Whew we made it!

 Welcome to 2021!  Where everything is pretty much the same as it was last month, except somehow there is a lot more hope and optimism.  Let's be honest, 2020 is the suckiest year of all our petty collective lives so it's a pretty low bar to clear for 2021.

I like attending personal development courses when I can, and on one of those -can't remember which, I picked up this parable about a prisoner on death row awaiting execution.  On the scheduled date, he was served his lunch.  It was as he imagined it.   A one inch thick pork chop, marinated and grilled with boiled baby potatoes, white wine braised cabbages, and a puree of beetroot. The warden started to say "Please enjoy your last meal-"  

"PLEASE. Just let me enjoy the rest of my time in silence."  The warden fixed him with a pained stare, and after a brief pause quietly retreated to respect his wishes.

As the prisoner ate his meal, he found he still couldn't enjoy it. He was looking forward to this meal but after this, there was nothing left to look forward to. About halfway through his meal, the warden noticed his darkening mood and decided now would be the best time to tell him.

"-IN PRISON. Ehem, what I was trying to tell you sir was that, this is your last meal in prison.  You have been pardoned. The governor's call came in after we had prepared your meal so I decided to serve it anyway and tell you but you wouldn't let me. "  The warden let that sink in before walking away,

"You are free to leave as soon as you finish dessert." 

The second half of his meal tasted nothing like the first half.  All the flavours and all the textures and smells were so intensely delicious.  Yet  it was still the same meal  served in the same prison cell.

2021 did not shape up to how I planned, but it turned into something better.  The plan was to visit friends on an interstate trip. But then the Avalon cluster happened then borders slammed shut.  Instead, we just road-tripped within the state and that worked out really well. 

On the last road trip, we had a tyre blow out, it was an inconvenience but more importantly an adventure.  My young daughters were incredulous that I had the skills to swap a spare.  To be honest I've been road-tripping for four decades and have changed my fair share of flat tyres in exotic places such as  halfway to Madrid from Barcelona.  The hassle was to have to  buy a pair of new tyres.  

And then after dropping off the kids, I had more car drama.  I was accelerating at the lights when I heard a WHOMP and then steam started pouring out of the bonnet.  Uh-oh, that's not good.  I pulled over and popped the bonnet for a look.  There was green fluorescent coolant all over the engine bay and underneath was a growing pool like blood from a trauma wound.  It was 430PM and I was able to nurse the car for over a kilometre to the closest mechanics.  I was lucky to find a sympathetic mechanic who stopped what he was working on and spent the last half hour of his work day getting me back on the road.  Divina Black was patched up but would not be reliable enough to make it back up the mountains. 

We instead took refuge with my kumpare and kumadre in Sydney where we spent the night.  It was a great chance to catch up and spend quality time together.

In the morning I took Divina Black to Nick my mechanic.  Lucky I'm still on holidays, the radiator needed replacing. So I left it with Subytech and decided to make my way back home via public transport wearing my mask.  The last bit was a 30 minute walk from the station through occasional fog and sprinkle.  But whew I made it home before noon.

The kicker was that I got a call that the car was ready to be picked up tomorrow.  So tomorrow I get to go back on public transport with a half hour hike included.  

Sometimes, things don't work out like I imagined, but if I treat each happenstance like an adventure it always works out for the best.