a car, a flu and time for coffee

While the weekend turned out to be busy, this week started with bad weather and the spread of flu among the people working at Werriberri. The weather conditions deteriorated, making it impossible to work (so I have my 2nd day off in a row, always decided spontaneously in the early morning). Last night it started raining down in the valley, the sound of rain leaking through the roof woke me up at around 3h in the morning. In the higher mountains, it actually snowed! And this is spring, we already had over 30°C! Anyway, not the best weather to cure a cold, especially when you do not have proper heating in the bedroom and live in a house that is falling apart.
But, good news: Kathy bought a car, some 20years old Toyota Corona in vanilla yellow. So I spent the past days driving around in it, though I did not go very far. I ended up on the wrong of the street twice, but luckily discovered my mistake quickly. Mostly I go to the various mountain towns here, I just love the eerie atmosphere which is emphasized by the cold and foggy weather. I sit in cafes, drink coffee usually fail to resist the sweet temptations, unfortunately, internetaccess is in most of them limited which already killed some posts and emails, or I spent hours in all these antique stores that basically sell crap, but it is amazing to get lost in them and look at the “pre-loved” items. Yet, I didn’t buy anything. I finally found the book I have been searching for: Raimund Gaita, “Romulus, my father”. It is the autobiography of one of Australia’s most renown moral philosopher. His father was actually from Yugoslavia and he himself was born in Dortmund. (They made a movie out of it starring Franka Potente as his mother, but I could not get hold of the movie yet).
Btw, I decided to stay here in the Blue Mountains till December, because if I work for 3months in agriculture I can obtain another year’s visa ;-). Kathy agreed to ‘bullshit’ (her word) a bit, and I am officially a “vwoof” now, a volunteer working in organic farming. I hope though I can get a few days in a row off and go down to Melbourne, at least since the weather is still so bad.
Warm regards from the cold blue mountains!
xj