Bowling

When Tess and I first met it was at school, but we first became buddies when we still lived in the same city and both became single. Tess is a nerd in every wonderful sense of the word. She’s the one who introduced me to the brilliance of Doctor Who. She’s my default for talking about anything related to a superhero. We don’t live in the same city anymore, though. For Victorian’s particularly, that means it’s been hard to see her for the last two years. She may as well have lived in another country.

For context on this, because I know many of my readers don’t live in Victoria, or even in Australia, Victoria bore the brunt of Australia’s pandemic response through 2020 and well into 2021. At first it was because the country didn’t have any purpose built quarantine facilities (we still don’t) and so quarantine was happening in Melbourne hotels for the very few lucky people who even managed to make it into the country. The virus escaped, and Victoria was where we had to learn what worked for in terms of containing the spread of it. Travel became restricted, at some points you couldn’t travel further than 5km from your home unless you were going to buy essential goods. Travel to or from Melbourne (where the outbreaks always seemed to hit harder) was particularly restricted. It meant either of us making the journey to visit was near impossible.

This was our first catch up since. I’d forgotten how wonderful it is to sit with a friend and laugh, and wait for their responses to things. Tess used to bowl when she was younger so I thought it would be a fun evening out and we could chill out at dinner afterwards.

It was like I hadn’t realised how much I missed her until she was there in front of me, her eyes bright and chatting easily. This has been the hardest thing about the pandemic, being away from people who make our lives bright.

This bowling alley has looked the same for my entire life. It was established in 1979. The screens and chairs are all original and have been there so long that they have become magnificently retro. It makes the whole experience even better. If you’re in Ballarat visiting or you’re a local looking for some fun, find out about them here. I wore 80s jeans that were originally for me to wear on stage in Steel Magnolias. Photos were taken by a mix of me and Sam.

I have done a blog shoot here before, showing of my skills on the claw machines.