“Oh look, there’s Wendy, doing the washing up…”, my friend Sue commented, as she pointed towards the upstairs window of the house Wendy Whiteley has lived in for almost fifty years. Downstairs, at the entrance to the house, a number of women had gathered to read the sign declaring the NSW Government had promised to keep the garden open to the public. “I still wouldn’t trust a NSW politician to keep that promise, when there’s always the possibility of “developer money”, I said to Sue.
The story of “Wendy’s Secret Garden” is a terrific one. In the weeks and months after the death of her husband, the artist Brett Whiteley, she began cleaning up the unused railway land in front of their house. The land was almost like a rubbish tip, in some respects. Now, the garden is the kind of place where we saw today: a couple having their wedding photographs taken; a couple of women opening a bottle of champagne to enjoy a picnic; a place where we saw an older woman napping on a park-bench; and where we saw a broad range of ages enjoying some beautiful parkland close to Sydney Harbour.
Located only a few minutes walk from Luna Park, it was a lovely spot for an afternoon wander. And it’s free and open to the public.
As I mentioned the other week, I’m not a great watcher of fictional television. When friends talk about “The West Wing”, “Orange Is The New Black” and “Miss Fischer’s Murders”, I tend to glaze over. While there are some shows I do watch intently, and with passion, most of the time, television is either background noise or company for me. I’m far more inclined to have music or radio as my “soundtrack”.
But the other week I decided to give “Nashville” a go. And over a weekend I “binged” on about sixteen episodes. I was instantly hooked on the combination of “Dallas/Dynasty” meets “Smash”. I loved all of those shows and “Nashville” seemed to pretty much combine many of the things I really love: music, stories about families, intrigue etc. I thought Series 1 was excellent. I loved all of the characters, even if I found some of them annoying.
As I started to watch Series 2 on the weekend, I started to become even more annoyed by some of the characters. Deacon’s alcohol/drug addiction. Gunnar’s post-adolescent angst. Avery’s transformation from wanna-be star, to born-again roadie. Even Juliette, who I loved in Series 1 started to bore me, as she seemed to become more one-dimensional. Scarlet, who was already starting to shit me with her “small town girl” character moved to a whole level where I have begun to resent her, as soon as she entered a scene. I’m interested in the entrance of Will Lexington as the gay character, though I’m sure Will Lexington is probably also the name of a porn star. And I just wish he and Gunnar would get it on. Seriously. I’m still loving the character of Rayna James, though I did get a little bored with those days/weeks in the coma.
Nonetheless, I’ll stick with it. There’s a lot about the show I like.
A friend mentioned to me the other day Foxtel was about to start screening Series 4, so I guess I’ve got a lot of catching up to do over the next few weeks. “Do you want a copy on USB?”, another friend asked me today, but I told her I was fine, so long as Netflix bridges to Foxtel. I hope it does, and I hope I make it that far.
She started with an encore! Yes, Elaine Paige came to the stage of the Sydney Opera House with the kind of song she’d normally be asked to come back to perform. In fact, when I think about it, most of the night’s songs were the kind of song you’d perform as an ecore.
The show started with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performing an introduction featuring excerts from some of the many musicals in which Paige has appeared over time. It occured to me these were the musical moments she really enjoyed – such as an excerpt from Chess – but which didn’t really fit into the concept of the show, which Paige described as “the greatest hits”.
And hits there were. Everything from “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina, to “Memory” and “I Know Him So Well” which, oddly enoughed she performed as a solo number though it’s usually a duet. In my head, I sang along with Elaine, filling in those moments normally sung by Barbara Dickson on the “Chess” soundtrack but which Elaine left out. Elaine described “Chess” as a musical written for her by Tim Rice and Bjorn and Benny from ABBA, who she said she used to call “Binky & Bonky”.
Other highlights for me included a couple of numbers from “Sunset Boulevard”, especially as she emerged in the second half looking quite mad and her rendition of “Mad About The Boy”. I’d only ever heard that song as a plaintive kind of love song from the perspective of one person, but Paige explained and sang the song as three women with different perspectives on the same person. Very interesting.
