it's cold

A1 Bakery, my favourite place

Over the last few weeks my social media streams have presented me with photographs of J and her family in Germany and France, S in the USA, G's trip to Japan, S's trip to Korea then Sweden, J's epic drive from Townsville to Katherine, and most of all V and her clan in England and then Italy.

At any time in the recent past I could have used a bit of foresight and organised myself a trip somewhere warm, but I did not and so I have spent this midwinter weekend trying to stay out of the wind, trying to catch the little glimmers of sun afforded to us this far south, and generally making the best of it as far as possible. Which really isn't very far.

Yesterday Lenny and I went to the park and played handball, then we walked up the hill and at the top we lay down to look at the clouds. What we lay on was damp, cold gravel. It was a little like going to the beach in England. I am aware what a worn-out cliche that is, to ridicule English beaches, but honestly, they are every bit as horrifically tragic, every bit as laugh-till-you-cry, as they're made out to be and thus it was lying on the cold gravelly hilltop.

Leonard's idea of a great photo of his mum

Nevertheless, I did feel the sun warming the bare skin on my face and arms and I did know again for a few minutes what it's like to be warmed by the sun. Today, I'm not sure how I'll hang on until November, to be honest. I am so tired of being frozen and chilled. I want to walk the streets at night and feel air on my skin that's the same temperature as my blood. I went to the pool and used the sauna today but it's not the same thing at all.



A change of scene has been achieved, at least, via a friend who has allowed me a couple of nights' use of a house and cat that would otherwise have lain empty (the house, not the cat, my goodness what are you thinking? stop it). I did not plan to ride the whole way here but because there were replacement buses on the train line today I had to, and I could feel my body really not liking the whole experience. The lower back once or twice did weird sensations that more or less said Easy Tiger, and my shoulders and knees felt like they needed oiling. Altogether, plenty of messages to tell me to go easy on my body for a while and I will do exactly that until I feel a little less ground down. 

Western suburbs bike path - felt as remote and lonely as The Orkneys

So as I cannot go to Italy in person I thought I would sew myself a compensatory highly Italian garment. I got up early today and cut and sewed a miniskirt from rose-printed silk gazar, and I underlined it in silk satin and Hong Kong bound all the seams and allowances in the same way I've seen it done inside Prada and Marni garments. This is my favourite kind of sewing. I haven't quite been able to finish it because I sewed on a trouser bar to close the waistband and I sewed it on backwards, and I don't have an unpicker with me.

Just ignore this if you don't sew