Thursday 21 March 2013

Things that go bump in the night

Last night something made a big thump. And it felt as though it was on the house. What a startling and rather scary moment. Whatever it was remains a mystery, as I could find nothing amiss. Which is good. But what was it? Perhaps it was caused by some sort of truck or some night work in the street. I will never know.

Such things do tend to make my heart beat a little faster, and give me frights. I am accustomed now to living alone, coping and making decisions, but in some ways it does not get easier. Self-reliance is necessary, but I often feel as though I wish there was someone to call on. And there isn't. Not for mysterious thumps and bumps, anyway. The other day when I arrived home I found a metal object, part of an unknown mechanism, inside my tiny garden. I don't know what it was part of, or how it got there, but it made me feel somewhat uneasy. At such times I feel I am not quite coping.

Today I should be at my Italian class, but I stayed home instead. The homework was difficult and I did not tackle it well, or in sufficient time to be able to muddle through, or to do what I did last week - with the excuse of having been away grandchildren minding and without computer - which was to extemporise with eloquence. I almost wrote fluency, but, umm, that is not quite correct.

I went out to return a very overdue book to the library.  I finally managed to finish it last night. It has been a quieter Thursday than usual.

However, life seldom remains quiet. There was an ALP leadership spill, provoked, apparently by Simon Crean, which resulted in the unopposed re-election of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Leader.

The vicious shark-like feeding frenzy of the press continues unabated. So much easier to whip up leadership stories, or public opinion polls day after day, instead of telling us, the mug public, about what legislation has been passed by the Parliament, and what programs are being implemented. I despair, I really do.

Perhaps the thump on the roof was a portent.



2 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

I do hope that the thump was not a portent. Like Ms Gillard or not, I do not believe that she has been given sufficient credit for her negotiation skills. When first she was elected in a minority government the cries went up 'she won't last a year'. She has. A difficult and challenging year - for which she has been given no credit.
Good news is no news? Criticism somehow more exciting than recognition of skill? Or gutter press? Or all of the above?

Frances said...

From a non partisan position, I feel that there has been hostility towards her from (particularly older) men because they dislike her as a woman. E.g., I was just reading a very pro-ALP site where she was called "the shrieking red queen of incompetence".