Hello, thanks for popping in! I had a quick dash back to Melbourne this week for our son’s 21st Birthday Party, giving me the opportunity to show you what’s up there!
Politics:
The upcoming people's vote on the same-sex marriage debate is big news. When some idiot decked our former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, a prominent No campaigner and AFL house had a bomb hoax after changing their logo to a YES, the stories ran and ran.
You would have to be a keen news followers to have picked up that Donald Trump has declared war on North Korea (in their eyes) because all other news is about the sports!
Sports:
Australian Rules Football (AFL) dominates our Melbourne news. Yes, the only battle that gets a mention down here is this one on the footy field.
AFL is huge in our State of Victoria and this year our local chances lie with the Richmond Tigers a suburb about 10 mins drive away. Of course, they have to beat, the Adelaide Crows from South Australia, a team who has come so far after their coach was tragically murdered by his son with mental health issues.
In our house, we’re all about Soccer and in Australia, women's soccer goes from strength to strength with our National team the Matildas notching up some notable wins and strides being made for better pay for our Women’s League players.
The end of the season has seen rather a lovely collection of trophies appear in the kitchen. Despite a supposed non-contact sport, our daughter has played a full season through various injuries and collisions resulting in a broken rib and a dislocated shoulder. These trophies are a lovely recognition of her contribution to her teams.
Gardens:
After a long hard (by Melbourne standards) winter, the city is about to burst into the Spring. The gardens in our area, including our own, are emerging to look green and blooming lovely.
I loved to walk the crazy poodle around our neighbour and check out the changes in the last month since I was home.
Food:
No trip home is complete without the opportunity to catch up with family and friends and the things I miss in Bangkok, Melbourne’s cafe culture and the food - my favourite being a smashed avocado.
Hey, I'm hearing that shortages in Avocados worldwide is leading to a rise in popularity of the smashed pea dish? Nooooooo!
The 21st Party
Our youngest wanted to have his 21st celebration at home which merited his Mum making the nine-hour flight home, just in case.
We have somehow managed to avoid any BIG parties at home for our daughters and so this was a big deal. There was a bit to organise, which to be fair he largely did, but I was told firmly:
'this shouldn’t be the opportunity for doing all jobs around the place!'
after we are up a ladder fixing the guttering on the car port! Well, why not I say?
Having left the house for the kids to live in with the dog, we don’t get many opportunities to do such things. So I wasn’t going to let the chance of having someone to help me, pass me by!
The party went well, thanks to the youth of today, a lovely crowd, with everyone coming to say hello and thank me for having the party at home. There is hope for the world with this next generation coming through.
Having Mum home results in a few requests:
Mum whilst you are out with the dog,
can you pick up my ball dress from the dry cleaners?
Asked my Soccer playing daughter. The teams get plenty of opportunities to glam up at the end of the season for the Gold Medal and Club presentation events.
I must have looked quite a sight with ball dress draped across one arm, crazy poodle in the other, especially when we met a dead bat in a small alley. Melbourne is home to quite a large colony of bats and this one is sizeable luckily the crazy poodle is reasonably respectful. At the end of the alleyway, the council is out with a blower, collecting the last leaves of autumn…
I disappear under a hail of golden leaves, me the dead bat, the ball dress and the crazy poodle. It was so good to be home!
What’s up in your neighbourhood?
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