James O'Brien

“Oh, it’s two-thirty, it must be time for a nap”, I thought to myself a couple of hours ago. On a Monday? Yes, because it’s Day 1 of my “stay-cation”.

The last time I had a “stay-cation”, this blog tells me was almost exactly five years ago. Before that, and ever since, my time off from work has always involved some kind of travel, whether it be home to Lismore, to other parts of Australia, or overseas. Last year, I visited both Sweden and Spain. So far, I have no exotic travel plans for this year.

But a couple of weeks ago, I found myself feeling quite tired, and at times, a little grumpy with my colleagues. So, realising this, I asked the boss for a week off, to hang out at home, do things I like to do, and generally re-charge my batteries.

So far today, I’ve been out for a morning coffee, saw a movie, went to the art-gallery, did some of my own painting (art, not the house) dialed in briefly for an important meeting (so much for taking a proper break), and had the nap.

I knew very little about “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” prior to booking my ticket. It’s just that I had a movie voucher which expired today, and it was the only thing at George Street Cinemas which looked even vaguely interesting, and which I hadn’t already scene, and so I booked it “on spec”.

Arriving at the cinema I was amazed to discover I was, literally, the only person in the movie. After sixteen minutes of ads, the film finally commenced. About fifteen minutes later, someone else entered the cinema.

It was a lovely film, with elements of romance and intrigue, set on the island of Guernsey which, I hadn’t previously known, was occupied by Germany during World War II. Highly recommended.

Also today, I visited the Art Gallery of NSW, where the Sydney Biennale is underway, offering up a couple of interesting works I really liked, including a terrific video piece by a Finnish artist.

And there’s also a new work by a Maori artist, portraying Captain Cook in stainless steel.

And yes, I did some painting of my own. I’m not a particularly good artist, and everything I do, I keep well and truly hidden away. However, I enjoy painting, and that’s what I plan to keep doing over the next few days, as I enjoy my “well earned break”, as they so often say in the media.