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Today I decided not to go to uni, but also that getting some exercise and fresh air rather than staying indoors and vegetating all day would be a good idea. Accordingly, I went for a walk - discovered a Games and Stamps shop and a chemist a short walk from the house, and then walked to Rokeby Road just to see what we were near.
Jackson's Drawing Supplies. On the one hand, oh dear, on the other hand, I now have a pad on which I can work with pastels. (The other pad I was trying on is waaaay too rough-textured.) Also, I discovered I can get a ten percent discount there; the woman at the checkout asked me if I had a discount card, and I said no, because I didn't think I did, and then she asked if I had a student card or anything...
Yes, yes I do.
So that was neat. And it's a medium-sized shop, by Jackson's standards, and so they've got a good range. Hooray.
I also bought a magazine at a newsagents' because it intrigued me greatly, and was very, very glad I had when I got home. Because the last person to leave the house (which was after I did) had locked up, including the screen door at the front... which I don't yet have a key to, because the key is a bit weird, and so I was locked out.
I read my magazine a bit, which was fine, but it was getting problematic that I am hypoglycaemic, had just been exercising, and was overdue to eat. By the time ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif) velithya made a special diversion in her activities for the day to come and let me in I was a wreck; fortunately, after having lunch and a large quantity of water (along with my ADHD meds), I'm fine.
Interesting moments about my excursion:
- Walking past an old, pretty, dignified house, and hearing the sounds of loud sex from within.
- Passing a Big Issue vendor who'd taken up a corner on Rokeby Road; interesting choice, I thought. I didn't buy the magazine itself but I did give her some money, both for moxie and for the fact that she was smiling and friendly and engaging, unlike most Big Issue vendors I see. (Who are usually the ones in town who station themselves, with a chair, in a high-traffic walkway area and just hold up the magazine while glaring furiously at the passersby. Seriously, I am unlikely to by your Big Issue if I am finding you actively scary. Radiating hostility if I pass within ten feet? I'm staying more than ten feet away. If I do buy the magazine today, I will find someone non-scary to buy it from.)
I realise after all the recent discussions on privilege and justifiable anger that paragraph could open me up to criticism, but... there's a difference between anger at oppression, at causes or manifestations thereof (or of privilege), and being angry with someone who has the appearance of possessing privilege (e.g. despite my rather shabby jeans and ancient t-shirts and, until recently, disintegrating shoes, I don't look homeless, if only because my glasses are quite stylish) just for not being broken by Life's wheel. (Despite my complete mental breakdown last year, due to the support network of friends I am blessed to have, I didn't end up on the streets - although that was always highly unlikely. Had I not had my wonderful friends, I'd probably just be dead.)
Um, yes, anyway, digression over.
- Trees! I have a feeling the trees on our street are deciduous, which promises some serious pretty in the upcoming autumn, but I also walked past some eucalyptus trees and took a moment to enjoy the smell of the leaves.
- Tree-related: I also felt some sympathy for the owner of a car I walked past, who had clearly made the grave mistake of parking under a Moreton Bay Fig tree, because the residue of those vile-smelling berries was all over the car and had visibly been washed off the windscreen by wiper action.
It reminds me of the other day at uni, when I was walking along on a bright cool morning, listening to the raucous commotion of the birds in the Tropical Garden and feeling the light breeze off the river, marveling at how fortunate I was to be exposed to such a gloriously beautiful time and place... and then was smoten in the nose by a reminder that the massive tree I was walking under, vast and impressive and beautiful as it is, is a Moreton Bay Fig, and ew, basically.
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