As I walked through the centre of Sydney tonight two things came to mind: first, how warm it was; and second, how fantastic it is to have the renovations on the Pitt Street Mall close to completion. For such a long time, the Pitt Street Mall has been under renovation, I’d all but given up shopping in the CBD. And although I didn’t venture inside tonight, I quite enjoyed the view, and I noticed lots of people were stopping to admire the new look Westfield.

I went shopping with a purchase in mind – I’d like a digital radio/fm usb tuner to use with my desktop/netbook (depending on my mood) – and although I’ve done some online research, and thought I could pick up something in the city, failed to find exactly what I’m after. In terms of geekdom, it’s a reasonably obscure purchase, but it’s something which would certainly serve me well. I’m heading off to Darwin for work in a couple of weeks and would like an FM tuner (digital radio is only under trial there) without needing to take a separate radio, but figured throwing in a digital radio tuner would be good. I’ve noticed a fair few which combine digital radio/fm and digital tv, but I’ve noticed most of the TV tuners say they require an external antenna which is not something I want. I want a simple radio for my netbook for travel, and for listening/recording at my computer at home. Can it be that hard?

So in the end I didn’t buy one. Instead I ended up at Hum on Oxford Street looking through the CD collection. I was pleased, once again, to see a CD I was involved in http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?productid=320222 on sale in an actual, real record shop (very exciting). I was also somewhat surprised to see the CD of http://www.kristinathemusical.com/ on sale. In terms of Australian musical tastes it’s reasonably obscure. It’s a musical written by Bjorn and Benny from ABBA, based on a Swedish novel about immigrants to America in the 19th century. There are some great tunes on it, but it’s only recently been translated into English from Swedish, and it’s only so far been performed in English as a “concert” at Carnegie Hall. But there it was on the shelf before my eyes at Hum.

That’s how I’ve spent the night since arriving home. Listening to Kristina. Very enjoyable.

Here’s a song from it, in case you’re interested. This is the big show stopper where Kristina sings about her relationship with God, questioning His existence, as she faces another death of a child, another miscarriage and faces her own possible death.

In case you’re interested, here’s the original in Swedish…. a little more dramatic IMHO.

And here’s another song from Helen from the movie, Sa som i himmlen, As It Is In Heaven