The words of a man who lost his wife and 2 teenage sons at one of the memorial services in
And we will do our best to learn from the experience. I was moved by this display at a winery at Kangaroo Ground yesterday.
A couple of surprises this week: Who says "No, thanks", when you are asked if you would like a ticket ( and dinner) at the Australian Open Tennis? Certainly, not me. First match of the evening will feature Rafael Nadal, ranked 2, playing Philipp Kohlschreiber at 7pm, followed by Svetlana Kuznetzova, ranked 3, v Angelique Kerber.
Living in Melbourne at this time of year is fun, some of our team managed to be only a few steps away from the second in line to the British throne last night at the tennis, and there are many other celebrities and sportspeople in town.
And in another unexpected, but welcome surprise: two tickets each for Gold Class Cinema have arrived on the desks of my colleagues and me.
A long weekend is about to start, too, which I hope will mean several long sleep ins, if the cats allow. Sometimes, they just want to get up and play. But if the morning is cool, they love to luxuriate in the bed, liking nothing better than a slumbering human to smooch up to.
Heading for 43 or maybe more
Melbournians spend a lot of time talking about the weather, in my experience. Maybe one reason for this is the fluctuations in temperatures that you can experience, from one day to the next, and even in the proverbial "four seasons in one day".
We're now facing a predicted high temperature today of 43 degrees C, the hottest, and most extreme fire danger day we have had since Black Saturday, 7th February, 2009, when 173 people lost their lives on one of the most dangerous days of fire danger since European settlement of this vast country.
Today is not expected to be as hot as Black Saturday, which according to the weather bureau reached 46 degrees. Nor is the wind as strong. But it is bad enough, with campers and locals being asked to leave camping grounds in the Grampians, Little Desert,
Here in our office, we hope that the morning "hissy' fit by the office air conditioning system will be rectified, as at is at least working on the upper floors of the building. Once again it seems a little petty to be complaining about air conditioning not working properly, when people are risking their lives fighting fires, even if there has been nothing catastrophic to date. Let's just hope it stays that way.
The hot conditions also threaten to play havoc with the public transport system. The thought of sitting in a train that is not going anywhere, with air conditioning not working, somehow does not appeal.
Let me introduce you to Millie, who is an absolutely gorgeous young lady, with beautiful blue eyes, fringed in dark charcoal. She came to our house on a very temporary basis, but has charmed her way into the heart of the G man.
Millie will wait by the door for G to come home, and follows him around the house, waiting for him to sit down. Then she will sit on his knee, and would do so for hours, if she could. This devotion does wear a little thin after a while, especially when the weather is hot.
I am a poor substitute, but if he is not at home, she will sit on my knee, and there have been occasions when I've had all three cats on my knee, especially in the chilly weather.
A very busy four month period at work seems finally to be easing off, just a little. Time to breathe, to finish off, and move on...
Time to write a little, time to contemplate.
In retrospect, the year has been a busy one...but looking forward to the next year.
We were fortunate to get a delivery of freshly picked cherries from Wandin yesterday evening. This has been an annual event for many years, even when we lived in the country. And in my childhood, as one of my uncles grew cherries commercially, at this time of year, a visit from him resulted in sheer enjoyment as we ate as many cherries as we could stuff in.
This might have created a sore belly, but the taste is wonderful and overrides any potential discomfort.
This guilty trait is also shared with R, in France, who once told me that she only bought 500 grams of cherries in the morning, not 1 kilogram.
When asked why, she replied that if she bought a kilo in the morning, she would eat the whole kilo in the morning.
I can relate to that...
It has been pointed out that it is some time since I wrote in this forum, and that my last entry said that there was life after football, but there clearly isn't....as I haven't been able to bring myself to write anything at all until today.
Maybe if my team was Collingwood, it would be a bit easier to get over it, they have been in 13 losing finals apparently, not that I care about them....
It's just that the excitement of getting there was fantastic, but the disappointment is palpable, still.
I'm not used to extended heat waves in November, either...can't really come to terms with night after night being hot. Not helped by three felines cuddling up in the night.... I sincerely hope this is not a harbinger of a hot summer to come, otherwise the aforementioned felines will be in another room.
Well, almost a week has now passed since the end of the AFL season, and I have found, surprisingly, that life does indeed go on, as the saying goes.
What really got me over it was the chain of natural disasters that have occurred in various parts of Asia and the Pacific this week. The sadness of it all...
I have been blessed with family and friends, and although not everything in our lives goes wonderfully, all the time, we know things can, and do move on.
Somehow, I managed to survive the last quarter, and with seven minutes to go, the scores were even. I can't describe the feeling, though when Geelong scored a goal (from a trademark Chapman snap) and a point, which meant that St Kilda had to kick two goals in the remaining seconds to win: a point from the Saints, then a mark to the Cats in the forward line just before the siren and it was all over...
The feeling of desolation was not the same as the loss in 1997; the Saints last GF appearance, when they were thumped by Adelaide who had a burst of brilliant play in the third quarter to break to game apart.
This game is likely to go down as one of the great matches, a titanic struggle, and a battle of wills. Unfortunately, there has to be a winner, and a loser.
In the psyche of the long time Saints supporter, we never really think we can win, until the siren goes. This season we've got used to winning, but can never take it for granted, and rightfully so.
Maybe next year....
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