Public art, thoughtful words from the Pigram Brothers, and the perfect place to check your hair and make-up before heading to The Court Hotel in Perth, Western Australia.I took my first work-related phone call from the Eastern States at about seven o’clock this morning. Even though it was in my diary, and I’d planned for it, I was still fairly bleary eyed. Still, I think I managed to make sense of it all.
I think I also made sense when I took a call the other day from The East where the person on the end of the phone hadn’t quite realised there was a three-hour time-zone difference between Melbourne and Perth. “So it’s 10.30 in the morning?” the person on the other end of the phone said, to which I replied, “No, it’s 4.30 in the morning”.
Three hours time difference between Sydney and Perth shouldn’t make a difference but it does. And I was reminded tonight of why, at the end of 2004, I decided to return to Sydney, instead of staying in Perth: it’s the time-zone difference. On paper, you wouldn’t think two or three hours makes a difference, but it certainly does.
The work stuff you can live with. That’s why you get the big bucks. But a three hour time zone gap makes the biggest difference when it comes to maintaining relationships with family and friends. You arrive home from work, and you think it would be terrific to ring up your family and friends, and then suddenly you realise they’re going to bed. Even though many of my friends back home are night owls, you still don’t want to call too late. And besides, there’s a difference between calling someone at seven and calling someone at ten.
The road trip from Hobart to Launceston wasn’t nearly as long as I thought it would be. I’ve always had an idea the road trip from the south to the north in Tasmania might have been deceptively lengthy. In the end it took us about two and half hours from start to finish. In a small car we stuck to the speed limit, and because it wasn’t too lengthy, we didn’t stop along the way. The only time we stopped was to take some photographs of the landscape, and in particular, of the wonderful public art that you see from time to time.
Our trip was helped along by my role as “chief audio organiser”. In preparation for the trip, I’d downloaded some music and podcasts to my phone. Musically, I introduced Sue to Swedish jazz singer, Jonas Holmberg who I’ve previously blogged about. For a podcast, I chose Richard Fidler’s interview with Geraldine Doogue. Both of us are long-term fans of Geraldine and so I thought an hour with Gerry would be a good way to pass the time. It’s a really great insight into a legendary Australian broadcaster’s life and work. In particular, I was really fascinated at her candour about when she and her second husband left their respective partners to begin a new life together. I was also fascinated by the way in which she spoke about her Catholic beliefs.
An almost treeless, gentle-sloping hill that you find so much in country Australia, snapped earlier today roughly half-way between Hobart and Launceston.
Co-incidentally, we’re staying in what was a Presentation Sisters convent up until 2003. The woman on reception today told us that when it got down to just two sisters, they found they weren’t able to cope any more. The present day hotel accommodation was the result of a renovation in 2005. “I’ll bet the sisters didn’t have the modern bathrooms”, I joked when she told us the story. The accommodation is really nice. The bathrooms are modern. You can open the windows and enjoy the fresh air. And it’s quiet. Really quiet. Both Sue and I enjoyed a really wonderful sleep last night (lots of dreams) before waking reasonably late.
Public art on the road between Hobart and Launceston
While Sue visited some family, I went off and spent the day at the Cataract Gorge.
Later this afternoon, we wandered around town, looking at the Boag’s Brewery (both concluding their mid 90s advertising campaigns were very sexist), at arts and crafts at The Mill, and thinking of where to have tonight’s evening mill. Last night we went to a pub and tonight we’re heading to a Thai place.
A key criteria for both of us is not so much the meal itself, but to get a sense of the people and place we’re visiting. So far, we’ve concluded Launceston is a little bit like Lismore, a little bit like Wagga, and other similarly-sized country towns we’ve come to know very well in our lives.
It’s not often you hear the name “Nanne Grönvall” mentioned anywhere outside of Sweden. She’s a well-known singer-songwriter there, and she just happens to be the daughter-in-law of Benny from ABBA. But aside from a few attempts at Eurovision, she is really only well-known in Sweden and usually sings in Swedish.
