“Marlborough House” is a building I’ve walked past possibly hundreds of times, and yet have had no idea what was located inside. A bit of googling reveals this massive building is home to fashion graphic designers, fashion designers, furniture designers etc.
I only really discovered it today when I went walking along Marlborough Street as part of my ongoing photographic project, Surry Streets. I actually thought it was one of those massive residential apartment blocks springing up around Surry Hills, but apparently not.
It absolutely dominates one end of Marlborough Street which stretches from Cleveland Street right up over the hill to the other side of Devonshire Street.
As you walk along the street you pass interesting old terrace houses, interesting businesses, Ward Park, and St Peter’s Catholic Church to name but a few of the sites you encounter.
In almost the same way that I carried around my new “T-Box” last night, my friend Graeme carried around a box for much of the day and the night. This is the way it is when you have things delivered to your work address because it’s near impossible to organise a home delivery when you work 9-5 weekdays. I shan’t reveal what’s in Graeme’s box, as it’s a bit of a surprise. All I can say is that its bloody heavy. After the summer break, we resumed “normal transmission” tonight. For me, that’s a combination of Swedish class followed by beers and dinner with mates at the pub.
Swedish classes recommenced for 2011 with two new students. One has a Swedish mother, and actually lived and taught in Sweden for a while back in the 1970s. The other comes from Russia, but has also lived in Sweden. It makes for a wonderfully diverse and interesting group of people. Even if I had no interest in learning Swedish, I think I’d still like to go to class :) Tonight’s class was a real job, though it’s becoming increasingly clear we’re a group of people with little interest in grammar and such, and more interest in conversation.
After class, I grabbed a cab and made my way to the pub to catch up with mates. One of the regular crew has been in hospital for an operation, so it was good to see him back and, despite a bit of pain, feeling not so bad. And then of course, there was Graeme and his box. An odd addition to the evening, but it’s great that life is back to normal on a Wednesday night. I love it.
My earliest memory of the Sydney’s Taylor Square Newsagency was when they had a “footpath sub-branch” outside The Oxford Hotel. As a young man from the country, I was somewhat overwhelmed by the large collection of international newspapers and “adult magazines” they sold. And yes, in my younger years, I may have bought some of both. Back in the late 80s and early 90s, I was still a magazine buyer. And so when I came to Sydney, I liked nothing more than “stocking up” ahead of a return to life in the country.
By the time I’d moved to Sydney in the mid-90s, I’m pretty sure they no longer had the “footpath sub-branch”. Instead, the Taylor Square Newsagency had a fairly healthy floor space on the opposite side of the road, and they had an amazing collection of magazines. Back then I was still buying “fashion magazines” “gay magazines” and things like “The Face”. Yes, really.
A few years later I was buying cooking magazines and computer magazines. And then it was family history magazines. More recently, I was using the Taylor Square Newsagency for art magazines, the only magazines I still buy in the physical form.
Taylor Square Newsagency
Along the way, I popped into the newsagency for the occasional Lotto ticket, and memorably to buy some early morning newspapers. There was a New Year’s Day when I presented the Breakfast Show on ABC Radio, and, since the newspaper deliveries to work didn’t occur early enough, stopped in there to pick them up on the way to work. So I caught a cab from home, via the Taylor Square Newsagency. As I wrote at the time
“I want to go to Ultimo, but I need to go via the Taylor Square newsagency to pick up some newspapers on the way”, I told him. In scenes reminiscent of a Hollywood movie, forty-or-fifty people descended on the taxi as we pulled in at Taylor Square. You could see the look of desperation in their eyes, and then disappointment as they soon realised the taxi wasn’t free. Feeling a bit sorry for the taxi driver and the “siege situation” I’d dragged him into, I promised him I’d run in and out as quickly as possible. As I ran in, I noticed there were queues everywhere on Oxford Street, even apparently at the sex shop next to the newsagency.
Taylor Square newsagency magazine rack
On Monday morning, I checked in with my colleagues to see if they still called in to pick up the early morning papers. “No, we do everything online”, they told me. And I guess that’s the issue for the Taylor Square Newsagency: life has changed. They probably should have downsized their floor space, as others have, as the newspaper/magazine industry has changed. There again, there’s also the issue of how Oxford Street has changed since the arrival of the 1.30 am lockout, which, undoubtedly has indirectly contributed to things. I hear “The Oxford” is about to close also for a few months, and then “turn straight”. Life really has changed since the late 80s, and early 90s, eh?
I was actually a little sad when I walked past the newsagency late on Sunday night and noticed they had closed. A friend told me she and a friend had the same reaction. “He got really teary”, she told me. “Where am I gonna buy Italian Vogue from now”, he asked. :)
It must be even sadder for the family which has owned the newsagency since the 1930s.
Although there’s a Royal Palace in the heart of the city, the Swedish royal family actually lives at Drottningholm, about 25 minutes from the centre of Stockholm. To get there, you catch the T-bana to Bromma, and then a 177 bus to the palace. Or you can catch the ferry, which is how I got back to the centre of town.
