In this strange summer it feels like the wheels are falling off faster in 2022 | Brigid Delaney

In this strange summer it feels like the wheels are falling off faster in 2022 | Brigid Delaney

Between Christmas and New Year’s, time seems to stretch and purposelessness pervades – and Omicron gives this baggy week a sinister edge

Arriving home to a heatwave, I open the front door to see the house has swollen in the heat. It’s an old miner’s cottage built on dirt, no proper foundations. It seems to breathe and change form depending on the weather. Remember that scene in Willy Wonka where Violet Beauregarde eats the forbidden gum and turns purple then expands like a blueberry? My house is Violet Beauregarde.

The skirting boards have popped off and detached from the wall, a deep crack has appeared in the ceiling, and the ceiling and the wall appears to have separated. Will the house cleave in two if the heatwave continues? And if so, what does that mean? What should I do?

Brigid Delaney is a columnist for Guardian Australia

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