Don’t get me wrong, because Pablo was an excellent performer, I really enjoyed him playing. But when I saw him playing at the Beach Hotel at Byron Bay Beach Hotel yesterday, I giggled a little.
Here was a bloke called Pablo with a beard and a bun, playing folk music with a flute and then later a trumpet at a pub in Byron, where I was drinking an overpriced 13-dollar schooner of Coopers Green.
“Can you get any more Byron than that?”, I said to a group of friends who grew up in the area, who remembered when Byron wasn’t quite the place it has become.
Pablo playing at the Beach Hotel, Byron.
I remember when the same group of us visited Byron a decade ago in the midst of the summer holiday. It was overcrowded and expensive, and we hated it, remembering the quieter times of our youth.
“It’s Bondi with crystals”, a friend of mine once observed.
But if you go during the middle of the week outside those peak times of the year, it’s still a wonderful place to visit.
And for me, it’s extremely convenient. It’s about 50 minutes on the bus, compared to 45 minutes by car. For ten dollars you can catch an unlimited travel return trip from Lismore to Byron, including, if you want to, taking buses within Byron Shire.
Rocky outcrop at King’s Beach
The last time I visited Byron was about 12 months ago, in the midst of COVID. I was keen to go back again this week, to see how it was looking. Definitely busier than 12 months ago, but not so busy that it was unbearable.
It’s much much longer since I last visited nearby King’s Beach.
A friend and I recalled yesterday the excitement we felt going there as teenagers because it was a “nude beach”.
There weren’t many people at the beach yesterday, but that’s just as I’d hoped.
There was, however, a lot of wildlife to be found with a goanna, some birdlife, and some gorgeous coastal forest.
“I have a text message that says I’m eligible, but it’s still a few weeks ago”, I heard one bloke tell the nearby pharmacist. As I sat and waited at my local medical centre, I took a “healthy interest” in the people coming in for appointments. Almost everyone coming in was looking for a “booster’.
“I’m sorry, we don’t have enough stocks”, the receptionist told people, adding “Since they’ve changed the period from six months to five months, we haven’t been able to order anything more in the lead up to Christmas”. He was directing people to nearby pharmacies.
I suspect news about the massive increase in projected cases has sparked interest in getting boosters.
I’m still a bit dumbfounded about the modelling predicting 25,000 cases per day in NSW by late January. Even with vaccination, there’s surely going to be significant deaths, as well as significant lost time from work, and long term health problems? Has the actual modelling been released?
Much of the “narrative” is now focussed on hospitalisation. Unless people are in ICU, we shouldn’t worry about it, seems to be the predominent school of thought. But in my mind, hospitalisation is only one factor. There’s also long term illnesses, and absences from work etc that need to be factored in. For example, I had a staff member who was diagnosed last week. Not sick enough to go to the hospital, but still away from work for a significant period.
I was in the medical centre/pharmacy to seek treatment for a sebaceous cyst on my back. It’s been a health problem I’ve had before, and it’s back again. Almost exactly ten years ago I had day surgery to remove a cyst. It “grew back” a couple of years ago.
My wound ten years ago.
When I went to the doctor today she said to me “You should have come earlier”. I said, “I didn’t think it was urgent, and you would be busy with COVID etc”. She said, “Yes a lot of people have said that”. I think this is probably another “hidden” story of the COVID problem. People putting off seeking treatment, or not being able to get in for treatment for other conditions.
When someone pointed out the other day it was “poking out of my shirt”, I decided it was time to do something about it. On top of the physical protrusion, I have become increasingly worried it might become infected, as it did ten years ago. Thankfully, it hasn’t reached “crisis stage”, but it has reached the stage where the GP wrote “urgent” on my referral to a surgeon/specialist. “Can I ask a favour?”, the GP said to the specialist, emphasising the urgency of a referral in the busy time leading up to Christmas. “Don’t worry, he’s pretty healthy, aside from some flaky skin, so it should be quite straightforward, and he has private health insurance” she told the receptionist at the specialist/surgeon.
I’m feeling pretty good about this treatment. It hasn’t reached crisis stage, as it did a decade ago. I’m not in pain, and I have some pills.
And if I do have surgery in the next few days, I’ll be well supported as I head up to Lismore for Christmas. Michelle is a nurse, and she’s well prepared to “pack” the wound as was required a decade ago.
