Crazy Summer
04 April 2017
While the world seemed to be going crazy following the US Presidential Election, we had quite a pleasant Summer. From Hawaii we went to Los Angeles to attend the Masterbeat NYE events. As has happened before, we were surprised how many people we saw that we knew. As well as old friends from San Francisco, we ran into some guys we had met in Tahiti last April and Chad who had stayed with us when he was in Australia, but had moved to South Africa after that.
We returned to Melbourne shortly after New Year and went straight back to work. My Long Service Leave from St Vincent’s had finished and I started leave from the Eye and Ear Hospital at the beginning of February. During the competitive rowing season I took the opportunity to act as a fill-in rower for morning training with a number of different crews and enjoyed the training.
We decided to go with the rowing club to the Rutherglen regatta. We had both rowed in this regatta previously but this year it was just to support the other crews and socialize. The conditions were beautiful and the club had some success in the races. It was a relaxing weekend.
Our annual trip to the Australian Open was a lucky one this year as we saw an excellent match between Thomas Berdych and Roger Federer. Federer was returning after injury and in this match he really played as he had at his best.
At the start of February I had arranged to have my long-standing umbilical hernia repaired. It was not causing pain but had been gradually getting larger and I wanted it fixed. I took the recommendation of a surgical colleague in choosing a surgeon to consult and was very happy with the experience. As it was our anniversary and we generally have a dinner out together on that day, Jay brought a take-away meal to the hospital for our anniversary dinner. I was still a bit spaced out from the anaesthetic and don’t remember much of it but from the look of the photo I enjoyed the meal. The surgery meant six weeks off training heavy at the gym and also off rowing, which meant I sat out most of the rest of the active part of the season.
We took the opportunity to make a few fixes around the house. As the leak seemed finally to have been successfully repaired, we had the plasterwork repaired and then all the walls and ceilings repainted except for the garage and study. I also bought a more comfortable outdoor seat for reading in the good weather and we installed some bookcases in the living room.
As the nights began to get longer, the annual White Night arts festival was held. This year we were in town so we walked down to the exhibits and met a friend there to see the art installations together. It was not as good as previous years; the best work seemed to be around the Exhibition Buildings with some good projection artwork and a flaming pipe-organ kind of thing.
The other festivals we visited were Mardi Gras in Sydney, where we caught up with Beau and Simon whom we hadn’t seen for almost a year, and the Arnold Expo in Melbourne where there were a number of guys from the gym competing. We went to the IFBB Pro prejudging to see the stage performance of the guys we had been training along side during the preceding week at the gym.
I had given Jay tickets to see Adele in concert for Christmas. It was the same day as the IFBB show so we walked from one to the other. On the way Jay showed me his office. The building included some very striking architecture in the internal stairways.
Adele’s concerts were a sell-out and she put on a very spirited performance. We also went to a concert of the Philip Glass Ensemble playing the score for Koyaanisqatsi which I enjoyed very much.
I had quite a subdued birthday this year as I was attending a course at the College of Anaesthetists in practical teaching techniques. Jay took me out for a lovely dinner at Ides. Now we have to plan for our trip to Japan in June and maybe a short visit to Sorrento at Easter.
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We returned to Melbourne shortly after New Year and went straight back to work. My Long Service Leave from St Vincent’s had finished and I started leave from the Eye and Ear Hospital at the beginning of February. During the competitive rowing season I took the opportunity to act as a fill-in rower for morning training with a number of different crews and enjoyed the training.
We decided to go with the rowing club to the Rutherglen regatta. We had both rowed in this regatta previously but this year it was just to support the other crews and socialize. The conditions were beautiful and the club had some success in the races. It was a relaxing weekend.
Our annual trip to the Australian Open was a lucky one this year as we saw an excellent match between Thomas Berdych and Roger Federer. Federer was returning after injury and in this match he really played as he had at his best.
At the start of February I had arranged to have my long-standing umbilical hernia repaired. It was not causing pain but had been gradually getting larger and I wanted it fixed. I took the recommendation of a surgical colleague in choosing a surgeon to consult and was very happy with the experience. As it was our anniversary and we generally have a dinner out together on that day, Jay brought a take-away meal to the hospital for our anniversary dinner. I was still a bit spaced out from the anaesthetic and don’t remember much of it but from the look of the photo I enjoyed the meal. The surgery meant six weeks off training heavy at the gym and also off rowing, which meant I sat out most of the rest of the active part of the season.
We took the opportunity to make a few fixes around the house. As the leak seemed finally to have been successfully repaired, we had the plasterwork repaired and then all the walls and ceilings repainted except for the garage and study. I also bought a more comfortable outdoor seat for reading in the good weather and we installed some bookcases in the living room.
As the nights began to get longer, the annual White Night arts festival was held. This year we were in town so we walked down to the exhibits and met a friend there to see the art installations together. It was not as good as previous years; the best work seemed to be around the Exhibition Buildings with some good projection artwork and a flaming pipe-organ kind of thing.
The other festivals we visited were Mardi Gras in Sydney, where we caught up with Beau and Simon whom we hadn’t seen for almost a year, and the Arnold Expo in Melbourne where there were a number of guys from the gym competing. We went to the IFBB Pro prejudging to see the stage performance of the guys we had been training along side during the preceding week at the gym.
I had given Jay tickets to see Adele in concert for Christmas. It was the same day as the IFBB show so we walked from one to the other. On the way Jay showed me his office. The building included some very striking architecture in the internal stairways.
Adele’s concerts were a sell-out and she put on a very spirited performance. We also went to a concert of the Philip Glass Ensemble playing the score for Koyaanisqatsi which I enjoyed very much.
I had quite a subdued birthday this year as I was attending a course at the College of Anaesthetists in practical teaching techniques. Jay took me out for a lovely dinner at Ides. Now we have to plan for our trip to Japan in June and maybe a short visit to Sorrento at Easter.
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