Monday, November 06, 2006

Drought and rock n roll profanity at South Arm

On Sunday we drove in a big circle to get to South Arm. We had not visited Jonathan, Monica, Lena and Elise and for a long time. Their place is very dry. The girls have a bath together in a baby bath, then they use the water on the garden. Jonathan's tractor has broken down, and is now parked just outside the picture window in the bathroom, providing an interesting rural view when seated on the toilet.

NIck and Anna and their girls had taken a drive to the country too. Nick and Jonathan and I usually go for a blokey walk around the property. I am hopelessly urban, and always score very badly on this part of the visit, but N and J continue to take me along with them. They are probably hoping I will learn to stand on the clover and not the vegetables. Past experience suggests they are wrong. Jonathan said that a neighbour of his commented that the soil is so poor there that growing anything is essentially an exercise in hydroponics. Hence the clover, which is green manure, just grown to be dug in to enrich the soil. Also - garlic needs to be in the ground earlier in winter than onions. I will read back over this blog before my next trip to South Arm, and perhaps also borrow a ute and dog.

After elevenses we all went along to the South Arm Primary School Fair. We had a pretty good time, but there was a teen rock band playing Metallica as we arrived. They were good, but that's not what I want to hear at a primary school fair on Sunday morning. A bit later they had moved onto Killing In The Name Of by Rage Against The Machine. I thought, surely they aren't going to do the part where they sing "F@&% off I won't do what you tell me", about eight times in a row. I was wrong, they did it loud and clear. Ahem.

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