Written 21 August, 2020.
At 8am, an unfamiliar, powerful boat zips into the bay. Solar Simon has come early to ensure the batteries are up and running in time for my lecture. He and his assistant lug 6 50 kgs batteries up our 42 steps, install them, they’re gone by 10.30 and we have power.
At 8 am, I text my friend Julei in the Blue Mountains, asking for another lesson how to share documents when I teach by zoom, because I made such a mess last week. She trains me for 2 hours.
Every ANU lesson, I give the students a prompt- a picture, a word, whatever- and, after a short meditation led by my Music Professor, Kim Cunio, they compose a fragment of music inspired by that prompt. This week I asked Professor Kim to suggest a piece of music. Mid-morning, two pieces arrived: I found the second piece set me dreaming.
Debussy, What the West Wind Saw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNcvnOwxFrA
Gg helps me set up K’s bedroom to give me lecture in. There’s never enough time, but it all goes well. One of the students compliments me on my much improved zoom skills. I must tell Julei.
Afterwards, I reward myself by losing myself in the bush at the back. I have the excuse of clearing the fire trail. But I need the peace of its stillness, the sun warming the earth, the insects rustling. I clamber to a rock and see in the distance, Dy’s “roadway”. It’s a bit like doing “where’s Wally”, but if you look hard enough……
