Blogging politics, culture, sociology and life from Brisvegas
So, since we don’t live by politix alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all! It’s Jacaranda time in Brisneyland, and the livin’s easy.
Woman on building site by *phenomenologist on deviantART
Panic now by *phenomenologist on deviantART
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Larvatus Prodeo is an Australian group blog which discusses politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
No it ain’t. We lifted the carpet upstairs, we have substantial termite damage. Bugger.
Quiet day today, but yesterday we were busy chopping up railway sleepers with a chainsaw, to use to create a nice new garden bed. Sawdust everywhere, and much simultaneously waving of the secateurs in useful directions.
phil, that’s encompassed by the “Panic Now” picture in the post!
Oh yes. But I’d like the woman on the building site to come and give me a quote. Redheads make better builders?
Who says we only have two seasons. In my part of Sydney world, irrepressible and defiant Spring is breaking out. In pure delight.
The advance guard of the bogong moths arrived unheralded last night from the western plains en route to the southern Alps. Everywhere the heady scent of jasmine matches in perfection the red and golden blossoms of the callistemons and wattles. And the entire world seems to consist of contented, co-habiting couples: including copper-coloured blue-tongued lizards, red-tailed black cockatoos, and heartbreakingly beautiful early pre-dawn songsters: an already missed, transient pair of pied butcherbirds.
Spent yesterday fiddling round with the beginning of chapter one of my book, typing up notes on the Stamp Act Crisis, watched the crime shows on ABC, Sideshow, delightful repeat of Foyle’s War. So long since I’d seen it was almost like new.
Woke up very early this morning. Re-read Watkin Tench’s ‘Letters from Revolutionary France’ about his time as a POW in the Vendee for several months after the fall of Robespierre. A delight. Watched Insiders, a bit of Malcolm Turnbull on 9, blogged, typed up more notes all day, watched 5 o’clock news, ch.10, then over to ABC till 8.30. Surfed the internet, blogged, then went to bed.
Crook all weekend with the flu. Going to bed at 10pm. Watching telly and moaning pitifully at Ms and Lil Miss LE.
Highlights include: Hacking cough, making annoying demands, sniffling.
20 hours from Frankfurt direct on Tuesday may have done it.
In sum, probably had the most uneventful weekend in all blogdom. I dont deserve to participate in this weekend celebrating , life affirming thread.
As you were.
inspired by all the talk of citizen journalism at the blogging conf the other day, I signed up for Youdecide2007. Then I went out for a ride on my bicycle today armed with my camera to take some random photos of my electorate (Lilley). With lens at the ready to take a photo of the Emergency Services Building at Kedron Brook, I was dismayed to find out I’d forgotten to put the re-charged batteries into the camera. D’oh!
Aah, another morn spent flinging down the cricket ball in the nets in prep for the season beginning next week.
Then back home to tend to the Little One as needed and watch the Grand Final footy. This culminated in a traditional GF pre-match meal of Thai food when the father-in-law came over.
I have been working on a conference presentation - not exactly fun. Though I did get to catch Fiji beating Wales in the Rugby yesterday and later this afternoon I’ll be meeting a mate for a late Sunday lunch.
On a more positive note, Ive been reading Jose Saramago’s Manual of Painting and Calligraphy.
Only half way through, but Im starting to think he might be the best novelist Ive ever read. And its not meant to be his best work either. So, I hoarded a few translated works in the Lisbon bookshops, along with an english language anthology of Fernando Pessoa’s writing.
Then again, I just dig Portugal all round. Lusophile from way back, you know.
‘ta baingggg!
I drove down to Canberra to have a look around since I’ll be moving there next year for work. While I was there I discovered the wonder that is Tilley’s Devine Cafe.
Also watched the second half of the NRL Grand Final and was amused by the crowd booing John Howard.
Working on PhD dissertation. Productive weekend (and indeed, mid-semester break), but it didn’t really feel like a break!!!
Mine did, Damien, but I’ll pay for it with the marking not done! Progressed a phd progress report, but couldn’t submit it online as envisaged due to “error… you have no reports due”! Did lots of other stuff on the weekend - drinks at the Normanby after the Blogging conference, then cab to Vue for dinner with Rachel C and much merriment back here with her and Michael afterwards, then late lunch with a friend at Luxe yesterday, followed by cake and milkshake at Gerbinos and beers @ Rics.
Read “The Gunners Doctor:Vietnam Letters” by David Bradford. Apparently his mother kept most of the letters that he sent home from Vietnam during a year of service in 1967 and 1968. Tells the story from an obviously pro conservative, privileged perspective but his attitudes soften with time and there is a parallel look at Vietnam experience from the rediscovered letters and his thoughts and attitudes now. It is published by Random House and gives a different account of that era.