On arriving, it’s quite impressive, and you can really see the influence of the French both in the architecture and in the gardens. But to be honest, I was a little disappointed with the inside of the palace.
I’d show you some photographs, except photographs are strictly banned. But in comparison with even some of the minor French castles, it lacks a certain “wow” factor. I think part of the reason was relative poverty of Sweden until only fairly recently. Unlike other parts of Europe where it’s actual gold on the walls, the gold at Drottningholm is mostly paint.
The guide today spoke of an architectural style where it was common to imitate things, to create illusions. Although I don’t recall the Swedish word, it meant to “trick the eye”. Thus, you would paint timber as marble or as lush drapes. Perhaps it was the style, or perhaps it was just a cheaper way of doing things? I don’t know. But the end result is that the inside of Drottningholm Palace looks a little old and tired in my opinion, particularly when compared to other European castles and palaces.
The gardens are great, however, and so is the spectacular view of the lake. I would say, however, even the gardens looked more spectacular when I visited last year when they were covered in snow. Truly magical. Perhaps winter/spring is the best time to visit?
I found the nearby Royal Theatre a far more interesting place to visit than the palace, however. The theatre was the brainchild of the Swedish Queen, Louisa Ulrika who came to Sweden from Prussia in the eighteenth century. Apparently appalled at the “lake of culture” in Stockholm, she asked an architect to design and build (and pay for) a theatre in the grounds of the palace.
Her son, Gustav the third was a real theatre buff, and really created a sense of excitement about the place. He was also responsible for the establishment of the national theatre and the national opera, too. AND, Wikipedia tells me, he authorised a plan to colonise Australia too, though the war with Prussia put a stop to that. How cool would that have been? Wikipedia tells me he was also rumoured to be a bit of a homo.
Although there was a fire in the original theatre, the current theatre dates back to the late 1790s. For over 100 years, though, it remained a storehouse for potatoes, hay and furniture from the palace. In the early 20th century, however, it was refurbished a little – electic lights, for example – and re-opened. They continue to have summer opera performances there even now.
As part of the tour two of us were asked to operate some of the sound-effects machines. I played the role of “wind” in today’s production which was loads of fun. While the rest of the tour sat back unwilling to put their hands up, I put mine straight up, and got to see some additional backstage activity.
So my advice is have a look at theatre, walk around the gardens, and give the inside of the palace a miss.
Our tour guide, by the way, was excellent.
I caught the ferry back into town which was a really nice thing to do.
Stockholm was absolutely buzzing this afternoon. The central shopping streets were really crowded. Great weather, great city…
When asked to comment on the whole connection between ABBA, gays and drag shows, Benny Andersson (the bearded one back then) shook his head in disbelief and famously said… I don’t get it… did we look like transvestites or something?
Surrounded by rainbow flags, a giant poster for “Mamma Mia” (the movie) appeared this weekend on top of Sydney’s famous gay pub, The Oxford Hotel. It will probably come as some reassurance to Benny to learn The Oxford doesn’t attract too many drag queens, these days. In fact, the crowd is much more attracted to slightly older, overweight, hairy, bearded, bearish men.
How long before we hear Benny utter the words… I don’t get it… did we look like bears and cubs or something? :)
It may surprise you to discover there’s a statue of Mary Poppins in a park in the NSW country town, Bowral. I hadn’t realised the town’s connection until I visited a couple of years ago.
Though Mary Poppins is very obviously set in London, there’s an Australian connection to the story, as the author P.L. Travers came from Australia. Most commonly associated with Maryborough in Queensland, she once lived in Bowral, and apparently, that’s where the Mary Poppins character was created.
Statue of Mary Poppins in Bowral, NSW.
There’s a wonderful film about P.L. Travers called “Saving Mr Banks”, which begins with her life growing up in Queensland in a very dysfunctional family. The film goes on to recount her reaction as Walt Disney turned the story into a musical with cartoon elements. She hated it!
But I loved the film, “Saving Mr Banks”. It’s a great story, well told, with Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks in staring roles.
I also loved seeing the production of “Mary Poppins”, currently playing at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre.
At the time I was pretty blown away by the scene where Mary flew above the audience.
The special effects in the current production go way beyond that. There were moments when my friend and I laughed out loud. “How the fuck did they do that?”, I whispered in my friend’s ear, mostly in disbelief.
The performances are wonderful, especially seeing legendary actor and singer, Nancy Hayes playing the woman selling bread to feed the birds. “Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag”. Everyone is wonderful.
I would HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend seeing this if you’re able.
Mary Poppins at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre
Though I didn’t see any of the rehearsals for the show, it seems they took place in the rehearsal rooms at the ABC, which are available for rent. This leads me to an update on work.
There’s been a bit of LGBTQIA+ focus on my work over the last few days.
