24th Nov – A beautiful dark-haired girl in a brief flowery skirt and briefer white t-shirt was scooping raspberry ice cream while I waited for her to serve me; my eyes were fixed on her scooping arm and its six inch high tattoo of a skull and crossbones.
25th Nov – A very unusual day. Went to Sydney to meet a German couple who have been my penpals for a couple of years.
We sat on the grass for a while in the cool of the afternoon, which for my German friends was unusual. Where they live, it is forbidden.
Next to us was this work of art by Fiona Hall, A Folly for Mrs Macquarie. Mrs Macquarie was the wife of Lachlan Macquarie, an Australian governor from 1810 to 1821. On his tomb is written “Father of Australia”.
At the apex of the quasi-Gothic folly is the raised arm and clasped dagger of the Macquarie crest. The barbed wire is a symbol of the white man’s act of dividing the land. The axe and scythe represent implements brought to Sydney by the First Fleet for clearing land for farming.
The ceiling is decorated with sculptures of bones from native animals that once lived in this part of Sydney; see below:
26th Nov – My dog was so excited when we returned from Sydney that he tore around a corner, spun out and blew a leg. Now he walks on three. It’s permanent. 🙁
27th Nov – Learnt from a radio program that one muscle exists only for smiling, the zygomaticus major. It draws the angle of the mouth superiorly and posteriorly. 🙂
28th Nov – In the library, a pudgy, sweaty guy sprayed himself with deodorant around his neck, down the front of his shirt and over his head.
The folly seems to be a monument to dangerousness. I wouldn’t have noticed the arm on top if you hadn’t pointed it out! I can’t tell: is it holding the blade right way up for forward thrusting, or pointing downwards for some Psycho-esque stabbage?
Probably a combination of thrust and stab. The finial of the hand clutching a dagger is inspired by the convict-made Macquarie Chair in a colonial Gothic style; it’s now at Macquarie University, but you can see it here: http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/digital/lema/chair/images/chair-981.jpg
From tattoo-girl to German penpals sitting on real grass, a bizarre folly, even more bizarre pet accident (I am sorry) to library-guy all in the space of one week. As the year draws to a close, you are getting really good at this “366 unusual things” format. Please continue with it next year, Trish!
This was a fantastic compliment for which I’m really grateful, Alison. I use my recording of unusual things as practice in writing concisely, cutting the waffle. I’ve been working on a novel translation all year which (if I don’t find a publisher) I might be putting on my blog next year instead of the ‘unusual things’ writing exercise, though the novel itself is pretty unusual.