My draw dropped (literally) when I saw these shelves of goods for sale at a convenience store on Sydney’s George Street tonight.
Video tapes, fax rolls, cassette tapes and unfortunately I took the photograph so quickly, I missed including the 5.25″ floppy discs on the shelf above. There are even some items on the shelf which are so “old” I’ve forgotten what they’re called.
When I shared this earlier on Google+, I received a rather amusing comment…
In Brussels train station, there’s an electronics store with one window – presumably one they find difficult to secure – full of old technology. Old Nokia phones, a cassette recorder or two, and a (now useless) portable analogue television.
The Other Andrew and I recently discussed the idea, and a few people responded on our blogs, so here it is…
Gay? Lesbian? Bisexual? Transgender? Intersex? Maybe you have a blog, are thinking of starting one, or just like reading blogs?
Then don’t miss an informal “Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex Bloggers Meetup”. in the lead up to this year’s Mardi Gras.
It will be a great chance to catch up with some other people whose blogs you may (or may not) have read, It’s totally non-political and non-pretentious. In the midst of “our season”, let’s just catch up and meet in a life beyond the computer screen.
When: Thursday February 28, 5.30pm
Where: Courthouse Hotel Beer Garden, 202-204 Australia Streets, Newtown 2042. Tel: (02) 9516 4103. The pub is located on the corner of Lennox and Australia Streets, opposite Camperdown Park. It’s just a brief walk (a few hundred metres) from Newtown Station, off King Street. Directions on Google Maps. There will be a sign on the table indicating the blogger meetup.
It’s a great pub with a terrific beer garden out the back. They charge normal prices for beer and food.
Travelled through the Hawkesbury earlier today. Such a beautiful area. This photograph was captured with a mobile phone camera, held up against a dirty train window. So you can only begin to imagine what it might be like with a proper camera outside, enjoying the winter sunshine.
Twelve months ago tonight I was preparing to head off to Pride Park in Stockholm for Schlager Night.
I’d heard about the annual celebration of all things Eurovision and Melodifestivalen for a number of years and was very excited by the prospect of four or five hours of live music in a crowd of, maybe, 30,000 others with an almost unhealthy interest in three-minute sing-a-long Swedish pop songs.
Schlager Night at Stockholm Pride 2008 – Lena PH
Tonight, in contrast, I’ve just spent two or three hours passed out on the couch, fast asleep, and with the television playing Fox News.
I had a brief reminder, though, of this night twelve months ago when Graeme called from Sweden with a cheerio call.
He and Grant have been there since Sunday, enjoying the ups and downs of a Swedish summer. “One minute it’s insanely hot, the next it looks like it could rain”, he told me.
They’ve managed to do a fair bit, though, in the few days they’ve been there, including having seen Alcazar perform a live set of some of their hit songs. Very jealous.
They also managed to pick up some “mini raincoats” from Pirate Bay, which they were selling at Stockholm Pride. “Keep up the good work people kept saying to us”, Graeme told me, as they walked around the park. Even more jealous!
The call woke me from my slumber on the couch which is pretty much where I’ve been since arriving home.
Or at least since Sue and I chatted on the phone about our future travel plans. Previously we’ve chatted about Darwin and New Zealand. Tonight we pretty much settled on Vanuatu which we both thought offered us the relaxation we both desire, as well as a small degree of exoticness. And it also looks pretty cheap! If you’ve been there and have some thoughts, we’d appreciate your input.
The reason I was a bit tired after work today is two-fold. First, I’m doing a new job at the moment, and am going through a period of massive information download. And second, I’ve been out the last three nights. The combination of long and intense days, followed by busy social activity, had slowed me down briefly.
The phone call from Graeme, tonight, however cheered me up to no end.
Heath Ledger and Michelle at Brokeback Mountain preview at Fox Studios hosted by 702 ABC Sydney
Do you know how hard it is to buy a screw driver in Surry Hills on a Sunday morning? I woke early yesterday, and while having a cup of coffee and reading email, my computer went bung. The floppy disc had failed, and so I wasn’t even able to reboot it. Needing to remove the unit and install a replacement, I didn’t have a screw driver of the exact size needed. So of course I went down the street looking for one. I tried the supermarket, though they were unfortunately out of stock. I tried the nearby service stations and guess what? Service stations don’t seem to actually sell anything vaguely mechanical anymore. A few hours later, the cheapie discount store had opened and it was finally there I located the exact one I needed. “I’ve never seen one of those before”, the woman at Dick Smith told me, when I asked her if they had any floppy disc drives in stock. “You’re not that young”, I thought to myself.
I was worried for just a moment the floppy disc failure was because I’d recently converted to Linux. Yes, Linux! I’m well and truly over and done with Microsoft, with the impetus being the need to reinstall Vista. After I´d typed in the lengthy registration key, I received a message that key had already been registered and was therefore invalid. “Yes, itś registered to me, you dickheads”, I yelled at the computer. I tried a few more times, and for whatever reason got absolutely nowhere, short of making a direct call to Bill Gates. Bloody Microsoft!