As you may know, the ABC is now the Media Partner for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, and World Pride in Sydney. There was a big “meet and greet” at the ABC this week with the organisers of World Pride. Lots of confidential information, to be revealed later. However, I can tell you what they’re planning is amazing. Book your tickets as soon as they go on sale.
And then yesterday, I attended the AWEI LGBTQ Workplace Inclusion Awards. Once again, the ABC scored “Gold Employer” status which was very exciting, recognising the work being done behind the scenes to make the ABC a better place to work for LGBTQIA+.
ABC Pride Chair, Manda Hatter and ABC Managing Director, David Anderson accept the “Gold Employer” award at the AWEI LGBTQ Workplace Inclusion Awards.
“That was a wonderful speech. You made me cry a little bit”, I told him, noting we both joined the ABC in 1989, both in South Australia, and both remember the days when the ABC maybe wasn’t as “inclusive” as it is now.
The team from ABC Pride, along with Chris Nelson from ACON and David Anderson, ABC Managing Director at the AWEI Awards.
In stark contrast to last week when I went to the Unisex Amateur Strip Night, tonight I went to a rather erudite discussion at Glebe Books about the forthcoming Federal Election, followed by tapas at a nearby Spanish restaurant. The occasion was a discussion between former ABC journalist and now political aspirant, Maxine McKew and Sydney Morning Herald journalist, Peter Hartcher. I admire them both for the consistently even hand approach they have demonstrated in their professional careers. The discussion was organised, though, in the days before McKew nailed her political colours to the flagpole. As such, what was probably going to be fairly independent and dispassionate discussion between two commentators on the state of Australian politics, took on a more overtly political hue.
I can’t decide, however, if the crowd was overwhelmingly an ALP-supporting audience, or if they were a crowd of ABC-TV viewers who just love Maxine McKew. The audience consensus was the former, but I suspect a fair degree of the latter, as McKew was welcomed with rapturous applause, and there was a fair bit of rubber-necking occuring, as the audience angled for a “real life view” (off-screen) of Maxine.
Bipolar Nation by Peter Hartcher
So although Peter was supposed to be the centre of attention, much of the attention (for the first half at least) was focussed on Maxine. Perhaps it was just as well, then, that she had to leave early to attend her first ALP branch meeting, as attention became focussed back on Peter Hartcher’s book, which has a very interesting central thesis.
At the heart of Hartcher’s book is a multi-faceted argument which explains why he believes Kevin Rudd and Labor (despite the current opinion polls) will still find it difficult to win this year’s Federal Election. Hartcher observed tonight that, historically speaking, Labor’s popularity has usually peaked, and John Howard’s popularity has usually bottomed, six to eight months out from the election. Hartcher also observed that, at the Federal level at least, Australians have preferred Liberal/National Federal Govenrments.
Hartcher explains this preference for State Labor Governments and Coalition Federal Governments in terms of “mummy” and “daddy” politics. That (and this is a generalisation) at the state level, we want governments who will care for us in the areas of health and education (for example), while at the national level, we want governments who will look after us, and sometime be tough, when it comes to national security and the economy. In the first instance, McKew responded to this conceit as one which waas “incredibly paternalistic”, but then offered the argument that Howard was the old-fashioned daddy who had failed to keep up with the times, while Rudd was new, younger father who was in touch with his children and was open to the ideas of the new world.
A recurrent theme for McKew, and perhaps indicative of the way in which Labor will position itself at the Federal Election, was the idea that Kevin Rudd offered solutions to an uncertain future, and that staying with John Howard was a “risk” because “he didn’t”. In common with Hartcher’s theme that Australians only choose Labor Federal Governments in difficult times (the 1940’s when we were at war and the 1980s when interest rates were at 22% and the resources boom had all but collapsed), McKew argued the challenges of climate change, mean the time is right for another federal Labor Government.
Despite the opinion polls which suggest a Federal Labor victory this year, with Kevin Rudd clearly the preferred Prime Minister, both McKew and Hartcher observed the rubbery-ness of the figures. Both noted that on the key issues of national security and economic management, the opinion polls show Howard remains the preferred choice.
Hartcher argued that unless Labor can convince the electorate they can be trusted on these key issues, they won’t be able to unseat the Coalition. McKew agreed, though, she noted the difference between Howard and Rudd on these issues was narrowing. To support his argument, Hartcher quoted a Rudd analogy that Labor was like one of those multi-layered Babooshka dolls. Rudd’s analogy was that Labor would only be “trusted” federally if the electorate was convinced of their credentials on the outer-layers of the national security and the economy, that the electorate won’t look inside unless they are happy with the outer layers. Hartcher explained that when he recently asked Rudd about where climate-change fitted within this, Rudd said “somewhere between the two”.
Oh yeah, and fellow Sydney blogger, Glen Fuller from Event Machinics works there. Hi Glen…
“All yours,
Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka-ya-ya!
All yours,
Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka-ya-ya!”
