Perhaps one of the most valuable attributes in life is to judge wisely when to go with the flow, and when to resist and create our own reality.

Spring in Melbourne. Teased by the weather. Last weekend in shorts and T-shirt cleaning up the back yard, trimming, mulching, wiping down the furniture and re-hanging the hammock. Come on spring. This weekend, wind, rain and cold. Resistance is useless so go with the flow and pretend that we’re not ‘so over winter’. For us that meant an open fire (first for the year), a massive pot of tolouse sauage and borlotti bean soup and the Concert in Central Park quietly playing in the background. Donning the rain coats and walking down to Ceres to catchup with friends, and oh yeah, screaming at the screen during the AFL Grand Final.

I love fruitcake, but a good one is almost impossible to buy. I’m sure I could find a Lions Christmas cake in September if I looked hard enough but …  Our local supermarket used to stock something called a ‘celebration cake’ – ordinary name but top shelf quality. Alas, no-one else must have thought so because ‘used to’ is the operative phrase. What’s a bloke to do? Go with the flow? I don’t think so.

Enter Alan Campion and Michelle Curtis’ Italian spicy fruit cake. Never made one before but when Coles lets you down what can you do? I had a slither to taste it when it came out of the oven, but decided to wait until a cup of Tetley’s had brewed later in the evening to savour it properly. Initial impressions were excellent and I wondered if I should perfect a recipe and challenge the old hands whose handiwork we had seen on display at the Royal Melbourne Show on Friday.

I was sitting in the car waiting to pick up Heidi from netball training … it was cold and wet outside and I was already tasting the combination of tea and cake. Then Zac calls. Him and two of his mates are going to the Red Triangle (iconic pool hall in Brunswick Street), do I want to join them? Opportunities to do stuff with your 19 year old son don’t come around too often. But it’s late already. The fire is still going at home. And the fruit cake. Decisions. I said ‘no’.

I sat in the car and waited for Heidi for another couple more minutes. Decisions. I had plans. Why tonight? I’ve created a nice little evening for myself. I called back…

… and crawled into bed three hours later satisfied that the tea and cake will be waiting for me another time.

Life is a relentless series of decisions. Go with the flow or create your own reality? May you make some wise calls this week.