The last few weeks have been “super busy” with work-related trips to Brisbane, Perth and Hobart. Having spent so much time “on the road”, I’ve pretty much lost my normal “travel bug”. There’ll be more travel to come, but in the meantime, it’s been really nice to spend the last week just going to work and staying at home. But there’s also been time for wonderful catch ups, including dinner with Kate, dinner and comedy with Michaela, and catching up for lunch with two of my former bosses, Roger and Peter at a terrific restaurant, La Capannina at Milson’s Point, which I’ve previously written about. Despite the rainy weather we’ve recently experienced, the forecast was for 25 degrees. Yes, seriously. Middle of winter. Excellent weather for an afternoon long lunch.
Dinner at Ichibang, Surry Hills. The blue-fin tuna with only salt and sesame oil.
Twelfth floor view from the ABC in Ultimo, Sydney
Eggplant at the Chinese Noodle House in Ultimo, Sydney
Chris Patrick was in town, author of the book, ABBA Let The Music Speak, a semi-academic book about the music of ABBA.
Chris is a musician by trade, and an ABBA fan by nature. Thus, he’s written a book about ABBA’s music from the perspective of a musician.
And on arriving home tonight I’ve spent far too much time staying up reading the book.
It was lovely to see him. He’s such a lovely gentle soul.
And along with Chris, there was a bunch of other ABBA fans who’ve all known each other now for over thirty years.
I’ve been fan world since the 1970s/1980s also, though it wasn’t until I came to Sydney in the mid 90s that I became actively, socially involved.
How it’s changed my life, I can’t begin to fathom.
New friendships most of all.
And although there was some discussion of Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Frida – and various rumours about an alleged meeting at Mono Music recently – there were a lot of other things to discuss also.
After getting into work early, I popped into the David Jones Food Hall for lunch.
Seated beside me was a woman who I would best describe as a combination of Edina from Ab-Fab and Noelene from Sylvania Waters. And I mean that in a charmingly, good way.
In the half hour or so we sat next to each other, she must have made half a dozen calls to various family members, during which she discussed “the boat”, the daughter who doesn’t love her and who is a “stupid as her father” (her ex), and her son’s new girlfriend.
“You know she threw up straight after Christmas lunch”, she said to her son. “How long have you known her? Six months? Do you love her? I think she’s pregnant. But darling if you love her, and you want to spend your life with her I’m happy to sponsor her to keep her in the country”, she added.
All of this was happening while she was knocking back a couple of glasses of Chandon, and frankly, I thought I was going to wet my pants laughing, as the family conversations got even more and more detailed. These were not quiet conversations, and I suspect the couple on the other side were enjoying them as much as I did.
Another reason to smile today was the lovely weather, with Hyde Park absolutely full, as people enjoyed the sunshine after several cloud days.
Reason to smile no. 1 – Yummy food at David Jones
Reason to smile no. 2 – The car with just married emblazoned all over it.
Reason to smile no. 3 – The re-emergence of sunshine in Sydney
And coming back to Surry Hills, I spotted a lovely car decorated with “Just Married” signs. Awwww :)
After a late afternoon nap – it’s actually a public service holiday – I caught up with John for dinner in Newtown.
I’ve known John now for almost 20 years, and we had lots to chat about.
So overall, a day in which there were many reasons to smile.
I had studied French in high school, ahead of settling on German. I don’t recall the reasons why, but I ended up studying German to HSC level. For the final two years, our school couldn’t justify enough students for a class and so we studied via the Correspondence School.
My fellow student (and friend to this day) hated the experience (and so did I). To this day, I still remember our Correspondence School teacher’s name and her handwriting. Our papers were always marked (seemingly anonymously) in red. It was such a contrast to the wonderful face to face experience we had with our teacher, Barbara. She was funny and smart. We had also travelled to Germany with her.
