Strange Notations From a Laborious Life

Well that made you look didn’t it?!! An attractive lady in a black bra is guaranteed to swivel a few heads. Yes, I’m being a bit cheeky. I was trying to find a free photo with a relationship to rain to capture the atmosphere of the day in Canberra today and this one came up in the search. Well, I got the rain part right, eh?

Yes, it’s raining in Canberra. Strong, soaking, solid rain. At last. It’s the first time in some months that I can remember waking up to the sound of substantial precipitation cascading off the roof and it’s always a nice thing to hear. We have had some days over the last few months that have produced a few showers for a while, enough to give the ground a bit of sustenance but nothing like this morning. That being said the cloud is now breaking up and sunlight has touched the windows and we may be clear for the rest of the day. The weather radar shows some more rain heading our way from Sydney but it is questionable if it will reach us.

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down. Well, not me but it’s what Karen Carpenter, that illustrious American pop-star with the gorgeous voice sang many years ago but it’s not the way I feel. I sort of like rainy days. Maybe it’s because we don’t get many nowadays. I can remember racing pushbikes as a kid and going away every weekend and some years it rained everywhere we rode. I can remember one year riding seventeen races and I think it rained in twelve. I can’t remember a winter like that for many years now.

A noticeable sight in Canberra lately is the number of dead kangaroos on the sides of the motorways. On my drive to work up the Monaro Highway, a trip of probably 20 minutes, there are at least six dead hoppers at the moment and driving home the last few nights I have noticed roos feasting on the grass of the median strip as I turn into Tuggeranong. It shows how dry it has been when they are coming into town and getting on the roads. It’s dry in them there hills. But, they are dangerous. No sense. Wander into the traffic without a second glance. And they make a mess of a car too. I’ve often wondered if those that are killed on the roads are missed by their mob. Do they ask each other, “Where’s Bob, haven’t seen him lately? Last saw him heading for the highway……..Oh my God, Bob!” Hmm, I doubt it!

I’ve enrolled in two more units at university. I have to do a second foundations unit, part of the bridging course to get me into an undergraduate program, and a history unit, “What is History”, the first step to becoming a historian. I’m a glutton for punishment it seems. Hopefully I’ll execute my studies with a bit more panache and a little less procrastination this trimester.

As I write it’s clouding over again. Maybe we will get some more rain. Rainy days and Mondays don’t get me down but Thursdays sure do. So close yet so far to the weekend. I can smell it but I can’t touch it. Two more days of boredom to survive before the carefree days of Saturday and Sunday arrive. Hope you all can too.