March-2026

Left: Oli had to get dressed up like a musician. He chose Don West; shoes are Vinnies, belt is Marie's and voila. It's pretty close.

The start of this month I was on call.

We went over to Vonnes to assist her finish her celebrants course for both days. Me and Marie got married 5 times. On Sunday there were 20 guests to witness our marriage. I had to lean over to read my views because my name was the words and I did not know my name. Good times. 

 

Next weekend, Lou went with some friends to the coast, while me and Oli stayed home. We walked the dog. The grand prix was on so we watched.  

Max Verstappen crashed in practice due to endings breaking locking the rear. Once you have a decent lock up, it's hands over, hello tyre barrier. He will start from the rear. Oli is still strongly interested in F1. Me too but I don't follow it. 

I'd better clean the house before Marie comes back hey. It's a mild disgrace today.

 

Above: we picked up some ceramic bread container for the over, so I had a go at bread making. It was pretty good, just a bit plain. I'm working on it.

Had lunch at Fils while still on call, John pictured at hers on the right here. 

 

I ate way too much. Marie and Lou were up the coast. Oli was at volleyball.

Ceal and Fil were at Fil's place. No sign or message from Peter.

First weekend after,  was nice to be free.  Nothing special happened. Walked dog. 

Last weekend: Walked dog. Attempted to make Olis fly screen to swing out for access to the roof. Aye, there's a decent gap to the side that needs some kind of fix.

Joe and Julia's wedding

3rd weekend in March was Julia's wedding. It was beautiful, touching and we had a very nice time.

The wedding itself was at Joe's family's place, which is a large estate. I think there was golf there?

It's got several self contained units, next to a lake. The bridesmaids, bride stayed, and got ready there. Then they arrived the short trip by golf cart, nice.

Froze our arse off at the ceremony. Bride and groom have wonderful vows, very touching and personal.

Julia had a cathedral sewn into her dress.

Much getting, drinking and dancing was done in the main building. 

Our kids are the coolest.

I go the vest at St Pats in Freo, and the shirt was a local vintage shop. Everyone else was orthodox.

Fil, Maryanne, Ceal, Julia, Joe, Peter, John, me and Peter Joel.

My boys are the most handsome creatures.

Before the wedding: I worked from home Thursday, including a 4 hour flight. I got off at Mascot and walked for 10 minutes as I didn't want to pay $23.30 to go the extra stop. I paid $5.38, train took 30 mins. My work laptop battery lasted 3 hours,  and I ran out of things I could do on the flight.  In Perth, the airport train is modern, excellent, cost $3.50 and is valid for 3 hours. Wtf NSW govt??

Got out at Freo. Stopped at the excellent St Pats Op Shop where they upcycle jeans, jackets and bought a vest. The walk to Anne Sophie's is beautiful and brings back great memories. She's retired. We bemoaned the state of democracy and war in the world.

Drove directly to dinner at Margaret River with Julia, Joe and 30 odd family members. Another great day.

I'm awake and it's 5am, 8am NSW time. Will try to get back to sleep or I'll bomb at 8pm tonight.

Went for a walk at the beach along a bit of the coastal walk, a really beautiful area, low tick green shrubs, perfect sand. 

 

Ellen's just moved in here. Her new place is a lovely new town house,  open plan with a mezzanine style 2nd floor, in a strata  of 8. There is a locked gate entry. A single driveway access is lined with mature trees like it's a street in a French village. We all had dinner together at Anne Sophie's. 

She's started to work 2 days a week. Said hello to George, Yannick and David, who are in good health.  

Me and Anne Sophie went for a swim at Coogee Beach, following the shark net. I had to cut out after about 200m due to the nausea caused by the bobbing ocean. A seal had jumped the fence and was cruising around inside the area. 

Walked Freo, via a gorgeous viewing point, to collect a hire car for AS. I checked if I could change Marie's booking by chance,  and yes all good,  I picked up a car also.

Marie and my boys arrived at Freo station directly from the plane. We met them there and wandered to get a coffee (image directly above) and did a bit more op shopping.

After the wedding weekend, we drove to Perth and stayed at Ellen's place. Went to the market with the boys, got a couple of belts, take away food. 

Bought more stuff at the vintage testify St Pats Op Shop, trained it, flew home. Got into a car that's not a taxi or uber but charged $65. He was from Karachi Pakistan. 

Feb-2026

The Kiari family sent photos of the Himalayas under snow. It looks spectacular.

Rishabh has started to see someone. I hope this is going well!

Well the only weekend we could make turned out to be Kyle's birthday. She wondered if we'd asked to visit just when that was, but alas sorry I didn't know. Anyway, it was a lovely weekend.

I tried my hand at Indian food. It's funny; I planned on doing it often but somehow have not been cooking. I really like the idea of bread with no preservatives etc etc. It turned out quite well and everyone ate it.

I was on call (S1 duty) for work, so haven't done anything for two weekends.

Jan-2026

It feels like another world to be "home". At the airport, I asked for help and wasn't hounded into bying anything.

Happy birthday Fil.

Finally got to see my boys again. A few of Marie's sisters decided to come to the coast and visit.

I had a tube of Mehendi, so we had a bit of a go.

And a puzzle as always.

The guys from Kiari sent some photos of their village now it's snowing. This is the house at the end of the street where their Grandma lives.

I brought back some scarves to hand around. I think Mohammad and Farnaz look great in them.

Here's a snap of Shimla in the snow from this year. I wish we were there!

More visitors. January, everyone is on holidays.

Went over to dinner at Andy and Monika's to talk about India, but mainly talked about everything else, work etc.

Well happy new year everyone.