Home, again. And again.
The word home is so imprecise. Rather like the word love, I guess.
Questions I was frequently asked when in BrisVegas:
1. Is it good to be home again?
2. How long are you home for?
3. When do you head home?
4. When are you coming home for good?
1, 2 and 4 all refer to Brisbane as home. 3 refers to England.
I caught up with some people who did not know I was no longer living in Brisbane, and my typical convolutions (in response to "What are you doing at the moment?"):
"I'm in the UK - well, obviously not right now. Right now, I'm sweating like nothing else, but in general, I've been living in the UK for the last few years and lawyering."
And that's what I did for two solid weeks. Sweated like nothing else and spun stories about my life in the UK, my life as a lawyer and my life as a merry holiday maker. After a while, I bored myself (and possibly my listeners). I also ate. My goodness, did I ever EAT.
At home (with my family), I had goi cuon, pho, bun nuouc leo and banh xeo. Goi cuon was my hello meal and banh xeo was my goodby meal.
Some of the places I visited were a disappointment. Kabuki, at Stamford Plaza in the city, loses my vote. As does Espressohead in West End. Keeping my vote are Batavia in South Bank and Happy Days in West End. And my brother, mother and sister-in-law all still have my votes, too.
Since coming back home from back home I have been busy with work, Christmas client lunches, work, Christmas itself, laundry and then, um, work. So this is a bit of a pathetic nothing of a post to round off 2008. I thought about writing about my Christmas day (fire! We had a FIRE! And we roasted chestnuts over our open FIRE!) but I don't have time. And I think all my Christmas day photos (rather surprisingly) have people who look recognisably like themselves in, and you can't have a Christmas day post without photographs. But mostly, time is my problem.
I'm hoping 2009 will bring more writing - either on this blog or elsewhere. (Ominous, no?)
Happy New Year to all (four!) of you.
Questions I was frequently asked when in BrisVegas:
1. Is it good to be home again?
2. How long are you home for?
3. When do you head home?
4. When are you coming home for good?
1, 2 and 4 all refer to Brisbane as home. 3 refers to England.
I caught up with some people who did not know I was no longer living in Brisbane, and my typical convolutions (in response to "What are you doing at the moment?"):
"I'm in the UK - well, obviously not right now. Right now, I'm sweating like nothing else, but in general, I've been living in the UK for the last few years and lawyering."
And that's what I did for two solid weeks. Sweated like nothing else and spun stories about my life in the UK, my life as a lawyer and my life as a merry holiday maker. After a while, I bored myself (and possibly my listeners). I also ate. My goodness, did I ever EAT.
At home (with my family), I had goi cuon, pho, bun nuouc leo and banh xeo. Goi cuon was my hello meal and banh xeo was my goodby meal.
Some of the places I visited were a disappointment. Kabuki, at Stamford Plaza in the city, loses my vote. As does Espressohead in West End. Keeping my vote are Batavia in South Bank and Happy Days in West End. And my brother, mother and sister-in-law all still have my votes, too.
Since coming back home from back home I have been busy with work, Christmas client lunches, work, Christmas itself, laundry and then, um, work. So this is a bit of a pathetic nothing of a post to round off 2008. I thought about writing about my Christmas day (fire! We had a FIRE! And we roasted chestnuts over our open FIRE!) but I don't have time. And I think all my Christmas day photos (rather surprisingly) have people who look recognisably like themselves in, and you can't have a Christmas day post without photographs. But mostly, time is my problem.
I'm hoping 2009 will bring more writing - either on this blog or elsewhere. (Ominous, no?)
Happy New Year to all (four!) of you.
9 comments:
I'm 1. ;)
Happy New Year!
My verification word is "hipmat." Why do I find that amusing?
I hadn't thought about the imprecision of "home" until you put it in that context. Your list of foods brought smiles to my face. And I'm glad many of those things have passed my lips this year. Glad you are back and happy 2009 to you!
Happy New Year, Oanhie.
I get the whole "home" thing as well. People at work like to ask me when I'm next going home. I like to say, "Oh, probably 6 or 6:30, I guess".
Sally.
Happy New Year, Oanh! Thank you for all your well wishes.
You know how I feel about the word "home". It's just one of those words I use out of habit, but the meaning is sketchy at best.
Yummy @ roasted chestnuts. Something I missed out on again this year, but maybe next time. You gotta love that smell!
No, look, there's 5 of us : D
A fire and chestnuts sounds so much nicer than this disgusting steamy swamp that is currently Brisbane. I felt a twinge of Schadenfreude that you hadn't missed out on sweating while sitting still. I say this only as someone who has spent the last two days hoping her books wouldn't spontaneously combust from the heat they had absorbed. You know, when even surfaces are hot?
Happy New Year!
hey, happy new year to you too. I'm so jealous you have a fire and roasted chestnut. We had a 'hippy' Christmas this year (staying in the caravan on the driveway of my SIL's house). Hope 2009 will be a great year for you.
Happy New Year from me too! I always have the problem of "going home" too - because I lived in the UK during my teens, it's my "second home" - people just got so confused when I was going from home to home... :)
Happy new year darling Oanh. My mum just mumbled something about me not eating turkey. Yours was definitely the more gastronomic of our Brisbane trips!
Golly, 8 of you.
It's a great year already.
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