September 2008 Archives

It has been an exceptional weekend, with two invitations to share meals with the family of Y, which we found very enjoyable, with a fine selection of Lebanese dishes in two different households on the east side of the city. Tabbouli, Hommus, Baba Ganoush, Kibbeh among other savoury dishes and a range of delectable sweets.

I was fortunate that my hosts were mindful of the importance of the business end of the AFL season, had their TVs on so that those of us who were interested could keep track of what was happening at the MCG.

Last night, the Saints turned on a stellar performance in defeating the Collingwood Magpies by 34 points, and move into a Preliminary Final next week against Hawthorn. Driven by a desire to give Harvey one last tilt at a Premiership, the Saints may yet play in a grandfinal on the 27th September.

In an apparently equally intriguing and tension ridden game, the Wallabies went down to the All Blacks in Brisbane in a tight 24-28 result. Regular SMS updates during the evening meant that I did not miss out on all of the excitement.

Yesterday my stepmother was intending to head off to Sydney for a couple of weeks, and round 9am decided to take her laptop on to the roof of the underground house that they live in, which my dad had built in the mid eighties, to connect to the aerial directly, presumably so she could check her emails before she set off.

She connected the laptop to the aerial, then sat down on the skylight, which after twenty something years had become somewhat brittle, and fell four metres into the dining area, hitting a piece of pottery and a  bookcase on the way down. The fall resulted in three cracked vertebrae and lacerations which required stitching. As a result she will be in hospital for a minimum of two weeks, under strict orders not to move.

When I think of what could have happened, I think she has been very lucky not to have been injured more seriously.

As always, the dry with of my Uncle R, came forth in a telephone conversation with my Dad, not more than a few minutes after the ambulance had been called, when he said "That's a most unorthodox way of entering a house...."

My Dad, another exponent of dry humour, in yet another phone call shortly after, when asked whether she had left for Sydney said, "Well, she's about to leave the house, but there's a change of plans and she's going in the worng direction!"

When one is sitting at the gate lounge of an airport, waiting for the call to board, one is prone to try to find people to ring or other things to do to fill time in. My colleague was having trouble with his portable telephone named after a fruit, the emails were disappearing, so he rang our formerly monopoly national telephone provider in an attempt to get some satisfaction. Without a password, however, there is no chance of getting anything done to solve a problem...

My call to a customer service officer which ended being diverted to another country, resulted in a conversation which went something like this...

Customer Service Person: "Aaah, so I've been hearing a bit about Australia lately...."

Me (surprised) : "Oh, in what way"

CSP: "The number of problems you are having with  "insert name of former  wholly owned government airline", and I don't know that I would want to fly with them...."

Me : "Thank you so much, I am about to get on a flight (run by the former wholly owned government airline), and I very much appreciate you reminding me of this...."

CSP: "You're welcome"

You dear reader will be happy to know that my business trip to Sydney, on the aforementioned airline went safely, despite my misgivings....

In the list of talents that I was handed out, modest though they are, the gift of the gab was not one of them... While this has the advantage at times of not expecting myself to be articulate, and occasionally surprising myself, there are other times when I wish it were otherwise.

Not for me the remedy of a few glasses of something, freeing up the tongue, that option is much more likely to send me to sleep. There is a phenomonen called flight or fight response where fear freezes everything, or alternatively, one can react at a high level of awareness, articulation and even demonstrate incredible sporting prowess... I admire friends who can talk the hind leg off a dog (so to speak) and I am normally happy to be a contributor to a conversation, but it is only occasionally that I am fired up enough to be that articulate person that I dream of being. As I lay awake at night, not far off sleep, I know that despite all the rehearsals in my mind, sometimes the words just don't or won't come. Does it mean that the time is not right? Maybe, but time passes, and I need to remember that wars are not usually one with one battle, much more likely with a series of small wins, without necessarily having a grand victory. Or a fantastic speech.

In the scheme of things, maybe the ability to write things down might be a consolation in most areas- one can pre-prepare for the important stuff, and in my observations of others, one does not have to be a so called "great" communicator to get the message across, for when the message is expressed with sincerity and honour, the meaning behind simple words will somehow have more effect, and small influencing actions might in the long run have a much greater influence.

Last Sunday afternoon, we headed off to see my beloved Saints (St Kilda in the Australian Football League) play an old enemy Essendon at the Docklands stadium. The Saints had ensured their place in the finals the previous week, with a stirring victory over Adelaide at the same venue. Even though I was unwell with a virus, I had bought tickets earlier in the week, so we headed off to the stadium, and took our seats with a friend, anticipating a quiet end to the home and away matches, as the Bombers had nothing to play for except pride, and while there had been a couple of shock losses by other teams in the round, the Saints could make the top 4 if they were to defeat the Bombers by at least 16 goals.

At three quarter time, it was clear that the 16 goal target was indeed achievable, and the excitement of being at the game when despite all the odds, they made the top 4 was an incredible feeling.

Just a pity that they have to play Geelong in the Qualifying final tomorrow, who have the much better form going into the finals, and who look invincible. However, strange things can happen in finals campaigns, so one never knows... However, the good thing is, we have a second chance, whatever happens tomorrow.