Random thoughts and observations
Maggie started gymnastics at Gym West in Henley Beach a few weeks ago. She adapted well and was quickly elevated to an advanced class. Last weekend she entered her first competitive event, aged 7. I’ve never really been into watching gymnastics, but it looks great from a participant’s point of view and I think it will do wonders for Maggie’s confidence. It’s remarkable that young children can perform on the beam without fear and fling themselves around on the bars.
We went to Adelaide’s city-centre shopping strip on Sunday and took Maggie. The boys didn’t want to come. Funny about that. The boys forgave a shopping trip to stay at home and play on the computer. Anyhow, Maggie was lucky enough to have her face painted for free in the mall, where a dinosaur promotion by local media was happening. She looked really scary afterwards. The picture was taken with my mobile phone.
This candid picture, taken today while waiting for Michael’s soccer match to begin, pretty well sums up how life has changed in the past 37 years. Twins James and Maggie, aged 7, took a netbook computer to the match. They played games on it and listened to music. When I was seven years old, the high-tech gadgets in our house were a television (black and white), a wireless (that’s what we called the radio), an LP player and (unusually) a tape recorder. The tape recorder was a bulky thing with two reels. Dad used it to record some of his music.
Michael Jnr played his fourth game today for Adelaide Comets Under 15 in the South Australian Junior Premier League. He plays at right full-back.
We took the twins to Dinosaurs Alive in Adelaide this week. It’s just a 3.3km drive from our place to the Showgrounds, adding another interesting venue within easy reach. Dinosaurs Alive is described as a $3.5 million educative and fun-filled exhibition featuring robotic dinosaurs. “It takes visitors along the 165-million-year journey of the Age of Dinosaurs,” according to the blurb. On a visit during the school holidays I would rather describe it as an expensive way to pass an hour, but worthwhile in the scheme of things. It cost us $55 for a family pass.
