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Something I enjoy very much is being in places that are closed. One of my favourite things about my new job happens on Thursday and Friday afternoon, when I am often alone in the building. To get anything off the printer I have to walk through the empty call centre, as the support line is diverted to another office. So it's just me, walking through a long, empty, high-ceilinged room full of silent phones. Queen of a lonely kingdom.
This Friday past was my last for the year, as we have closed up until 2019. So that's nice. As I locked up on Friday, a stream of people flowed past, all in the same direction, all heading to the sound of music. They were heading to Carols on the Green, it turned out. I didn't go, but it sounded nice as I passed by. That seemed to mark the start of the summer holidays. When I went for my weekly beach walk this morning, the foreshore carnival had set up at last. It only operates at night, so that was another place that was closed. I walked the perimeter, checking out the dodgems neatly lined up, the back of the spooky castle, the rows of pink fluffy monkeys waiting to be won as prizes.
Also at the beach this morning: the farmers' market. It's their off-week, but I suppose they did an extra one as it was close to Christmas. My mother bought some mince pies from the all-mince-pie baker's stall; I bought some fresh blueberries for the pavlova. We were going to buy some strawberries as well, but the queue for the strawberry farm lady was twenty deep and there were whispers that she was going to run out of berries soon. Supermarket strawberries for us then.
Speaking of the supermarket, it's that time of year again, when shelves are swept clean of all but one lonely example of whatever was on them. One lonely example that looks at me, willing me to buy it and give it a home. In other words, I now own ( this ceramic cat piggy-bank )
This week in Australian politics: We have had a sex scandal! A government minister went on a work trip to Hong Kong, where he had dinner with a young lady he met on a sugar daddy website, who then told her story to a magazine, thus treating us all to this amazing text-based flirtation. ( Brace yourselves, this is a bit racy (and also a bit blurry, sorry) )
The wonder is he met anyone at all with banter like that.
This Friday past was my last for the year, as we have closed up until 2019. So that's nice. As I locked up on Friday, a stream of people flowed past, all in the same direction, all heading to the sound of music. They were heading to Carols on the Green, it turned out. I didn't go, but it sounded nice as I passed by. That seemed to mark the start of the summer holidays. When I went for my weekly beach walk this morning, the foreshore carnival had set up at last. It only operates at night, so that was another place that was closed. I walked the perimeter, checking out the dodgems neatly lined up, the back of the spooky castle, the rows of pink fluffy monkeys waiting to be won as prizes.
Also at the beach this morning: the farmers' market. It's their off-week, but I suppose they did an extra one as it was close to Christmas. My mother bought some mince pies from the all-mince-pie baker's stall; I bought some fresh blueberries for the pavlova. We were going to buy some strawberries as well, but the queue for the strawberry farm lady was twenty deep and there were whispers that she was going to run out of berries soon. Supermarket strawberries for us then.
Speaking of the supermarket, it's that time of year again, when shelves are swept clean of all but one lonely example of whatever was on them. One lonely example that looks at me, willing me to buy it and give it a home. In other words, I now own ( this ceramic cat piggy-bank )
This week in Australian politics: We have had a sex scandal! A government minister went on a work trip to Hong Kong, where he had dinner with a young lady he met on a sugar daddy website, who then told her story to a magazine, thus treating us all to this amazing text-based flirtation. ( Brace yourselves, this is a bit racy (and also a bit blurry, sorry) )
The wonder is he met anyone at all with banter like that.