James O'Brien

On my way home tonight I called in to Thomas Dux, one of the MANY gourmet grocers we have in Surry Hills, these days.

I remember when it was just Coles, the lovely fruit and veg shop (still there), and the sadly missed Bourke Street Pantry (run by Matt and Catherine) where you could buy fruit and veg in Slurry.

But life’s changed, and in the last 12 months, we suddenly have three – count them THREE – gourmet grocers on Crown Street.

Tonight was the first time I’ve been to Thomas Dux, and I now understand why everyone I’ve spoken to has said… “You know it’s Woolworths”.

The tomatoes, cucumber and pasta I bought were excellent, and it was actually surprisingly reasonably priced.

Though it must be said I’m quite good at shopping for fruit and veg, as I was given some pretty good advice years ago by Sue Dodd from Sydney Markets. Sue was a regular guest on the radio program I used to host, and she was always on message with the mantra of “buy seasonal and buy fresh”. And she was absolutely right, as you end up with the best quality at the best price, if you buy what’s actually in season now in your part of the world.

Having had dinner, I wandered outside on the balcony hoping it would eventually rain, having threatened to do so for a couple of hours. After all of the stickiness associated with the humidity we experience in Sydney over summer, the rain eventually arrived.

A bit of lightning, a bit of thunder, but not much rain unfortunately.

A stark contrast from my blog readers, Roger and Sandra who are facing heavy snowfall and sub-zero temperatures in Sweden at the moment. I’d like a bit of that action when I arrive, though I suspect not too much. After all, I grew up in Northern NSW where the coldest it ever got in winter was probably 5 degrees overnight.

I had a moment or two today chatting with a colleague who grew up in Sweden – her parents still live in Helsingborg – and she made a few suggestions about places to go, which was awfully nice.

And in other exciting news, I received an email finally and absolutely confirming an interest in my participation in a panel (maybe two) at a conference I’ll be attending in Copenhagen in March. They’ve asked for a bio and pic.

The big dilemma for me over the last day or so was which photograph to supply. After consulting Damien, Sue and Kate via email, they’ve all agreed the slightly older, though professionally done photograph looks better than the one I had taken at work yesterday.

Image 1… no question!!
Why,
a sparkle in the eyes… much more ‘life’

I like the black shirt one because you are smiling more (you look happy) but the middle one with your glasses on is a more “current” view of you. the bottom one makes you look a bit mean (quite a contrast to the one at the top – bottom one is kind of like I don’t REALLY want you to take my photo but I’ll suffer through it look)

I think the first one. It may be five years old but you still look remarkably similar – apart from the glasses of course! And being professionally taken gives you a more professional image, imho…

So I’ve given it a bit of a black and white wash to make it look a little more contemporary, and I’ll spend a bit of time making my bio sound more like a bio and less like a resume. I don’t think it’s purely vanity, it’s just that I want to make a good impression, particularly representing the place I’ve worked at for twenty years in such an important forum.

The only downside of the night has been a major outage for Pacnet ADSL customers in NSW which, at almost 11 o’clock, remains unresolved. Grr…