Letter to Marlis October-November 2024

Bellbird Park, 1 December 2024

Hi Marlis,

I hope you are doing well, Spring was always my favourite time in the ACT with the weather being just right for doing things outdoors, but today is the start of Summer, so make sure you stay cool and upright! 

Even for my standards, it’s been a crazy busy two months, especially since I stopped working at Super Retail Group, but as usual, things worked out almost completely to plan. Here we go with our adventures of the past two months.

The new house

The thing that took up most of my time and energy over the past 6 weeks was of course the new house, 1 Trevor Street in Bellbird Park. It’s only 7km from the house in Springfield Lakes, but feels much farther away somehow. It’s green, quiet and quite nice, with most familiar shops, dog walks and activities about as close as they used to be. We’ve got a big shopping plaza nearby and two big shopping centres a bit further away, but there’s not that much for which we need to go to the city most weekends. 

The house itself has enough space for the three of us and Dash’s 7 beds, one in each room just in case he needs to lie down and rest from all that sleeping! The kitchen is laid out better for us that in the other house and the rooms are big enough. The thing we have to get used to a bit is having a separate ‘media room’, where we watch TV and sit on the sofa most evenings. We might change that later on, because it feels a bit disjointed, but we’ll take everyone’s advice and live in the house a bit first before we start knocking down walls. 

It's also been a very different experience for me than for Yumi. I’ve been home every day since we moved, while she’s been at work or travelling. I just did all the things that needed doing and she would come back to all those changes every day, trying to figure out what was different this time, haha. It’ll be a few months before we’ve truly settled in, but the Christmas break is coming up and we have no real plans to go anywhere, so we’ll hang around the house and get used it slowly.

The moving day went about as well as planned. I’d already moved a lot of things from the old to the new house, but had to wait for the painters and tile tradies to get their work done, so I kept moving things from room to room. I also took out the carpet from 2 rooms, thinking that we were replacing it with laminate floorboards, but Yumi couldn’t decide and we ran out of time so I had to put the carpet back. For once I had the good sense to not cut it in small strips, so now we have really bad carpet in two rooms and might end up reflooring all 5 rooms eventually. Okay, so that didn’t go to plan…😊

 I had help on the day from my friend Michael and between the two of us we made quick work of what I first thought was one truckload but it turned out to really be two and it JUST fit into the truck. I had really miscalculated how much stuff we actually had, but all the same, by 3.30pm it was all done and when Yumi came home at 5pm everything was more or less in its place. We spent the weekend going back to the old house and doing a very thorough clean in which Yumi cleaned her bathroom and I did essentially everything else, haha.  We also had to unpack some more boxes and make about 20 trips to Bunnings for the final things we needed, but by the end of the weekend, we were basically ready to start living in the new house.

There was of course the matter of the end-of-lease clean up and the real estate agent was giving us a hard time bout some pre-existing small damages that we had nothing to do with and as they had no evidence, that just went away quietly. I did go back once more to vacuum up 3 flies (big deal to them) and scrub the oven pan to within an inch of its life but we got our bond back and only had to pay rent and mortgage for about 4 weeks. I love it when a plan comes together! I was a good house to live in, but having our own is even better 😊

 

We haven’t really met our neighbours yet, but dropped off a note with our contact details just in case they need to reach us. I had a chat to our left side neighbour Aaron who told me they’ll be moving to the USA somewhere next year to start a business they’ve already got her in Australia. He’s a painter now, but will start providing technology that supports veterans in their recovery and social interaction, so good on them! Also good for us, because that means we can just deal with their landlord. The neighbours at the back (we’re on a corner so only have two sides connected to other properties) we haven’t met in person just yet, but that’ll happen sometime soon. We’ve waved at each other from afar and will at some point have to discuss some of their trees hanging over our property. And their dogs that are outside all day and bark at everything that moves. Not so great, but that’s the suburbs for you!

We’ve started working with a garden designer because we have a lot of yard space and it’s not used much right now. It’ll cost an arm and a leg (probably $50-60,000!) to get a new fence (60+ meters), all new plants, an extended patio, new soil, more plants and probably also additional drainage and then even more plants. So many plants, I don’t know where we’ll put all those, but the design will let us talk to landscapers who can hopefully do the whole job in a few phases somewhere from March/April next year. We’re looking to get a native garden going and probably also need some arborist work done on the neighbours’ properties, good times! The end result will be great for sure, but I never imagined spending so much money on a yard, especially since I don’t even like gardening!

Moving the lawn is now a multi-day activity every two weeks. I hate it so much, but put on some music and just keep walking, it has to get done.  There’s so much grass and if I don’t keep it up, the lawnmower can’t handle the height of it and on top of that I run out of battery a few times too. It’s enough green waste to completely fill up our massive green bin, so I’ll be very happy to see 80% of all that grass go! Once we have the design, I’ll include a copy in the next letter so you can see what it’ll be like once it’s done.

We also had an electrician come in to install the oven and electric stove top, which work really well even though we have to get used to how fast things heat up. We’ll have to replace the range hood (already have it) and some fans and maybe add some wall sockets in places, so we’ll see him again in the new year haha. Then there was the plumber to fix some pipes, drains and our water pressure. The pipes are great now, but the water pressure is still pretty ordinary, which appears to be common in the area, so we’ll have to learn to live with that. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a big deal of course. 

Coming Thursday we’re getting insulation in the roof because it gets super hot on sunny days and we could of course just blast the five aircon units we have, but insulation is probably the better option. We have enough solar panels to power everything we need, but still, it will be better if the temperature in the house and garage doesn’t fluctuate so much, for us, but also for Dash. And to round it all off, the week after, we’ll have the termite protection people come and set us up with a complete termite and pest barrier for which they are apparently pumping 700 litres of poison into the soil around the border of the house. Wow! They tell us that it’s not unlike the flee and tick control poison we use on Dash, just liquid and a lot more. It should keep the house pest free for the next 8 years, and everyone keeps telling us we really should do that. At this stage, what’s another few thousand dollars, right?!

Other than that there were about 1 million small things to do, from cleaning the gutters to painting outside stairs, organising the garage, getting rid of big household waste items, hanging paintings, pressure washing the driveway and retaining walls, scraping paint of tiles and replacing the seven different types of light bulbs and cleaning the 27 downlight light covers. It’s a good thing I have so much energy but I was starting to feel quite tired mid-way through November.

