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Mar. 22nd, 2005 09:53 amEarly coffee - a break from distraction rather than distractrion from work. Another day where I'm far more inclined to watch the light slide over the river than sit in front of this screen. A faraway mood, filled with memories and forgotten dreams. I always wanted to live in the country: a house with a deck overlooking the river, land as wild as my thoughts and rain on the wind. Now I'm a city girl and I'm not so certain I'd be content in a world of white bread, beer, steak and social conservatism. Still, that's only Queensland country. On the coasts and down south it differs. Down in Mt. Gambier where the Germans settled a bloke can walk into the pub and get a nice glass of red without snickering. They grow grapes and graze sheep, rather than sugar and beef, though a good curry is likely still hard to come by.
I love good coffee and live music and human diversity. I go to the theatre and to galleries and the melting-pot of the Valley. They know me at the Indian grocers and down the local fruit 'n' veg, but I can watch the human parade in anonimity. I've grown accustomed to fast service and variety and all the other benefits of civilization.
But I still love watching the river and walking through the bush, the smell of eucalypts and wood smoke at daybreak. Watching parrots take wing in the early light and timid wallabies foraging in dew-soaked grass. Time to think and to write and to feel the earth around me, seeing sunrise and sunset, canine by my side.
I think this is part of the Australian psyche - an over-romanticised love of the land. For all it's photogenic callings, in reality I'd probably by lonely and frustrated with small-world views. In truth I'm probably too much of an intellectual-lefty to make it out there, despite disliking 'lattes and chardonnay'. I am fortunate, however, that occasionally my job takes me out of the city, and aside from the food and odd yokel the experience is pleasant. Maybe I will start applying for jobs away from my cities of choice and try a year out of the ordinary. But then, maybe I'll stay an urban non-conformist and treasure those weekends and field trips away.
I love good coffee and live music and human diversity. I go to the theatre and to galleries and the melting-pot of the Valley. They know me at the Indian grocers and down the local fruit 'n' veg, but I can watch the human parade in anonimity. I've grown accustomed to fast service and variety and all the other benefits of civilization.
But I still love watching the river and walking through the bush, the smell of eucalypts and wood smoke at daybreak. Watching parrots take wing in the early light and timid wallabies foraging in dew-soaked grass. Time to think and to write and to feel the earth around me, seeing sunrise and sunset, canine by my side.
I think this is part of the Australian psyche - an over-romanticised love of the land. For all it's photogenic callings, in reality I'd probably by lonely and frustrated with small-world views. In truth I'm probably too much of an intellectual-lefty to make it out there, despite disliking 'lattes and chardonnay'. I am fortunate, however, that occasionally my job takes me out of the city, and aside from the food and odd yokel the experience is pleasant. Maybe I will start applying for jobs away from my cities of choice and try a year out of the ordinary. But then, maybe I'll stay an urban non-conformist and treasure those weekends and field trips away.
