‘Pull up a chair’

Last month, I left Melbourne, my home of 8 years, and moved to the Upper Hunter Shire of New South Wales. I lived here with my mum during Melbourne’s first lockdown in 2020, and the decision to relocate, albeit bittersweet, was easy to make.

This morning, I took myself out to a local antique shop and cafe run by energetic couple, Ray and Judy. Even though it’s cold, I was rugged up to sit outside and watch the rain pour down, well covered by the old building’s wide verandah that reaches all the way to the street. On top of the 1950s formica table sat an old record (I wish I’d thought to check what album it was) and on top of that, a jar of sugar sachets.

As I sipped my coffee, I let my eyes settle on the builder across the road, finally working on his own home. I’d stopped to say hello earlier. “I have to do this now while I can. I’m so busy with work, with paid work, that all this gets left behind.” The house is a grand old pile, rescued from near ruin by him and his wife some years ago. Their hard work was paying off. There it stood, imposing and stately, proud once again under the couple’s loving care.

I left him cutting and placing planks to form the second-storey balcony floor and turned to my own task – transposing the beginnings of a poem from my phone into my notebook – when Judy asked me to join the Quiz group about to get underway. “We are relying on you to answer all young persons’ questions accurately, you know.”

Each Saturday morning, a bunch of folks gather to do the quiz from the papers. They take score as a group and text the total to any regulars who are away, to compete against their score, knowing they’ll be doing the quizzes from wherever they happen to be. (Accuracy of the score doesn’t seem to be as important as sticking it to the other party in jovial oneupmanship!) 

I was delighted to be invited, but made no promises to contribute correct answers and basked in the pretence I could still legitimately be considered a young person. Judy introduced me round. I’d met Prue and Rodney over the years, it was a pleasure to see them again, and I repeated the names of the new people in my head, hoping I’d remember them. “Peter, Fiona, Mark. Peter, Fiona, Mark.”

And off we went! Prue read out the questions. I learned you have to be quick to call out answers, but also that this group nuts them out together, and peppers the chat with good-natured ribbing and sincere encouragement. Happily, I did get a few right answers, most enjoyably, I laughed my head off frequently.

What a hearty welcome to my new home.