Life This Week 4/2/2019: The Week Before School Began.


Life this week has been all about the lead up to day one, term one of year one.
It was a much calmer walk hand in hand to school than this time last year.

It helped that we’d arrived a good 40 minutes before the bell.  It gave us plenty of time to find a park and avoid the drama that was last year’s attempt.  A resident of one of the side streets near school was forced to come out and help direct traffic as three lanes of traffic attempted to squeeze down his narrow, winding street.  He was actually very calm which makes me think he’s well used to the drama of living between two sprawling schools.  We celebrated my parking win with a cool drink at the local cafe as we watched the rest of the neighbourhood get ready for the first day of school.

But not in a smug way because this school mum actually had to confer with two external sources about the exact day school started this year.  Apparently, school websites can be misleading.  I was also so laid back about school shopping that I missed the memo about house shirt designs changing.  As reasonable citizens of the internet, I ask you this.  White collared sports shirts for six-year-olds.  Why?  Why do bad things happen to (fairly) good school mums?  My really good mum friend has red collared white shirts in her uniform laundry basket this year.  Again, I ask – why!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?
I also didn’t look too closely at last year’s school shoes.  They actually need to be replaced.  Thank you Nike online for coming through with these for $50.  I’m just a bit bummed that the ID version Air Force Ones are not available in size 1Y.  I had the best pair desinged for Master SSG.  They had his initials on the heel for easy identification but sadly, it’s not to be.
Remember the hail storm we had in Sydney last year?  This is where cars go to get photographed and assessed for repair.  I dropped in after school drop off for my assessment.  It’s crazy about the impact that one storm has had on the industry.  My insurer had to employ 200 extra staff to process claims.  The repairs can only be done by units that specialize in hail damage.  The wait time is around six months now to get in for the actual work.  But I’m glad it only was my car that got damaged and that no one got hurt.

It’s become our tradition to go on an adventure by train on that last day before the school year begins.  This year’s destination was the International Airport.

It is so nice being at the airport without bags or the stress of having to clear customs and actually travel.  The sense of excitement in the air was contagious and I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed strolling around without much purpose.

Except to look for morning tea which we bought from this juice bar.
Then we hit the trains again for Chatswood.

 Where decorations for the Lunar New Year were on display.

We had lunch at Maccas (where else) where I gave in to my craving McCafe’s take on the Iced Latte.  They are seriously the gold standard of icy, caffeinated beverages.

Homemade with a teaspoon and a bit of Moccona is a good substitute but your heart may still say Macca’s afterwards.

Meanwhile back at Chatswood, we moved on to Muji.

Where I got another three red pens to replace the last three I bought in December but have since lost.  I wonder if their being Muji will somehow make them immune to getting lost on my desk.  Not feeling very certain of this right now but they do look very pretty and they did come home packaged in a paper Muji envelope that Master SSG has since put in the recycling for me.

Speaking of Master SSG.  He had a lovely time testing out the stationery stamps.

And here he is helping me test out pens using his own sketchbook.

Of course we ended the day with gelato.  And of course I had to have the Chandon Rose and Strawberry flavour.  It was delectable.

For reference, Master SSG’s strawberry version is on the left.  It’s a deeper pink and sweeter.

Did you or will you be starting the school year in 2019?  How’s it been?


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