Being back has been all too much. My body is toiling through an endless misery of sudden change and dark culture shock. And it feels like during the four days I have been travelling underwater, through endless airports and then a change of climate, into dark short days and misty frozen nights, the Western world has caught fire at both ends – America seems to have exploded in all of its underlying injustices and Australia has now from what I can gather officially turned its back on the Refugee Convention of which we were originally one of the instigators. Berlin is overwhelming and dirty and livid with struggle and grime. The two of us have been sleeping, incessantly, on a narrow mattress which requires everybody to sleep on their sides and all turn at once. At intervals we get up and stumble about in the cold, following the dog whose yipping almost split my ears when we first picked him up. My partner got on eBay and looked up mattresses. He has bought a decent, little-used bed for a price we can afford. The guy is about to go away for the week up to Cologne. Oh god, seven more nights balanced on our sides. “Well,” said the mattress owner, “why don’t I leave the key to my apartment down in the garden house and you can pick it up and come take the mattress away.” “Okay…” “Just take the mattress,” he said cheerfully, “try not to take any of the other stuff.” Some people really rock.
Tag: ebay
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eBaying at the moon
Hooray, I just perfected a new & absolutely unexpected skill. You know when you have to write blurb for a festival or a book release and it is so so painful to describe Oneself, One’s Own Work, argh, and you end up with something stilted, awkward, embarrassed & bland…. Well I just listed some old fur coats & suede jackets on eBay for the first time, cos I’m living in the tropics and will never get to wear their sweet soft savoury selves again. Wahh. I put it off and put it off and put it off again. Then tonight I opened an account and did them all in a rush & I’m so proud! Turns out I have a flair for cheery & honest descriptions of old clothes. How bizarre. Check em out:
* This inimitable jacket saw me through a freezing February in New York City. Recording my album I felt I was channeling Janice Joplin. People came up to me in the street to talk about the jacket! New York men adored it. Wild and hairy, from real sheepskin, unlined, undyed, hand sewn, raw and untamed. It is open down the front and in great condition. Hip length on me and I’m 6 foot tall.
* I love this little cape. It fastens snugly round your neck and hangs free over the shoulders. Lovingly hand sewn by some 1960s fashionista and aspiring superhero who just loved sequins. Splashed across the lower back is a spray of gleaming flowers in crimson and cream sequins. It is dashing. And no matter how far you look, you’ll never find one like it. Ooh la la!
* Probably made for a man but it looks ravishing on cool girls, this suede jacket in rich cinnamon was styled by the then no doubt famous Simon Kessel Australian Design Collection. Gorgeous labels in good condition still stitched into the nutmeg satin lining. Handstitched pockets with a faintly cowboy feel are perfect for slouching about it. This baby will take you places. Grab your fedora and shine up your Cuban heels: when you slip this on it’s gonna feel like you’ve worn it forever.
I had put off dealing with this pile of clothes for I dunno, maybe two months. To have done them, and to feel I have done right by them, gives me the most luminescent feeling.