Getting married.
12 December 2022
At the end of August we went to see Hannah Gadsby’s new show. It was not as confronting as either of her previous shows we have been to, which reflected the happier state of mind she is in. I have also been a lot happier, especially as hospital work is much closer to normal, though busy, and the opportunities for travel have opened up again. We started making plans for travel next year: for Sydney in March and then maybe Europe in August/September. Instead of Christmas in North America with Jay’s family, we planned to see them at the wedding in November and so would spend a fourth Christmas in a row in Melbourne.
During September we used the house at Sorrento to have two weekends out of the city at short notice. The Queen’s death turned the AFL Grand Final weekend into a four day weekend. Since the end of lockdown we haven't seen echidnas on the walking tracks, but the blue-tongue lizards aren't so timid.
The local gym Sorrento had survived the pandemic by closing one of its locations, but the equipment in the consolidated gym is fine for our workouts so our beach weekend workouts have been a lot better than the improvised ones with bands.
Some weekends we have been trying suburban gyms, partly for a change of scene and also because our regular gym lost a lot of the more serious customers during and after the pandemic closures. Muscle City in Mount Waverley is on the way home from Sorrento, so we have gone there a few times now and worked out with Ivan, whom we met at Doherty’s last year.
Billie Eilish toured at the end of September. Jay had bought tickets to see her in concert. He knew more of the songs than I did. The show was fast-paced and energetic and we were a lot older than most of the crowd.
Jay and I had short work-related trips overseas either side of the wedding. I went to the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ meeting in New Orleans. The city was noticeably more vibrant than at my last visit when the effects of Hurricane Katrina were still evident. The meeting itself was excellent and I also got to see the Halloween Parade and do a few tourist activities. UCSF Anesthesiology had an alumni evening at which I met up with a few former residents and colleagues as well as meeting one of their current Australian visitors.
The travel to and from the meeting was surprisingly easy compared with the COVID testing and other hurdles back in March. On the way home, American Airlines delayed my flight from New Orleans to Dallas to connect with the Qantas flight to Sydney. As the remaining connection time in Dallas was going to be only a few minutes, I thought I had better try to get on an earlier flight. Derek helped by making calls to Qantas and American on my behalf while I got myself to the airport. I was standby on the earlier flight and while my bag successfully caught the earlier flight, I did not. Because it was a big anaesthesia conference, I found five other Australian anaesthetists in the same situation trying to make the same flight in Dallas so we had a meal together at the airport. One of them turned out to be the author of “The Chloroformist” which I had recently read an enjoyed.
We arrived at Dallas with a nominal 7 minutes to make the connection. Running together to the Skylink train and then the gate, we arrived after the other passengers had boarded but before the doors had closed. So the travel home was also successful except for a pulled hamstring from the running.
Our wedding was on November 5 at the North Terrace of Melbourne Museum. It had rained almost every day in the preceding month, so we were nervous about the plan for an outdoor ceremony. Never having organised a wedding before, I was also a little nervous about the coordination of the event: I had done a lot of it by email, giving general direction and figuring the people doing the cake, flowers, catering, venue, photography and ceremony probably knew how to work cooperatively.
Jay’s parents and sister arrived in the week before the wedding. His parents were staying with us, and Denise at the Sheraton nearby so we had some family time and tourist activities with them. His other sister Richelle and her family had planned to arrive in Australia a week before the wedding but unfortunately were all unwell and did not travel. We lost a few other guests to COVID as well.
We were very lucky with the day of the ceremony. We had fine weather and sunshine for the outdoor ceremony. I arrived about half an hour early and everything was set up and ready to go. Everyone involved did a great job, my only note was that I thought the guests should have eaten more cake as we ended up freezing quite a lot. Also I was a bit teary and couldn’t remember any of the vows, which didn’t matter as Wendy the celebrant anticipated this and had us repeat them after her. I have made an album of wedding photos online.
We did not expect gifts at the wedding, asking people to consider making a donation to Oxfam or the Smith Family instead, but my sister gave us a touching gift: Norwegian art deco silver salt and pepper shakers by David Andersen. The polar bear is of course a Northern hemisphere creature present in Canada and the penguin a Southern hemisphere one in Australia.
With the wedding done, we started making some plans for 2023. We booked the Atlantis cruise from Rome for late August and will stay on in Europe for a couple of weeks after. In March we will go to Sydney for World Pride. This was an opportunity for me to set a goal for gym training. I talked to my trainer and we made a plan for the period from the wedding to the end of February.
A week after the wedding, Jay went to Stockholm for work. Like my trip to New Orleans, it seemed like a lot of travel for less than a week on the ground at the other end. He also caught a cold which made the trip even less fun, though he passed his COVID tests.
The last two weekends we have spent at Sorrento. With the start of Summer we finally had a day or two of warm weather. Nathan and Jason joined us at the beach on the first weekend. It was also the Victorian state election, so we had voted earlier during the week. The second weekend was real swimming weather although the ocean is still very cold.
