Even though I have been told on a few occasions, I should keep the blind closed at night, due to the early morning sunrise, I have not bothered much with the advice. I quite like waking up early, and I quite like waking up naturally, you might say, with the sunshine. Besides, when you wake early, you get to see some really terrific things, without the tourist crowd. When I woke early, I wandered into the centre of Stockholm, enjoyed the peace of walking through Gamla Stan, and even saw a group of people riding on horseback.
At the other end of the day, I caught up with Robert and Sandra at Loopen, a bar which overlooks the water, and which I like very much. With its faux palm trees, and relaxed style, it i a great place to relax and chat, and even have a dance. Bliss.
Gosh it was a beautiful day, wasn’t it? Although the weather forecast was for something far more grey, it turned out to be one a great “late summer day” instead of an “early autumn day”.
This occurred as I walked through the back lane-ways of Centennial Park (the suburb, not the park) on my way to visit a friend.
The first thing which captured my eye were some gorgeous flowers – hibiscus I think – over-hanging a nearby property to my friend’s. And then I looked to the sky and noticed the gorgeous blue sky backdropping the tall gum trees. All too beautiful.
The other highlight of the day was a dinner party at a colleague’s. A bunch of mature age blokes, good conversation, excellent food and wine. And home in bed before midnight. What more could you want to end off a lovely day?
The truth be told I was a little nervous on approaching the Courthouse Hotel for tonight’s GLBTI Bloggers Meetup. First, I’d realised we’d forgotten the Q, and was half-expecting a protest on behalf of Queer Bloggers, incensed they had been left off the invite. Second, it had been raining for much of the day. Thankfully, The Other Andrew, had booked an undercover table in the beer garden, so all was fine there. And third, because I’m instinctively a shy person (despite my job and my bravado), I was worried I would have to be the outgoing one who would need to identify and welcome people. Thankfully, TOA who is much better than me in those regards arrived right on time. In fact, everyone seemed to arrive quite early which I thought was pretty amazing.
After Andrew, the first to arrive was Michael who delighted everyone with tales of travelling overseas with his dog for the last few years. He must have been asked the question about how he got his dog through quarantine a thousand times. In fact, he said, the only problems he had was coming back into Australia. He also offered some handy advice about the advantages of travelling overseas with your car, except in the UK. He also turned out to be a knitter, which delighted both TOA and The Witty Knitter who I had not realised was a NZer by birth. Having read her blog for about a year now, it was really great to meet her, and to hear her observations about life, the universe and everything. As well as knitting, she also blogs about blogging, as she is doing her PHd about people doing PHds, and part of that is to encourage people doing PHds to blog about their PHd. It is actually not that confusing when she explains it all.
Marcellous was also an early arrival, entertaining us with tales from the courtroom, and tales from the films he had seen at the Mardi Gras Film Festival, in common with A Girl Called Dusty.
I had to smile when Panther arrived around 6pm, as he and I had been on the same history walk two days earlier. I later recounted to Therin Of Andor the historical inaccuracies surrounding Number 96 which had been featured on the tour.
My near neighbour, Ninglun was also there, explaining NInglun was actually his name in Mandarin, and telling us that Kevin Rudd also has a name that converts to Mandarin, though I can no longer recall exatly what it was. It was great too, to see Dancing about Architecture (Riayn) who I had met at a non-GLBTI Bloggers Meetup a few weeks ago. She is such a lovely person and along with TOA she was one of the stayers after most people left at about 7.30pm to go home to have dinner etc.
So thanks to all those who attended. It was lots of fun and it was great to meet such a nice bunch of people.
I’ve just arrived home from the final dress rehearsal for Melodifestivalen, the Swedish final for the Eurovision Song Contest.
I’ve been following Eurovision for many years and Melodifestivalen quite solidly for the last three years. In fact last year, I even organised a screening of Melodifestivalen at a pub in Sydney. I really like the way the Swedes have maintained an interest in the entertainment value of Eurovision, whereas the English, for example, have all but abandoned the competition, treating it as a joke. I think this may reflect some deep underlying cultural issues the English may yet need to come to grips with as part of Europe, but that’s another story.
And in timing this trip, I was pleased that I could coincide it with the competition. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get tickets for the final as they sold out within minutes, but I did get tickets for tonight’s final dress rehearsal. For me, it’s been a twenty-four-hour Melodifestivalen experience.
Having decided I couldn’t bear to spend another night with Tatu, I headed out last night with a spirit of adventure. Predictably, I ended up at Torget where DJ Jeanette was playing “glad pop” (happy pop) which included a fairly large dose of songs from this year’s Melodifestivalen. The songs which got the greatest response were “Manboy” (by Eric Saade) and “Headlines” (by Alcazar). Judging by the crowd’s response, “Headlines” could have done reasonably well in the Melodifestivalen final. But of course, it wasn’t to be. The bar was hip and happening last night, with an influx of English pop music fans. I overheard one of them say, “We could be in London”, a reference to the popularity of schlager pop and scandi pop nights there.
