Ten thoughts I had on holiday
I tried my first subway sandwich!
Today I had an unsatisfying bath during my daughter’s nap. I was too distracted while the water ran, picking toys and books up off the floor, and didn’t check the temperature was right. I like my baths hot, I want my skin to burn. I forced myself to sit in the tepid water and pretend it was enough. I dared not waste it. I closed my eyes and thought of nothing. A welcome rest.
We are in the midst of a string of daycare colds in our household. The fortnightly sore throats and violent little coughs that other parents warned me about are becoming familiar. We tag team, the three of us rarely at the same stage of the cold at the same time. Sometimes only one parent gets sick, leaving the other to make the immunity concoctions and chop the ginger. It is a shared experience that we each have our own particular version of. We are alone, together.
A couple of weeks ago we went on a road trip up the east coast, to just get away. Mercifully it fell on an in-between week and we were sore-throat-free until the final leg of the drive. We spent most of our time in Brisbane to see family and also stayed a night each in Bellingen, Brunswick Heads and Port Stephens.
I gotta say, this family holiday delivered. It was fun and uncomplicated, a combination I’m really going for in this era of my life. I don’t need fireworks. I like simple adventures.
Here are ten thoughts I had up the coast and back:
Janky Star by Grace Ives is a perfect album for a long drive. It keeps your eyes awake and millennial nostalgia stimulated but not in an overwhelming way. Can’t be too amped up on the open road, you need a steady high. My favourite tracks are On The Ground and Lullaby. Listen here.
Claudia O’Doherty tells a good shark story. Her episode of Seek Treatment was the only podcast that didn’t make me snoozy in the car, and alot of it came down to her shark tales.
I really enjoyed my first subway. Can you believe it took me 33 years to boss a sandwich artist around? My order (which I copied from my sage brother-in-law) was perfect: chicken strips, lettuce, tomato, onion, jalapeños, pickles, and old English cheese with thousand island and chipotle sauces on white bread.
The continental breakfast at Bannister’s slayed. We stayed at Bannister’s Port Stephens on our final night, and it was well worth it for the inclusive brekky buffet alone. Think: Good bircher, chia pudding, yoghurt, all the cereals, a selection of breads n spreads, croissants and danishes, lox and capers, tomato and red onion salad, really good fetta, cold cuts, hard boiled eggs, fruit.
Brisbane is a good place to be this time of year. I like the way Queensland does almost-winter. The smell of trees everywhere, the Bluey-coded hills, the shape of the houses. I could stare at those leafy skies from a big verandah all day.
Me and Storm (one of many beautiful dogs I sat with on holiday) Crocs are dangerous. After singing their praises for the past two years, I finally rolled my ankle walking down giant stairs in my giant crocs. I won’t stop wearing them, but I will buy the correct size next time.
I say ‘okay’ out loud a lot. I noticed on our trip that before I do something menial like start the car, make breakfast or get dressed, I audibly exhale the word Oh-kay matter-of-factly. It’s a preparation of sorts, I guess. This is what we are going to do next. Or like a mini pep talk. You can do this. You can! Is it a mum thing? Or have I always done it? In any case, Gia has started mimicking me.
A pot of porridge should always be bubbling on the stove. My cousin reminded me that our grandma was always stirring a big pot of porridge when we visited her house as kids. How comforting that predictability was.
This season of Hacks is masterful. I keep thinking about the scene where Deborah visits Biff Cliff, the now-retired network executive who killed her late night show decades earlier. They sit across from each other holding glasses of whiskey and she asks him why the show didn’t work. It’s clear in his answer that it had nothing to do with the quality of the show and everything to do with timing. But Deborah can’t accept it. He looks at her and says: “That’s just the problem with you creatives. You think it’s all about talent and hard work — the harder I work the more successful I’ll be. It’s true, it is, but it’s also about luck, and you can’t control luck. You guys want it so bad you trick yourselves into thinking you can.” I could write an essay about how much is contained within this one interaction.
Pizza and tarot go well together. We had pizza at Saint Marie’s in Brunswick Heads and I brought my Tarot For All Ages deck for fun. We did a family reading, the three of us pulling a card each to create a group message. I pulled the Ace of cups, Dom pulled the Five of cups, and Gia pulled Temperance. I’m not sure what the message was, but I think Gia did. On the walk back to our motel she declared, I loveee da-pizza!
