watch it. The actual thing is due to start around 8.30pm – prime time Aussie TV slot – and they are due to appear on the balcony around 10.30pm. On a Friday night, only a Man United game can beat that. So guess what I’ll be doing for 2 x 20min slots tonight…

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1994 was a Great Year


Last night we went to a local hotel for some pub food. It was kiddo’s birthday and I think we have stuck to keeping things simple and pub food is still a night out after recent battles the family has had to mount to cope with my cooking.

We went to the Mitcham Hotel and kiddo and Tress ordered from the board – roast for kiddo and a fish for Tress. I asked for a steak from the regular menu.

I then took kiddo to the bar and ordered a white wine for her – yeah, it is that sort of joint, where no maitre d came around with a wine list. I asked for a sweet Riesling (a Lindeman’s I think) and I had a house red myself. At 17, she was allowed alcohol when dining with the family and having a full meal. She mentioned the vodka cruisers and I explained to her why those beverages are drinks for losers, sort of (I’m sorry if you like that sort of thing). We also shared a chocolate flourless cake.

She appeared to handle the wine ok. She is 17 now. It didn’t feel like it was 17 years ago when after watching United beat Oldham Athletic (I think it was them) in an FA Cup Semi Final we went to the Subang Medical Centre and waited a number of hours before she finally arrived in the arvo. Everyday for the next few days, I’d stop by the hospital on the way to work and peek through the glass windows of the nursery. She was the most beautiful baby in that nursery, often the only one awake, eyes wide open.

1994 was a great year – Kiddo was born. And United won the double after going on to thrash pre-Roman Chelsea in the final.

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London Town


My wife and I have been pouring over information on schools and apartments in London. SW6 is now the centre of our attention. Not exactly my idea of fun. In fact I dont really want this scenario. I just want to continue on in KL, preferably in a different company/employment situation, and wait to move down under. This London thing is turning everything on its head. Yet if this is where God is leading, I can do little else. My dearest wife, who is ever so supportive, is my one comfort now.

“So, I commend the enjoyment of life.” (From the Bible – really. Eccl 8:15)