I was trying to explain to a friend today, that my life is so rollercoaster that I couldn\u2019t catch him up on the last three weeks. I\u2019d just caught him up on maybe a third of it, with much hand gesturing and discussion. He didn\u2019t think my life was playing rollercoaster games with me. It\u2019s normal, he said.<\/p>\n
If it\u2019s normal, I worry about the world. One day recently, eight nasty little things happened to me before breakfast and spellcheck offered me \u2018tetchy\u2019 instead of an entirely different word. I wanted to accept \u2018tetchy\u2019 then. That same day, I received one of those phone calls that ends with, \u201cDon\u2019t tell anyone. This is under embargo.\u201d The embargo\u00a0 is over and I can tell you: I\u2019ve been given a government grant to write. And I\u2019d just told the world I was tetchy. I had eight reasons for being tetchy and now I have one reason for having a sigh of relief. Income is a magic thing.<\/p>\n
The next bit of rollercoaster was entirely exhaustion with being inside. The place I live in may be short on COVID, but I am vulnerable and my various doctors tell me I will be in iso for a long time to come. Sometimes I become rebellious. This time I found an historical drama (the \u2018an\u2019 is to remind you of my accent) that is 50 one hour episodes long and that depicts a part of the Middle Ages I\u2019m little-acquainted with. Six Flying Dragons and the Korean fourteenth century. I can still pick some holes in it and there is so much to learn about how Korea likes to tell its own stories and so it\u2019s relaxing.<\/p>\n
K-drama was performing its magic and I was thinking, \u201cI, too, can have an even keel of a life.\u201d Unless my friend is wrong and other people have placid days from time to time. For it seems I can\u2019t. The minute I thought I could I had to give up seven phials of blood to medical diagnosis. I went into a shop on the way home. The shop with no-one else except one salesperson, and we stayed clear of each other, so I can tell my doctor next week “I didn’t betray you, truly – I wore a mask and didn’t come within 2 metres of anyone.<\/p>\n
My unexpected trip outside the flat taught me that Australia is getting very few shipments from SE Asia. I have lots of ginger tea and not a scrap of the spices I went in for.<\/p>\n
I also have moon cakes. Normally the moon cakes come from Hong Kong or from Singapore. These might have been from Hong Kong, but they are labelled \u2018China\u2019 and are standard white lotus ones with much eggyolk. These will be my special treat for the next month, then the tin ends up storing food in my pantry. Moon cake tins stack and they have good seals, and each year I get just one. I was thinking that flour would be good to store\u00a0 in this one, but it\u2019s too pretty.<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t get my Javanese coffee. Kopi Jawa is a particular roast and a particular brand from Indonesia. I was taught to make it in a way that works like instant coffee but with a much better flavour, and it\u2019s great for when I\u2019m lazy, or tired or sick or all three. There was a void on the shelf where it belonged.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s odd to find what\u2019s around and what isn\u2019t. It\u2019s stranger walking through a shop with shelves that look as if they belong to the seventies than it is to shop online.<\/p>\n
I ought to explain the seventies thing. Australia in the seventies had strikes. We imported a lot of things \u2013 we still do \u2013 and the strikes meant unpredictably empty shelves. This means I have techniques for dealing when my favourite Japanese spice mix is missing, but I\u2019d rather have the spices.<\/p>\n
When I came home I found the best and nicest email in my in-box.<\/p>\n