Merriment

The best aspect of the vertical city, if you want to live here make sure you can afford a boat

I feel ecstatic, no, more than that, I’m surely possessed. I was often ‘merry’ during the work week, not a word I would usually associate with Bunnings. Now it’s Saturday arvo and my belly is full of Barramundi, swimming in cheap red wine providing comfort but surely not ecstasy. I watched a reviled Indian Minor try to transport a equally reviled plastic bag upwind for fifteen minutes this breezy afternoon. Cocky fellow, I may have to revise my opinion of this bird. I recently watched one roll a drink can down steel stairs in Ballast Point obviously delighting in the discordant clang of metal on metal. Behaviour like this could go a long way toward naturalisation some Australia day. The New Australian Cocky Indian Minor.

Perhaps recent political events, close to which I’ve been sailing, have inspired this merriment. At Gleebooks last Thursday for a months previous scheduled event featuring Bob Ellis in conversation with Tony Abbot the old adage that a week in politics is a long time was forever modified to days, no hours. Tony you see had in the previous three days morphed from shadow minister via back bencher into leader of the coalition. If that weren’t enough, Nathan Rees, Bob’s major benefactor, was that very night, yanked by a Yank from his position as premier of what soon must become known as the Not United State of New South Wales.

Christina Keneally, who parachuted into Australian politics some six years ago on the coat tails of her father in law author Tom Keneally I suspect, was not physically in attendance that night however her vibe seemed to hang like a damp fog over the lefty crowd at Gleebooks. It surprised me at dinner later on that amongst a group who I suspect would all have voted Labour there was not one who would join me in a toast to the first female Premier of NSW. Perhaps it is indicative that there is no longer a glass ceiling when a female leader can be loathed equally as a male without any reference to gender.

I guess I still have a lot to learn about politics and who better to teach me than the most exciting and surprising guest at this affray, ah affair, my idol Annabel Crab. Pulled in at the last minute to entertain us and Bob while the new leader of the opposition was delayed for an hour, she proved even more delightful to this smitten fan than any fantasy provided by her copy and bio pic could foretell. For those of you interested she is small and fair with a shocking massive knot of probably dyed black hair, the remnant of a speech impediment and currently a large bubble pregnancy. Yes another crustacean is on the way.

Maybe my good humour, already modified from merriness which is so hard to maintain, even for four paragraphs, is not exceptional at all. Maybe it’s Just how I normally feel when I’m not elated to be in foreign countries, in expectation of the same or when I’m not in a funk at being back and faced only with boredom of work. Maybe I was just happy that the boss was on leave this week. Maybe I’ll tell him when he comes back. That’ll please him surely.

Maybe I’m intoxicated by the prospect of Christmas. Maybe those Christmas carols really do contain elixir of ecstasy. I’ve certainly heard enough to be intoxicated. I’m not sure that anticipation of the events celebration is the cause. The events postponement till the twenty seventh has left many of us wondering what to do on the twenty sixth. A slap up arrangement at Dots has been mooted as an opportunity for Alice and Jack to participate as they will be unavailable the next day. The trouble with this of course is the hangover principle. Ah well I certainly be doing my ‘When I’m Sixty Four’ best.

Maybe I should give up this quest for empirical reason and simply enjoy the sensation of merriment as it appears; after all I hear there is a black dog out there who likes nothing more than a can of merriment. Maybe I should just get on with the next chapter of the big tour which of course takes us to Seville and further family reunions. Do stay tuned.