I took this photo on the way into work on Sunday.  I was on the home stretch work wise and seeing ‘my’ jacaranda tree in bloom was so uplifting I had to pull over and take a photo through my windscreen.  It was my last weekend on call for the year and seeing those flowers was even better than getting a celebratory bunch of flowers.

I read about the big issues over coffee.  Do you ever wonder how we managed to turn out all right without things like being tutored in preschool?  I also don’t think I’m in a strong position to express shock and outrage.  Ironically, it’s actually my generation who’s behind the surge in demand for all kinds of intensive parenting practices and it’s also going to be our generation who will often be teaching, supervising or managing these children in the decades to come.

I wonder if we will have the energy to maintain the intensively programmed lives we’ve created for our children and to be able to manage their expectations and attitude as they enter ‘our’ workforce.  A place which I doubt will have evolved as rapidly as parenting styles and expectations have.

I wonder even more about the children and how we already know this world is so fast-paced, complicated and changing so rapidly all the time.  They will need their own coping mechanisms and life skills to navigate a path through it all.  Things that are learned at one’s own pace and during those times when you are left to your devices for a bit to figure stuff out (with your parents in the distance being there if you needed them).

I also had a big issue of my own.  A crisis, even.  In my sleep-deprived state, I forgot to pack my gym clothes for my traditional end of the on-call weekend run.  Fortunately, I did have my trainers, socks and a towel but I had to do something about the activewear situation.  So I did some research on the Lulu site and wrote myself a shopping list/outfit plan.

 The only hitch was that the activewear procurement involved first finding a park at my local Westfield.  Hard at the best of times and almost a futile mission on a wet Sunday afternoon.  But the parking gods were kind and I managed to find a spot and reverse into it without hitting any of the trolleys parked next to it.

Here I am in the changeroom about to try on my shopping list.  I actually quite like the button down shirt under a V neck sweater and J Brands look.  I might revisit it during the week given how bad the weather’s going to be. Come on spring, where are you?

Anyway.  The bra, tank and tights were a success but I find Lulu’s long sleeved tops and sweaters to generally be too sheer and fitted for me so I had to look somewhere else for that.

Somewhere else turned out to be H&M Bondi Junction which sadly does not have the Erdem + H&M collection.  Actually, it’s not sad for my credit cards.  Long story short, I found a loose fitting, longish knit sweater in khaki that looked good for the discounted price of $20.  And it looked even better when I went to pay and found that it was reduced to $7.  See, I did shop smart at least once over the weekend.

And then it was back home via the carpark which was littered with abandoned trolleys looking a little sinister being positioned almost perfectly at the boots of neighbouring cars.  As if they’d been unloaded and their unloaders had suddenly got whisked off somewhere after unpacking.  To tackle the laundry or family bathime perhaps.  I think it was one of days for more than one of us.

I overthink these things, I’m afraid.

Have you scored a surprise markdown on a markdown at the checkout?

Do you ever think laterally about the state of parenting in the twenty tens?  Do you always conclude these sessions with silent awe of your parents and amazement that you actually turned out okay without all the stuff kids need these days?

Westfields on wet Sunday afternoons?  Have you ever?