There was a very strange feeling at Sydney Airport today. Though of course there are times when it can be reasonably quiet there, there’s always at least some “buzz” around the place. When I caught the train to the airport, there was only one other person who got off at the same time as me. She was already wearing a face-mask.
All of the Virgin check-in facilities were, of course closed, and there was only one Jet Star baggage counter open. I don’t know what it was like at the Qantas terminal (as Qantas doesn’t fly to Ballina Byron), but at the “discount airline terminal” things were pretty quiet. There was only one line of security, and on the inside there were only two or three restaurants or bars open. As I waited for my flight to leave, I grabbed a beer. (Sadly, the Qantas lounge was also closed).There was lots of safe distancing going on, and at least a couple of warnings from the staff, recommending that we pick up one of the Fly Well packs.“The hand sanitiser packs look like condoms”, a friend joked.Pretty much everyone on the flight wore face masks, which is just as well because there wasn’t a free seat on board.
“You’re not separating the seats anymore?”, I heard one passenger ask a flight attendant. You could sense his disappointment, as he looked down the aisle, hoping there might have been at least one free seat. I felt the same.
As we arrived at Ballina Airport, I looked out for Michelle, who had come down from Lismore (about thirty minutes drive) to pick me up. Immediately, I noticed no one was allowed in the airport. There were maybe thirty or so people waiting OUTSIDE the terminal. Michelle waited in the car until she saw me arrive.
And so I’m baaaaaackkk….
This is the first time I’ve been home since Christmas. I had hoped to come home earlier for Easter, but everything has been on hold since COVID-19.
At just over eight hundred kilometres away, it’s about eighty minutes to fly from Sydney to Lismore. Announcing the resumption of a more “regular” pattern of flights, I managed to score a round ticket price of $70, plus $30 for securing front row seats. Bargain.
On the kitchen table, I was greeted by the final print editions of the local newspapers. There’s the 6-day a week daily paper, and the weekly freebie. “Jack only buys The Northern Star to see who has died”, Pat told me. I’m not sure how he’ll do that now.
As part of this trip I was planning to visit family member, “Young Margy” who has spent the last few weeks battling pancreatic cancer (the same cancer that killed her mother only a few years ago). I’d organised some cross-border passesm so we could head up to Brisbane on Monday.
Sadly, she died just before midnight last night.
I love this photograph from Christmas 1966. Margy was nine months older than me, and so we spent a lot of our early years together. I used to look up to her, and I loved when the Hyland and Pepper families would come home to Lismore. I love this photograph of five generations of some of the very strong women in my family: Tootsy, Mum, Granny, Margy and young baby, Jacqueline. Emily wasn’t even born yet!!
Scott Spark brought a smile to my face tonight. He’s a colleague in ABC Local Radio who is also a singer-songwriter. Although based in Brisbane, he played a one-off gig tonight at The Vanguard in Newtown.
His musical style is as varied as you could imagine. As I listened to his work tonight I heard everything from Whitlamesque (Tim, not Gough) style ballads, 80’s influenced power pop, and even a Christmas song (it was my favourite of the night).
“His songs have a tune”, I mentioned to another colleague who was also in the audience tonight, which I think is a good thing. And he matches this with strong, tight musicianship.
As I watched him play I realised my musical preference is almost always for songs written and performed with a keyboard. I was about to jump off the bridge as I endured the mournful guitar tunes of the support acts. In fact, I genuinely loathed the second support act, and in particular, his song about the vagina (I’m sure my ears weren’t deceiving me). But when Scott came on with bright, varied, and sparkling tunes, it brought a real smile to my face.
Chinese Yuan to AUD
And just as well, because work is driving me a little insane at the moment, to be honest.
But there’s always tomorrow. At exactly 5.35pm tomorrow, I’ll be on holiday, and on Monday, I’m heading off to China for 2 weeks.
And even better? The dollar is extremely strong at the moment. Although no longer officially linked, the value of the YUAN is usually in sync with the value of the USD.
