Chips - Lamb With Cashews - Singapore Fried Rice
Tonight was a special bitter/sweet night. It was the final last ever definitely the total and complete end of the Christmas and New Year holidays. Fiona goes back to work today (Tuesday), as do a great many of my friends. It feels like this is where 2005 really starts.
To celebrate the event, we went out to the Mandarin Restaurant in Stowell Street Newcastle, otherwise known as Chinatown. This is a place we have been coming to for years, and it seemed reassuringly familiar. An interesting move this time came from Fiona, who cleverly chose the Lamb with Cashews. It was quite a taste, and fabulously garlic-laden.
Then there were the fortune cookies. For Fiona:
“Six days from today will be your lucky day”
...and for me:
“You will feel sure of yourself as you set out on a sure path to glory”
Amazing. I quite like the thought of being on a sure path to glory - although, in christian terms this could mean I am about to die. My goodness, a sobering thought. I've always wondered whether I will get the chance to make my mark on this world before I go, and so the thought of it all ending suddenly forces me to take a snapshot of where I am right now.
I realise that I have so many wonderful friends. I'll not list them here for several excellent reasons, but I have been made aware in various ways recently that I have had more of an impact on the people I know than I previously thought. That caused me to think that we all of us quite naturally underestimate our impact on those around us.
I think, in light of all this, I will carry a little gratitude into 2005 for the things I do have, alongside my desire to strike out in a new way. If I go, I go. If I stay, I want to make my life count for something.
I need to get properly well, I need to get my business going again and I need to learn to work in a more focussed way. These are my goals and, with the help of those around me, I reckon I stand a pretty good chance of achieving them.
The news of the completion of our evening in successfully viewing the motion picture “National Treasure” seems, somehow, irrelevant now. Well worth a look, if you ask me - which of course you didn't.
I know it's cold, but do take the hat off too! (after all, you're not wearing a coat)
Posted by: Liz | January 04, 2005 at 10:18 PM
Oh right - I suppose you think I can just take me beard off as well, do you? Just like that?
Posted by: AndyC | January 05, 2005 at 08:42 AM
Maybe the white one (it does gae you somewhat), but don't forget what happened when you last had to take the real one off!
I do agree with what you say about the impact we have on others too. Sometimes I find it a sobering thought, particularly bearing in mind the impressionable nature of the very young children I teach.
Posted by: Liz | January 05, 2005 at 09:49 PM
No, no! keep the hat - I think it suits you. I'm just disappointed you got rid of the red nose in favour of the beard.
Posted by: Rob | January 06, 2005 at 04:47 PM