Koornang Rd. is especially quiet today. Painfully quiet, that is. When I closed shop for a while to grab something from Charcoal Chicken, crossing the road almost felt like walking into a cemetery. So much now is my sentiment for the day that my mind has flown back beside Mum. I ordered for chicken burger and chips feeling bad, because we'd have more prepared to take for picnic at her site. Then, my emoting was interrupted by the louder pouring of emotions spilled by the show on the telly. The shopkeepers have planted one on their counter to keep up with race being aired from Flemington. Hmm, Makybe Diva had made history by winning her third Cup. My mum too loved horses, almost claiming them to heaven one after the other the year she passed away.
I must be extremely bored to be even writing this. Well, what can I say? It's half past 3 p.m., and the busiest day she was expecting is nowhere close to being the slightest bit of being busy. Oh well...
Tuesday, 1 November 2005
Melbourne Cup
Today, it's All Souls' Day elsewhere in the world, where relatives and friends visit and gather around graves of loved ones. Whilst it's also a traditional public holiday here, people here though dress up in their fanciest and flock to the race course.
Well, wherever today is, I know public holidays spell out the same thing: no work.
Alicia, our bookkepper, and I had been anticipating it since last week, and all the more I had been looking forward to it because the following day is also my day-off. Then, when our boss told us it was "actually the busiest day of the year" for our sales-- ergo, we had work-- it seemed like my leap for excitement was prematurely arrested mid-air. Yeah, it felt like the world stopped, and I was suspended there like the Duracell bunny, looking stupidly outdone by the Energizer mascot. Alicia's smile froze, went brittle and fell somewhere.
So here we are on the "busiest day of the year". I had just relieved Alicia from her morning shift, from whence, I can only surmise, she was also "busiest" staring at the bottles tremendously enjoying ageing on their shelves. I was checking on my thoughts (which is always a good thing) and only found myself more frustrated upon running into things I could have accomplished had I been home. If I had gone to church (I heard they had a second mass intended for today's occasion-- the All Saints' Day one), done laundry that needs handwashing, continued spring cleaning, replied to emails, packed up my Christmas box, hot-oil treated my hair, jogged for at least 20 minutes, updated this blogsite, read Tyrone's magazines to learn a new dish for dinner, called home, resumed self-review for the board exam, and watched Oprah (yeah, you'll never know what you don't know yet. hehehe.), yes, it would have probably been busy indeed for me.
It's a different picture from Tyrone's kitchen. It's almost always never busy, and today will just be busier. At the end of the day, we'll ask how it went for the other. My answer will be as lame as he'll look. I might as well not ask his. The day will have had him exhausted to the bone, and requiring an answer from him will only melt the interior of an already very falt tyre.
Let's see the rest of the day.
Well, wherever today is, I know public holidays spell out the same thing: no work.
Alicia, our bookkepper, and I had been anticipating it since last week, and all the more I had been looking forward to it because the following day is also my day-off. Then, when our boss told us it was "actually the busiest day of the year" for our sales-- ergo, we had work-- it seemed like my leap for excitement was prematurely arrested mid-air. Yeah, it felt like the world stopped, and I was suspended there like the Duracell bunny, looking stupidly outdone by the Energizer mascot. Alicia's smile froze, went brittle and fell somewhere.
So here we are on the "busiest day of the year". I had just relieved Alicia from her morning shift, from whence, I can only surmise, she was also "busiest" staring at the bottles tremendously enjoying ageing on their shelves. I was checking on my thoughts (which is always a good thing) and only found myself more frustrated upon running into things I could have accomplished had I been home. If I had gone to church (I heard they had a second mass intended for today's occasion-- the All Saints' Day one), done laundry that needs handwashing, continued spring cleaning, replied to emails, packed up my Christmas box, hot-oil treated my hair, jogged for at least 20 minutes, updated this blogsite, read Tyrone's magazines to learn a new dish for dinner, called home, resumed self-review for the board exam, and watched Oprah (yeah, you'll never know what you don't know yet. hehehe.), yes, it would have probably been busy indeed for me.
