For those of you who have been following along, you will realise that there is a bit of change happening in the Morley household.
To start with, I am no longer working. After 23 years with TAFE NSW and having worked pretty much continuously since my first part-time job as a pharmacy assistant aged 13, I’ve decided to pull up stumps.
If I added up the work hours over those 43 years it would equate to quite a lot. I barely took a month’s maternity leave for each child, and in the few times I’ve changed jobs, there has never been a time where I took a rest in between. On occasion I even worked more than one job at a time.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to justify my decision to stop working. Both Dave and I have been looking forward to this day for a few years, and particularly since he retired in June 2021. Every time he popped off to a foreign land by himself (which he did a bit!) I would look longingly at his suitcase and wish I could sneak into it. His stories of adventures were great – but let’s face it, a story is better when you are in it!
And so last week it became official. I’m not saying I will never do paid work again, but assuming we can make the resources last, I hope not to.
It is exciting, yes. But it is also daunting, and emotional and I am grieving for the person I was. The person who worked hard at a career and loved pretty much every aspect of every role I undertook. The person who loved meeting and working alongside, and getting to know closely, such a wide variety of amazing humans.
The reality is though that I am that same person, but with a changed focus. Dave and I have lots of fun and rewarding and interesting things planned. If you look at my last blog post, you will see that the immediate future includes travel (of course) and planning for our beautiful daughter’s wedding which is in November.
I’ve also agreed to be the Wagga Chapter coordinator of OzHarvest. but more on that in future posts!
Speaking of future posts, thanks to those who gave feedback when I asked blog-readers’ thoughts on posting more regularly. In the past I’ve reserved the blog for documenting travel adventures. Now that I have a little more time, I am thinking it could make a more routine appearance. Perhaps weekly on a Friday might work, given I can share information from my fortnightly ABC Riverina segment one week, and then come up with something interesting the other? It may also appear more often than weekly when we are travelling.
Thoughts?
Yesterday was my birthday. It was a lovely day, apart from the very hectic but brief storm that hit Wagga just as we were leaving to drive to Canberra. We happened to be in the pub with Sally (ABC Riverina Breakfast presenter) recording for the segment due to air on the 16th. We talked together (while recording with appropriate pub background noises 😉 ) about eating at a Pub, and if you scroll though the recording LINK HERE to about 15 minutes before the end you can listen.
Sally and I, having recorded the session and then each tucked into a great rump steak ($16 lunch special – what a bargain!) watched as the storm rolled in. Dave didn’t order a full meal but enjoyed the chips and some of the veggies that came with mine. I can honestly say I have never seen a storm like it. Dave and I had to wait for it to more or less pass before we were game to cross the road to the car. Thankfully while it was a crazy storm, it only lasted about 10 minutes.
We were assuming the centre of town in Wagga was busy given the downpour, so we decided to head to Canberra via the back road to Gundagai. We managed to get around a few fallen trees and power lines in North Wagga but once on the Oura Road were turned back, with trees all the way across the road.
Apparently not long afterwards quite a few roads out of Wagga were closed at they cleared the debris.
I chose Canberra as the birthday dinner destination as we have good friends there plus there is such an amazing array of restaurants on offer. I had booked KOTO Dining in Barton a few weeks ago, having heard and read really good reviews. It’s right near Old Parliament House, occupying the building that was formerly the Lobby Restaurant.
I really love Japanese food, and this certainly lived up to expectations. My very favourite dish was the Hiromasa Kingfish, which was prepared with black truffle soy, salt bush and umami kombu. The texture, flavour, and even the temperature was simply incredible! I won’t go into all 12 of the amazing dishes on the Degustation menu, but I highly recommend you try to get there if you can.
I didn’t take many photos, but Michelle did take one of me and one of my special birthday dessert!
The other thing I love about Canberra is the food shopping. After a reasonably ordinary breakfast in Manuka, we headed to Fyshwick Fresh Food markets. Here there are lots of great places to buy food, and I picked up a few bits and pieces at the Asian grocer, plus some gorgeous yellow peaches, and had a lovely wander round the couple of Italian delis that are always on my list to visit when in Canberra.
Having time to wander and browse still feels quite indulgent. I am sure that I will get used to it soon! And yes, the peach was delightful. I’m currently resisting having a second one…
We will have dinner out again tonight then head back to Wagga tomorrow. I’ll let you know in next week’s post about tonight’s dinner.
Ciao for now xx
