Week 7: Shitty politics

(Feb 12 – Feb  18)

This week brings us a resounding reminder of one of my least favourite topics: the shabby state of politics, as emphatically demonstrated by Barnaby Joyce’s behaviour and yet another school shooting in the USA.

Last week I wrote about endurance and tolerance. This week I’m wondering about why we (collectively) tolerate the awful things that our leaders do, and the broken lives that people have to endure because of that.

Monday

I wake up with my head throbbing and my nose streaming. I think back to spending most of yesterday sneezing and feeling headachy, and decide that the safest course of action is to take the day off (and thus prevent sharing my plague with my colleagues). I watch Day Of The Jackal on the sofa, nourished by coffee and pastries, then doze for a bit. By the end of the day I’m mostly recovered.

Tuesday

I scour the news for reports of Barnaby Joyce’s resignation. Am at once disappointed, astounded, and not the least bit surprised that he doesn’t do so.

Wednesday

It’s Valentine’s Day, which passes virtually unnoticed by myself. The Elderbeast, however, comes home pleading with me to print something out for him. Turns out it’s a love letter for someone in his class. I agree to print it out tomorrow (not having a printer at home), but suggest that a love letter should really be handwritten.

He ponders this, then comes up to me and asks if he can use one of my ‘nice notebooks’. I agree and leave him to it. He writes the letter, and we then search the craft drawers for a decent envelope. He even finds a nice bow to decorate it with. I read the letter: it’s beautiful. He didn’t even ask for any help with all the words: they’re all his.

And then, overnight, I decide he should leave the letter at home. Lovely though it is, it’s a little on the intense side, and I worry about the potential after-effects. I suggest he should just take his time getting to know the girl in question, and leave it at that.

He takes my advice. I just hope it’s right.

Thursday

It’s a baking hot day. I have to leave work early to collect the Kinderbesten. They both look utterly drained by the heat. The Kinderbesten flops out on the sofa when we get home and declares: “Oh, shitty poop!”

It’s shocking, the language they pick up in primary school these days …

Friday

For various reasons the Kinderbesten depart later than usual for their #dadfree weekend. It’s only at this point that I realise how accustomed I’ve grown to the few peaceful hours I typically get on a Friday evening: time I use to clean the house, make dinner, and generally decompress. I still get everything done, but I’m not quite yet my usual relaxed self by the time my Fridate companion arrives.

However, a glass of wine and a chat later and I’m fine.

Saturday

After last week’s oversleeping, I set an alarm for 8:30am to ensure I get my shopping out of the way before things get busy. I needn’t have worried: my neighbours inadvertently wake me up at 7am. I get the shopping done with neither stress nor drama: it’s a short list this week, so naturally it costs more than usual.

I spend the day relaxing on the sofa, eating waffles, drinking coffee and watching classic Doctor Who. I take various breaks to tackle minor chores, mostly tidying and cleaning.

Then the UK folks arrive to take me out to dinner. We go to a very nice Italian place in Freo. I have lamb shanks, tiramisu and a very fine glass of Pinot Noir—all served separately, of course. After that we return to mine for a small port.

I cap the evening off with the first episode of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Sunday

I start to get a real feeling that the fallout from this latest school shooting is going to be different—and it’s the kids that are, rightly, going to make the difference. It’s another one of those moments that makes me optimistic for the future.

In a strange parallel, the Elderbeast and I watch Real Genius for our evening movie (I was going to watch a timey-wimey movie but it didn’t work out on account of tech fail). Real Genius is a 1985 comedy about a group of ultra-smart college kids who get duped into building a a super-powered laser weapon so the military can go off and kill people with impunity. However, once the kids learn what’s really going on they take matters into their own hands and give a big F.U. to the bad guys.

It’s not quite as good as I remember (tho it’s still pretty good), but it’s one of those very few movies that has a Val Kilmer performance that really makes me wonder what happened with Val Kilmer.

Things I Didn’t Buy

Gave some serious thought to buying a $70 Nutribullet ($30 off!) but I really don’t need a Nutribullet.

Things I Did Buy

• $14 City Of Death DVD (cos I really want to watch it again)
• $10 Little Golden Ghostbusters books (cos they’re super cute)

Watched

Read

Managed to make some good progress with my long-neglected book, All The Birds In The Sky, and read it for five nights over the week.

Eaten