It's a different picture from Tyrone's kitchen. It's almost always never busy, and today will just be busier. At the end of the day, we'll ask how it went for the other. My answer will be as lame as he'll look. I might as well not ask his. The day will have had him exhausted to the bone, and requiring an answer from him will only melt the interior of an already very falt tyre.
Let's see the rest of the day.
Saturday, 22 October 2005
Saturdays on Koornang Road
Today's blessed with a warm breeze and a soft sunshine, and it seems to be brightening up everyone. Cars buzz here and there, and surprisingly traffic teems up the humble stretch of Koornang Rd. like it does on Collins St. at the CBD. Mums and dads pushing prams or tagging along kids beat the sidewalks. Dogs on leads trod silently or sit lazily outside shops waiting for their masters. It's fun watching them sit like a rock, unfazed by the admiring stares from passersby. The aroma of surrounding international cuisines, the scent of freshly washed clothes from the coin launderette across the road, and even the fumes from styling chemicals emanating from the salon next door, can tell you how vibrant this tiny strip is.
Saturdays are usually the busiest day at the strip, but today is especially busier because of the opening of the suburb's new library. It used to occupy a modest door among the string of shops on the opposite side of the road from where I work. But now, it sits exuding grandeur in the hub of the shopping centre, with its own carpark, playgrounds and a landscaped promenade linking it to the rest of the strip. From the tiny shop with a few assortment of books and a cramped space for children's storytime sessions, the new library is four times bigger and boasts of a very modern architecture with a separate multipurpose wing for preschool kids and an indoor playground. It was built with the whole community in mind, with function rooms which can be rented out by the Council and clubs. I heard the senior citizens' clubs have already gained priority access. How about that? You didn't think they were sloooow, right? :)
For the first time since I started work at the bottle shop, we'll be open on a Sunday. Yeah, we're hoping for good sales too, but we're trading mainly as part of the weekend celebration. We're giving a discount on the housewines, which should be appealing to new customers. That's bad news though for Alex.
He's an everyday customer (as different from one considered a "regular") who keeps the discount furniture shop two doors down. He just stepped in to buy his usual two bottles of Heineken lager, as he eats lunch "like Jesus" with bread and alcohol. He alternately buys Carlton scotch whisky, which he had earlier purchased, too. The whisky, he claimed, will be reserved for tomorrow for, what I thought, was a send-off party for his wife who'll soon be leaving for holidays in Greece. Well, he corrected me after and said he was going to celebrate, because he bought his woman a one-way ticket "for a grand vacation". He lets a devilish smile and a wink and shuts the door behind him. Oh, Greek he is.
Saturdays are usually the busiest day at the strip, but today is especially busier because of the opening of the suburb's new library. It used to occupy a modest door among the string of shops on the opposite side of the road from where I work. But now, it sits exuding grandeur in the hub of the shopping centre, with its own carpark, playgrounds and a landscaped promenade linking it to the rest of the strip. From the tiny shop with a few assortment of books and a cramped space for children's storytime sessions, the new library is four times bigger and boasts of a very modern architecture with a separate multipurpose wing for preschool kids and an indoor playground. It was built with the whole community in mind, with function rooms which can be rented out by the Council and clubs. I heard the senior citizens' clubs have already gained priority access. How about that? You didn't think they were sloooow, right? :)
For the first time since I started work at the bottle shop, we'll be open on a Sunday. Yeah, we're hoping for good sales too, but we're trading mainly as part of the weekend celebration. We're giving a discount on the housewines, which should be appealing to new customers. That's bad news though for Alex.
He's an everyday customer (as different from one considered a "regular") who keeps the discount furniture shop two doors down. He just stepped in to buy his usual two bottles of Heineken lager, as he eats lunch "like Jesus" with bread and alcohol. He alternately buys Carlton scotch whisky, which he had earlier purchased, too. The whisky, he claimed, will be reserved for tomorrow for, what I thought, was a send-off party for his wife who'll soon be leaving for holidays in Greece. Well, he corrected me after and said he was going to celebrate, because he bought his woman a one-way ticket "for a grand vacation". He lets a devilish smile and a wink and shuts the door behind him. Oh, Greek he is.
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