Naked Grumpy

Here is my latest Grumpy column for Tsunami. Bit of a woopsie in that I offered an edited version to another mag and now I have to tell them they can't have it. Oh well, will just have to come up with something else.

Not writing much at the moment because life is a bit of a mess and I haven't been in the right frame of mind. We still haven't found a home which means we've been living out of the same bags now for three months. It's getting to be a bit not fun. There are two places we really hope to be getting this week... well one of them. One is in Collingwood, just off Smith Street, close to lots of restaurants, bars and pubs. The other is in Brunswick East, looking out over bush by Merri Creek, I think. It's really peaceful, the balcony looks into the bush and soaks up birdcall. We'll be happy with either lifestyle. There is lots of apeal in the Brunswick place and living close to ceres and getting on our bikes to get around, but equally the handy hedonism of Collingwood is appealing and fits right in with our lifestyle.

Either way, I hope to be not relying on the charity of friends for very much longer. As wonderful as they are and as appreciated as they are, we really need our own place. I just want to be able to hang my clothes up and know where everything is without having to rummage.

We left friends in Yarraville yesterday (I still find it funny to be using all these Melbourne names instead of Sydney names) and as we left Northcote, the car broke down, fully loaded with all of our stuff. The RACV (not NRMA) guy said he was baffled, and I was so glad I wasn't driving because the Error 05 thing would have been too hard to deal with. We had the car towed around the corner to a mechanic, then we went to a favourite bar called Kelvin's where we sat in front of the fire, drank wine and waited for another friend to pick us up. As far as breakdowns go, this was a good one, especially given that were had driven to Braidwood for a dance festival the week before. The car could have died in the middle of nowhere but was considerate enough to wait until we were in civilisation.

And so here e are in West Heidelberg... quite strange. This is really not our kind of place. I appreciate the hell out of the fact that our friend picked us up and that we have a place to stay, but it's such a strange suburb. For one thing, it really is The Burbs. For another thing, no one seems to care about their home. It's like everyone just thinks, "Narp - can't be arsed." We even went to Northland shopping centre and it was the same. It's like it has a dress code that says "Anyone entering Northland must look like they just got out of bed."

It's a weird part of the world. Mind you, so are Collingwood and Brunswick. But at least that's good weird. I need some good weird, and soon. Cross your fingers and say chookas for us that we get one of these places in the next couple of days.

Oh yeah - and filling out those fucking rental application forms... nothing is straightforward with me. Nothing about me fits neatly into any category. It's so frustrating. I didn't have a job for the first couple of applications (I have a part time one now), my next of kin situation is not normal (I've been writing down my cuff buddy Christine as the person to notify in case of emergency... man, after last weekend I miss her so much), I have no regular income, we don't have a current address... I just feel like chaos personified.

I am a loose cannon.

Anyway. The Dreaded One is outside now doing gardening things with the people we are staying with. The garden is a big project. And although I don't like gardening (for a start - what does one wear when gardening?) I should go out there and chip in. All I want to do (now that I've started) is keep writing. I want to write about last weekend at Regrowth with so many wonderful friends. I want to write about how i had very strong feelings about my Sydney friends and wondered when we move cities, what are we really leaving? The city or the friends?

I have a friend who likes to hold my hand when we are together. Over time, I had forgotten how much I enjoy her company. There are so few people we bump into that we have that instant connection with. I love this human. But distance and time separates and we do forget. Time wears down the brilliance of these wonderful and important chance encounters with strangers who become friends.

It's life and it's how it goes, but it's really, really nice to be reminded. I hung out with Christine for the weekend (along with so many other cool friends), and it reminded me not only of how lucky I am to have her in my life, but how lucky I am to have all the others in my life as well.

I am very lucky indeed. And if you have good friends in your life, so are you. Remember your friends.

And now, I should go out and help my friend with this gardening stuff, whatever that is.