We’re now slowly getting used to the new neighbourhood, finding new walking routes for Dash, figuring out where side streets go and what is the best way to get from A to B at what time of the day. We’re in between two big schools so there’s always kids and cars flying around and random people parking outside our house, but nothing too annoying. Give it a few more months and we’ll feel right at home!

Finishing up at Super Retail Group

The last few weeks on the job were the typical wrap-up and handover business, but nothing too exciting, I did my best work until the last day even though my head was already half in plans for the new house. Saying that, I did finish as I started, showing up and doing the work, making sure the team had as much of a chance to keep going as possible. The strange thing is I don’t miss it at all, sometimes even forget I worked there. I guess I just put everything I had into the projects that I worked on and then when it was time to leave, it felt like the job was done. I am still talking to one of my old teammates and she’s also thinking of moving on after 13 years, so that’s a big change for her. And my colleague Gerad, who I already knew from working at University of Queensland and volunteering at Change Management institute is now more a friend than a coworker, so that’s another positive. I have no idea of the project’s success and progress itself, my replacement was supposed to arrive quickly but I don’t think they found someone as fast as they wanted. Oh well, they’ll figure it out, they are smart people. I’ve moved on and looking back had a really good time while I was there.

Yumi’s activities

Yumi’s been acing it at work, to no one’s surprise of course 😊. Her team and managers like her a lot and she’s making good progress on her project already. It’s just the best to see how well she’s taken to the new role and it’s already (or only) been 4 months since she started. They had their Christmas function two weeks ago and decided to do a ‘flash mob’ once the music part of the evening started. If you don’t know, a flashmob is a surprise activity where a group of people break out in a dance routine or group song and entertain the audience before going back to normal afterwards like nothing happened. 

Yumi was the dance coach and ended up with ten or so colleagues dancing their butts off for 4 minutes to the high energy song “Footloose” from the dance movie. I saw the flashmob video last week and it looked pretty good. At the start in October, there were 18 people saying they would join in, but as the date crept closer, there were some ‘cold feet’ and last minute cancellations, but the remaining colleagues put on a good show and everyone loved it. I think she already has big plans for next year, with more preparation time it’ll be even better, maybe even a musical, haha! If you would have told her three years ago she would be doing this, at work, she’d fall off the sofa laughing for sure, but there she was, leading the charge! I love how her dancing has brought out this side of her again, she’s definitely having fun with it.

There will be another performance of the Choo La La, burlesque dancing group she’s also in, in two weeks and this time I’ll sit a bit further away to see if I feel any less awkward looking at all these ladies shaking their stuff on stage 😊. Yumi’s enjoying it, so I’ll be there regardless and it’s Christmas themed, so I’ll leave with at least 5 songs that I can’t get out of my head for the rest of the year!

Last week she was travelling for work to Perth for a conference and Dash and I were at home, me just starting a new short-term role and Dash recovering from his dental work (more on those things later). Yumi and her manager Chloe presented on their project and the rest of the three days she made new work friends and connections, as she does really well. Of course she’d rather had been at home, but I think it’s good for her network and professional profile, so always happy to support her in any way I can. We went to pick her up at the airport on Thursday evening and everyone was happier for it!

Dash’s adventures

It’s been quite the adjustment for Dash, moving to the new house. We hadn’t realised how much he enjoyed living in the previous house, but I think he would have preferred to stay there. It doesn’t help that there are some pretty big flying insects around here, which he’s terrified of and now Yumi’s not home most of the day, he has to deal with me. For all the snacks, freedom and attention I give him, I should absolutely be his biggest friend and favourite human, but no, he still likes Yumi better. Well, so do I, so we have that in common, ha! He’s now developed this new routine where he doesn’t want to go for a walk in the morning AND evening, making it a real challenge to get him to go outside to do his business before bed and work. 

 

On Monday night, when it was just us and he really didn’t want to go, I just let it be and he seemed fine the next morning 😊. 

He's had a pretty big dental procedure last week, where 14 of his 42 teeth got extracted. Mostly the very small ones at the front but they have such long roots! It’s a good thing we have the money because it is sooooo expensive, nearly $5,000 with all the meds and checkup. I mean, how do people who are less well off than us do that?! Well, they don’t I guess, and that’s not great for the dog, so we’re very grateful that we could have this done for him and he’s already a lot happier. Mostly because instead of kibble, he gets fed soft foods like chicken and a thing called Prime100 which is a really big, processed sausage that we cut up into pieces because beef doesn’t agree with his tummy and gets stuck in his gums. He loves it and so do I because I can hide the 4 pills he needs to take for the next few days still. You can see the picture below for all his extracted teeth, the pen is for size 😊.

Other than that, he’s doing okay, not really loving the new neighbourhood yet, but it’ll take a few more months and then he should be fine. His left shoulder is still a bit sore but you should see how excited he gets when he knows we’re going away and he gets to come to the park or lake, running around like a headless chook and banging his head on the tailgate of the car just to get in as fast as possible, haha, he’s such a character. 

The new short-term role

Through my network, I picked up an 8-week role to help a dairy company (Lactalis, from Paul’s milk and Icebreak) get a project back on track as soon as possible. I’ve just completed the first week and I think I’ll be able to do some good, but it’s very tight on the timeframe and deliverables. It took a few weeks to come together, but I was busy with the house, so not too worried and I was half expecting to NOT work anymore this year (just like last year). 

They pay me extremely well for the privilege of helping them out, which is very welcome over Christmas where things normally are very slow and after all the expenses we had for the house. I get to work as close to the city as I’ve been so far and it’s a nice change of pace from more complex long-term change work. It involves starting up a timesheet system for people who have not used one before, but I won’t bore you with the details. It’s safe to say it’s always very sensitive and we have to choose our words carefully. There’s so little time that I can’t really get into too much detail anyway, before we move on to the next thing. It’s what I enjoy every now and then, delivering stuff every day and making things happen!

