Writing in Lock Down

I have half re-written my novel while I have been in lockdown. Amazingly, I think to myself that I could, actually, finish it. I have even come up with an ending, my main gay character, who has been single and fancy free thought the whole novel, and has never wanted to get married, will marry his boyfriend. 

I've been working from home, as has Sam. And as I only work Mon to Wed, I just started at the beginning of the novel one Thursday sitting at the coffee table with Sam as he worked and off I went. 

I have it all now planned out in my head. It is all pretty much written, the first draft such as it is. It shouldn't be too hard to rewrite it all. There is a lot to write, there is a lot missing, don't get me wrong, but I realised the basic frame work is there now.

P.S. Funny, the minute I came to this realisation I lost momentum. When I was just writing it with no expectations it almost flowed quicker than I could get it down.

But, as I said, a lot of it is written. And when it is written, even if it is badly written, it is so much easier to rewrite and end up with something good than trying to write the first draft. Writing gets more writing. Even if it is just notes, and it is way more than that, it is infinitely better than staring at the blank page.

The first draft is like having your blood drained, the rewrite is when it starts to be enjoyable.

They're Back

Oh, Jesus Fuck! The tourists are back in my suburb. The footpaths are suddenly populated with people again. BooHoo. I liked the social isolating, I liked the peace, I liked the quiet. Sam and I have been loving it, so nice and quiet when we left the house for the park with our dogs. I'm now just hanging out for second wave of the Corona Virus to hit to return things back to our 'new' normal.

I liked lockdown, my normally busy inner city suburb has been so quiet, it has been lovely. 

Firstly, it was just the crazies out there who didn't get the whole self isolation thing, it was like a psycho ward out there for a time. Toothless, crazy-haired people coming up to you with no understanding of social distancing, like some bad LSD trip. (I like the crazies, it stops the streets from becoming beige. Is that patronising? I don't mean it to be)

And then it was just the locals who ventured out of their caves with their pets, or in their jogging gear, and it was great.

But, last weekend, the great unwashed from the suburbs were definitely back. Boo Hoo.

Is it wrong to wish for a second wave of the virus to shut my suburb back down again? No? I thought not. 

Lockdown didn't make you fat

The Future of Earth, If We Don't Act

 

Eye

 

Toothless Old Hag

I had to have one of my front teeth removed, second to the left, if you are looking at it from where I am. It has been a problem for some time, due to an infection I got in my gum. I have never had a filling, but I have had all sorts of gum problems. You know that old joke, there is nothing wrong with your teeth but you gums have to come out, well, that is me.

I have explored all the options and now I am going to have a bonded bridge to replace it. I have to wait some weeks before that can happen, it is now schedule for June 10th, I think that is the date. I'm going to be one of the toothless until then. Ha ha.

Perhaps, I should get an old shawl and say, "Come here my pretty, pretty," when I am out in public.

Good thing we are still in lock down, and I am continuing to work from home, so I don't have to go toothless into the office. And, I don't have to go into how I was trying to save some poor kid from some bullies and got into a bar fight. I ducked every right hook that came my way, like a fucking champion, except for the last one. Damn it!

Oh, I guess I won't even remember in a few days times that I don't have a tooth. The beginning of June will come soon enough.

PS. A week later, I have forgotten I have lost a tooth.

Thylacoleo

Rah!

Koolasuchus

Deep Rumbles

T-Rex

 

Bbbbbbbbbbbbb

Rainbows

 

They are Judy and Liza's feet sitting over there on that park bench

Four Birds

Hoot! Who goes there?

Sunday Morning

 

Sunday morning walking home with your mate after Saturday night taking LSD at a club

Daisy

Daisy works her family’s dairy farm. Daisy milks the cows. Yes, ironic, she liked the irony of her name too.

Daisy is the prettiest thing you ever did see, this side of the black stump.

Daisy milks the cows morning and night, in her itty bitty dresses and riding boots in the summer, and gum boots in the winter.

“Oh, too much damn material just gets in the way,” says Daisy. “I need to be free and…” she’d smile. “Unincumbered.”

She milks the cows and then she climbs up into the hay loft and she reads until it was time to go and milk the cows again.

“I’m at one with my beautiful girls, I am very luck.”

Daisy likes the farm life, she likes short dresses and boots, she likes novels with stories and she likes farm boys.

“Oh yes, I find those boys almost the most fascinating things out here on the farm,” says Daisy. “I mean once you get supervising those farm animals, you soon get to know what comes naturally in this world.”

“And, I don’t have to go far to find them, either,” says Daisy. “Josh Johnson. Mitchell Riggs. Angus Groves. Liam Miller.” She points in the direction of the farms adjacent to hers.  “They are just about my favourite boys. And they are all practically next door.”

