My fingertips have wings

Each morning, before the world gets busy, I walk down to the headland situated at the end of my street. I often silently thank whoever organised the three large rocks that sit 5 meters apart. The cold surface seems to patiently wait for a body to come and bring it warmth. I prefer the one placed under the Pandanus Palm best, offering me shelter from the first rays of the day. Looking out at the bed of blue before me I breath in the salt air like happy gas.

This small amount of time that I allocate each day is where I find the clarity and focus that I need to write. I plot plots, I discover minor details about my characters that my study desk was keeping from me, and I visualise the cover of my first Novel. I dream of things in my life that could happen, should happen or didn’t happen…and build scenarios for each. It is this time that fuels my writing. It is here that I feel my fingertips have wings that will take me around the world, onto foreign bookshelves and into the thoughts of strangers.

$2….small change brings big results

The past 5 nights has washed over me like a tide, each night drifting in and out of sleep. To say this week has been a challenge is an understatement, for more reasons than I dare make public. But one of the reasons was for a good cause. I decided last week to join my bubbly friend Kimi and take part in the Live Below the Line charity event. An event to help raise funds and awareness for those that live below the poverty line. Kimi and her scottish enthusiasm easily won me over and it just so happened to fall on the week that both electricity AND car registration were being siphoned from my bank balance.  Perfect!

The rules: Live on $2 per day for 5 days.

It is actually quite surprising how cheaply you can eat. We were able to eat 3 meals per day and it was not just sparrows food we were limited to. We got as creative as our budget would allow us to, transforming mundane groceries into gourmet meals fit for, well, those who live on $2 per day. However, my biggest struggles came midway through the week when my coffee craving kicked well and truly in, along with my sacrifice of meat and fresh fruit and vegetables. Isn’t it sad to think that frozen vegetables are actually cheaper than fresh?  I will admit to shedding a quiet tear when I handed a whole mandarin over to the possum that comes to my back door each evening.  But hey,  only I had to survive on the budget…..the possum would not partake in my challenge.  We discussed it at great length before I commited.

So the challenge is now over and we were able to raise some money for a good cause, as well as save some money for ourselves! It opened my eyes up to the wastage in my fridge and as I paced down (at a much faster speed than I was capable of the week before) to my favourite coffee depot early this morning for my first cup of ‘real’ beans in a week, I swallowed the guilt as I handed over my $4.80 trying very hard to ignore the voice in my head that said “thats two and a half days worth of food you could have bought yourself there”.

I do plan to take some lessons from the challenge in my stride though, the main one being wastage.  However, my daily  “Large latte with 1 sugar  for Bek please” stays!

If this challenge is something you are shaking your head at the thought of and saying under your breathe “No way.  There is just no way I could do that”, take a leap!