Three-time Paralympic athlete, Don Elgin, said today he couldn’t accept the conventional wisdom that amputees can’t skip (jump rope). “I don’t think I’m the first in THE WORLD, but I was definitely the first in MY WORLD to achieve it.” he told us at today’s “No Limits” event for amputees and prosthetic-users in Sydney.
Don emphasized the power of breaking bigger goals down into smaller, achievable steps, a philosophy that he says extends beyond sports and into everyday life. As a motivational speaker, he encourages people to “reset their brain” with small daily acts of positivity, like a gentle smile to yourself and the world while checking your watch or simply passing through a doorway.
Don Elgin was born with a different length left leg, and here is holding up his first prosthrtic limb.
Taitum Brown, a generation younger than Don, experienced a life-altering accident at age four when he was struck by a car. Though he lived with a limb that never fully developed, he didn’t have an amputation until only two years ago. As an adult, Taitum made the conscious decision himself to have the limb amputated. He emphasized he has no regrets about the decision, and spoke with passion about now playing wheelchair basketball and leading a fairly “ordinary” life.
Taitum Brown shared his experience of an accident aged four, but not having an amputation until he chose for himself, aged eighteen.
Taitum’s story reflects a common theme I heard today – several attendees made the decision to have amputations due to chronic pain, whereas I was unconscious when mine occured, and therefore had no choice in the matter.
Darrell Sparke, CEO of Amputees NSW, also shared his experience today of growing up in a small town, after losing a limb in a teenage lawn mower accident. He remembered the pre-NDIS days, and because he never had access to prosthetics, he believes it’s helped him become resilient in himself. He spoke of his strong advocacy for fellow amputees on both an individual and collective level.
The “No Limits” event held today in Sydney, was organized by prosthetic supplier APC, and offered a wealth of information and support.
Wheelchair basketball during the lunch break.
Amputees connected and shared experiences, while experts like physiotherapists demonstrated exercises, and specialists discussed “wet legs” (prosthetic limbs for water activities) and other more “technical” matters.
I left the event feeling enriched by the stories of others and the strong sense of community among my fellow amputees.
The event was held at the Bernie Mullane Sports Complex at Kellyville
“Do you think we might be dead?”, I said to a colleague in the lift at work today. She laughed in recognition.
Just five minutes earlier, there had been an influx of former colleagues in our workplace, and we both wondered if maybe some terrible tragedy had occured, and we had found ourselves in a different universe where everyone we had previously known had come back to visit.
There were two people who had left a couple of years ago, but who had returned in a casual capacity. There was the person who used to do my job who was back in Sydney for a series of meetings. There was another former colleague who I was about to have lunch with. The daughter of a former colleague who is doing some work for us. And on top of it all, another former colleague who had also left a couple of years ago called on the telephone.
Two dancers in seventies style clothing, part of a Seventies Festival at Susannah Place in The Rocks.
There were kisses and hugs everywhere, and for just a few minutes it felt like we were at some giant unexpected, un-planned reunion. It was a really lovely moment.
Aside from that, it was business as usual on my final day before I go and do another job (a bit of a promotion) for 6 weeks or so.
After five, the bloke who is going to be doing my job and I met for a “hand over” meeting over a jug of beer at a nearby pub. Now that’s my kind of handover meeting.
By the time I got home at about 6.30, I was pretty tried and so retired to the couch for a moment.
After a while I decided I’d give “Milk” another go. You might recall, I started to watch it last weekend, but fell asleep on the couch.
Well, guess what? I fell asleep again.
I can’t decide if I think the film is boring or not, or whether I’m just choosing to watch it at the wrong times. I’m gonna give it another go over the next few days when I’m not feeling as tired.
The weekend looks fun, with lunch at Bondi, then a house-warming, and then catching up with Kate on Sunday.
I have been reading this week about the high school students from Queensland who were taught the wrong texts for their graduating high school exam – a truly awful situation. I won’t get into the complex and perhaps legal specifics of the case, but it reminded me of a terrible mistake my classmates and I made during our Year 12 trial exams.
