Day 45 was my second ‘rest day’.
I’d stumbled arse-backward into some wonderful hospitality from Chris & Kelly at the Avaleen Lodge Motor Inn (in Nowra), they’d not only put me up on the night prior, but had invited me to stay an extra day.
I was glad to take them up on their offer, because I still had that tick lodged in my throat, and needed to get rid of the bugger !
So the day started with a trip to the pharmacy, which was just across the street. I also popped into woolies and picked up some food (as it turns out, it was usually a mistake to buy food, I almost certainly could have survived on the food that people keep giving me as I toddled down the road.
This is how I looked as I wandered about town – I didn’t carry much clothing except for the Captain Australia gear, so I had my thermals, sandals, a “The Kids’ Cancer Project’ t-shirt, and some boardshorts given to me by this lovely bloke Steve on the side of the road in Sydney (somewhere around Mona Vale if I remember right).
After all the walking, it honestly felt bizarre to have nowhere to go and nothing to do, but the day was still quite productive.
I did a radio interview with Stolzy (2ST), and some of his colleagues from another station. Absolutely flat-strap lovely bloke, we had a good old chat once recording stopped, and I was delighted by his kindness and words of support.
Without advocates like that, I’d have totally flubbed the fundraising aspect of the walk, it was wonderful the way people were jumping onboard to help.
I’m so completely grateful for that.
I got this special freeze-spray from the pharmacy which killed the tick, but when tweezering it out, I think I left his little head lodged in there (but no worries, it slipped out at some point).
Oh yeah, and as people were asking about fitness and weight loss, I thought it would be smart to try some sit-ups, and I thought it would be extra-smart to share the attempt.
The video is pretty terrible – I look like a heavily pregnant woman trying to give birth 😀
But yeah, it really was just a goof-off day, a lay around and rest the legs day, a day for comedy re-runs on the tellie and trying to catch up with the news.
Until I heard from Linc, a local muso and all-round lovely bloke. He wanted to have me over for dinner.
Terrible as I am, in my shyness and fatigue, I almost begged off, made an excuse, but I realised that was the ‘old me’ and if I were going to affect enduring change in my life, I needed to resist old habits as much as possible. (And I’m so glad I did.
I’m not sure how much of Linc’s story he’d want me to tell, but I can certainly say he’s an outstanding human, and absolutely larger-than-life.
With all the sign-waving and scurrying about, he’d taken an absolute pasting on social media because, as a musician, he just asserted “anyone can come hear me play” (and some people felt righteous in insisting it was his role to require proof of vaccination, all that stuff)
I personally think it’s effing lunacy to insist that your viewpoints are so absolutely spot on, so 100% righteous and true, that it’s OK to force them on another person.
It’s ideological rape.
And these days, it horrifies me that people all around me are doing it ALL THE TIME, every day you see examples of this trench-warfare of opinions.
Gender politics, COVID stuff, abortion rights, religious freedoms – all of these contentious topics that everybody gets fired up over – and they feel that it’s completely fine to crucify someone for having a different outlook, as if they are objectively wrong and not entitled to make up their own mind.
Sorry, a bit fired up for old Linc, because he truly is a good person, big hearted, and when we met, I think his heart was a little bit broken by all the bad treatment he’d had from keyboard warriors telling him how wrong and stupid and neglectful and terrible he is (by not wanting to check vaccination papers on people coming to hear him play).
You can think what you want. Absolutely. And we all should make best efforts to respectfully follow rule of law, give other people the room to co-exist, to think, breathe and be happy.
Sorry, that was an old man ramble, wasn’t it ? Or a rant.
I guess I just worry about this slippery-slope that we’re on, we as a society, I mean. If we could step back and make kindness the cornerstone by which we manage our daily dealings, I’m sure in my heart-of-hearts it all gets better.
Anyway, I had a lovely evening with Linc, we shared a few beers and a lot of stories, and he taught me how to burn beef stroganoff. When I got back to the Avaleen Lodge, I was sleepy, happy, satisfied, and in the back of my mind a little bit sorrowful for my new friend.
Captain Australia Online (and THE BIG WALK) 