For at least a year, we’ve been anticipating the showing at Newcastle Region Art Gallery of the Hawkesbury One Collection. This is the art collectors group that I’ve been involved in for almost ten years now. In short, we are a group of friends and family members from Sydney and Newcastle who have combined our resources to buy art which we own and share around our homes collectively.
Unlike other art collections which are ordinarily shown in art galleries, ours is a little different in that we’re not “patron collectors” and ours is not the result of curation by a major gallery. The collection is the work we’ve chosen over a period of time because we just liked the works, a point which most people seem to have understood.
After all that anticipation, the collection was officially opened this weekend, and will show until mid-September.
Hawkesbury One exhibition opening in NewcastleHawkesbury One exhibition opening in NewcastleHawkesbury One exhibition opening in NewcastleHawkesbury One exhibition opening in Newcastle
It was so exciting to see the collection presented beautifully on the walls of the gallery, to see everyone together with ear to ear grins as we celebrated the achievement we have made, and to have our friends and family around us.
It was also really great to meet some of the artists, including Arryn Snowball and Pamela See who had come down from Brisbane.
Overall, an exciting happy day.
If you’re in Newcastle over the next few months,you might want to pop in to the gallery to take a look.
PS, I’m uploading these videos many years later, and I’m sorry, I can’t remember who shot them. Please accept this apology, and get in touch if it’s your work, and I’ll properly acknowledge.
It’s all “party of five” here in Sydney for NYE tonight. That’s the maximum number of people allowed in homes tonight, though I’m sure tomorrow’s newspapers will tell of stories of people who’ve breached the rules.
The fireworks are still going ahead, without crowds around the foreshore. The cricket is going ahead next week at 50% capacity, though it wouldn’t surprise me if they revert to no crowds.
Sydney doesn’t get it. I caught a bus and walked around the city last night and hardly anyone was wearing a mask. So, as we approach the end of 2020, it looks like we haven’t learned all that much. Speaking to friends and colleagues in Melbourne, they think we’re all mad.
2020 was the year of the facemask, and here I am on my first flight home to visit my family back in June. Though masks were “compulsory” on the flight, there was still a few people who didn’t adhere to the policy. By the end of December, peeople had pretty much stopped wearing them in Sydney.
We have quite a few shops in Surry Hills that are now empty, largely due to the result of changes in retail (generally) and COVID-19. In their place, a few shops have popped up containing a range of things you might otherwise find at garage sales. The imminent closure of our local shopping centre may mean, however, that some shops from there will relocate to the empty shops, which is a good thing.During October, Sue and I embarked on a two-week road trip to Western NSE. We stayed in Orange, Mudgee, Parkes, Griffith and Canberra. Sue also stayed in Dubbo, while I went further west to visit Bourke. Here we are visiting ‘The Hermit’s Cave’, which is a “series shelters, terraced gardens, exotic plants, water-cisterns, dry-stone walling and linking bridges, stairways and paths that stretch intermittently across more than a kilometre of the escarpment. Made single-handedly by a reclusive Italian migrant, Valerio Ricetti, these structures involved the moving of hundreds of tons of stone and earth, together with the ingenious incorporation of natural features in the landscape”. We both really loved visiting the site which enjoys excellent views over Griffith.On the Darling River at Bourke.Griffith, NSWThis year, we lost a dear family member, Margaret Hyland (she’s on the right). Margy was only nine months older than me, succumbing to pancreatic cancer. Tragically, it was the same cancer that killer her mother, Margaret O’Brien (she’s on the left). Also in this photograph are mum (Bertha Dunn) and granny (Berth Rixon) and the baby, Jacqui Hall. Jacqui is still with us, a strong independent woman who pulled it all together with her sister, Emily, when their mother died.
According to YouTube Music, this was the song I listened to most this year. But I already knew that, or more likely the neighbours did. At a time when we couldn’t go out dancing, I spent many hours jumping around the loungeroom listening to this song. It’s a fun track.
One of my all-time favourite songs covered by Sophie Ellis-Bexter. Her big hits included “If This Is Love” and “Murder On The Dancefloor”. Her social isolation music videos were a highlight of the year, and she sums it up pretty well.
Though I know there’s a feeling NYE marks an opportunity for us to start things afresh, I’m not feeling all that confident right now that 2021 will be any better than 2020. Happy New Year, nonetheless.
Just two years ago, my life took an unexpected turn with the amputation of my lower right limb. Today marks that anniversary, or as I’ve playfully dubbed it, my “stump-iversary.” I even briefly entertained the idea of a foot-shaped cake to celebrate, though I quickly decided against it. While my family has a quirky sense of humor and usually plays along, I’m pretty sure that would have been the moment they declared me officially mad!
