Must Do Better

Wednesday 28th February

Another hot and humid day, which eventually broke into a thunderstorm. Almost as soon as you step out of the shower, you are dripping in sweat. It’s what the Aussies refer to as “a stinker”.

We took up an invite to join Yvonne and her two children for a walk in Centennial Park this morning. I met Yvonne at playgroup a fortnight ago; she lives in a terraced house with a wrought iron balcony over the porch and lizards on the front wall. It’s like a scene from The Sullivans.

Centennial Park was full of glamorous mothers pushing quiet babies in Bugaboo prams. Some of them were power walking, despite the heat. Most were wearing Chanel sunglasses. I, on the other hand, was sporting my Oakley wraparound shades, which have been lovingly customised by Ella, who has chewed the rubber tubes and lost one of the nose clips. The result is one wonky pair of sunglasses with discoloured arms, which fray at the edges in the manner of cut-off denims.

When we came to rest at the duck pond, Yvonne produced a delicious fruit salad with fresh watermelon and a box of vegemite sandwiches on wholegrain bread, cut into perfect triangles. Ella helped herself, while I cringed and apologised in that English way for having brought nothing but a small Tupperware box of grapes, already half-demolished before we arrived. I had forgotten about the Aussies and their perpetual picnicking. They make it all look so effortless. I can only guess that Yvonne was awake at 5am cutting melons while I was asleep in my earplugs.

By 1pm Ella was filthy, covered in juice from an ice lolly which Yvonne bought for her at the corner shop. The lolly was a kind gesture, but it appears to have been made from polonium 210 because it won’t wash off her skin and is hanging in steaks down her arms and around her mouth. I’ve since had to soak her entire outfit in a bucket of Napisan and to strip off my own teeshirt , which was full of handprints and sweat from pushing her up the hill on the way back from the Park. It’s just as well we didn’t buy a Bugaboo, neither of us has quite the required look.