Huzzah
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
Good news, internet: my wife is pregnant! I do not know what I am doing, or what I did right, but I will be a Dad in approximately six months time.
P.S. you owe me a bottle of Scotch.
Posts Tagged ‘family’
Lazydays
Saturday, September 6th, 2008
I went on holidays and it was fun. Trish has a brand new nephew, so a couple weeks back we drove down to Port MacQuarie (or thereabouts) to stay with family for a week or so. Our first ‘family’ road trip with the dog went nicely and it was a pleasant drive. During the time we pretty much just sat around and stared at the baby, drinking beer & wine, eating, cooking and playing the Wii. Oh, and I also played ‘Settlers of Katan’ for the first time, and I like it. Also went clothes shopping, seriously needed to get my groove back.
We also splashed out and bought the Wii Fit a couple of days back, which is pretty cool. Surprisingly, you can actually get a decent amount of exercise jumping on that thing. My balance and posture really sucks so I’m gonna put in some hard yards and see if I can become the Yoga master.
Home Swoit Home
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
Freaking freakazoids. I’m still over a month behind with this blogging thing. Why won’t my life slow down? Here’s some January action comin’ atcha in stereo.
January 4th - After one whole year of backpacking and separation from everything familiar, we arrive back in Australia. We feel different, and excited about being home. The first thing we notice are the strange broad nasal accents over the airport loudspeaker.
“Paassngers on floight twoo-six-one ploise procoieed to gaate thiiiry-twoooo.”
Alarmed, we look at each other and say, “By jove, darling, what kind of primitive backwater is this place? They sound rather like dying cows.” After the initial shock of getting accustomed to the Aussie drawl, we also notice that everybody is dressed as though they’ve just come from the beach. A distant memory stirs in my mind as I recognise my old uniform - shorts and thongs.
My parents collect us from the airport and it’s great to see them. As I step outside, my skin starts to soak up the beautiful humid air I grew up in, and it feels good. Very good. The weather is tropical and my parents tell me it’s been raining for several weeks. Sure enough, it’s raining, but it’s warm. Home, sweet home.
That night, we drink beer, have a barbecue, show off our photos and enjoy some long overdue family time. I discover that now I’m back in Australia, I start to taaaalk a looot slooower.
5th - One of our top priorities when we got home was to buy a car.
After several email exchanges, we had arranged to buy my sister’s Land Rover from Sydney and drive it back up. True to form, we didn’t waste any time and flew down to Sydney to pick it up. Road trip time!
Once there, we enjoy some more family time with my sister, brother-in-law and their two young kids in Sydney. We’re pampered nicely, and we get to know our niece and nephew again.
But all was not peaches and cream, my friends! That night, I had the most awful dream. I believed there were two burglars in the house wearing animal masks. I could see one of them moving slowly in my room, and I see one moving about in the kids’ room. I wake up, and in the pitch black darkness I watch the figure creep to the corner and then stop. By this time, I am wide awake, frozen, sweating, with tears rolling down my face. I honestly believe there is someone in the house, and I decide to stay completely still until they leave. I fear that if I move, I will put the childrens’ lives at risk, not to mention our own. After several minutes of this petrified torture, I decide to fumble around quickly for the lamp switch, only to discover there is nobody in the room. I get up and check on the kids, and everything is normal. Spooky.
6th - More family time - we catch up with my Aunt and Uncle and a few cousins in Sydney. For the first time in over a year, I go for a swim. It feels good, and the back of my paper-white neck gets burned. I feel like an English tourist.
7th - Time for the road trip. We take our spanking new car and say our goodbyes, having enjoyed the trip but relishing a bit of time on our own. The car is solid, comfortable, and drives easily. An excellent car for a road trip. We take in some of the beautiful Australian scenery and have a good old yarn. Trish’s brother is renting a new (unoccupied) house in Port MacQuarie, so that’s our first port of call.
It’s an easy drive, and after arriving in the afternoon we have enough time to warm up the credit card and do a bit of shopping. After being denied certain luxuries and having to trim down on all our possessions for the previous year, we badly want stuff. Lots of stuff. We need new phones so we get the Nokia 6070 - nice and simple. I need a razor, so I get a good quality electric one. I also stop into Dick Smith’s and buy an FM transmitter for the iPod so we can listen to tunes on the road. After a good Aussie pub meal we go back to the house to play with our new toys.
