Gaz and I watched the Australia Day fireworks from the Sidney Myer Bowl again this year. This time it was more beautiful as we watched it from the top of the hill instead of from the seats in the bowl.
No crowds, no jostling, no BO, unparalleled views of the night sky. Beautiful!
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
La Tour De Creek
There has been plenty of talk and discussions over Lance Armstrong's admission of doping in all of his 7 Tour De France wins. The fact that the wins were assisted by illegal means is very disappointing.
I'm not qualified to discuss the psychology of why he did it, and whether or not he meant his apology in the interview. I can only imagine his admission of his wrongdoing is a big burden off his shoulder and we can look at this as a deterrent to others.
My cycling story is a lot less sensational but is still quite a memorable experience in my life. I first learnt to cycle at the advanced age of 9. My brother demonstrated how it was done, held the bike steady for the first hour or so while I struggled to coordinate my feet, bum and hands. My mom supervised my progress from the cool of the house.
As the learning experience stretched past half a day, a day, two days, they quickly had 'other things to do' and left me to continue on my own. I wanted to join them too with whatever they are doing, but I know I would never be able to hold my head up high when ALL the neighbours in the WHOLE housing estate had been monitoring my progress from their windows throughout the week!
Thankfully by the end of the week, I was coordinated enough to get my bum on the seat and wobbly pedalled about 15 metres down the road whereupon I promptly fell down with the bike on top of me, hurting my leg. I am sure it was a little bit of an anti climax for all the neighbours who had been watching. Some might even have lost some money on me! Luckily, I took to the bicycle like a duck to water when my leg had healed.
One would have thought that after such an embarrassing experience, I would know better than to forget how to ride a bike. But forget I did...
So, 3 weeks ago I re-learnt the bike, sans the neighbours. I practiced in the privacy of my yard, until I could at least get my bum on the seat for more than 2 seconds, then Gaz and I went to a nearby bike trail. Now, this trail had dips and inclines, dogs and pedestrians. It felt like I was in a video game and if I successfully avoided the hurdles I get to stay alive. Which is not far from the truth.
Anyway, at the first instance of a pedestrian walking a dog, I fell down with my bike on top of me. I scraped my knee and hands but pride lifted me straight up and I continued on as though nothing had happened. Both the pedestrian and her dog must have been bedazzled at my ability to fall on a level road.
I might have sustained just a few dozen bruises on my legs and hands, but hey, if I am posed with the question 'Can you swim?', I can at least counter with, 'No, but I can ride a bike!'. Not knowing how to ride a bike AND to swim is just.... bad.
I'm not qualified to discuss the psychology of why he did it, and whether or not he meant his apology in the interview. I can only imagine his admission of his wrongdoing is a big burden off his shoulder and we can look at this as a deterrent to others.
My cycling story is a lot less sensational but is still quite a memorable experience in my life. I first learnt to cycle at the advanced age of 9. My brother demonstrated how it was done, held the bike steady for the first hour or so while I struggled to coordinate my feet, bum and hands. My mom supervised my progress from the cool of the house.
As the learning experience stretched past half a day, a day, two days, they quickly had 'other things to do' and left me to continue on my own. I wanted to join them too with whatever they are doing, but I know I would never be able to hold my head up high when ALL the neighbours in the WHOLE housing estate had been monitoring my progress from their windows throughout the week!
Thankfully by the end of the week, I was coordinated enough to get my bum on the seat and wobbly pedalled about 15 metres down the road whereupon I promptly fell down with the bike on top of me, hurting my leg. I am sure it was a little bit of an anti climax for all the neighbours who had been watching. Some might even have lost some money on me! Luckily, I took to the bicycle like a duck to water when my leg had healed.
One would have thought that after such an embarrassing experience, I would know better than to forget how to ride a bike. But forget I did...
So, 3 weeks ago I re-learnt the bike, sans the neighbours. I practiced in the privacy of my yard, until I could at least get my bum on the seat for more than 2 seconds, then Gaz and I went to a nearby bike trail. Now, this trail had dips and inclines, dogs and pedestrians. It felt like I was in a video game and if I successfully avoided the hurdles I get to stay alive. Which is not far from the truth.
Anyway, at the first instance of a pedestrian walking a dog, I fell down with my bike on top of me. I scraped my knee and hands but pride lifted me straight up and I continued on as though nothing had happened. Both the pedestrian and her dog must have been bedazzled at my ability to fall on a level road.
I might have sustained just a few dozen bruises on my legs and hands, but hey, if I am posed with the question 'Can you swim?', I can at least counter with, 'No, but I can ride a bike!'. Not knowing how to ride a bike AND to swim is just.... bad.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Dawdle dawdle
Don't get me wrong here.. Gaz is very good around the house. I am very thankful that he is willing to help out doing chores in the house. He occasionally washes the dishes, vacumms, does the laundry and cooks. But he dawdles! I would have finished vacumming and mopping the house in the time he takes to put away one load of laundry.
Nowadays, he is much better!
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