THE ITALIAN PENTHOUSE

Just at this time I feel like my life is on hold.  I am all set to hit the road but am waiting for some important bits and pieces to complete my home on wheels.

It is as if the Gods who watch the soap opera of our lives in hysterics each night, especially at the bits where we pretend to be in charge of our own destiny, have clicked the pause button.

As I wait for signage and other items to arrive I am enjoying reducing my possessions to fit into my Adventure Camper. The thought of having just one of everything is intoxicating. I'll know where everything is, possibly for the first time in my life. There will be no vacuuming, no ever reddening bills and reminders arriving in the mail and email.

I had set my final departure date as the 23rd of May. I am not superstitious. I walk under ladders, put umbrellas up inside and dice with all kinds of omens. But if there's a chance to do something on the 23rd of anything I do it. My daughter was born on that date. That means I haven't smoked a cigarette for 23 years because I gave up as a present to her on her 5th birthday.

On that date I signed my publishing contract and my house settled. It was No. 23 and it was good to Tom and me. So the 23rd was to be my departure day with my only commitment to be in Alice Springs for the Desert Choir five or six weeks later.

Then came the good news that my Maggiolina Airlander had arrived from Italy. You don't know what a Maggiolina Airlander is? I am shocked. It is an aerodynamically designed roof top tent that will sit elegantly on my camper. The 23rd of May now becomes the day I drive to a little town of Allora in Queensland to have it fitted.

Sleep is important to me. It can become a lifestyle at times. I write in bed, dream in bed and watch i-TV in bed. The Airlander was the final piece of the puzzle because I didn't want to sleep in the car or set up a tent. I am not as tough as John the Swagman who pulls up on the side the road with barely a mat to cushion with body.

No. I will sleep in an all weather cube roof top cube situated under a tree so that birds, possums and me can become more acquainted over my stay. Where breeze from a river or ocean or desert can flow through and I can just lie there and feel it. As I get older, lonely sounds isolated by deep silence are becoming more and more exquisite.

If the design of the Maggiolina Airlander hadn't attracted me the promotional  uTube video of the set up might have. Remember this is from Italy, the land of Silvio "bunga bunga" Berlusconi. I will be doing my own version for SWAG TV that will make Benny Hill look like a Trapist Monk

The official departure date for the Electronic Swagman and Tommie has become June 1. This allows me time to wander as I wish to Alice Springs for my choir and writer's trips. From there I will explore.

I am already off on the road in my head. I am alone and amongst rocks in places I haven't seen yet. I am photographing with light that hits the water on some creek without a name and starting a fire by a river. I am also really scared. And when I get really really scared I remember a program on Radio National. A researcher had interviewed about 100 ninety year olds. They were all asked their greatest regret in life. Most said the same thing, that they wished they had taken more risks. At that stage of life they saw 'security' for the mirage it is.

Meanwhile Tommie is trying to make sense of boxes and my spring cleaning. He recognises the different quality of the pack up. He isn't leaving my side until he knows he is part of the future.

The future is what looms for me. A decade on the road I anticipate. It's worth waiting for my Italian Penthouse.

Raymond