Beachside reunion

My former CEO at Text 100, Aedhmar, was in town this week. I took time out, along with a few former colleagues, to reconnect and reminisce over old times. I last saw Aedhmar in January 2017 when Garry and I stayed over for dinner while on business in New York.

Our reunion involved two separate events. A group of current, and former, employees came together over lunch last Sunday at The Winery, one of my favourite venues in Surry Hills. The following day a smaller group of senior ex-Texties caught up again for a leisurely lunch at Matt Moran’s beachside restaurant, North Bondi Fish.

Five of us held court at a table on the balcony overlooking Bondi Beach from 1:00pm until well into the evening. Several partners, including Garry, eventually joined us for dinner as it was clear we weren’t going anywhere fast. Aedhmar claims she’s never had a long lunch morph into a dinner event.

It was a wonderful afternoon of love and laughter. I’m reminded once again how fortunate I was to spend almost 15 years of my career working at Text 100. The culture and camaraderie we created was something special.

Doing battle in Wellington

I unexpectedly found myself in Wellington last month.  My Mum was admitted to hospital in New Zealand’s windy capital after falling ill while visiting friends.  In the end, she spent 15 days in the ward while the doctors debated her fate.  She was eventually discharged and flew home for more out-patient treatment and tests in Tauranga.

For several months now Mum has been experiencing painful joint inflammation and a worrying bout of joint infection that has the doctors baffled.  In Wellington, they debated endlessly as to whether she had an infectious disease or a rather nasty version of auto-immune rheumatoid arthritis. As of today they're still not 100 per cent sure what's happening.  However, her white cell blood tests are clear and so an infectious disease has been ruled out as the source of her illness.

Her admission to hospital while out of town resulted in my brother and I taking turns to fly into Wellington to support her and navigate the joys of New Zealand’s public hospital system.  Garry and I will be in Wellington for a couple of days while on our Christmas vacation so the early reconnaissance visit was unanticipated.

However, in between meeting doctors and nursing Mum, I did find a little time to catch up with relatives, visit a former employer and tour The Great War Exhibition at the National War Memorial.  The exhibition was very impressive.  The Trench Experience is a real highlight.  Designed by Peter Jackson (director, writer, and producer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy) this simulation of an ANZAC trench at Gallipoli has proven highly controversial. 

The experience was only ever designed to be a temporary exhibit. It was created to celebrate the centenary of the World War I armistice. However, the Trench Experience ran over budget and ultimately open more than year behind schedule.  Sadly the entire exhibit will be demolished and removed before the end of the year at a “make good” cost of more than $7million. 

The exhibition is outstanding and the Trench Experience was well worth the entry fee.  The extraordinary diorama of The Battle of Chunuk Bair is simply brilliant. It includes more than 5000 tiny pewter warriors each painted and positioned on scale model of the hilly terrain that rose up from the narrow, gravel beaches of Gallipoli.  It’s such a shame that this world-class exhibit will be destroyed a few weeks from now.