Going to school in about 1978. And yes, that really is curtains combined with venetian blinds. And yes, that's really a Fonzie Mat on my desk.
Half way through tonight’s Swedish class I developed a Homer Simpson-like grand plan to sue the NSW Department of Education. “They’re the reason why I’m finding class difficult tonight”. I concluded, as I struggled with the past participle of some bloody grammar thing. “If they’d taught me grammar properly”, I thought to myself, “I wouldn’t be in this position”.
I’m part of the generation of students in this country who are either too young and too old to have formal learning about grammar except that “verbs are doing words” and “nouns are naming words”.
We were encouraged to “express ourselves” and then fix up the mistakes later. Indeed, I can only recall one occasion when grammar became an issue when it became clear to one of our high school English teachers that no one from one of the particular “feeder schools” had any idea about where to place an apostrophe.
Luckily, I’ve been fairly gifted with language, and have learned a lot through “osmosis”. But it’s in the learning of another language – German in High School and Swedish now – that the lack of formal grammar education becomes evident.
Despite the grammar crisis, it was a reasonably interesting and fun class.
And then from class, we headed straight off to Wednesday night drinks with a special international guest this week, Gustav. I’ll write more about that over the next few days when I’m not so tired and it’s not so close to bedtime.
Swedish class resumes tomorrow night and I’ve been wondering all night about what I should “write” in preparation for class.
I’ve been thinking I could write a piece about the comparisons about the Australian and Swedish political systems. Interestingly, the Government in Sweden is currently a Centre-Right coalition, while the Opposition is a Centre-Right (Red-Green) coalition, which, perhaps, might be what happens in Australia also? Centre-Left and Centre-Right, of course, are relative terms, since pretty much all of the political parties in Sweden would be to the left of most of the political parties in Australia.
I’ve also been thinking I might write about an aspect of Swedish corporate culture which might be about to launch in Australia, following in the foot-steps of IKEA. I’ve been reading tonight about speculation Swedish clothing company, Hennes och Mauritz (H&M), may be about to announce their first shop in Australia, possibly in the new Pitt Street Mall complex. I wish!
As well as adding a bit of “Swedishness” to Sydney, I’m also excited because they have clothes which, generally speaking, actually fit me.
As a average/shortish man with a roundish tummy, I generally find clothes shopping quite difficult. Generally speaking, when I buy a pair of jeans, I need to get the legs tailored, removing four or five inches from the legs. I find it remarkable why this is necessary, since I see an awful lot of Australians of similar proportions, especially in Central Sydney with a large Asian and Middle-Eastern populations. Often I find myself, oddly enough, as one of the taller people in a room or bus, even though I’m only 174cm tall. Yes, there are lots of tall, thin people around, but there are also lots of short people in Sydney too. And I wonder how many of us are going to the tailor to have our jeans modified?
Wearing my H and M polo shirt
As a result, over the last few years I’ve tended to favour the second hand clothing store. First, it’s part of my general philosophy the world is full of crap and that we should recycle as much as possible. Second, it’s a cost factor, as you can usually pick up some very nice clothing for next to nothing. And third, most of the clothing adjustments have already been done. Rather than go to a tailor and have several inches removed from the legs, I can actually go in and find clothing where those necessary adjustments have already occurred.
A few years ago I picked up a pair of second hand jeans while visiting the town of Coonamble in Western NSW. Although I was impressed with the price – just two dollars at the local op-shop – I was more impressed with the fact they fitted, instantly, off the shelf. Whoever had them before me was obviously the same weight and height, and for that I was truly grateful. No stuffing around in the changing room, no going to tailors, they just fitted!
The only other “jeans breakthrough” I’ve had occured in March this year when I went to H&M in Copenhagen. The jeans I purchased for about $50 fitted right off the shelf, both in terms of waist and height measurements. I’ve been wearing them ever since. I love them.
A couple of years ago in Sweden, I also bought a great black polo shirt from H&M which also just “fitted”, and looked good.
Although I appreciate there are some “issues” associated with the manufacture of clothing through these international chains, I’m a bit of a fan of Hennes och Mauritz, both for their Swedish-ness and for their manufacture of clothing which just “fits”.
There’s also an interesting broader issue about H&M, which reminds me of a program which I saw on SBS a couple of years ago about Swedish corporate culture.
