JUST SITTING IN BED feeling like i'm getting some kind of wog thanks a germy friend - reflecting on what i've learned since i've been here. it's now in late october that it's a year since i really started to live here. After moving in mid september and having lots of friends to stay and having a week at ubud writers festival in october 2012 i really didn't experience just being here and all it meant until then.
so - I've learned how to use the pump, how the various complicated hose fittings work, their names - knockers, turf keys, turf valves, etc. How to clean the filter although i still can't unscrew the lid myself. I've learned that the weather has no relationship to Melbourne at all, it comes from a completely different place and has more similarity to Alice Springs. It's hotter than i expected. I've learned to always make sure the house is sealed up when i go away in case of a dust storm, how the evaporative cooler works, how the slow combustion heater works. I now know and have a map of where all the pipes and plumbing are on the place, both house and garden. I've learned not to swim in the river alone because of currents and cold spots that can be disorientating.
It's been interesting to observe the whole small town life, the way everyone knows everyone and what they're doing, everyone knows i'm 'the artist who lives in clarkie's old house' while i don't know most of them. There are rivalries between wentworth and mildura. Wentworth often feels and is left out of things, being over the river and in a different state. We're just working hard right now to be kept in the name of the mildura/wentworth arts festival. Mildura thinks there's an aboriginal problem in Wentworth, and there just isn't. only half an hour between the two towns but it may as
well be a day.
Wentworth and Mildura are each about the most remote towns in their state, Wentworth even more so because it's only tiny.
I'm getting to learn a little about the birds, they come and go at different times, the kingfishers have just returned for the breeding season, the cormorants are gone right now, pelicans are thinning out but thank goodness there's hardly a time when they all go.
I've learned that wenty is a long way away for mildura tradies, it's been a real pain trying to get a completed bathroom out of them. the first one still isn't finished, the rest of the work will be done by wentworth tradies if i can find them.
An important thing i've learned is that no matter how dry everything gets, it's amazing
how plants regenerate with some water. Rainfall in minimal but after a couple of days heavy rain (i only remember that twice in the past year) everything just springs back, things i thought were dead suddenly green up again.
that's enough for now, but there's lot more.
so - I've learned how to use the pump, how the various complicated hose fittings work, their names - knockers, turf keys, turf valves, etc. How to clean the filter although i still can't unscrew the lid myself. I've learned that the weather has no relationship to Melbourne at all, it comes from a completely different place and has more similarity to Alice Springs. It's hotter than i expected. I've learned to always make sure the house is sealed up when i go away in case of a dust storm, how the evaporative cooler works, how the slow combustion heater works. I now know and have a map of where all the pipes and plumbing are on the place, both house and garden. I've learned not to swim in the river alone because of currents and cold spots that can be disorientating.
It's been interesting to observe the whole small town life, the way everyone knows everyone and what they're doing, everyone knows i'm 'the artist who lives in clarkie's old house' while i don't know most of them. There are rivalries between wentworth and mildura. Wentworth often feels and is left out of things, being over the river and in a different state. We're just working hard right now to be kept in the name of the mildura/wentworth arts festival. Mildura thinks there's an aboriginal problem in Wentworth, and there just isn't. only half an hour between the two towns but it may as
well be a day.
Wentworth and Mildura are each about the most remote towns in their state, Wentworth even more so because it's only tiny.
I'm getting to learn a little about the birds, they come and go at different times, the kingfishers have just returned for the breeding season, the cormorants are gone right now, pelicans are thinning out but thank goodness there's hardly a time when they all go.
I've learned that wenty is a long way away for mildura tradies, it's been a real pain trying to get a completed bathroom out of them. the first one still isn't finished, the rest of the work will be done by wentworth tradies if i can find them.
An important thing i've learned is that no matter how dry everything gets, it's amazing
how plants regenerate with some water. Rainfall in minimal but after a couple of days heavy rain (i only remember that twice in the past year) everything just springs back, things i thought were dead suddenly green up again.
that's enough for now, but there's lot more.