Earlier this year while I was in Sweden I saw her perform, and was lucky enough to meet her and obtain a signed CD which I’ve had on my notice-board ever since I’ve been back. Most people who come into my office would have no idea who she was. But someone today did.
He was a bloke from Melbourne who was into discuss a potential project. As the meeting ended with the usual pleasantries he then said – and you could have knocked me over with a feather – “I love your signed Nanne Grönvall CD”.
“I’m a huge fan of Melodifestivalen”, he told me when I asked how he knew Nanne. We then went on to chat about this year’s competition, and I then told him I’d attended and was able to show him some photographs. How random is that?
A few hours later I was on a bus and I heard a few more words you hardly ever hear in Australia: grönsaker and kyckling (the Swedish words for vegetables and chicken). There was a bloke seated behind me who was obviously chatting to someone about their shopping requirements for dinner that evening.
So it’s been a day of random Swedish moments. I’m sure it’s a sign… (of something).
I was on the bus, by the way, to see my friend who has been in hospital for a few weeks. He’s not 100%, but considerably better than he was a few weeks ago.
Regular appearances by Sean Micallef could emerge as the only reason I don’t become totally addicted to “Laid”, the new black comedy on ABC 1. I don’t know why I don’t like him. I just don’t.
Co-incidentally, the last time I truly loved a program and found my allegiances tested was when he became Laura’s love interest on “Seachange”.
I think it’s because he has this constant look and manner which suggests he thinks he might be smarted than everyone else, and because he always plays “Sean Micallef”. Although I’m sure he’s probably a lovely person in real life, when he appears on screen I just want to punch him. I feel the same way about Kevin Klein and Richard Wilkins, but that’s another story and perhaps I need some therapy?
Anyway, the point is I saw an ad on television tonight for next week’s edition of “Laid” and I noticed Micallef makes an appearance. “Oh no”, I screamed at the television, adding, “I hope it’s only a camero and not an ongoing role”. Because if it is an ongoing role I will be really disappointed, as I was really impressed by the first episode of “Laid”.
I love the lead character. She has this great sense of vulnerability, but also strength. She works in a market research company doing focus groups. Meanwhile, she’s trying to get on with life and love and all of those things which challenge us all on a daily basis. She does so with passion and a dry, quite black sense of humour.
In this first episode, she goes to the funeral of a bloke she shagged twice at university, and who obviously held a candle for her for many years after. At the end of the funeral, she tries to hook-up with his best-friend, a guy she had also shagged a number of years ago. And guess what happens then? Well, I’m not one for spoilers, so will leave it to you to discover for yourself, as it’s available on iview for a couple of weeks http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/view/715577 (apologies to overseas readers, as the program is geo-blocked to Australia only).
It was one of a few television shows I watched today as part of “catch up Saturday”. There was also a WW2 doco on iview which I started to watch, but lost interest in. And then on live to air television, I watched “Who Do You Think You Are”, a program about maps, Melvyn Bragg’s show about the English language and then Graeme Norton. Yes, a dramatically interesting Saturday in front of the box.
Seriously though, I love “Who Do You Think You Are” in both its English and Australia formats. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a family history program which delves into the ancestry of a famous person. Today’s episode was about an English newsreader whose ancestry was Jewish-Polish via South Africa and apartheid. Although I’ve no idea who she was, her story was fascinating. If there was ever a chance to work on that show, I’d throw in my radio career and be there in an instant. I love this stuff.
But yeah, television was my best friend today. Nothing else to report.
Kulturnatt at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities
“That doesn’t look too hard”, I thought to myself as I watched the group of people being taught a traditional Swedish dance. Initially, I’d shied away from taking part in the class because I didn’t think my language skills were good enough to fully understand the instructions being given out. But then I heard phrases I recognised, and realised all I had to do was follow the other people and I would have been fine. Finally, I summoned up the courage and decided I would give it a try, only to be told that was the last dance class of the night.
