Currently. And RIP Jill Meagher.

Thinking about: an article in The Courier Mail entitled 'Why I'll never walk home alone again' caught my eye yesterday. This powerful opinion piece was written by a young girl of similar age and circumstance as Jill Meagher, who just last week walked a short distance home after drinks with friends, and sadly never made it. She's left behind a devastated husband, a family in shock and sadly has perpetuated a legacy of women everywhere now feeling unsafe on our streets. The girl who wrote the article walked home, as she has done many times before, suddenly hyper-aware of her own safety in a way she never had thought about before. Fortunately for the writer, she made it home.

Personally I've been known to walk quite a distance by myself after a few drinks, and consider myself so lucky that nothing of consequence has ever happened to me. Last year after my work Christmas party, in fact, found me wandering the streets of Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, not the safest of places, dressed as Little Red Riding Hood of all things. I had tried to call a taxi, however the taxi service in question refused to pick me up as apparently during a certain window, you can only get a cab from designated taxi ranks. 

WTF?

I recall having a heated argument with the girl on the other end of the phone, which ended in me describing my appearance and telling her to remember that if any misfortune befell me that she could live with that for the rest of her life.

Not my finest moment, for sure, but seriously, I was a woman walking alone in the middle of the night and a company that we PAY to collect us safely basically refused to help me.

Again, I'm one of the lucky ones...I made it to the taxi rank and home safely.

I think the story of Jill Meagher has touched every woman everywhere, and sadly I personally won't be walking anywhere after dark anytime soon. Even sitting outside enjoying the evening last night, I suddenly became hyper-aware myself of every noise, every crunch of leaves, and scared myself into going back inside and putting on the deadbolt.

RIP Jill.

Watching: so this long weekend (long weekend, yay!) has seen me catching up on a lot of my favourite shows which have come back on air after the US summer hiatus. My father picked up E on Friday to spend some time in Tenterfield during the school holidays (where I have heard he has been put to work doing manual labour around the motel...child labour laws, anyone??? haha), so I've had time to spare to just chill.

It's a pathetic display of my life that I can say that I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed watching HIMYM, New Girl, Two Broke Girls, Dance Moms and Puberty Blues in blissful silence, and have now discovered Switched at Birth, which is an intriguing drama series about two teenage girls who discover there was a mixup at the hospital and their families took home the wrong baby. The most interesting part is that one of the girls is deaf, which brings a whole new dimension to the drama. Beautifully done.

Anticipating: unfortunately I'm heading to Brisbane tomorrow for a funeral. Despite the sadness of this occasion I am looking forward to spending some time with my favourite girls while we celebrate the life of someone very special. I'm very lucky to have an understanding workplace to allow me to be there for my friend during this rough time in her life.

Enjoying: a lazy sleep in this morning (nearly 10am thank you!) followed by one of my favourite breakfasts...lactose free vanilla yoghurt (because lactose makes me feel ugh), with gluten free muesli (ditto) and fresh, delicious strawberries. It tastes like dessert. Yuuuummm.

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend, for those who get one! Have an amazing day :)

xx