The central thesis for the program was that years of extreme poverty, followed by years of high affluence have influenced the nature of Swedish business. “We think that everyone should be able to afford good fashion”, said someone from H&M. Later, another commented, “That’s why in Sweden all the young people dress the same, and it doesn’t worry them. In some countries, everyone wants to look different, but that’s not the case in Sweden”.
An interesting philosophy. I wonder if it will have much traction in Australia, or have we all become such individualists that we would all want to dress differently or maybe we won’t notice so much? I suspect, at heart, we remain a largely conformist culture (“we’re all individuals”) and they’ll do reasonably well.
When I woke this morning there were two stories on the radio that caught my attention.
First, there was that stupid story from England about the parents “in trouble” for allowing their children to walk/cycle to school. Honestly…
And second, on a more local level, there was the story about an overnight explosion, fire, and emergency on nearby Cleveland Street.
According to all the reports this morning, it’s a case of suspected arson. As it’s reasonably close to where I lived, I’d like to say I could have been an eye-witness. I could have seen the blokes alleged to have committed the arson running from the scene.
And yet, the truth is I slept right through it. Slept like a log. There’s a Walkley Award I won’t be getting a nomination for :(
On the bright side, I’m feeling much better today. I’m still congested, my voice remains croaky, and I’m about 70%. So, even though I’ve missed out on Australian journalism’s highest prize, I’ve had a good night’s sleep and I feel much better.
“You’re so dodgy” my friend said to me when I told her how I’d once jumped the queue to get into the Marigold in Sydney’s Chinatown. “If you go up the escalator, there’s a goods lift which takes you to the kitchen area, and you just walk through”, I told her.
We were on the verge of taking it, as we waited for close to an hour to get in for our 10 am booking. There was some kind of weird arrangement where you joined the queue if you’d made a phone booking but could go straight to the top of the queue if you’d made an online booking. WTF
The lengthy queue was no doubt a response to the recent news Marigold was closing only a few weeks short of their fortieth anniversary.
A former colleague and I had recently had lunch there, celebrating in a similar way, but we had gone to the top of the queue because he regularly booked larger functions there. You can understand my frustration of having to wait?
After an hour of waiting, we were close to the end of our patience. Only a few metres from entering, the queue stopped, showed no signs of moving, and we started to see online bookings enter ahead of us.
I went upstairs and checked out the goods elevator.
But finally, we decided it made more sense to look elsewhere. I walked across the road, got a table immediately at Emperor’s Garden. The only delay was from the people in front of us who didn’t know how to use the check-in. Seriously? After eighteen months they still couldn’t tell the difference between using the app and taking a photograph!?!?!
My friends joined me shortly afterwards and within minutes we were seated and eating.
My tip for Sydneysiders? There are more places for yum cha than Marigold.
For just a brief moment last night I thought we might have seen the start of “flood rain” here in Lismore. “Flood rain” is the phrase used in my family to describe sustained, heavy rainfall that, as you might expect, eventually leads to flooding. You don’t necessarily identify it by the volume of rain that falls. No it’s more the sound of the rain that identifies it as flood rain.
Just like they have dozens of words for “snow” in Iceland – or is that just an urban myth? – we have lots of words and phrases for rain and flooding in my family. “Is it as big as 74? No it’s more like 87” and “It’s up to AGR’s corner” are the kinds of phrases we use.
That’s what happens when you grow up in a flood-prone area. While the capital city media is declaring the area “at risk of major flooding”, ask my sister and she’ll say, “the river’s up a bit”. Ask her if she wants help moving up some of the many things stored under the house, she’ll say “oh no, it’s alright, they’ll wash away and we’ll replace them”.
Anyway, we’ve had some periods of quite heavy rain – mostly at night over the last few days – and then tonight, there was a story on the local news tonight about how the area can higher than average rainfall over the next few months. We shall see, I guess.
The last time I was home there was the risk of flooding in Lismore, and for an afternoon I found myself on the radio giving out flood warnings. I “worked” a fair bit on that holiday. In contrast, this would have to be the most relaxed holiday I’ve had in quite a while.
When I think about my holidays last year – four weeks in Europe and two weeks in China – they were both fairly hectic. Even though they were “holidays” I was still pretty active with lots of activity from day to day.
