For the first time in a few years I had dinner tonight at Surry Hill’s Trinity Hotel. In a galaxy far, far, away I used to be a fairly regular patron there, especially as on a Wednesday night they had a pretty fantastic trivia competition (which my group often won). But circumstances change, and I’ve been there hardly since. I only called in tonight because it was cold and rainy, and I didn’t have the energy to head out to my other regular Wednesday pub haunt after Swedish class. I had the haloumi salad which was good, though not great. A little over-cooked on the grill, actually.
When I went into Swedish class, it was chilly, though not raining. By the end of class, it was rainy too. So much for the brief period of summer we experienced on the weekend. None of us were really prepared for the change in the weather. As I chatted on the street after class and waited for a bus with a class-mate, it also became aware none of us was all that well-prepared for class either. It was one of those “heavy grammar” nights. Only one of us in the class is really any good at grammar – that’s Grant – while the rest of us tend to glaze over a bit. I think it’s because words and phrases like dative, imperfect, passive and so on have never been part of our educational lexicon. In fact I got the giggles half way through class when we started talking about the passive form. Yes, I know… quite childish.
Britney and Madonna duet re-enactment from Glee
On arriving home, I began to catch up on the early-evening television programs I’d missed, including The Drum and the Britney Spears-featured episode of Glee. I think Glee is a brilliant show and I’m quite a fan of Britney too. Actually not so much Britney, more her regular song-writer and producer Max Martin who, it may surprise you, is Swedish. (Martin Karl Sandberg, född 26 februari 1971, i Stockholm men har även bott i Kalmar)
Over the years he’s worked with everyone from the Backstreet Boys to Celine Dione. And as Wikipedia notes
In 2010 alone, he has written and co-written 5 top 10 singles, including “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz, “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love” by Usher, “Whataya Want From Me” by Adam Lambert, as well as “California Gurls” and “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry.
Aside from Katy Perry, these songs and these artists mean nothing to me. But that’s because I’m a mid 40’s bloke from Sydney. Yes, I know my musical tastes sometimes resemble those of a 13 year old Swedish girl, but I’m not entirely that classifiable.
So the episode of Glee? Highlights were obviously “Hit Me One More Time” and the re-enactment of the Madonna duet. Beyond that, I don’t know because the end of the program was chopped off. Bloody commercial television and their late starts plays havoc with PVRs!
In the meantime I continue to sneeze with this bloody dust, pollen, whatever in the air. It got worse, today, by the way, when our annual building evacuation forced us out onto the plane tree hell that is Harris Street, Ultimo. Hopefully tonight’s rain may settle things a bit.
At the risk of boring you with more Swedish pop, here’s min favouriter at the moment. I’ve loved the song for ages, but have only just discovered this clip on the youtube thingy…
Rest assured, the song is in English. In the introduction Magnus Carlsson from Alcazar basically says here’s a song from England, and it’s from their new album and single, and it’s written by Pet Shop Boys…
To be honest, it’s all a bit two gay boys dancing at the Midnight Shift (too old for Stonewall) with female friends somewhere vaguely in the background dancing along. This is especially at the end where there’s some pseudo male to male flirting going on between Magnus and Andreas. Where are the girls then?
Still, I think it’s a great song, and a great performance, and I guess that’s why I love it so much.
And when it comes to Magnus and his still evident sexy hairy-chest…. “can I be the one?”.
Can I be the one
To share your love life
To share your love life
You live a life alone
and so do I
Don´t you ever get lonely
and do you wonder why?
May I propose a new solution?
A revolution
for you and me?
Oh
Can I be the one
to share your love life?
(Share your love life)
Can I be the one
to share your love life?
Can I be the one
to share your love life?
(Share your love life)
Can I be the one
to share your love life?
Why don´t we share a place
the two of us?
Just a quiet life
without much fuss
With our love
we´ll make the
most of it
You must admit
You´ll agree
Oh.
Can I be the one…
I´m tall and presentable
Well-dressed and clean
With a good sence of humour
Non-smoking
Non-scene
I like walks in the country
A film or a play
A couple of beers
or a glass of Chardonnay
The end of this year marks the tenth year anniversary of when my ex and I broke up. Well, strictly speaking, it’s ten years since he dumped me, but that’s just semantics I guess. And while we’ve both moved on in quite different ways, there’s someone at a major Australian bank who clearly thinks we are/should still be together.
