Sunday Drinks
There’s a not a lot for me to say about Sunday that wasn’t covered by Graeme in this post.
The only thing I’d add though is that Graeme has introduced me to this fantastic song for all of those with an interest in Sweden…
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Travel Thoughts
Once again my thoughts have turned to travel. I think it’s the end of daylight saving that’s brought it on. Whereas last week I was still arriving home in daylight, it’s now well and truly dark by the time I walk in the door. That means only one thing: winter is on the way.
I’m not averse the cold, as lots of photographs on this site attest. In fact, I really love snow, and a year ago this week I was visiting Iceland where I experienced four seasons in one day. What started off as a bright sunny day turned into a fairly heavy snowstorm on the beach.
In contrast, winter in Sydney is very mild, and I shouldn’t complain. But there’s something about the long stretch from April until the end of July that causes me to become a little grumpy, and a little reclusive and make me want to head somewhere a little further north.
I’m heading to China for a couple of weeks in May, and so hopefully that will help. Deep down, though, I’d like to do something in the cold heart depth of July.
The wunderlust hasn’t been helped by the fact a close colleague is now counting down the days to her three months of long service leave. To make matters worse, she’s actually going to Sweden at the end of July. To the far north of Sweden, in fact, in what looks like an incredibly beautiful area, to attend a wedding of another colleague of ours. I’ve been invited to the wedding also, and at the moment, I’m erring on the side of financial caution, though I might assess my finances after China, and you never know, as the wedding is just days before Stockholm Pride. Hmmm…
My Staycation
“It’s all too easy to take a nice photograph in Sydney”, I thought to myself as I walked around Circular Quay yesterday. A minute or so earlier I’d been stopped by a tourist who asked if I’d take a photograph of him with the Opera House in the background. Too easy. And as I made my way towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge, I looked over at the Opera House, and there it was, with a stunning cloudy sky in the background, and a woman wearing a headscarf, sitting by herself, chatting on a mobile phone. “The photograph could have taken it itself”, I thought.
I was in the area, having enjoyed a bite to eat to earlier, and was looking forward to a wander around the Museum of Contemporary Art. There’s a major photographic exhibition there at the moment of works by Jeff Wall. Unfortunately, I wasn’t all that excited by his photographs. They were interesting, but not stunning.
I was more interested to see they’re currently installing a mural/wall-painting by the artist, Guan Wei. As a lot of Guan Wei’s artworks deal with issues of national identity and migration, the MCA (located at the so-called “birthplace” of “Modern Australia”) will be a good place to see his work highlighted.
For me, it’s been a lovely week of visiting galleries, going out for lunch and dinner with friends, and generally settling back into life in Sydney. After a couple of months of travel, you would have thought it might have been quite difficult, but the weather in Sydney has been spectacular. I’ve also been developing a nice little routine that revolves around waking up reasonably early and making as much of the day as possible.
A long the way I’ve made a couple of interesting discoveries this week have included the new $5 lunch menu at the Bat & Ball Hotel. I recognised one of the barmen there as having previously worked at Surry Hill’s “Trinity Hotel”, and when I got home and had a look at their website I discovered they were now owned by the same people. That’s good to see, as the people at the Trinity Hotel have been running a good operation there for over a decade. “Do you still go to the Elephant’s Foot” (as it was previously called), a friend asked me last weekend. It was then I realised it’s been The Trinity since at least 2000, I’m sure. Anyway, the $5 lunch at The Bat & Ball is quite good value.
I also had lunch the other day with a friend at Kelly’s Hotel on the top floor of the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction. With only a handful of people there for lunch, we enjoyed wonderful views over the city, warm sunshine from a window seat, and an excellent caesar salad.
I also re-visited Xage, a terrific Vietnamese restaurant on Crown Street. We then had a drink at one of the new bars, the appropriately named Gay Bar on Oxford Street. “It’s just like Spray and Wipe”, I told my friend… “With a name like Gay Bar you know exactly what it’s about…”
Not Summer Yet
Near the St Margaret’s complex in Surry Hills, Sydney
David Campbell
This was the first time I’ve ever seen David Campbell perform in cabaret before. The only other time I’ve seen him live was in the musical, “Only Heaven Knows” about 10 or so years ago at the Sydney Opera House. And so I was both excited and curious about going to the show at what I think is Sydney’s best cabaret venue, Bar Me.
