Sore Calves

I woke up at 8am. My calves ached as I walked across the bedroom to get my dressing gown. How old am I, I thought? as my calves moo’d with every step I took. I guessed it must have been from moving all of the furniture. Of course, my mind always goes to thrombosis, immanent death, you know the fear. I’d be a hypochondriac if I didn’t keep it in check. Laugh. If I wasn’t so goddam lazy. Who has the energy to spare to be worried about every minor creak and groan and the imagined sickness that accompanies it? Oh no, not me. I’m not that energetic.

So, the lounge room and the third bedroom had to be complete dismantled for the carpet layers, everything had to be removed from each, except for the couches in the lounge and the bed in the bedroom. It meant that every other room had stuff moved into it. We’d put the two sideboards back into the lounge room and the coffee table and the ottoman and rearranged the three couches, so all the hard bits, the big bits, were finished. We just had to move the minor stuff back, you know, all the fiddly, time consuming stuff. My two big metal and ceramic dishes on to one sideboard, my floral ceramic bear without eyes that disturbs some of the people so. All my little dishes. All the ornaments... the oil burners, the child’s antique clacker, my coral ball, my ivory box, (I know, I know) my inlaid music box, my carved round wooden box, which I always imagine may have contained someone’s ashes once, I’m not sure why, my square wooden boxes, the couple that were moved, the rest stayed in place on the mantel piece. And whatever else.


I had to replace all of the books into the book case above the other side board, which is really an antique desk, but it is one of those upright kind of desks, so everybody just thinks it is a sideboard. And as we… Sam had thrown away my video collection completely, that had taken up considerable space in the old desk, I could now move all of my excess books, which had been hanging about in various places in the house, into the desk. Lovely.


I looked at the new carpet from the lounge room door. The light was gentle, as the lounge room faces west, and it was quiet and still and a complete picture. Nice. The Persian rug is still bunching around the legs of the coffee table, which is annoying. How do you stop that? Someone suggested silicon spray on the underside of the rug.

It is nice that the room is now complete again. It just seems like it has always looked like that as I really didn’t notice the holes in the old carpet… as amazing as that sounds.

Didn’t? Didn’t want to? Familiarity and all that? Anyway… it is nice none the less.


I left my car out the front, all night, I forgot to bring it in. Oops. I brought it in this morning. Oops. Oh, I don’t know exactly why I say oops, it is not as if I live in a ghetto, other than a gay one. We are convinced by marketers, most likely paid by security teams, or the writers of newspapers, that we can’t trust the world around us. It was fine, these things we are scared of, may, actually, never happen.


Sister Roz arrived at 9.30am to pick me up to go see mum. It was a sunny day. Mum seemed to be able to answer some basic questions, like how she was, which seemed to be an improvement on most visits. Whatever that means?

Lottie was pretty in pink, even if her hair was bothering her. It was lovely sitting in the sun. The wind blew a little, I got her a cardigan, also pink. She seemed happy. She laughed. Her hair still seems strange white.

Roz and I went to Bunnings on the way home. Roz wondered where one was, after (daughter) Louise called and asked her to buy Brother inlaw Grant a Father’s Day present on her way home.

I got home around midday.

I saw my first new format number plate in Abbottsford on the way home. I tried to get Sam to come back with me to take a photo, but he wouldn’t be in it. So, I drove back to Abbotsford and took a photo on my own. Being a car nut from childhood, I know when I saw every new number plate there has been.


Sam, Buddy and I walked around to Killiney to eat lunch. I ate Mee Goring. Sam ate lontong. We walked home in the sun.

Buddy sat under the table with his bowl of water. People marvel at him. Children want to pat him. Girlfriend’s made cutsey faces and looked like they wanted him. Boyfriends smiled and looked like they wanted him. He loves saying hello to everyone. He’s very social, is our Buddy.


I went to the supermarket. I fed another $20 of 50 cent pieces into the Woolies self service machine, of Shane’s. Thank you Shane. I didn’t care, I wasn’t self conscious, I stood there and rolled them in as if that is what one always did. Holding people up, you say? People should relax and learn to enjoy life more.

I made a banana cake. It wasn’t so nice. I used an American recipe that I converted to metric, that used no butter, just oil instead. I don’t know if I over cooked it, but it wasn’t very nice, to tell you the truth.