It was all part of Kulturnatt, the night when Swedish galleries, museums and other important cultural institutions open up their doors with free entry. As I’d visited a number of these locations previously, I thought it was important to be strategic about which ones I visited. I chose the Swedish Radio concert hall (for obvious reasons) and the nearby Swedish Museum of National Antiquities (aka Historiska Museet).
Mobile phone in the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities
The concert hall was pretty much what you would expect from a concert hall (so no surprises there). The music played covered a range of classical musical styles.
I was really blown away by the museum. They had a wonderful collection from the middle ages right through to contemporary life. “Hey, I had that mobile phone”, I told someone standing next to me. “Me too”, she told me with a laugh. I think both of us recognised life is moving on when items from your own life suddenly start turning up in museums.
“Do you think I could live in Wagga?”, a friend asked me via text a few months ago. Enthusiastically, I told her yes. I have many fond memories of my time living in Wagga in the early 1990s. Although she’s lived in the city – Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney – for most of the last thirty years, she grew up in the country, and I was fairly confident she could make the transition. Her new job offers her a promotion, and a new house far from the sounds of the city.
For the past few years she’s been complaining about the sounds of light rail construction. Now, living on the outskirts of Wagga, it’s the night-time silence that’s causing her concern. “For the first couple of nights I couldn’t sleep”, she told me, due to the fact there was “no noise”. “Silence can be deafening”, she added. She’s right. I noticed it too.
But when I lived in Wagga, I lived in the middle of town. It wasn’t the sounds of the city, or the sounds of silence, it was the sounds of ducks and geese. I lived in a two-bedroom apartment on Wollundry Lagoon.
I planted this bay tree outside my apartment in (I think) 1993. As we walked around Wollundry Lagoon, I remembered with such fondness my time living there.2/185 Forsyth Street, Wagga WaggaWith a glass of wine, “holding court” at Wollundry Close in the early 1990s.
After my trip to Canberra, I continued to Wagga to help her settle in. I helped her move furniture and became an interior design “consultant”, offering tips about where furniture items should be placed. I was also there as “technical support”, assisting with internet connections etc.
I’m hoping I was also helpful, with tips around the treasured memories I have from my time in Wagga, such as introducing her to my favourite Indian restaurant. I’m so pleased the food was as good as I’d remembered,
Lunch at the farmer’s markets at Wagga Showground. This was a great discovery for my friend, as she has been spoilt for food choices in the part of Sydney where she lived.A favourite restaurant from my days in Wagga still remains open!
On a personal level, I also paid a visit to the Charles Sturt University Archives. As previously blogged, I was part of a small group which formed the Riverina Gay and Lesbian Social & Support Group. I was pleased to recently discover a collection of photographs, newsletters, and other material we produced had been donated to the archive. I spent an hour or so going through the collection.
These were dramatic times.
AIDS was impacting our community.
The Gay & Lesbian Choir had came to Wagga and won the Community Choir section of the National Choral Championships, amidst some community concern.
A report for ABC Radio I did on the Gay & Lesbian Choir in Wagga Wagga
And we faced hostile opposition from some sections of the community and local media.
The local newspaper, under the editorial lead of Graham Gorrell and Michael McCormack (now the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia) ran a strong editorial campaign (bordering on obsessional) about homosexuality, with McCormack declaring the Mardi Gras as a “vile poofter parade”.
You’ve got to remember, this was long before the days of marriage equality, and homosexuality was still being equated with AIDS.
Jim Eldridge was a local councillor who took umbrage at the activities of the Riverina Gay & Lesbian Social & Support Group, and was an outspoken critic.In response to his concerns, we dedicated the tickets to “The Secret Ball” to Jim Eldridge.Thirty years on from the homophobia exhibited in Wagga, it was great to see this sign on the bakery on Fitzmaurice Street
A bit tired after a busy day and week. At home, doing nothing much at all. I need to rest up because the weekend is so busy. Nordic Film Festival. Liza Minelli. Cockatoo Island Comedy Festival. Could I possibly squeeze anything else into my weekend?