As you do, when you’re in a relationship, we had a few things together including home insurance, as well as linked credit card accounts. After five years of active campaigning through phone calls, letters and emails, they made the home insurance changes. They don’t appear, however, to have gotten the message, though about the credit cards.
In 2003, 2007, and now in 2011, they continued to send me a replacement credit card for my card which was linked to his account. Even though we’ve told them three times now we’re no longer in a relationship, and have even received written confirmation they’ve made the changes to the account, they keep sending me replacement cards. The latest arrived in the mail today.
When I checked the mail this afternoon and saw the new credit card ready for use, I’d actually forgotten we had the linked account. I just thought it was a mistake. But then after a few minutes, I remembered we had been through all of this three or four years ago and began to get slightly grumpy. “How many times do I have to tell you?”, I grumbled as I walked around the house.
I texted Damo tonight about this, to which he replied, “you’re fucking kidding”. He’ll call them again on Monday to try and get some closure on this. I’m sure it’s just an error, or perhaps there’s someone at the bank in a state of denial who thinks we/should still be together.
Credit Card Offer
Hopefully, it will all be sorted out. If not, I’m booking an overseas holiday :)
When my old school friend told me late last year he was planning to visit Stockholm and was looking for a few “travel tips”, my first question to him was “when are you going to be there?”. Because there is so much climate variation between the summer and winter months, there are some things you can and cannot do, according to the time you visit. When he told me it would be early-mid August, I told him simply, “Don’t worry, I’ll show you around…”
Stockholm sunset, as viewed from Fotografiska
One of the activities, for example, you can’t do during the winter months is the Stockholm Rooftop Tour, Upplev Mer (Experience more). I first did this tour in 2011 and absolutely loved it, and so recommended it highly. “Just book it…”, he said via email. Over the course of about 75 minutes, you get to walk (harnessed) along the rooftop of the old parliament building. It’s quite spectacular.
Since he arrived around lunchtime yesterday, we’ve also paid a visit to Katarinahissen (which has spectacular views of Stockholm); we’ve had a cocktail at Berns (my other school-friend who has visited, Sue has fond memories of this); and we had dinner and drinks last night at Fotografiska (the photograph museum) with friends Sandra and Robert.
Stockholm, as viewed from the rooftop tourTaking part in the rooftop tour, Stockholm
Despite a long queue for dinner, we managed to secure a really terrific table and enjoyed a sensational meal. While the others had salmon, I had the pork (which was excellent). Unlike many other restaurants, the philosophy at Fotografiska is that the vegetables are the “main course”. They were beautifully prepared and very tasty.
Over a few hours of great conversation, we enjoyed a bottle or two of wine and watched last night’s beautiful sunset. The night ended with a walk through the city (the Stockholm Kulturfestival is currently underway)and through Gamla stan. So yeah, we’ve managed to squeeze a fair deal of activity into a few short hours.
Salty and delicious, the pork at Fotografiska, StockholmVegetables at Fotografiska, Stockholm
Today, we’re heading off on a cruise of the Stockholm Archipelago (to Vaxholm and back); and will also visit the Vasamuseet and the ABBA Museum (his idea, not mine), and whatever ever else the evening may hold. Peter Hook from New Order is playing a free public gig tonight, as part of the Stockholm Kulturfestival. If the weather clears (currently there’s a little bit of drizzle), this should be a terrific way to spend my last full day in Stockholm before heading off to New York tomorrow.
I woke up late this morning, but never mind, since the weather has been pretty awful all day. We’re expecting more of this over the next few days, according to the weather forecast.
But it wasn’t just the weather that kept me in bed until about eleven o’clock. It was the fact that I’d stayed up until about four o’clock in the morning watching “Smash“.
A couple of weeks ago I heard the series described as both “Glee for grown-ups” and “Glee for the theatre crowd”. Honestly, how I could I resist such a description, especially when the program also features actors from two of my favourite television programs – Debra Messing (Grace from “Will & Grace”) and Jack Davenport (Miles from “This Life”).
