luckycanuck

I've been up in Sydney a lot recently.  I like Sydney and I like staying at the Collaroy Castle, but it does mean a lot of time spent in the car.  Next weekend it will be good to have a whole weekend without having to make any long trips.

A lot of the recent Sydney visits have also involved family, which means much less space and independence for me.  My parents are now back in Canada, and tomorrow my cousin and her husband and three kids arrive from Sweden to visit for a while.  My uncle will join them later.

Last weekend, however, I had the place to myself to walk around naked in.  Hooray!  Saturday was a quiet day that involved eating the leftovers that mum left for me, and visiting the beach where there were some very sizable waves that tossed me around plenty.  Little else was done and that was fine by me.

On Sunday I had my first Convict event of the year.  Fair Day was good again.  We won the tug of war by beating the hockey team, the dykes on bikes, and the swim team to become Mardi Gras tug of war champions for the third year running.  It's much easier when I am the smallest guy of the six at 90kg.  Our team was entirely made up of forwards.  Tommy, Aki, Steve, Gump, Jumbo, and myself all know what a scrum looks like from the inside.  I am a bit sore in the legs today.  The 12 hour race is still affecting me I suspect.

I also did a shift on the dunk tank which was a relief on such a hot day.  All this and I only got a bit of sunburn.

Afterewards Minou had me over for dinner and to give the dogs a workout.

Parliament sits for the next two weeks which might make work easier/interesting.

Also, I have booked leave and tickets to go back to North America in April.  Much of it will involve going back to place I was at recently, but it will also mean going to Ottawa for the first time in a long time and getting acquainted with Canadian politics again.  I think this might be coming just in time.  It turns out I'm using about three weeks of the nearly eleven I have saved up.

I'm not sure what to do about Lent this year.  Last year I gave up alcohol, sweets, meat, and caffeine.  This year, however, I will be travelling for the second half of Lent.  If I'm in a bar in Montreal I may wish to sample the local beers so that means I may not be able to seriously give up the grog.  In fact, living a simpler life seems inherently incompatible with being on holiday, even when you generally have simple tastes as I do.  International travel seems inherently showy.  I'd like to give up something, but I can't seem to think of anything.  (Lent is part of the lead up to one of the most important part of the religious year for me and generally I enjoy it and the sacrifices that go along with it, but I don't seem to feel excited about it this year.)  Perhaps I could take something on.