A week in review – June 2020
It has been an interesting week to say the least. To start the week, we had a form of man-flu in the house, which had carried over for a while and is now, thankfully almost banished thanks to some heavy-duty drugs. Monday arrived bright and cold. It was a challenging afternoon that resulted in a significant amount of self-reflection.
I visited a client and, whatever my circumstances, I never want to be in his situation. The sunset was a wonderful re-set button on the drive home. I had a shower on arriving home, to wash off the meeting. It wasn’t that there was anything awful about the seat I sat on, nor the condition of the place, but there was the smell of booze ooze and cigarettes and human decrepitude that I just couldn’t rid even with the windows down and the home fires scenting the air. I appreciate the moving of time and the speed with which the amazing sunset changes. I stop to photograph it, to take in the amazing colours, shapes, drifts and characteristics. These things make you appreciate where you are at. I also stop to tell my husband I love him.
Over the week, it has had further challenges with one particularly demanding client whom we are preparing for a 3-day trial (it is one of 5 multi-day trials I have in a 6 week period, the most intense amount of trial work I have had in my 25+ year career). The time spent on her matter has been substantial and when our senior barrister called for a Sunday meeting, all day, to finalise the trial affidavit, I was shattered. This was the second time in as many weeks as he had previously advised that we needed a further two weeks to do this work. When you are working in this type of environment, with the intensity of emotion, it becomes very challenging personally and, sometimes unwittingly, it takes a toll. This is not the only challenging client who is proceeding to trial. Two of the trials involve people who are struggling with the concepts whereas the other two trials are matters where I have to make recommendations for the welfare of the children and this involves having to prepare extensive material because at least one of the parents is self-represented and has no idea of how this works.
Whilst I may not have a lot on my Balance Sheet, I am grateful, at least most of the time, for the intelligence I have. I am grateful that I can navigate these systems. I enjoy the work, it is the human element that really challenges you most of the time.
The week has been one of circles. I need to do 3 shoots, prorated, to maintain my weapons licence. I find out that I can head to the other side of Boonah to do this so I arrange to head out Saturday and Sunday. This was looking fabulous (and therapeutic in a short term way) until….the Sunday meeting was called and then driving out there I find out that there are “unforeseen circumstances” causing the range to be closed on Saturday. I enjoyed the drive in any event. It would have been topped off with a little burnt gunpowder inhalation but that is not to be on this occasion.
So, re-assess, how do I get my shoots with my usual range being closed until next week (not clear as to the remaining 2 Saturdays after that) and potentially very busy with people like me who had left their shoots towards the end of the year, but I cannot do a lot of these on weekends due to commitments such as the client conference and a much needed catch up with my parents and pooch, through an overnight trip to Goomeri organised before the restrictions on travel were eased and then there are limited shoots that are available on weekends in any event. I now have to look at evenings. A little night driving shall hone the skills.
So, breathing, I head in to Boonah for a visit to a café, remembering that it is after noon on Saturday and all the retail therapy options are closed…probably a good thing as I would likely have bought a lovely shirt adorned with stripes, of good quality material, at Maynard’s Drapery – an olde worlde establishment that has clothes, work gear, fabric and a range of other goodies. Maybe another day.
The drive out to Boonah was therapeutic in its own way. The letting off of gunpowder is intoxicating in a different way, but it will wait until another day. So, I decide to travel home via some roads I have not been along before. I turn off to Kalbar and mosey through the back to Peaks Crossing returning to the Ipswich-Boonah Road then take some of Tourist Drive 16 and rather than heading to Warwick, I turn for home.
The country is phenomenal. It is so dry and golden in that dry. It is such vivid contrasts. I am reminded of the art of Albert Namatjira, the intensity of the colours. The cattle look well fed and their coats seem almost glossy from the road. They seem healthy, likely to fetch a good price, hopefully, when their time on this earth comes to its end. The earth needs a lot of watering and I truly hope this comes through soon.
There is something soothing about putting the windows down and turning off the air conditioning; allowing the wind to rearrange your hair, rushing through the cockpit of the car, taking your thoughts away with it as it continues on into the ether.
I return to the highway and it is windows up, air conditioning back on. My sojourn and moment of re-set has now come to an end as I navigate the dual lane highway (after travelling over some single lane roads where you have to move off the road on to the verge to pass an oncoming car). My “usual” world intrudes and I return to the things that I need to do, attune my mind to the brief work I need to do before the conference with the barristers tomorrow. But first, I fortify myself with a little sparkling Australian wine. This is a simple aspect of life, that brings a comfort, as the exploration of unfamiliar roads, gazing over our wide brown and multi-coloured land also does, but in a different way.
I struggle to do the things I need to do to prepare for the conference. I treasure my weekends. My work weeks have been busy enough and I am not used to working 50-55 hours a week. So, I decide that I shall see how I feel a little later. If all else fails, this not usually an early morning person for work, let alone exercise, shall do the things she needs to do in the morning, before departing for a 9.00am kick off and enjoy about 36 hours of almost work free mental space. The week has reminded me that there is only so much you can humanly achieve (in a formal 38 hour working week) and there is an absolute need for those things that help you moderate the demands of life. I am blessed with the love of a good and patient man and there are no words to express just what that means, even though he cannot always understand what I am experiencing as I cannot understand what he experiences, and “thank you” seems far from adequate. It has been a week and it ain’t over yet.