I’ve always felt a bit of a connection to David Campbell, mostly due to his interesting and unusual family upbringing. I’ve also really liked the fact that he was willing to give most things a go, an issue to which he referred in the show declaring that, like Bobby Darrin, he wants to be known as an entertainer, not labelled in any limiting kind of way. And that’s what he did in the show, he entertained us. The 90 minute show just flew and I never had a moment where I was checking the time or looking around the room as he provided a totally captivating show.
Back in April, I saw Tim Draxl at the same venue and I suppose I can’t help but make comparisons between the two, especially as both were discovered by legendary Sydney cabaret producer, Les Solomon. Campbell is clearly a much better performer, far more in control of what he does, evident in the eclectic selection of material. Unlike Draxl, who stuck fairly closely to the standard show tune formula, Campbell was more willing to take a few more risks, including numbers by Johnny O’Keefe, for example and in Mr Bojangles, unafraid of the obvious comparisons with every other performer who has sung the song before. But because he was seemingly unafraid, he delivered a truly magnificent version of the song, easily the best I’ve ever seen performed live. Sometimes, however, I thought Campbell oversold songs a little too much, sometimes he was a little too physical. And although it’s not a bad thing too sweat on stage, sometimes I thought he sweated where he didn’t need to and perhaps he could pick up a thing or two from Draxl in underselling a song.
A great show, highly recommended.
Kylie & The Box
Graeme and I enjoyed a terrific afternoon at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum where two of the current exhibitions were right up our street: exhibitions featuring fashions and photographs from Kylie Minogue and about the fiftieth anniversary of television in Australia.
The Kylie exhibition came about through a large donation to the Victorian Arts Centre (I think) of dresses, illustrations, production notes, etc by Kylie herself. The donation has been transformed into an exhibition which features a range of Kylie’s well known clothing including, spectacularly, the 50p gold pants bought at an op-shop and then made famous in “Spinning Around” and the hooded outfit from “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”.
Although she has been through many “stages” – from the Neighbours days, through Stock Aitken Waterman, through indie-Kylie, through “gay Kylie” – as you wander around the exhibition a “Kylie-style” emerges. I’m not exactly sure, however, how to best describe the Kylie style, but some things do emerge: for example, the clothes are designed to match her tiny size. At one point, an eight year child next to us, honestly said of the denim shorts, “They’re so small, I could wear those”. I think there’s also a multi-layered element to many of the designs and also a “fashion school” ethos in some of the experimentation.
The television exhibition, by its very nature, is far more broad, and thus far more enjoyable. Although emphasising the nostalgia associated with the television programming itself, the exhibition also features some of the technology and seeks to explain how it has also infuenced the output.
Highlights of the exhibition for me included the opportunity to watch some classic moments from favourite childhood programs, including “Number 96”, “The Box” and “Certain Women”. Yeah, I know they’re not children’s program, but they’re certainly strong memories of my childhood that I haven’t been able to relive in recent years, despite the availability of DVD.
On a totally different level, it was just amazing to see how plain some of the television costumes were in real life, including the Aunty Jack costume and a fairly plain house dress from the “Mavis Bramstom” show.
In all, we probably spent about 30 minutes at Kylie and 90 minutes in the television exhibition. Both were good in their own ways, and represented a very good $10 entrance fee investment.
Getting my balance right
A couple of months ago, I dove into my first session of Adaptive Standing Tennis. This isn’t “wheelchair tennis”, rather it’s a brilliant style of tennis that often allows for extra bounces, making the sport accessible for people with different abilities to play socially.
And honestly? It was a brutal reminder of where I was at in my rehab journey. I was completely hopeless. Trying to keep up was near impossible; my balance was shot, and attempting to shift my weight and step backwards felt like climbing a wall. As an amputee, that ability to react and re-centre your balance is fundamental to everything, and getting it wrong left me really disheartened.
But the court gave me clarity. It showed me precisely where my focus needed to be.
Since then, I have begun working this week with my amazing physio, Peita, to specifically target that crucial backward stepping and my overall stability.
I might still be “hopeless,” but I’m definitely not as hopeless as I was two months ago, and that’s a massive win!
Even if I don’t end up at Wimbledon, these sessions are a powerful and fun way to force my body to build better prosthetic control and achieve better balance. And that balance is key to confidence in all areas of life.