A Family Reunion

[luckycanuck]

No gym on Friday either (though I did play a spot of rugby and got a friction burn on my backside from sliding on the grass.)  Instead I did my taxes.  It looks like I will owe money but not heaps of it.  The Tax Office is impressively helpful to be honest.  Compared to plenty of other bureaucracies, their's is much more user friendly.  The same goes for my health fund.

I would have gone for a workout after work but I had people to meet in Sydney if I was going to make it I had to leave right away.

(Note to Sydney drivers in the M5 tunnel.  The sign says "slower traffic keep left."  If you are driving at 10 below the speed limit, you are, in fact, slower traffic.  SO KEEP TO THE BLOODY LEFT!!!")

I was late arriving but John and Jaki and company were still there in Newtown.  After that it was off to Oxford St where J (her name until I come up with a better pseudonym) and Cupcake Goddess (henceforth known as CG) and Pilot were finishing up their dinner.

Apparently, when I have just recently cut my hair like I did late Thursday night, my head is incredibuly fun to touch.  Four people rubbed my scalp today.  Perhaps I should sell tickets.

I gave everyone a lift home, stayed with J and had a nice long chat about things between us.  I'm not sure what to make of it just yet but I'm quite calm.  I'm getting much better at this.

This morning I drove up to Collaroy where my uncle is currently staying.  He flew in from Sweden on Thursday night and will be here for most of November.  He's just back from the shops now with lamb chops for dinner tonight.  My dad flies in with my sister's father-in-law on Melbourne Cup day, and I'm taking a four day weekend.  I have virtually no family in Australia (although dad's second cousin is the chaplain at the Canberra Hospital) so it's good to see them.  I've not seen any relatives since my Swedish cousin was here with her family in February, and before that when I was in Canada last Christmas.

I'm close to my family, and simultaneously not close at all.  We get on very well, but I have no qualms about living on a different continent from them.

Comments

[bakerypenguin.livejournal.com]

Things you learn as an Army brat: it's possibly to be close to your family without being close to your family, and vice versa. And that point would probably have more weight if I hadn't bought a house five minutes from my parents' place. It's useful to be close when, say, your tv comes on at 1.30am all by itself and starts changing channels. You can safely call them on your mobile (underneath your bedclothes, of course, so the person in the lounge room watching tv can't hear) and they can be there armed with torches and ready to laugh themselves stupid when it turns out to be an errant laptop falling on a remote control rather than a burglar with a short attention span.

[luckycanuck.livejournal.com]

Yes I don't buy your line at all!