ABBA Museum
My friend Graeme Read was interviewed on 702 ABC Sydney tonight talking about various ABBA things, with the hook for the story being the recently announced opening of an ABBA Museum in Stockholm.
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Twenty Five Years
The official employment offer letter states it was twenty five years today that I was offered a job at the ABC.
I’d previously been employed at the community radio station at Bourke in Western NSW. I’d applied for a few ABC jobs during the previous six months. When the call came through from Don Bensted offering me the position, I actually had to ask him “for which job”. In reality, it didn’t matter much to me, as I’d long wanted to work for ABC Radio.
I have a vague memory of finishing work in Bourke on a Wednesday or a Thursday, driving overnight via Broken Hill, and of arriving in Renmark on a Thursday or Friday afternoon. I’m pretty sure I went to air the following Monday, though it’s possible I had a few days to settle in.
Twenty five years later and I’m still working for the ABC. Along the way, I’ve been the Morning Presenter in Wagga Wagga, the Statewide Afternoon and Drive presenter in NSW, and have acted in other jobs in Darwin, Perth, Canberra and Lismore.
Ten years ago I made the switch from on-air presenter to Manager which wasn’t as traumatic as I thought it might be ego-wise. In a lovely piece of symmetry, I’m currently back in Regional Radio, working as the National Manager of our regional stations.
I’ve had many great opportunities over the last twenty five years, and I continue to love working for a really terrific organisation. Win.
New Experiences
I experienced a couple of new, quite amazing things today.
First, a photo shoot with the Sydney Morning Herald
As part of Spectrum sometime soon, the SMH is doing a feature on art-collecting groups. As I may have mentioned previously, I’m part of a group of 10 friends and family members who each invest $2000 each year into buying art works collectively.
We’ve bought some terrific works over the last nine years, and next year we’ll be exhibiting those works at the Newcastle Regional Gallery (where half the group is based) which is very, very exciting.
Anyhoo, the SMH is doing a feature about these kind of groups, and today a group of us were invited along to a photo shoot at one of the member’s homes to be photographed with some of the works.
I’ve never been involved in such a photographic shoot before, and I was amazed, and intrigued by the way the photographer – a lovely bloke – just got on with his job. There was a seamless line between the set up and the photographic session. I was impressed with his mastery.
I doubt I’ll make the final cut, though you never know, as two of the group’s members have three lovely daughters who make far better photographic copy than a middle-aged fat bloke with glasses :)
Anyway, it was great fun.
And from there I was invited to a party at a pretty stunning apartment at Elizabeth Bay. Great views, great food, great drinks, great service.
I was slightly apprehensive as it was one of those big, more anonymous kind of parties parties. I normally like smaller, more intimate gatherings. I’m generally not “the life of the party”. I’m generally not good in large group situations.
However, I really enjoyed tonight’s party. Being there with Colin helped, as he’s much better at social situations than I am, and we ended up connecting with some really nice people.
Maybe these new experiences today is emblematic of some other changes in my life too?
I’ve been having quite vivid dreams the last few days, mostly with quite dramatic imagery contained in them.
I had one the other morning about how someone was trying to kill me. I was on a balcony and there was someone shooting at me from a helicopter. I survived.
I had another one today about being on a mountain-top with a friend. She was sucked into the snow and I rescued her.
According to all of the online analysis I’ve read, it’s my subconscious analysing the changes going on in my life at the moment.
Perhaps it’s my way of saying goodbye to a previous part of my life and hello to the next? Although if the truth is told, I’m not really sure what that means yet.
I’ve changed my job recently, I’ve been de-cluttering, I’ve been thinking deeply about what the future may hold.
I guess it’s my subconscious trying to make sense of these changes,
Thankyou Lismore
You should never post anything to social media on a Friday night, I’ve recently concluded. There are far too many people with “opinions” that, perhaps, become a little more extreme at the end of the working week, and perhaps after a glass or two of something. I was reminded of this again last night, after posting to a Facebook group a video of the Lismore flood thankyou parade at the Lismore Show.
