We're in the midst of a run of pretty Autumn days. Serene and windless, the skies are blue, crisp to start by midday the air is sun warmed to t-shirt temperature. It's often the way at this time of year. We get all sorts of weather, and have experienced those variations in the last month. Right now it is the best of Autumn, and looks likely to continue for a few days yet.
Yesterday I met with Cheeseboy down at Elwood Beach for a coffee. I was early and walked along the beachside path looking out to sea and towards the city, obscure in the haze. I was passed by sleek women in leggings jogging while listening to a nano strapped to their arm. And pudgy men in shorts walking pudgy dogs. I felt a visitor, out of step with local society in my jeans, but taken with what I saw. How nice would it be to have the beach on your doorstep like this (as I have had in the past), to venture out the front door and to have the sea and the world beyond there before you?
I continued on waiting for Cheeseboy and a couple power-walked by in silence. Their grim determination to power on mutually abstaining conversation seemed bleak to me. I turned around and went back the way I had come. I was meant to bump into Cheeseboy and his kids, but when they failed to appear I wondered momentarily if we had not somehow slipped into different dimensions, invisible to the other. The thought passed, ridiculous as it was, and proved so when the Cheeses emerged.
We had coffee while the kids played in the playground. We talked about the usual things, including my desire to have a baby. That raised an eyebrow. What, you? Well, I conceded, I'll get a woman for that part.
I returned home, I worked, I made Diablo chicken for dinner and got myself organised for my short trip away - tomorrow I go to Byron Bay.