Even when I was home at Christmas time, I still worked for a couple of days and was pretty much “on call”. It’s the same this time, but somehow it’s been more relaxing and the phone hasn’t run nearly so much. My sister noticed this on the day I arrived home, harking back to the day when I flew home at Christmas and the phone had rung half a dozen times on the drive between Ballina and Lismore. This time it’s been much, much more relaxed which is a blessing.
I spent a couple of hours this afternoon doing some “internet training” with some older family members – the sister and brother-in-law or my brother-in-law. They’re developing a bit of an interest in family history, and so I was in a good position to put them in the right direction. In particular, they’re trying to track down a family member who hasn’t been seen since the mid 1980s. Although they have a reasonably unusual name in Australia – it’s a German name – I still found it difficult to track him down, though I think I’ve given them a few hints in the right direction.
And then tonight, it’s been another evening for dinner and chatting around the television set.
Even though I spent last night complaining about how there was already too much about the Royal Wedding, that didn’t stop me from watching two documentaries on the ABC (6.00pm and 8.30pm) and then hopping over to watch “The Queen” on Channel 7 (or Prime, as I should say up here on the North Coast).
The Queen is such a good movie, eh? Although much has been made of the outstanding role played by Dame Helen Mirren, I thought all of the actors played their roles well without resorting to caricature and cliche. Even the Duke of Edinburgh who is a bit of a cliche and caricature in the way he is portrayed in the media, came across as a highly believable character.
I’m back to work tomorrow – working from the office up here – and then back to Sydney and back to work proper on Thursday and Friday. Still, it’s been nice having a holiday with only a few phone calls to answer.
Sydney as viewed from Kings Cross. The view from the balcony at Mezza Luna in Kings Cross Potts Point is pretty amazing. I just love how Centrepoint Tower gives the city view a surprising symmetry.
It was a view I hadn’t expected, as a few of us went out were very kindly taken out to lunch today by the boss as a very special thank you for the year.
And not only was the view great, but the food was too. I had a fettucine with beef ragu, and a chocolate creme brulee which were both very good. And the service was good, and it’s a great place. I’ve nothing else to say, really, except it was absolutely fabulous.
Aside from that, I’ve nothing much else to report, except that my friend Colin is now out of hospital (for the second time this week) and doing okay it seems.
For me, it’s just been a night sitting at home, surfing the net, listening to music etc. Hopefully there’ll be something more interesting to report over the weekend.
“If you’re in the ABBA Museum and you’re standing near the Ring Ring exhibit, you should answer the phone, as it’s probably going to be Frida” we were told by Ingmarie Halling from the ABBA Museum, soon to open in Stockholm. “And if you see the piano suddenly playing, it’s gonna be Benny doing it remotely”, she added.
The telephone call from Frida (or indeed any member of ABBA, as “they all have the number”, we were told) was inspired by a John Lennon exhibition in New York. When Frida heard that Yoko Ono would sometimes call the telephone there and speak to people randomly, she replied instantly that she would love to do that also.
That, and the bit about Benny playing the piano remotely is interesting for two reasons. One – that’s it the kind of thing now possible because of modern technology. Two – that it’s a sign of “buy in” by the members of ABBA who, seemingly, have been somewhat reluctant to recognise their musical legacy.
The appearance by Ingmarie was the most interesting and engaging part of the second (and main day) of the International ABBA Day I attended in Roosendaal. That, and the screening of a number of recent television appearances by ABBA members, notably one from Finnish TV where Bjorn and Benny were asked individually to describe the other. Bjorn has a good sense of humour, but never shows it much, according to Benny. They meet weekly, we were told, mostly to discuss business activities, such as licensing of the songs for movies, but not much outside of that.
These were the things which interested me most. I have almost no interest in collecting memorabilia, a major focus for the day. As I walked into the room the first thing I noticed was the bar, and then the big screen, and then as I looked down from the screen, there were “stalls” with people selling lots of ABBA material – DVDs, vinyl, rare recordings. A flea market, you might say. “Unless there’s some amazing new recording, I’m not really interested in collecting an obscure Japanese 7” pressing of a song I already have”, I told a couple of people.
Thus, we didn’t really stay all that long during the day. We were there for two or three hours to watch some of videos, hear the talk by Ingmarie, and to chat with other fans from around the world. For me, meeting those other fans was the main reason why I wanted to go. The day was informal enough so that I had sufficient time to do that in a meaningful way.
