For the second week in a row, I left early from our regular Wednesday Night Drinks, which Graeme has blogged abot.
I haven’t been sleeping well for the past week or so, and so was really quite tired.
I’m not sure why I’m not sleeping well, except to say I’m often waking up in the middle of the night and finding it difficult to get back to sleep.
There’s nothing particularly on my mind that’s worrying me.
And, aside from my usual range of social functions, I’m not especially burning the candle at both ends.
I’m arriving at work at a reasonable hour, and leaving at a reasonable hour.
I suspect it may be due to a general ill-health.
Unfortunately after all the weight I lost last year, I seem to be putting it back on.
I’m not as overweight as I was this time last year, but I definitely have put a few kilograms back on, as the bathroom scales will attest.
So my plan for the next few weeks is to keep a closer eye on what I eat, drink less, and to get some exercise. I’m sure if I do that, my weight will come back under control, and I’ll sleep a little better.
In other news, there seems to be widespread support amongst my friend my new glasses look pretty good. So even though I might have stacked on a few kilograms, the glasses have “taken off a few years” according to most.
Today was all about mobility scooters, trying out a couple of models and I think I might have found “the one”!
This conpact foldable model I looked at is seriously cool because it’ll fit in car boots, taxis, and even as airport luggage – talk about freedom!
Being 73kg and 172cm means I don’t need anything massive.
The other scooters I have tried just felt enormous compared to this one, which suits the terrain, and was light enough for me to fold up and transport in and out of my apartment. It took a few tips to learn how it all worked, which buttons to press, and how to lift it up, and put it down, but I’m sure I’ll get there.
We even put it through its paces on a test run to the light rail, which has some surprisingly hilly bits and uneven paths, and it was fantastic. Pic Gianluca Ciaffi
Interestingly enough, the occupational therapist who visited today has his own YouTube channel.
As part of the process, I needed to do a short quiz about scooter safety.
The quiz wasn’t too hard, mostly about being considered a pedestrian, staying left on footpaths, and facing traffic if the footpath is unusable.
Did you know the speed limit for scooters in Australia is 10km/h, and the one I’m looking at only does 6km/h, so I’ll never go over the limit, and I promise to be a safe driver.
They even quizzed me on what to do if it broke down or tipped over. Good news – I handled it all!
Many thanks to Sam from Golden Age and Gianluca from Independent Living Services for their help and guidance today.
The woman behind the counter looked at me with surprise when I told her I didn’t want a side salad with my steak.
Often they consist of too much barely edible lettuce, and not enough tomatoes and cucumbers (my favourite salad vegetables/fruits). I’m far more inclined to match steak with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.
So, when the only choices were chips or salad, I chose neither.
“Are you sure?”, she asked me.
Medium Scotch fillet at the Wisdom Bar & Cafe, Darwin
I went out for dinner tonight because I hadn’t so far made it to the supermarket for a “proper shop”, despite my arrival here on Sunday night/Monday morning.
I had brought some ground coffee and a stovetop coffee maker with me in my hand luggage. I had also grabbed some milk and orange juice from the nearby convenience store. And in the last few days I’ve picked up a few things for lunch from the nearby Coles.
But I haven’t really had to worry about dinner until tonight. On Monday night, we went to the Ski Club, and last night I grabbed a kebab from a shop nearby. It was quite expensive, compared to what I’m used to paying near home, but it was also very very tasty. And it was kinda well-needed after having a few drinks.
Last night I went to see the comedian Nath Valvo perform at Darwin Festival. The first and only time I had seen him previously was back in Sydney in 2019. I remember being genuinely impressed with his routine about modern life, his so-called “bogan” family and his so-called “over-achieving” boyfriend Cody. Three years later, his routine hasn’t really changed much. Of course, the coronavirus (and the associated Melbourne lockdowns) happened, and he and Cody are now engaged. Nonetheless, his take on modern life and his very honest comedy remained fresh.
Nath Valvo on stage at Darwin Festival
And from there I went to see Drag Queen Bingo at the nearby Deck Bar. I had also been to this on previous occasions in Darwin. “James O’Brien, my friend from Sydney”, one of the drag kings, Donnie (aka Lisa) squealed with delight as I entered the venue, slightly after the start.
Drag bingo on Tuesday nights at Darwin’s “Deck Bar”.
Lisa is such a wonderful soul. I have no doubt her enthusiasm was honest, as was mine to see her. We’ve worked together a fair bit over the last few years. Seeing her, both in and out of her character always makes me smile.
Lisa introduced me to a couple of slightly younger, though similarly aged gay men. One was originally from Darwin, the other from Perth. They’ve been living in Darwin for about 12 months. We had such fun chatting, as the bingo balls dropped. They’ve given me a few tips about other “gay” things to do in Darwin, and I hope we’ll see each other again while I’m here.
