Almost a week since I returned, which must mean that any desire I have to sleep in the middle of the day is now due to laziness and not jetlag. The title of this post aptly describes my week and a half in Melbourne. I arrived at stupid o'clock on a Tuesday morning and was greeted by the beginnings of a beautiful sunny day - the sun was definitely needed after about 40 hours travel (Sofia-Amsterdam-Stockholm-London-Hong Kong-Melbourne). Breakfast with mum and sis was a great start to 11 days, most of which seemed to revolve around meeting people and eating/drinking - tough really. Shame we are not all rich (wallet, not name!) and can lead this life all the time - although, I'm sure I would miss all the brats from Beverly Hills High. Arriving on the Tuesday morning was very important with regard to the wedding plans (the reason for the timing of the trip), as Tuesday night was the buck's night (buck's or bucks'? his night or everyone's night? ahhh... the dilemmas we face). I had (optimistically as it turns out) thought I would manage a siesta after lunch before the festivities began... hmmm... well, not quite, had to try on the suit (I was a groomsman), find shoes and a belt, and help out with last minute stuff. And see the bride! Brooke and Jared (the couple!) are two old swimming buddies who (finally!) tied the knot with many old friends in attendance - many with quite a few air miles under their belts to get there. The bridal party (is that bridesmaids and groomsmen? That's what I mean, anyway!) had travelled from: Italy, Texas, Stockholm, Sydney, Bairnsdale and the suburbs of Melbourne, whilst the rest of the guests covered all the states and territories of Australia as well as parts of Asia... quite the logistical exercise.
I could go on forever (and quite often do, I know) but will cut it shorter by saying that the buck's night went well, the cooked breakfast the next day at Torch on Swan St in the sun was delicious. The reason for the buck's on a Tuesday was that the next day was ANZAC Day, and hence a public holiday. Many of those connected to the wedding went to the "traditional" Aussie Rules footy game at the "G", I had lunch with my first swimming club - Powerpoints. Was a great afternoon, Katherine had done a great job of getting in touch with a bunch of old swimmers (we all swam together about 10 years ago) - it was very strange seeing many of them after 10 years, we have all grown up and are doing the most amazing array of different things: medical research, law, development work, teaching (!), real estate... Was great that it timed so well for my visit (Thanks Kath!).
There were other days like that, catching up with people I hadn't seen for between 6 months and 3 years... always a shame it is so short, but better than nothing. It is strange though, with old friends the time apart seems to disappear in an instant, it can feel like 2 weeks (just that we have managed to fit an extraordinary amount of stuff into those 2 weeks). I notice it most when I meet kids (cousins, or friends') - they change much faster and grow so much. Although I do try very hard to avoid saying, "My, how you've grown!" as I do want to try to still seem young (30 this year!). I managed relatively well to stay relaxed and enjoy it all without getting stressed about the lack of time - not a whole lot of sleep the first week!
The wedding was a fantastic day, everyone looked fantastic (for those in Aus the photos will be in OK! Magazine next week (14th May, I think) - just checked the website and they still have this week's one). A few drops of rain after the ceremony were all we got, until later that evening as we headed from the reception centre to the after-party. Yep, trust swimmers to organise an after-party to their own wedding!! It was great! A very long day, but everyone was happy.
The rest of my days were spent, much like the first few, drinking coffee and catching up with friends - there is never enough time to do everything I want to do - really will have to try to make the next trip a bit longer. Having said that... it will no doubt end up the same.
I've had a week back at school which thankfully coincided with the schools project weeks (twice a year for 2 weeks, December and May). This time I don't have a project, and there are no normal lessons, so I get time to catch up on all my marking and stuff that was covering my desk. I had my big project in December which kept my extremely busy then - so this is my pay-off!
Time to go and do something with the day, now that I have done my knee exercises, updated the blog, folded half the washing... all that domestic stuff... maybe time for a caffè...
latte,
rich.
No comments:
Post a Comment