A very quiet Sunday. My neck was still hurting when I woke up but it may be getting a little better. Still can’t swim. I got up about 8 AM and watched a recording of the Wales v Australia Rugby test at Twickenham which I’d taped overnight. Amazing display of heroism by the Australians who were down to 13 men at one stage. They also popped the Welsh scrum a few times. Very rare to see an Australian rugby scrum being used as an offensive weapon. Hard to believe that I played a game at Twickenham in the late 1970s when London New Zealand got to the finals of the Middlesex 7s . Long time ago. I was going to the gym but as I packed my bag, noticed that my hamstrings were really tight after yesterday’s session so went for a walk down to Manly instead. Shoulder hurt a bit but it was bearable. Listened to Alison Krauss singing There is a Reason on the way out to Fairy Bower. God it’s a beautiful song. It’s from the So Long So Wrong album which is one of the first of hers that I bought back in 1997. I never tire of listening to it. The harmonies send shivers down my spine.

Why do we suffer, crossing off the years

There must be a reason for it all

Hope she’s right.

Didn’t want to go back and sit in my apartment on my own so I called in to Manly Wine bar,  got myself a seat at the window and had a cup of coffee. Read the Sunday papers and watched the world go by outside. I love being perched up there, looking at the ocean and seeing everyone going about a peaceful Sunday. Australia is an amazing place. You know that no one will ever let a bomb off and blow you out into the street in a crowded place like that. At least you hope not.

Walked back and spent most of the afternoon reading. On Friday I finished an Australian book called Chasing the ACE by Nicholas J Johnson. It’s about two conmen in Melbourne. It’s fiction but he obviously knows a lot about the trade and it was quite amusing if only light. Hemingway and John Steinbeck would have had a field day with characters and subject matter like that.

Friday night I started another book called The Cartel by Don Winslow.  I’d only decided to read it after seeing a review in the Sydney Morning Herald which praised it highly. It was also mentioned in a review of a recently released film called Sicario.  A quote, on the cover, from James Ellroy, one of my favourite authors, caught my eye.

“This is the War and Peace of dope-war books.”

Only James Ellroy could say that. However, he’s pretty right. It’s a book about the drug wars in Mexico and I can’t put it down, although I’m not normally interested in this subject matter. Narco books about drugs, drug dealers or drug users just leave me a bit cold. Nevertheless, he’s a good writer who knows how to write with a broad sweep in the plot. I wish I could write fiction like this. I even took it to dinner tonight to read in the restaurant – Manly Fish cafe. I’ve become the weird, lonely old guy that sits in the corner, by himself, reading a book at dinner. I reckon it doesn’t  matter if you have a good book to read.

It has a great line, Every man needs a fallen women in his life to rescue. Wish I’d written that.

Books and music as rehabilitation therapy for a broken leg – cheaper than booze, not as nasty and habit-forming as drugs and hey, they don’t make you fat!.