Woke up. Did my 7.30 mediation from the comfort of my bed. Got up. Fed Lucifer. Had a shower. Got out my work computer and went along to my 9 am stand up meeting with my colleague.
And then, at 9.15, just as we were talking about bringing the compliance department into line, my screen starts to shake and there's a lot of banging and other noise. The cat runs under the bed. My colleague and I look at each other over the camera.
It takes a few seconds to recognise the rattling is being caused by an earthquake.
My desk is in front of two large book cases. On working out what I was going on I moved to the nearest door frame, continuing the conversation with my colleague who was experiencing the same thing on the other side of town.
The shakes lasted for a good 20-30 seconds, but it felt a lot longer.
It was incredibly unnerving.
I've been in earthquakes before. On my birthday in Bali, we were subjected to a number of small quakes and significant aftershocks. But you expect them in Bali. Not downtown Melbourne.
It was verified a few minutes later that my colleague and I weren't going through some collective menopausal glitch. The quake, getting a solid 6.0 on the Richter Scale, was based around Mansfield about two hours away.
There appears to be some damage about, but thankfully there are no initial reports of injury or death. I've heard anecdotally that the Westgate Bridge was swaying like a swing. A friend who was in a lift at the time thought he was going to die.
The meeting was wrapped up quickly. I grabbed my wallet and mask and went out to get a coffee - a very Melbourne response to something like this. Get a coffee and ring mum. It's what you do.
Two hours on, I'm still a bit rattled. Pardon the pun.
As we are good little Melbournites, the memes are now coming thick and fast.
Of course, Dan Andrews is getting the blame already.
It's all a matter of counting one's blessings at the moment. And as I'm working long days, time for writing is limited.
So I'm looking to the good and bad of the day because I'm
Good:
I got the book group book read, against all odds. It helped that it was an engaging read. I recommend Nardi Simpson's Song of the Crocodile.
Bad:
I didn't get out the front gate again.
Good:
My new Apple Watch turned up yesterday. The leather strap to go with it turned up today. Can't wait to configure it on the weekend.
Bad:
I didn't get much 'real' work done - all admin today. Bleargh.
Good:
I ticked off a lot of the administration jobs, meaning the boss lady will be happy.
Bad:
Fucking protesters in the city. Dickheads. (I do not begrudge anybody's right to protest, but this mob appear to be ivermectin scoffing, anti-vaxxer elements of rent-a-crowd).
Good:
It's book group tonight.
Bad:
It's more time in front of a computer.
Good:
I've had a couple of people inquire about the lehenga.
Bad:
The downstairs neighbour is doing renos at the moment and the fumes from the painting are dreadful.
Good:
Book group was great.
Bad:
I only did 3000 steps.
Really, if this are my complaints, I don't have much to complain about.
I have next to nothing to write about as I'm trying to get this book read for book group tomorrow night. I might make it. I might not. Thankfully, I'm enjoying it. Thankfully the coffee and walk I was supposed to have with a college mate tomorrow morning has been postponed until Thursday when the weather looks better.
And work is really full on, but I'm not going to talk about that.
Instead, I'll introduce you to one of my favourite Skyhooks songs. Smut. (Youtube link attached for those who can't see the song of the day.
Dear old Skyhooks. I used to love them as a child. I even had the t-shirt. I shed a tear when Shirley Strachan died in that helicopter crash in 2001. He died doing something he loved, but still, he was just lovely. And Red Symons is a character too. Oh, their all good.
They're the sound of the seventies.
And who doesn't love a song about masturbating in a cinema along to a dirty movie? And what you can do with a bag of twisties is enlightening.
And any song with the repeated ephemism of 'whipping the dripping' has to be loved.
Making this clip even better is it shows you how to play the song on the bass.
I miss Skyhooks, and the easier, more innocent times (sic) they represent.
Jay had the band play at her high school formal back when god was a boy.
Well, it looks like we're still in lockdown for another six weeks, although they're starting to relax a few of the rules. We can go on picnics with vaccinated people, but we've still got a curfew. I'm just glad I'm fully vaccinated.
Life is really fun at the moment. And it looks like it will be another six weeks until I can get to my hairdresser (as well as waiting to get an appointment....) I think this is distressing me the most. My hair hasn't been cut since May... I look like a mix between Stevie Nicks in the seventies and Cousin It at the moment. I'm a bit over it.
Now onto the questions, supplied, as always, by Bev at Sunday Stealing.
1. If America is one nation under god then are atheists citizens?
Oh, this an American question. I'd say if God could be seen as some all seeing, all knowing construct, then they created atheists as well and all is fine. I'm very much for the separation of church and state, and being agnostic, I sort of get both sides of the coin. But even so, if you do believe in an all powerful god, then they would have created the atheists and that should always be kept in mind.
2. Is there anything that you believe should be banned for any reason?
Yes. Religions that don't pay tax should be banned. I've also got a thing about guns being owned in the city. Not for them either. But I'm basically a live and let live person.
3. How often do you eat too much?
Not very often. Normally eating too much creeps up on my when I'm out and all of a sudden you realise that you've gone overboard. I try not to do this.
4. If you died tomorrow, what mark would you have left on the world?
I'm not sure I'd leave a mark. But I do hope that I'd be remembered for being kind, brave and funny.
5. Are you a city person or a country person?
I do both city and coutnry, but I don't do suburbs. I was raised in the country, and love living out in the sticks, and I currently live inter-city and I really enjoy all that has to offer. But the suburbs, I do not understand. They're weird and they freak me out. Strange things happen in the suburbs. It's probably just what I know.
6. What annoys you the most about yourself?
I'm a great procrastinator. I wish I wasn't. Oh look, there's my ironing pile...
