I might not have written this post except for the wonderful events of Friday when schoolchildren across Australia marched to show politicians that they want action on climate change. I feel so proud of them. At least a couple of politicians have been very rude about it, including Morrison (our hopefully very temporary Prime Minister) and I hold him most to blame for the negativity – what he says counts more than the others.

A few months ago we went to a talk by the Greenpeace CEO of Australia. After his disheartening, yet interesting talk, someone said to him that talking to school children about climate change was our only hope. His reply was that by the time the children are old enough to vote it will be much too late to avert climate change disaster. But, the actions of so many kids, obviously with the support of concerned parents, is very heartening indeed. No matter how much they are demeaned and shouted down by politicians, they have done the right and obvious thing. It matters more to them than anyone else.

So, I have had the most precious Christmas Gift I could possibly imagine. Nothing else can come close.

A lot of the reason why we love going travelling in our van is to be closer to nature. Waking up in the bush with no one else around is the ideal, as happened on our second night at Wongan Hills. Yet there is always an undercurrent of: how long can we continue to enjoy these things before extreme weather events and other consequences take hold? Is there any possibility of the children that we see around us being able to have these experiences too? Right now, yes, but by the time they are adults and have their own children, that’s the great unknown. Certainly they won’t be able to if the nations of the world don’t change their policies and take action.

Marie took up quilting a few years ago and now that I am retired I am starting to get interested in sewing as well. I did my third class on Monday this week and feel re-inspired to get back to it. I’ve already booked for the first one in February next year. I made a sort of very soft and floppy cushion before we went away as a travel pillow. On our return to Perth Stephen took it over because it was good back support at home and when we are in the Winnie. The passenger seat is more uncomfortable than the driver’s seat even though they are exactly the same. Having the steering wheel to grip makes a difference.

I wasn’t pleased about losing my dear cushion, having become very fond of it over the course of our travels. The photo above is a new cushion in progress. It’s now finished and gifted to Stephen (I even embroidered his name on it). He professes to be quite happy with the exchange. The cushion is a bit puffy at the moment, but easily shaped as needed and will probably get a bit flatter with use.

Of course, there are many other things that one could make besides cushions. However, I have a couple more planned  before Christmas. It’s quite a nice feeling to have a project on the go which I can work on for an hour or so, then leave until I next feel in the mood. The sewing machine has taken over my desk, with other sewing stuff around. We have a folding table in the living area which has become my cutting table and the ironing board is set up in the laundry (making it very crowded as we also dry clothes there). The secret with sewing is having all the equipment ready to go, when I put the sewing machine and other stuff away I simply don’t get back to it. It’s the same if you are learning a musical instrument. When I was learning the violin my teacher told me to leave it out of its case to make it easy to pick up and practice. It worked.

We are in Claremont today. Stephen is rehearsing for a concert tomorrow at Christchurch, Claremont. I came as well because I wanted to get this writing done and have set up at a nearby cafe. In some ways I regret moving away from Claremont, but it is very busy and Stirling Highway is very commercial, I don’t miss that at all. I also don’t miss making almost no progress at all on our $100,000 mortgage as it was during the period when interests rates were at 17.5%.

I do miss being fairly close to the ocean. As we drove through the side streets near to where we used to live I realised why we feel comfortable living in Victoria Park. Many of the houses are similar and there are still places that have not been renovated in any way, with messy, overgrown and neglected looking gardens.

At present I am working my way through the Shetland series by Ann Cleeves, but diverted to read an enchanting French book The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. She is a philosophy teacher as well as a novelist and her characters are wonderfully quirky and philosophical. This was one of the books I bought at the Book Bazaar.

We began with the children marching for action on Climate Change. Will any of the politicians take notice? Will they take action. I think the children may need to keep marching, and we should join them.