Despite the crap weather we’ve had over the last few weeks, Sydney really turned it on today. It was a beautiful day – warm, but not too warm; cool, but not too cool – and so Sue and I spent the afternoon wandering around the Royal Botanic Gardens. In between, we took in a tour of Government House (which was very enjoyable – the tour guide was excellent), and enjoyed a glass of wine at Opera Bar. It doesn’t get much better.
She wasn’t as “candid” as I’d hoped she would be, given the machinations in the Liberal Party over the last few weeks, but she was still interesting. Amanda Vanstone was the latest “political guest” at Giant Dwarf, having followed in the footsteps of Tony Windsor and Julia Gillard.
I missed Gillard, due to my overseas holiday, but had previously enjoyed Windsor, so when a friend asked me if I wanted to attend I signed up straight away. The premise is simple: Julian Morrow and Kristina Keneally chat to a former politician, and ask them to select some photographs from their “public life”.
Interestingly, Amanda Vanstone chose a lot of photographs of her dogs. Clearly there were some photographs chosen by Julian/Kristina, as there was one photograph which the former Senator had absolutely no recollection of, and one which she thought was a “montage”.
Although I was hoping she would reveal more about the recent machinations in the Liberal Party, she noted it was seven or eight years since she was a member of Parliament. That said, she revealed a few things. For example, she said she thought Peter Reith could have been a great Prime Minister. Sadly, Julian and Kristina didn’t press her on this, so we never learned about why. She also revealed the close friendship she had with Christopher Pyne and his family. I knew he had been her Press Secretary, but I never knew it had extended to a family friendship, and that she and Mr Pyne remained close friends.
That said, there were no further “reveals” and that disappointed me slightly. Also, the conversation at close to 100 minutes probably went on a little too long. Maybe an extra glass of wine might have helped all of us? :)
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.
It’s Sunday night and I’m having a cup of tea of sorts. Well, not so much a cup of a tea, more a herbal infusion, whatever that means. And even though it’s called a “herbal” infusion I’m sure it can’t be all that healthy. I mean, it tastes so good, it couldn’t possibly be healthy.
Five months ago I was on the other side of the world having a wonderful time, blogging about my adventure. And here I am on a Sunday night, blogging about a cup of tea. It’s tragic, eh?
Though this particular one does remind me of Sweden, as it’s a combination of Cranberry, Raspberry and Strawberry. I never really “got” the cranberry thing until I went to Sweden this year, and there they have it with just about everything including meatballs. And now I’m hooked.
After an early morning call to go to the hospital – Colin is still having some problems, but they seem to have sorted it out now – I haven’t done all that much today.
I stayed up far too late last night listening to music. Yeah you gussed it, lots of Swedish pop. Alcazar, Magnus Carlsson, Shirley Clamp and Robyn to name but a few. And so I ended up having an early afternoon nap.
And I’ve been working on my “Year In Review” post for December 31, something I’ve been doing every year since I started this blog in 2002. So far, it’s been a real pleasure to work on, as I feel I’ve actually made some progress on my life this year.
Last year I wrote about how much I was looking forward to 2008…
As I sit down to write this “year in review”, I’m conscious that I’m more interested in what’s ahead in 2008 than what occured in 2007. Not that it was a bad year in my life, it’s just that I’m approaching 2008 with a great deal more excitement than I approached 2007
Ironically, I’m feeling much better about life, much happier about myself than I was this time a year ago. There were some “dark times” along the way, but at least I had the travel goal which got me through.
As I’ve been working on this year’s post I’m conscious that, at the moment I have no great goal in mind for the next year. I have something in mind for the year after, but next year remains a little uncertain for me. I suspect there might be a few changes for me at work, and something for the better. But yes, no great plan.
Maybe the cup of tea and a good long walk before dinner tonight will help with inspiration?
Or maybe that’s just the way life is…
For a while I thought I was actually going to die. For a while I thought my time was up and someone would need to break through the door of my hotel room to recover the body. I was THAT sick.
Sue and I went out for dinner tonight at a rather good Chinese restaurant where we enjoyed half a duck, some vegetables and rice. From there we went looking for a coffee and desert at a nearby cafe. While Sue had the macadamia nut tart, I went for my favourite: tiramasu.