I’ll wrap up by end of January and don’t have anything lined up just yet, although there might be an opportunity to work with an airport in Darwin (of all places) if that works out, which will be good fun. There were some other opportunities but at this time of year, it’s always tricky and one I thought was going to go forward didn’t happen because I wasn’t in the same state. Well, I am not moving house again, sorry! 😊

RFS Firefighting

I’ve kept up my training and am now done with the first stage of my training, I think I can now call myself a true volunteer firefighter minimum standards (FMS). There’s still so much to learn and I’ve only been to a few fires, but I am really enjoying myself and the team is great. I was at two different community engagement events over the past two weeks and I still love just meeting people, talking with them about their fire readiness and preparations and having fun with the kids in the fire trucks. We even got to assist a lady who became unwell because of the heat that day, so we had a ‘mini-emergency’ (she was fine). 

Our commanding officer is a true 30+ year emergency services veteran and longtime volunteer for St. Johns Ambulance, so she was in safe hands with him and I just distracted her with a bit of a chat and some jokes, which calmed her down until the Ambulance arrived to check her over. We also did some tin shaking for McHappy Day (for the Ronald McDonald Children Homes) two weeks ago. The weather was so bad, but the people very generous, so we gave it a good go for 5 hours and then it was raining so heavily we had to call it off, because people got drenched in their cars opening the window trying to give us their change. 

It’s always a bit strange to want to go to fires, because it means bad things have happened, but I do hope to go out to a few fires in the next months to build up my skills. We’ve also got our end-of-year party coming up next week and that’ll be fun to go and hang out with them for a bit, they are all very nice people and were such a diverse group. We’ve got a snake catcher, airforce commander, tow truck driver, traffic controller, biochemist, landscaper, carpenter, social worker, nurse, mechanics, IT professionals and about ten other professions, so there’s always enough to learn and stories to share.

CMI End-of-Year event

I’ve also been very busy helping to organise our end-of-year event for the Change Management Institute. We wanted to give people a digital goodie bag, so me and my big mouth said: “I’ll do that” and it was so much more work than I had though. It was fun though, connecting with my world-wide network and asking them to provide some free stuff that we could bundle together and give to our members and participants. More than 80% joined in and it had some really cool stuff in there for sure. But there was also the dress-up items to organise, communicating across the country with different teams to get everything just right, building the presentation slide show for the evening and then doing the promotion online. 

I always end up doing more than I planned because other people on the team have different lives and planning skills than I have, but I did notice I got a bit tired of it all near the end. We’ve got a planning session for 2025 coming up and my plan is to take it a bit easier next year, to let one of the other 10 committee members do a bit more. The challenge is that I always have so many ideas and know exactly what to do, but we’ve had an exceptional year already and if 2025 is just as good, that’ll be great value for money for our members.

 

Polly, the second car

Just last week we finally bought a second car, a white Volkswagen Polo from 2018, and we’ve named it Polly. We picked it up yesterday and because the weather has been horrible for the past 10 days didn’t go for much of a drive, but it’s still fun to look outside and see it there. We’ve managed to do fine with just one car for the past 10 years, so we’re still getting used to the idea ourselves too. 

It’s nothing fancy, but will give us quite a lot more flexibility with Yumi being able to do her dog volunteering and dancing whenever she likes, while I also get to go and do whatever I like, whenever I like. We got a good deal on this one, and decided to do a pre-purchase inspection to be sure. Good thing we did, because there was a leaky shock absorber which they agreed to replace at no cost. We hadn’t noticed anything wrong with it, but the service from the car dealer was exceptional and very friendly. The back tires and brakes are probably up for replacement next time it gets a service, but that’s alright, we know we bought a used car, not a new one 😊.

Small stuff

There were also so many small things that happened that I’ll just list them all here, it’s a long list so make sure you’re sitting down.

• On my morning litter picking walks a few weeks ago, I found a dog by itself out on the street and as she didn’t have a lead, I carried her home for most of the way until I realised her 10kg body could walk just fine and she didn’t really run off. As it was already 30 degrees at 8am, I opted to let her do her own walking! I kept her at home for 4 hours after posting on the various lost dog online notice boards, but no one knew about her or claimed her. Me and our wonderful dog walker (Raine) took her to the vet to get her chip read and it turns out that Raffa lives close by and her owner’s details were in the database, so she’ll be happily back home now.

• I had an insect bite on my elbow a few weeks ago and it must have gotten infected because it swelled up to three times its normal size. As you know I don’t normally go to the doctor because what do they know, right?! 😊. Well, this time it hurt so much that I thought to go and good thing I did because even the doctor was worried. I went to get x-rays and ultrasounds and it was pretty cool to see my arm on the inside! It showed that nothing terrible had happened and that 5 days of antibiotics would solve the problem. The doctor did mention the meds would give me diarrhoea and she was not kidding! But all is good now again even though it  is still a bit sensitive, at least it’s back down to its normal size and flexibility.

• For the first time in, I can’t even remember, I had a flat tire while riding my bike. It couldn’t have happened on a worse day, as I was on my way to hand in the house keys of the old house and then go to the city for two appointments. I ended up walking back 3km in my dress shoes (so.many.blisters!) changing my outfit (it was 32 degrees), getting back on Yumi’s non-electric bike and cycling back to the station I was almost at before I got a flat. I arrived just in time, so no harm done, aside from to my poor feet, haha!

• My friend Michael finally got his wish and got accepted into the police academy here in Queensland. I am so excited for him, it’s been a seven year process for him and now it’s all happening! It will mean some big changes in his and his family’s life and income because he’s got a very good job now with lots of freedom and all that will go away when he becomes a rookie, but I am pretty sure he’ll love it and rise through the ranks quickly. Never hurts to know a cop too!

• Our washing machine finally decided to give up the ghost after 10+ years and didn’t want to pump water anymore. I found out on Thursday afternoon, had one picked out Friday morning, went to the shops to get it and got it set up. Then I put the old one out on the green strip where it was gone in less than an hour and when Yumi came home from work it was like nothing had happened, haha!

• Yesterday, I got confirmation that my Australian citizenship application has been approved, yay! I am not yet an Australian citizen until I’ve taken the pledge, but that might happen on 26 January 2025 already, so only a few more weeks really. How exciting! I look forward to taking part in the final steps of the process and doing the ceremony on Dash’s birthday no less!

• I got so fed up with our saggy sofa that we sent it off to get its seating foam replaced as the springs had already given up the ghost after just 2 years. The warranty had of course expired and I couldn’t be bothered to get into a fight with the shop who sold it, I just know we won’t be going there again. It was quite the process to get it out of the room with the saggy pillows, so you can image the difficulty to get it back in with the fully stuffed ones, but we got it done with only a few scratches on the freshly painted door and it’s so nice and firm to sit on now. Totally worth it!