Swedish class resumed tonight. With one exception, it’s a whole new class. This time around, we have the usual group of people with Swedish connections, but we also have a bloke whose interests include Swedish folk music and mythology.
I was a little pressed for time this week, and lacking a little imagination, wrote a short piece about how everyone I know is going to Sweden this year, except me.
Mina vänner ska resa till Sverige.
2010, ska många vänner och kollegor resa till Sverige.
Min vän Patrick var i Stockholm för en vecka sedan. Han och hans vän Sam tillbringade några dagar i skärgården och ett par dagar i Stockholm. Vädret var varmt och de hade simmt i skärgården. De gick också på en del konserter, bland annat Allsång på Skansen.
Min vän Graeme ska åka till Stockholm i två veckor för Stockholm Pride. Han kommer att stanna hos sin kompis Gustav. Han kommer att närvara vid många konserter, bland annat Schlagerkväll på torsdag. I programmet finns också diskussionen om livet i Sydney, så jag tror att han kommer att delta i det också.
I oktober ska Grant åka till Stockholm för konserter med Peter Jöback.
Mina kollegor reser också till Sverige. Min kollega Carrie ska åka till sitt föräldrahem till jul. Min kollega Michael ska åka till Stockholm för att se sin flickvän i november.
Jag känner många som reser till Stockholm. Men inte jag!
Translated this means…
In 2010, shall many of my friends and colleagues travel to Sweden.
My friend Patrick was in Stockholm a week ago. He and his friend Sam spent a few days in the archipelago and a few days in Stockholm. The weather was hot and they swam in the archipelago. They also went to some concerts, including the “Sing-along at Skansen”.
My friend Graeme will travel to Stockholm for two weeks for Stockholm Pride. He will stay with his friend Gustav. He will attend many concerts, including the “Schlager Evening” on Thursday. The program also features discussion about life in Sydney, so I think he will also go to that,
In October, Grant will travel to Stockholm for concerts by Peter Jöback.
My colleagues shall also travel to Sweden. My colleague Carrie will go to her parents home for Christmas. My colleague Michael will go to Stockholm to see his girlfriend in November.
I know many people who shall travel to Stockholm. But not me!
Next week’s homework is to a) write about my favourite city and b) write about my childhood…
For the first time in eighteen months, I went for a swim in a “proper swimming pool”. In fact, it was the same pool where I learned to swim fifty-something years ago.
I rememer my swimming teacher was “Mr Oag” and the pool was managed back then by “Mr Grew”.
Back then, there were three pools. As well as the standard 50m pool, there was a “kids pool” and there was a “babies pool”. The “babies pool” is no longer there, and the kids’ pool has changed too. The 50m pool doesn’t appear to have changed that much, except maybe the steps leading in and out at “the deep end” As I swam and looked down at the line markers below me, I’m pretty sure they’re exactly the same as when I was growing up.
The change-rooms have changed significantly. As a kid, I remember the wooden cubicles and men’s change space was open to the sun. You could actually look down from the nearby bandstand into the men’s change rooms! The men’s and women’s cubicles were on opposite sides, whereas now they’re together and there’s a more modern “closed in space”, with mens, womens and family spaces all located together.
As I floated on my back and looked up at the sky, it was a blissful experience. The puffy white clouds. The warm water. It was about as good as it gets. And I was there all by myself, along with only the three staff on duty.
Lismore Memorial Baths
Sometimes swimming pools can be anything but relaxing. There’s a degree of “competition” as people speed along, as if they’re competing in the Olympic Games. Often, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of room for people like myself who like a more “leisurely” swim. Even in the slow lanes, there doesn’t seem to be much sympathy if you want to splash about.
But that’s exactly what I did yesterday, as I took a swim at the Lismore Memorial Baths. It was awesome to swim, take a rest, change stroke, and generally relax, knowing there was no one else around me to worry about.
The pool only opened a few days ago, after winter, and after the frecent lockdown.
“Wll you still be open during the lockdown”, I asked the staff member on duty. “Sadly no”, he told me.
