Being alone without being lonely is an attribute I have acquired over many years. I am comfortable being alone. I often revel in it. This is probably contrary to what Christian ought to be but I am far from being righteous, humble, loving etc anyway so while not pursuing fellowship is a flaw of being a Christian, it isn’t one which requires priority of attention, I think.
So this past weekend was very much that – being alone without being lonely. And yet so palpable was the truth of God’s Eden statement that man is not good alone, that last night as I sat alone in the lounge of the apartment in Turner, the discomfort almost became physical. It isn’t just discomfort of being alone, for reasons I already mentioned. I guess I miss Tress and our home at Vicki. Quite a bit. So very early – about 8.40pm, I went to bed, read and fell asleep. I guess I have had a good afternoon of tiring myself out.
After church yesterday morning, I went to Civic and walked around a little bit and picked up some milk and butter from Aldi. I then went home, unpacked my riding gear and shopping, had lunch with Kiddo and Mic, and did some ironing. It was just 3 shirts so it was done pretty quickly. Kiddo and Mic then left for Tilley’s and since it was a sunny arvo I decided to go for a walk. I said to Kiddo I might drop by Tilley’s.
Around 1.30pm I left home and walked, first heading towards ANU along Watson, then turning at North Oval, cutting across the oval to catch some uni students having fun kicking a footy around. I meandered around, with no destination but armed with a camera, took pictures randomly – birds, paths, trees… after 45 minutes I came to Tilley’s joined Kiddo and Mic for about 10-15mins and then headed off, again meandering through parks across Lyneham, O’Connor and Turner. I got home just before 4pm, and the thought of being alone in the apartment for the next 4 plus hours was, unusually, unattractive. So I jumped in the car and drove towards Belconnen, being one of only a couple of places I could drive to without turning on the GPS. I walked around in Belconnen Westfield for a bit and then got home around 5.30.
Brekky and lunch was fixed very quickly and I tried to do some work but gave up after a mere 15 minutes or so.
Sleeping so early last night meant I woke up fresh this morning but some parts of my legs still felt stiff.
I had wanted to go for a run on Saturday morning but it was several degrees below zero so I slept in, then went for an early property inspection at Forde, in the Gungahlin area. That was between 9.30 and 10 and there was another at 11.30 so in between I’d dropped into the Gungahlin town center and walked the town 2-3 times. Then it was off to the other property inspection/auction, this time at Lexcen Avenue, Nicholls. This had a lot more interests and there were 5 bidders who went at each other quite determinedly. The final duel between 2 parties saw an older couple winning out at $720,000. A beautiful 4 bedroom house less than 20 minutes from the CBD would have easily sailed north of $1.5 million in Melbourne but I guess this is a different market.
Back home at Turner after some grocery shopping at Belconnen, I went for a run after 3pm. I took my time, and did an easy pace as I had not run for over 3 weeks (I think). After about 20 minutes it felt better and I decided to keep going when I was at ANU, and headed towards the South Oval (where a full on footy game was being played) and came to the National Museum, having run along the edge of north/northwestern Lake Burly Griffin. An Indian family saw me taking a drink from a fountain outside the Museum and asked if I could take a picture of them as a family. The couple with their parents and young kids look very happy and I hope my sweaty hands didnt spoil what should have been a very beautiful family picture on a gorgeous sunny winter arvo in Canberra.
Picture taken, drink drank, I resumed my run, heading back along the lake, back past South Oval – where I stopped for a few minutes to watch the game – and got home just after 4pm. I was tired but it felt great. I suspected the aches would come (and they did). I showered, and because I had that drink in that fountain I didnt feel parched so made the cardinal mistake of not topping up my fluids as I sat on the couch and tried to do some work. Kiddo then came back and while she cooked dinner with Mic, I started to feel unwell. At dinner I didnt feel like eating but the tall glass of water I had helped and I felt much better.
I had thought the Hawks game against West Coast would be on but just before 7.30 I realised TV in Canberra would not have that game on, so I rugged up and walked first to Hellenic Club and then to PJ O’reilly’s. Neither had that game on so I headed back home and at home, toggled between the Swans v Cats game and Spider Man, with Kiddo and Mic. Eventually Tress skyped, and I could follow the game between her beaming that telly in Melbourne to Canberra via Skype, and the AFL app on the iPad. Hawks eventually triumphed, I was glad and by that time Kiddo, Mic and I had decided to watch the Return of the King (go figure, but it was fun). As I went to bed just before 12, I realised the long run and the walks to the pubs had made the legs stiff and a touch sore.
As I sat in the lounge last night, as I nursed the remnants of soreness of legs, pains of a different sort seeped in. God always knows. It really isn’t good for man to be alone. I’m looking forward to this coming weekend, when hopefully I would be in Melbourne again.
Ante 