It’s Sunday night and I’ve just watched the Kath & Kim telemovie (which was reasonably funny) and have chatted on the phone with Sue.
It was a good day, today, travelling to Newcastle for a meeting of our art group, Hawkesbury One. It was a really successful meeting and I’m pretty excited about some of the purchases we’ve made and that I’ll soon by hosting this terrific piece by Arryn Snowball.
Last week I mentioned that my colleague and friend, Christian, had documentary, Boys Don’t Dance screen on ABC TV this week. He writes, I have been inundated with calls today… reception is swamped, had an email from ABC Public Affairs… people singing the praises of Ben and his grandparents, people praising the doco, people wanting to donate money to Ben, people wanting to buy the doco. Had a man on the phone today crying as he told me how beautifully I’d told the story. Isn’t that fantastic! Congratulations…
I also heard this week from Tiffany who is headed off an around the world trip. She writes I’ll be keeping an online diary of the travels, so if you’re interested in taking a peek at the trip you can view the progress here: http://www.fixion.org. I first met her when we worked together in Wagga Wagga. These days she’s based in Perth.
A few things have made me laugh this week, including the joke, “Have you heard about the new perfume Schapelle No. 5? It’s for all of those women who’ve lost their appeal.”
It’s warm, it’s humid, it’s Thursday and I’m back briefly in Lismore. For a while earlier today, for the first time since I’ve been home, the humidity threatened to turn into actual rain, but unfortunately nothing eventuated. The dark clouds that earlier hovered over what was Lismore Post Office have turned to blue. It’s funny, isn’t it, how I still think of it as the Post Office, even though the post office functions moved out maybe twenty years ago.
And it’s not just the Post Office that’s changed. I’ve just had lunch, for example, with some friends at a new Italian place that’s recently opened on Keen Street. Lunch was great, the conversation was great, but in the back of my mind was a memory of the newsagent that used to be in the building.
As I wander around Lismore every person, every building, every location seems to remind me of something from my past. Unfortunately, not always good memories. You see a building, a place, a person, and something awful comes to mind. Maybe it’s something about human nature, or maybe it’s just me, or maybe it’s just that because I’ve been away for such a long time, it’s only the very intense memories that remain. Like music and smells, it’s amazing how buildings, in particular, can evoke strong memories.
This is particularly the case with my “family home”. This was the house that my dad’s parents lived in, and then mum and dad, and then mum’s mother and uncle. It was also the house in which I was born and raised. But for various “family reasons”, it’s a house I haven’t stepped foot in for almost twenty-five years. With the recent death of my uncle who has been living there, and it’s purchase by a second-cousin it almost feels like its a family home again. A sign, perhaps, that 2007 will be a year in which contact with my family will be extremely important.
The most distressing and direct reasons for this is that my sister is quite ill, suffering with both Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia. She’s had the Parkinson’s for a few years now, but the Dementia has only recently developed. Along with my other two sisters, my niece and her son, I drove to Brisbane yesterday to visit her in the nursing home in which she’s currently living. While at times she’s coherent, there are other times when she struggles. Fortunately or unfortunately, I’m not sure, she’s aware of the ways in which her mind and body are failing, and she sometimes becomes upset with herself for not remembering things. Please say a prayer, if you’re so inclined.
About seven or eight kilometres from Lismore (on the road from Bangalow) there is an area called Boatharbour. As the name implies, it was an important location during the early days of the European river settlement.
As a child, I remember it as the location of a wonderful recreation area. With permanent wooden furniture and shelter, and roads where you could drive easily drive in and out, I remember it fondly as a place for summer picnics and river swimming.
The gates to enter the park are still there, and you can see where the road once was, though it now seems almost completely grown over.
Still open to the public, you can go for a wander down by the creek, and the adjacent lands.Nearby, some lovely trees.There is some nearby farmland.With memories of the way stock used to be loaded for sale.
There were a couple of other cars stopped at the nearby informal carpark. I can only assume they had also gone for a walk down by the river/creek as the reserve itself is closed off to the public. I did mention that, right?
Looking down on Wilson’s Creek from the bridge.
As I read a little more about the recent history of the park, I read there was a death involving a schoolgirl, and it was the sight of “anti-social behaviour”.
There are a few online references to the park being “haunted” by the “ghost of the young girl”, who was killed by an accident involving a swing.
The references to “anti-social behaviour” are “code” meaning that it was, for a few years, a gay beat.
A search around the Trove newspaper archive, also reveals concerns about the preservation of the area go back to at least the 1920s/1930s, so the recent moves to close the area to public access probably go back quite some way.
It was a lovely way to spend part of Sunday, and if you’re ever driving between Bangalow and Lismore, it’s definitely worth pulling over to take a look at Boatharbour.
As I’ve been away this week, I haven’t had the time until today to catch up on last weekend’s “Melodifestivalen”. And that’s a shame, because it was the episode I’ve been anticipating most in this year’s Swedish finals leading up to “Eurovision”.
Two of my favourite from the last few years were in this episode: Shirley Clamp has entered Melodifestivalen four times – with such classics as “Min kärlek”” and “Att älska dig” – and last year, Eric Saade came within a heartbeat of representing Swedish in Eurovision with “Manboy” (a song which culminated in Eric getting awfully wet in an on-stage rainstorm).