“Yeah, sure, Josh and Mitch and Angus and Liam have all shared my hay loft at one time, or another.” She smiles. “Each of those boys sure are good, er.” She smiles again. “Readers.”

The Fat Boy Dictator

Kim Jong Un has been missing for 20 days. Apparently, he had heart surgery, there was information that he was very sick after the operation, even some speculation he’d died.

Allegedly, before he took power after the death of his dictator daddy, his main hobbies were crystal meth, hookers and video games. Could you imagine the pleasure palace that involved? Can you? can you imagine the toys? And the drugs? And the girls? Image being one of those girls? 

“Close your eyes and think of Pyongyang, Choon-hee.”

So, perhaps he had just regressed, old habits die hard, and all that (what would you do if you were all powerful?) and, perhaps, one of his advisers had to head over to his palace recently, kick him and say, 

“Sober up fat boy, get out there and be seen, they think you are dead.”

I'm Not Downloading Scumo’s Coronavirus Tracing App?

There are only 140 person to person transmissions of Corona Virus in Victoria and we have flattened the curve, so why do we need Scumo's (Australia's most dishonest politician) app?

How is this app going to make things better, specifically? It doesn't. It is only designed so that Scummo can get the economy going again for all his business mates.

And what’s that you say? Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been chosen as the cloud storage platform for the Federal Government's coronavirus tracing app. (Reuters) Oh, what could go wrong with that?

And when Scumo works this hard to convince us of something, quite frankly, I smell a rat, Whiteside! A rat with a beard… er… virus app.

Our morally bankrupt Prime Minister says, "Download the tracing app, it won't compromise your privacy, trust me."

Seriously?

Out walking the dogs in that glorious sunshine

Day 50 – Friday, 1 May

The Australian Capital Territory enters the day with no active cases of Covid-19, with 103 people recovered and three dead.

Loosened restrictions in New South Wales and Queensland take effect. North of the border, family groups are allowed to go for picnics or to a national park; to eat a takeaway meal outside instead of scurrying back into their homes; to take a leisure drive within a 50km radius of their home address; and to shop for frivolities.

In New South Wales, people are allowed to have up to two visitors in their home, or visit other people.

In the Northern Territory, which has not had a new case of Covid-19 in weeks, the parks are reopened. Fishing, camping, outdoor weddings and funerals and attending the local swimming pool are back on the cards. In two weeks’ time residents will be allowed to go to the pub, provided they only stay for two hours and also order food. By 18 June, according to a plan outlined by chief minister Michael Gunner, everything will be back to normal.

The national cabinet moves forward its decision on easing restrictions to next Friday, 8 May. “We need to restart our economy, we need to restart our society. We can’t keep Australia under the doona, we need to move ahead,” Morrison says.

- The Guardian

It's Freezing, Which Always Pleases David

I woke up at 4am and went for a wee. As soon as I got back into bed, Brun came and stood by the bedroom door and wanted to go outside. So, I took him outside for a wee and a crap and then headed back upstairs after he was done and got back into bed.

I listened to Sam snore, stop breathing, snore, hold his breath, snore, hold his breath, snore. Usually, I just drift off back to sleep listening to him, but I couldn’t go back to sleep this morning. I am not sure why?

I got up at 4.45am. Ah, fuck it, my weekend has started anyway. Brun came down stairs with me and slept on the couch next to me.

I make muesli and coffee.

It is quiet at this time of the morning, I kind of like it, like nobody else exists in the world. I do like it. On my own, do what I like. I like it.

I write my blog. I write some poetry.

I make more coffee.

I decide that I am freezing sitting on the couch snuggled up to Brun.

7am. I built a fire. Ah, fuck it, for the second time this morning.

7.30am. Sam got up.

7.48am. We walk the dogs to the Carlton Gardens, it’s lovely in the morning. Then down Moor Street to Woollies. It is really cold. It is cold across my back.

8.34am. Buddy, Brun and I are waiting out the back of Woollies while Sam shops for food. It’s chilly, cold. Oh, it is so cold, biting, icy, not getting warm cold.

The workers on the building site at 250 Gore Street are really keen to chat. Oh, seriously, no, I think. Let’s not even mention that they have demolished heritage buildings to build their piece shit block of flats.

“Yes, my dogs are beautiful. Yes, I think you should buy one. Yes, they cost a bit. Yes, it is true about the stubborn thing.” 

Seriously, I just want to chill and write my journal on my phone, arse on the edge of the garden bed, ignoring the cold, trying not to think about haemorrhoids. (Isn’t that the wife’s tale, the cold gives you piles) Brun lying out, Buddy staying at attention. That’s how this should go. 

