25th of August. The day I self-multiplied. Dual citizenship. I mean, if am going to live here and have my kids grow up here, it's only right that I have a voice in how the country turns out and how it treats them. It's not a betrayal of my Irish roots, I am still Irish. But I live in Australia and Australia has treated me well so far and provided me with a beautiful family and life in general. If only the Queen of England was not still a figurehead here... it would be so much easier to digest! How things would have turned out if we stayed at home in Ireland, that's all conjecture and impossible to determine, especially with all that's happening now which reads and sounds.... well, sh&te to be honest. I hope it is short lived.So I let the month of August go without an update. Either too busy, or nothing to say. Which is it. Well, it's mainly because it was all a bit crazy. Am currently coming back from a day trip to Canberra - which, incidentally, is a sh&thole (full of roundabouts and beaurocrats) having done some interviews for another recruit in my ever expanding empire. I didn't and wouldn't choose to put somebody in place here, the local office here just happens to be full of high maintenance precious brokers and they want their own Finance person. Whatever, they can pay for it. Unfortunatley, I have to manage it. Anyway, work, boring, I know. In the last 13 days, I think I've been on something like 9 flights. Amongst all that was Sydney, where I met with the Murt fella again - only to find out there's another wee Mitchell on the way. Waaahayyyy! In for a penny wha?
Weather. I have to bring it up. While its come back down a bit, we did have the hottest August day on record in Brisbane last week. The mercury hit 35. In winter. The tail end of winter, but still. Had a few very 'warm' wonderful days, where I managed to ramp up the solar heating for the pool and myself and the little girls ventured in for the first of the 'summer' swims. Aibhe was a bit rusty to start but before too long, she was on her own, swimming from side to side, goggles on, happy as the proverbial pig and sh&te. Emma will also be a swimmer. She has no fear whatsoever, and while she doesn't know exactly where in the pool she wants to be, she just does not seem to want to be held up by anyone. We'll need to watch her. Though we knew that already.
Of course, as usual, August brought the sickness season with it. Aibhe suffered a little, but Emma copped a right dose (was bordering penumonia), which she in turn passed on to Alissa and Barb. Doctors said it was the Adno virus but we actually believe they got hit with Swine flu. The older generation are still in recovery mode, Emma - definitely herself again.
Spent a weekend in Cairns recently - we have an office up there and we hold a Queensland board meeting once a year (to make them all feel loved etc) - but the nice thing was that partners were invited. So, Alissa got to come and relax while I went to a Board meeting and then went fishing on the reef with the boys (honestly, fishing gets boring after a while - though I did catch a couple of decent sized ones), while she got pampered in a Spa and tried to chill out. And thought about the girls back home with Barb and Geoff of course. And this was when, unbeknownst to us, Emma was slowly progressing to the pneumonia stage, so there was a little unease.
Was also in a place in the Blue Mountains just outside Sydney for a few days last week - Leadership conference - bit of a right of passage for progression to the Senior Management Team - so, wouldn't say I learnt heaps, but was good (and probably nececssary) to mingle with the up and coming hot shots. A few funny little stories always come out of these events, but the start for me was eventful. I had arrived pretty bloody early into Sydney that morning, as the intention was that the non Sydney people were being picked up outside a downtown hotel to be brought to the resort (about an hour and a half from Sydney). So there I was, bright and early (well, not so bright, think Alissa and I had about 2-3 hours sleep the night before with sick kids), and the chick organising it told me the lads coming in from Melbourne were late due to a flight delay so to head off to the hotel across the road and have a coffee. Which I did, started a bit of work on the laptop while I was at it. Probably got a little too engrossed in the work, as next time I looked up, the minibus was pulling out (with my bags inside) - off it went, driving down York st without me. I realised I had no mobile numbers for those on the bus. Mild panic, mild laughter ensued. Quick decision to sprint to the next set of traffic lights to see if I could get the bus before it turned the corner. Thankfully, my recent training regime on our newly acquired treadmill at home paid off - so I stood the lights, knocked politely on the drivers window - guy looked at me like I was going to smash it and him and take over the driving (despite the fact I had spent 5 minutes talking to the Scottish muppet about half an hour earlier). During the driver's slow dawning epiphany, the other lads had opened the door and literally bundled me in, and we were off. The PA in charge of making sure we had the right numbers did not live that one down.
Been having the electric shaver vs blade debate a bit recently (with myself - I do put up some great cases forward for both sides). My conclusion? A combination is the optimum solution I believe. A quick mow with the electric to start off to remove the real length from the bristle so the blade has less "fighting" to do, followed up with a foam and hot blade shave. The latter provides the refreshing close shave feel and gets those rogue bits that the electric always seems to miss. I reckon this is also the quickest solution. And its not like I have the thickest of facial hair - am still amazedthat it goes ginger.
Anyway, Australia and its economy eh? Defies logic really and is a bit hard to explain. I just happen to be in the only country in the world to buck the big recession cycle. Should be a sign at the borders - 'No Recession here - please do not bring it with you'. Maybe they could check baggage for it. They have just reported some ridiculous growth number for the 2nd quarter this year. I think it's that people are quite willing to be optimistic and go out and blow their cash. Given interest rates could and did come down so much so fast also got people into a much more stable and better position financially - of course now interest rates are on the way up again to stop the whole inflation cycle kicking in. So anyone that wants out of the great Irish depression, ….. Brisbane's a grand spot.
Come on over, the water's warm.
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