Time to stop the shopping!

So there we go, another weekend been and gone and still the shopping isn't finished.
OK, so we knew moving from a flat in London to a house in Melbourne would require a bit of an upgrade on the furniture front, but it is fair to say we seriously underestimated the extent of the outlay that would be required.
This weekend saw the delivery of a new bookcase and coffee table for the lounge. Previous weeks saw sofa, TV unit, digibox, DVD, iPod docking station, stools, garden table and chairs, garden umbrella, a new bed and bedroom furniture for Celia, a new mattress, an office table and chairs, endless supplies of lamps - proper lighting is very important Lydia says!, bedside tables, special table and chairs for Celia, an easel for the little budding artist.
Transport has been interesting too. The past month has seen the arrival of a new car, two new baby seats (UK ones are illegal here!), a new double buggy for the bigger family, two new bikes and associated safety and transport equipment. All this and I haven't even hit the BBQ superstore yet.

After such a ridiculous amount of shopping we thought it was about time we visited the local church to remind ourselves that there is so much more to life than this crazy materialistic society we live in.
St Marys Anglican Church, Caulfield is a rather jovial, happy clappy sort of an affair with guitarists and singers who think they should be on X-factor and a number or rather strange middle aged women who like to wave flags during the singing. Not exactly the Ulster Presbyterianism of my youth but it sort of worked OK and Celia loves it as she also goes to the playgroup there in the week. As is the case everywhere we go the people were super-friendly and most important of all the pastor was very impressive. Good stuff.

So there we have it. The hectic stresses of the last few months are definitely drawing to a close and an air of normality is starting to decend. We spent a quiet afternoon in the sunshine at the stunning botanic gardens. The relief of being set free from furnitureshopland was a beautiful thing.

Next weekend I'll actually ride that new bike - especially as one of the analysts at my work told me I was looking a bit lardy on Friday!