Saturday, 4th November 2006

I neglected to join in the global warming march today and instead got absolutely slaughtered at Scrabble and then, to add insult to injury, I couldn't even finish the cryptic crossword. Haven't been in a good protest rally since the anti-war marches where I always managed to link up with a lively group dancing and banging drums and carrying banners which read, "Dave says no to war!" There is a comfort in being amongst ten or twelve thousand kindred spirits on these occasions, especially the Reconciliation Walk where we poured across the Harbour Bridge and had tears in our eyes when that plane wrote "SORRY" in the sky because our Prime Minister refused to say the word to the indigenous population. An aboriginal woman shook my hand and said, "Thanks for coming, mate," and I wished I could give her country back to her. I am more sorry than I can say.

The notion of the Songlines is very appealing, the nomadic people of this continent moving across the land and bringing the world to life. The nomadic life itself is very appealing, echoes of Walt Whitman, "...the long brown path before me leading wherever I choose...", to travel light, travel free, sans ecoutrements, never pausing anywhere long enough to do damage. Best to keep travelling, no matter how strong the urge to stop and leave one's mark - best to make every stopping place sacred rather than risk making one place profane.

Anyway, I notice Cate Blanchett filled in for me on the march, bless her.