The series centres around a small group of theatre types who are planning a Broadway Musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe. As with all good dramas, all of the characters have their flaws and the series is very much about how they deal with their “demons”. I’m up to episode seven, with eight more to go, and I’ve just read NBC have commissioned a second series which is good.
But yeah, television watching kept me mostly busy for most of the day before heading out for some fruit and vegetable shopping, and to catch up with my niece visiting from Lismore. “Sorry about the weather I told her”, when we met.
Michelle and James
She’s in town for 24 hours onlyattending an engagement party. It’s not often that my family comes to Sydney. Growing up in Lismore, Brisbane was always the “big city” we visited, not only because of proximity, but also as we have quite a few relatives based there. It would be nice if they came more.
The journalist, Monica Attard told a fabulous story, seeking to illustrate the generational difference in media consumption. She was speaking at a lunch-time discussion I attended yesterday, organised by the “Affinity” cultural organisation, which seeks to create a better interfaith, multi-cultural discussion in Australia, between Muslim and non-Muslim people.
She was talking about how 7.30’s Leigh Sales has been a long-term family friend. It seems her twenty year old son knew nothing of Leigh’s television career, until walking past the television one night, when he stopped, paused, and said “What’s Leigh doing on TV”? The anecdote got a big laugh, by highlighting the fact lots of younger people simply don’t consume linear, free to air television.
Also involved in the discussion was Peter Fray, a former editor of a number of Nine/Fairfax newspapers, but now lecturing, like Monica, at the University of Technology, Sydney.
Peter Fray and Monica Attard speaking at Tuesday’s Affinity lunchtime discussion about modern journalism.
Monica also mentioned that a big issue in teaching journalism students, these days, was helping them better distinguish between the different roles of fact-based journalism and opinion. “They’ve grown up with opinion-based journalism”, she noted, whereas that wasn’t the case for those of us who are older.
From the audience there was a question about the “click-based” nature of journalism these days, highlighting the tensions of the modern journalism. Though I don’t recall the source of the quote, Peter Fray mentioned someone recently saying “If no one clicks on your story, did you really write it?”. It provoked memories of that line, “If a tree falls in the forest..”
The discussion also got around to the recent AFP media raids, with Peter Fray, noting there are lots of other government departments which also have powers which impact on the freedom of the media.
And is Julian Assange a journalist? Monica said yes. Peter said no. Personally, I don’t think he’s a “journalist”, because he doesn’t “sift through”/edit the information to help people better understand what’s going on/the narrative, but I do think he’s a “publisher” and a significant figure, nonetheless. Oh, and he’s a lad from near Lismore, my home town in Northern NSW. A friend’s father taught him in primary school!
In the midst of my busy job working in the media, it was awesome to take a few minutes out of my day for some “deeper thinking”.
In fact, the last few days have involved some really interesting work-related moments, which I thought I’d share, because they’re of broader interest.
Military Tattoo
Monday started early with a media briefing about the forthcoming Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Sydney, which the ABC will broadcast.
I learned this will be largest Edinburgh Military Tattoo ever staged, with participants from fourteen countries, including a large component from the Pacific. I learned there’ll be a significant cultural element, including a re-imaging of the Indigenous “Welcome To Country”. Though it’s been on my radar for a number of years, I’ve never really had much of an interest in actually attending one of these events. I might just go along.
Another awesome thing about attending this briefing was catching up with a former colleague, Tritia who now works for the Defence Force in public relations. It was so great to see her.
Swimming Pools
And then on Monday night, I went to a preview screening of a forthcoming ABC documentary called “The Pool”. It’s a beautifully filmed, thoughtful exploration of the importance of the swimming pool in Australian culture.
ABC Commissioning Editor, Jo Chichester; Director, Sally Aitken; and ABC Director Regional and Local, Judith Whelan, at Monday’s preview of The Pool.
As I watched the film, I thought about some of the awesome swimming pool memories from my own life, and they are here below. The program screens on ABC TV on Sunday at 7.40pm on September 22 and 29.
Lismore Baths: The place where I learned to swim. Does anyone remember the awesome instructor Mr Oag?
South Lismore Lake Pool: No longer with us, but lots of fond memories of swimming there during primary and high school.