Barbara Kearney, Louise Brooks, James O’Brien, Amanda King, heading off to Germany, as featured in Lismore’s newspaper, “The Nothern Star”.Drinking beer in Germany.Germany 1983Belin Wall 1983
I’m not sure what happened and why, but I signed up for a French course on Duolingo a few years ago, and despite the constant lesson reminders, it fell by the wayside.
In the meantime, I’ve been studying Swedish with a wonderful teacher, Marianne, which I’ve blogged about on numerous occasions.
I enjoyed the classes very much, but I have struggled with the timing of the classes which have been in the evenings. Over the last few years, I’ve become much more of a “mornings person”.
I don’t know why, but a few weeks ago I decided to swap from French to Swedish on Duolingo. And I also decided to commit to a whole year of “professional support”, so a commitment of $130 has made me even more determined.
Since then, I’ve been doing a few quick lessons each day in Swedish.
At first, it was really frustrating, as I couldn’t move beyond the very basic Swedish I began to learn several years ago.
A colleague who is on Twitter noted “I think you have to start from scratch. Which is how I got a bit bored with Norwegian. It’d be great if you could speed through the beginner levels.”
The moose is eating an apple. Yeah, not sure I’ll be using that phrase most days!
Since then I’ve been trying to go through the “beginner” levels by doing them as quickly as possible. Going through the basics has been quite good actually. As I noted to a friend on Messenger “For months I couldn’t remember the difference between hon and han. But now I do”. He and she. “These days, who knows what han or hon is. I wonder if Swedish has a pronoun for non-binary,” he asked. My reply was, “Yes, gender-neutral is hen”.
So far, it’s going okay. I think it’s been good to refresh on some of the earlier lessons, with repetition. Hopefully, I’ll keep up with daily classes. Hopefully at times where I can fit them in will fit in much better to the rigour of weekly classes at night.
I saw a part of Surry Hills today I’ve never seen before. Although I’ve been to Belvoir Street Theatre on many occasions, I suddenly realised when I walked out of the box office today, I’d never actually been there in daylight hours. And subsequently, I’d never really noticed the view, and I’d never really noticed the elevation of that part of The Hills before.
Aside from that brief excursion, I also headed into the city this afternoon, despite the fact that I’m still not feeling all that well. I mean, I woke this morning feeling much better than I have been for the last few days, but I think that may have been the placebo effect of going to the doctor. You know how when you go to a doctor you start feeling better even if they don’t prescribe anything for you?
One of the most startling things I noticed in the city today was the closing down sale at HMV records. Aside from the very successful JB HI-FI which is both popular and carries a very broad range of CDs and DVDs, the end of HMV in the Pitt Street Mall in some respects marks the end of the “record superstore”. It was kinda odd walking around looking at all of the unsorted CDs just strewn on tables.
I certainly don’t think it’s the end of the record store, though. My local video store, which I haven’t been into for at least five years, seems to have survived the introduction of pay-television, bit-torrrent, cheap dvd’s and the like. And I’m sure record shops and record companies will survive the download revolution too.
Near Belvoir Street Theatre, Surry Hills
With my shopping done, I came home exhausted. I quickly realised I’d pushed myself a little too far and retired quickly to the couch. In itself that’s been quite a good thing as I’ve watched a few hours of television programs I’ve never really watched before. And guess what? I finally understand “Futurama”.
As I’d never actually watched it, aside from background noise, while I waited for the second nightly episode of “The Simpsons”, I didn’t really understand the program’s premise. I still don’t think it’s as funny as “The Simpsons”, but at least I can laugh at it now with a vague understanding.
A big day tomorrow with a friend’s seventieth birthday…
P.S. Thanks for all the kind wishes about my health this week.
I love how the Swedish subway is more than just advertising. As you’ll see elsewhere on the internet
The Stockholm subway system is said to be the world’s longest art exhibit – 110 kilometers long.Traveling by subway is like traveling through an exciting story that extends from the artistic pioneers of the 1950s to the art experiments of today. Over 90 of the 100 subway stations in Stockholm have been decorated with sculptures, mosaics, paintings, installations, engravings and reliefs by over 150 artists. The Kungsträdgården subway station looks like an archaeological excavation, with the remains of the old Stockholm Makalös palace. At Östermalmstorg the artist Siri Derkert highlights women’s rights and peace and environmental issues.