• I finally (it was for something I did in 2020) got my Emergency Services Medal last month. I am still quite proud of it and might even wear at the next formal event for RFS!

Okay, I think that’s the big ticket items for this letter. I really hope the next few weeks are going to be less eventful because I can do with a bit of a break. I’ve hardly had time to play videogames or read a book, but the house is coming along nicely and that was the plan, so bring on Christmas and you’ll hear from me again in the new year.

Be well and stay cool, 

Gilbert

 

Springfield Lakes, 5 October

Hi Marlis,

I can’t believe it’s been 5 weeks already since I visited you and that this will be the last letter from this house before we move, but it’s all happening! I hope you are now recovered fully from your fall and that daylight savings isn’t throwing you too much for a spin! It’s so weird that Queensland doesn’t join in, feels like we’re out of sync with the rest of the country. 

It’s been crazy busy, even for our standards, so there’s lots to update you on, here we go with our latest adventures!

Visiting you

It was so good to see you just before your birthday. Wow, you are now 90 years of age and we’ve known each other for 9 years of that, pretty cool! I am so glad I took the Saturday to come and see you and have a chance to just listen to you chat about what is on your mind. It always makes me a bit sad to hear that you don’t have someone more interesting to talk to and that they are all so busy with their own lives. You know you can always call me for a chat! Next time I visit I hope the ants are still safely outside inside of everywhere inside, what a mess that was, haha.

 

I know it’s pointless to say because of course you will do whatever you want, whenever you want and good on you, but if you have another fall, just go to the doctor so you don’t worry about everything that could be wrong. I completely understand you don’t want anyone to fuss over you, but we only do that because we care and want you around a bit longer. 😊

I enjoyed my mini-trip through the ACT too. My, it sure has changed! I flew in early on purpose just to see the sights for a bit of nostalgia and I am glad I did because everything has changed quite a lot in the past 2 years, Canberra is growing and then some! It was also nice that the blossoms were out in full force, it’s my favourite time in the ACT, everything is so alive. Bit of a shame about the gale force wind that was out that day, but at least it brought warmer weather the days after that. 

I passed through the CBD on the way to your house and there are so many new buildings and venues I had to do a few double-takes just to know where I was. I was very proud that I could still navigate most of the route from memory, always a risk with me, I get lost so easily! I drove up the Barton highway to Gunghalin and saw that the mobs of kangaroos are still there and that reminded me of the early morning bike rides out by myself and drives to work with Yumi when we still carpooled, so many good memories. Then I drove past the house we lived in and the trees have grown and I almost missed the turnoff into ‘our’ street, everything looked so different. Then a quick stop in Gungahlin town at the place I used to work and helped set up, Winyu House and yes, it’s still there, now 10 years old already, which is amazing to think about.

From there, I drove the electric car I hired (so much fun and so quiet) to your house and your house looked exactly the same, always so nice and neat and cared for. As soon as I step inside, I always feel right at home and I love your LEGO flowers!

It was hard to leave again, I could have stayed for hours more, but time to catch the flight back home, so I drove back to the airport, and fortunately the car did not explode haha! The flight back was uneventful, I read a book, did some work and was back with Yumi and Dash who came to pick me up at the airport at 7pm. What a great way to spend a Saturday!

The new house 

It’s been 3 weeks since we settled on the house (1 Trevor Street, Bellbird Park 4300) and so much has happened since! The settlement process was a lot of emails, phone calls, negotiations, last minute accidents (they hit a wall with their trailer, but paid for all the damages) and so many things to think about! Yumi and I are normally very good at staying organised, but everything seemed to be happening at the same time. So much so that we didn’t really even celebrate or felt very festive in the moment, like it wasn’t really happening to us, which is a bit weird, but we’re always a bit different, so why should this be any different?! 😊 

We wanted a few things to be done before we move in on the 18th, like painting, steam cleaning the tiles, new floor coverings and a new oven, cooktop and range hood. There’s a longer list of jobs to do, including a new fence, a deck outside, finishing the landscaping and a tonne of other small things, but we’ll get there eventually. It doesn’t all have to happen at the same time, fortunately. The last page of the letter has a floorplan so you can see how the house is laid out, I’ll have some better pictures when we’ve well and truly moved in.

The painters are about to start today, on a Saturday, apparently that’s not so strange and as it’s a long weekend, I hope they make good progress. We’re paying good money to have the whole house fixed up and they seem like a reliable outfit, but let’s see what happens. They tell us it should take 5-7 days and I hope that’s true. It seems really fast, but if I compare it to my work, I can do the things I am good at really fast too, so we’ll see. We also had a guy come to steam clean the tile floors but that didn’t come up good at all. We now have the option to put some kind of seal in that will definitely make it look better. But now we’re wondering if we just leave the whole floor as is, before we replace it all with timber flooring, which is not in the budget right now (it’s about $20,25,000…) and also not in the planning with us moving in 2 weeks. We’ve seen enough home improvement shows to know that fast decisions and short timeframes make for poor financial decisions, so we’re just not doing that. 

I enjoy going to Bunnings every few days, but wasn’t too happy when we bought panel board flooring for two rooms that have really rundown carpet and Yumi didn’t like them after all, so I got to bring them all back and they are not exactly lightweight to handle six times! She got so fixated on finding the perfect match to the floorboards in the other rooms that we visited about 10-12 stores and couldn’t find it, so we just gave up and I put back the carpet I had just pulled out, yay! I understand her point, but would have been happy with a mismatched clean floor instead of the ratty carpet we have now, but no one will die if we keep it in there for a few more months while we figure it out, so let’s do that.

Once we move in, we’ll have to get serious about the back and side fence because that’s drunkenly leaning over.  Every time we visit, I think it’s about to fall over, but it’s still standing today! We’ll have to work with both our neighbours and that shouldn’t be too hard as we’re willing to pay for it as long as they can agree to Colourbond metal fencing because I don’t want timber, it always ends up looking bad. We’ll leave it up to them if they want to get involved on the payment, we just need to get it done. It’ll also lift the appeal of the house and make it safer for Dash to run around, so that will be a priority once we’re in the house.

Yumi’s dance performances

Yumi’s been busy with her dance performances over the past two months. She’s joined another community dance group here in Springfield Lakes, called Choo La La, which is less creative dance and more burlesque, like Moulin Rouge, but it’s middle-aged women having a good time without any men in the room, so that always gets my vote, especially as I don’t have to participate, haha!

