Discovered a new shop on my morning walk around Surry Hills, this morning. “Love dem Apples” sells what appears to be “gourmet” toffee apples. Very tempting, though possibly a little too early in the day.
On Saturday night, I was fortunate enough to be a +1 for the launch of the Chinese / Lunar New Year celebrations in Sydney. Here are some photographs from the festivities.
As I walked along my street tonight I looked at the half a dozen or so houses with Christmas lights. Aside from the Santa with moving arms and head, there’s really nothing spectacular about the lights in my street. It’s not the kind of street where people are likely to drive up and down looking at the pretty lights. Although the apartment upstairs has some on their balcony, it’s the terrace houses (where I guess they have children) who have them. And no one seems to have gone to much effort
In the midst of a crazy couple of days, I needed a moment or two of bliss-out child-like non-concentration. I know I’ve mentioned this before here, how I like at least half an hour of absolute complete silence when I get home, but it came up again in conversation again today at work. A colleague who consumes a fair bit of media, and who, like me, spends his life talking and listening, told me he too demands complete silence when he arrives home.
Perhaps it’s an issue of work-life balance? Perhaps things will be different when I’m working from Lismore next week. But in preparing for that move to Lismore, I feel like I’m running out of time. My work life is extremely busy right now. And although I’ll be working from Lismore when I get there next week, there’s still a sense of a headline looming. I feel there’s so much I need to do before next week. And there’s the Christmas catch-ups.
I’m not complaining, I’m just thinking out loud I guess.
A trip to Canberra is not complete without a trip to Parliament House. Like everyone else today, I marvelled at the architecture and the symbolism of the design. But I suspect I might have been the only one who went for a wander in the nearby bushland. I really love how Parliament House is surrounded by Australian native plants. Here’s a few of the photographs I took earlier today.
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.
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.
The last production I saw was back in 2011. https://thelimbshift.com/2011/06/mary-poppins/
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.
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+.
On top of that, “Innies + Outies” (a podcast I helped produce) won an award for Best External Media Campaign. https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/innies-and-outies/
And the ABC’s Managing Director, David Anderson was named “CEO of the year”, in recognition of his strong support for workplace inclusion. https://about.abc.net.au/press-releases/abc-md-david-anderson-named-ceo-of-the-year-at-lgbtq-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.
These are some photographs of the works by last year’s HSC students, currently exhibiting at the Art Gallery of NSW, including a photograph of the chat with some of the students conducted by the legendary, Gretel Killeen.
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