wait and see

I’m currently reading The Cider House Rules by John Irving, and there’s this recurring theme of “waiting and seeing”. The main character, Homer Wells, is an orphan, and knows all about waiting and seeing. This week, I’ve also come to know a lot about waiting and seeing, but perhaps in a different way.

At some point in the middle of last week, it started raining. We’ve had a lot of rain this summer — part of the deal with the La Niña weather system — so when it started and didn’t stop, no one really thought much of it. But then the rain continued into the week-end, and it was unrelenting. Creeks were filling up, the river was rising, and damn levels were climbing steadily. By Sunday, countless streets were flooded, people were evacuating, and many had lost power.

Advertisement

Thursday Doors: mechanic

I’m going to try to ease myself back into the great Thursday Doors tradition.

It’s been a very long time since my last Thursday Doors post, and you could be forgiven for thinking I’d forgotten about it altogether, but I’ve never stopped noticing and never stopped looking for interesting doors. It really didn’t take long for it to become second nature.

The photo I’m sharing this week is from the mechanic next to the boxing gym I go to. I took this some time last year when I was on my way to said boxing gym, and every time I walk past, I’m reminded that I need to make a post for this photo.

So here it is, so that I can stop reminding myself to post it, forgetting to post it, and then reminding myself again.

Admittedly, the windows are as much a feature in the photo as the door is, but I’m sure it was the door that caught my eye first.

Thursday Doors is run by Norm. Please visit his site to find links to other participating blogs (and add yours to the list if you want to join in!)

 

happy days

It’s Sunday night here, but it’s a public holiday tomorrow, so it feels like Saturday. But yesterday also felt like Saturday, so I guess things are pretty good here.

I’ve been busy but not overly productive. I had the day off work on Friday, so I went to visit my friends who were preparing for their holiday to Canada (how I wish I could join them!) I helped them lock their windows, and get rid of rubbish, so they gave me cake and miscellaneous perishable food from their fridge.

A local brewery was doing a special Oktoberfest menu this week-end, so a friend and I went there for lunch on Saturday. We were there last week-end too, but the bar has such a relaxed atmosphere, and the staff are so chill, I’d happily become a regular. One of the owners was working behind the bar, and he actually remembered us from last week. I take that as a good thing. I’m sure they think our patronage is a good thing too.

Today (Sunday) I wanted to catch up with a couple of other friends. I reckon Sunday session friends are pretty high up in the unofficial hierarchy of friends. You know, the kind of friends you want to round out the week-end with, or the ones you can talk to for hours (hence the Sunday sesh should preferably start in the early afternoon, to allow ample time to chinwag until the sun goes down).

I’m not sure why, but I thought I’d be home early on Friday night, and I thought I’d be home for dinner on Saturday night, and likewise for tonight… But cleaning and other things went late on Friday, and we ended up at an arcade bar on Saturday, and I completely was not keeping track of time at all tonight. So the cooking and cleaning and blogging and writing that I had planned this week-end didn’t happen. Well, it hasn’t happened yet.

There is tonight, and there is tomorrow. And just now I got a feeling of deja vu, as if I’ve written this kind of post before, and very possibly I have because I guess this is the kind of thing I do not learn. But if I have a chance to go out and hang out with friends (and try some good beers), then I will take it. Chores can wait — I know I’m not that irresponsible that I’m never going to get around to them — and I will carve out time for writing.

Speaking of writing, I’ve started working on a new story. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make this novel-length, or maybe it’s better to just keep it as a short story, but it’s been a while since I’ve been this excited about an idea for a story, so I’m just going to write and let it develop into whatever it’s meant to be. I guess that’s kind of how life is…

voice of reason

Brisbane’s West End is, as one friend has described it, an interesting mix of gentrified and dilapidated. There are classy restaurants and bars, modern apartments, and office spaces, all interspersed with casual pubs and bars, run-down houses, and thrift stores. On a night out, you might come across any range of people from the very well-dressed who drive fancy cars, to high-end hipsters, to shoeless hippies, to homeless beggars.

It is an interesting suburb.

these days

When Rudimental released dates and venues for their Toast to Our Differences World Tour, I was really disappointed to see that Brisbane was not on the list. Apart from major Australian cities like Melbourne and Sydney, they were also going to go to Darwin and Mount Gambier …but not Brisbane. I mean, no offence to Darwin and Mount Gambier, but they’re significantly smaller cities. It didn’t make sense.

I suppose they’re not in it for the money (?)

Thursday Doors: stronghold

You could be forgiven for thinking that I’ve jumped off the Thursday Doors bandwagon, but in order to truly believe that, you mustn’t realise that it’s not possible to escape that particular wagon. You might doze in a corner for a while, or you might walk alongside it to stretch your legs a bit, but there’s never a real separation.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say in my roundabout way is that it has been a heck of a long time since I last actively participated in Thursday Doors, but I’m finally back. I’ve seen more and more doors, and have more and more photos …just need the time to sift through them and construct blog posts.

On the week-end, I started reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It is an amazingly well-written story about WWII, and it’s inspired me to pay attention to the small details of the world around me. It inspired me in much the same way as TD did, so I figured it’s time to wake from my TD hibernation and compile a new post.