"It's nice hanging out with people you don't have to start from scratch with."

My friend D hugged me goodbye. We worked together years back - me newly returned from overseas, she finding her own new directions. In the years since, we've spent more time together outside Melbourne than in it.

The walls in my serviced apartment have neutral hangings in variations on beige. The linen is white, the couch a light taupe in a land of red pindan dust. I've moved a table, bought some books, blu-tacked up a map of the Kimberley where a framed cushion cover previously hung. But my best purchase has been a sheet of plastic, 20" x 48", designed to hold photographs. I sifted through a few years' worth of folders on the computer, through a few facebook albums, and only chose ones that made me smile.

So now, I have a banner of faces and places. Fun days, foliage, sunshine and laughter. They farewell me as I leave the house, spring out as I flick the lightswitch, smile as I turn it off at the end of the day. After a colourful weekend of visitors, the faces stand out against the off-white walls.

It's nice hanging out with people I don't have to start from scratch with.