Now work is winding down for the end of the year. We had a bowls evening for the anaesthesia trainees from St Vincent’s. I have a full work schedule right up to December 23 and then we’re both off until just after New Year. We will spend most of that time at Sorrento. Derek is coming to stay and we will have other friends visiting at the beach.
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During September we used the house at Sorrento to have two weekends out of the city at short notice. The Queen’s death turned the AFL Grand Final weekend into a four day weekend. Since the end of lockdown we haven't seen echidnas on the walking tracks, but the blue-tongue lizards aren't so timid.
The local gym Sorrento had survived the pandemic by closing one of its locations, but the equipment in the consolidated gym is fine for our workouts so our beach weekend workouts have been a lot better than the improvised ones with bands.
Some weekends we have been trying suburban gyms, partly for a change of scene and also because our regular gym lost a lot of the more serious customers during and after the pandemic closures. Muscle City in Mount Waverley is on the way home from Sorrento, so we have gone there a few times now and worked out with Ivan, whom we met at Doherty’s last year.
Billie Eilish toured at the end of September. Jay had bought tickets to see her in concert. He knew more of the songs than I did. The show was fast-paced and energetic and we were a lot older than most of the crowd.
Jay and I had short work-related trips overseas either side of the wedding. I went to the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ meeting in New Orleans. The city was noticeably more vibrant than at my last visit when the effects of Hurricane Katrina were still evident. The meeting itself was excellent and I also got to see the Halloween Parade and do a few tourist activities. UCSF Anesthesiology had an alumni evening at which I met up with a few former residents and colleagues as well as meeting one of their current Australian visitors.
The travel to and from the meeting was surprisingly easy compared with the COVID testing and other hurdles back in March. On the way home, American Airlines delayed my flight from New Orleans to Dallas to connect with the Qantas flight to Sydney. As the remaining connection time in Dallas was going to be only a few minutes, I thought I had better try to get on an earlier flight. Derek helped by making calls to Qantas and American on my behalf while I got myself to the airport. I was standby on the earlier flight and while my bag successfully caught the earlier flight, I did not. Because it was a big anaesthesia conference, I found five other Australian anaesthetists in the same situation trying to make the same flight in Dallas so we had a meal together at the airport. One of them turned out to be the author of “The Chloroformist” which I had recently read an enjoyed.
We arrived at Dallas with a nominal 7 minutes to make the connection. Running together to the Skylink train and then the gate, we arrived after the other passengers had boarded but before the doors had closed. So the travel home was also successful except for a pulled hamstring from the running.
Our wedding was on November 5 at the North Terrace of Melbourne Museum. It had rained almost every day in the preceding month, so we were nervous about the plan for an outdoor ceremony. Never having organised a wedding before, I was also a little nervous about the coordination of the event: I had done a lot of it by email, giving general direction and figuring the people doing the cake, flowers, catering, venue, photography and ceremony probably knew how to work cooperatively.
Jay’s parents and sister arrived in the week before the wedding. His parents were staying with us, and Denise at the Sheraton nearby so we had some family time and tourist activities with them. His other sister Richelle and her family had planned to arrive in Australia a week before the wedding but unfortunately were all unwell and did not travel. We lost a few other guests to COVID as well.
We were very lucky with the day of the ceremony. We had fine weather and sunshine for the outdoor ceremony. I arrived about half an hour early and everything was set up and ready to go. Everyone involved did a great job, my only note was that I thought the guests should have eaten more cake as we ended up freezing quite a lot. Also I was a bit teary and couldn’t remember any of the vows, which didn’t matter as Wendy the celebrant anticipated this and had us repeat them after her. I have made an album of wedding photos online.
We did not expect gifts at the wedding, asking people to consider making a donation to Oxfam or the Smith Family instead, but my sister gave us a touching gift: Norwegian art deco silver salt and pepper shakers by David Andersen. The polar bear is of course a Northern hemisphere creature present in Canada and the penguin a Southern hemisphere one in Australia.
With the wedding done, we started making some plans for 2023. We booked the Atlantis cruise from Rome for late August and will stay on in Europe for a couple of weeks after. In March we will go to Sydney for World Pride. This was an opportunity for me to set a goal for gym training. I talked to my trainer and we made a plan for the period from the wedding to the end of February.
A week after the wedding, Jay went to Stockholm for work. Like my trip to New Orleans, it seemed like a lot of travel for less than a week on the ground at the other end. He also caught a cold which made the trip even less fun, though he passed his COVID tests.
The last two weekends we have spent at Sorrento. With the start of Summer we finally had a day or two of warm weather. Nathan and Jason joined us at the beach on the first weekend. It was also the Victorian state election, so we had voted earlier during the week. The second weekend was real swimming weather although the ocean is still very cold.
Now work is winding down for the end of the year. We had a bowls evening for the anaesthesia trainees from St Vincent’s. I have a full work schedule right up to December 23 and then we’re both off until just after New Year. We will spend most of that time at Sorrento. Derek is coming to stay and we will have other friends visiting at the beach.
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