There were only a couple of occasions when the songs didn’t really work for me. They were the moments when she tried to get a little too groovy, wandering around the stage trying to be little funky. That said, her performances of a couple of big pop songs, “Change The World” and “From A Distance” were truly heart-felt.
Her passion was rewarded with three encores and a couple of standing ovations which, literally, brought her to tears. It was a really great show and although there were occasions when I thought her voice was a little thin, she sang every song with 110% passion. Every song she sang, she sang as if it was an encore!
It’s Sunday afternoon/evening. I’m sitting here with a blanket over my knees. I’m freezing. I can’t decide if it’s because it really is cold, or if it’s because I have spent the whole day in bed. I worked last night until 6am, so I slept almost all of the day away until about 5pm.
At 10.42 yesterday, Damien and I caught the train to Rosehill Race Course for the annual Sydney Markets Race Day. We calculated that it’s about the fifth or sixth time that we’ve attended the race day and this time was probably the best.
We arrived early this time because we could. Until now, we have always been a little late, due to Damien’s work commitments. This year, however, we were able to leave early and get there early, early enough for the first race, which we watched from downstairs before heading upstiars for lunch.
It was a bright, sunny day, although the track was declared slow, as Damien discovered as he checked the form.
Another reason for being downstairs was so that I could take some really great photographs close up.
The first horse I saw was, in fact, my first and best winner of the day, returning me a $23.50 profit. I can’t remember its name now, but I thought it sounded to have good form and, being close to where the horses were lining up, I thought it looked like a good horse. What would I know?
We spent the next few hours wining and dining and betting on races upstairs in the Marscay Room. I had a few good conversations, including with Thomas George, the Member for Lismore. Damien also really enjoyed chatting with Sue and Richard about their trip to France last year.
Soon after the last race, we caught the train back to the city.
Damien had suggested earlier in the day we might also have dinner at Pazzo that evening, so we booked a table and had an enjoyable meal. What a great end to a day together!
The last time I was in China (I mean, the first time I was in China, which was in 2010) I don’t recall visiting The Temple Of Heaven. At the time, my friend Kate was living here pretty much permanently.
She was working at an art gallery here, and had an apartment in a builing a very non-western part of Beijing. She invited me to come to visit and so of course I said yes.
Being with someone who had spent a bit of time here, and who had developed a network of contacts and friends (mostly among expats) meant that I was able to go a little deeper more quickly into life in Beijing than the average tourist on a package deal, which is what I’m doing now.
I got to do some amazing things and really treasure the memories of that trip. It’s one of those holidays where I can pretty much recall everything that happened on every day, and the way I felt about my experiences.
Temple of Heaven : “When we’re old”, I said to Sue, “I think we should move to Beijing and just hang out in the park”. Sue laughed in agreement, as we made our way out of the Temple Of Heaven.
But this time around I’m on a tour group and the experience is different. Not better, not worse. Just different. On the positive, I’m probably getting a little more of the “educational backgrounder” than I’d enjoyed previously. On the negative, there were moments today when I ached for something a little less “touristy”.
We visited many of the “big ticket items” for a tourist visiting Beijing include Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden Palace, and The Imperial Palace.
As mentioned previously, we also visited the Temple Of Heaven which was enchanting on a number of levels: there was a young couple having some beautiful wedding photographs, there were a number of older people playing cards, there was a group of older women practising opera, and there was a wonderfully happen older woman with a crazy wig, enjoying karaoke, and seeming to love having her photograph taken with the tourists.
The last time I was here I don’t remember as much security at Tiananmen Square, whereas today our bags were scanned. I also remember being pretty much harassed by hawkers around the square and around the Forbidden and Imperial Palaces. The last time I visited those places I was a single middle-aged caucasion male, and I guess there was an assumption I had money to burn. How wrong they were. This time around, I was with a tour group, and was able to enjoy those places without the fear of my bag getting stolen.
