Book in your hard waste collection

I'm glad I finally got round to calling the Wyndham Council to book in my first hard waste collection for 2010.

Previously, we would be told this day this month is the next Hard Waste Collection Day. Everyone would put out their unwanted furniture, white goods etc on the nature strip outside their home. It made the whole street look extremely unsightly, and of course was an invitation to all and sundry to come and help themselves.

Not that I mind someone else finding value in my throwaways, but Council takes a different view: legally, it's an offence to make off with someone's unwanted couch! (In the interests of recycling and all that, why leh?)

So now we're asked to book in for our 2 complimentary collections a year, which can be any day, and to put out the items the night before in the driveway. Council sends a brochure telling us what they will collect and what they won't, and issue a red sticker which you stick on to your pile so they know what to collect, and so others are put on notice. Hands Off!

A much nicer, more discreet way of doing things, don't you think?

The good guys from the Council came this morning to pick up our trash stash: old mattresses, a door, fly screen, rusty dog transport cage, broken chair...

(Which reminds me, we forgot to put out the armchair by the front door. Drats!)

Jeans & Asian Genes

Finally, jeans that fit.

I'd almost given up looking because most clothing in the shops is overwhelmingly geared towards the Caucasian figure.

When it comes to jeans, I look for three things:

• Hugs the waist without compromising my modesty when I squat.
• No bagginess in the bum area.
• And not so skinny as to require peeling off.

Today, I found my perfect pair at Target - of all places - on the sixth attempt, while Beth was at Chinese class. Best of all, the $39 marked price became $29 when I got to the cashier's.

This is one occasion when an ad means what it claims: "100 Fit". :-)

I say 'of all places' because the last time I was at Target, the customer service officer asked me on my way out if I had any feedback about the store range. Seeing that she looked Filipino, I cheekily said, "How about more Asian sizes?"

We both had a good laugh.

For the second day in a row, there were road works along Heaths Road.

At school pick-up time.

Yesterday, I left it a little late to guarantee myself a spot at the main carpark, so I decided to go by Heaths Road and park at the Baptist Church. What do you know, there were road works on the opposite side, just where the entrance to the church carpark is located. Traffic from all directions was held up, especially the right-turning cars from Derrimut Road into Heaths Road. The authorities had also put up a No Right Turn sign on the divider opposite the carpark entrance, making it impossible for parents to enter the carpark from the opposite side of Heaths Road (like me). I had to go up to the traffic light and do a U-turn.

Today, I went by Derrimut Road, thinking I might have just enough time to find parking. Instead, my lane barely moved as I passed the Uniting Church and the Plaza. I craned my neck to try and see what was happening ahead - an accident? - but there were no emergency siren sounds - and meanwhile, cars were switching into the left lane to avoid the jam. I decided to stick with my lane because it was the most direct route to school. Then I saw all the cars in the turning lane doing U-turns at the intersection of the Plaza and Baptist Church. I decided to turn right into Heaths Road and park at the Baptist Church ... And again got caught in road works. They had closed off one lane of the two-lane road but I couldn't figure out what works were being done as I only saw a row of cones and one man in an orange-and-yellow vest holding up a SLOW sign. Urggh!

Why do they choose school pick-up times to do these things? Two days in a row! *rant rant*

This isn't the only example of negative demonstration of common sense by people who should know better.

Last week, I was on the way to the train station to pick up a friend. A 7-minute journey turned into a 20-minute one because the whole stretch of Old Geelong Road from the VicRoads roundabout northwards was reduced to a single lane by road works. And what were they doing? Resurfacing the road? Hardly. All I saw was an endless row of cones and a handful of workers doing something to the landscaping on the divider - pulling out weeds? I really couldn't tell. What an incredible waste of motorists' time.

Aussie Talk

Chatting with a couple of mums this morning, I was bemused by how I've slid almost effortlessly into the typical Aussie conversation pattern.

"Hi, how are you?"
"Good!" (Aussies are never just fine, they're good)
"How was Queensland?"
"Yeah it was nice. We haven't been on a holiday for a while, so it was nice to get away with the kids. Now I'm getting back into the swing of things again (groan), then one more week of school and we get a two-week break. (Big Smiles)"

I love how as adults, it's easy to switch accents and conversational styles. With my Singapore Club friends, I speak Singlish like I've never left Sg, and we all understand each other perfectly. Then when an Aussie joins in, we automatically switch back to our Aussie accents.

I've noticed that this ability seems to be exclusive to adults. My kids both speak with an Aussie accent, especially Jordanne, who was born here. When they speak Mandarin, they sound like angmohs trying to learn Chinese, and I have to keep correcting their accents to get them to pronounce words with the 北京腔 and not like the Chinese As A Second Language learners that they are.

Connections and Disconnections

Had a visit yesterday from a friend I used to work with.

It was weird. I felt like he hadn't changed a bit in the past 2 years (and he will probably agree), while so much has happened in my own life. In a sense, I've moved on, but we are still connected by our shared work experience and the people we know.

When he asked me to tell him about what my life is like here, I couldn't summon up the words or the energy. I have no problem sharing with moms at school and friends from church. They are people I see regularly and who already know a bit about my family life. With people who aren't in the overlapping circles of social connection, it's harder. Where do I begin? What can I say that won't bore them? Stories about what my kids love, say and do - like the girls' attempt to sing the Three Bears Song from Korean drama Full House - are fascinating only to people in the inner circle: parents, grandparents, aunts, and close girlfriends with kids of a similar age.

The gender issue is real. Most guys I know, even the ones with families of their own, aren't interested in 'too much information' and don't enthuse the same way about a toddler's achievements like a girlfriend would.

I suppose this is that season of life where my family commitments guide my social connections. I have only so much time and energy in the day, and I must exclude some for the sake of being available for those who are happy to accept that my availability, attention and even my conversation is defined by my children.

I guess that makes me the stereotype of a rather boring housewife. :)