We talk nearly every day and so it had been a whole weekend of of 'no contact' and dear Whitney wrote me an email asking me how things have been ... in the 48 hours or so that we haven't said hello. After I finished, I decided that it was a good "how I've been" email, and decided to post it on my blog as well.
let me tell you ... it's been A M A Z I N G!!!
Saturday, after work, I talked to Chrystal for like three hours, and just chilled ... and then Sunday ... I did the church thing (it was a particularly good Sunday too!)
... and then today ... wowee ... let me tell you, Monday 7 May 2012 ... has been a good day!!
I woke up and decided to head down to Freo nice and early in the morning. I took the bus (parking is impossible in Freo - and why worry about it when it's only a 15 minute bus ride from my house?) I chose a cafe that I've been eyeing for a while as a nice breakfast target. It's little table and chairs are generally filled to capacity with early morning Aussies ... and is situated right in the middle of the cafe strip in Freo. I looked over the menu and finally settled on the blue cheese and mushroom omlette and a nice warm drink since I was going to be sitting outside reading the West Australian newspaper and people watching.
The cafe was not as bustling as it normally is - but I suppose people not milling around a cafe at 8am on a weekday is a sign of a healthy economy - haha! And especially since I had decided to sit outside in the morning air ... there were even fewer "people watching" choices. But I had the good fortune of sitting close to two Scotsman in a heated debate ... over what, I couldn't quite decide because it was hard to pay attention to their individual words - their lyrical accents were so much more seductive. I also tried to snoop in on a French couple who spoke in such hushed tones that I immediately decided that they were having an affair, and their conversation was so scandalous that I shouldn't be trying to eavesdrop!
After that I meandered to a favorite second hand bookshop in Freo. They had only just opened their doors and so I mostly had the place to myself. I grabbed a couple books and found a small stool to claim in a corner of the shop, and read about an Australian journalist who had fallen in love with Paris. He says that a good measure of social practice in a society is by how good or bad the TV is.
He says that in France, the television programming is universally known as "simply the worst". This is because the people are out until 3 am discussing politics and trying to seduce people, living lives where the drama is found within their communities and relationships and not on television screens. He says that the world's best television programming comes from Britain, apparently, because their social lives are small and their only activity: "watching the telly." So according to him, Parisians: living life so hard and so well, they don't need good TV, and the English: living such drab lives that the TV had better be good or they'll fall over stone dead from boredom.
Whether I wholly agree with him or not ... I do happen to remember the television programming in France, and he's right ... it's crap.
I wanted to buy a nice "sink my teeth into it" kind of book, you know what I mean- the "I can't put it down and I have bags under my eyes when I go to work because at the moment I place higher value on finding out what happens to 'x' character than to making sure that I practice occupational health and safety and get enough rest the night before" kind of book-
Instead, I made the mistake of asking the bookshop employee for a recommendation. She was incredibly well read and immediately began suggesting weightier material (think the likes of War and Peace), books written by journalists who risked their lives in war zones simply to bring us the stories of suffering people, and large dusty volumes of classic literature. While, I have many a classic lit enjoyed ... I was leaning more towards a good old fashioned murder mystery or a nice little bit of romance ... possibly even some chick lit?
She pointed to books in the store (it smells wonderfully of old pages - you know what I mean - I love that smell) and glided over picking up different novels and biographies of great people and then smugly waved her hand towards the chick lit section saying, "And of course there's chick lit ... it THAT'S what you're into"
"Me? Of course not. That's ridiculous! I'm far too intellectually superior to find any enjoyment in a casual romantic fantasy, or a mystery solving, lip stick wearing sleuth! Show me to your most intellectually stimulating books! I will not read it unless I begin to question my morals, my sanity, my intellect or cry for at least an hour after it's done!"
We met in the middle somewhat (and I think I lost a little respect in the eyes of this shop keeper) in choosing Nancy Mitford's - think the female version of Oscar Wilde- "The Pursuit of Love" and "Love in a Cold Climate" over the book that sat next to it on the shelf about a boy/girl coming to terms with her/his duel identity as a hermaphrodite in a Greek family in 1960's America.
Afterwards ... it was off to the movies ... well ... TWO actually. The guy who sold me the first ticket, sold me the second as well - I proudly opened my purse to look for my debit card as I gloated, 'might as well see another, what the hell, it's my day off!' (I'm allowed to say hell here - and even though it falls awkwardly from my lips - I try to throw it in every once and a while). ;)
After the movies a bit of shopping ... pursuing ... and in general, just enjoying as much as I could of Freo, and the weather that has suddenly turned so crisp.
So to answer your question ... it's been good.
