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Friday, May 4, 2012

Back to being retired...

Yesterday was my last day working as a temporary office assistant to DH. For the last 3 weeks of the job I worked in an office in the leafy northern suburb of Bridgeman Downs. This office was in a small shopping centre and we had no where near the number of electors that came to the Mitchelton office. In my first week at this office, because of the circumstances, I ended up 'manning' the office on my own for most of the week. And I managed quite ok! lol

I travelled a number of kilometres north to work each day. The roads are lined with trees and wooden fences, behind which are huge, modern housing estates


Now throughout most of the 3 months of this job, I worked with another assistant called Bill. Bill's wife is a former workmate of DH. On our first day working together we naturally chatted. By the end of the first day I found that Bill's dad had been the principal of my high school. It was delightful being able to tell him how much the students had loved his dad. Over the time that we worked together, it was so nice to hear  about
Mr E as a loving family man as Bill told stories of his dad.

'The boys' doing some tidying up. Note the lovely gardens in the carpark of the little shopping centre
The little shopping centre

Those lovely hedges

Another view of the colourful hedges

The shed for the bins and the restrooms on the right at the end of the building



The 2 hardworking assistants


I also discovered that Bill's children attended a primary school where I had been on relief staff for many years in the 1990s.  Some of his boys' teachers are still friends of mine, including the principal. Bill also told stories about his many years working for a large bank, including time working for the bank in PNG. But some of the best stories he told were about his years working in the Queensland Performing Arts Complex huge carparks. But like me, one day he decided that he was ready to retire and that was it! Like DH he takes occasional work since retirement but I suspect he's going to take a bit of a break when he finishes the packing up that DH and he will do next week.

Meanwhile...I'll be off to a 'Knit and Natter' on Monday morning, 'Sit and Stitch' on Monday night, Sisters of Stitch on Wednesday afternoon, Church Sewing Bee Wednesday night, hairdresser Thursday morning...etc Busy busy busy....

3 comments:

Becky said...

I'm so glad you are "back". Sounds like you have your week of FUN all lined up.

Susan said...

Always nice to hear stories from another person's perspective! The shopping centre is a very pleasant one - I like the rock work. Doesn't take a lot to make interesting surroundings that stay tidy... that's a good example.
Love the name "Sisters of Stitch" - enjoy your week Maria! :D)

Cheryll said...

You should like you have a busy week planned. GooD LucK! :)