It’s an overcast Boxing Day here in Canberra although it is looking a bit brighter than when I was up letting the dogs out around 8.00am. It doesn’t look like there is any precipitation about to fall but will take a look at the weather radar shortly and see what the immediate future may hold in that regard.
It has been a weird old week weather wise. I was in West Wyalong in western NSW on Sunday and it was nudging 40 degrees celsius but by Christmas Day back here in Canberra I had tracksuit pants on, had donned a singlet, long sleeve t-shirt and my Kathmandu vest such was the drop in temperature.
We had a fair drop of rain on Monday and a little less yesterday but we really needed it and the consequent drop in temperature has been welcome. Summer is great but when you are sweltering from the effort just getting out of bed then is becomes very uncomfortable. A cool change always agrees with me.
I hope anyone tuning in to my blog today, and I really don’t expect there will be many interested given the fact we are on holiday, had a great Christmas and a fun and joyful time with family and, or friends.
It’s great to get to Christmas, wind down for the year and look forward to a fresh start but it can be a stressful time for a lot of families, people getting a few too many toscas into them, old grudges surfacing and things said in the heat of the moment which have been bottled up for twelve months or in some cases years. It’s no fun when Christmas ends in a family brawl!
No such worries for me this year with the festive season passing with barely a ripple.
I had a day at work on Monday and I’m not sure why any of us even bothered given the little amount we had to do. Of course the powers that be put a veneer of cordiality on the day by attempting to visit the staff who they have roundly ignored all year and wish us Merry Christmas. It’s all very false and annoying to me and I did my best to avoid anyone above my rank who may have been looking to grab my hand and wish me all the best. Not very gracious I know but I was polite to anyone who offered their best wishes and most of the people who I have a lot to do with had already started their break and I wished them well last Friday.
I did have a surreal moment during our Christmas dinner which was provided for by management. It was organised by a number of our Vietnamese ladies and what a spread they put on! Lovely food, marinated chicken, spring rolls, fried rice, garlic bread, lots of lovely salads. Perfect! The surreal moment came as I sat down to eat with Christmas carols buzzing in my ear from the tape player inconveniently placed right behind me and I realised that most of the people I was dining with were Buddhists! Christmas in a multicultural workplace can be interesting but even those who aren’t of the Christian faith enjoy the goodwill of the season and participate wholeheartedly. It was made even more amusing by the lovely little Chinese girl sitting opposite me who probably only weighs 50kg wringing wet but put away enough food to sink a battleship! When I suggested she was a good eater she merely laughed and grabbed another marinated chicken drumstick! I kept my hands by my side lest they be mistaken for something edible.
We were away two hours early which was a pleasant change from the year before when we worked to the death. Some of the management decisions over the last five years have been nothing short of bewildering but they made the correct call this year in permitting an early release.
So Christmas dawned and we had my parents and Linda’s mother here for breakfast then more arrivals during the day and I managed to survive a nerf gun war with my vision intact, the constant worry of losing an eyeball to an errant nerf gun dart a constant fear during such engagements.
Christmas dinner was at my nephew’s new place on the far side of Canberra and it is lucky he is a professional chef and cooked a terrific meal for us because getting over to that side of town was akin to a long march.
His home is in the suburb of Bonner which is in the satellite town of Gunghalin and is about as far away as one can get from my home in the Tuggeranong Valley and still be in Canberra! My rare fleeting visits to this side of town with it’s densely built townhouses and small home blocks only reinforces my desire to stay on the southside in the beautiful environs of the valley in which I live and never take it for granted. I like living in Tuggeranong!
It all seems a bit desolate over in Gunghalin but to be fair Bonner is a relatively new suburb and they have a long way to go in terms of shrubbery and the other niceties which aid the community feel of the more established areas. But it is not my cup of tea.
So today has, on the surface been a bit of a dead loss but there has been no requirement for me to be anywhere but where I am and no jobs pending that I really need to do or am being pressured to do. So it’s been a pleasant enough Boxing Day and watching the Australian fast bowlers bury Sri Lanka in the Boxing Day Test Match is just the icing on the cake.
Linda has left, gone down the coast with her mother and I will join them on Saturday as I have to work tomorrow and Friday, probably the two most pointless work days of the year and it will be like pulling teeth all day trying not to go insane with boredom as these two particular days are by tradition very slow.
Then of course once I leave the premises on Friday evening life will be all gravy for me for a while as I will be on leave for five weeks and the worries and cares generated by my place of work will evaporate and life will be, for a little while at least, a walk through an imaginary field of daisies everyday. I hope so in anycase.
So with Linda gone and Megan and Monique otherwise engaged in far flung areas of the district, silence and solitude have descended upon me and for a short while I am Master and Commander of my own vessel, free to roam the metaphorical oceans of my life without care.
