Confinement Notes 2: Doon the Pub
Week 3 and 4
Normally my Friday nights are sacred and silent. The shutter goes down for the weekend, I'm done with people-ing, and it's time to watch whatever music documentary BBC Four has put on.
But recently Gareth's work colleagues were doing a Zoom pub quiz. I cannae resist a pub quiz! I met Gareth at one after all (go Team Big Merino!).
Each team had to contribute a round - we were assigned Geography. Gareth devised our questions, kicking off with In what country are the Bungle Bungles?
The world heritage listed Bungle Bungle Range, located within Purnululu National Park in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, is G's favourite Aussie place. He's wanted to go there ever since Helen Daniels took a painting trip there on Neighbours in the 80s.
Our opposition were not of a classic-era Neighbours demographic, but me being from Oz they assumed Oz was the answer. I wished we'd made our questions harder. Next time we will go for what is the capital of Moldova.
We finished the quiz middle of the pack, which was fiiiine. But I was annoyed that I hadn't trusted my gut feeling and written down "China" for Where was ice cream invented?. If I've ever had a specialist subject it is bloody ice cream.
Gareth had also been certain Brazil had won the World Cup six times (correct answer: five).
"That's very disappointing," I said.
"Well at least I didn't insist that a dog sweats out of its arse!"
(The correct answer to Where are a dog's sweat glands located: in their paws. Always be learning!)
Gareth is now on furlough from the distillery, so we are home together all the time. For the past six years I've been by myself during weekday daylight hours. I am adjusting to this new format, but he makes good tea and he makes it often.
He's currently dismantling a vintage motorcycle in the garage, so every hour or so he will come inside to my office and present a hunk of metal and explain why it's broken, or run through some repair ideas, or ask questions like, "If I paint these motorbike parts, do you mind if I cure them in the oven?"
Instead of baking motorcycle parts, I baked hot cross buns again. I tried a different recipe... why did I think inviting more uncertainty into the world was a good idea?!
How are you all doing today? Zapping loads of good thoughts to you, wherever you are. My mind is utter mush and I can't think of a tidy way to wrap this up.
Before I skdaddle, I wanted to share two things I read this week that I keep thinking about...
"It is like I need to know the numbers because I don’t want to forget the scale of the human tragedy here, real people with their real stories of loss and grief..."- Ravideep Kaur, Hypernormalisation & Covid-19
"Everyone had a fever. Everyone was out of breath, some unable to walk even ten steps without passing out; by the time she stabilized one person, two more were waiting." - Two Hours Daily to Sanitize, Two Hours to Cry - Lisa Miller's New York story about an ER doctor at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens.
