Weekend Coffee Share…20th July, 2020.

Welcome to Another Weekend Coffee Share!

How are you? Goodness know how things are in your neck of the woods. I am feeling rather lucky to be living just North of Sydney As you may have heard, there’s been an outbreak in Melbourne and Melbourne and an adjacent region have gone back into lock down. While there’s always been rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne, it’s hit new heights at the moment and the Victorians are banished. Indeed, some of these dreaded Victorians escaped and spread the love to us here in New South Wales, and now our Premier has moved into double-speak. Says a lot about not going into lock down every time there’s an outbreak, but we’ve been moved to high alert and we’re teetering on the very brink. I hope people get a bit of sense and at least some idea of self-preservation, even if they can’t get their heads around “doing the right thing” or being community-minded. AS much as I don’t want to catch it myself (especially with my compromised immune system), I don’t want to give it to someone else, let alone kill someone by being thoughtless.

Anyway, there is a world behind coronavirus and quite a lot’s been going on. Tonight, the winner of Masterchef 2020 was announced. It was Emelia. It was a tough final and the two women are very close friends, which must’ve been difficult. There was virtually no difference between them on the entre and the main but unfortunately Laura left her fridge door slightly ajar and her ice cream went a bit grainy. It was such a pity, especially as she fought back from a severe born and beavered away one-handed through most of the cook. She was incredible. Last night, was the finale of The Voice, and so that was another night of intense emotion and quite seriously I felt all four finalists deserved to win. The winner was Chris Sebastian.

Meanwhile, I’ve been battling a cold and have had to withdraw from social interaction myself to ensure I didn’t infect anyone. That felt almost as weird as shying away from people everywhere I go in case they might have the virus. Golly, it all just seems easier to become a hermit for awhile and get stuck into my research. Get it finished and have something productive to show for 2020.

 

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Anyway, after my husband came home from sailing with some fabulous sunset shots, I twisted his rubber arm yesterday and we drove of to nearby Hardy’s Bay to photograph the sunset there. It was absolutely magnificent and I hope you like the photos. I was pretty chuffed, especially after being stuck at home for a few weeks. Here’s a link to the post: Bathing in a Glorious Sunset at Hardy’s Bay.

I also wrote a post about taking our dearly beloved dog, Zac (AKA Isaac Newton) for a walk. I learnt a lot about Newton’s 1st Law of Motion from him as he yanked me around the block. He wasn’t going to stop even to sniff the wind…Walking With Isaac Newton

 

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Lastly, I shared about the chaos that was our kitchen table on Saturday morning. It was quite interesting to check out all the detritus deposited there as though the tide had washed overhead leaving these relics of our lives behind. I am constantly trying to keep this rotten table clear, but it’s a thankless task. All the same, I can’t turn my back and give up on it either. I don’t want it to reach a dreaded state of no return. Here’s a link to that post: Home On A Saturday Morning.

Anyway, it’s really late and the kids are back to school tomorrow and they’ll be up before I get to sleep at this rate.

Best wishes,

Rowena

A Tad Short Sighted…Friday Fictioneers.

Jane might’ve been as blind as a bat and risking a nasty accident, yet there was no way she was wearing her glasses on her date with Michael. After all, boys don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses.

Unfortunately, Michael also left his glasses at home. Didn’t want to be a nerd.

Lucky to bump into each other at Town Hall steps, they headed out for tapas at a Spanish restaurant .

“Do you like modern art?” she asked looking straight at the no smoking sign.

“Absolutely, he replied.

The waiter said nothing. Now, he’d really seen it all.

…..

99 words

This is a much abbreviated version of a much longer short story I wrote when I was still at university seemingly more than a lifetime ago. Back when my short-sightedness was quite as bad as it is now, I used to go out on the town blind. Contact lenses didn’t really agree with me and weren’t quite as common then as they are now.

Sydney’s Town Hall Steps is a common meeting spot on a Saturday night, particularly if you’re meeting people from different parts of Sydney. So it’s pretty crowded and not the easiest place for two short-sighted people to find each other. The two short sighted couple mistaking a no smoking sign as modern art also plays on that thing of people pretending they know what it’s about and  putting on a front.

Sydney Town Hall

This has been another contribution to Friday Fictioneers hosted by Rochelle Wishoff-Fields. Every week we write 100 words to a photo prompt. PHOTO PROMPT © CEAyr

Best wishes,

Rowena

What’s Become of The Honey Badger???

Last night, I was perched on the edge of my seat watching The Bachelor Australia waiting to find out whether Britt or Soph was about to run off into the sunset with the Honey Badger, when an epic twist unfolded. I was dumbstruck.

