An old friend of mine, Micheal, is visiting the Gold Coast, here in Australia, about an hour from me, near Byron Bay. He came by for long lunch, and though he has been here many times, he continually marvels at these curious Australian people. For example, he recounted two wonderful anecdotes to prove his point. They both took place on a wooden walkway alongside the beach within days of his arrival.
The first encounter involved a fit woman in an exercise outfit who was briskly walking towards him from the opposite direction. Because the walkway narrowed at just the spot where they were about to pass one another and one of them would have to give way to the other, the clever woman approached home gently clasping his arm and waltzed herself around him, twirling not once, but twice so they were each able to continue on their respective directions.
Not bad.
The second encounter occurred the following morning when on the same walkway he found himself approaching an older couple from behind walking the same direction. As he passed them on the left (which we do here in Australia like in Britain) he nodded with a smile, when the wife looked up at him and immediately said, "Watch out! my husband is farting".
Whoa! Life is certainly a gas here in Australia! he recounted to me.
But not to be out done by his stories, I had to tell him about an encounter from just the night that happened to me when I was at my small dune and setting up to paint. I began mixing colours on the palette which is placed horizontally upon the front of the easel. I was apparently using my palette knife with such vigour that when a retired couple that was passing below on the path, the husband shouted up to me;
"You look like you are masturbating",
"Come again", I said to him, because I didn't really believe I was hearing him properly. He repeated it then disappeared quickly up the pathway back to the car park. I wasn't shocked because in all fairness, it's usually me who shocks strangers not the other way around. But it did take me by surprise.
Recounting this to Michael, I confessed that it's rare that I find myself so disarmed that I cannot repost something quickly so speechless was I to hear a complete stranger say that.
Without missing a beat, he replied, "You could have said, 'Takes one to know one'".
Evening Prayer Brunswick Heads, 21 October 2024 oil on canvas board, 30 X 25 cm
But Australia is also know for its critters that live amongst us all. There are venomous snakes in our backyards, pythons in our roofs, and poisonous spiders that take over our shoes if we leave them out on the porch. In fact, when I first arrived about 25 years ago, I was terrified by all the things my brother and his roommate warned me about doing and not doing here. Of course, I soon realised that Australians do that to every tourist as a joke. But nevertheless, the nasty critters still abound and one must take certain precautions. On the other hand, there are cute residents like koalas, and wallabies, kookaburras and wombats, etc, etc..
Painting has been good to me lately. I am moving through a new chapter because I am re-working studies that had never really pleased me. I take them out to re-paint after I've done a few new studies when the palette is slurpy and rich with paints. So now I often bring a few out with me when I show up at the beach.