8th - Today’s a big driving day and we go all the way past the Gold Coast to Trish’s brother’s house. More family moments, this time with a different set of niece and nephew. We drink beers and catch up.
9th - Big Wednesday. The day we move back into our house. We polish off the rest of the kilometres and arrive back at our magnificent Queenslander on 1 acre at the Sunshine Coast. We’re fretting about the tenant and really, really, really hoping they cleaned the house properly.
Unfortunately our fears are realised when we open up the house and discover that the place is nowhere near a rental tenancy standard clean.
We’ve had lots of experience renting places before, and we know how strict the agents are - unfortunately we’re the agent so it’s our problem. We also want to move into our house immediately and get on with our lives, but unfortunately the house will need to be cleaned beforehand. After some interesting phone discussions, the tenant agrees to pay for a cleaner and we get one to start immediately. Even so, Trish and I are destined to spend the next three days and several subsequent weekends cleaning in our spare time. Pooh pooh!
I’m buggered
Monday, October 8th, 2007
Whoa, time for an update. It’s been a busy couple of weeks. We’ve had lots of visitors, and we’ve also decided to pour all our meagre finances into being proper tourists here in London and visit a few sights, considering our time here is starting to run short.
A couple of weeks ago we caught up with my brother-in-law while he was in London for a few quick beers and a bite to eat. On Sunday we scored cheap tickets to Madam Tussaud’s and got lots of stupid photos with celebrities. On Tuesday some friends we met in Italy were visiting London, so we caught up with them for more beer and pub food. Thursday night we scored standing tickets to one of the last performances of Shakespeare at the Globe (Shakespeare’s original(ish) open-air theatre next to the Thames), for a viewing of Love’s Labour Lost, which was absolutely fantastic.
That brings us to the weekend. On Friday night, Trish’s Mum and brother arrived at Heathrow. (They’ll be staying with us for a week or so, then joining us for part of our Ireland driving adventure next week.) So on Saturday morning we joined a free (tips-based) walking tour of London and took in all the major sights again while hearing all about its sordid history. On Sunday we visited the Tower of London for more clambering up stairs and listening to stories of bloody violence, which also included a viewing of the Crown Jewels.
So that’s my ridiculously busy life at the moment. Another week and a half of work and I’ll be on a plane to Dublin in the next chapter of my endless quest for never-ending endlessness.
Parental units are a-go-go
Wednesday, July 4th, 2007
Well my parents have left and are currently sitting on a train up to Norwich for the next leg of their journey. We’ll see them again in about a month’s time in Salzburg when we all gather together for The Giant Austrian Family Pow-wow 2007.
It was good to see them. As I suspected, the weather was absolute shite the whole time but that’s London for ya. Most of the time was spent just chatting and catching up. Notably on Saturday, we hired a car for the day and drove up to somewhere in the Cotswolds for a nice lunch and a stroll around the English countryside with some distant relatives. On Sunday we stopped by the British Museum again (now becoming one of our favourite spots), church, and a bit of general London sight-seeing.
Last night was a nice dinner in Dean Street and then off to St. Martin’s theatre to see the longest running show in the world, Agatha Christie’s ‘The Mousetrap’. It’s a beautiful little theatre, not many people there so it felt quite intimate. And of course the play was great. I am now one of eight bazillion people who know WHODUNNIT, so I am not allowed to tell you it was the butler all along.
Time to start thinking about our trip. Two weeks from today we’ll be jetting off to Paris. I daresay I won’t regret leaving my boring job behind in this depressing part of London. In fact, I may even moon London from the plane. I will be back in two months though, so I don’t want to get too clever.
When I get back I look forward to getting new work and another change. I actually quite enjoy working in a range of different jobs and seeing different aspects of London life. Living here means every two months or so we’re moving to a new place, starting a new job, or going on another little trip. It’s all very exciting.