She just had the big final performance with the Common People Dance Project which was in a theatre in the city this time. It was so busy that I was late because I couldn’t get parking (I had booked ahead) even though I arrived 25 minutes early. Fortunately, I missed only the first 10 minutes, which I’ve seen a few times, but got to see all the 7 teams perform and it gets bigger and crazier every time they perform. It’s two hours of fun, the teams giving it their all and lots of glitter and it’s great to see people having such a good time.

In preparation she’s always working on outfits, practicing the routines, and going to training two nights a week, such a difference from a few years ago when she would hardly leave the house, I love it! Now that she’s done two rounds of 2-3 shows, two years in a row, she’s already a veteran, helping others and enjoying herself a lot more because she knows what’s coming and next year she might start helping design the routine, which sounds like fun, but not enough for me to get involved, which they always ask because they need more men.

Volunteering CMI

I’ve been keeping busy with my volunteering for Change Management Institute, writing book reviews for the newsletter, participating in writing an article about mental health in Change Management and that’s been good fun and meaningful volunteer work. 

Last week, we also wrapped up the second year of the mentoring program I helped organise, which sounds like more work than it was. Last year really was a lot of work, but this year we had all the documents and structure in place, so we could do the same thing, but with less effort and more participants. Pretty cool that we got 18 couples working together on helping someone achieve their professional goals. I ended up having 2 mentees, but one wasn’t well and he didn’t really get to participate. The other, Claire, was so good to work with, that we decided to go on for a bit longer after the program ended. She’s got so many plans and ideas that I am really just there to remind her to do one thing really well and leave the rest for others, because her challenge is that she gets overwhelmed. 

We also had networking drinks a few weeks back, which I never want to go to, but always end up having a good time with. And in 2 weeks we’ll have the fifth round of Lean Change Coffee, which is a very simple but fun concept. We get together in a group of 8-10 people, come up with some change-related topics, vote on which ones we want to talk about. Then we start and every time after 5 minutes we do a quick thumbs up, thumbs down vote to keep going or move on, which keeps it fun and light and we get through 6-7 ideas, discussions or brainstorms in just 60 minutes. It’s probably my favourite event ever, and I learn something every time. We get about 20 people to attend, not bad for a 7.30am start to the day!

We’re now starting to plan the end-of-year celebration, which has become a bit of a tradition at the end of November. Not so great is that the team always leaves it late, but for me to have fun with it, I don’t let myself get frustrated with it and only do what is asked while someone else takes the lead. I always have ambitions and plans that are way too big anyway, but every year it gets a bit fancier and more organised, so we’ll get there. It’s been a super busy year for us, but it shows as we are growing in member numbers and we might even be the biggest chapter in the world by now. Not that it’s a competition, but still, nice to be number 1!

There was also a Deep Dive into how change managers can use artificial intelligence in meaningful ways with my good friend Helen Palmer. On a Saturday morning in a library somewhere in Brisbane we managed to get 30 people in a room and learn together about how we can improve our work practices. She’s one of the best workshop facilitators I know and really delivered, which is always a joy to watch! Even though I am already quite familiar with the basics, she still made me think in different ways about new challenges and the future of change, so time well spent I would say.

Yumi’s work

Yumi is going great at the new job and I could not be happier for her. It’s so good to see her this way because it’s been a while that she could engage so deeply and fully with her work. Yes, it’s a big adjustment and yes, she’s got less free time, but she’s doing what she’s good at and it’s meaningful work. I love how she’s making plans, going to meetings with all sorts of government people, working with teams, coming up with new ideas to old solutions, she’ is the perfect person for this job.

They launched their project (it ends in 2029) last week and had a lot of interest, partly because it was also the send-off of their CEO, but mostly because they are planning to do great things and people support their ideas. And she might go to a conference in Western Australia, somewhere in December, so Dash and I have started planning the party already for when it’s just ‘us boys’, haha. Not that we’ll get up to anything, it just means I feed him more snacks and we hang out together more while we wait for Yumi to come home. 

Work

My work has not been great for the past 2-3 months and I’ve decided to go and look somewhere else, so I resigned and my last day will be 11 October. We have enough financial reserves to easily pay our running costs and I wouldn’t mind a break. I’ve been working non-stop, with almost no breaks or holidays for 2 years and I am starting to feel it. I won’t bore you with the details too much, but I’ve tried a few things to make it work, spoke to my manager a few times, but it was simply too long to wait, too many people (eight at one point) trying to direct my work and treating me like a glorified administrative assistant. I think I have more to offer, but won’t be able to show that for the next 12 months and life’s to short for that. My thinking is that if I stop now, I can finish on a high note and timing-wise this is the best time to step aside. 

My manager has been okay-ish about it, he can be a bit cold and distant when things don’t go the way he wants, but that’s for him to work on. I had built a good relationship with one colleague, Gerad, but he got his 4-weeks notice last month and left two weeks ago and now it’s just me with a project team that is so disorganised it’s not funny, always letting me in at the last minute to clean things up, which makes me look bad because there’s never enough time. Everything just feels out of control, and I’d rather not stay involved. All six of my direct change colleagues have been so frustrated and literally crying about their projects and I don’t want that for myself. I’ve prepared as much as I could for my successor and wish them all the best. 

By the time you read this, I am in my last week or already a free agent once again and I think I’ll keep it that way for a while and then go to work as a contractor. I’ve tried to be part of a team a few times and it didn’t quite work out, perhaps I am better of just creating a bit of distance and just show up to do a really good job for the project. At least this way I’ll have time to do the move to the new house right and get settled in properly, which is a nice bonus. I have three weeks of leave, because I didn’t take a day off in 9 months, because plans kept changing and I really should, but now that money will go into our bank account as a reserve to pay the cost of living which should see us through to December for sure as Yumi’s income pays for 98% of everything already 😊. 

My first real fire

I got to go out to a real fire six weeks or so ago and it was pretty cool. Mostly because no property or horses were impacted, but it’s always a bits ad to think of all the wildlife and insects who can’t get away in time. We had about 25 people out there and got it under control in a few hours, but it was quite the operation and I learned heaps more than in the classroom.

