November Socials

Conscious that I sometimes share material on other platforms that never makes “the cut” here on my blog, I will start sharing a few bits and pieces here also. These are the tweets, posts, and observations that still seem relevant at the end of each month. Lots of ephemera, but hopefully still quite entertaining.

November 1 : Have booked flights home to Lismore (Ballina/Byron) for Christmas. The most expensive in living memory I’ve paid for a flight home ($300 – no additional luggage, but included preferred seats). If you’re thinking of flights for Christmas, don’t leave it too late.
November 3 : Called in to my local pub, The Shakespeare for a cheap steak for lunch, and then realised I was seated at Laurie’s Table. Apparently he sat at this table for over fifty nine years. I’ve got some catching up to do.
November 3 : Going through some archive material and found the Wagga Wagga float from Mardi Gras 1994. Some people didn’t want to be identified on TV, so they donned Michael McCormack masks. At the time, he was the local newspaper editor and writing some very anti-LGBTQI editorials.

November 3 : Ahead of my NBN installation, I dragged out my old “home phone” tonight. Still, I did messenger video calls with friends tonight. I should just divert the number to my mobile, right?

November 4 : A friend of mine snapped this. Apparently they changed it very quickly.

November 4 : Amanda Vanstone made me laugh with her comment “”The sad thing, I think, is that we have got two guys standing as president, probably both of whom would have to do a test to get a driver’s licence in Australia,” (About ABC TV’s US Election Coverage)

November 8
November 9 : From Sharron : “Happy Birthday James O’Brien love you to the moon and back. Have a great day xx@
November 10 : Biscuit, the collectively owned cat in our apartment block sits patiently next to… the rat traps.
November 10 : OMG, have only just discovered this awesome video from Lena Philipsson – Stockholm (Officiell Video)
November 10 : Since Anne Ruston is in the news, I thought I’d share this memory of when I used to work with her mum. Her mum was once a presenter at ABC Riverland in Renmark.
November 11 : Last night I attended a fantastic story-telling, photography, community event in Surry Hills (only 50 metres from home in a laneway I walk through two or three times per day), combining the talents of @surryhillsandvalleys and @village_voices Really wonderful evening.
November 14 : There’s a thread about celebrity lookalikes, so I’m sharing mine. @TheRickWilson Much relief, as it used to be Kevin Spacey.
November 16 : Though it’s only mid-November, that hasn’t stopped Christmas decorations appearing on Crown Street, Surry Hills. This is the window from Sky Sirens, which is “The Academy of Burlesque, Pole Dance and Aerial Atristry.”
November 19 : I wanted to reply to some colleagues at work with an image of Dorrie Evans from Number 96 with the comment, “Herbert, why wasn’t I told”. But then I realised one of them was born after Pat McDonald died. I thought I’d save myself the embarassment by sharing here.
November 20 : The pic doing the rounds of Rudy Giuliani reminds me of the final scene from the 1971 film, “Death In Venice”.
November 23 : Fine workmanship.
November 25 : Oh my. The ATM has gone crazy tonight.

November 25 : Since connecting to the NBN, I have a home phone again. In the week since installation, I’ve had one family call, and every other call (maybe 10) has been a scam call. My number is unlisted, but clearly someone has had it before.

November 27 : Why I love my neighbourhood.

November 27 : Have any journos done the Santa Photos story yet? It’s almost December. COVID-19 distancing with Santa. Need to book photos, and most bookings are full, I hear. Photoshop an option? Lots of parents doing it themselves. A good story, and good talkback.

November 28 : I won’t complain since I have a fan to keep me cool, but if it’s this hot in Surry Hills, goodness knows what it’s like in some of the places I’ve lived previously. Wagga. Bourke. Renmark etc…
November 28 : Enjoying The Reagans | OFFICIAL TRAILER | The doumentary is good. Episode 2 calls out the racist dog-whistling by Reagan, and which is also evident with Trump. The narrative so far is that Reagan wasn’t all that bright and Nancy was the brains behind it all. It’s worth looking at. Features Ron Junior (sounds like Don Junior), and Kitty Kelley amongst others.
November 28 : This is a compelling and, at times, upsetting, but beautifully made slideshow of flood photographs from the history of my hometown, Lismore. James O’Brien and Lena Noonan moved from the South Coast (Bega) to Lismore in 1908, and mostly lived in North & South Lismore. This is where most of my family continues to live, so they all know what floods are like. I once remember my dad mentioning that his sister-in-law, my Aunty Eileen (an Aboriginal woman, so her history of the area goes back thousands of years) once mentioned a flood that went over the Cathedral Hill. I can’t begin to imagine… Anyway, anyone with a connection to Lismore, this is worth a look.

2 Replies to “November Socials”

  1. Air fares, as so many other things need to be sensibly priced and value for money, not absurdly cheap.

    Charlie Farrago who my partner once worked with sat in the same seat at the same table at the Balaclava Hotel each evening for three decades. While there were flowers on the table when he died, there wasn’t a portrait.

    More nuisance calls come to our rarely used landline than our mobiles.

    That Vandstone quote is funny, as is the Clinton and Obama cartoon.

    5MV? Murray Valley?

    Macca this morning wishing people Merry Christmas in November was nauseating.

    The Dorrie Evans thing. I have done similar about the usefulness of one of our bridges built in the 70s, a year or so before the young carpet layer was born.

    Is that a young photo of hair dye man? Very much Death in Venice.

    I think we are wanting Christmas to come early and then we will soon be past the awful 2020 and into the New Year.

    1. Hi Andrew, yes Murray Valley though it’s not known as ABC Riverland. Death in Venice? That’s Dirk from the movie. Glad to hear life is returning to normal after your dramas of the last week. James

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