Brunswick, 13 October 2017
Hi Marlis,
I hope all is well with you and the ACT,
Melbourne is windy and all over the place weather-wise, so all is as it should
be 😊. Sorry I am somewhat
late this time, it’s been a bit busy the past few weeks and I wanted to sit
down and write a proper letter and not have to rush things, so here we go!
Adelaide
and Kangaroo island
We had the opportunity two weeks back
with the silly Victorian national holiday for AFL Grand Final day to have a
nice break. Yumi needed to go to Adelaide for work anyway, so I just followed
her, travelling by myself after not having been there for almost exactly 5
years. From a brisk 5-7am morning walk on Friday I can report it hasn’t changed
much, but I still like it better than Melbourne. It’s still a big city and the
CBD seems a bit more developed, the botanical gardens are still phenomenal and
the buildings are not as crowded and high as in Melbourne. I’ve asked Yumi to
see if she can get a transfer there for work, but she didn’t seem too keen, so
I guess we’re stuck here for a while, haha. Our actual destination was Kangaroo
Island, which is a nice 45-minute fast ferry ride to the south and it’s a great
holiday destination indeed. I had to entertain myself in Christies Beach, but
managed just fine with some reading, shopping, beach walks in the sun, feeding
fries to the sea gulls and doing a small bit of work until Yumi finished her
work and we left for the ferry. Before we even got on we’d already spotted two
dolphins just relaxing in the bay, hiding from a really big storm just 10 kilometres
out which just passed us by without a drop of rain to bother us. Funny thing
was, while we were standing there, after a bus, train, plane and car ride of
850 kilometres, I end up standing on a dock waiting for a boat and the guy next
to me also happens to be Dutch…(I think he was from Amsterdam, not great) The
Dutch are truly everywhere, haha!
Kangaroo Island was very nice. We stayed
for 3 nights, arriving Thursday, leaving Sunday and that’s enough to see most
things. We took a very entertaining guided boat tour and saw some more dolphins,
a few of them sleeping on the surface and heaps of seals, but no whales or
sharks (that would have been very lucky). The coast line itself is also pretty
spectacular. In places, the rock texture looks very much like Swiss cheese, holes
all over. We had not yet seen that sort of rock formations before in Australia.
We also saw koalas, a blonde echidna, black cockatoos and of course a few
kangaroos (but not as many as you’d think for a place called Kangaroo Island).
I think we stopped by four or five lighthouses, a place called Remarkable Rocks
(they were indeed remarkable, courtesy of wind erosion) and about 15 beaches.
Yumi and I just love watching the ocean and there was plenty of wave crashing
going on with rather strong winds. A really good break!
Pluis
When we go home we got quite a fright
when we found that Pluis has gone completely blind. She’s better now, but here’s
what happened. The week before we left, we had noticed she was behaving a bit strange,
but we put that down to her generally being a strange cat and expected it to
just pass as it usually does. She ate a bit less, moved a bit less, miaowed a
bit more, but that was it. Only when I shone a light in her eyes and her pupils
did not contract at all did we realise she was as blind as a bat. We went to
the vet, got a referral to the animal eye clinic (I did not know we had one)
and they could not find anything really wrong with her, but agreed that she was
indeed completely blind. We got meds to treat for inflammation and what do you
know, 5 days later the light went back on and her pupils started contracting,
yay! Since then she’s been pretty much her grumpy loveable self again. We just
visited the vet for a check-up yesterday (after a gruelling 90-minute car trip
through Melbourne traffic with a very unhappily yowling Pluis) and they tell us
her left is not as good as the right yet, but the sight recovery is a very good
sign in a cat her age (she was not impressed with that 😊). We’ll
continue with the meds and go back 3 weeks from now for a final check. It was
amazing to see how fast and well she adapted (but perhaps she’d been going
blind for a while, who knows?!). After just 1-2 days of softly bumping into
things she basically moved more coordinated through the house and yards than I
do myself on a good day. The vet told us that cats and dogs have much better
spatial awareness and memory then humans and she definitely proved them right!