I’m not sure how busy it normally is on a Thursday night, but I did notice one Swedish bloke look around in wonderment at the sudden arrival of so many people.
I also wondered what the Swedes make of this almost anachronistic interest in their pop music from people outside Sweden. Do they think it’s odd? Do they think it’s quaint? Do they put it down to the “camp factor”? Do they explain it to themselves in terms of ABBA? Or do they just think it’s great their music is recognised as good? When I’ve mentioned to some Swedes that my visit here was timed for a number of reasons, including Melodifestivalen, you can see on their faces a sense of confusion.
I overheard two Swedes talking to an American about Melodifestivalen and Eurovision. “In England, they have just one contest to decide who will represent them at Eurovision. But here in Sweden, we have four, five, six events to make that choice.” To explain why there’s such interest outside Sweden is fascinating. There’s a PhD in this, I’m sure, or at least a five-minute radio interview.
And then tonight, as I waited in the nearest pub to Globen, a visiting UK DJ came on, announcing he would play your favourite schlager songs. So of course I requested “This Woman” by Anna Sahlene from a few years ago. “Here’s a song for a bloke from my part of the world”, he announced to the bar. Of course, I corrected him, and seconds later the bar manager came over, announcing he too was Australian. He has been living here for about ten years, and of course, is married to a Swedish woman. We chatted for a while about life in Sweden, the ex-pat scene, and so on. And then it was time to head over the path to take my seat for the dress rehearsal.
Before the show startedPeople taking their seats
I won’t go too heavily into the detail of the show, as I know friends back in Sydney will be watching it over the weekend.
But I’ll make a few general observations.
I actually enjoyed all of the songs, bar one. Some because of the song, others because of the performance. And the performances were great. I was amazed at how much effort all of the performers put into their three-minute song.
Peter Joback appears on stage for the first timeEric Saade – Manboy – getting wetPeter Joback speaks to the media
I was amazed at how smoothly it all ran. Unlike some Australian television productions I’ve been to see, there appeared to be no one running around in a flap, there appeared to be no crises, and it all just seemed to happen smoothly and flawlessly. Even with complicated things like the “shower scene” for Eric Saade’s Manboy, the stage got wet, it was dried, and the show continued.
And I found it fascinating to see the reaction of the crowd to the different songs and performances. If this audience is anything to go by, as well as the “jury voting system” they used to tonight, Pernilla Wahlgren is likely to give Eric Saade a real run for his money as the favourite to win.
There were also a couple of special moments, including a brief performance by Nanne Gronvall as part of One More Time, and by Shirley Clamp, another favourite Swedish singer of mine.
At the end of the night, there was an opportunity for the media to chat with the performers and take photographs. Maybe next time…?
As I walked through the streets of Glebe last night I wondered how many people would recognise my tie. Was I from the CIA or the FBI or was I a member of another unknown unit in Sydney for just a couple of weeks. As I sat down in a small cocktail bar on Glebe Point Road and drank a glass of Pinot Grigio, I wondered if people would look at me as if I was a member of the Federal Police. In case you hadn’t recognised it, it’s the official APEC tie.
I was in Glebe last night to see Bishop John Shelby Spong speak at Gleebooks. I read one of his books, Sins of Scripture few years ago, and was quite interested in what he had to say, especially as his new book is called “Jesus For The Non-Religious”.
His view of Jesus is complex. Although he believes in God the creator, he doesn’t believe in the human-like supernatural being which he believes we, as human beings, have created. “You ask a horse what God looks like and he’ll describe a horse”, he told us.
As a follower of Christ, Spong argues against the notion of Jesus as a supernatural being. Rather, he argues Jesus was more than just an enlightened human being, he was “fully human”. Although I can’t articulate this myself, I think I understand what he means.
The central thesis of last night’s talk was that, because the Bible was written decades after the death of Jesus, there was a degree of embelishment in what was written. Subsequently, he believes Jesus the man became Jesus the supernatural.
That said, he said he acknowledges the contradictions in his own belief system. Despite this apparent denial of the supernatural, he says he believes in God running through all of us. He also believes in the afterlife, though he doesn’t accept the idea of heaven and hell, and he says he find its difficult to articulate what he does believe the afterlife means.
So yes, an interesting evening, and not what most people would be doing on a Friday night.
Otherwise, the last few days have been busy both with work and social life. Socially, there was Wednesday night drinks at the Lewisham, and Fruits In Suits at Slide. So yeah, an interesting couple of days.
