Is that the girl?

That was what my neighbour’s friend said to him as I was getting out of my car the other night. The amount of shushing that followed indicated to me that there was a pretty good chance I am in fact “the girl” in question. The obvious question that follows is what I have done to earn the status of the “the girl”…..

I live in a house that is rather close to the house next door…. I think it was built back in the early nineteen hundreds before quarter acre blocks and large fences divided neighbours. I quite like this; it makes you feel close to people without actually having to communicate with them. So, I was vaguely aware that it was possible that people could see what I was up to. Don’t get me wrong I don’t get up to any really wild, crazy stuff…

But…. and feel free to file this under too much information… I do believe that if you can’t feel comfortable walking around in various states of undress in your own space… then what the hell is the point of living on your own. Being scientifically minded I had conducted experiments. I had stood at various spots out on the street to ensure that you could not see into the house. I was pretty sure that my neighbours couldn’t see in.

So of course being scientifically minded, and possibly having too much spare time on my hands, I formulated some hypotheses as to what I have done to earn “the girl” status based on what my neighbours can see:

Is that “the girl” who likes to vacuum at ridiculous hours of the evening?

Is that “the girl” who does irregular lunges and exercise ball sit ups during episodes of the Simpson’s?

Is that “the girl” who regularly leaves her sheets hanging on the line for extended periods of time?

Is that “the girl” whose never-ending cycle of pot plants on the window sill attests to the fact that she’s not good at keeping things alive?

Lastly and possibly the most likely option …..

Is that “the girl” you see naked on a fairly regularly basis?

I guess I should really pull down the blinds

We're all in this together.....

It’s the new catchphrase isn’t it. The quantum physics take on science that makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside... or perhaps a catchy tune by Ben Lee… or the secret, the laws of attraction .... we’re all in this together, yada yada yada…

I was in a conservation recently, it was after a few wines at the point when things turn philosophical and this topic came up. One person’s take was that because we live in a basically godless, individual-oriented society all of this quantum physics stuff makes us feel warm and fuzzy. In a scientific acceptable way we are all basically connected by atoms and energy... yada, yada, yada

Anyway, so why I am crapping on about this? (yes, I may have consumed some alcohol)

I was on a bus tonight heading out to have some drinks with friends around peak hour time so the bus was pretty full. I had my headphones firmly planted in my ears. We may all be in this together but I don't want to have actually make conversation with strangers...

A girl got on about half way through the trip and sat on one of those three person seats up near the front she got one of the last seats. I noticed her straight away. She looked a little shell-shocked, a few minutes into sitting down the tears started. It wasn't crazy person wailing. It was more restrained, more like I’m trying everything I can not to do this right now at this moment surrounded by people I don’t know but I can’t stop the tears crying.

In that moment in time I watched the people around her studiously looking out windows, fiddling with i-pods and generally looking like they would happily drag themselves over hot coals to be anywhere but around this girls completely exposed pain. I wondered if at that moment she felt like we were all in this together or whether she felt naked and alone surrounded by complete strangers.

I’m sure this all sounds very depressing and emo but it’s late and I’m a little scnickered and it was this moment that really stood out to me in my day….

And then I went Bush...

Actually, I’m not quite sure if a mountain half an hour from the suburbs qualifies as the bush but it was definitely needed respite from the four walls of my office closing in around me. I’ve realised over the course of the last six weeks that I am not cut out for sitting in one spot for extended periods of time. The girl in the room next door to me has taken to smirking at me as I go for my twentieth walk to the water fountain/café/toilet/library/photocopier/(insert any excuse here).

Anyway, my cranky levels were getting pretty high from all the sitting and generally having to concentrate for extended periods of time…. You know things are getting pretty bad when you want to scream at you relatively blameless roommate “COULD YOU TRY BREATHING A LITTLE QUIETER”.

Note to self… going bush on the hottest day of summer is not the smartest move… but I got to combine three of my favourite things: low level intensity exercise, food and taking pictures of random things… so let me take you on a pictorial walk with me

The first thing we saw was these two butterflies.

They were rather attached to each other.

I suspect it was the butterflies that left my

walking buddy with the song “The Bad Touch”

in her head for the rest of the hike.

And then a bit further along there was lots of rustling in a

bush next to me (I only squealed a little) and this goanna

ran up the tree next to me. He/She was impressively

camouflaged and I thought that I wished human had

evolved this particularly skill. I can think of lots of times

it would come in handy to be able to meld into walls/

furniture etc…

We ended up at a fabulous waterfall which made me want

to become one with nature and dive in but I thought the sightof a slightly pasty naked girl would scar the child nearby

catching tadpoles for life, so I settled for lying on a rock

and sticking my face in the stream.

And then of course we ate… which is really the only reason I exercise anyway! Here’s a picture of the reason I exercise. This is not what I had for lunch… because that would just be ridiculously greedy. This is just a picture of an awesome platter of Greek food. Consider it Food porn for your viewing pleasure :-)