With the lockdown in Lismore about to commence again, I regarded it as a deadline event, to squeeze as much as I possibly could into a short period of time.
My first priority was a haircut and a beard trim. Pat and Jack had one too, yesterday, conscious that over the last five or six weeks we’ve become a little bit “scruffy”. I rang several hairdressers around town, and no one could fit me in except “The Boys”. “If you can be here at 10.45, we can fit you in”, I was told, as I mentioned I was simply looking for a clipper cut. This the salon I recently noticed had a disco ball in their window, flashing at night. The cut was a little more expensive than I would normally pay, but my hairdresser did a good job, and we had a nice chat.
The disco ball in the window at “The Boys” in Lismore.
I also needed to get my glasses repaired. The frame has become a little “loose” in recent weeks, and I was hoping a local optometrist might be able to tighten the screws. He only had to touch them lightly and they snapped. Thankfully, my health insurance paid for most of the cost of the new frames which are largely the same as the ones I had previously, albeit with a flash of green along the side.
While I waited for the glasses to be repaired, I called into the Richmond Hotel for lunch. I was the only one there, too!! The steak was okay, albeit a little fatty in parts, but it was a nice thing to do ahead of the lockdown, accompanied by a glass of rose.
Lunch at Lismore’s Richmond Hotel
Within a couple of hours, I managed to achieve an awful lot.
We’re back in lockdown in Lismore for the next week.
According to yesterday’s press conference, a woman from Lismore and her child, had gone to another area (presumably Sydney), had become infected, and had returned to Lismore.
To date, the authorities have reported only a couple of locations where they visited, but importantly one of them was Goonellabah Primary School. “Why would you take your kid to school if they were sick and there were only a few days left before the holidays?”, one family member said to me. Others have been less sympathetic, with phrases like “Lock her up and throw away the keys” being fairly common.
“I had a bit of a meltdown but I’m fine now”, a friend told me on Messenger. He and his partner have been living a split life over the last few weeks due to the border closure. He was hoping to return home this weekend, but that’s not going to happen now.
I was also planning to visit Alstonville today, to help a friend’s mother with a range of technology stuff, but that’s also not going to happen now.
I had booked a ticket to fly to Sydney next Thursday, but I suspect I’ll need to change that flight now too.
Walking home I stopped down by the river for a moment of further relaxation.
Oh well, I’m having a day off work today, and I have the weekend ahead of me. There’s still lots of terrific places I can visit within the Lismore LGA, even if I can’t go for a swim.
“Southies don’t run, mate”. Jack is quoted in today’s Sydney Morning Herald feature about the catastrophic Lismore floods, four months ago.
The heartwrenching article was written by Heath Gilmore, and the beautiful photograph of Jack and Sam was taken by Jacklyn Wagner.
The awesome thing about both journalists is they’re “locals”. They’re not “fly-in/fly-out” journalists only interested in a headline. Heath was born and raised in Lismore, and his family still lives locally. Jacklyn is a long-term local. Both care deeply about the town, its future, and the people they’ve spoken to. Both have told me covering the story has been an emotional experience.
Jack and Sam in the Sydney Morning Herald Pic: Jacklyn WagnerJack in today’s “Sydney Morning Herald” Pic: Jacklyn Wagner
Other family members, Karran, Willow, Shyloh, and Ryan were all photographed by Jacklyn who showed considerable care as she worked with my family members (and many others) on the photographs.
The article says state member for Lismore, Janelle Saffin is working with Jacklyn on an exhibition of photographs to show at the NSW Parliament, and there’s hope a book will be published to raise money and awareness. I’m hoping I’ll be in Sydney for the opening, to see the other photographs. I suspect it will be an emotional experience, as the stories are recounted.
Pat and Jack are “moving home” this weekend, and the article talks about how he and many others want to say, despite the urgings of other people they should pack up and move.
Sitting on the bare boards of the kitchen floor as they spoke, I was one of those who nodded, holding back some tears.