7. Who was your childhood hero?
I don't remember having a childhood hero, but I have always been a sucker for Superman. He's always been the best, particularly the Christopher Reeves incarnation.
8. With nearly 100 channels why is NOTHING ever on?
I put that down to FOMO (Fear of missing out). That and there is an incredible amount of badly made crap, alternative news and reality television that doesn't warrant watching. Too much choice, so you can't make a decision. Bring back the days when there were only four channels (as long as we can keep our streaming services.)
9. Would you adopt a stray kitty wandering through your neighborhood?
Yes. I'd adopt them all given half the chance. Not sure what Lucifer would think of that. I nearly did that a few years ago when I came across a kitten down the end of the road. When I went back to find it, it had gone, or had been taken to the local vet for rehousing.
10. Which Lord of the Rings movie has the best ending?
Umm, probably the last one, because then the films were over. Not a huge Lord of the Rings fan.
11. What are you missing in your life?
At the moment, gawd, there's a lot to miss. Time, friends, intimacy, love, sex, movies, theatre, the library, going to the office, the gym, and the biggest one of all. MY HAIRDRESSER! I'm sick of being in lockdown.
12. What could you make a sculpture out of that's in the room with you right now?
Oh there is so much stuff in this room, I could use all sorts of things. If I went around the skirting boards and collect the tumbleweeds of cat hair and make a sculpture out of that. There's enough of it to get something into the Tate Gallery in London.
13. Do you believe in the lost city of Atlantis?
Yes. Part of me thinks Atlantis is where the island of Santorini is now, seeing half the island fell into the sea. I like stories like that. It's good to believe in things like this.
14. Have you ever read The Little Prince?
Yes. I studied it in its original French in my last year if school. I've got copies of it in French and English in the bookshelves behind me.
15. What fantasy book would you like to see made into a movie?
I'm not really into fantasy. It's not my genre. Of literary fantasy and science fiction, I wouldn't mind Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam trilogy being made into a series. Though not fantasy (more dystopic science fiction) it would be amazing to see what a liobamb looks like. (comes from genetically splicing a lion and a lamb).
It's supposed to be book group next week, bit it's not. It's on Tuesday night.
Have I started the book? No.
What is the book? Nardi Simpson's Song of the Crocodile. A 400 pager.
When do I have to get it read by? Tuesday, 8 pm.
Why do I want to get it read? Because I've been in the book group for fifteen years and there's only book I haven't read and that was because I was away on an extended holiday. I've only missed two or three meetings over the last 15 years. One was the meeting about Anne Bronte's The Tennant of Wildfell Hall, which I hated and really wanted to slam. The other book that comes to mind was Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I was definitely overseas for that one.
Also this weekend, I have:
The mason's books to finish and get off to the auditor
some cleaning
some washing
Go see Blarney for a bubble run
Food shopping
And 2 hours work to clear the decks for Monday.
And I'm supposed to put forward smoething
It's going to be a challenge.
I hate it when I loose track of the month.
Back to the paperwork, which I am resenting even more than those stupid protesters today. I don't begrudge them their right to prostest, but I do think if you're going to protest violently, making a nuisance of yourself, I'll resent the waste of resources. Wish the arseholes would put on a mask and get vaccinated.
Regular readers will be aware that my friend Jay and I have seen a lot of each other during lockdown being the most convenient person to go for a walk with, so I get to hear a lot of her stories. Jay's a doctor. She's also over people at the moment, or more particularly, the vaccine resistant of our numbers.
Over the last week she was venting about the receptionists and patients at her practice. Protocols wren't being followed, patients with coughs and colds were turning up without being tested (BIG NO-NO in her eyes, and fair enough), patients refusing to wear masks, patients refusing to check in.
I'd hate to work in a doctor's office.
Anyway, Jay was telling us at our Monday Zoom P.T. session about this fellow who had come into the practice who was a bit ill. He was elderly. He had cold and flu symptoms. A member of his family had tested positive to COVID, but he was bullet proof. He hadn't got the vaccination. He didn't trust them. Believed all the hype about the Astra Zeneca jab and he refused to get it, despite his doctor asking/begging him to get it done back in March, April, May and June. I think his doctor gave up on this fellow in the end, despite him being old and with a number of major health problems. You can only inform people. If they listen, it's up to them.
He tested COVID postitive on Tuesday.
Yesterday, he was in ICU, a ventilator breathing for him.
And it didn't have to be like this.
But we get to make our own choices.
Some things, like this vaccination thing, for me, don't really require thinking about.
I'll let you know what happens to to elderly gentleman if I get told.
I just find it sad as he probably didn't have to end up where he did if he did things differently.
Waking to find my tax return had come into my bank balance this morning, I could finally do a bit of a stress spend - that thing you do after a bloody awful day in the office.
After feeling the fallout all evening, where I allowed myself to be soothed with ice cream and gin, shopping was next on the list of things to do to complete the healing.
So I've purchased my birthday present - an Apple Watch. I mentioned to my mother that I would soon be in need of replacing my fit bit, and I've always liked the Apple Watch, so she and my sister gave me some money to go towards it for my birthday. As soon as Australia Post can get it to me, I'll have this in my possession within the next week (again, depending on Australia Post) - along with a new leather strap. I don't get on well with rubber watch bands, so a leather strap is coming too. The poor old Fitbit will be retired - but with it's cracked screen, it's due for retirement. Besides, I can't take calls or listen to music on the Fitbit.
The next purchase was that of a short course in editing. I like this It's starting in a few weeks, it's with Faber and it's industry led. It's also tax deductible - never a bad thing.
This was the extent of my shopping, but it felt good. Having a few extra thousand in my bank account also feels good, but the gratfication ou get from a good shop can never be denied.
And the day went well after all of the drama of the day before. It's surprising what a difference one person can make, both for the better and the worse.