Back then, we were sitting the trial exams—an in-house test run for the actual public exams. I can’t recall if it was Year 11 or 12, but we were assigned to read Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Now, I understand years later that it’s an American cultural classic—an important book that tackles serious themes like racism and identity. But as teenagers, we all thought, “Why are we reading a kids’ book for Year 12?” Consequently, a lot of us simply didn’t read it, even though it was a prescribed text. Our assumption was that the HSC would offer enough choice that we could skip Huck Finn and just write about something “more important” or “serious,” like Shakespeare.
I’ll never forget the moment we walked into the exam hall. We opened the paper and saw the instruction: “You must answer a question about Huckleberry Finn.” It was compulsory.
A wave of panic washed over the room. We looked at each other, eyes wide, silently asking: “Did you read it? No, I didn’t read it! Oh, my God!” As with most things in my life, I managed to bluff my way through the essay based on hearsay from things the teacher said in the classroom.
Later, we agreed it was our teachers making us learn a painful lesson the hard way. No shortcuts.
Despite this, I managed to graduate and actually got a pretty good score in the HSC, and never had to answer the Huckleberry Finn question.
Years ago I remember watching a really fantastic documentary about the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras called, Feed Them to the Cannibals. As I recall, the title was a reference to the words of an Australian government official, who was asked what he thought should be done with those engaging in homosexual behaviour in the early days of European settlement here.
For me, that 1993 film was also an introduction to the larger-than-life character of Dawn O’Donnell, the subject of the movie I saw tonight, Croc-a-Dyke Dundee. For many years, a friend and I developed quite a routine between ourselves, as we remembered and laughed about some of the classic lines delivered by Dawn in that early film.
Co-incidentally both films were made by the same person, Fiona Cunningham-Reid. At tonight’s screening she mentioned how she had asked Dawn many years ago if she would participate in a follow-up documentary about her own life story. For many years, Dawn and her partner, Aniek Baton both refused.
At the Q&A session which followed tonight’s screening, Aniek explained what finally brought her around, was recognition the telling the story of Dawn’s life goes some way to telling the history of Gay & Lesbian life in Sydney in the last fifty years or so.
That said, the film also gives a really lovely insight into her life before she became a nightclub owner on Oxford Street. The film explains she was the daughter of a single parent, growing up in Sydney in reasonably rough circumstances, until she was sent to a convent school to “smooth off the edges”. She had an early passion for ice-skating, which eventually took her to live in both London and Paris, until an accident cut short her career.
On returning to Australia she married a man which, in the film she says, “lasted for about two months”.The film then goes on to explain how she made her career mostly in real estate, and then later in nightclubs.
The film doesn’t shy away from the more suspect parts of Dawn’s life. The film talks about her connections with the convicted criminal, Abe Saffron; the many allegations of nightclub arson; and even the suggestion she murdered someone. The film offers no new evidence on any of these allegations, but that’s okay, it wasn’t that type of film.
For me the really interesting insight into Dawn’s life, of course, came from Aniek, Dawn’s partner. They were together thirty years, and it sounds like they had an amazing series of adventures together, particularly the travel. Dawn died five or six years ago, and Aniek was left out of the will. At tonight’s screening she said she was still involved in a complex legal battle tonight which was “ongoing and private”.
Though the film wasn’t as ground-breaking and as memorable for me as “Feed Them To The Cannibals”, I really enjoyed it. I hope one day it will get a television screening as well.
The two things I remember vividly about my time living in Perth in 2004 were: the time zone difference and the long flights involved. I remember getting a phone call at 4.30am from someone on the East Coast (note the capitalization) who hadn’t realised there was a three hour time difference during the summer months, and even then thought “Perth was ahead, not behind”. I also remember the nine hours it took me to travel home for a school reunion in Lismore, taking into accounts flights from Perth to Sydney, Sydney to Gold Coast, and then from Gold Coast to Lismore by road…
Travelling back to Perth this time was not for a happy reason. I was there for the funeral of legendary, long-time ABC Radio presenter, Eoin Cameron. He died suddenly at 65 (heart attack). I worked with Eoin back in 2004, and had a genuine affection for him as both a radio presenter, and as a person. It was great to hang out with the team from ABC Perth, and hope being there was a support to them. It was also great to catch up with some people from my time there I still consider friends. I also did some other work stuff, including visit the Aboriginal Family Day, where ABC Perth was participating.
