Silence in the Slipstream

I was trying to post a picture of helicopters in Iraq, but I'm still struggling with the technology. Condoleezza Rice just spent three days in Australia; and generally seemed to impress everyone, even if much of the country disagrees with her and her administration on Iraq. There were some demonstrators who got into a Sydney University Hall, surprising considering the level of security surrounding her, but otherwise most of it was dignified, all the appropriate gravitas. Instead this is a picture from our local park; which despite appearances is a very urban park, with the traffic choked City and Parramatta Roads on either side, and Sydney University on the other. It gets dark a little after five; and walking the dog then, it has that crunching feeling of isolation that all big cities can emanate in the middle of winter.

But we're laughing now. No more rehearsals for Grumpy Old Men. Much more positive. You seem so much happier, they said at the local cafe. I can't believe what I'm seeing, you're laughing. The best way forward was to say nothing. I used to play this game with myself as a kid, of seeing how many days I could go without speaking to anyone. It drove my parents mad. There in the green nightmare, the tiny bedroom, the steep funnel web infested bank that leapt up to the road; the screeching cicada heat in the summer.

I had decided to play the same game as an adult; and then started laughing. It was too ridiculous, painting over fractured thoughts; incoherencies. There were ways forward. The kids will be away for the school holidays. Sam is going to Vietnam; how exciting going to Vietnam for 14 days as a 15 year old. My father was a pilot and I still remember the excitement of those trips. The trick is to enjoy yourself; to laugh at things. Wishing for stability won't alter anything. The settling silence that was descending on all his actions had vanished, magically; and he thought now he could practice his own beliefs; "don't just make do, go for clear view", as the advertisement says.