Senility (May24)

Regular barking on two sides, down along the street and out in the back here somewhere over the fences. Unusually, there was a dog’s bark once or twice in the last few days before leaving Carpmael. The Filipino maids too who brought the old ahmas in their wheelchairs around to the utility block behind the Carpmael house had one or two quiet poodles among them, a dog of preference in the condos and HDBs of Singapore. A walk back home from Footscray yesterday, perhaps 5kms through Seddon and Yarraville by nicely extended and renovated housing that marks the gentrification on this side of town now. Crossing Stony Creek and going the back way a road block seemed to indicate the footbridge over the freeway had been closed for the tunnel works. In fact it was not the case, a chap assured when he was asked. The tunnel entry in fact, an eleven billion dollar project to ease the traffic congestion, began just there where we spoke, opposite Tenterden Street on the other side of the barrier. From above on the old footbridge that once took us to the High School—since made way for housing—the hellish stream pulverised the brain. It was remarkable how the barrier muted and screened the reality so very effectively on the other side; the depth of the roadway must have been a significant factor. The cold of mid-August also seemed remarkable after eight years on the Equator, and after all the attention to the warming over the globe. While the Deniers had their winters conditioning thinking the science could be kept at bay. Upstairs in the house one leapt from the bedroom carpet to the rugs on the stair landing and then the others in the bathroom. (Crows just now too, suddenly! There were crows in Carpmael perching opposite the house. The behaviour of the crows in Sing’ had attracted the attention of ornithologists and other scientists tracking urbanism.) The house remains full of Hazel’s belongings even after a chap had been hired to cart away a trailer load. When young Barak in the adjacent Studio had died suddenly at his girlfriend’s it had been his poor old father who came out to deal with the belongings left behind. Having been in Singapore at the time the direct witnessing had been missed in that case. Here Hazel’s sudden departure felt like another death, though in her case a breakdown had been involved and her parents come from Wales to take her home. Thousands of dollars of furniture had been abandoned—fridge, washer & dryer, rustic dining table & chairs, cabinets, bookshelves, lamps, couch and bed. The personal items too suggested one hell of a hurry. Soft, hand-made toys, the Birmingham 1910 silver brooch, old photo albums and a great deal more. The housemate Kristie, who only knew Haze a year, had sorted the load that was carted away as best she could. A second sorting now will be needed and some articles perhaps mailed over for Haze. There is a No Attack On Iraq sticker included in a collage Haze had created and framed that will attract someone’s eye at an Op Shop, one of the new people in the neighbourhood here. Haze’s cat Men must have been taken on the flight; it was difficult to imagine Haze leaving her behind. The gardens needs attention, the gutters beneath the walnut cleaned out. Panayoti the nice young Greek carpenter has agreed to come out for doors that won’t close and other fiddle jobs. At the optometrist in Clarendon Street the doctor had attempted to hide his surprise at the extent of the cataract for a patient this age. A “senile cataract” it was termed in the textbooks. The beginning of Spring at least will be taken back in the old town; the morning and afternoon sun has already given hint of the progress of the calendar. Yesterday there was spring roll noodle salad at the Viet place in Footscray; this afternoon hopefully ful with the Africans in Nicholson Street.