Written 16 December, 2020.
Today, 3 locally transmitted cases in NSW! One a driver who transports air line staff- were they wearing masks?- it turns out rules for airline staff aren’t as strict here as for ordinary OS travellers- plus 2 older people in the Northern beaches. We depend on contact tracers to see if there’s a circuitous link. I hope so. Otherwise it’s silently spreading in the community. They’re doing a big push in the Northern beaches area to have people tested, so there’ll be more information to go on. This virus is so infectious, in one medical conference in Boston with an asymptomatic spreader, 330,000 people were infected. We’re now worried Victoria might slam shut its borders, and more likely, WA- and GG’s sister, all on her own in Perth, a cancer survivor, won’t be with us for Christmas.
I’ve been reading the new manuscript of my friend Shelley in NY, locked down, only opening the door to grocery deliveries, only going out between 5 and 5 in the morning, down the lift to walk in Central Park. And it is so spectacular that when she said she was unable to write a synopsis of it to send to agents, I got worried the world wouldn’t see it- so I took it upon myself to write it for her, to do my bit for literature:
In an epic tale worthy of an ancient Greek myth, B takes us on a wild, riveting adventure into the 19thpsyche of surely the greatest tragic heroine since Madame Bovary, a beautiful young consumptive, the child-wife of Edgar Allen Poe, as her sexuality, maddened by laudanum, demands release from a loving but unconsummated marriage and into the persona of cigarette-girl, identical in looks to her, but her sexual opposite, an enticing, successful prostitute. B, unlike Flaubert, makes no judgements against her heroine as she explores, in lyrical, beautiful prose, universal themes of what seems and what is, love, friendship, violence, human kindness, narcissism, and a woman’s secret inner life.
You must read it! I’ll tell you when it’s out.
Dee and Tripi left today, on work to illuminate a statue way up north. Following a convention he began by bringing around a home-made chocolate cake last time he left, I cooked crepes with Charmaine Solomon’s recipe, (from her Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, my lifeline) instead of our usual healthy pancakes made of buckwheat flour and tahini (thanks, Kim): 2 eggs, half a cup of milk, half of water and half of flour, a pinch of salt, half a teaspoon of sugar (to make them brown). Delicious. A very English flavour, like cucumber sandwiches.
We’ve had thunderstorms for two days, but Dee had a plane to catch, so he and Tripi tried to dodge between them.
He messaged later to say he hadn’t dodged the next storm. he had to pull to shore, to shelter in an oyster lease.
A long phone therapy with my long-term magic therapist. My new manuscript has zotted me back to my 14 year old self, living alone with my beautiful but violent mother, believing it would never end, believing her abuse of me as a slut and a cretin was true, too timid to run away because there was no one to go to, nowhere to go, and besides, I’d promised to look after her. At least i hid in dozens of books a week. I’d never go out without one on the go, and two in a bag- for hiding. Those terrible years made me a writer.
Meanwhile, after sending off my own manuscript, I’m unable to create. Exhausted. needing to hide in the world. Here, you can hide in the world. So I hacked back undergrowth, and began to paint the deck chairs and table. Undercoat white, because a friend years ago painted them a depressing black. They’ll have to become another colour. Soon. I’m a sloppy painter, so i’m going to have to gurney the deck afterwards. Like my life, a work in progress.
And today’s pic of the goanna, mid-stride:
Byron Bay eaten by the ocean (see comment below)
Dearest Sue,
I’ve missed your beautiful prose and catching up on the events of your life! How lovely it is to scroll through your recent adventures.
“What a year.” And we’ve almost braved through it. For better or worse, good or bad, time was always going to elapse and get us through a peculiar blot in the world’s history. But it’s not over yet – us in the lucky country are returning to pubs and clubs, weddings and theatre; I caught a plane the other day from Sydney to Ballina, passing through the airport with my red face mask firmly cutting into the skin behind my ears, I marvelled at the ginormous cue of people in the Jetstar baggage drop, you’d have thought the last nine months hadn’t happened!
Cyclonic winds and flash flooding welcomed me home after a gruelling few months in Sydney. I recently closed my first properly produced play at NIDA ‘And a Happy New Year’ which ran at the Festival of Emerging Artists. A brilliant opportunity to seize, a very talented director picked me out of the crowd and asked me to write something brand new for Australian audience – and I can proudly say (at risk of sounding a little self-indulgent) that I did it. It wasn’t perfect, but I think it was a truly excellent show, much of that I owe to the brilliant creatives who worked on the piece, and now there is potential word of having it further developed next year which is more than I could’ve ever asked for.
Sue, I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news recently, but the Northern Rivers is currently underwater. With bizarre amusement, I can relay to you that I was present for the historical destruction of the Byron Bay main beach. Grandiose aside, I spent the most recent weekend up at the Byron Bay lighthouse for my parent’s 35th wedding anniversary. We were whipped by 100km winds, power outages and king tides. It’s quite shocking to see the beach and the bay I love more than any other be dragged away into the Pacific Ocean. I will send you some footage or pictures to upload. But, alas, climate change is a cruel mistress, and this La Nina promises chaos. None the less, it was a fun and delightful weekend with my family. We spent most of it indoors, drinking, reading and gently bullying one another (our best way to express love), however my mind was never far from the fact that one of us was missing.
My triplet brother J, and his wife E, are still suffering through this awful pandemic in New York. I felt so guilty the other week – consumed by my work and distracted by the U.S election that the virus was only accelerating in America. I Facetimed J and E the other week to see two people I love the most just bravely hanging on. Nine months they’ve been in total lockdown … nine months. I can’t even begin to comprehend. Their sadness and hopelessness radiated through my mobile screen. What can one say? How can one do anything to improve their situation? Their helplessness mirrored mine.
I have to admit something to you, Sue. In a period of desperation, when my brother and his wife weren’t coping before the U.S. election – there was a little part of me that wanted Trump to be re-elected, that way J and E would’ve been on the first flight over here to Australia and out of that imploding country, safe and happy with their family. The dichotomy was unforgiving…I wanted Biden to win for the sake of the world, but I wanted Trump to win for me and my family.
Hi Sophie, Great to have you back! I’ve been missing you. So has the blog. What fun to have a play on. I must admit, the four times I’ve had a play done (I adapted them from my novels- does that count?) it’s been far more fun than having a book out. Far far more fun. And working with actors is marvellous, and the director I adored was Alison Summers. I’m hoping for the libereto I adapted from another novel will go on as an opera, only for a repetition of that fun, as well as the joy of working with the composer who asked for it in the first place, one of the smartest women in the world.
So- your news brought tears to my eyes. Your so-honest admission about the election. And the Byron Bay beach. A publisher promised me the world in that cliff top restaurant. The restaurant of betrayal. But I’ll try to post the pics you emailed. S.
Alison Summers; what an awesome collab! I’m sure that would have been a great experience.
The restaurant of betrayal finally has it’s comeuppance 😉
Looking forward to reading more from this blog and more from you, Sue! x