In the midst of the overwhelming number “likes/loves”, there were maybe half a dozen people who were overly negative and nasty. Though they had legitimate points to make about the inclusivity of the parade, they could have phrased their feelings better.
Personally, I would have loved to have seen some kind of representation from the Koori Mail who did an amazing job, helping with food and shelter.
There are still strong feelings locally about the wonderful role played by the “tinny army” (the volunteers outside the state emergency service).
There was also criticism of the apparent delays in the arrival of the army to assist. Seated at a cafe the other day I overheard two people talk about the floods in Victoria, observing “the army turned up much faster for them than they did for us”.
However, I didn’t want to debate who was there and who wasn’t, and simply posted the video.
In response to some the criticism, a couple of comments resonated for me, including this one…
The local SES are local people from your community who give up so much to be there at the drop of a hat at any time for any call. Don’t condemn them for the decisions made by head office.
Facebook Resilient Lismre
In the midst of the criticism, I hope the video captures the heart and spirit of this community.
At the moment of posting, the Weather Bureau has issued a preliminary warning for the possibility of “minor to moderate” flooding AGAIN, as very heavy rain is forecast for tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
Of Course They Do
I went to farewell drinks for a mate from work tonight. It was the quintessential Newtown experience: drinks at the Court House and karaoke at Kelly’s On King.
As we approached KOK, I couldn’t resist snapping a photograph of this sign.
“It’s Newtown, of course they do nose piercing”, I thought to myself.
Good luck Amy.
The sports gene kicks in at 58
I was quite apprehensive before attending the wheelchair basketball practice session today at Sydney University. “I don’t think I’m ready yet. I don’t think I have enough upper body strength,” I told a colleague who plays wheelchair basketball.
It was a complete coincidence discovering that she played, even though she’s able-bodied. I was chatting with some colleagues when one of them mentioned, “You know… such and such plays wheelchair basketball at Sydney University?”
I was introduced to the colleague (whom I hadn’t met previously), and we chatted about what I might expect.
Nonetheless, I was worried, as I haven’t played regular sport since the late 1980s. Back then, I lived in Bourke, where we played Tuesday night social tennis at the courts next to the Bowling Club. Unsurprisingly, we probably spent more time drinking beers at the Bowling Club than playing tennis.
On top of that, I haven’t played basketball since high school.
I’ve watched a few wheelchair basketball videos on YouTube, and they all looked well beyond my skill level.
Today, I was also feeling a bit tired.
But I summoned up the strength and courage and made my way to the Sports & Aquatic Centre at Sydney University, where they have practice sessions every Saturday from 3-5 pm.
“In theory, he’s just here to watch, but I reckon we could get him up,” my colleague told another player. And she was right. At first, I sat and watched intently, but after a while, I felt the urge to get involved. That’s when some of the players and the coaches came over and suggested I give it a try.
The most difficult thing, initially, was re-learning how to use a wheelchair. Though I spent a few months in a wheelchair last year, I’ve had my prosthetic limb for about six months and haven’t really used my wheelchair since November. The sports wheelchair moved more quickly than my regular one and was easier to use. There was also the issue of whether I should wear my prosthetic or not, and I quickly concluded it was better to remove it.
There was only one other person playing with one limb, and she had an amputation above the knee, which is quite different from those of us with below-the-knee amputations. By rating, I’m a 4.5 (meaning my accessibility is pretty good), whereas some of the people today were paraplegic with weak stomach muscles, etc.
There were a couple of things I found challenging, particularly finding the right strength to throw the ball from a lower height to the hoop. I wasn’t able to hit a goal, though I came close. I also found it difficult to dribble the ball without crashing into my wheelchair. And how do you pick up a ball in one hand while simultaneously trying to keep your wheelchair moving? The secret is in rolling the ball up the wheel of your chair. The coaches and other players provided lots of tips along the way.
Both the coaches and the other attendees were wonderful, offering both their knowledge and support. The vibe was excellent.
Excellent enough to make me want to return. I can’t attend in a couple of weeks since I’ll have visitors, but I’ll definitely return next weekend.