There have been some early morning starts, and on my way through the park, I see a fox. Now some of you, maybe even most of you, would think this is not odd. It is odd. CBD Parks at 6am prior to lightness usually only have possums, maybe a keen cyclist who is break the rules of no riding in the park and lots of trees and grass. Not a fox. And this fox was the kind of fox I think about when I think of the fox Roal Dahl would have based his book on. Will also point out that the average Aussie has not seen a fox in person before. I cannot speak for every Australian as I am sure the outback ones and country ones see them often, or the remains that Foxes have left behind in cliche chicken slaughters. But not I.
Walking along in the dark towards work, the fox is just standing there on the grass next to me. I feel like I am in an episode of some surreal scene from Six Feet Under and having a moment with a wild animal as we keep staring at each other. He is panting and has some fog coming out of his breath, and then he runs in circles and stops again. Like he is wanting to play. I am still partly waking up and so confused as to what I am seeing is real. There is a deserted garbage truck nearby and the fox kept running around it. I was trying to work out if the garbage man was inside and he has a pet fox. For some reason that was my best conclusion. I just kept walking.
Then the next week, same place in the park, there was the fox. I had mentioned the previous time to a few friends and they all said "are you sure it is not a possum?" I know what a bloody possum looks like. Orange, small dog size, very fast and darty, big bushy tail and white underside. He looks so happy and stoked to be alive and running around. Though this time the garbage truck was not there so either garbage man was sneaking in the bushes watching or he did not exist and this was a wild fox that just happened to setup camp in this park. Would make sense, plenty of vermin and stuff around and hey, how many brave foxes get to the CBD to live? Some do obviously. So he is actually Fantastic Mr Fox. This time I fumbled and turned my music off on my iPhone and it was still, he was panting again, run a bit, look at me, run some more. I went to take a photo, but this made him bolt off under a tree in the dark. So I kept walking. Til next time Fox.
A Brazilian guy I dated for a very short while turned up at my door the other night, very late and very drunk. He came in, I asked him what was wrong and he started getting upset and told me he loved me, over and over again. I didnt know what to say. That word is so precious to me, so did not understand why someone would say that, especially when he didnt know me for that long and has not seen me in a while either.
There was a clairvoyant at work last week. She had been hired as "entertainment" for the Night sessions of Tut. I had never done anything like that before and was slightly curious, she was doing tarrot card readings. My colleagues went to her, and then I finally did. It was a 5 minute session and didnt really get much from it but hey, it was in a cafe in a museum. So the jury is out on that one.
I have a photoshoot coming up, I will share the results once they have happened. Getting off my ass more and being constructive. Like a Construction worker at a construction site. Constructing things.
And my mint plant sucks. I tried, I tried to look after it but it died. There is this one bug that lives in it though so at least I made something a home. This home will be transported to outside in the dull garden, to make more homes. I really am a life giver.
And this song, some truth in it.
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I'm surprised your other Melbourne friends would say they haven't seen a fox. They are pretty common in the parks of the city area and outer suburban regions. So much so that when St George bank made a push into the state five years ago they ran tv and radio ads for months about all the things they know about Victoria and the massive number of foxes and their prevelence in the city limits was one of the most common ads run.
ReplyDeleteI've seen them quite often and have lost a couple of pet bunnies to them over the last year.
Mint is indeed very fragile. I remember last week I bought a bunch of it to give my ice cream a little better presentation for my friend but it all died within a few hours. I put it in the fridge after I bought it but all leaves turned black in the afternoon. Later that night my roommate came back from work and she cut off all the dead ends of the stems and put it in a cup of water. I was hoping that would save it but it didnt. The next day I had to throw it out because the appearance became unbearable. Sad mint. Although the scent it left in the fridge was memorable. And that cup of water - even better. So end of the story, I spent 3 dollars on a bunch of mint but I only got to use 2 leaves of it and then I had to dump it in the trash. Not worth it.
ReplyDeleteI have an out of control Mint plant. It has survived past the Tomato plants which the possums ate, the monster cucumber plant (that grew one at a time 50cm long by 10cm in diameter), the Chat and regular potato plants that the dogs kept digging up and eating and the parsley, garlic chives & lemon dill herbs that all grew along side it.
ReplyDeleteIf you find a healthy mint plant, cut off a sprig at the dirt and plant it in a little pot in sunlight and give lots of water. It usually will take and grow its own roots in the new pot. Just remember full sun (not that we have any!) and lots of water. And trim back any floppy, discoloured bits, divide and separate in the pot each year!
And i've never seen a fox....
Well mint was my chance to see if I could do indoor plants. 3 bucks at Coles.. hmm but I was a tad lazy and did not put it on a proper pot but just the plastic dirt pot I bought it in. Maybe I will plant it by my doorstep... Thanks for the stories!! I had no idea foxes were so common, pretty darn cool, even if not native.
ReplyDeleteI think with those bought ones you need to take it out of the pot and re-pot it, and make sure its put outside every now and again. If you get it right, mint will just keep growing forever!
ReplyDeleteHad foxes up at my uncles farm when I was younger and they would terrorise the poor chickens! And by the way when is the Tut exhibition coming to Sydney?
ReplyDeleteTut is sadly only going to be in Melbourne. Heads back to Cairo in November.. But hey, an excuse to go to Melbourne for a weekend!
ReplyDeleteCool, can't wait to head down!
ReplyDeleteWhat gets me about plants is, they have evolved to live in the wild sans technology etc, but we place them in amongst our houses and in rooms. I wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason why your plant passed away was because of all the radio waves and technology waves that they're swamped with. Is mint seasonal? My housemate has a fish tank and a couple of fish also (go figure) and the other day he bought a school of teeny weeny fish to go into it (he was inspired by the melbourne aquarium). Unfortunately, one of his current fish is a carnivore and gobbled them all up. The greedy ras. He felt like he'd personally extinguished and caused terror to the final moments of somethings life. Its not a nice feeling to know you've indirectly caused suffering. Or directly for that matter... But that's the world we live in. I'm not condoning acts of malice, simply saying that some things have a way of dying. Its nature. We can't control it. Cheers, teevo
ReplyDeleteWhat I was getting at there, is that we aren't in control. God/ prime creator/ the universal being is in control. We have a say in our own lives, we make choices, but some things are out of our hands. An eg; maybe fantastic mr mint had cancer or a tumour and was doomed to a short life. If its dead now, that is. It could have the equivalent of depression. You gave it a good crack though - you came from a place of good intentions. That's a good thing. Cheers, teevo
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