Bullets from Paradise - November

November 8
Yesterday I potted bulb flowers on the balcony: jonquils, daffodils and tulips. They should sprout in February, just in time for when you get here, I choose them on purpose to cheer the place up when all the other plants and trees are cold and bare.

It’s been getting colder - this morning the clouds cleared and you could see the mountain peaks, already covered in a dusting of white. The first snow fall!!! I bought myself a fabulous winter coat, with a hood, it comes all the way down to my ankles. It’s like walking around under a waterproof doona! It’s so warm I walked around all afternoon under the pouring rain without an umbrella and didn’t get a drop of rain on me and even though it was cold, all I wore underneath was a little summer dress but felt as warm as toast! I’m excited about the snow, looks like we might have a white Christmas! My first in years... The shops are all twinkling with decorations: maybe I’ll get sucked into buying a real X-mas tree with trimmings and all.

I’m slowly getting back on track and actually finding some genuine spare time to unwind and relax. Always a million things to do and plans, plans, plans! But today, for the first time I feel like I’m actually starting to relax and have time to devote to things I like such as going for walks, chatting on the phone with my girlfriends, reading a book and working on my manuscript. I’ve also got a string of dinner parties and cocktails to organise, a combination of housewarmings, get-together and thank-yous for all the help and support I got from my friends in organising my new home. Needless to say, I’m sharpening my long neglected cooking skills: no more Melbourne university style 2 minute-noodle-cuisine for me. When I have time and money to lavish on spoiling my guests, I absolutely adore entreating and feeding people. That is why I picked this flat, because I fell in love with the big kitchen, which comfortably fits a large dinner table.

I’ve gotta go. I’m meeting a bunch of friends for pre-dinner cocktails at a bar across the road. Two of them just got back from a week in New York (it’s only 7 hours by plane!). They went there to marry because she is German and needed a work permit to stay here with her boyfriend. Another friend I’ll be seeing tonight is Samuela. She just spent two weeks in Egypt where she went S.C.U.B.A. diving in June and met her new lover. They’ve been having a steamy long distance relationship ever since.

What can I say? The world is a changing place Nicholas, people travel and meet and travel and separate and travel and hook up again, if they want to. The world is a small place if you are willing to get on a plane. Welcome to the global village!

PS: When can I call you? I’d like to chat.

November 14
Sunday morning, coffee, newspapers and pancakes. Bells ringing high up in the bell towers and snow capped mountains, closing in like rows of teeth. Lake: as still and smooth as a sleeping tongue.

Woke up to hell's kitchen this morning. Took Aspirin. Party party party yesterday. Started with an invitation to have lunch at crazy Alexandre's art-deco photographic studio. He called on the mobile while I was in a framing shop choosing a Man Ray poster to hang in the bedroom. “Okay I'll eat with you, but Sad Julia's picking me up at two o'clock to go clothes shopping.”

When I got to Alexandre's, Susanita was there too. She was setting the table for four people and talking about her Painter's studio and how we should organise our X-mas party there. "Yes, but everyone's got to be like, totally elegant!" Then Roger arrived carrying a round loaf of crunchy wholemeal bread. I brought a packet of cinnamon biscuits, covered in white icing, in the shape of stars and put them on a blue plate. Lunch: mushroom fettuccine, red wine, garden salad, crunchy wholemeal bread. Coffee and cinnamon stars. Then Sad Julia arrived and Crazy Alexandre banned her from smoking a cigarette in the house so we talked to her through the French windows while she stood out in the cold air on the balcony. Then we decided to all squeeze into her car and go to the shopping mall together.

At Ikea we sat in a dining room display and mimicked a dinner party. Suzanita in the fake kitchen wearing an Ikea apron and pretending to prepare a salad, me pouring invisible soup into the bowls arranged on the dinner table, the others seated, toasting with empty glasses. A living display.

After we separated and lost each other in the department store, half of them stoned, I had the help desk make an announcement over the public address system to trace them: “Will the children Alexandre, Julia, Roger and Susanita meet their mother at the information desk!” Later at H&M, we used our cellular phones to find one another inside the change rooms. Sad Julia tried on a red taffeta ball gown, Roger checked out the women's lingerie department and I bought some clothes while Crazy Alexandre and Susanita photocopied their faces together on the colour copier in the foyer.

When we all found each other again, we had our photo taken with the Levi's flat boy in the yellow fuzzy outfit, handing out flyers beside the electric doors at the entrance. Then we decided to buy beer and chicken pieces to make a green curry for dinner at my place.

We started off with red wine. Then Benjamin called wanting to know if I knew a cool recipe for cooking pumpkin. "Come on over and have dinner with us." So he joined us for Thai Curry and beer. Then melon sorbet with biscuits and coffee. Then lemon Vodka and all throughout, smoking. After we used every single pot and cup and saucer in the kitchen, I prepared a pot of green tea and we moved into the lounge room to watch videos on my huge new TV set with surround-sound effect. Everyone took their shoes off and curled up on the couch or on a big pillow on the Kilim rug. By the time they all left it was like 2:00 am. Someone felt so comfy they asked if they could hang around my pad for a while. “It’s so nice at your house, I never want to leave,” they said. "Sure, just don't expect me to clean and cook for you every day," I said.

Aren't Saturdays fun? Got up early today and faced the disaster in the kitchen. It took two dishwasher loads to get all the dishes done, and the floor! After I finish writing this, I'll take I nice long bath and maybe this evening I'll go and have a sauna at the public pool.

Yesterday Roger discovered the pickled ginger in the fridge and the Wasabi, so he said he wanted to come over tonight and make sushi and nori rolls for dinner. But he is very unreliable. I think I'll end up at the cinema to see Kubrik's Eyes Wide Shut with Samuela instead.

What are you up to? How come you're suddenly so keen to run away from Melbourne, huh? Remember, if you're desperate, you can always come sooner. Please yourself. Let me know when you've set a date and booked a flight.

November 28
Why did I come here? Because this is where the passing seasons coincide with my circadian rhythms.

My friend sad Julia has a rat called raptus and two mice, tofu and topix.

November 29
Great to read your ultra-positive message. Nice that life's looking bright again. Your happy outlook has been totally infectious, as a matter of fact, I've been pretty blue myself these last few months. It’s probably just exhaustion; these past few years have been really crazy, gnawing away at my inner resources. But finally I feel confident again and am looking forward to having you around, very much! The thought of you suddenly being in my flat: preparing Vegemite on toast, reading the papers at the kitchen table, watching videos and all that normal stuff people do at home, fills me with a heady mix of gut-wrenching anxiety and nail-biting anticipation. I feel a mix of panic and joy at the thought that you're actually coming to see me . . . someone pinch me, quick!
Needless to say, my impatience is making it impossible for me to just sit here quietly and wait for February to come around. So I've started a list of gourmet restaurants, things to do and places to see, etc. I want to make absolutely sure this trip is the most special and memorable experience of your life! Unfortunately, as I've already told you, I won't be able to take much time off, but I promise I'll do my best to spend as much time with you as I can. On the other hand, you may enjoy a bit of travelling adventure on your own and/or decide to enrol in an Italian language course and make this a truly cultural experience. I might be able to take out my annual holiday quota in advance so we can go on some really great trips together! Darling, the sky's the limit, Paris, Santorini, Vienna, Formentera, Amsterdam, Naples… there's just so much to do! I do have some personal faves but I'll keep those to myself for now . . . tell me your travel fantasies first, then I'll tell you mine!