Let me start with a brief explanation (whether this is at all possible in my case) of this blog, its title, its origins and how it's hopefully going to be somewhat eclectic and possibly about everything and nothing in particular, with some (and perhaps lots of - depending on how completely obsessed we actually become) photos of Junior thrown in for good measure.
Picking up from that last creative work of art of ours "Goulaszes on Tour" we've since hocked those stanky backpacks of ours and settled into life on what we like to refer to as Planet Mosman. We coined the name soon after arriving back to Australia, whilst living in this same Avenue Rd apartment with Nic's mum Gill, and it has to be said that it did start off with a slightly pejorative connotation... you see the majority of those that live on the Planet are a little... how should I put it... totally farken up themselves? It goes without saying that Aussies generally rank themselves pretty highly (particularly the totally uncultured yobs 'finding themselves' in the youth hostels of the world) but I think when you find yourself being demeaned by every other well to do Mosman housewife as she's picking up some French pastisserie for the girls at the Bridge Club that morning, you're given a unique perspective and some of the people of Mosman definitely live in a world of their own.
My time working at Confiseur as a barista wasn't without its fair share of laughs though. In fact I'm still mates with the owner Philippe and it always puts a smile on my face when I recall how the big crazy Frenchman (really lovely guy actually) would reach for his great big rolling pin and act out what ought to be done with some of these twits that would come into the shop. As I recall, there are too many anecdotes involving obnoxious, up themselves clients and to the chagrin of his wife Marylou, I think it was only my relationship with Philippe that saw me keep my job, as I was definitely responsible for a few lost clients... but I mean how can you not respond to being told that "the service is always poor in here" with "you know you're not obliged to come in here again don’t you Ms"?
Without digressing too much, I had initially thought to call this blog "Latte Art on Planet Mosman", as at the time, whilst working as a barista and trying to re-embark on my professional career as an investment analyst, not a day went by without something hilarious happening involving at least one of the crazy cast of characters from the local patisserie. And this too I guess kind of added extra colour and depth to the name Planet Mosman... as with the exception of the nouveau riche with whom there's just no dealing wherever you are, meeting various interesting individuals from the area and engaging with them provided an acute insight into the strong sense of community here in Mosman.
As luck would have it, one of the relationships that I struck up with a Mosmanite from the shop led to what I like to refer to as the "Yum Cha Sessions" – one of the early inspirations for a blog which would have made for some insane content. Due to the sensitivity of the information at the time I couldn’t post it, but you can imagine how funny two 29 year old entrepreneurs (kids with too much money), this bloke with no understanding of finance as our CEO and me, discussing the roll out of a new consumer financial product over Yum Cha could have been. Hilarious!
What followed was even funnier still and could have also represented supreme entertainment value. The Investment Bank that I had been courting on behalf of the Yum Cha crew said our idea “passed the laugh test” (little did I know at the time that they all did) and following a spectacular falling out with my would be business partners, I somehow found myself being given the designation of Associate Director by the most morally corrupt individual I’ve ever met. What could have been called “The View from The Ivory Tower” – as the offices were located near the top floor of one of Sydney’s most prestigious buildings and provided an amazing vantage over Sydney harbour – was an absolute disaster, as well as a lesson into how not to do things... and whilst I would have been sued for taking the mickey out these corporate advisory spivs, I reckon I would’ve definitely got a laugh out of doing it.
It was at this time and just prior to me going in for a knee reconstruction (all those dismounts skiing and of course I had to do my ACL surfing didn’t I?), that Nic and I decided that we weren’t getting any younger and we should start trying for a family. The thinking was that no one actually falls pregnant on the first go... there’s never going to be the right time... and should we continue to put this off we’ll end up missing out on something we really want altogether. So I guess we should have expected that 6 weeks later we would find out that Nic is pregnant.
So what’s this blog going to be about? Just that hopefully... all the stories yet to be told from our lives on Planet Mosman – a name we now use quite endearingly to describe this beautiful part of Sydney. And given that it’s been nearly 9 months since Nic falling pregnant and that we continue to live a very colourful life, textured with all manner of hilarities, excitements, hardships and adventures, and particularly as we’re just about to start on the most crazy one of them all – Parenthood – there’s going to be no shortage of material that we want to record and share with those friends of ours interested in reading it.
And if not at least we’ll have a web page for Junior.
