May 13th, 2015
“Bike!” the woman shouted at me as we almost intersected. It shook me a little closer to reality than the walking dissociation I had previously been enveloped in. I had been autopilot scanning the car traffic for a window to climb through, which made me overlook the bike lanes I was standing in. I hardly see bikes actually frequenting them, so I completely overlooked them. I laugh it off and quickly fall back into pace, once more losing myself in thought. I pass through the ‘park’ that’s right beside my gym, Russel Square, and notice a large group of aboriginal people getting wasted in the centre structure. This isn’t exactly out of the ordinary, so I ignore it and keep my pace. Just past the group, on the green on the far side of the walkway from me, is a visibly drunk aboriginal man. He’s holding his right arm extended in my general direction, yelling something incoherent, and shambling quickly in my direction like a zombie. Great.
Flash back to the beginning: No catching up on sleep for me. My sister decided to call me about something at 9am, which I chose to ignore because that’s too early to be taking nonemergency calls. Thanks to this, however, I couldn’t fall back asleep because I kept thinking about what I would have to do to get ready for the interview. I drag myself out of bed at the usual time and sluggishly do my normal routine. I meet Rens at the gym. There was some miscommunication, meaning he didn’t show up until I was halfway through my workout. We joke a little bit in between sets, and I excuse myself to prepare for the interview.
It’s a half hour away, and my clothes are badly ironed with the shoddy ironing board that’s been supplied with the share house. Better than nothing. I have to attempt the tie a few times, as its a skill I never quite got down, but it ended up being surprisingly alright! I head out an hour early because the place is a half hour walk away - and that’s when I’m walking with purpose. I arrive after 40 minutes, having assumed a leisurely pace to avoid being overly sweaty. The interview itself wasn’t really an interview, but more creating an inventory of my skills so they could throw jobs my way. Not bad!
I grab a sandwich from a cafe that has listed them as half off - which was delicious - and drink my flat white on the way home. This brings us back to the homeless man accosting me. Where was I? Ah yes, he was shambling toward me.
His gaze seems to be cast in the middle distance, so I assume he’s just yelling at some other random Aboriginal person. This is actually a fairly common occurrence, like a drunken call-and-answer. I normally can’t understand a single word they say, and generally ignore it. That had been the plan this time as well, but he ran right up to me. I kept walking, which seemed to anger him. He wrapped his arm around me and drove his shoulder into my side. Being dazed and semi-trained in Judo, I go with the flow of it. His sloppy tackle (which may have just been him losing his balance, who knows) caused me to swing around. I didn't even register it until he had turned me a full 180 degrees. Slightly shaken from my daze, I threw my arms up, knocking him stumbling back. “Don't touch me" I warned, turning to resume walking. He sounded like he was yelling something about "the time!" behind me, but I’ll be damned if I help him in any way after that encounter.
The rest of the walk was spent narrating the events of the day so far, and how I would go about describing what had just happened. That last sentence, itself, was one of the exact lines I had narrated. How meta. I was fairly sweaty by the time I got home, and stripped down in my dark room, setting to putting words on to page.
After a few hours of work, I wound up at Frisk, the gin bar, to test more gins and combinations. We started with the traditional “gin and tonic,” then to some blueberry one at a friend’s suggestion, and finally ended with one you can make at home! Gin, Soda water, cucumber slices, and fresh black pepper. I do recommend it, though it was bizarre at first - such a strange, yet delicious, combination.
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