10 Short Stories

No Worries Mate (II)

I had arrived in the rain, and alone, at the Laura Caravan Park. I then paid $5AUD for the camping fee before proceeding to put up my tent, which required more delicacy in rain but was otherwise not an issue.

I subsequently proceeded to cook outside the launderette, which was the driest and warmest place in the LCP. If God was allocating luck on a daily basis, I guess I was not on the recipient list that day; my stove failed to work!

Thanks to the Australians' love for BBQ, there was a coin-operated one in the compound, which after several dollars and almost 20minutes cooked me a meal of pasta. I was grateful enough! Like most of my days, I had to have a half-liter mug of hot chocolate after my meal that today had to take place indoors- in the launderette, of course!

I was sitting on a bench sipping my hot beverage while reading a 3-month old copy of Time magazine when an affable looking old man walked in and asked if I would join him in his caravan.

Hmm….now it seemed that God had not actually forgotten me at all….

It had been a day of rain for me, so it became the warmest moment of the day after stepping into Roy Gater's heated caravan. Sylvia immediately offered me tea, and I mean HOT TEA, which was served together with biscuits on nice porcelain. While allowing myself to be pampered by Australian hospitality, I quietly adjusted my naked feet into the direction of the feet-heater, which Roy noticed and pleasantly brought it nearer to me.

Over the course of several refills, the caravan got too warm for me and I had to remove one of my jackets. What a contrast it was compared to the state I was in just over an hour ago. I later found out that Roy and Sylvia Gater were living in Adelaide and had already been out on a caravan holiday for a while.

It was getting late so I decided to return to my cold tent. Just before leaving, an invite came from the Gaters that I should drop by their apartment when I arrived in Adelaide.

After getting into my tent, I took probably a good 10 minutes before my down sleeping bag warmed me up, after which, it was really nice though the outside of the tent was probably sub-20 degrees.

Roy had suggested that I should put my bike in his caravan and follow him to Adelaide which is some 230km away but which I could not accept as I was on an expedition and should cycle most of the times. I subsequently arrived in the Gaters' home 2 days later.

It was a wise choice I made to cycle the 230km, as I would later become smarter with the (painful) knowledge (near Clare) that one should never go near the magpies when they are mating! These amorous birds would dive into me and on several occasions score hits on my helmet and shoulders. I was thankful that I was always wearing my (plastic) shades. Prior to this encounter, I was not able to imagine that my riding shades would 1 day protect me from birds! Raising my voice, shouting out loud, on few instances did scare off the birds.

I managed to reach the Gaters' home slightly after dark to a warm welcome. Sylvia probably knew that sub 15 degrees was too much for a Singaporean cyclist and immediately and very enthusiastically made me a hot tea after inviting me into the house. I had a long overdue hot shower and was later served a hot meal by Sylvia. Roy, as if he could decipher my mind brought out a bottle of chardonnay, which would later become a regular item on our table, albeit that the quantity was always different each night. I am not telling you if it was incremental or otherwise.

When I was an undergraduate doing my internship as part of my degree, I was a waiting staff for 3 months in a fine dining restaurant that was some 200metres in the air and lured its well-heeled clients with a panoramic view (when there was no haze from Indonesia, of course) of the nation and its two nearest neighbours. My training there proved useful when I chatted Roy as I was able to discuss cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay and of course my favorite- cabernet merlot.

I had, on the second night of my stay with the Gaters remarked about my craving for rhubarb. The following day, rhubarb was served on the table! Sylvia had prepared the dessert using the plant that they had cultivated in the premises of their house. Dinner was always the highlight complemented by Sylvia's excellent culinary skills and Roy's stories.

Roy had been a career soldier before and had accumulated many tales from his tours to numerous parts of the world, together with Sylvia's dessert and the easy accessibility to chardonnays, our dinners would often last hours in the kitchen.

When Roy was a soldier, he was a little mischievous and was once punished with loosening the soil in a garden with his bayonet. Mischief aside, Roy was a good soldier where he was once the proudest soldier in the entire parade square as his commanding officer presented to him his decoration. He showed me the picture as we sat in the heated room drinking hot tea while it was probably sub 20-degrees outside!

As much as I enjoyed the lively chats in the kitchen, I also loved the conversations in the carpeted living area where we would have a tea served with small biscuits while tales were exchanged. Usually the Gaters would retire first while I went through the old magazines, watched the TV or wrote my diary before I was pampered in my own heated room that the Gaters had made available for me.

Deep in my heart lays a yearning to be in that living room again.

One of the lively long chats I had with Roy in his living room, the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” was on TV, which had distracted me from my chat with Roy. Roy must have sensed that I had liked the movie very much and subtly left me alone with the Chow Yun Fatt movie. Looking back, I think that I was kind of rude.

In a corner of the room where I slept stood a stack of (shoe) boxes where Roy had kept his many photographs. It then imprinted on me that my photographs would 1 day lie in boxes collecting dusk. The experience has since realigned my perspectives on photo taking.

These days, I would at times make myself a hot tea before I go to bed.