As well as that more “permanent art”, you can also see temporary exhibitions.
For example, I’m especially pleased “my local station”, Mariatorget, is currently exhibiting some terrific photographic/visual works by a Swedish artist, Helene Schmitz. With works from The Linneaus Project (another famous Swede), and The Carnivores, the metro is really brightened by these beautiful, and yet strange images of plants.
When you’re waiting for the tunnelbana, it’s great there’s something more to look at than just advertisements for mobile phone plans.
Helene Schmitz artwork in the Mariatorget T-bana in Stockholm
Helene Schmitz artwork in the Mariatorget T-bana in Stockholm
Helene Schmitz artwork in the Mariatorget T-bana in Stockholm
Often when you go to the opening night of an exhibition, there’s a bunch of hangers-on who’ll stand around quaffing the wine and consuming the canapes, but who pay very little attention to the exhibition itself. That was not the case at launch tonight of “Diana – A Celebration” at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum. Although I would sometimes include myself in the category of exhibition hangers-on, as soon as the exhibition doors were open tonight, I was inside very quickly.
But before we were allowed downstairs, it was time for speeches from a couple of Powerhouse Museum officials and former NSW Premier, Neville Wran, who famously danced with Diana many years ago. He spoke of the significance of Diana on a number of levels, declaring her a “phenomenon”. Most memorably, Wran reminisced about the famous quote from Sir Robert Menzies about Queen Elizabeth – “I did but see her passing by, and yet I love her til’ I die” (or something like that), declaring that, had Menzies lived to another generation, he probably would have declared the same about Diana. He also reflected on the nature of celebrity, declaring that anyone could be a celebrity these days, fewer could be legends, but that Diana was a “phenomenon”.
Although a colleague told he me thought Wran had delivered a “dreadful speech” because he had failed to talk much about his personal contact with Diana, I quite enjoyed it. In fact, I remembered a high school teacher many years extolling the virtues of Wran’s speech giving abilities at the opening of extensions to the Casino Hospital in Northern NSW in the early 1980s. A recent victim of throat cancer, my high school teacher noted that Wran was thereby forced to deliver a speech of utmost brevity, and thus delivered something quite memorable.
Diana – A Celebration
Most memorable for me, as we wandered through the exhibition launch was who was there. I couldn’t help but notice there were a lot of women between about the ages of 30 and 45 and a lot of gay men (including a very cute red-headed guy! – hello if you’re reading). What seemed to touch most people most was the ordinariness of some of the material including the school uniform, the diaries and other personal items. In many respects, these were far more touching, because of their sheer humanity, than were some of the more spectacular items, such as “the wedding dress”.
A lot less glamorous than it appeared on television, and faded with age, some of the lace on the dress actually looked like something you might pick up from a Splotlight store. The three of us who attended also smiled when we reflected on how incredibly awful some of her dresses were. Listening in to nearby conversations, it seemed there was a lot of interest in how large or small Diana was as a women, and the extent to which the dresses gave people an indication into what she was like as a person.
One of the women I was with reflected on how important some of the photography was, including the publicity photographs for this exhibition, in helping to create the “Diana” phenomenon. Those wonderful black and white photographs seemed to capture the heart and soul of Diana in a way many other photographs failed to, and I guess played a significant role in allowing the public to connect with her.
At times I felt a little teary walking around the exhibition, especially when I read the original text of her brother’s speech at her funeral, simply because of the humanity of her life. Other times I giggled at the silliness of it all, wondering why she was important at all. Although an important part of the lives of many people of my age for a variety of reasons, I wondered for a moment how this phenomenon would be remembered in fifty years time.
