Queenscliff Courtyard Cafe & Nursery
3/58 Hesse St
Queenscliff
Ph (03) 5258 2856
My companion and I dive in here, via a narrow race, to a sweet little cubbyhole of a cafe leading on to outdoor seating and a nursery. White walls, relaxed vibe; pretty lights wink from the ceiling. Reasonable coffee. Leaf Tea for sale. The Wisdom of Asia — 365 days on a shelf. Vanilla slice $5; Jelly Cakes with cream $4; Chocolate Kisses $3; Vege Lasagna with salad $13; Free range eggs $6.50; Murray River gourmet Salt Flakes; Chicken satay wrap $13; Moroccan & Chickpea soup $9.
Earlier in the afternoon I visit the library. On this particular day (Wednesday) it was closed, but at the entrance there are two small annexes. One is the Tourist Office and the other is the newspaper Reading Room. An absolute treasure! One of life’s true discoveries! two chairs and a timeworn oval table. On a rack, newspapers for the past week. This space was a gift to Everyman. And I read in The Age of three desalination plants planned for South Australia; one in Spencer Gulf to quench BHP’s monsterous demands; one in Gulf St. Vincent to replace the flow from the dyig Murray, and one on the barren and beautiful Yorke Peninsula to feed a … GOLF COURSE. Pardon me, but is not our world in crisis? Are we not, one and all, burdened with moral debt? Our self seems error. Politics — our “leaders”? Give them a year out. Teach them ecology, deep ecology, general systems theory. Teach them mediation. Make them practice. Teach them elemental (yes elemental, not elementary) psychology. Teach them to listen. Get them out to the beaches and the forests. Get them on bikes, get them walking. Put them in counsel with Aboriginal elders and with those of deep-rooted faith.
And you? And I?
Proof ourselves. Otherwise allow yourself possession by those technologies of ruthlessness of unconsciousness, of unreason. Are we so un-mallaeble, of such unrestraint? Shunryu Suzuki writes of the Dogen Zenji who said, “We human beings attach to something that is not real and forget all about what is real. That is actually what we do. If you realise this point, you will have perfect composure, and you can trust yourself.”