The people on the tour group are very lovely. “It feels like everyone is from Lismore”, Sue said at one point. Later we found out that many were from smaller country towns, including Condobolin, Collie, Albany and other centres like that. The people from Condo and Collie were surprised I’d heard of them, but there again I’ve been everywhere man. Sue also made a connection with a older woman from Sydney. It turns out Sue actually knows this woman’s son, and her local Baptist Minister. Small world, eh? As lovely as all the people on the tour were, it was also nice to take a break from the group a later in the afternoon.
There was an “optional element” to the tour today which neither Sue nor I had much interest in. Earlier in the day it had been described as being inspired by the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony. I hadn’t seen the opening ceremony myself (as I was travelling at the time), and Sue told a bloke sitting nearby she hadn’t thought much of it anyway. While everyone else on our bus went to the show, we popped into a local shopping centre, where we tried on some glasses, where I bought a hat, and where we enjoyed a drink in an outdoor beer garden. We both agreed we had found ourselves in a reasonably middle-class part of Beijing. “Lots of people with nice jobs”, we both decided.
The food is okay, though a little “samey”. To be honest, I probably eat better (more challenging) Chinese food back home in Sydney.
A few months ago, a friend and former colleague sent me a “Thankyou/Swedish Care Package”, which consisted of some famous Swedish confectionary – Daim and Bilar – along with some yellow and blue balloons, and some Swedish flags (to be used at a Eurovision Party).
As I never had or went to a Eurovision Party this year, the flags and balloons have been sitting on my desk at work, awaiting a reason to celebrate. When I mentioned to my colleague in the office next to me Swedish National Day was coming up, she suggested I should hold a “Morning Tea” to celebrate.
Though I think she might have been “taking the piss”, I was inspired to follow up. Morning or Afternoon Tea is quite popular on my floor at work. With a large cohort of “young mums” on my floor, baking is quite popular. Though I will often bake bread, I’m not a particularly good cook, and so I sometimes feel a little left out. So, I decided to “get organised” and began to organise a “Fika” (the Swedish word for Morning or Afternoon Tea).
To celebrate, I organised some kanelbullar from the Koket Cafe in Paddington and a Prinsesstårta from the Fika Swedish Kitchen in Manly, along with some famous Swedish confectionary – Kex and Daim.
To get the cake ready for an 11am start involved an early morning ferry trip to Manly (5.30am), to ensure I could be back at work in time for a 9.00am meeting. The trip was worth it, as I enjoyed the early morning experience of the Manly Ferry. With only a few people on board, it was awesome to go out the front and experience the (admittedly cold) morning experience of Sydney Harbour.
Sunrise at Manly Beach in SydneyKex, Daim, Kanelbullar, along with assorted berries.Prinsesstårta
The efforts were appreciated by my colleagues, who wholeheartedly enjoyed the offerings. Though admittedly, there was a mid-afternoon “sugar hangover” for many of us.
Muf-Tee’s director, Les Solomon, has created a chat show with Hayden Tee as the host and the musical director, Nigel Ubrihien, as his sparring partner. By having a couple of cabaret-performing guests each week, they have a format which – like its small-screen counterparts – can constantly reinvent itself. It is a strange case of art imitating TV. – Sydney Morning Herald.
Last night’s show featured some beautiful work on cello, a couple of lovely songs from John O’May and some hillarious stuff from Gary Scale who performed “One” as a song about having one leg, and sang “This Is My Life” (Shirley Bassey) as a cork-screw! There was also a young guy called Hugo Chiarella who sang a song that was both American and too old for him. Still he’s an interesting performer.
Immediately afterwards I came home and wrote to ABBAmail. One of the guests was John O’May who plays one of the fathers in the Australian production of Mamma Mia. He said he’d signed a contract today until February 2005. After Sydney, he said the show has 8 weeks in Perth, 8 weeks in Adelaide, 3.5 months in Auckland, then it goes to Singapore and Hong Kong before returning to Melbourne!.
