It’s early Monday morning and I’ve just woken up, having had about 5 hours sleep, feeling very well rested, and so I thought I’d check my mail and stuff before going back to bed. Had a good day yesterday, got up, walked around Surry Hills which is looking pretty good at the moment, went to the movies, met friends for drinks and then came home, chatted briefly to Kate on the phone and went to sleep. Nothing else to say is there?
Christmas has hit Sydney, but I don’t feel very “Christmassy” myself. After the trauma of last year’s Christmas and the “breakup”, I haven’t really been thinking about Christmas. Kate has asked me to spend the day with her family at Hunter’s Hill which will be lovely.
So anyway, I wandered around the city for a while, looking in shops for nothing in particular. I did look at buying a new scanner, although, for the use it would receive, I am not sure if I can really justify the cost. Still, they’re very cheap now and the quality is so much better than when we bought one a few years ago. Also had a look at a record store underneath the Cinema Complex in George Street and was pleased (amused?) to see they have the original ABBA vinyl records selling for $6.95-$10.95.
At about 1.30pm, I met Ian and Ian, Graeme and Grant to go to the movies to see “Harry Potter”. I haven’t seen the first movie and I haven’t read the books, I have been a little wary of all the hype, but I thought, “why not go anyway, especially since Graeme had free tickets”. He’d received an email from the Endeavour Credit Union offering him tickets for up to 5 members of his family to see the movie, and so he said, “yes please”. He hadn’t actually read the email completely, though, and missed the print which said, it was their “Christmas Children’s Cinema Party”. We discovered this when Santa welcomed us! Anyway… there seemed to be a few other people there without children, so I guess it didn’t really matter.
Although I did have a little nap about half way through – I didn’t snore, apparently – I really enjoyed the movie. The story was good, the characters were believable within the context of the movie – I loved Moaning Myrtle – and the special effects were excellent. Actually, the spider and snake scenes were very scarey and I had to cover my face on several occasions. We had a few drinks after the movie.
On the way home, I called in briefly to “Scruffy Murphys”, the backpacker pub in the city, where they have drag queen karaoke on a Sunday night. It was great fun and the big scruffy dyke sitting next to me turned out to be a bloke with a great singing voice… I think (?). One of the other bizarre things I noticed in this very noisy, smelly, dirty, hotel was the woman in front of me who had a bird in a cage with her. Presumably she had bought it at Paddy’s Markets and was on the way home of perhaps she was one of Bette Midler’s “Fried Egg Women”.
What? It’s based on a famous line from the Bette Midler “Live At Last” CD, in which she says, “Anyway, I was walkin’ 42nd street and I saw this lady with a fried egg on her head, which I thought was really unusual. Because, see, in New York City the ladies with the fried eggs on their heads don’t usually come out until September or October, you know?” Whenever I see someone a little odd in the city, I always think, “oh, she’s a fried egg woman”.
A reasonably busy week coming up.
On Wednesday night, I’m going to Bob Carr’s Christmas Drinks for the Media (first time I’ve been invited), which I’m told are legendary. The year before last (or was it this year), a guy I went to school with played in the band hired in for the night. He said, Bob played a specific role in choosing the music and was particularly fond of Maxine Nightingale. The drinks are on Level 40-something of Governor Macquarie Tower.
On Thursday night, I’m going to “Xmas Hillbilly-style with Bill Chambers and Audrey Auld” at the Vic on the Park Hotel, cnr Enmore and Addison Rds, Enmore. My invitation says, “Come celebrate Xmas Hillbilly style with Bill Chambers and Audrey Auld, a honky tonkin band and heaps of special guests!”. For the life of me, I can’t think of any of my friends who would want to go, but who knows, someone might. I think it’s going to be a hoot.
On Friday night, I’m having a “Christmas Dinner” with Damien at Pazzo.
And then on Saturday night, I’m going to the launch of “Lure Of The Seas”, an exhibition opening at the Museum Of Sydney, which is about the desire and promise of the unknown inspired the extraordinary voyages of J S C Dumont d’Urville. Like his hero Captain James Cook, Dumont d’Urville journeyed three times to the Southern Seas. His two voyages in command, 1826-1829 and 1837-1842 were the zenith of French maritime exploration, colonial ambition and scientific endeavour. Dumont will be remembered for his audacious act of pillaging the Venus de Milo for France, for solving one of the greatest maritime mysteries – the fate of the Lapérouse expedition, and for laying claim to Antarctica. Rare Pacific artefacts, powerful portrait busts of indigenous subjects and exquisite natural history watercolours have been brought to Australia for the first time from prestigious French collections. A contemporary art installation and a compelling photographic display of Antarctic panoramas, Antarctic Exposure, will complement the historic exhibition. The exhibition has been generously supported by Collex and Vivendi Environnement. Sounds great. Oh… and the French ambassador is opening the exhibition, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to dress up and hopefully drink some French Champagne.
Anyhoo… time to go back to bed.
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