Plum Trees in Auburn

Today we went to Clare. It is a long way to Clare. If you leave our place at nine it will be coffee time before you get to Clare, that's how far it is. At coffee time you will be in Auburn.

Auburn is pretty quiet on a Monday morning. We stopped in the main street which is the only street, and got out of the car.

We walked back to a cafe we had passed. It was closed.

We turned and walked the other way, past two blossoming plum trees, to the Cygnet Cafe.

Tomorrow we shall see what happened there.

More Truths About Blue

Did your friend give you that jumper? asked Pliny the Elder, who had noticed it was blue.

No, she didn't, I said crossly. And you are the second person today to ask me that question. I've had it for years and I chose it myself.

It's a very pleasant shade, said Pliny. What would you call it, azure?

I might call it azure, I replied. But nowadays I prefer to call it Classic Windows Blue.

My goodness, so it is, said Pliny. Classic Windows Blue. Why do you hardly ever wear it?

Because I don't really like it any more.

Then why are you wearing it today?

I'm not sure. I think it was a subliminal choice, to do with my hair, and the Doppler effect. And you know, when we went to visit my mother this afternoon, and I was sitting at her dining room table leafing through the pages of The Australian Womens Weekly, she leaned forward and said, I can see the auburn in your hair now, under this light.

So you were happy that you wore the blue jumper?

Well I was at the time, but later on she asked me if my daughter had bought it in London.