How was your weekend? I spent most of mine solo and perhaps a bit too much of it reading news stories about security alerts in the Middle East and Europe.
But I’ll start off light and fluffy and save my anxiety until the end.
On Saturday I went for a walk with friends and we talked our heads off afterwards at a cafe while I scoffed scrambled eggs and chunks of buttered baguette. Nom, nom.
Then I signed up for a seven-day trial at a local gym. Those two actions were not related, but it is time I did something about the excess baguette calories I am stockpiling.
In the afternoon I got my roots done in Avalon, which was a bit of a hike without DD in residence.
On Saturday night I made a dee-licious chicken, leek, mushroom and spinach risotto and played Talking Heads songs on YouTube. I’ve been a bit (re)obsessed with Talking Heads since seeing a clip on Facebook about “Psycho Killer” being the first song David Byrne ever wrote.
Wow!
I wanted to play the soundtrack on my CD player (very retro of me), but I couldn’t find it in the hundreds of CDs my ex and I collected during our relationship. He didn’t take a single one when he moved out because he’d been studiously uploading his favourites on the computer in the months before he left.
The signs you don’t see until it’s too late.
On Sunday I walked with another friend and we had a coffee together. I planned to also walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge as penance for drunk shopping last week – I bought a pair of pants that were too tight and needed to return them – but I decided a day when the temperature was predicted to soar to 30C wasn’t the right time to do it.
So I caught the bus, returned the pants – and a jacket I didn’t really need – and picked up a copy of Stop Making Sense at Red Eye Records in Sydney CBD. I love that there are stores that still sell CDs, it was such a cool place and pumping. I was torn between getting the CD or DVD and went for the movie because I love it and I figure it can do double duty as a soundtrack.
Then I slouched around the house at a loose end, before checking the weather app and seeing that, hello, it was still going to be 30C at 4pm. I figured the crowds would be gone from the beach by then, so I threw on my cossie and took myself to Freshwater for a quick dip.
The crowds were not gone. Virtually every square metre of sand was occupied. The water was cold but so glorious. I bobbed up and down in the waves for about half an hour and loved every minute of it.
Meanwhile, DD concluded a fun week in Mexico City. Here are a few photo highlights …
He landed in Cancun on Sunday afternoon. Lucky thing. I am standing by for all the gorgeous tropical happy snaps.
As for my anxiety levels, well my jaw is pretty tight.
The US Department of State Global Events Advisory and Australia’s Smartraveller have both issued urgent security alerts for travellers to the Middle East due to rising Houthi missile attacks and escalating tensions with Iran.
Meanwhile Russians are fleeing amid fears of an escalating war in Europe. Countries ranging from France to Germany and even Switzerland have all been having high-level meetings about the situation.
“I’ve just emerged from nearly three hours of briefing and discussions with the President of the Republic and the intelligence and security services,” Guillaume Lacroix, president of France’s Radical Party of the Left, wrote on X.
“At the age of 50, I have rarely felt such vertigo. Vertigo at the gravity of the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, at the predatory madness driving the world toward chaos.”
Even Switzerland’s government has adopted a new security policy strategy in response to the “deteriorating security situation” in Europe.
We’re talking about a country that inspired the idiom “I’m Switzerland”, meaning “I am staying neutral and not taking side” in an argument or conflict.
Let’s hope everyone is just erring on the side of caution.
I tried diverting my attention by squeezing my snorkelling and expedition gear into packing cubes for my next adventure … which is still a long way off and also, fortunately, a long way from deteriorating security situations.
PS Apparently Tasmania is ranked globally as one of the best places to survive a major societal collapse or global catastrophe due to its geographic isolation, strong agricultural capacity and independent renewable energy.
Song of the day: Talking Heads “This must be the place” – sooooo beautiful
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