Sunday, September 05, 2010

Gold Kiwi Fruit Rock

It was wet, it rained all the way to the country. Heading out of Melbourne was quite beautiful though, with a huge sun in the sky and the rain falling like crystals through the bright light. I had a problem seeing, though, a minor hazard, I grant you. With my sunglasses on, everything blacked out except for the bright rays glowing on the silvery bitumen in front of me. But, the inside of the car was black, I couldn't see the dashboard. Ah, but who cares how fast you are driving anyway. Speed limits are for pussies. Fortunately for me, I can just naturally drive at 100 ks by feel and instinct. I settled back in the seat and enjoyed the magical view along the silver brick road.


It was wet though, there was pools of water all along the side of the road. There was even water over the Calder Highway itself, at one point. My tyres lost grip; they both spun, the engine revved, then they bit back, the car did a small wobble, like a body flex and then were back on track.

The rain pummelled the road, turning the first six feet off the ground into a swirl of water and spray and steam, as we belted across it's surface like sure-footed athletes. There was a fershhhhhhh sound as the road slipped away underneath. I love that kind of driving, it's exciting. It feels like we are all driving really fast, except that we were all doing the speed limit, in this age where we're all ruled by legislation more and more, where we dutifully drive at the speed limit, even I sit on 100 ks now a days, 110 on the Calder.


I turned off on to the country road and instantly had to decide whether or not to drive through the half-flooded road, from a bank-broken dam, before me. Yes? No? Think of Xmas time? Oh, no, I'm going through, don't close your eyes and hope. And I made it, I'm through, such a panic over nothing. Accelerate, into 6th.

All the gullies coming down the sides of the dirt side roads were surging with water, gushing towards the intersections. Some diverted around corners, some were spreading across the road in front of me. None had spilled onto my side yet. Whoosh when the trees.


It's still good to see the rain, as I slipped gold kiwi fruit, after gold kiwi fruit, into my mouth. I took my mum shopping before I left, she wanted bananas. We bought a tattslotto ticket in my name, bought me grocery’s at Coles and bought me lunch. She was happy to go back to the home after that. I didn't go see her last Thursday, I just couldn't face it. I told her I had to work, you know, with Beck leaving and all. She bought that no problem. I think it was the first Thursday since she's been in there that I've missed, though. I'm allowed a day off, I reckon.

I flung the banana peel out the window on the wet highway, thank the universe for electric windows and automatically wondered what I was thinking? It's organic, it'll feed the birds, or some animal, and what's left will turn back into soil, it's nutrients for the land. I laughed. I'm sure we're all too uptight as a society for that kind of carry on and I decided not to throw the next one out. I tossed it into the compost bin in the kitchen when I got there. I wondered how the two actions were dissimilar? The open fire roared, golden shadows licked inside the room. The cold and the rain was a distant pat pat pat on the tin roof. I shrugged and headed for the mull bowl and didn't both with an answer.

 

No comments: