Sunday, March 9, 2025
8.3.2025 Saturday - a long run on a whim
I thought I would try a zone 2 training run, only to realise that it only works if I go for a long run. Longer than my usual 3-5K. So I continue down Rock Road until I loop past The Spring up the highway and then to the office. It felt good, I think I got the breathing right, but my thighs were sore from the extra distance: 9km. I will continue with the longer run from now on, twice a week - Sunday and Wednesday
Sam is still ill, and unable to keep anything down. Sean and I work late and eat at the corner kopitiam at Hui Sing. Though I would have preferred to have Sam there, I enjoy the time alone with Sean. (Judy is away at Sematan).
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| if there were trails like this nearby, I would be running more frequently. (Cataract Gorge) |
Thursday, March 6, 2025
6.3.2025 Thursday - back at work
6am to the gym to push some weight around, have not done this for a week plus, then a quick walk to the office to see GB and AS about final accounts matters. Then Freddie drops by to brief me about work done while I was away - looks like we have a little too much on our plate at the moment. But this is a good thing, provided we continue to communicate regularly and for me to handle the deadlines, and accountability to client without stressing the team.
10am I thought it would be nice to have a quiet chat with Fi downstairs to hear her opinion about the Precinct 1 housing presentation - she thinks we can do better, and she think that we were one of the 2 already selected by the client prior to the 'pitch'.
11am the chat with the glazing specialist confirms the way forward, I let him lead the conversation, just as we thought he would like it. Ultimately we got the confirmation needed, and that is the main thing. FL and I decide to ask the client to consider the central AC system (who agreed to re-visit the selection).
12noon - small lunch (2 eggs) with SY later joined by the LEK group. They seem to be doing well, just not as sharp on some matters (as we two oldies are) - we are impulsive while they are careful. This is not a bad thing.
130pm - I leave for a meeting with the 49 project team, they have many questions; the team answer most well enough for a 'I can see that you guys are on top of matters regarding this project' from the senior man.
430pm - squash for the first time in ten days; and with a proper warm up; whack the ball around, stretching - the good doctor finds it hard to keep up.
The end of a long day - first day back from holidays; folks express surprise expecting me to rest for a day or so before resuming activities. I don't have that luxury - there is much to do.
5.3.2025 Wednesday - Melbourne. Singapore. Kuching
Sam wakes early to cook up a few days of breakfast for amah; stuff she finds in the fridge is cooked into a Korean style Bachan (small dishes) for her breakfast in the coming days. Kim-Louie (amah) has been living on her own for 21 years since her husband David died. She is Penang-Chinese from BM, but in the years spent here she has adapted herself well in the local culture. She eats her rice with a fork (much to the dismay of Lena) and says 'yea' with a slight Aussie accent. She is mobile for 82 years, she drives to the local supermarket and takes part in weekly trips to the 'Crown' for pokies, outing with her local community group for lunches in the country, to flower shows and farmers' markets. She attends the local Catholic church and solves jigsaw puzzles on her iPad (addicted like a teenager to computer games).
At 10 am Lena drives us to the airport, we think one of our bags is over the weight limit, but Sam is good at solving this. My backpack gets heavier..I want a meat pie before we depart Australia, but no luck, and no food until we reach Kuching. It has been raining heavily and everything is a little gloomy, a bit of a let down from the past 9 days - but it is expected. I am looking forward to work tomorrow and have a early night (probably due to the the time difference in Australia).
4.3.2025 Tuesday - what a long day
630 a.m. The day starts with a walk down to the river, there is a park that runs along it. We know because we have seen it, but for some unknown reason we have not wondered down there. SO while the others are preparing their breakfasts, I go for a look. 'Go - go and have a look' was the encouragement. I am glad I did; this is what can be done - to boost the quality of lives for the local community; it is a shortcut - I see some people walking briskly dressed for work, a man who nodded to me on the way there and returned with a newspaper and a carton of milk, cyclists, runners, and dog-walkers use this linear park as part of their routine.
10am - we leave for the airport and buy gifts for FL and JY. Freddo text to say afternoon tea will be 4pm instead of 3pm. After landing at Tullamarine, we send 'amah' home and settle her in before going to the supermarket for last minute gift/food shopping. Then it is off to Melbourne to see if I can recognise any part of Oakleigh (where I spent one year in 1983 while studying Year 12). No, it is all new to me. But the conversation with Freddo seem a continuation of the ones we had at uni, slotted in comfortably despite the 35 year hiatus.
And the day goes on, we leave Freddo at Melbourne Central he felt a little spare when I hug him; he needs to eat more. We walk slowly to Carlton to tempt ourselves with another milk stout at The Lincon; we succumbed and sit down for a pot each. Then onwards to see Edina - she is such good dinner table company; frank, thoughtful and ambitious. The conversation continue after dinner to a gelato on the pavement outside PIDAPIPO, and in the car ride home to Point Cook. What a long day, and a lovely one.
3.3.2025 Monday - Port Arthur and a walk into town
An early morning drive to Port Arthur; a former penal colony and prison, now a UNESCO World Heritage site (2010). The drive takes about an hour on quite small roads, on two occasions the Tasman Highway is a single carriage-way across the ocean.
I am more fond of landscapes when there are buildings on it, and if these buildings are historic, decayed, slightly falling down I like it even more. Port Arthur has all this; the buildings set on the hilly terrain means that you can see almost all of them from a distance, the site is at the water's edge making it very romantic (though I am sure the prisoners then did not think so, as it was likely used as a sewer and rubbish tip). The buildings which were restored are open for viewing, showing traces of life then; Sam and I listened in on several of the guided tours, while the ruins are well preserved with well designed interventions for access and view platforms, as well as structures to reinforce the damaged and free standing walls.
At 130pm - we meet Brenda and her husband Andy at the Port Arthur Lavender Farm. They have a place at Eaglehawk Neck. Brenda has her own practice, do small projects. Andy grew up in Malaysia, in Penang as one of the RAF families in Butterworth. I won't mind spending more time with them over a meal next time.
After returning to Hobart, I convince Sam and Lena to walk in town for drink. They have not seen much of the city, and it is a warm day. We use the HOPE and ANCHOR; the oldest pub in Hobart as a destination, stopping here and there to shop for dinner ingredients. The pub was not a favourite, the bar staff are all not locals and do not seem to know their drinks.
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