You see Nick “The Honey Badger” Cummins didn’t choose either of the girls, and was left standing  by himself all alone on the beach. Indeed, I could almost hear cupid’s nemesis playing: All By Myself. He looked guttered and even though it was his own decision, I still felt sorry for the bloke.

However the show didn’t end there. Despite having her heart broken, Brittany’s first thought was to find Sophie and let her know what had happened. That neither of them had been chosen. The two girls have become great friends and soul mates while the Honey Badger is hardly winning the popularity stakes. Indeed, he’s skipped the country and is off walking the Kokoda Track, leaving a lot of people asking him to: “Please explain”.

Just to put you in the picture, this year’s Bachelor was Nick “The Honey Badger” Cummins, who plays rugby for the Wallabies and also appears in a series of funny commercials for Tradie Underwear. Meanwhile, the field of women had narrowed down to Brittany and Sophie. I couldn’t really work out which was going to be the one, but he seemed to have a connection with both of them. Sophie was the first one to arrive, and we knew from past years that she’s about to be given “the talk”. However, there was no happy ending for Britt either and she was pretty much given the same spiel. In hindsight, something didn’t seem right, and I should’ve picked up when the host, Osher, didn’t ask Nick whether he’d fallen in love.

Of course, I have my own theory.

Right from the outset, it was clear that the Honey Badger wasn’t your regular Bachelor. That was probably why the producers chose him. He’s really funny and has even developed his own language or dialect simply known as  “Honey Badger”, which is a distinct variation of the Australian vernacular. Clearly, someone who speaks their own language, has their own mind and is going to be anything but a conformist. In addition to his linguistic idiosyncrasies, the Honey Badger’s also got this curly mop of hair and mustache which look straight out of the 1970s. Clearly, he’s resisted considerable pressure to get it fixed. He’s obviously his own person.

However, that doesn’t make him a bad person. Indeed, ethics seems very important to Nick not just throughout the show, but also in real life. He repeatedly says that he doesn’t want to break anybody’s heart. Nick is one of eight kids and large families like that have a dynamic. Your siblings knock you into shape and you also stand up for each other. Another detail about Nick’s family which didn’t come up during the show, was that his mother left at some point and his father was left to raise the kids on his own. Two of his siblings also have cystic fibrosis and his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and isn’t going to be around forever. So, Nick put his career with the Wallabies on hold and played in Japan for awhile to get a nest egg together for his siblings. To help his family out. So, while I’m not saying that the Honey Badger’s perfect, he does take his responsibilities seriously and doesn’t like to let people down. Indeed, he repeatedly talked about not wanting to hurt any of the girls and seemed much more prepared to be hurt himself.

Lastly, when you’re watching at home, you’re removed from the pressures of being on such a show and the difficulties of dating so many people at the same time on TV and in front of each other. During the finale, the Honey Badger was looking stressed and out of his depth. He mentioned that he was finding it really difficult to make a decision and how he couldn’t get a clear head. From that roadblock, his default was to choose neither. I think he quite genuinely didn’t want to hurt anyone and that bailing out was better than getting it wrong and really breaking someone’s heart.

Naturally, despite the Honey Badger’s conspicuous absence, the shock end has generated some discussion. Has the Honey Badger just become the Greatest Australian Bastard or did he do the right thing? What is going to be the fallout? Apparently, he’s giving one exclusive interview to Lisa Wilkinson on the Sunday Night Project. I’m not her greatest fan and hope she doesn’t serve the honey badger up a platter. He might not be perfect, but he doesn’t seem like such a bad bloke, especially if you’re not trying to win his heart.

Have you been watching the Bachelor? What are your thoughts on the grand finale? Should we roast the honey badger and serve him up on toast or simply leave him be? 

Best wishes,

Rowena

PS: This clip should’ve been a warning for anyone trying to date a Honey Badger: Click here.

Cupid’s Last Stand…Friday Fictioneers.

Cupid was watching his latest targets with great anticipation. Being the Roman God of love, he didn’t need a computer. He instinctively knew Matt and Sophie were perfectly suited.

However, despite his match-making prowess, the humans kept shooting themselves in both feet, screwing up their chances of love. Indeed, Matt who was the personification of Superman without a hint of Clark Kent, reeked of garlic breath. Too paranoid to wear her glasses, Sophie had almost walked past him blind as a bat.

“That’s it!” Cupid fumed throwing down his bow and arrow. “I quit! You humans are on your own.”

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This has been another contribution to Friday Fictioneers hosted by Rochelle Wishoff Fields. PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

It’s been years since I’ve been on the dating scene. However, I’ve been watching The Batchelor tonight where I suspect Cupid’s been in overdrive. Bows and arrows shooting all over the place. At least, the was it seems.

Best wishes,

Rowena