A moment in time

Moment In Time

Today 62 per cent of Australians are happy because their team, the yes vote, won the same-sex marriage survey. There are rainbows everywhere.

Getting on with it

A Bill to amend the Marriage Act has already been introduced into Parliament. But the nation has no stomach for further discussion. Our weak leaders passed the buck on this issue and the answer, in all its 62 per cent glory, has been delivered. Here’s hoping the nay-saying 38 per cent will be good sports and let the matter rest now. The world is still turning and the marriage industry is strapping itself in for wild times ahead.

Home grown drama

In less uplifting news, we learned we have termites nesting under the house. Scotty the painter is here doing his annual retouch and discovered a colony in the timber architraves of the garage. A small pile of fine sawdust, populated by spitting, wriggling, white ants, gave the game away.

So I called in a friend, a hero with torches and probes and a truck full of chemicals, to give the house a once-over. He found puddles of water under the house; lakes in fact. And he pointed out some structural issues with our home that make life for termites very attractive. We’ve essentially built them a camping ground complete with sub-floor recreation reserve and ready supply of tasty timber. Add a six-lane freeway from the great outdoors to our under croft, piles of leaf litter we can’t reach to remove and inadequate weep holes for ventilation and its a wonder the palace is still standing.

Other structural issues

Which brings me to my hip. An ultrasound confirmed bursitis – inflammation of the bursa. A jab with cortisone last week should have given me some relief. It didn’t. I’ve resorted to drugs again, taking anti-inflammatories every eight hours. These dull the ache but it’s still there, lurking, flaring if I stand for too long or sit at the wrong angle. It’s very distracting.

Angela Bensted Bw 1x1
Angela Bensted is a Brisbane-based freelance writer who likes to listen first and struggle with syntax later. She pitches stories to magazines and helps businesses produce compelling copy for print and online.
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