I reassured my friend the other day, saying there was no need for any” guilt”. She had tearfully shared with me the burden of “survivor’s guilt” lingering among those who emerged physically unscathed from the 2022 floods. Witnessing the trauma within my own family, I’ve observed their heightened anxiety at the mere hint of heavy rain or storms.
While I can’t fully comprehend the harrowing experience they endured that night, escaping the rising floodwaters, I dedicated considerable time that evening offering support over the phone.
As I’ve travelled around Lismore over the last couple of weeks, the remnants of the dual floods from almost two years ago are still palpable. Numerous buildings remain in a state of disrepair, serving as visible reminders of the devastation. In the street where my sister resides, only two neighboring houses are occupied, with broken windows still bearing witness to the vacant ones. The ongoing ‘buy back scheme,’ initiated by the state government purchasing houses at pre-flood market values, hints at a future where the area might transform into open paddocks or a raised industrial estate.
Conversations with family and friends reveal the deep-seated pain that lingers. However, amidst the struggles, there’s a spirit of optimism, signaling a collective readiness for a new chapter. Many have chosen to leave Lismore, while others, like my family, are making plans to relocate to higher ground.
A brief vide around “the block” in Lismore on a quiet Saturday afternoon.
In an effort to commemorate the city’s resilience, I’ve undertaken a project on Facebook called “Lismore Landmarks,'” sharing photographs of me at various locations around town.
I love this sign, just after you enter the city limits, as it mentions so much about what I love about the city.The Big Log. A remnant of the former rainforest, assumed to be cedar, though I have a vague recollection it was later shown not to be. With a nearby public toilet and tables, this was a meeting place (for many reasons) for a long time. Currently behind mesh, as they rebuild the nearby City Hall after the 2022 flood.
If you have an interest in art, you could spend a day or two, or even longer at Madrid’s Reina Sofia. As it was, I spent several hours there late this afternoon/this evening, and in some ways, feel like I only skimmed the surface.
The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is Spain’s national museum of twentieth-century art.
There’s a real contrast between where I’m staying (on the coast) and the centre of Stockholm at the moment.
On the coast, there’s snow and ice everywhere. But in the centre of town, it’s all but gone, except for in some of the parklands. Even the ice in the water around Gamla Stan has all but gone.
The view from Katarinahissen today is in such contrast to the snow and ice which greeted me three weeks ago.
There was a real buzz in the air in the city, as people really got out to enjoy the warm weather. Spring is definitely in the air.
And today, it was actually quite warm. After a few days of chilling out on the Baltic, I headed back into Stockholm today for a bit of sight-seeing, and to catch up for a drink and dinner with Gustav.
So where did we eat? We had Chinese, actually. The thing which surprised me most was the lack of pork on the menu. Lots of beef, chicken etc. But where was my beloved BBQ pork?
Eventually I found pork and was satisified.
Over dinner we had a good conversation about life, the universe and everything.
At the end of the meal I thanked the woman with “xie xie”. She responded in Swedish with varsågod, of course.
A train trip home and time for bed.
no images were found
I’m heading to a place called Gävle this weekend. At the nearby town of Sandviken, there’s an ABBA tribute concert with the local symphony orchestra. It’s not so much the ABBA angle I’m interested in, more the participation of one of my favourite Swedish singers, Magnus Carlsson.
Yes, I know the correct term in Australia these days is probably football, not soccer.
But after forty years of calling it soccer, I’ve become a little set in my ways.
A bit like my granny, really, who never converted to decimal currency.
Most of my childhood conversations with granny revolved around converting between dollars and cents and pounds, shillings and pence.
Even now I can do the calculations in my head reasonably quickly.
But that’s not what today was about. Today was about travelling to Valentine Park in Western Sydney to watch 702 United play Tokyo Bay in the World Masters Games.
Group therapy before the match
702 United
702 United
The crowd watches at Valentine Park
702 United Team Photograph
Tokyo Bay Soccer Team
Tokyo Bay Soccer Team
702 United
702 United and Tokyo Bay
Even though I’m not a sports fan, I found the day reasonably enjoyable. The match ended up a nil-all draw, even though the 702 team were, in my view, the team. That said, Tokyo Bay were good at defence, and I guess that explains the results.
Highlights of the day included a couple of overheard conversations…
“What would you expect to me be like? I’m forty-F%^&*-ing years old…” and…
“Water, water I need water…” one player was forever asking for water from the sideline.
“That’s exactly how I feel”, said a colleague of mine who was a little hung-over from the night before.
There’s not a lot that happens on a Sunday afternoon in Lismore. The streets are empty, and most of the pubs are closed.
In some ways, it’s not that different to the days when I was growing up here in the 70s and 80s. Most of these memories are from when I was less than ten years old. Every Sunday, Pat would come and pick me up. From there, we would drive to the home of the financier who she was paying off her home to. “It was $14 a week”, she told me yesterday. And from there, we would take a drive around the block, eventually stopping for a soft-serve ice cream at “The Dairy Delite”.
“The Dairy Delite” is no longer there. Even “The Glen Milk Bar” has gone, as has “Harry Crethar’s Wonder Bar”. The Tropicana and The Mecca remain.
Whenever I’m back in Lismore I love going for a walk around the block. My family doesn’t quite understand why I like walking to town. “We can drop you off and pick you up”, they’ll tell me. From home to town takes about ten minutes, starting with a walk across the Ballina Street Bridge.