Much better weekend than last when I was on a fast and cuddling a dying cat.
This was a return to good food, wine and friendship. Had a interstate visitor and went out for beautiful middle eastern food (Zum Zums) followed by a laid back post prandial drink at Geralds Bar. Had an intriguing day on Sunday seeing my city from a different angle. Perhaps it’s time I stopped reading Stella Rimington novels - as I’d swear I saw a spook on every corner!
I did some ‘community singing’ Saturday night at the North Sydney community centre - our stuff was political - we got a lot of laughs when we sang a song we call “I Lie”, about Howard et. al.
We also have a song called ” I can’t abide” to the tune of ‘Abide with me’, which also got plenty of laughs, which has the same theme, which is of course how evil the Federal Government is.
Only a couple of ‘pursed’ lips in the audience, which was somewhat surprising given the location. Any criticism of the Government lately seems to be popular.
In some ways I can see why the Mad Monk is so perplexed at the polls. I had one small businessman come to me in Rose Bay ( on an ALP street stall) say ‘I have a business in Liverpool and we’ve never had it so good’.
We have a little leftish choir called the Sydney Trade Union Choir. The usual union choir stuff, plus some reincarnations from the 60’s like Teach Your Children ( the Nash from Crosby, Stills & Nash) and another favourite, Nkosi Sikeleli Africa - the ANC’s anthem.
Other Choirs were very good. A really gentle way to start the long weekend.
Of course most of Saturday and Sunday was engaged on blogsites, so must be addicted…now have to help partner in garden…
Drunk first champagne glass and kicked footy at 11am Saturday while rugrats played at Perrin Park. Mowed lawn. Drunk more champers while eating home made slice with home grown lemons on back deck 10am Sunday. Feeling Brisbane’s first warm breezes for the spring. Extended daughter’s wooden train track with more bridges and loops. Nice.
Put the unflued gas heater away (get one, they are like small thermo nuclear devices, banned in three states due to poisining - not a problem in draughty Queenslanders). Went to Orleigh Park and watched rugrats play. They have the coolest tricycle track there, judder bars, waves, bridges - heaven for packs of gleeful 3 year olds. Drunk more wine.
Failed, just like the last 1000 nights and 150 weekends, to get any reading or marking done due to rugrat induced exhaustion.
Some very worthy Sundays there, but I still feel good about mine: reading the new Terry Pratchett in pretty much one sitting. Laughing out loud along the way.
Oz, Tilley’s is indeed a joy - but make sure you head south of the lake now and then.
What did we get up to this weekend? Well, I watched the footy — actually, napped through most of the third and fourth quarters — went to Cirque du Soleil, drank coffee, beers, ate wedges. Oh, and got engaged, which was (is) nice…
Congrats, Rob!
Well I spent Saturday night/Sunday morning flying back to Aus with a major purple throbbing hangover.
Unsolicted testimonial time.
And flying Emirates for the first time. I heartly recommend them. Fuck Qantas, BA, Air Prance and all those godawful yankee airlines. SIA, Thai Air, Swissair, Lufthansa and Air NZ are good, sometimes very good but Emirates is the best I’ve ever flown since the glory days of Pan Am and UTA.
Particularly liked the nosecam feed to the seat screen during takeoff. Dialed up Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” through the inflight entertainment system as the A340 started rolling and then sat back making vroom vroom sounds and pretending to shove the throttles forward while watching the runway spool away on the screen in front.
Then once we reached 37,000 feet, a very nice cabin attendent who looked and sounded like Emma Thompson’s cuter younger sister found me a berocca to go with my glass of ok Moet and a very nice lamb ragout while I blearily watched Shrek The Third. In a metal tube travelling at 700 kph in -20C temperatures around sevem miles up, kept aloft only by superheated air generated and manipulated by precision pieces of engineering - all the work of superheated engineers
Yes, I know the whole airport hoo ha is a long, boring, desultory and occasionally humilating experience and long haul in economy is truly dire but I never fail to be exhilarated when a hundred and fifty tons of metal, carbon fibre, copper wiring, silicon, rubber, plastic trim, assorted baggage, several hundred meatbags or so and even more heated trays of one meat and two veg revs up and trundles, rolls, charges down the runway like for bloody minutes, then suddenly lifts its nose and climbs steadily and sturdily like an angel’s donkey. An everyday miracle to quote Clive James.
Anyway, Emirates were damn good. The only airline I’ve ever flown that offered on the inflight entertainment system, “Sunset Boulevard” and “Some Like It Hot.”
I will now return this thread to its upright position.
Wot, youse all buggered off to bed?
Well fuck the lot of you then. Well then I’m off now to Russian military technology chat sites to talk about the Sukhoi Su-35. Piloted by nude women from the Ukraine who want to marry me.