In the midst of all the tears from Lismore, this flood rescue story in today’s Sydney Morning Herald is giving locals a lot of laughs. I love the way Nikki told the story so clearly, and how Heath captured it.
“I hate to admit this because it’s one of my all-time favourite plays but we left after the first act”, my friend confessed last night.
“That’s such a relief, because I left after the first act, too”, I replied.
We were chatting about the latest production in Sydney of “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf”, a play I have loved since first reading at high school back in the early 80s. As we read the play in school, I played the role of George. “Of course you did”, my friend joked.
My friend said it was the ultra modern set for the play that first raised red flags. “What a dump” is the first line in the play, uttered by Martha, as she enters their home after a late-night party. Throughout the play, there are many references to the dishevelled house, but that wasn’t reflected in the more contemporary set.
“They weren’t really the characters they were portraying either. They were just saying the lines”, my friend added, as we continued to chat about the play.
It’s not like we’re traditionalists when it comes to theatre. We both like interesting, experimental stuff. But we concluded this modern re-imagining we had both seen as Sydney Festival wasn’t for us.
I looked around the reviews, and there were similar feelings expressed by others.
The other interesting thing about going to the play was to see how few people turned up. When I booked, the play was close to full, but on the night itself, the theatre was maybe only 30-40% full.
It’s all COVID, of course. We may not be in an official lockdown, but there sure as hell is an unofficial one.
Last night we were at the Australia Day Concert at the Sydney Opera House.
Australia Day Concert Interestingly, I think there were more people carrying the Aboriginal flag than were people carrying the Australian flag. Earlier in the day I also went to the Invasion Day Protest at Town Hall. I couldn’t get over how many police there were standing around, on standby.
And the night before I went to an Australian Of The Year event at Taronga Zoo.
Aside from that, I’ve been limiting myself to remaining mostly at home.
Now that I am back in Sydney and working from home again, I have been “treating” myself with a lunchtime meal somewhere locally each week. A few days ago, for example, I wandered down to Bar Cleveland. As with the times, there was only a handful of people there, and so the meal arrived quickly, and there was a high level of customer service.
There went as many prawns in the linguini as I’d hoped. Even though I’m not a “specialist” in the dish, linguini with prawns is one of my all-time favourite meals. I know how to pick a good one, and the Bar Cleveland version is pretty good. I only wish there had been six prawns, not four.
A few weeks ago, you might recall, I blogged about locking my keys inside my house, and having to go to my work to pick up the spare set.
On that particular evening, we had a casual working the night-shift. “What are you doing here at this time of the evening?”, he asked. And then I explained to him what had happened.
I haven’t seen him since, until today. And guess what? It’s happened again.
Well, it was slightly different this time. I don’t know why, but somehow I managed to leave work this afternoon, having neither locked my office, nor having remembered to take my keys with me.
I guess it was because I was in a hurry to catch up with Michaela for an after-work chat at our favourite small bar, Yulli’s on Crown Street. It just gets busier and busier every week, it seems, thanks to word-of-mouth.
Anyway, I rang a colleague asking if she could lock up my office and hide the keys somewhere so I could pick them up later.
Although I toyed with the idea of catching a cab back to work, and doing the round trip, I eventually decided it was probably easier and cheaper asking someone back at work to drop them in a cab, and to have them dropped off.
Guess who answered the phone when I rang? It was the same casual who was there a month ago when I’d locked myself out of my house.
“I just want to assure you Michael”, I told him, “I’m really quite a well-organised person. And it’s just a co-incidence that you have been around both times in the last several years when I have misplaced my keys…”
I don’t think he was convinced. I think I’m going to become known as “the guy at work who is the boss who keeps losing his keys”.
Oh the shame…
But anyway, the best part of the story concerns what happened next.
I asked Michael if he could drop the keys into a cab outside the building. Without much success, he walked up to the people on our front desk security.
It was then one of the people on front desk security rang, offering offering to drop the keys, as she was travelling through Surry Hills on her way home. How great is that? What a lovely thing to do…
And about ten minutes after she finished work. I was reunited with my house keys for the second time in a month.
