friday arvo

- leave work early, walk into town and see - unbelievable! - a traffic jam on the highway - stop and stare with everyone else because hey you've never seen anything like it here - or maybe you're getting the big eyes of a local -

- pick up a friend and off to buy some champagne - currently available for a limited time only - for tonight, someone has a projector and a screen and sin city apparently - walk to the bottle shop (a big dark fridge in the hotel) - and see - beautiful! - a man with an owl on his hands, white with light brown and yellow flicked feathers - we touch it and it feels as soft as a gesture -

- buy bubbles and cross back over the road, saying goodbye to the owl (it's fed on biscuits and sweet potato; it's sleepy we're told; i don't know quite what it's doing in town) - into the supermarket, discussing fine, expensive wines and luxurious cheeses to match - and laugh: what are we, talking of other worlds whilst we're here in this one, in dusty goroka, on a friday afternoon -

- life is alright, you know -

- and there's an email from me mate waiting for me when i'm back at home, and he's had a dramatic promotion - and it's time for champagne i say - at times, life is alright