There’s a couple of people I know who are planning to spend between one or two weeks in Stockholm next year, during the months of April and May.
Based on my own experiences of being in Stockholm during that time of the year (and other times of the year), here are a few handy tips I’ve prepared for them, which you might find useful also.
Streets of Sodermalm, Stockholm
Where to stay in Stockholm: Where you choose to stay depends on a whole range of things: do you like city-life, do you like the countryside, how much you’re prepared to pay etc. My biggest best advice would be to stay near a public transport stop, especially near the subway/metro system, the Tunnelbana. You can buy affordable transport tickets that give you unlimited travel for 7 days, a fortnight or a month. When you don’t have to worry about how you get around, you spend a lot less time worrying about the dailies. And besides, trains and subways go exactly where they’re supposed to. My other piece of advice would be to make sure where you’re staying has a washing machine in your apartment. There are so many awful stories of conflict over “the washing room” in older Swedish apartment blocks, so if you’re using AirBnB, just double check the washing machine is actually in your apartment.
Personally, I really like the southern island, Södermalm. Traditionally a working class suburb, it’s now become quite fashionable. There are two things I really like about Södermalm: first, it’s a cool, funky, and interesting place to walk around; second, it’s close to the city, so you can actually walk to lots of great tourist places. You also look back over the water to the Old Town, Gamla Stan which is fantastic.
New Clothes
What Clothes To Wear: Earlier today when I was chatting with my friend and colleague who’ll be in Stockholm in mid to late April, she asked what clothes she should wear. She doesn’t want to pack too much clothing, and is concerned the warm clothing she has (she bought in New Zealand) might actually be “too warm”. Going back through my blog posts from March/April/May 2003, I noticed I needed to make a similar transition, and so went to a second-hand clothing store on Södermalm and picked up (for about $30-40) some clothing which kept me both warm and dry. Stadsmissionen is probably the best known second-hand clothing store in Stockholm, though the store I bought these clothes from was called Emmaus Stockholm just off Götgatan.
Arlanda Airport from Stockholm-Arlanda
Getting to and from Stockholm Airport (Arlanda): Of all the options you might consider – regular taxi, fast train (Arlanda Express), public transport (connecting train and bus), airport buses, I’d recommend the airport buses. For around $15-$20 AUD, it will take you roughly 45 minutes from the airport to central. This is slightly longer than catching a taxi, and twice as long as catching the Arlanda Express, but it’s much cheaper, and you get to see a little of the countryside. http://www.flygbussarna.se/EN You can buy your tickets beforehand and just show them on your phone, though noting you shouldn’t buy them too early as they can “expire”.
Getting a Swedish SIM Card: If you’re going to be in Stockholm for more than a week or so, I really think it’s worth getting yourself a Swedish SIM Card. As well as things like Google Maps, you can access email, social media, and not have to worry about international roaming. WIFI is everywhere, and Swedish homes generally have high-speed broadband, but for the sheer convenience, I think it’s worth spending about $40-50 for a casual plan which is often unlimited but usually has more than enough to do everything you’ll need. The last few times I’ve visited Stockholm, I picked up a SIM Card from 3 at a fairly reasonable price. Though the website is in Swedish, I found it was pretty simple to go into the 3 shop on Götgatan, and explain my situation. They asked me a few basic questions about usage patterns, and they even set the phone up for me.
Stockholm Rooftop Tour: I’m not sure if actually operates during April, but the rooftop tour is amazing. Stockholm is a low rise city, and you’ll see a whole lot more if you’re just above the city, not far, far away at Kaknastornet, the radio and TV transmission tower. I’d also really recommend Katarinahissen.
There are so many great galleries and museums (most of them free), but Fotografiska is my favourite. Great art, great location, and great food.
If you’re looking for a great fun night (that makes the most of the Swedish nights), I’d recommend Patricia, a boat on the water.
A ship inside a museum. The Vasa Museum in Stockholm.
Vasa Museet: A massive Swedish warship inside a museum. Amazing.
The Millenium Tour: A walking tour of Stockholm, as seen through the eyes of the books/films by Stieg Larrson.
Dr Käse at Hötorgshallen
The Nordic Experience Food Tour: Swedes eat all kinds of food, reflective of their increasingly multi-cultural society, but this tour takes you on a journey of pickled herring, bear and all kinds of great stuff.
