Alice Springs

 Morning run beside the Todd River. Upside down river. River bed on top. Water deep undergrown.

A few cyclists. No dogs being walked. That means no locals. All tourists.

 

The Todd river meanders between trees. Many flies and ants. The bottom of the food chain is very active. Birds everywhere. They are well fed.

 

We walk to the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens.

 

Attractively landscaped with indigenous plants. Rock wallabies attract us and other tourists. We see a sign saying Café shut ever Monday and head towards the CBD.

 

We see what we are looking for. A busy café. Lady says: We are out of food and about to close. It is 12:10 pm on a public holiday. The streets are deserted. We head towards another café containing people eating and sitting.

 

Lady says: We can only give you a BLT sandwich. Everything else is gone. Maybe the café down the road will help you.

 

The café down the road has no empty tables.

 

In the heat we keep on walking and finish up in a half empty pub at the end of the street. Inside it is cool air conditioned with really good food. I discern the reason it is not full. The pub is not centrally located.

Streets are deserted apart from loitering tourists and a few crowded cafes looking for staff not customers.

 

Beside the Todd River we see a couple of aborigines selling paintings. They are trying to be the middle men. Their culture is many things not including wheeling and dealing.

 

Under a bridge over the Todd River I see a few aborigines doing what they do best. Cooking over an open fire. The smell of meat cooking wafts everywhere and smells good.

 

We depart Alice for Uluru and return a few days later. After a tiring bus trip, we arrive back in Alice at 7:00 pm. Two local restaurants are fully booked. They tell us there is a lack of staff. Nothing we can do about that.

At the Casino we are given two options. Wait 50 minute for a platter or buy a drink.  All the tables are full. Tourist are all polite, tidy, wearing light dresses or shorts.  Drinking beer or wine.

 

The platter is deep fried prawns, little pies, deep fried something, garlic bread, sausages on a stick.

Lots of children. Mainly retirees.  

 

Holiday Snaps: Alice Springs

 

Holiday Snaps: Marla

 

The Ghan Train

 The Ghan train shakes rattles and rolls north and further north.

 

Through brown paddocks with stubble from a grain crop. Anaemic barbed wire fences create a chessboard of different shades of brown. An irregular  dark shadow from the clouds moves over the chessboard of paddocks.

A meandering line of trees line a dry river bed. A straight avenue of trees lines a road.

 

Houses wrapped in trees appear. Powerlines flow without end. No people walking, wandering or working their tractors. All tractors and machines stand still.

 

Only activity outside the train is a silver stream of cars flowing up or down the highway.

 

Onboard the train is an oasis of retirees, drinking and eating food. The ubiquitous staff are neat, young, fit and healthy looking. Us passengers are older, slower, fatter, greyer. Us passengers have less hair and more money.

We lounge in air-conditioned comfort, divorced and separate from the hot dry dusty desert we peer at. We peer looking for any sign of any activity.

 

The cabins are small. We enter and have to decipher. What does this nob do? This switch works what? How do we turn the lights on?

 

The paddocks are replaced by scrawny, scraggly scrub. Short trees ashamed and apologetic dot the red dust.

The unchanging vistas roll on and on. Recent rain has gone and left a carpet of green grass. 

 

Holiday Snaps: The Ghan Train

Holiday Snaps: Adelaide

 

Chapter 310: I didn’t know I had a scaphoid bone until it broke.

 

I head towards the right side of the court. My opponent hits the ball to where I just came from. I suddenly have to change direction and go back to where I came from.  If I can stretch my arm make it longer I might be able to hit the ball while my legs catch up. My arms move towards where the ball is going. My feet are still going in the opposite direction. My legs go one way, my arms go the other way and I go down.

I fall and land on the court. My knees are covered in clay sand. I wipe my knees. I reassure the others and say: I’m okay. let’s continue.

Four/five hours later I am not okay. Whenever I use my hand it aches. Whenever I forget about it and use it. When I cut bread. When I take the top off the peanut butter jar. When I wash my hands. My hand has become alive. Whenever I move my hand it talks to me. My hand has become a separate being. 

Normally after a shower I dry myself. I pick up a towel. I can’t hold the towel. I need help to dry myself. This is bad.

Next day my hand wakes before me.  It is trying to tell me something. I take my hand to a doctor then a radiologist. They interpret and tell what my hand is telling me. My hand is broken. My hand needs to be strapped. My thumb needs to be keep still. It must not move relative to my hand. When my thumb does what it is told and doesn’t move it is quiet and I forget it.

I need help to get my watch off. My hand has changed me. It has changed my life. It has decided I will be a different person. My hand is telling me I am a different person. My bandaid tells everybody I am a different person.

The next day I visit a physiotherapist and get a cast covering and immobilizing my hand. The cast is solid. Unmissable. I ask the physiotherapist all the important questions about the cast.

The physiotherapist gives me all the important information. He says: Drawing on the cast will not harm it.

Chapter 309: Social tennis

 

I stand and fiddle with my tennis racquet. I wait for people to say: You can serve first. We’ll take this end. I wait for people to nod in agreement and move to their positions. I wait for some people to say good game and for the set to begin.

The ball lands between me and my partner. We both hesitate. Then we both go for it. Then we both laugh and both agree to talk.

Our set finishes. We shake racquets then gravitate towards our bags and begin talking.

I ask one lady about her sons: What are they doing nowadays? Where are they working? Where are they living?