I remember now thinking at the time the cream wasn’t as fresh as it should be. But with what I thought was my cast iron stomach, I soldiered on. We were both back in our respectives beds by eleven o’clock, and I was feeling fine.
Then at about twelve o’clock I began to feel a pain in my lower back. I put it down to the usual aches and pains of being a 44 year old man. An hour later the pain was so intense, and I felt so incredibly uncomfortable, that I went and had a shower, hoping the warm water would help ease what I thought was back pain.
An hour or so later and I had developed a high fever. Looking at myself in the mirror, all of the blood had drained away. By this time I’d also had a few more showers and had drunk a litre of water or so. I’d also placed a towel containing ice cubes on my face to help bring down the fever. I tried to vomit but could only manage a little.
For a moment I wondered if I was having a heart-attack. It was then I began to wonder if I was going to die alone in a hotel room in Melbourne. I’m a little dramatic sometimes. “They’ll find the body and instantly think it’s a drug overdose”, I thought to myself.
In a moment of common sense, I went online, typed in the symptoms, and realised it was actually probably food poisoning. I’ve never had it before. On occasion I’ve said I’ve had food poisoning, but of course everyone knows “food poisoning” is generally code for “drank too much”.
By about four o’clock I was feeling a little better, though not remarkably so. I ended up spending most of Saturday in bed drinking tea and letting my body recover from the bug that had overtaken me.
Tiramasu is no longer my favourite desert, I suspect.
I’ve been really busy the last few days preparing for something major at work today. All in all, the preparation turned out to be worth it. But somehow in the last few days I lost track of time.
That’s my excuse for why I didn’t spend Valentine’s Day out and about at a restaurant gazing lovingly into someone’s eyes.
Instead, I’ve just woken up after two or three hours collapsed on the couch.
Although I didn’t work physically all that hard today, I guess I did expend a lot of emotional energy throughout the day.
Thus, by the time I got home I just hopped on the couch and collapsed.
My selection of A-Pac, the new public affairs channel on Foxtel probably helped me fall asleep. Or maybe it was the glass of wine I had.
When I woke up a few minutes ago, Malcolm Turnbull was still on the television.
“You’ve missed Valentine’s Day”, I thought to myself when I woke suddenly from the couch.
I popped into my local servo today to grab a drink, only to be met with the usual, somewhat dismal selection. The fridge was packed with soft drinks of dubious quality—bottles loaded with sugar, artificial stimulants, and “diet” options that are arguably just as terrible for you. Since being diagnosed with diabetes almost three years ago, I’ve made a point of avoiding soft drinks entirely.
It’s a lifestyle change that has paid off; my blood sugar levels are trending beautifully. In fact, I recently visited my endocrinologist and received the fantastic news that my levels have actually returned to the pre-diabetes range.
There has been exactly one exception to my “no soft drink” rule. During a hospital stay, my blood sugar dropped to an alarmingly low level. The nurses needed to get my glucose up immediately, and a soft drink—paired with a handful of jelly beans—was the quickest way to do it. Aside from that medical emergency, I’ve stuck strictly to water.
Today at the servo, the only flavoured option amidst the wall of cola and energy drinks was a single lime-infused sparkling mineral water. Everything else was either “plain flat” or “plain sparkling.” It’s a frustratingly limited choice.
Reflecting on that today made me realise how much I envy the variety you find in places like Sweden. Over there, you can walk into any local shop and find half a shelf dedicated to sparkling waters with just a subtle hint of natural flavour—no sugar, no nasties. Brands like Loka and Ramlösa dominate the scene, offering everything from classic Pear and Lemon to more adventurous blends like Strawberry & Pomegranate, Mango, or Elderflower & Lime. They even have seasonal editions like Winter Apple or Watermelon.
In contrast, our Australian “water” cabinet often feels like an afterthought to the sugary giants. While we are starting to see more options like Bubly or Mount Franklin Lightly Sparkling in flavours like Raspberry or Passionfruit, they are still dwarfed by the rows of soft drinks.
I would love to see a genuine Swedish-style variety here in Australia: a dedicated range of sparkling waters that offer a bit of interest without the sugar crash. It would be such a relief to be able to grab something refreshing and sophisticated while out and about, without having to navigate a sea of high-sugar stimulants just to find one lonely bottle of lime water.
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