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Loitering in Leura

Monday, 13 August, 2007

Thursday and Friday last week I was supposed to start editing the Pathway Bible Guide for Proverbs but instead I ended up doing lots of Briefing admin stuff, chasing commissions and stressing about the next issue (October). I think I was overtired and stressed on Thursday because I didn't end the day feeling too good, plus I had a little incident in traffic on the way home (note to self: never attempt to drive home between 5 and 6 pm). The car's fine and I'm fine and it was stupid, really; it just rattled me because I got honked at. I got home, whinged to Ben (who had very kindly done the laundry as he was at home, sick) and, instead of writing my speech for my dad's 60th, I sat in front of the TV all evening watching taped Grey's Anatomy and House.

Elsie came on Friday and we continued our studies in Cash Values (thought-provoking stuff!) I went to counselling at 3 which was all right, then came home and once again did nothing all evening.

This meant on Saturday I got up fairly early to write my speech and pack to go to the mountains. I wasn't sure whether Ben would be able to make it but in the end, he decided to go (flu or no flu). I drove and traffic out to the M2 was ridiculous; somehow I always managed to get stuck behind the slowest person in the lane. We got up there by about 1:30 and went to a café called The Red Door in Leura to have lunch. Unfortunately it was rather hurried lunch as we were late, which was a shame because I had been looking forward to it all week.

We were staying at the Fairmont but there was no parking near the door so I dropped Ben off with the bags and went to park the car. There was also no-one around to help us with our bags unfortunately, so after checking in, we struggled along with them. But one of the porters who had been helping someone else met us halfway and helped us to our room. We dumped our stuff, I applied some make-up and then we went down to the lobby for family photos.

I had stayed at the Fairmont years ago with my dad, stepmother and stepsister. It hadn't changed much.

We were waiting for some time—waiting for the rest of my relatives to show up and for the photographer to finish scouting locations. Helena (my stepmother) was concerned about Ben's flu so we just stayed for the indoor photos which were taken near the lounge area.

Back in our room, Ben got into bed, and watched some TV and had a snooze, while I went down to the indoor pool and had the first swim in ... actually, I can't remember the last time I swam.

Then it was back upstairs to get ready for the surprise party.

(You probably can't see it but in the photo I'm wearing foundation, lipstick, eyeshadow and mascara!)

I thought Ben looked especially smart.

Down in the Oxley function room, my brother told us off for being late but we weren't that late. We had to be seated because my dad was coming. And then he came in and band the played “Happy Birthday” and he certainly was surprised! He thought that it was just going to be a small family thing but instead 60 people were there—friends, family and employees.

(These were the gift bags with candles inside.)

One of the agents was MC-ing and he introduced me, prefacing his introduction with “The speeches won't take long”. This made me quite nervous because I had prepared to speak for about 10-15 minutes. I even read a bit out of Fatherhood. I spoke a bit too fast and stumbled over my words but my speech went down really well, and lots of people came up and told me how much they liked it. One guy even said to me that he wanted his daughter to do the same thing when he turned 60!

We had a buffet dinner with yummy things like smoked salmon, oysters, roast beef and a variety of salads. There was pavlova, cheesecake and coconut slice for dessert. My dad cut his cake (and felt embarrassed about doing it—he said that cutting cakes are for weddings, not birthdays!) My brother gave a short presentation of the cheque for the Children's Hospital at Westmead, then this drumming troupe came in (they were pretty cool).

There were also three scantily clad befeathered dancers who tried to get everyone up to dance. That was a bit weird.

Then the band took over and placed a variety of well-known tunes for people to dance to—Stevie Wonder's “Superstition”, Jackson 5 (or The Jacksons; I never know—they're the same people anyway!), “The Nutbush” (I got up and danced for that one but only that one) and others. It made me laugh that these kids in their tweens knew the steps of some of the dances better than the alduts.

I quite enjoyed sitting there listening to the band. I kept taking silly photos of us:

At 10 we excused ourselves and went back to the room so Ben could rest. SBS were screening the second half of that documentary on Bob Dylan—No Direction Home so we watched that for a little while. Unfortunately we both didn't sleep that well that night.

The next morning I packed and then we went down to the restaurant to have breakfast.

I was impressed they had conji and miso soup!

At 10 we said our farewells and left. I think my dad wanted us to stay longer but I had CASE work to do and I wanted to bring Ben home so he could rest. So I drove us home again and spent 6 hours editing audio. So you can now download:

• Human Need and Christian Care;
• Sexuality and the Christian Worldview;
• God and the Family; and
• others.

I missed church because I thought I was getting sick (still staving it off!)

Today I went to work, started editing the Proverbs Pathway Bible Guide and tried to write a CHN (it didn't go that well). Katie Noonan's Skin arrived in the mail and it's divine. (I particularly like her cover of “Crazy” on the second disc.) I think perhaps working so much on Sunday meant I wasn't very productive today (despite getting eight hours of sleep) so I must make sure I do nothing this evening.

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