Underneath the Ballina Street Bridge, LismoreWandering down by the Wilson’s River in Lismore.Sunday afternoon at the laneway to the Lismore Club.
While family members took an afternoon nap yesterday, I wandered over town for a walk along the levy bank, on my way to the Bowling Club.
Even though I’m 55 years old, I suddenly realised yesterday I’d never actually been inside the City Bowling Club before. I’ve walked past many, many times, but I’d never actually entered the building before.
Lismore City Bowling Club
It’s one big room, with lots of honour boards and old black and white photographs.
“I’ll only charge you $10”, the woman on the door said. I was there for the advertised afternoon of the Lismore Jazz Club. Looking around the room, most people were aged at least sixty. There was, however, a sprinkling of young people. “Do you mind if I sit here?”, I asked a similarly aged-bloke. He was originally from Sydney and had been living here for a while. He still goes back to Sydney about once a month to teach. He told me he was in a few different jazz bands, including a few different styles. “This band is good”, he told me.
I missed their first set but was there for the entirety of their second, which explains why I didn’t have to pay the full entry fee. They played a fairly traditional setlist of tunes from the 1930s to the 1960s.
There were standards like “Nature Boy” and “My Funny Valentine”, along with less well-known stuff from Theolonius Monk and Wayne Shorter. I really hated the way they turned “Nature Boy” into a bossa-nova style number, but otherwise, they were a good band playing good tunes, and it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.
As I looked around the room at the crowd, I realised these could be “my people” when I return home in a few years time.
Chips, chocolate and beer go together quite well together, I discovered this afternoon. Surprisingly well, actually. I discovered this very fact as I joined some friends today at the pub. You grab a chip, you grab a bit of chocolate, and you grab a sip of beer. You put it in your mouth, and it all tastes quite good together. It wasn’t something I’d planned gastronomically, but you should never regret anything, I reckon :)
It’s been quite some time since we, as a group of friends, had caught up like this. There are various subsets of the group who see each other regularly, but this was the first time in maybe a couple of years that it’s been all of us together. One of us had left her husband and gained a new one in the meantime. As a group of friends some of us go back thirty years, though my connection only goes back about 15 years, when I moved to Sydney in the mid 90s. And we had a bloody great time.
Curiously enough, for a group which consisted mostly of straight women and gay men, we divided up along gender lines on one thing: as the conversation developed throughout the afternoon, quite a few of the guys kept an eager eye on the AFL grand final. There were a few eager NRL fans in the group, and a few raised on enough AFL to have an interest. For me? I quite liked the spectacle of it all, and as we watched the footy, I also kept an eye of Twitter and tweeted the following.
* In a pub in sydney with abba fans watching melbourne football grand final. #alternatereality
* Watching #aflgf in sydney. We are all going for st kilda because we dont know where collingwood is. Seriously. And eddie. (to which I received the following response…@JamesOBrienAU we just said the same thing about having no idea about where Collingwood is geographically! and @JamesOBrienAU but going for Collingwood in spite of Eddie (<3 Jolly + Daisy + Mick Malthouse) – rest of the fam does not agree.
* Following @latrioli and @sallyloane this afternoon who are both tweeting footy albeit different codes.
(to which I received the following response… sallyloane @JamesOBrienAU Let me guess neither of them was the league!!)
As I wandered home I noticed a discarded television in a shopping trolley on Oxford Street. All a bit out of place, I thought.
* The bathurst super cheap auto race lacks a little of the magic of the hardie ferodo 1000 dont you think? (in response to an ad on the tele)
* If this was in sydney we would have left the stadium by now and would already be at the pub #aflgf (in response to the one-sided nature of the result all the way through)
And finally a re-tweet…
RT @WT11 RT @MichaelByrnes: Sarah Murdoch has just congratulated St. Kilda on their stunning win. #afl
As a game it was all a bit one-sided, wasn’t it?
In the large room of the pub where we watched it, there was only a murmur of interest in the game. As I looked around the room, there were quite a few groups of young blokes all on the turps who you thought SHOULD have been interested in the game, but who generally only looked toward the television screen only when the conversation died down or it was time to go the bar to order more drinks.
As a collective, however, the pub had pretty much decided we were going for St Kilda. Mostly, because of the genuine animosity most people feel towards Eddie Maguire. And secondly, because of our lack of geographic knowledge about Melbourne.
“Where’s Collingwood?”, I asked around my group of friends at one point. I’ve never seen so many blank faces in my life. Very amusing to realise none of us had any idea.
After the footy, we continued with a few beers. As the afternoon came towards its natural conclusion, a few of us decided to continue on for a bite to eat. I recommended Snakebean as a great place, with reasonably cheap prices. The recommendation was much appreciated by my friends from the Manly area who spent a bit of time bemoaning their culinary options.
Like this:
LikeLoading…
Related
2 Comments
I suppose it will all flood again on the lower lands and it is wise to move up a hill, but for some it must be a terrible wrench. The landmark project seems like a great idea.
Many thanks Andrew. It won’t be easy, and many people will prefer to stay behind. Many others won’t have a choice, failing to qualify for the buyback, or not owning their own home.
I suppose it will all flood again on the lower lands and it is wise to move up a hill, but for some it must be a terrible wrench. The landmark project seems like a great idea.
Many thanks Andrew. It won’t be easy, and many people will prefer to stay behind. Many others won’t have a choice, failing to qualify for the buyback, or not owning their own home.