<Silver Bullet>
Much of this weekend was spent in industry, as I had to get my submission together for the Titanic Inquiry. Which has a shame, really, as it was a blissfully balmy weekend, with temps of 25 C, kinda like a spring day in Sydney.
I did however venture out for lunch with D. She's one of the social workers from the women's council. I'm kind of envious of anyone who works with them, though I know it's often chaos there. But there's something about the thought of women ( or 'wimmin' rather) driving around in 4WDs in the middle of the desert with Aboriginal women that has some romantic, unreconstituted '70s feminist appeal for me. (Suspect some of the tambourines and craft stuff goes on tho.) D told me of talking her laptop along on a field trip, propping it up on her swag and showing some senior desert women a DVD of Malcolm X. Perhaps it's all the incongruities here that appeal to me. D also told me that some of the desert people still talk of the first time they 'saw the white man'. Freaky! I'd thought the Pintupi were the last people to come out of the desert, but D reckons the phenomenon is more widespread.
A couple of weeks ago, Alicia told me that D had said 'she intended to establish a friendship with Elsewhere independently of you.' This was after a particularly racuous evening at Matt and Alicia's. I kinda liked the Austen-ish inflection of Alicia's phrasing, as much as anything else.
But my mobile SIM card fried and with it, all my contacts, so it took me a while to track D down (i.e. I bumped into her at the pub). We arranged to meet up at the Silver Bullet, an appropriate choice as it has the closest to Melburnian coffee in Alice.
I haven't quite established my local for a constitutional coffee in Alice yet. Some of the cafes are seasonal, so it's a bit of a challenge. The Silver Bullet is my first choice. Located in the industrial area, it seems to be part of an artisans' area, with offices in old silver buses and scupltures made from industrial objects (like the brushes from drive-in carwashes). It's only open on the weekends, and then, it seems, only in the cooler months. I guess that makes sense, given that it's so exposed, being built in a typically rocks-and-scrub-desert-y area. The other reason I've heard is that the owners don't really run it as a business, more as an organic phenomenon for the locals. People say they're old hippies, and they don't really want the place to become part of the tourist circuit.
One of the best things about the Silver Bullet is the coffee. Definitely better than all the coffees I had on Darling St. The first time I went to the Silver Bullet, the waitress taking my order warned me that the coffee was strong. 'Don't worry,' I said, 'I lived in Melbourne for ten years.' The owner nodded and said to be girl, 'She'll be right.'
So, I try and get over there most weekends. The other options are Bar Doppio and La Pep's. Bar Doppio's in an arcade off the Mall, and it's otherwise known as 'Lesbian Cafe'. Believe you me, if you absentmindedly flick through a kd lang photo-biography while you wait for your order, you'll get some very attentive service. It has a kind of Fitzroy ambience, with lots of old laminated kitchen tables. The service aint so great tho (despite what I just said), and while the menu looks like a normal cafe fare, it's sometimes a bit hit and miss. The whole arcade with the cafe in it closes down for about a month in summer (as does one of the local rags). I guess it's just too hot for people or they've all gone east or south.
La Pep's is on the flight path into town for me. I would never have noticed it if I hadn't people hadn't pointed it out to me. La Pep's almost looks like a truckie's diner -- more of those kitchen tables, somehow without style, lots of photos of motorbikes, Italian cities and old coke signs (again, not particularly cool ones) on its walls. Tom said to me, 'Think of La Pep's as Alice's answer to Pellegrini's.' An electronic Lavazza sign hangs from the ceiling about a metre from the door -- that's a comfort, I guess. Some people reckon the coffee's the best in Alice. It's very strong, but it sometimes has that burnt taste to it. The spry, sun-bitten woman behind the counter has a reputation for surliness, but she always says 'darl' to me.
So, first date with D at the Silver Bullet -- as she's from Melbourne, we were able to talk about all the old Melbourne haunts and things. She's used to working in the disability support area, so I was able to regale her with tales about spats between some of the more high-profile disabled consumers, from my time as a penniless postgrad working as a casual personal care attendant. We talked about how Alice was in some ways like an enormous Australian suburb plonked down in the middle of the desert. She'd grown up in Eltham, and said she found Alive very similar, as it's suburban yet has that left-liberal artsy edge.
D said she'd gotten sick of Melbourne, the ease and comfort of the lifestyle. A bit like my reaction to Sydney, except mine's more based on an aversion to the status anxiety and rat-raciness of the place. D wants to go and work in development type stuff in Africa eventually; she sees Alice as a stepping stone along the way.
People come here for all sorts of interesting reasons. I had a meeting with a Communications Officer from another dept today. She was one of those groovy, dynamic Asian women. We got on to the subject of recruitment (major issue for Alice), and she told me the latest strategies were directed at recruiting people from other areas. I said I found that odd; was there evidence that people were recycled around regional areas and that no one from the coastal cities would be interested in moving here? She said: 'Well, usually people look at anyone from the city, and say "what are you running away from?"' I said I'd been asked if I was running away from a major relationship break-up. She was really surprised to hear that I was from Sydney; she was from Albury/Wodonga. I told her I'd met plenty of people from Sydney and Melbourne (more of the latter, really) ... I find all the presuppositions odd, really, as if Alice could have nothing to offer and if you were part of a coastal city lifestyle, you wouldn't ever get jack of it.
Afterwards, went to the nursery...and came away $80 poorer! Don't know how I manage to spend so much money on plants...I must be on to about my fifth herb & vegie garden too, now.
As for the Titanic submission...eeek! What am I doing? I collected a huge file of incriminating emails and other documents (actually, the blog came in handy in jogging my memory) for the express purpose of writing this submission. So I couldn't turn back from it, as far as I was concerned. It does say on the Committee website that they wont accept submissions if they think they're inappropriate, so if it's too out there, I guess they'll chuck it. Otherwise ... tee hee! It's rather acid. Some of the emails are a classic. Reckon I'm pretty good at making complaints -- perhaps I should be a professional complainer! Also reckon the powers that be wouldn't have thought we'd have the energy or the degree of organisation to make a submission. I rang one of my former colleagues today to check some of the details. She was really glad I was making the submission. She said she'd thought about doing it herself, but didn't know where to start. But in all probability, like everything associated with me, the submission will sink without a trace...
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