Then again, I’ve been going to training for 10 months now and am making good progress. I think a few more months and I will be a real Firefighter Minimum Standards, after which I can start training for Firefighter Advanced Standards. It’s been hard to get out to fires and help out because I don’t have the car when things happen or m busy with the house, but that’ll come in time, there will be plenty of time to join in and help out.

I am really enjoying being part of this brigade, it’s such a difference from when I was with SES, I actually look forward to the Thursday training nights now. Fun fact, our new house is 2 minutes down the road from the SES unit I used to be part of, just like in Altona! The travel distance to the fire station I am with now hasn’t changed at all, it was 13 minutes, it still is, just a different route.  

Almost buying a new car

We almost bought a new car last week. We’ve been talking about it since Yumi knew she’d need the car for work, dancing and driving around dogs for Love a Greyhound, which leaves me the options of my feet, bike and public transport. This generally works out quite well, but I can’t respond to fire calls or get bigger things from Bunnings, IKEA or anywhere else without a lot of hassle.  So we started looking at cars online, visited a few showrooms, even did some test drives but then Yumi got so stressed about picking the right one amidst all the relocation stress, new job and me being without work for a bit, so I decided we should leave it for now and deal with it later, I’ll make it work some other way. With the new house everything feels a bit further away, but it’s really not that big of a deal and we’ll make it work somehow.

Small (but important) stuff

• We’ve now had 3 open homes, for groups of people to come through and inspect the house we live in now as their new rental place. I’ve been keeping everything in showroom condition and there’s been some interest so we hope they sign up someone soon because paying rent and a mortgage will be a waste of money, but we knew that when we decided to break our lease. On the plus side, the house is clean all the time now and the final clean will be easier when we move out.

• We noticed that Dash was having difficulty with his left front paw for a while now and took him to the vet and they’ll do some tests, but it looks like something isn’t quite right. Good thing we have insurance because this will be expensive, but it’s not like we wouldn’t pay whatever is required anyway, he is our ‘child’ after all. He’s just so stoic and hardly shows any pain signals, so now we’re just extra careful and he’s just his excited self as usual, running around like a hooligan, haha. He’s on fast-acting pain medication at the moment and that seems to work well for him, so we’ll keep his routine the same, get his teeth cleaned in the process and also check on his (very mild) heart murmur while we’re at it, saves him a few trips to the vet. While we were there, there was also a Basset hound and it was just the funniest thing to see the short and stocky long dog with the huge ears next to Dash who is all legs, tall and long legs, with his ears tucked back, what a contrast! 

• I got to pick up my very fancy new handmade, custom designed blue shoes a few weeks back and they turned out really well. I don’t think I’ll pay that much money for shoes again in a long time, but this pair is the only pair like it in the world and that’s pretty cool, I hope they last me as long as my other fancy shoes, who are on average 12 years old!

• Yumi’s dad turned 75 last week and is refusing to take it slower even though he had a bit of a moment a few weeks ago where he nearly fainted and had to stumble his way home. I know it’s important to him to keep his autonomy and doesn’t like to be fussed over, but we do worry that one day he’ll just fall down and injures himself or is in such a remote place (he walks long distances, for 2-3 hours some times) help doesn’t arrive on time. Not much we can do or say as he’s as stubborn as an old goat, but we worry all the same.

• I did the final step in my Australian Citizenship application, the citizenship test three weeks ago and totally aced it. I had done so many practice tests that I essentially knew all the questions and smashed out the 20 questions in less than four minutes with a perfect score, ha! Yes, that’s all it is, 4 minutes for the test and 10 minutes for a chat to check your details and you can go. Now we wait again for the final steps, but I should be good to join the ceremony on 26 January next year, just before we’ve been here 11 years. Yumi lost the plot a bit and will have to restart the process, but she’s not exactly in a hurry

• I’ve finally finished a very challenging and rewarding computer game called Elden Ring, one of the hardest games in it’s category. Well, I almost finished it because ethe very final fight is so stupidly designe that I could finish it if I spent another 5-6 hours figuring it out, but after 110 hours I really didn’t see the point. I had gotten out of it what I wanted, made it to the very last fight and that was good enough. It is surely one of the best games I ever played, but now it’s time to move on to new things again. See, I game as I work and live, who says I am not consistent, haha.

Okay, that’s me done for this time, next time I’ll have lots more to share about the house, possibly a new job and who knows what else will have happened by then, but I’ll tell you all about it.

Be well, don’t fall over and get some sunshine every now and then.

Gilbert 

 

 Springfield Lakes 6 August 2024,

 

Hi Marlis,

Another 2 months gone by in a flash, I hope you are staying warm in the mornings and getting some sun in the afternoons. The mornings here are really quite cold with -2 degrees as the coldest so far this week! But once the sun gets out, it’s still 23 degrees so nothing to complain about really.

I have lots of things to share, so let’s get started.

 

Yumi has a job!

After running her own business for five years now, Yumi decided to take on a role with the Queensland Alliance for Mental Health, as their Senior Advisor Workforce Projects. In normal people speak that mean that she leads a team of people who work on projects that draw more workers into the sector to deal with their labour shortages.  Despite all the benefits of work from home and being her own boss, she now gets to make a much bigger impact. The project is funded for five years, which is also Yumi’s rhythm of how long she stays with an organisation. We could not be more different if we tried, haha.

Last week was her first week on the job and everything is different of course. New office, driving the car to work, new morning and evening routines, getting to know new people, and dozens of small changes all happening at once. It’s a lot, but she’s a trooper and will make it into something amazing for sure. 

It’s also an adjustment for Dash and myself, because we’re used to her just always being around, but so far so good. Instead of going for a walk with my litter gripper and Yumi walking Dash when I leave for work, now Dash and I now go for an early morning walk at 5am, while Yumi get’s up at six and leaves at seven. On Monday and Friday I’ll still be home most week, so he’ll have some company, but on the other weekdays he’s going for mid-day walks with his new best friend, Raine the dogwalker. He really likes her and by going for a 30-45 minute walk in the afternoon, both Yumi and I can rest assured that he’s comfortable and entertained until we get home. Now we try to walk him together in the weekend and evenings, because those are moments all three of us value 😊.

After one week we’re starting to establish a bit of a new rhythm already and it will eventually all settle down. From Dash’s perspective the great thing is that we now have a double income again, so we can buy him even more snacks, clothes, beds and toys!

