In itself, there is nothing too odd about finding discarded items of clothing and shoes on Australian roads (those Aussies are a sexy lot!), but usually the shoes are broken thongs or a pair of sand-shoes (more often than not, tied together and thrown over the electricity lines); therefore, I was intrigued whilst out cycling yesterday to find a single black lace-up shoe on the side of the road and a black sock in the middle of the road. Why just one sock and shoe? Was the owner a one-legged man? A passing motorist was similarly intrigued to see a woman photographing a black sock in the middle of the road…

“Are you alright?” asked the concerned fellow.

“Oh yes,” I looked up surprised, “I’m just taking a photograph of this mysterious sock and that missing shoe over there.”

“It probably fell off a Ute,” he said smiling, “I saw your bike on the side of the road and you in the middle of road and I was worried.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, “but thank you for stopping.”

We smiled at each other for a second or two and then, without any excuse for chatting longer, the driver bade goodbye and drove off. It’s heartening to know that you can always count on an Aussie male to help a damsel in distress.

In truth, it was rather late in the morning to out cycling, especially on a  very hot day, which is why I had lathered myself with hypoallergenic sunscreen. I was keen to discover somewhere in the area, other than the Albert River, as a cycling destination; Roland had suggested there might be some cycle-paths around Windaroo, a couple of kilometres from here down the main busy road. Happily, I didn’t get hit by any big trucks or speeding cars even though the cycle lane had a tendency to run out just at the most dangerous points. In fact, I must have been looking very happy when I arrived safely at Windaroo Lakes Golf Course because a Japanese golfer in a cowboy hat said:

“Ah so, you look so happy!”

“I am happy,” I said (little did he know about the cause of my happiness).

Within a few minutes the three Japanese golfers, having finished on one green (it’s not a huge golf course), passed by me again.

“Are you following me?” I joked.

“I think you so happy, if I see you again, I catch happiness from you,” my cowboy friend joked back.

“He happy because he the winner!” informed one of the other two Japanese golfers.

A little later I saw the trio again – this time I was catching up with them.

“Are you still winning?” I called.

“No, he winning,” the cowboy pointed to the smaller man in the baseball cap and check shirt.

The new ‘Number One’ approached me, smiling. I think he may have thought I brought him luck.

“You look very energetic,” he said, “look like sexy guy!”. And his shoulders did a dance from side to side to show his appreciation.

I shrugged my own shoulders (in a figurative sense) and laughed to myself as I watched the figure of my oriental admirer (under the blue parasol) pressing on to join his pals.

Something hit my helmet as I cycled homeward on the busy road. And yet again. The same mother magpie bomb-dived me four times and I had to put on a spurt to get out of there quickly. The sweat dripped from my brow and my eyes smarted. I could hardly see – I was going blind… Then my nose streamed… Thank goodness… it was just the hypoallergenic sunscreen lotion – not so hypoallergenic after all. The cycle-lane ran out and became a gravelly hard shoulder. Barely able to see, I dismounted to wipe my stinging eyes…

What do you think I saw? Right before me on the hard shoulder was the other black shoe and just up the road a short way was the other black sock. Case solved. He (whoever ‘he’ was) hated those hot thick socks and heavy shoes!