It was a quintessential Brisbane night…warm enough for short shelves, yet cool enough for jeans. Something I really appreciate after spending some ‘cold time’ during Melbourne’s summer recently. My friend, Ashley invited to a gig where she was displaying some of her art.

It was at 10 Laura St, Highgate Hill in the basement of a house. A benefit gig for the Wild Mountains Trust, an environmental group, which works out of the property. It was an old weatherboard, with a lush green backyard. They had mounted umbrellas on fixtures in the garden and lit them up with lamps. This added to the relaxed, happy atmosphere. They had plenty of vegan food, we chose to munch on bunches of juicy green grapes.

Unbeknown to me, Dana Lyons was playing, the man behind the Cows with Guns song. I’d loved this song, ever since Triple J first gave it air play in the ninties. Turns out he is a talented musician, and he belted out some really heart felt music too. When he did play Cows, the crowd joined in with a great sing-a-long.

At the end of the gig, we jumped in the car to go home. I had parked facing up a steep hill. Ashley opened the passenger side door and it got wedged in the footpath. Being a manual, the car rolled a little as I tried to move forward. The wedge got worse and dug deeper, making a horrible scrapping sound. Visions of the whole door snapping off came to mind. Something that Austudy wouldn’t be able to cover, also come to mind! Ashley came up with the idea of jacking the car up to free the door. I got the jack out and there was a man having a cigerette in the closest property. He came out with a torch. I jacked up the car and made the door free with minimal damage. So jacks are handy not just for blown tyres! My dream of owning an auto car had just become a little stronger.

We drove home as a storm was brewing and lightening was dancing in the sky. It broke just as we got inside, resulting in a lovely cool breeze. What a perfect night of suprise and drama.