 

My work

I just ticked over on seven months on the job at Super Retail Group and that’s normally when I start to get restless. This time it’s a bit different although there are moments when I do think about what might be next for me, but not yet. The big project I am on is starting to take shape after what feels like years, but is really only 6 months. We’re putting a new system in place to improve our human resources processes and a bunch of other boring but necessary things and on top of that there is a bigger program that my project is part of that is also picking up speed and keeping everything aligned can be quite the challenge.

We’re now getting more people involved and have selected a supplier/partner who will help us with the project, which should be complete by October 2025. That sounds like it’s far off, but it’s really not, when considering how much work there is to be done. Fortunately we have really good people to work with and things are coming together now, so we’ll see what the next few months bring. If I make to one year, that would be an achievement in itself. I had my performance review early July and it was uneventful, no real issues or point of improvement. I do sometimes sense that my manager (who is very good as managers go) had expected a bit more perhaps, but he didn’t mention it, so maybe that’s all in my head. The plan was that I would lead a team of people, but that looks unlikely and to be honest, I don’t know that I’d want to do that in this organisation, I like my leader, but overall, the senior leadership team hasn’t impressed me too much so far. I am happy where I am, I work with smart people, get to contribute to things that matter to the business and the pay and work-life balance are pretty good too. Just thinking about finding a new job again makes me tired, so I guess I’ll stick around for a bit longer!

Change Management Institute activities

I’ve been keeping busy with volunteering for CMI. We’re doing a lot in the next few weeks, organising catch-up, putting on events with interesting speakers, half-day workshops and networking drinks that are always good fun. It’s also very good to see other team members step up and starting to organise events. Normally I would take all the initiative and then be a bit grumpy about others not doing as much, but now I just let things be, make some introductions, share some ideas and support from the sidelines.  And guess what? They are doing just fine without me! We’re planning a big end-of-year event for November, which is really just an excuse to have a party and celebrate all the hard work we’ve done and the wonderful community we’re part of, lots of feel good vibes!

It's very cool to see some ideas that worked really well in Melbourne when I was there, still work six years later in Brisbane. More and more people are starting to find us and make a real effort to come to our different events. Now there’s even talk of Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast getting involved and we have no shortage of sponsors so things are looking bright for the committee. As a feather in our cap we saw some figures that show that we are 1/3 the size in population compared to NWS and VIC, but has nearly as many members as the other chapters. We only need 4 more members to be the biggest chapter in the world of CMI, so of course that’s what our goal is now. Not because we have to, but because we can, haha. We might even make it by the end of the year…

Rural Fire Service training and fire season

It’s been really good to have training to go to and actually learn useful things again. It’s just so much fun to play with hoses and water, set things on fire (in a controlled burn kind of way) and then put it out too. 

We train every Thursday and I make it to most training nights, plus I get to read lots of manuals and training books about what to do with the equipment, different types of fire scenarios and how to be really good at firefighting. Lots to learn still, I’ve just finished fundamentals and am now doing the course for Firefighter Minimum Standards and then it’s on to Firefighter Advanced Standards and that’ll be 2026 before I get there. I don’t necessarily want to lead a team, but if I want to, I can also train to become a crew leader. One step at a time though, having fun and being safe is more important than progressing and telling others what to do, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where I end up eventually, it’s the story of my life…

This brigade is such a different experience from SES that I actually look forward to training again and there’s good natured banter and poking fun at each other while we’re also learning new things. We also have a such a diverse crew, from car towers, to snake catchers, traffic controllers and nurses that there’s always something to talk about. Last Sunday we had a longer training session where we practiced with different types of pumps, foam, hoses and connectors and also to completely empty the 2,000 litre tanks we have to then practice to fill them up again from the standpipe on the watermains in the street. It’s funny how I never noticed all the infrastructure there is to help with firefighting in the community, but there is a lot and we get to just use it, which is good fun.

(this was a very controlled hazard reduction burn, nothing scary happened but it makes for great pictures!)

Fire season starts here on the first of August and we’ve already had some very small fires, mostly lit by kids and dumb people who don’t know what they are doing trying to burn some leaves and yard clippings and then the fire gets away and almost burns their house down. My commander tells me I am ready to go out to fires and help, but with work and the distance to the brigade I think I’ll mostly be the back up or switch out crew and that’s fine for me too, small steps keeps it fun to volunteer.

 

House hunting

Our rent has now increased to $645 a week which is not all that high in the neighbourhood here, but it’s enough for us to start considering buying a house instead if continuing to pay rent. The market is nearly unaffordable as it is and our thinking is that we better get something now before prices get to a level where we really don’t want to pay that much money for an average house.

Our initial plan was to buy land and then build on it, but now we’ve inserted one more step to first buy a home, before we buy THE home later on. Yumi wants it more than I do, but if she wants it, I want it for her too and I can see the benefits of having our own place.

We’ve been working with a mortgage broker who has been great and have already been pre-approved for more money than we want to spend, but it’s nice to have a buffer if we run into the right property. We’ll probably not be able to stay in Springfield Lakes because for what we want to spend, there aren’t that many homes available. Really average homes go for $800,000+, while in other parts of Brisbane and surrounds you can still get some decent plots and a good house for 650-700. If you say it fast enough it doesn’t sound like a ridiculous amount of money is what I tell myself.

Lower prices often mean the property is older and further to travel for work, but I am okay with that, our lives change all the time and it’s not our forever home. While we both work we can save so much money that in a few years’ time we’ll be able to upgrade and buy our own land and do what we want for the house. It’s been very good this Saturday to go to 6 properties and see what’s out there for what price. A lot of the homes are okay, but some are really ordinary or even overpriced. I am sure we can find something and we have our eye on one house which is quirky and different, stands on 900m2 of land and doesn’t need a lot of work.

Nowadays you can get so much information that it’s really important to move quickly and don’t wait to long. That’s more of a challenge for Yumi than it is for me as she always wants to explore all the options and check all the details, but this being such a big purchase, I keep reminding myself that her approach is the smart play and I should try to be patient. See, I can be an adult when I try! 😊

 

My new bike

A few weeks ago my bike got stolen from the train station! I had it locked and everything but I came back from work one night and it just wasn’t there. I stood there like a dummy for a while just not understanding what had happened, but then I went home, filed a police report and used Yumi’s bike instead for a few weeks. I did finally get around to securing a spot in the closed off bike locker but after parking my bike outside in the rack for at least 250 times and never having had an issue, I wasn’t expecting this. I’ll probably never see that bike again, which is sad because it used to be my dad’s and I have travelled so many kilometres on it in the ACT, Melbourne and now here! Then again, it was 20 years old and all but the frame had been replaced by now. Still, it annoys me that people couldn’t just leave my stuff alone, get your own bike!