So to all who have taken the time to read this scrawl today, I thank you and wish you all the best. Take care of yourselves over the coming days and be safe and well. 2013 is nearly upon us and we all need to be in one piece to greet it’s arrival. Till next time.
It has been a weird old week weather wise. I was in West Wyalong in western NSW on Sunday and it was nudging 40 degrees celsius but by Christmas Day back here in Canberra I had tracksuit pants on, had donned a singlet, long sleeve t-shirt and my Kathmandu vest such was the drop in temperature.
We had a fair drop of rain on Monday and a little less yesterday but we really needed it and the consequent drop in temperature has been welcome. Summer is great but when you are sweltering from the effort just getting out of bed then is becomes very uncomfortable. A cool change always agrees with me.
I hope anyone tuning in to my blog today, and I really don’t expect there will be many interested given the fact we are on holiday, had a great Christmas and a fun and joyful time with family and, or friends.
It’s great to get to Christmas, wind down for the year and look forward to a fresh start but it can be a stressful time for a lot of families, people getting a few too many toscas into them, old grudges surfacing and things said in the heat of the moment which have been bottled up for twelve months or in some cases years. It’s no fun when Christmas ends in a family brawl!
No such worries for me this year with the festive season passing with barely a ripple.
I had a day at work on Monday and I’m not sure why any of us even bothered given the little amount we had to do. Of course the powers that be put a veneer of cordiality on the day by attempting to visit the staff who they have roundly ignored all year and wish us Merry Christmas. It’s all very false and annoying to me and I did my best to avoid anyone above my rank who may have been looking to grab my hand and wish me all the best. Not very gracious I know but I was polite to anyone who offered their best wishes and most of the people who I have a lot to do with had already started their break and I wished them well last Friday.
I did have a surreal moment during our Christmas dinner which was provided for by management. It was organised by a number of our Vietnamese ladies and what a spread they put on! Lovely food, marinated chicken, spring rolls, fried rice, garlic bread, lots of lovely salads. Perfect! The surreal moment came as I sat down to eat with Christmas carols buzzing in my ear from the tape player inconveniently placed right behind me and I realised that most of the people I was dining with were Buddhists! Christmas in a multicultural workplace can be interesting but even those who aren’t of the Christian faith enjoy the goodwill of the season and participate wholeheartedly. It was made even more amusing by the lovely little Chinese girl sitting opposite me who probably only weighs 50kg wringing wet but put away enough food to sink a battleship! When I suggested she was a good eater she merely laughed and grabbed another marinated chicken drumstick! I kept my hands by my side lest they be mistaken for something edible.
We were away two hours early which was a pleasant change from the year before when we worked to the death. Some of the management decisions over the last five years have been nothing short of bewildering but they made the correct call this year in permitting an early release.
So Christmas dawned and we had my parents and Linda’s mother here for breakfast then more arrivals during the day and I managed to survive a nerf gun war with my vision intact, the constant worry of losing an eyeball to an errant nerf gun dart a constant fear during such engagements.
Christmas dinner was at my nephew’s new place on the far side of Canberra and it is lucky he is a professional chef and cooked a terrific meal for us because getting over to that side of town was akin to a long march.
His home is in the suburb of Bonner which is in the satellite town of Gunghalin and is about as far away as one can get from my home in the Tuggeranong Valley and still be in Canberra! My rare fleeting visits to this side of town with it’s densely built townhouses and small home blocks only reinforces my desire to stay on the southside in the beautiful environs of the valley in which I live and never take it for granted. I like living in Tuggeranong!
It all seems a bit desolate over in Gunghalin but to be fair Bonner is a relatively new suburb and they have a long way to go in terms of shrubbery and the other niceties which aid the community feel of the more established areas. But it is not my cup of tea.
So today has, on the surface been a bit of a dead loss but there has been no requirement for me to be anywhere but where I am and no jobs pending that I really need to do or am being pressured to do. So it’s been a pleasant enough Boxing Day and watching the Australian fast bowlers bury Sri Lanka in the Boxing Day Test Match is just the icing on the cake.
Linda has left, gone down the coast with her mother and I will join them on Saturday as I have to work tomorrow and Friday, probably the two most pointless work days of the year and it will be like pulling teeth all day trying not to go insane with boredom as these two particular days are by tradition very slow.
Then of course once I leave the premises on Friday evening life will be all gravy for me for a while as I will be on leave for five weeks and the worries and cares generated by my place of work will evaporate and life will be, for a little while at least, a walk through an imaginary field of daisies everyday. I hope so in anycase.
So with Linda gone and Megan and Monique otherwise engaged in far flung areas of the district, silence and solitude have descended upon me and for a short while I am Master and Commander of my own vessel, free to roam the metaphorical oceans of my life without care.
So to all who have taken the time to read this scrawl today, I thank you and wish you all the best. Take care of yourselves over the coming days and be safe and well. 2013 is nearly upon us and we all need to be in one piece to greet it’s arrival. Till next time.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 