Hibiscus Pool: Visiting family in Brisbane, and spending many hours there during my time in university.
Lightning Ridge Bore Baths: Living in Western NSW, I remember going there on a cold winter’s night, enjoying the forty-degree artesian waters for the first time.
Narrandera Pool: Travelling between South Australia and New South Wales, I would always make a stop at Narrandera, to wake up and refresh before or after that long trip across the Hay Plain.
Wagga River: Though not strictly a “swimming pool” swimming in the Murrumbidgee, and taking part in the “Gummy Race” has wonderful memories.
European Pools: Forsgrénskabadet in Stockholm was my first experience of an indoor pool.
Föreningen Saltsjöbadens Friluftsbad in Stockholm was my first experience of skinny dipping in an old fashioned timber pool.
The Blue Lagoon was my first experience swimming in warm waters in Iceland.
Cook & Phillip Pool: My local pool in Sydney
Looking Ahead
Despite all this work activity, I’m having today off. In fact, I’m having every Wednesday off for the next few months. I’m in “excess leave” and need to bring my leave allocation back to within “normal levels”. “Should I take a few weeks off?”, I thought to myself when alerted to the issue. In preference I decided to take Wednesday’s off. It’s an awesome opportunity to catch up on life (doing the things during the week I don’t normally have time to do during the working week). I’ve been going out for lunch, I’ve been going for a swim. I’ve also been taking some work-related phone calls, but hey… that’s okay, I guess. Mostly, though, it’s nice to have a bit of a mental break.
Looking ahead, I’m planning a brief trip to Wagga Wagga, this weekend. Living in Wagga from 1991 to 1995 has lots of fond memories for me. For the first time in seventeen years (Chris Jones’ funeral) I’m making a trip back to Wagga this weekend. It’ll only be a short trip, and I’m unlikely to venture outside the levy bank, but I’ll be fascinated to see how things have remained the same/changed. Is the great Indian restaurant in the arcade in Baylis Street still there?
Where do I go for a drink now that Number 96 has closed? Number 96? Yes, we had a bar called Number 96, located right next to the ABC. Discovering this online quote, I sent it to a few former colleagues. We all had a laugh out loud moment, noting that our patronage had been recorded in print.
Though I’m probably too old, I’m wondering if Choices and Cocos still operate?
I was both excited and surprised when my sister asked me tonight if I was on Skype? We were chatting about life in general, what she’s been up to, what I’ve been up to, her plans for retirement, and my plans to visit China. It was a lovely conversation.
And then all of a sudden she asked me if I had Skype.
It was not the kind of conversation I expected to have with her. As I’ve mentioned previously, in my family I’ve tended to be the “tech guy”.
About ten years ago when UHF television was introduced on the North Coast, I spent at least two days of my Christmas holiday on the rooftops of various family members doing antenna installations. And then about two years ago, when digital set-top boxes became all the rage, at least half a dozen of them sat in cardboard boxes until I was home for Christmas and able to do the very basic installations. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing it, and in the midst of a family of carpenters, cooks, sewers, plumbers and mechanics, it’s good to know I have an important role: “the tech guy”.
When I accidentally discovered Skype HQ in Stockholm in March this year
But tonight, as we chatted, Pat told me her daughter had recently bought her a laptop, and although she doesn’t know how to connect to the internet yet, she’s seen Skype work and would like to try it out with me.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. It seems my monopoly on all things technical might be coming to an end.
If family members can now connect to the internet and chat to me on Skype, what role will I have this summer when I go home for Christmas? I can’t just sit around and do nothing. Well, actually for much of summer, I’ll be working from our office on the North Coast. But in between, what will I do?
I’ve booked a ticket for Tropical Fruits NYE, but that’s just one day. I’ll go out for lunch and dinner with friends, of course. But what will I do in the meantime, if my family no longer has need for “the tech guy”? I’m feeling slightly redundant to my own existence :(
Anyway, Pat and I are planning a Skype conversation for Saturday afternoon which, I guess, means I need to tidy up the lounge room before then.
PS. I tried out the re-opened Charcoal Chicken Shop tonight. As I expected, it’s a little more “upmarket” these days, specialising in Portuguese Chicken – the flattened type with chili sauce – which was very, very, tasty.