Anyway, I was thinking about buying an e-bike (bike with an electromotor) for a while and now I had the best excuse to do so. I bought a cheap one to figure out if it is for me, but after just 2 weeks I can say I love it! (see picture, it also has mud guards now). Especially here in Springfield Lakes, with steep hills everywhere it’s a lot more fun to ride my bike than before. It used to take 10 minutes to get to the shops, now it’s 4. Time to the station was 7 minutes, now it’s just 5. It’s not that I am racing everywhere now more than I was, but the time lost crawling up the hills, out of breath and sweating like a race horse really are a thing of the past. Yesterday I did get a new saddle fixed because the other one hurt my backside, it was as hard as a plank and my 45-year old behind needs a bit more comfort than that, haha 😊.

 

Yumi’s dancing

Yumi’s done another performance with the Common People Dance Project three weeks ago and this time around she was even more of a pro than last. She had so much fun with the outfits, hair, routines and training and practicing. Their Ipswich group did the ‘girlband’ songs while another team did the ‘boyband’ songs, which is horrible music, you might not even call it music, but they had so much fun and the performance actually looked good! I think between the 6 teams there we 200 people joining in, so that was a lot of big hair, spandex and glitter!

She enjoys the dancing so much that she’s joined another group here in Springfield Lakes which is just 3 minutes down the road and they’ll also do a performance that I get to show up for and enjoy somewhere in October I think, which is just after the big September finale of Common People so she’ll get lots of exercise before then. And I get to vacuum all the glitter out of, well, everywhere!

Yumi’s new look. She decided it wasn’t for every day, but just right for this performance which was very over the top.

 

Small stuff

There were a lot of small things that also happened in the past 2 months.

• ·      Surgery appointment

We went to the plastic surgeon appointment to see if I could get another operation, but that turned out to come down to almost $50,000!! I was ready for 20, maybe 25, but 50?! That’s crazy money. I was so disappointed when I opened and read the quote, but I am over it now. I still got some good advice out of it and my diet has stuck since then and I am now at 86, with 85 on the horizon by the end of the month. Maybe I’ll revisit the option in 5 years, but right now that seems like so much money we could spend on other things, like a house, a car, renovations, a holiday to antarctica for 3 months or a lifetime supply of dog treats for Dash. 😊

 

• ·      Cameras in the house

As a bit of reassurance for ourselves, we’ve installed 2 cameras in the house so we can see what Dash is up to when we’re at work and it is just the funniest thing to see him sleep in all sorts of positions throughout the day. He doesn’t get up to much, that’s for sure, but if he ever gets scared or panicked, we can talk to him through the camera as well. We tried it once and he looked so puzzled we couldn’t stop laughing (he couldn’t hear that) but it’s good to know we can let him know we’re there, even if we’re not. I wish we had the cameras in the backyard too because I turned my back for just a minute and he immediately started digging the hole he had started on with Bella when she visited in May. Grrrr. I had just closed it up and neat again. His backyard privileges have now been revoked!

 

• ·      New phone

I’ve also bought a new phone and it’s such an improvement over the old one. I bought that one cheap and thought it use it for a year, but it lasted for nearly 3 so I got my money’s worth, but it was not a great phone. The new one let’s me connect to the car again and I can listen to music and podcasts much easier now too. The best part? It was even cheaper than the previous one! Let’s see how long this one lasts 😊

 ·      Family and friends

Everyone is doing well, it’s summer in Europe, so everyone is on holiday or thinking about it and my parents are having the best time taking the caravan out for weekends away. They are about to go to France for a few weeks and I hope they have a great time of it. I’ll catch up with my friends soon and always love hearing their holiday stories

 ·      Coming to visit Saturday 31 August September

I’ve booked my tickets to come and see you for the early celebration of your 90^th birthday. I even booked an electric car to drive just to have a bit of fun myself driving around the ACT. I might do a quick trip from the airport around the old neighbourhood where we used to live before zooming over to your place. If all goes well, I should be with you around 9.30-10.00. I have to get back to the airport around 3pm, but other than that I look forward to visiting after almost 2 years!

 ·      9 years in business, new website

Last week I had a mini-celebration myself for being in business for myself with Kruidenier Consulting for the past 9 years. It’s not like I wanted to grow the business and become a real consultancy employing others, but it’s been good to think of myself as a business and it’s brought me lots of great people to meet and work with and some opportunities that I might not have had otherwise. My friend Peter, who I wrote the book with, even created a new website for me so I look all modern and professional in the 10^th year and beyond. I love it!

 ·      Citizenship application

Pfff, I’ve finally completed all the paperwork, scans, pictures and anything else you can think of and it’s now in the works with the government. I expect to hear back somewhere November, December maybe, just in time for Australia Day perhaps. Not that it matters too much, but I am just curious to go through the process and see what happens.

 ·      New glasses

I had to go to the optometrist again this week to check my eyes because I was starting to get headaches again. My eyes have gone backwards quite a bit, so now I am getting varifocals so I can see close up and at a distance equally well. They also told me to be smarter about wearing sunglasses but it’s a hassle to always bring two pairs and half the time I forget, so now I am getting glasses that change to a darker colour when I am out in the sun. Problem solved, ha, take that sunshine! 😊

 ·      Student papers

I got no less than 7 papers to grade form my Change Tools students and for once most of them were really good. Two were what I would call ‘professional quality’ and it was just so nice to get confirmation that it is possible for students to do a very good job at these plans. There was also a lot of very positive feedback about the course materials and me as a teacher, which is always a good day when that happens.

I think that’s it for this time around. I really look forward to seeing you in a few weeks and I am sure we’ll have more adventures to talk about then. I’m going to try and come up with a good gift for your very significant birthday. I know I don’t have to, but I want to, so let’s see what I can think of!

 

Be well and stay warm until spring comes along.

 

Gilbert

 

Ps. 2 more pictures on the next page of Dash living his best life in his pyjamas to stay warm and lazing about in the sun when his yard privileges were still in effect…