Yet another reason for still being in Melbourne

I thought that I'd share a short quote from a book we are both reading at the moment.  It helps in understanding  the delays we are experiencing.

"Oman society is a relationship-based one...with people coming before time.  What Omanis lack in timekeeping is made up for in sincerity...It is important to be patient and understanding of the Omani attitude toward time." from Simone Nowell's  "Oman - Culture Smart!" 2009

Makes it all come clear doesn't it :-)

Today we pottered in to the HUGE shopping centre that is Chadstone.  We lived just around the corner in Poath Road before we married and I thought the extensions that were happening then were large - hoo boy it's big.  If James had have disappeared on me in this version of Chadstone I might still have been looking for him. As it was he was found in the downstairs toy shop at the other end of the complex from where I had taken my eyes off him.  In one of those "interesting" coincidences I knew exactly what he was wearing because I'd needed to buy him new clothes after he fell into a fountain.  Never a dull moment with James at any age.

Anyway, we were rambling through the labyrinth trying to work out where we were.  Unusually, David was reading a map and I was just roaming when he stopped and pointed into Games Workshop.  Now I'm pretty familiar with Games Workshop - the merchandise, the aroma - so I couldn't imaging what had caught his eye.  Then I saw Gwynfor (aka Furious Ennui or Peter Ryan) being pushed around by Lillian.  For those of you who don't know him, Gwynfor has been battling some of the most extreme health issues over the last 16 months; from lung cancer to brain tumours, even including several deaths (the image of someone with his heart in his hand is enough to make even me feel a bit faint around the edges).  Here in front of us was another reason why we're still here.  Last time we saw Gwynfor was in Adelaide when he was feeling "poorly" a week before the first diagnosis.  The woods are thinning a bit now, and the future is looking a whole lot more rosy.  Gwynfor looks younger and healthier than I have ever seen him and it was wonderful to be able to see it with my own eyes.

I may not be learning patience, but I am beginning to appreciate the wait.