Park worship

After a few days of glorious sunshine, February has started gloomy. Apparently we had more rain in January than we normally have and the sun quotient was pretty dire. so it was a gloomy January. I hope that means we’re in for a sunny February as this is usually the month for SADs! Though, if today is anything to go by, then I guess not. At least it didn’t rain…very much.

I had the usual Tuesday morning when Mirinda is working. I say ‘working’, she’s actually being held unwillingly in a hotel in central London being forced to play all sorts of strange HR games by one of Nicktor’s associates. You know the sort of thing I mean. You answer a bunch of questions about how awful your workmates are and then you have to read out what they all think of you. This is apparently a good thing. Mirinda begs to differ. She sits cheerfully smiling and chatting while inside her brain is trying to shut down with the utter boredom and senselessness of it all.

I rang mum and dad first up – lucky mum is off to see Wicked tomorrow. I wish I was off to see Wicked. Though she was very lucky since the theatre was almost washed away during the rise in the Brisbane River last month. Apparently the water lapped the edges of the stage! Lots of props were washed away (how odd to be wandering the shores of the river and coming across a magic wand or a green bottle and wondering) and the cast and crew had to help with the massive clean-up in order to get it ready for mum and Lorna. Well done that cast, I say! I’ve worked with actors. It’s not easy getting them to clean anything.

It was then off to the shops for a small shop. I’m having a Nicktor Night so little in the way of food is required though I was running short on beer, which I topped up. And lunch, of course. And my usual Starbucks. The blonde barista chatted to me (as normal) saying how glad she was that Jenny was going to be on the same shift as her next week. I have no idea who jenny is. Actually, I probably do, but not by name. Speaking of which, the one that knows my name called me Gary again which always unnerves me.

Back home and a bit of housework before lunch and then a trip to the park with the poodles where we once more ran into Leonard the White Dog. You may remember that Leonard is the only dog that the poodles do not bark at and chase around. Leonard is clearly the King of Farnham Park Dogs. So we enjoyed his company as he regally loped along beside us, the poodles ignoring him while showing due deference at the same time. Then we spotted the totem pole.

Up near the castle there’s a football pitch, just before the cricket oval. Along the edge of the pitch is a line of trees – all very nice on a hot summer day, providing shade and a dwarf version of the Avenue of Trees. Between the Avenue and this dwarf line is open space. On the rare occasions that the area is used, tables and umbrellas go up or caravans arrive (in the case of the circus) and form an Indian type circle of wagons. The area is good for these things because it is so big. This size has been cut down a bit with a new addition.

A totem pole (or what appears to be a totem pole) has been plonked in the middle of it. It’s the remains of a tree (maybe from the park itself, I have no idea) which someone has carved a bit. It’s very attractive but weird.

Two sides of the totem pole in Farnham Park

I took a couple of photographs of it and have patched them together to show two sides, otherwise it just looks like a dead tree. It clearly has some sort of mystic power because Carmen did a big poo at the base of it having already been once. Very odd. I left pretty quickly after that just in case the effect could be felt by humans as well as poodles.