She tells me about her sons. I enjoy listening to tales of their work, their lives and their future.

I ask another lady: How is your week going?

She tells me: Busy week. Had to look after my grandkids. They have been sick.

A man tells me about driving here. About the traffic he encountered. He tells me about his dog. Yesterday he took his dog for a walk and they met a badly behaved owner with his dog.

I see Geoff and his partner. Geoff says to his partner: They are playing social tennis. That means they talk a lot.

When I play tennis I don’t think I abuse, harass or discriminate against anybody.

I am lucky. I used to work as a dentist. Everybody’s teeth are the same. I categorized people by how they managed their teeth. Not their sex, sexuality, race, place of birth, religion, job, wealth. My work has ceased but my habit of not classifying people continues.

When I play social tennis I play with other people. Everybody is unique. Everybody is different.  I don’t think I classify people and then discriminate against them because of the group they belong to.  

But the truth is on the tennis court I do judge people. I look at their tennis style. I notice if their backhand is weaker than their forehand. I notice if they prefer the ball short or deep. I notice if they have a good volley or smash. After looking at my opponent I alter my game. I try and beat them by playing to their weakness.

My aim is to spot a weakness and then attack it. Do they hit the ball in certain ways or to certain spots? I change my game in order to beat their game. One lady often goes short. Hits a very good drop shot. I have to come in. One man hits a very good lob. I need to stand deep at the net. Get ready for his lob. One lady often goes down the side. I need to stand a bit wider.

Geoff you can say I am treating my opponents badly by labelling them and by trying to beat them but he is also trying to beat me. I need them and they need me. We are both aiming to beat each other.

To play tennis where one person has no intention of winning or doesn’t even try to win destroys the game for everybody else. I respect my opponents by trying to beat them. In different ways because they are all different.

Chapter 308: Corona changed our society.

 

Corona has been an unwelcome visitor Corona. It is finally going. We can now do the dishes and talk about tomorrow. 

When Corona was here our society changed. How many of these changes will remain after it goes?

Behaviour

Social distancing. Us humans are social animals. I’m guessing social distancing will go the way of the Tassie Tiger. We enjoy and like being in crowds. A crowded restaurant or pub has an atmosphere or buzz that we enjoy. We feed off the people around us. Empty tables depress us.

Hand washing

Hand washing has become more common. I assume increased hand washing will stay. In the past handwashing after going to the toilet was considered normal. That’s all.  In the future I’m guessing handwashing before eating will be standard. The new normal.

Post Corona I imagine restaurants will provide hand sanitizer or bowls or paper towels to clean our hands when we enter.

Shopping

Shopping has gone on-line. Corona has accelerated the trend in that direction. The advantages of on-line shopping have disseminated.  Shopping to a distant warehouse with postal delivery seems sure to continue. Not only books, clothing but also food and meals.

Garden

During Corona we have also eaten more home-grown food. More herbs or vegetables from our garden. During Corona more people have planted and tended vegetable patches. Will this trend continue. Post Corona will people eat more healthy, organic, seasonal home-grown food? 

Arts

Corona has unleashed local community art. Musicians playing for their neighbours. Friends posting to their own Facebook groups. Often posting funny and creative posts relevant to the local community.  

A deluge of local talent has been exposed and given air. During Corona art has become more local. It has been reflecting what the community is actually thinking and doing. 

Post Corona I imagine less big art events. Less vacuous celebrities famous for being seen.  More local people seeing what other local people can tell them about their community.  More people illuminating their local community to itself.  

Sport

Sport has gone the same way as the arts. Local sport has replaced big events. Playing on the local cricket oval has replaced being one of a crowd watching superstars. 

Post Corona I imagine local community sport staying strong. A game with friends is hard to resist. The celebrities and TV stations associated with big sporting events will remain. They will not admit irrelevance.

Local community

During Corona global Facebook has helped us become more local. Connect with our Neighbours. Connect with people in our apartment. We are suddenly sharing jokes and posts on Facebook with our neighbours.  Global Corona and Facebook have strengthened local communities. Brought people together.

Work

During Corona more people have worked from home. The need for multi-story central offices, morning coffee rituals and transport has shown to be unnecessary. Nobody knew working from home was possible. Now everybody knows it is possible and can see the advantages. In the future more people will combine work and home. 

The status of certain workers will change. On the up are health care workers. We have been reminded about what really matters. The health of everybody in the community.

The status of teachers will go up. Corona has shown that schools are an important part of our communities. Corona has told us that looking after children or a class of children is difficult. Let alone teaching them something.

The status of science will increase. People will listen to real, true facts based on objective studies. The status of vague, nebulous, spiritual feelings will be less.

Politicians  Laws

Corona has resulted in law changes. The laws and rules have been made up as we go. Corona has been a real time experiment involving different countries and new laws. The new laws haven’t fitted correctly. They have all resulted in anomalies, exceptions, unintended consequences and routs.  

Corona has rewarded countries where the  government has monitored and controlled the population. Where decisive politicians have  consulted with experts, passed new laws and inspired people to embrace the new laws.  

Corona has also increased the gap between the IT-connected and IT-unconnected. Not rich and poor. Not males and females. Not indigenous and non-indigenous. Our world has become an ITocracy. The IT connected have booked on-line, educated on-line, shopped on-line, worked from home and lobbied politicians on-line. This trend is unstoppable.

Corona has exposed and shown the whole world countries which are good or bad places to live. Tasmania has emerged near the top but I am a bit biased.