It was an early start to work, today as we did an outside broadcast for ABC Radio Darwin about the forthcoming Fanny Bay By-election. The location for the broadcast, “The Cool Spot” cafe was buzzing, and the coffee was very good. I didn’t have much to do except listen and observe, and hopefully contribute some of my wisdom to the broadcasters. “I love how you never let them get by without answering the questions”, I said.
ABC Radio Darwin’s Adam Steer and Jo Laverty host the debate.
“It’s the seat of the Chief Minister”, Adam told me in the car this morning, having previously been held by Marshall Perron, Clare Martin and Michael Gunner. Notionally, it’s a Labor Party seat, but the last couple of years of Australian politics have reminded us you should never take things for granted.
The on-air debate featured the ALP, CLP (Country Liberal Party) and Greens candidates. “Even though the CLP guy was wearing an identifying t-shirt, you could easily identify who was from what party.” I joked with my colleagues.
Later in the program, they also featured some prominent Independent candidates. And from there it was a brief car ride back to the office and a day of hard work.
I took a break from work around lunch-time to watch the live media conference about the NSW Flood Inquiry which has made a number of recommendations about the future of towns impacted by this year’s floods, including, of course, Lismore. Of most direct impact to my family were the bits which covered flood mitigation works (such as improvements to the levee), and the possibility/likelihood of property buy-backs and relocations. The devil will, undoubtedly, be in the detail.
Following on from a brief rest after work, it was time for dinner at the Wisdom Bar and Cafe.
The easy-listening tunes of a solo male guitarist attracted lots of grey nomads, with men in Hawaiian shirts and women dancing around their handbags.
The atmosphere was fun, and the steak was excellent. The steak gave me the energy to finally get to nearby Coles for some proper grocery shopping.
Often when you visit Sculpture By The Sea it’s overly crowded. There’s often too many people competing for space with grumpy locals who want to go about their regular exercise along the wonderful coastal walk between Bondi and Tamarama. I’ve tried going super-early. I’ve also been there just before lunch when the crowds seem to be at their peak. But this time around, I chose late on a Sunday afternoon. The temperature was mild, the light a little more subdued, as were the crowds. These are some of my favourites from this year’s exhibition.
As it was my birthday yesterday, Sue bought us dinner at Bondi Trattoria. An awesome way to end the weekend.
I spent a fair bit of time online today. I’m trying to find some accommodation in Stockholm during March. I want something which is more than a youth hostel room, but not quite a corporate serviced apartment. I don’t think I want to share, but maybe I do. I’m not sure about that. A studio would be good, with a small kitchen in the corner, and maybe with a lovely view. I think I’d like it to be on Sodermalm, or at least somewhere reasonably close to the city. And of course I don’t want to pay an arm and a leg, but I also don’t want to scrimp and save too much either. I’ve seen some interesting looking accommodation, but have decided not to be book yet, as I haven’t really done enough homework yet.
Instead I bought a ticket to concert instead. It’s a charity benefit for cystic fibrosis. But that’s not why I’m going: it features the likes of Alcazar, Magnus Carlsson, Charlotte Perelli and others and is on at the Chinese Theatre. The other spontaneous online purchase I made was for an airline ticket to go home to see my family in mid-December for a long weekend.
Aside from that, I watched a bit of tv, and not much else. Tomorrow is busy though.
I was definitely back in “work mode” today, as I attended “Radio Days Europe”. It’s the first ever meeting of commercial and public sector broadcasters in Europe. By a show of hands, it was 30/70 today.
It’s a conference I read about a few months ago, wrote to one of the organisers asking if they accepted registrations from outside Europe, and then after a few more emails was asked if I would like to participate in one of the forums. I’m speaking tomorrow at 12 noon.
Today I got to meet some of the people I’ve been corresponding with online, got to meet a lovely woman who runs local radio in Copenhagen, met some cool guys from Switzerland, and also to chat with a couple of people I’ve met previously.
And along the way, I tweeted and took far too many photographs to share here tonight. I’ll be revealing more to my colleagues back in Australia when I return. In the meantime, this is what I learned along the way through my various tweets.
85% of all uk listening inc mp3 is radio #radiodayseurope
One of today’s early speeches came from Tim Davie, Director Radio (despite his title) for the BBC, who explained there was room for optimism in radio, depsite concerns young people aren’t listening as much as they used to. He explained research showed that 85% of all listening time, which incuded mp3, CD, etc, was actually to radio.
Bbc radio emphasises content partnerships with tv museums #radiodayseurope
Tim Davie spoke about some of the content partnerships the BBC had entered into, including a terrific series about objects in the British Museum.
Uk radio player featuring both com and public radio #radiodayseurope
He also anticipated the common radio player, due to be released in Beta in the European summer, which allows for the BBC and the commercial sector to compete in an online environment.
Radio is no longer medium for new music trends (worry) #radiodayseurope
There was some worrying research, though, that radio was no longer the place where people went for new music.
New swedish radio website integrates player in site. Player is site is player.#radiodayseurope
The next presentation was from a woman involved in the re-design of the website for Swedish radio. She explained how they couldn’t see a reason for separating the website from the audio player, as often occurs with radio websites, so they have integrated the two in the design for their new site.