Schlager band, Hallå Hela Pressen plays at Victoria Restaurang
Monday Night at Victoria’s: Swedes love pop music and drinking. If you’re sceptical, read the story of a guy I met who was VERY sceptical, and ended up having a great time.
Valborg bonfire in Stockholm
Valborg: A pagan festival at the end of April. Bonfires in the centre of Stockholm.
Kulturnatt: The night when galleries and museums are open during mid-April.
Walking on the frozen water of Lake Mälaren, Stockholm
Walking On Ice: Hopefully, there will still be some snow and ice around during March-April, and so long as you follow in the footsteps of others, you should feel confident about walking on ice.
Systembolaget Södermalm
Booze: Swedish bottle shops operate only 9-5 Monday to Saturday, so if you’re looking for take-away alcohol, you’ll need to plan. Supermarkets which are generally open until 10 or 11 at night, sell low-alcohol beer in case you get a little desperate.http://thelimbshift.com/2013/05/05/systembolaget-saturday/
I was sitting in the park opposite the Bourke Street Bakery earlier today. It was nice just to sit in silence and watch the only place outside the former Soviet Union where people still queue for bread. It was just a wonderful moment of peace, a moment of quiet in an otherwise busy few days.
After the excitement of seeing Dave Mason at The Basement on Wednesday night, I had another night out on Thursday for the Australian premiere of the new Barry Humphries show. It was a star-studded night with celebrities galore. We were seated next to Ed Phillips (Temptation) and just behind Karll Stefanovic, Michael Willesee Junior and Tina Bursill. OK, so they weren’t big celebrities, and a few of them did leave at intermission…
That a few people left at intermission didn’t surprise me, as the first half featured Les Patterson and Sandy (the old bloke) whose black and morose humour is in stark contrast to that of Dame Edna, and was probably not what the majority of punters were there to see. Even at intermission, I didn’t really get the sense of a buzz from the audience.
Surry Hills must be the only place outside the former Soviet Union where people queue for bread.
That Barry Humphries received a standing ovation at the end was, I think more out of respect for a life-long career – he’s been doing Dame Edna for 50 years than in recognition of a great show. I mean, I’m a big fan, and have been to quite a few Barry Humphries shows in the past, but I was a little disappointed.
The following day at work I was discussing this with some people who had been there who enjoyed the show much more than I did. When I admitted I was disappointed with the same old jokes, a colleague reminded me that when you go and see a band you know incredibly well you get angry if they DON’T do the same old songs, a fairly spurious argument in my view.
At the end of the night, Graeme and I went for a drink at the nearby Irish bar which regularly changes its name. We then wandered along the street where I pointed out the location of the hairdresser from hell and noticed the anti-shooting up blue light at the entrance of a nearby backpacker hostel. Oh Sydney, you have changed.
And then last night, Colin and I went to Sydney Theatre for the final in the current season of Up Close & Musical. The lead act was Simon Burke who I thought was absolutely tremendous, basing his act around the children’s television series, “Play School” in which he regularly features. There were love songs to Jemima and Humpty Dumpty and he sang “I Don’t Know How To Love Him” to Big Ted… “and I’ve had so many bears before in very many ways, he’s just one more”. You couldn’t help but laugh.
I kept an eye out for Tyson who was apparently there but didn’t see him. Not all that surprising as UC&M was well attended last night. Hopefully, it will be just as popular, if not more so, when it resumes at the Theatre Royal when “Company” opens in July.
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That event does sound inspirational and very helpful. My immediate thought was the song ‘Skip to My Lou my darling’. Ok, I’ve checked and it is song I recall from teenage square dancing. I still can’t get past the shock that both Ray and I felt when we read your first post about your amputation. The now dead Ray exclaimed, ‘What?’.
That event does sound inspirational and very helpful. My immediate thought was the song ‘Skip to My Lou my darling’. Ok, I’ve checked and it is song I recall from teenage square dancing. I still can’t get past the shock that both Ray and I felt when we read your first post about your amputation. The now dead Ray exclaimed, ‘What?’.
Yes, I remember that song too, though the one that came into my head today was more recent, also the name of a movie, “White men can’t jump”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8Gjeii7iQE&ab_channel=JackMalaythong