Yumi’s
work
Yumi’s very busy still. Just this
morning she said that there’s quieter times coming and I just laughed. Every time
she says that, new and interesting things come her way, but it would be good
because she’s been working long days at all hours for the past 6-9 months. Good
thing she’s having fun, meeting heaps of people, doing all sorts of great things
for the disability sector. In just 2 weeks she went from Melbourne to Adelaide
to Hobart to Perth and back, with a last-minute cancellation from the ACT, but she’ll
go there in just a few weeks anyway. They were remodelling the office during
that time anyway so she was happy to be away but it’s not a sustainable pace
that she has now. I am trying to help her think of new ways of doing things,
but she has to do it her way (as usual).
Done
at Deakin University
I always used to say that my job at ACT
Government was probably the best one I ever left, but I am now thinking that it
might have been bumped to second place by Deakin University. I had such a great
time and we achieved so much in a short time that people were amazed when I
announced that I would finish up after 5 instead of 7 months. It’s a simple
case of being done. Of course, there were more opportunities, but it just didn’t
work out with the timing and I am never one to ask to be included in something,
it has to happen more or less naturally or it’s not meant to be. My manager and
a lot of other people were so very nice it was both heart-warming and a bit
embarrassing. I mean, I was hired to do a job and I did it, what were they
expecting? I learned so much about education, how universities work, new tools,
new themes and I met tons of smart and very nice people. I would definitely go
back there if the opportunity presented itself. For now, it’s okay to leave. I came
in to a job that was just under my level and I knew this but wanted the
experience of having worked at a university. But when new and bigger
opportunities arose, people did not necessarily think of me because I was just
a level x,y,z employee and not the level a,b,c they were looking for. A few people
advised me to leave and perhaps come back for something else. We’ll see what
happens, I have had a great experience regardless!
Workshop
For my personal and professional development
I attended a 3 day workshop in September and it really helped me to further
focus my activities. Can you imagine, me even more focused? People are about to
call the police, haha! I was hosted by a man I respect deeply, Daryl Conner, who’s
been a founding member of the change management community in the 1970’s and 80’s.
70 years old and still travelling the world, working with aid and not for
profit organisations to help them be more effective. The workshop title was, ‘Raising
your game’. How American can you get,huh?! but it was really all about
character and presence. There were only 12 of us to keep it manageable and I
got sooooo much out of it. I found out many things about myself and how and why
I work, but also about how I can get beyond some things that have been holding
me back for years. The main take away for me was that I just need to start
doing things again instead of waiting for permission, it’s not going to happen
that people will come to me, so I will go out and find them. I feel like I can
take more ownership for my own career choices and that somehow, I see things
much clearer now. Not because I learned new things, but because I was affirmed
in so many things that I always thought were true already. I thought it was
just me thinking these things, but it turns out I am not the only one at all. I
was very relieved to not be unique it was kind of funny. My
next challenge is to find jobs and work that really bring out the best in me
for my clients and not to just go for jobs I know I can do. Should be exciting…
Change
and Culture Conference
A few weeks back I was asked to speak at
a change management conference in 2018 and I was quite excited, worked out all
the details and then I was told that the spot promised to me was given to a more
prominent and renowned speaker and I could pick something else but less attractive.
I politely thanked them for the opportunity and mentioned that I would rather not
be anyone’s second choice and withdrew. They did not appreciate that at all. Oh
well. A few days later I was contacted by a very different group of people
asking me upfront if I was willing to step in because their original chair had
to cancel. I was a bit hesitant at first, seen to my previous experience and
not having been a conference chair before, but decided that I should give it a
try. Normally you hear these things weeks if not months in advance. I heard it on
5 October and the event was from 9-11 October. I thought, why not celebrate my birthday
(thank you for the lovely card! 😊) with 40 random people, learning new things while
doing a new thing? They were three great days with really inspiring speakers, meaningful
discussions about culture and change, nice snacks and a great way to see where
our profession is at currently. I got lots of compliments on how I did things,
one person even mentioned that she could tell we had prepared for months (ehm,
not quite, haha). The best part for me was a small session on Wednesday that I
got to host with just 4 people from very different organisations, discussing
ways to improve corporate culture, much more my cup of coke zero 😊. Now that I’ve
done it I can say it’s not really something I enjoy immensely. I’d rather be in
the crowd than up on the stage for these sorts of things. It was a pleasant
experience and I am happy to know I can pull it off if required but I’ll leave
it to others next time perhaps. Either way, I got to be there for free while
others paid between $2,500 to $4,000 for the privilege of seeing and hearing some
of Australia’s best and biggest companies talk about change and culture. (yep,
that’s still a lot of money!)