Eric was back again this year with another “stunt” (he appeared in a glass box which shattered in time to the music) and with another “power pop” song written Fredrik Kämpe who wrote “Man Boy”. I didn’t think “Popular” was as instantly like-able as “Manboy”, though I did like the songs use of 1970s musical influences, referencing Boney M’s “Rasputin” and Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love”. Still, it’s a good song and it will do well at the finals in a couple of weeks time, Perhaps Eric will get to represent Sweden this year at Eurovision? He’s certainly the best in this year’s competition. Fredrik Kämpe, by the way, had two other songs in this edition, including the rockabilly sounding “The King” by “The Playtones” which also made it through to the final.
Sadly that means “Shirley’s Angels” didn’t make it directly through to the final. But they have made it through to “Andra chansen” (“another chance”) which precedes the final which is great because I think it’s a really good song that’s well performed well. Shirley is a terrific singer with a lot stage presence. This song was co-written by Alexander Bard who’s been involved in bands such as “Army Of Lovers”, “BWO” and “Gravitonas” who’ve delivered some of the best Swedish pop of the last thirty years. Another reason to love Shirley is that her dad lives in Australia, I understand. I love it, and hope it does well.
Sebastian
The rest of the songs are somewhat forgettable, with the best of the bunch being Sara Varga with “Spring för livet” (“run for your life” which has a lovely melody and which is sun well). Beyond that, I’d give mention to Sebastian (points for cuteness only) with “No One Else Could”, and “Tid att andas” (time to breathe”) by Simon Forsberg (another power ballad by Fredrik Kämpe). The others, “Lucky You” by Linda Sunblad and “Enemy” by Sara Lunholdt are both pretty forgettable. I can’t quite understand why “The King” by “The Playtones” made it through to the final except for their originality, or perhaps they’re popular on Swedish television?
Another highlight from this week were the performances by Lena Philipsson. She’s so great. And after all the anticipation of “Deltavling 3”, I can honestly say it was worth the wait of a few extra days, especially to see Eric and Shirley. Yes, yes, I know: I am soooo gay.
The other evening as I was walking “home” to my apartment in Hobart, I happened upon an interesting public art project. The lane-way I thought was going to be a short-cut to home, turned out to be a delay, as I enjoyed “Art On Victoria”. I popped back today to snap a few daylight photographs. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the works, but I do like the idea of using the outside of otherwise dull buildings in such a manner.
I haven’t written much about food on this trip. At the risk of sounding parochial, it’s mostly because most of what I’ve eaten so far has been pretty bloody awful. Put simply, it hasn’t been anywhere near the quality for anywhere near the price of what I can get at home.
Food-wise, I don’t expect much from the Netherlands, Germany, or the UK, and so I’m pinning all of my good food hopes on France. David, are you reading this?
But today, at a fairly ordinary pub here in Prague, I had a fairly decent meal at a fairly decent price. Put simply, it’s pork with a kinda gravy sauce with dumplings. Accompanying the dish was some sour cream and cranberries. A bit like the Swedish meatball sensation of mixing the sweetness of cranberries with the savoury flavour, they were excellent.
For about 125 check crowns ($8 or so Australian) I had a classic Czech dish, Knedliky.
Also today, I spent some time exploring Jewish Prague. There’s a long history of Jewish inhabitancy in Prague, and for a long time they were confined to just one small part of the town. The other remarkable thing you can see inside one of the synaogues is a “war memorial-like” roll of names of people from Prague who died in the holocaust. Thousands and thousands of names. It’s very moving.
One of the consequences of this is an overcrowded graveyard that actually goes a couple of metres in to the air, as graves were piled one upon the other.
The only other thing I’ve done today, aside from a bit of sightseeing, is go for a swim. And that’s where I got an insight into the real Prague. It was strictly as a “no tourist zone” as I negotiated my way for a swim late this afternoon through a group of old women on the counter who spoke absolutely no English at all. As you enter, the baths are divided between male and female, with males directed to the left. Inside, it was all a bit “nude” for a moment (frighteningly so by Australian standards), as I made my way through the change room to the pool. But ah… what a relaxing place. Down by the river. Very nice, and just the way to finish up a fine day.
On the outside, the architecture of the swimming baths had a decidedly “Soviet” feel about it.
Meanwhile back at the hostel there’s a trivia night underway. I’m sitting outside, enjoying the early evening, and listening to a couple of Australians talking to a couple of Swedes.
“Come on and get your fucking shit together”, said the Australian girl just a moment ago, trying to convince the Swedes to come with them on the three-hour organised pub crawl they’ve booked themselves on. Yeah, you guessed it, the Aussies are already pissed BEFORE the pub crawl. Amusingly, the Swedes are telling the Australians a complete load of bullshit about Sweden. Finally, I know… “this is what it’s like to be a fly on the wall…”
PS – Going bush for a couple of days so blog might not be updated until I get to Amsterdam. Will see how I go.
Hey James, thanks for the add to your blog.
Tiff