Besides, there isn’t a pretty one amongst them. The tradies. Their all on the old, fat side. No twenty somethings with tight work pants on, just old boys with paunches. Oh, if it hadn’t been cold, I might have been chattier. Sure.

I send David a message about it being Siberia. He calls me back to say just this minute he was going to send me a Siberia message. It always pleases him to hear it is cold in Melbourne, it justifies his move up north, I guess.

9am. We are home.

Sam has a head ache all day. He took the last Panadol’s.

11am. I go and do my TattsLotto – got to have something to dream about – and buy some more Panadol. Oh, we just can’t be out of them, everyone needs some pain killers to get through the years in these times. It’s essential.

Sam headed off to bed.

I eat tuna on toast and have a hot cross bun for lunch. I have to make my own, while chef is indisposed.

I re-write CJ novel draft all day. On my own, in the quiet.

It rains all day.

We eat tomato and meatball pasta for dinner.

I am home all day in front of the open fire, me and my two bullies, I can think of anyone else I’d rather spend my Thursday with. (with whom I’d rather, yes, I know)

Is it wrong to prefer the company of dogs over humans – Sam withstanding – no, of course it’s not. Get real, dogs are way nicer than people.

I always think it is weird that such pure of heart creatures would want to be friends with people, I have no idea why, but I’m glad they are. Humans need such a wonderful best friend with whom to walk into the future.

Conservatives Are Pathetic

5.50am. I could hear Brun walking around his claws clip clopping on the floorboards, so I get up and take him downstairs. It was dark. Early morning.

Milo is on his table wanting food. He has that feed-me stare where he fixes his eyes on you and his eyes just follow you until he wills you into the pantry to grab the cat food container.

I make coffee. Brun and I sit on the couch together.

It’s (my ex-girlfriend) Leah’s birthday, she is 250 years old… er… un, no, ha ha, that’s Captain Cook. She is? How old is she? Funny to think that. (The monster woman from the deep) I am sure, she thinks our estrangement is all my doing, and it is not because she is an overbearing pain in the arse. Nyr, whatever? Oh well, there you go. What can you do?

I stopped talking to her because she became overbearing. She never really tried to patch things up between us. She never really did anything to make things better. She’s too much of a self absorbed Sydneysider for that. You know they say that all the narcissists from Melbourne end up in Sydney, because Sydney is that kind of town. Melbourne people will call you out on it, Sydney people are too self absorbed to notice.

Anyway, I guess we had to stop playing ex-boyfriend and ex-girlfriend, it really makes no sense any longer. And besides, despite the fact I really loved her at one stage, and she really was my best friend, and at one point I couldn’t envisage life without her in it, um, how do I put this, it was just the time in which we grew up that threw us together, we should never have been together, I should have had boyfriends all along.

6.30am. I sign into work.

It rained and rained and rained and rained. It rained all day.

12 midday we ate fried rice for lunch.

No more than two people should be out in public together, with the exception of family and household groups.

James Cook’s critics can relish the irony that a global pandemic has diminished the planned lavish commemorations of his east coast Australian arrival 250 years ago today.

Many Indigenous people and supporters of their causes and sensibilities rightly view the lieutenant as the doorman for so many ills that followed, including the smallpox epidemic of 1789 that killed as many as seven in 10 Aboriginal people of the new colony for which Cook’s arrival paved the way.

Is there anything more pathetic than conservative politicians and conservative commentators, the self appointed champions of free speech.

Victoria’s deputy chief health officer, Dr Annaliese van Diemen tweeted – Sudden arrival of an invader from another land, decimating populations, creating terror. Forces the population to make enormous sacrifices & completely change how they live in order to survive. COVID19 or Cook 1770? 

And the conservative politicians and conservative commentators, the self appointed champions of free speech, lose their shit, calling for her to lose her job because she exercised her right to free speech.

In conservative world, free speech only applies to those people who are saying things with which the conservative politicians and conservative commentators agree.

China bristles at Australia's call for investigation into coronavirus origin. Beijing warns relationship could be damaged ‘beyond repair’ after Australian prime minister Scott Morrison cites ‘extraordinary’ impact of Covid-19.

Oh, boo hoo to China, it’s about the only decent thing Morrison has done.

I lay on the couch after lunch and slept for an hour. Oh, you have to love working from home. I am never going back to the office, have I mentioned that before?

I got back to work at 1.30pm. Back at it pulling it all together, deadline Wednesday, let's wind this shit show up.

I have everything done by 3.30pm.

I signed out at 4pm. And that is it for the day. Too much rain to take the dogs for a walk, so they didn’t get to go. We all stayed warm in front of the open fire instead.

We ate tomato and meatball pasta for dinner.

We watched teli.