I’ve flirted with Linux for quite some time, and many years ago actually tried an installation, but found it far too complicated. A few months ago, however, I read about the release of gOS, a dumbed down version of Linux which I had, co-incidentally downloaded and burned to disc. After a few days trialing the live CD, and, having performed the install proper on Saturday I was hooked. I love the way my hard-drive moves along without any of the Windows rumbles which are far too common. There are still some things I don´t really understand about Linux, but I’m getting there and there’s some terrific online assistance resources available.
I sound like such a geek, eh? Add to that, last Thursday night I also went to a Bloggers Meetup. I met some nice people and we chatted at length about our common interest. Fellow blogger, Riayn has summed up the event pretty well…
We all had great conversation about blogging platform, niche blogging, what we blog about and admiring those who had reached the lofty heights of problogging. The only downside of the evening was that there was a person there from a media group who tried to use our group as a way to find out which up and coming hot new websites and social networking groups her company should buy. I really didn’t think that this was appropriate. We were not there to be a free resource for her company.
The establishment of a new bloggers meetup has also reinvigorated the old blogger group too, with plans there for a mid-February catchup. And there’s some discussion about a GLBTI (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex) bloggers meet during Mardi Gras, too. Rain always follows drought, doesn’t it?
I also caught up yesterday with some of my ABBAMAIL mates at the Brookvale Hotel, and had lunch with an old mate from Lismore at Circle 8 at Newtown. Amusingly he told me he knew my next door neighbour very well, and that he had actually been to my next door neighbour’s apartment on a number of occasions, not knowing I lived right next door. “He’s very quiet and he’s not often at home”, was how my next door neighbour described me, according to Andrew.
Work remains busy, but also very satisfying. In the midst of some of the usual bureaucratic stuff I have to do, I’m doing lots of hands-on creative stuff. Workwise, one of the most memorable occasions for me was covering the death of Heath Ledger. Although history will record his greatest performance as Ennis in Brokeback Mountain, I also thought he was terrific in Candy, which I saw just a few months later. I wonder what other great roles me might have played?
While reading some of my favourite blogs tonight, I notice I’ve made a guest appearance on the blog of friends, Glen and Greig, who are themselves, celebrities this month, appearing in the Sydney Star Observer, the local gay newspaper.
Despite their youthful appearances, they’re profiled in the SSO as a couple who have actually been together for twenty years. But since they’ve been together twenty years and I’ve known them for about thirteen years, that must mean THEY’RE really getting old! Their big celebration party is on this Saturday night, so best wishes all round.
Summer has well and truly arrived in Stockholm. I don’t exactly know what the temperature was today (maybe late twentes), but today’s paper “warned” there were a further eight warm days ahead. Oh the joy! And I can tell you, it was definitely warm enough for a large number of people to find themselves somewhere in a park near the water, and to take off their clothes.
My friend Yvette warned me about the Swedish custom of colleagues stripping off to their underwear in parks at the vaguest hint of sunshine. We would never do it in Australia of course, but here in Sweden sunshine is a rare enough commodity that you don’t worry too much about your own personal modesty. Oh, and guys do the “undress with a towel around you” thing that’s common on Australian beaches.
In fact, it was so hot today that I actually came back to the hostel around lunchtime for a while, chatting online for a bit with Patrick and Damien.
I also needed to come back to pick up my laundry. And that’s when I had my second rude shock for the day (after the weather). What I thought was 70kr for the wash (about $12) turned out to be 70kr per kilogram. As I had almost 3kg of washing to be done, you can imagine the shocked look on my face when the bloke told me how expensive it was.
I had a typically Swedish lunch today, by the way. My second typically Swedish meal in as many days, with the previous being a salmon dish with dill potatoes. Today it was a dish from the famous Herring Van at Slussen. It was a herring dish with mashed potato, vegetables, and hard bread. Very tasty and very good value.
A dish from the famous Herring Van at Slussen
YYSD. A young Swedish dad, fru och barn.
There are something like 700,000 registered boats in Sweden in a country of about 9 million.
Stockholm in summer.
Stockholm in summer – three blokes on a boat.
Stockholm in summer.
And then after lunch I wandered around Langholmen for a few hours just enjoying the sunshine. The island is absolutely beautiful, and although there were some very busy parts of the island, there were also vast areas where you could walk around without seeing anyone. Oh, and Graeme, yes you were right about Langholmen :)
After an hour or so sitting in the sun, the lure of the water became too great. And while it may have been an extremely hot day, it wasn’t matched by the temperature of the water, let me tell you. I wasn’t alone, though, as few very of the locals were venturing into the water either.
I have no plans for the night, though it would be a shame to stay here at the hostel. My guess is, that with the warm weather, people from Stockholm will be out and about tonight. So I guess I should get me a piece of the action.
I’ve moving to another hostel tomorrow which is a pain in the arse. But it’s not so bad I guess, as a young Australian bloke has just arrived to dominate conversation at the hostel. Wearing an Australian flag t-shirt, he has spent the about ten minutes now telling everyone what’s wrong with everywhere he’s been. “Too expensive and you don’t know where to go” is the theme of his complaint.