Love the idea of music hack day at swedish radio #radiodayseurope
One of the many things she spoke about was a day when they invited ordinary developers and hackers to come in to play with their music station websites. I think this sounds like such a great idea, a bit like they do with Google, WordPress and other companies I admire.
Tim Davie from BBC talks about radio at the crossroads
Tim Davie from BBC is interviewed
Some of the psycho-social profiles they did in reworking Swedish radio website
The new look Swedish radio website to be launched later
The UK plans a combined commercial and BBC radio player, as Nick Piggott explains
Lunchtime
Katarine Grafmann talks about the research she has done into Swedish teens
One of the Swedish teens she quoted
Filippo Solibello talks about the radio show he does in Italy
Jacob Loje from Danish radio station P5000
Some of the audience attending Radio Days
Talking about a digital future for radio in Europe
The different digital radio platforms around the world
Can music radio handle Spotify
Central square in Copenhagen ahead of tonight’s reception
Everyone loved the indoors of the town hall in Copenhagen
The reception at the town hall
Something about Mary in the Danish papers today
New uk player based on mp3 and aac to deliver flash#radiodayseurope
And then Nick Piggott spoke about the new common radio player for the web in the UK.
New uk radio player seeks to be google for radio #radiodayseurope
He explained they wanted it to be like google for radio, and that when you went looking for a song or an event, you would – thanks to the metadata – be able to find it straight away. He explained that if you went looking for Janet Jackson (goodness knows why) you should be able to find the radio station that would player her next.
Sat with group of danish local radio managers for lunch. World too small. #radiodayseurope
Over lunch I sat with a group of people doing a similar job to my own. The woman from Copenhagen described her station which sounded not unlike 702 ABC Sydney.
Teens blur the line between production and consumption of media #radiodayseurope
We then heard some further research about how young Swedes, in particular, use radio. The research, done mostly through participant observation, revealed that young people “produce” all of their lives.
Love the concert of creating faceradio as in facebook #radiodayseurope
And the researcher offered that we should be creating a Facebook of radio, not putting ourselves on Facebook. We need something as revolutionary as Facebook to create radio as a space where young people want to be.
Love idea of italian radio show with teen reporters around the world and only indie music. #radiodayseurope
We then heard from a bloke from Italian radio who spoke about the listener involvement of his audience. Even though he is 37 and his co-host 51, they have an active audience or 15-24 year olds who act as “citizen journalists” reporting for the program from around the world.
Danish youth station p5000 operates with three hosts on two hour loop. Lots of club sounds. #radiodayseurope
And from there, it was a speaker who talked about a new Danish radio station that employs just three hosts, one of whom he described as Denmark’s answer to Paris Hilton, but with larger breasts.
Radio needs to be confident and aggressive with government about digital radio standards says bbc bloke #radiodayseurope
The next segment had me really confused, as a group of people spoke about the digital roadmap for Europe. At the moment, in something straight of “Yes Minister”, the panel described the different competing platforms in different countries. The bloke from BBC said they needed to agree on a common standard, a hybrid of DAB and IP (he said the UK has missed the boat on DAB+), and actively promote it domestically. While it would be good to have the EU behind it, he argued, there was more to be gained from having the political debate locally.
Head spinning after digital radio for europe discussion. Lot to be said for island nation continent. #radiodayseurope
Ditto
Digital ghetto speaker says he is going to make people angry with his views. #radiodayseurope
The next speaker from Finland told the organiser just before he started he would challenge a lot of people’s views and make them angry, as he described the lost opportunities with digital radio. He said, they should have pursued the path of CD technology, where Phillips and Sony (on two continents) worked together. Did he make them angry?
He didnt #radiodayseurope
And finally, there was panel of how music radio could compete with Spotify. Unfortunately, there was no one from Spotify on the panel, and no one on the panel actually appeared to be from a country where Spotify operates.
Unlike spotify etc music radio remains human says danish p3 head. #radiodayseurope
And finally, a comment about why music radio remains important when people have ipods.
Mass radio important because people want things to talk about says ken benson #radiodayseurope
Wow. What a day. I enjoyed it immensely.
Great day. Now for a beer. #radiodayseurope
And there was a official reception tonight at the Town Hall which was a very nice vanue.
Although I made it as far as the pub for a meal and a beer (with Grant), I’ve skipped Swedish class tonight.
I’m REALLY tired. I’m a bit sneezy. And generally I’m feeling a bit crook.
Like this:
LikeLoading…
Related
One Comment
Glad to hear the glasses have integrated well LOL
Sounds to me that some intensive cardio exercise 2-3 times a week would help…
There must be something in the air…I thought it was just me…but lots of people I noticed are having sleeping issues for no apparent reason at the moment.
Glad to hear the glasses have integrated well LOL
Sounds to me that some intensive cardio exercise 2-3 times a week would help…
There must be something in the air…I thought it was just me…but lots of people I noticed are having sleeping issues for no apparent reason at the moment.