I hope you’ve had a great long weekend especially if you’ve managed to escape to the country or the beach. While it has been cold, the sunshine and blue skies make all things bearable in winter. I’ve been both running and walking in single digit temperatures trying to stay active. The ‘exercise and socialise’ mantra has also been in my head and I’ve been meeting friends to get takeaway coffees before going for long walks outside – coffee and conversation as well as movement and I have really enjoyed my ‘walkie talkies’ as I call them.
I had a pretty tumultuous week on the work front last week – it’s never great to make front page news for all the wrong reasons but I will say that La Trobe University is very much still open for business and not about to go anywhere in a hurry. Things are not as dire as what’s been portrayed in the media. The higher education sector in general is hurting with little federal government support nor international student income and there will be inevitable pain ahead, but I still believe in the future of anchor institutions like ours that mean so much to local and global communities, and luckily so do many people in more powerful positions than mine.
The world has felt very much in a state of change with Black Lives Matter protests overseas, interstate and here in Melbourne. While I believe in the right of people to peacefully protest and the need for solidarity, I’m not sure about the wisdom of doing it during a global pandemic but people make their own choices. Life can be fragile and as a ‘person of colour’ – the end of institutionalised and endemic racism is something to aim for especially in multicultural, modern societies like ours. As someone who works with young people, I am buoyed by the fact that they are a lot more open-minded, socially conscious and inclusive in their outlook, values and behaviour.
While we’ve had a staycation this past weekend, it’s been great to have caught up with family face-to-face after so long – my children have loved seeing their cousins before they return to school this week. We also had an impromptu lunch outside at Rockin’ Rolls cafe in Heidelberg (who do a delicious crackling pork Bahn Mi) after a very quick visit in and out of the Asics outlet at Uni Hill in Bundoora to pick up new running shoes for the kids. We did have to leave our name at the cafe which is the new normal and I will be taking it slowly in terms of socialising indoors at public venues as previously mentioned.
In these times of economic hardship, it’s still nice to dream and another house has caught my eye this past week – this Art Deco stunner (pictured above and below) at 9 Charlton Road in Eaglemont. The owners clearly have a love of the monochromatic plus that pool! And I love the walk-in pantry and that glamorous walk-in wardrobe. I wish…
Miss Rosanna 