In the back of my mind is also a desire to go home to our beautiful little house, get a dog, build a vege garden, extend the house, start building up my web business and start having kids. But not just yet. This year has been a fantastic holiday from our mortgage, our responsibilities, our everyday life, our comfort zone, our careers, even our friends and family, and I’m going to make the most of it while it lasts. Moving to another country where nobody knows you is a frightening, exciting, depressing, and liberating thing. If we didn’t have each other to take comfort in, it would be doubly so. Nonetheless, I think we are growing and changing for the better for the experience.
In between now and the trip of joy we have a few things to look forward to. Live Earth this Saturday, catching up with Miranda on Sunday, a London blog-meet next weekend, finishing work, packing our bags and tying up loose ends. Among other things, we need to organise a replacement tenant for our room, storage for our laptop and extra crap, finalise some company accounts and get our money organised. Plus, we have to watch the rest of Lost Season 1.
Ich bin ein Stein, du bist ein weenie
Saturday, December 16th, 2006
Here’s a picture of me. My last name is STEIN which means I come from a long history of Austrian beer drinkers. Therefore it is my conclusion that I must try as many different types of beers as possible before I die.
I made a start last night at a German restaurant which served copious amounts of expensive and delicious beer. The beer made me feel happy inside, then I had some potato soup which made me even happier. The bavarian sausage and sauerkraut delicacy dish made my happiness peak to uncharted levels, which made me feel momentarily scared. Then there was another different beer in my hand and I felt happy again. Then there were some silly hats and singing.
I’m looking forward to my trip. It’s only 18 days til we leave.
P.S. There is a giant storm headed my way! I think I’m going to wee my pants. What do I do?
In loving memory
Thursday, April 13th, 2006
Trish’s Dad, John passed away this morning. We’ll remember him fondly and think of him often.
Should be flying down again for the funeral about the end of next week.
The adventures of Yo-yo boy
Thursday, April 6th, 2006
If you are reading this, it means that I am back from my crazy adventure down South, for the second time in a month.*
I am dog tired and feel like I’ve been trapped in an emotional cocktail tumbler for two weeks. Truthfully, it’s been an awful trip, and far from a holiday. Nonetheless, I’m happy to be home.
Trish’s dad is still alive, but hanging on by a thread. We ended up having to fly home and get on with our lives, as callous as that sounds. Waiting around for someone to die is one of the most unpleasantly macabre and strange experiences of my life. And I cannot imagine how hard it would be to see your Dad suffering for days and weeks on end. Thank God for morphine, and thank God for helping a lot of the family members get through this time.
Anyway… I hope you are all well, and I’ll be back to my old self posting rubbish shortly. In the meantime, read my interview with the lovely and ever creative Goo.
*I realise that this sentence does not make sense in several different ways. But I like it.
Bye bye
Monday, March 27th, 2006
This blog won’t be updated for a while as we’ve gotta fly to Canberra again this afternoon. Trish’s Dad is seriously ill in hospital and may die.
Hope to be back on board next week sometime.
In the meantime, shake your buttocks and think of me.
Capital City vs. Dracula
Monday, March 20th, 2006
I’ve been gone for a few days because i went on a big plane to Canberra. Actually it wasn’t a very big plane because my knees were cramped up against the seat in front. Plus I was stuck next to this smelly hairy guy who drank Rum with Coke and listened to bad music by Icehouse. On my other side there was this crazy woman named Trish who kept complaining about having no window. But I took solace in my gothic horror book, Dracula, which made me feel much better.
The air hostesses are very attractive and also made me feel better. They wear little white shirts and sexy dresses which make men go crazy in small places. But not me, I have very nice wife. I just look in front, look at hairy man, look at book, and look at wife. Sometimes I look at hostess and receive small elbow in my ribs. But she is worth it.
Canberra is a big boring city full of public servants. The streets go around in circles and nobody comes outside to play because they are busy running the Australian government. They have a big white parliament house and a big war memorial with poppies and old cannons and shit. The land around Canberra is brown, dry, flat, and boring. Many smart people go to Canberra for good jobs but end up having the life sucked out of them after becoming a boring public servant. Dracula and Canberra have a lot in common.
But I am now back at work, away from crazy Canberra and its vampire teeth, and its delicious hostesses. Now I think again of boring work things, and dream at night of a sexy vampire hostess tucking me in.
Hello, I'm Afe.
