LITTLE MOMENTS IN REALITY

LITTLE MOMENTS IN REALITY.

Week One, January 2013

Bright birdcall awakened the day to a promise of rising temperatures. Leaping out of bed, Ginny takes a shower then proceeds to try on three different outfits. Wanting to dress for comfort, she settles for a cool, lemon cotton that she last wore in the jungles of Malaysia. She assures herself that ‘this will do’. Making sure she has keys, sunglasses, hanky and a good book, her timing for the early train is just right. Packing a ladyfinger banana and a juicy orange for the two and a half hour train trip down from the mountains, Ginny heads off for her day in the city.

It’s the first week of a new year and on this special day she meets with her son for news and lunch. As his office is near Central Railway Station, it’s an easy amble along Harris Street, taking time to witness the assortment of people speaking in tongues from all over the planet. Faces marked with ties to far distant lands laugh and banter with significant others in a sunny Sydney way.  A promised heat is just beginning to rise off the pavement.

The grey, modern office block looks strangely deserted as she enters the portal. Riding up to the forth floor, she wonders at the associated businesses housed in its interior. What does the Research of Choice entail? Such an ultra glam office, whisper-thin receptionist with a polite smile allows her eyes to glaze over as Ginny exits the lift.

Ginny takes the hidden staircase to the fifth floor. This staircase is painted in levels of green, blue then ochre. One feels that the space is purifying the mind in a silent meditation as the levels take legs upwards. She ascends to the top and opens the door. 

Inside the atmosphere is serene. Calmness prevails as earnest heads pursue the world of the matrix. She has entered computer heaven. Earnest devotees work wonders in code as rows of computers nestle against a backdrop of skyscrapers. Here they create apps for iphones, games for television shows, and software for building computer wizardry. This is their chosen domain.

Taking timeout from his busy world Morgan and Ginny, bid adieu to the office folk and descend to the world of the street. They walk around until they find a German restaurant where they know the food is tasty and ample. “Succulent pork belly and Weiner Schnitzel washed down with German ale on such a hot day’, says the son with a grin.  The subtle oak paneling and the cool interior remind Ginny of Bavaria and the pine forests of Europe. She likes the warmth of this family place. Her ancient Germanic ancestry delights in the aromas wafting around the pretty pink waitress.

Only now, in the quiet, comfortable room do they speak of careful matters. Their minds connect in agreement and they share their experience of the past year. ‘Now I have a computer game on the shelves’, explains Morgan. ’It’s awesome after six years of work.’

He tells her of his plans for a new home in the inner city. She tells him of her latest painting and her new life in the mountains.

Leaving the cool interior of the German eatery, they come to the heat on Parramatta Road.  Her son suggests, ‘Let’s catch a cab’. The driver comes from Liberia and is impressed by the mother-son pair. He tells them of his mother, and how he rings her every week,’ so that she will not worry about my safety in a strange land.’

Back in the office, Morgan looks up the times for a movie. IMAX at Darling Harbour is showing 'The Hobbit’ and Ginny hasn’t seen it yet. An air-conditioned theatre space sounds like a Sydney opportunity to enjoy this movie fantasy. What an immense look at a Hobbit adventure!

As the day draws to a close, Ginny hops on the light rail that delivers her to Country Central Railway Station just in time to catch the train back home to the top of the mountains. It’s a grand ride because she is entertained by the brilliance of the western sunset and, of course, the good book that is, of course, ’The Hobbit’.