It’s Sunday night and I’ve just turned off Fox News. Hillary has conceded and the panel of commentators are now examining the entrails. They’re not saying anything particularly interesting or imaginginative, or anything I haven’t already thought of myself, so I’ve hit the off switch. I’ve also just woken up from a late-afternoon nap, so maybe I’m a little bit grumpy. After the “busy-ness” of the last few days, it’s been great to have a “do-nothing” weekend. Not that I’ve somehow turned into a hermit, as I’ve still been out and about quite a bit.
On Friday morning, of course, there was the Official Opening of the Bald Archy Exhibition at the ABC Ultimo Foyer, which was loads of fun. I remember when the exhibition first happened, as part of the Coolac Festival of Fun, during my days living in Wagga Wagga. And now of course, it’s on display here in Sydney. My favourite work this year, for the sheer venom behind it is the Marcus Einfeld piece (he’s seated in a car with a skeleton in the drivers seat). My other favourite for the sheer joy of it all is the Julia Gillard piece, with Julia portrayed as Elizabeth 1st. It’s a lovely piece.
Bald Archy 2008 – the winner was the portrait of the Danish Royal Family, centre, which featured Princess Mary breast-feeding and Prince Frederik grabbing his crotch.
And then on Friday night, I had a couple of wines and a meal with the same friend from two weeks ago, though this time we kept ourselves much nicer. I was well and truly in bed before midnight, and thus bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for work yesterday morning.
I then came home, read for a while, listened to some music and watched some television. I also went online and bought a ticket for Stockholm Pride which is on during the last week of July. All I know is that ABBA tribute band, Arrival will perform, and that BWO have done this year’s “official song”. I’m also reliably told the “Schlager Night” will be “to die for”. Beyond that I’m not sure what it’s gonna be like, except that I’m sure I can dip in and out, according to which musical act is on.
I caught the bus to Leichhardt today for a pizza lunch at the Italian Forum. The food was good, though not great, and the service was a little slow.
Leichhardt Pizza
I was also conspicuous as the sole, sole-eater in a cafe full of small family groups. Until today, I’d never really noticed before how much parents can often dote over their teenage children. To my left and to my right there were family groups where all of the conversation was directed towards the sole child. There was one couple, in particular, who didn’t seem to pay much attention to each other, with all of their conversation going on through the child. They just didn’t talk to each other at all, and I didn’t get the impression they were divorced or anything. They just didn’t communicate except “through the child”. I noticed the dad looking over at me a couple of times, though I couldn’t decide if he was noticing my eaves-dropping, if he was looking at me as a similar-aged kindred spirit, if he was trying to pick me up, or if he thought it was just odd that I was eating alone.
I’ve got to work again tomorrow, and then I’m catching up with some friends for drinks at Opera Bar. Let’s hope the weather is good.
“The people of Stockholm are happy again”, I said to Sandra over a glass of wine at Linje 10, a rather groovy bar at Hornstull.
It was actually the second time I’d been in the area, as I’d also been there around lunchtime for a bit of a wander and a spontaneous haircut and beard-trim.
“Having a haircut and a beard trim is far too serious to leave to the Swedish language skills of a five year old”, I told her of my experience earlier in the day. Unfortunately the English language skills of the woman doing the trimming weren’t all that good either, and so we relied upon a bit of my Swedish, a bit of her English, and the translation skills of another customer.
In the afternoon I also went for a bit of a wander around the city, and everywhere you could sense the happiness the people of Stockholm were feeling with the weather. I’ve only been here for a month, but they’ve had to endure five or six months (probably more) of quite dark, dreary weather. Thankfully since I’ve been in Stockholm there have been mostly blue skies every day.
But today was an exceptional day. It was the first day I’ve actually felt a little bit hot. For a while I even had a little lie down in the park (and a snooze). Elsewhere, the outdoor restaurants and bars were quite full, as people took advantage of the return of “outdoors weather”.
“There was laughter on the trains”, I told Sandra. Normally, the public transport system as an eery silence to it, but today there was laughter and conversation.
“The best month is May”, Sandra told me, adding, “Right up until mid-summer everyone is feeling good, and the weather’s great, and after mid-summer is when they all disappear to the country”.
“Should I stay a little longer?”, I wondered out loud.
Like this:
LikeLoading…
Related
3 Comments
They certainly have colourful newspaper posters in Sweden!
They say absolutely nothing though. They used to have headlines, but now it’s just promos for the lifestyle pages. One of today’s declares chocolate is good for you.
They certainly have colourful newspaper posters in Sweden!
They say absolutely nothing though. They used to have headlines, but now it’s just promos for the lifestyle pages. One of today’s declares chocolate is good for you.
That’s funny.