We leave at 11.11 the magical hour. We head to the Yarra. All of the carparks are taken close by to where we want to go, so we park just around the corner outside the Salvos, one of my favourite shops. (I have always loved things second hand. I don’t know why? But, I suspect it has something to do with the hand-me-down-clothes I used to get as a kid. Two of my mum’s friends had sons just a bit older than me and I used to get boxes of their old clothes when I was a kid. It was like Xmas, all those clothes. Not to mention they used to smell of other boys… but, I digress)
It is a gorgeous sunny day as we walk across the bridge to the parkland side of the Yarra. Bruno is on his lead, Buddy is off his, Buddy is never on his lead. The bridge busy with foot traffic and bike riders.
As soon as we get to the other side, there is an off-lead German Short Haired Pointer that is acting a bit weird, but we walk away. The problem is that it walks the same way with its two owners and their other small dog. The German Short-Haired Pointer is growling at the bulldogs and acting intimidating as its owners walk ahead. The bulldogs in their inimitable style were semi oblivious in their usual laid-back way. The guy owner turns and calls it several times,
“Come on Rusty. Be a good boy Rusty,” which gave the definite idea that he knew what his dog was like. People are weird, if your dog is anti-social don’t let it off its lead, simple. It is just selfish.
I was just about to say something to him when good old Rusty finally fucks off after them.
We walk the path that follows the river.
We meet a few small dogs, and a couple of Golden Retrievers along the way. There is a golden sausage dog full of attitude.
We walk to where the path gets narrow and starts to climb the side of the hill, where it triggers my fear of heights. I hate that I have that, it is debilitating. We turn around and walk back to the car.
We meet a Bernese Mountain Dog on the way back. They are gorgeous dogs. Its owners comment on the bulldogs, but I don’t really catch what they say.
We see our mate Mitch with his (exceptionally tall) friend Lachlan on the bridge as we are leaving, quite unexpectedly. Mitch lost his job in the pandemic and has been trying to find work ever since. He says he has picked up some casual work, and that he might now be being made redundant from his full time job, which he seems to think is a good thing.
We cause a traffic jam on the narrow bridge, especially when another bulldog, with two other dogs, and bikes come from both directions at the same time. Everyone is nice about it, which is kind of surprising in this day and age, with everyone pumped up on social media self importance. It’s the stupid people who are the worst affected.
A case in point which is proved not much later when we are crossing Nicholson Street outside the Hive and two cars come around the corner from Victoria Street and I lean down to push Buddy along and instead of hurrying up, he crouches down in front of the on coming cars and I have to drag him out of the way. The second car toots and the female passenger gives us ‘the look’ full of attitude out the passenger window, like how dare you! (The face of the stupid partially covered by a mask which makes her look eerily like Hannibal Lecter) I mean really, why do they bother doing such things? Do they feel it is a personal affront that someone has dared to get in their way? Is that it?
We say goodbye to Mitch and Lachlan and head to the car.
We don’t get one of our usual car spots just by the shops, but we get a car spot around the corner, in fact, being a sunny day our car spot under the shade of a tree is still one of the best car spots in the area. (Oh, dear, does that make me sound something like Donald Trump?)
The usual homeless guy, who is always there – always on the same square of footpath, can you imagine that – says something to me about the Buddy on the road incident, but I don’t understand him even when I ask him to repeat it.
12.15pm. We are at the shops in Victoria Street. Buddy, Bruno and I are waiting out the front while Sam shops. Bruno lies down in his super dog pose, he gets the cool floor on his stomach. I sit on the tiled floor, Buddy sits between my legs.
The sun is shining, the day sparkles.
People, of course, stop and say hello to Buddy and Bruno.
“Can I pat your dogs?” is what I hear on repeat, as I type my journal into my phone, but I don’t mind at all, of course.
The old Asian guy with the loud music appears. I’ve seen him around before, he plays loud music on a speaker he carries with him. I find I easily let his music bother me, initially, but then I let it go and think good on him. Oh, it could go either way, depending on my mood, of course. Annoying intrusion, or an admirable does of individuality? Depends how I feel.
The usual homeless guy disappears and comes back with loud music, kind of like the old Asian guy. I wondered where he got that from?
12.46pm. Sam is ready to go. The shopping is done.
We drop in at Bunnings on the way. I have never seen the Bunnings car park full before, people must be really bored with their lives. I take Bruno with me into the store (I can’t believe I am using the term ‘store’) into the shop with me. He is nervous of the travellator and I have to carry him up and down. He is 25 kilos now. Otherwise, he trots along next to me, saying hello to everyone we meet.
We eat leftover noodles for lunch.
I continue to upload DVDs. I am getting through them. I’m nearly done.
I get secateurs and gloves and my headphones and head out into the back garden. I clean up the rest of the creeper cuttings that didn’t fit in last week’s rubbish, now pissed over multiple times by the bulldogs. Pew! That piss smell, there is no disguising it.
Bruno comes outside and hangs with me as I cut up the remaining creeper. He licks the backs of my legs. It tickles.
The afternoon sparkles.
Sam goes a couple of streets away and buys some more memory for the new hard drive. “It’s cheap,” he says. It changes it from 9 something to 12 something, or other? It made it better, anyway.
I upload Entourage, 1st season. Only one season of Entourage, I think someone gave it to me. I only really upload Entourage because of the cute boys in it, I know, from watching it occasionally in the past. We’ll see. If we like it, I’ll sniff around one of the Op Shops and see if I can get any more of it cheap.
And I upload some more movies, I’m nearly done. Actually, I’ll kind of miss it, uploading when all the uploading is done, there is something immensely satisfying about it.
I fell asleep on the couch. Lovely, lovely. I don’t even really feel it coming on, the first thing I usually know about it, is waking to the TV off and Sam looking at his iPad.
We go to bed at midnight.
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