Anita and Helga who run the International Fan Club
After a late afternoon meal, we were back at 7.00pm sharp for “The Video”. It’s become a regular part of the International ABBA Day over the years for a compilation video to be played at the start of the Saturday night disco. Of the few I’ve seen, I’ve thought they were always very good. But this year, a number of people commented to me they thought the video was a little disappointing. Maybe the anticipation of it was too much, but I was inclined to agree, finding the listing of all of ABBA’s stage performances by city and date overlaid over a lot of live footage I’ve seen many times a little disappointing.
I was also a little disappointed by the number of rare recordings played on Saturday night, both at the disco venue, and at the after-party. “Put On Your White Sombrero” is a shit record, I said to a couple of people. “It was never released by ABBA because they didn’t think it was up to scratch and yet I’ve heard it three times this weekend”, I added.
Dancing QueensBoot Scootin’ ABBA Fan
I think I understand the “group dynamic” amongst ABBA fans going on with all of the rare material being played. I think it’s about sharing something hard core fans have in common, which doesn’t involve the rest of the population who “like”, but who don’t “love” ABBA in the way people attending this event do. I also think there’s probably an issue with many people having heard the most well known tracks many, many times. That said, it sometimes seems like there’s an aversion to playing the big ABBA hits (or even good B-sides and album tracks) at some of the fan events. Personally, I would prefer to hear and dance to fully-formed, rounded great songs than incomplete songs discarded by ABBA as not worthy of release.
That said, I spent a fair bit of time on the dance floor, and like the young girl in “Dancing Queen” found I was having the time of my life.
That, and chatting to people. One of the things I discovered was that my blog post yesterday where I talked about being shy, and how daunting it can be at events like this to meet people, really touched a lot of people. In addition to the number of people who came up to me, concerned, asking if I was okay, a couple of others told me they felt the same, and they were pleased I’d written about it. My advice is that if you feel similarly shy in large groups, it’s important to make contact with people ahead of the event so you have some people you can feel comfortable with. I don’t mean that in any kind of mercenary way, it’s just a recognition that some people feel more comfortable in smaller groups than larger, and that if you have a smaller group within that larger group, you might find it a little easier.
After the main event, we headed into town for the “After Party” which was at the same venue as the night previously. This time around the bar was initially packed more heavily with “locals”, some of whom really got into the swing of things, while others left soon after we arrived, possibly finding themselves a little overwhelmed by hearing the B-sides and rarities, and not the more well-known ABBA hits.
The bar staff at the “After Party” venue were terrific. In particular, we got chatting with a young guy who had worked the night before but who was there the following night just to enjoy himself. “The ABBA Weekend”, he told us “is a great thing for Roosendaal, having so many people come from all parts of the world.” I mentioned to him my theory that, although it seems crazy on the surface to have this day in a small town in The Netherlands, it actually works. “If it was in Stockholm or London or Amsterdam, people would break up at the end of the night and go their separate ways, whereas here everyone sticks together”, I told him.
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I too am a victim of our education system. My hand writing certainly is. I was caught in the crossfire of the change from cursive script to printing. Grammar? What is that? I know nothing of parts of past participles. Still, I manage to get by.
What if you’re like me and did get taught grammar properly and you’re still crap at it??? I think you’re either into it or you’re note. I like the fact that you have a go at talking Swedish even if you screw it up – you still have a go when you’re in Sweden and to me that’s the most important thing. Can you understand when people speak Swedish? Can you speak to them in their own language? That’s the real measure of your success. Keep working on the grammar but don’t let it define you.
I too am a victim of our education system. My hand writing certainly is. I was caught in the crossfire of the change from cursive script to printing. Grammar? What is that? I know nothing of parts of past participles. Still, I manage to get by.
What if you’re like me and did get taught grammar properly and you’re still crap at it??? I think you’re either into it or you’re note. I like the fact that you have a go at talking Swedish even if you screw it up – you still have a go when you’re in Sweden and to me that’s the most important thing. Can you understand when people speak Swedish? Can you speak to them in their own language? That’s the real measure of your success. Keep working on the grammar but don’t let it define you.
I had never seen that school photo of you – it is still unmistakably you. Unmistakably.
There’s a little of Tom Ballard in the face too, I reckon.
You mean he’s gonna end up looking like me in 25 years time? :)