The first anniversary last year was a significant milestone. I’d gone from being fully active to suddenly living with a physical disability, after months spent in hospital and rehabilitation. Returning to work part-time and rebuilding my life felt momentous. This second anniversary, however, crept up on me. Its arrival was primarily prompted by the end of the financial year, a date I often joke about as my “end-of-financial-year leg cut.” It only clicked when June 30th turned into July 1st.
Cheers!
I was sharing this with my sister today over morning tea, here in my hometown of Lismore. It’s been great visiting family and escaping Sydney’s awful weather – the rain, cold, and general gloom. We had a few days of rain here over the weekend, but today was glorious and sunny. People in Sydney often assume Lismore is perpetually flooding, but it’s not! It’s actually really lovely here right now and looks set to stay that way until Sunday.
I’m working from home while I’m here, though I’ll be popping into the Lismore office for a couple of days this week. It’ll be a wonderful chance to see colleagues I genuinely like and remember fondly. When I was in the hospital, they sent me a care package filled with local chocolates, cookies, and coffee. When that package arrived, I honestly burst into tears. It was such an emotional moment, one of many gifts and well wishes I received throughout my hospital stay.
My time in hospital brought me much closer to many of my colleagues, but it also created a distance with others. For some, I’m now simply “the guy with the disability.” But here I am, two years later, still at work. And why not? My office-based job means I can do everything on my computer or mobile, largely communicating with people, which is the essence of my industry.
This entire experience has also strengthened many of my friendships and family relationships. People who visited me in the hospital, looked out for me, and took care of me when I was incredibly vulnerable. They saw me when I was truly sick, in a coma, and even when I was experiencing some pretty wild hallucinations. Love.
It has fundamentally shifted my outlook on life in many ways. I’ve always worked incredibly hard, and while I still give 100%, I’m less inclined to check in outside of hours now. Occasionally I do, but mostly I lead a normal working life.
In the past couple of years, I’ve also felt motivated to achieve things. Perhaps it’s a strange psychological drive to prove myself, both to myself and to others. That’s why I did things like walk in Mardi Gras and travel to China. There’s still a sense of that “young kid from the wrong side of the tracks in Lismore” who feels he needs to prove everything.
I’m also much more acutely aware of my own mortality. I always knew my family wouldn’t live forever, but I came awfully close to the end two years ago. This has prompted me to think deeply about what I want to do with the rest of my life and what that truly means.
Furthermore, I feel a stronger motivation to contribute to disability advocacy. I’ve joined a couple of working groups and engagement groups, which has introduced me to a much broader spectrum of people living with disabilities than I would have encountered in my previous day-to-day life. This has been a truly insightful experience, helping me realize how fortunate I still am in many aspects of my life. Perhaps there’s something meaningful I can do in the disability space to help others.
So, there it is: the unexpected journey of living with a physical disability, coupled with the natural process of getting older. These are the thoughts weighing on my mind as I celebrate my “stump-iversary.”
I don’t often order a cocktail. I’m much more of a glass of wine or a beer kind of guy. I’m also not one for “creamy cocktails”. I much prefer lemon or at least fruit-flavoured cocktails. They’re refreshing. They’re tasty. And they don’t spoil your appetite.
Occasionally though, I get the “taste” for a cocktail. And so when I arrived at Fratelli Fresh ahead of my friend Michaela (she was running about fifteen minutes late), and when they asked if I would like a glass of wine, I replied in the negative, and ordered a “Molte Bene” instead. Lemon, tasty, yum. It was just the right thing to start off the night.
I’ve been to Fratelli Fresh at Kings Cross, sorry… I mean Potts Point… half a dozen times now, and it never fails to please.
We started off with a brusell sprouts and egg salad. Very tasty. The sprouts were shredded and the egg was poached with a soft centre. When you combine the two you have a very tasty and satisfying entree that well and truly caters for two people.
The main was a little more difficult though. They have a large blackboard at Fratelli which contains far too many options. The last few times I’ve been, it’s often been a case of looking around the room, seeing something you like on someone else’s plate and ordering that. And that’s what we did tonight also.
Looking over at the woman sitting next to us at the bar we noticed she had a particularly appealing looking main which was a ragu bolognese. Very tasty, and very filling.
The wine and conversation were, naturally enough, excellent also.