Nabs, I would marry you if you were interested in polyandry and garden tools. But handymen only need apply.
I have a child who has left home (incredible, I know) and on Saturday I left my bag in her car when I borrowed it to drive youngest son to his place of employment (yes, he’s done the head gasket. Poor puppy.)
So on Sunday I had to trot down to her new abode, go buy some coffee and recover said bag. What a pity. Passed Sam Newman’s pretty woman on the way (she has a share house with a lower profile in the vicinity, low rent due to a much older, lower standard of kitchen/bathroom than is customarily available in that salubrious district.) Listened sympathetically to complaints about banging gas heater, made a fine pretence of not noticing that housemate was a bit the worse for wear, walked through a gaggle of black swans to Albert Park Lake and back.
Like having a holiday really. For a couple of hours, anyway.
Drove down Beaconsfield Parade and said hi to my favourite yacht on the way back to drive son to work again. Did the ironing. Got fairly upset when the only decent thing on teev in the evening was Oz Idol (the end of Fallen Angel was simply ridiculous, as well as boring). But that’s dieting for you.
I missed the last moments of Fallen Angel as I was in the kitchen getting more champagne; no ending had seemed to be impending when I left the room. I know the kid did it; is that the bit you meant was ridiculous?
I spent the weekend watching my footy team get slaughtered and having a migraine (no connection between these two things) so Idol and Fallen Angel were quite good by comparison with the rest of the weekend.
Highly ridiculous. But I didn’t like what I saw of it anyway. Seriously wanted a DVD and should have gone and got one. Idol was nice though.
Sorry about your head though.
Oz, that’s a great joint with a long history. It wasn’t that long ago that males weren’t allowed to go to Tilley’s without female accompaniment. Sadly, they don’t do as much live music as they once did, but it’s still got a lovely relaxed atmosphere.
Came back from Dubbo with a colleagues database and some handwritten notes on how it works, he is taking a holiday. I marvel at dBase III, it’s like watching the Ark filling with animals.
my weekend/holiday (yah A/L) started on friday picking up my ex (& father of my daughter) at mascot, on the last and late flight in from melburn.
ex-hubby takes on the main caregiver role, cooks, walks dog, plays guitar, gives harmonica lessons amongst others to our child etc. while i gad about ..they are leaving together for the democratic republic of brunswick on thursday, and i’ll have another week on my pat - no responsibilities except canine.
saturday:
(no actual footy talk i promise)
old friends and their 2 daughters drive up from the northern ‘gong on sat morn to
watch the AFL Grand Final - i usually try to watch away games with my MATES at the PUB - away from kids and caring (they come to the home games of course) but GF is a family day…. my comments on both games are on the footy thread - but i did think of you Dr Cat….but not much. the 3 girls hang out and do tweeny stuff. nintendo ds games, club penguin, but more ‘old fashioned’ play than not.
indian at the local diner for dinner, the only cheap and decent food in bronte. i kinda like how naff and crap our local shops still are. long may we have naff shops just to keep some trad. surf side culture alive in the east. missed nipper registration day.
sunday:
cemetery, yet more angels, must def. put some work into blog - next logical step stuff..not now
then a very long phone call with deputy principal with whom i’m undertaking a backyard blitz of entire school grounds during these school holidays, with Fed Grant we submitted together, yet more talk about asphalt and rubber softfall and hypar sail shade structures and contractors and council permits and timelines and ……. an unpaid P&C gig.
then off to PUB with MATES to watch the hard-core spectacle that is nrl rugby league . the light heavy-weight division of the football codes - but didnt enjoy the game - hard-core is one thing, violence is another.
i finally left home yesterday arvo (phew - you v. quickly remember why you dont live together) and am staying at a girlfriend’s…….with mummies ‘big helpers’ in both hands : ) and a stunning inner west view of anzac bridge with the harbour bridge directly behind, as i type (on a mac badly)…trying to breathe in between a hundred hastily smoked cigarettes.
nabs,
marriage, you old softy! after cultivating yourself as LP’s resident international playboy and man about town, bon vivant, rake, louche, lover, sex-machine.
and now you tell us, you are trading it all in for a cut-price natasha with 5 burly brothers and grandparents in vladivostok…
it was only a few short weeks ago, that the hive was working on inserting things into your one of your favourite places…..
sorry darl, but you’re needed here, at least until after election night…. cooling us down in the middle of the night, by hotting the place up. tomcats do their work in the dead of the night…meow.
the campaign is about to take off, the angel donkey’s flight crew are adjusting seat belts, stroke, we all want and need more than a wet washer from a long haul hostie in the real world, stroke….. taxiing to our runway.
permission to fly yet, captain bahnisch?
thank god, someone is reading the manual.