I’ve been led to believe that today is the Laotian New Years Day. So to any Laotian person who may stumble onto this blog, I hope you have a great day!
How do I know this? Well I work with a number of Laotian people and it is a New Years tradition in Laos to pour water over people. This means that both the water pourer and those being watered on are to have good luck for the rest of the year. So, last night at about 9.30pm the Laotian people at Canberra Mail Centre decided to confer good luck on many of us! My protestations that I was Anglo-Irish and Laotian good luck wouldn’t work on me fell on deaf ears and I was the recipient of two cups of water down my back! They did take the time to warm the water up before they did it which I suppose was very considerate but it was an uncomfortable drive home, especially after Jane Catania who is most certainly not Laotian decided to exchange heritage for the night and also made sure she joined the fun. Jane of course didn’t have the common sense of the others and unloaded more water than was neccesary making a change of underpants obligatory once I got home. It was a bit of a laugh though and I guess it is nice to be included in such things and everyone took it in good faith. Dave Paton, Duc Dao and Tim Vanderkleij looked like they had walked through a shower! They copped it worse than me.
It’s been a little less relaxing day than I had planned for a Saturday. My backyard is a virtual jungle and not being gardeners Linda and I tend to let it get a bit overgrown. There are a number of trees down along the back fence and I noticed on Thursday that they had reached the powerlines. Then I made the mistake of asking my father to come and have a look at it with a view to having him bring his big ladder around to make the job easier. Well Dad came around on Friday and rather than just taking a look he attacked the backyard with relish! The poor trees! I had to leave him here yesterday as I had to go to work and I was dreading what I might find when the sun came up this morning.
Sure enough there was enough foilage piled up in my backyard to keep a bonfire going for a week and trees so shredded it looked liked the photos of the rubber plantation at Long Tan after the famous battle had been fought there.
Two trips to the greenwaste place this morning and I was ready to enjoy the rest of my Saturday but Dad once again broke out his chainsaw and provided another trailer load of timber. Thankfully he tired out after that and decided enough was enough. We will take the rest to the tip tomorrow. He may have retired but he certainly hasn’t lost his appetite for a bit of work.
How do I know this? Well I work with a number of Laotian people and it is a New Years tradition in Laos to pour water over people. This means that both the water pourer and those being watered on are to have good luck for the rest of the year. So, last night at about 9.30pm the Laotian people at Canberra Mail Centre decided to confer good luck on many of us! My protestations that I was Anglo-Irish and Laotian good luck wouldn’t work on me fell on deaf ears and I was the recipient of two cups of water down my back! They did take the time to warm the water up before they did it which I suppose was very considerate but it was an uncomfortable drive home, especially after Jane Catania who is most certainly not Laotian decided to exchange heritage for the night and also made sure she joined the fun. Jane of course didn’t have the common sense of the others and unloaded more water than was neccesary making a change of underpants obligatory once I got home. It was a bit of a laugh though and I guess it is nice to be included in such things and everyone took it in good faith. Dave Paton, Duc Dao and Tim Vanderkleij looked like they had walked through a shower! They copped it worse than me.
It’s been a little less relaxing day than I had planned for a Saturday. My backyard is a virtual jungle and not being gardeners Linda and I tend to let it get a bit overgrown. There are a number of trees down along the back fence and I noticed on Thursday that they had reached the powerlines. Then I made the mistake of asking my father to come and have a look at it with a view to having him bring his big ladder around to make the job easier. Well Dad came around on Friday and rather than just taking a look he attacked the backyard with relish! The poor trees! I had to leave him here yesterday as I had to go to work and I was dreading what I might find when the sun came up this morning.
Sure enough there was enough foilage piled up in my backyard to keep a bonfire going for a week and trees so shredded it looked liked the photos of the rubber plantation at Long Tan after the famous battle had been fought there.
Two trips to the greenwaste place this morning and I was ready to enjoy the rest of my Saturday but Dad once again broke out his chainsaw and provided another trailer load of timber. Thankfully he tired out after that and decided enough was enough. We will take the rest to the tip tomorrow. He may have retired but he certainly hasn’t lost his appetite for a bit of work.
Such is the fate of those who buy houses with large gardens! Have a great weekend.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 