Mid-winter Weekend

A very cold grey and of course wintry weekend. It rained, the wind was cold and the skies were overcast for most of the 48 hours. A domestic weekend. There is something very satisfying about a domestic weekend. This evening the washing’s done, the house is clean, food is ready for next week and my phone is fully charging.

It has not been all-domestic. I saw the movie Knocked Up on Saturday - so much better than I expected. Funny, warm, realistic and moving with some great dialogue. Afterwards we ate at an old favourite, the Brighton Bar and Grill. We thought of trying somewhere else but it was too cold. We wanted the comfort of the familiar and the knowledge that the food would be good and there would be no surprises. In other words a warm cocoon with the cold world outside. The cocoon was necessary because the film was set in Los Angels where the sun shone and everyone was wearing skimpy dresses.

Today I lunched at the café at the Gasworks Park in Port Melbourne. This is better in the summer when you can sit out side. The design inside including the all timber makes for an echo chamber. Din is part of the atmosphere. I was thinking of sound as we struggled to talk over the noise. Places do have their own sounds. .

I listen to the sound of the gym today as I lay on my mat waiting for the Ab. Track to begin. There’s the loud thunk from the Don Oliver plates being dropped into place and a softer thud when someone lowers them gently. Behind that noise is the crash of the bars being returned to the rack. In other gyms they stood them up right but at this one they lie on their side. Dropped the crash reverberates and put into place gently they make a slight ping. I think dropping the equipment gives satisfaction. Most equipment is dropped with thwacks, bangs and crashes filling the room. If I were a musician I would write this and the shouts from the instructor, into a piece of music. Breath out, breath in, upstairs, knees soft, back straight, bend , lower, up,up , stretch, keep moving, keep it flowing. I like the thought of the commands and the equipment noise becoming one.