Cycling
adventures
I am still cycling a lot and enjoy it a bit
more every week. It hasn’t become any safer, but at least now that the light is
back on in the mornings and evenings, everyone can see everyone a bit better.
Remember how I once mentioned that I was (rightfully so) chastised by a fellow
cyclist for running a series of red lights? I learned my lesson and will mostly
wait now. There are times when there’s really no point (as in, no one in sight
and no traffic) and I ignore them and that’s when another fellow found it
necessary to speed past and hurl some abuse my way on behalf of all of humanity
who was ever endangered by my utter disregard for red lights and the central
order of the universe. I thanked him in a typical Rotterdam way by yelling back
at him. He just kept on. Not my finest moment…I might have mentioned before
that I have a bit of an authority complex and some random yahoo who feels it’s
his job to educate me on the finer points of red lights and empty roads just
doesn’t do it for me. (well, he was there, behind me, clearly endangered by
whatever I did at 18 km/h on an 8 meter wide road). I am sure he could be angry
about many other things or maybe he is 😊. Anyway, I plan to cycle more than 100 km in one day
very soon to get closer to my devious plan of cycling from Melbourne to Adelaide
or beyond in the near future. If I plan it a bit better and take enough food and
drink (I’ll be burning some 3,000 calories and lose about 4 liter of fluids) it
should be fine. My bike is starting to wear and tear a bit but after nearly
7,000 hard kms in Oz, I can’t really blame it, perhaps I need a new one soon.
Summer
holiday
We’re almost done planning our summer
holiday to the East coast, the only thing left is to decide if it will be in a
campervan or by plane. We’re going diving on a liveaboard (sleep on the boat)
for a few days for the first time and I think it will be great. It is quite
expensive so we’ll do a short one first and if we really like it, we can always
go for a longer one next time. I was happy to dive and fly, but Yumi wanted
something more so now we’re looking at options for flying to Cairns and then
driving a campervan down back to Melbourne. It’s a good 3,000 kms, but we
should be able to do that in a week easily, see a bit of the inner country too
if possible. I wanted to go from Cairns to Alice Springs but that’s another 1,500
added and perhaps a bit too much for the fun of it.
House
hunt
We’ve been looking at moving to a new
house for a while now. Not that that there’s really anything wrong with this
one (aside from the heating being broken again), but it’s just too big and two
rooms are empty. We could probably do with something smaller and a friendlier rent.
By now we’ve got a pretty good process for finding options and have viewed
about 12 houses across town. I am not fond of Brunswick (or Melbourne) but it’s
not terrible and living outside of the city is just not a real great option now.
We came close a few times, but either the house is great and the neighbourhood
isn’t (busy road, next door to a primary school, at the bottom of a steep hill)
or the neighbourhood is quite nice but the house is just a bit dodgy (cheap
fixtures/appliances, grimy walls, shoddy carpets). We’re not really in a rush
and we pretty much know what to look for so now we just wait for the right one
to become available. A strange thing about these viewings is that the weekday viewings
are so incredibly busy with 15 couples/individuals/families showing up as the
rule and then the Saturday ones are just a few people or just us. Suits me fine
😊. Now that I
have a bit more time on my hands, I am hoping we’ll make the move soon and get
it all sorted.
Some
short mentions
· My parents are just back from a short break in Spain,
with all the drama in their lives, they could do with a holiday and they had a
great time, with my dad already up and about and his leg healing nicely.
·
I’ve passed my
SES exam and am now a real team member.I am currently learning how to be safe
on roofs, will soon do a chainsaw course and will also take a storm and flood
damage course.
·
All other family
and friends are in good health, nothing truly spectacular there, which is good
· I am thinking of writing a book on Australian business
change success stories, doing some thinking and talking to people who are smart
about those things. I think the profession needs it and so far feedback on the
idea has been good, I’ll let you know where things stand next time
I think that’s all I have to share for
now. I hope you get to enjoy the sun enough in the next few months and that
your family is well.
Until next time, be well
Gilbert
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