I am at David’s place in Footscray at the moment. The heater is working, yay. We had a wine and word night. It has reminded me among other things of the diversity of the Bible’s wisdom. One person read from Eccleciastes another from James, another couple from the gospels. I read from Ezekial (prophets, always my favourite). Anyway it really is a classic of a book. So much beauty and confusion and challenge and comfort.

So I encouraged Jem to write more blogs and then I don’t write for nearly 2 weeks. I was going to blog about Jem coming to Melbourne but it seems she has already done that. I will add though that it was really special having her here and that anyone is always more than welcome to stay.

I especially enjoyed her first night when we rocked up and surprised David. When we approached the house it was all dark and we started to worry we might wake him up but he embraced us with open arms and a lovely bottle of wine.

I also enjoyed visiting Cameron who opened the door and said “It’s great you’ve made it but I’ve been sick all day with the runs.” Jem reckons he has lived at Larche so long he has lost all the desire to be subtle about that stuff. Cameron is an especially beautiful man.

Having Jem in Credo was great too. She met of few of my interesting Credo friends and helped with the cleaning.

Yeah we had lots of laughs and connected over our journey’s in community and reminisced about life and stuff. Without getting too sentimental it is a real treaure (that sounds better than good or nice) to have friends who have journeyed with you over a long period of time. There is so much common understanding and a lot of love.

Today is my 6month anniversary. Obviously a new couple because I am excited by that but it really does feel like a bit of a milestone. Dave is a good man, sometimes I wish I was a better person. But that said we both bring strengths and weaknesses to the relationship. Even I in all my craziness and sometimes selfishness bring insight and love to the relationship.  We are still living by the boundaries/values he set out at the beginning of the relationship (if you know what I mean). That is not always the easiest thing but it is a different experience for me  and you know atleast he didn’t cave after a month or something.

So tonight we are going to dinner down Smith street. Mum will agree that is a good choice. Then after dinner we are going to play in this old, run down dimly lit pool hall that looks like it is out of another century or atleast a another generation. It is a good thing we are pretty evenly matched.

There is a resident at Urban Seed who I have a bit of a difficult relationship with. There is a bit of a personality clash among other things. However, we have recently taken to writing each other letters. The poem I write below she wrote to me and said when she read it, it reminded her of me. It’s funny sometimes even when you think you may be doing everything wrong in a relationship the other person shows this deep insight into the essence of your being.  

I know from experience, 

standing deep within a linden tree, in a pouring summer shower                                                        

one will not get wet.   

I know from experience,

standing very close under a scrub oak in a mountain down pour,

one shall not get wet.

I know from experience,

when we draw very near to God’s heart,

when we stand deep within God’s shelter,

we will not be overcome

with the drenching pain of life.

                                                                        

I never thought I would find myself in the rain at the back of the supermarkets in Brunswick pulling food out of the dumpsters but that is exactly what I was doing on Tuesday night. My flat mate Andreana after finishing her law degree came to live at Urban Seed and earn her money busking. So she hasn’t got much money and is almost living as a freegan. (As in she doesn’t pay for food). So we get a lot of leftovers from Credo and other Urban Seed functions but now it seems dumpster diving is in and we are getting some of our food from the waste of supermarkets. I know it may appear like we are freakin weirdo’s but it is actually quite a common activity in social justice/ environmentalist circles. The idea is in this culture of waste to waste less. It is pretty exciting because now I am like Mr Wendall.

Uncivilized we call him,
but I just saw him eat off the food we waste
Civilization, are we really civilized, yes or no ?
Who are we to judge ?
When thousands of innocent men could be brutally enslaved
and killed over a racist grudge
Mr.Wendal has tried to warn us about our ways
but we don’t hear him talk
Is it his fault when we’ve gone too far,
and we got too far, cause on him we walk
Mr.Wendal, a man, a human in flesh,
but not by law
I feed you dignity to stand with pride,
realize that all in all you stand tall

Go ahead Mr Wendall

London is cold at the moment but it is starting to get warmer, which is good.
Jo and I are fine, I am just having trouble finding work at the moment i have been for a few interviews this week and last but I dont find out if I have the job till after easter. But i will get a job somewhere I kmow I will just not in Real Estate.

Jo is off to Italy with her mum on Wednesday for 5 days so next week will be a bit quiet without her but hey we have had longer apart before…
We live in a place called Camden Town it is like Neewtown but 100 times bigger and better…
We live with this other  Aussie couple  and this really nice French girl (we ge along really well) and her boyfriend is cool as well…

(This is just a bit of an email from Matt. I thought you guys might be interested to read a little of how he is going. I would so love to visit him and Jo and do some travelling  but I think I should probably get my Diploma of Education first. I will probably have to wait till 2011.)