The Summer Gone By
As I write, it's two more weeks before the festive season here hits its crescendo, to be followed by endless hours of the annual chilling out sessions on beaches and barbecue pits all over the country. Annual report drafts are being written not only for the business, family and self, but also for profession, region, country and world. We spend so many hours devoting ourselves to business and work goals - have we achieved that? Are there things that are not durable - including relationships, consumables and those with a limited shelf life - that we have not already chucked out? Have we completed the more important items on our wish list? There is also the ritual of ensuring that annual tasks - be they renewals or reviews - have been worked through. As with the approach of major holidays in every country around the globe, the timeliness of services get delayed ("come back after January") or delivery of products not fulfilled. Whatever the hiccups in travel, commercial delivery or kpi attainment, the most satisfying fall-back option is to reflect on how the family has grown, how love has accumulated and how much nearer that we can be to reaching our dreams. And to be surrounded by friends and loved ones.
Sunday 9 December 2007 in Sydney and Wollongong was muggy, hot and overcast. That it was, until mid-afternoon, when the skies played havoc with the residents of the suburbs north-west of the cbd. Hailstones rained down in spectacular fashion across Castlehill, Baulkham Hills, Cherrybrook, Hornsby and Wahroonga, breaking car windscreens and making dents of every kind where they hit. In country NSW, around Lithgow, the New Years Eve fireworks came earlier than thought at Howard & Sons, where a supposedly unmanned set-off of the products destined for around Australia in January had produced a Saturday night show visible from 30km away, and which had the undesired effect of blowing out windows of nearby residential homes. Road rage copied in violent fashion on one of the Sydney main freeways, the M4, with an altercation involving around six men and the accompanying two women - one young man is in serious condition as we write. Unexpected developments came in the collapse of a wooden balcony in inner-city Surry Hills, resulting in five blokes injured, one badly. An Alsatian police dog named Carts was knifed by an 18 year old in an altercation in Corrimal, a suburb north of the Wollongong CBD - he was named after an honoured NSW police officer who was also killed in a crime incident. Finally, if you have some spare change, organisers are asking for AUD 830 for a night on Fort Denison under the stars and fireworks on New Year's Eve in Sydney Harbour - the price includes a four course meal, valet parking, champagne and open air ambiance.
Sunday 9 December 2007 in Sydney and Wollongong was muggy, hot and overcast. That it was, until mid-afternoon, when the skies played havoc with the residents of the suburbs north-west of the cbd. Hailstones rained down in spectacular fashion across Castlehill, Baulkham Hills, Cherrybrook, Hornsby and Wahroonga, breaking car windscreens and making dents of every kind where they hit. In country NSW, around Lithgow, the New Years Eve fireworks came earlier than thought at Howard & Sons, where a supposedly unmanned set-off of the products destined for around Australia in January had produced a Saturday night show visible from 30km away, and which had the undesired effect of blowing out windows of nearby residential homes. Road rage copied in violent fashion on one of the Sydney main freeways, the M4, with an altercation involving around six men and the accompanying two women - one young man is in serious condition as we write. Unexpected developments came in the collapse of a wooden balcony in inner-city Surry Hills, resulting in five blokes injured, one badly. An Alsatian police dog named Carts was knifed by an 18 year old in an altercation in Corrimal, a suburb north of the Wollongong CBD - he was named after an honoured NSW police officer who was also killed in a crime incident. Finally, if you have some spare change, organisers are asking for AUD 830 for a night on Fort Denison under the stars and fireworks on New Year's Eve in Sydney Harbour - the price includes a four course meal, valet parking, champagne and open air ambiance.
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