Shoes and ships...

We had a lovely dinner chez moi on Saturday with P&B and DG -- my beef casserole was delicious (even if I do say so myself). After dinner we watched the first half of a concert version of Sweeney Todd on DVD. What a great piece -- I can't wait until we can see the rest of it.

B left for Alice Springs on Monday; last night I called P and he came round for dinner. As there was very little on the telly we watched act one of Guglielmo Tell that I bought at Discurio on the way home. Good value: 4 hours for $60; not that I judge by quantity.

It's a live performance from La Scala with Chris Merritt and Cheryl Studer (though she doesn't make it to act one), conducted by Riccardo Muti. The scenery is mainly enormous screens onto which are projected alpine scenes. I'm not sure yet if it quite works, but the singers, and the orchestra, are terrific. The score is a treat; the first act finale a knockout.

This morning I received an email from my mother's cousin's neice (that makes her my second cousin once removed... I think). I wrote to her last week telling her of my impending trip -- she kindly offered to put me up with them in Derby which I hope to do. It will be great to meet some more of the English relatives, I don't know why I never did before.

After work today I go to pay for my ticket (woo-hoo!). I got all the way to the station this morning before I realised I had left my cheque book at home (D'oh). Luckily I live so close I was able to get home and back without missing my train. I really must sit down now, work out an itinerary and book some accommodation and rail passes.

The past week seems to have gone in a minute. On Saturday we shopped as normal, then in the evening Tat and went to hear Ensemble  Gombert at Xavier chapel -- a wonderful concert finishing with yet another performance of "Singet".
 
After lunch at Mum's, P&B and I went to a sing-through of "The Hive", an opera by Nick Vines to a libretto by Sam Sejavka. B put his finger on it when he said that nothing happened; there was no dramatic impetus to the work. I found the music very uninteresting, though came away impressed by the performances given by the singers. In the end I'm not very interested in the fact that Rupert Brooke may have died from a mosquito bite, rather than in action.
 
Walked in to town this afternoon along the river; it's a nice distance and must be good for me.

We have normality. Anything you still can't cope with is therefore your own problem.

At last things seem to be settling down and my life is slowly approaching what used to be normality.

Back to Gloriana rehearsals on Monday evening: Handel's Dixit dominus is the highlight for me; what a great piece of music to perform.

Tat is also singing in this concert, though she will be going to Broome for a couple of weeks soon. We're hoping to take in the Gombert concert on Saturday night as well.

Apart from Gloriana the week has been uneventful -- I'm back to the Wednesday evening shift and all seems fairly quiet.

Frustration

Things at work went pear-shaped with the new system last night and showed up the holes in the support network. After some initial problems early in the evening with the network link to Sydney which were promptly fixed, everything ran smoothly until around 9pm when data stopped coming into the new system.

It's now after 4.30 on Saturday afternoon and we are still waiting for the feed to be re-established.

I did however have a lovely beginning to the day at the monthly farmers' market, then, after completing the shopping, by having lunch in Clifton Hill. During the course of the morning we ran into Deb and Madeline, and PO'B from German class. It has been a glorious, sunny day marred only by my having to come to work. Bah!

Clear and bright

This morning I took a bus to Swan Street then walked into town along the Yarra -- it was only about 9 degrees, but the sun was shining. It was glorious in the sun and I got quite warm. I had a quick lunch at Southgate then took myself over to Federation Square where I visited ACMI to check out their various interactive displays. While I was entertaining myself I bumped into DavidC and his son T. I haven't seen D for ages and we had a great chat filling each other in on what we've been doing. He's promised to email me with an invitation to dinner, which will be great as I haven't seen Chuck or B for ages either. D is still at Unimelb, but no longer in the library.

And so to work...

More of the same...

I'm afraid there's nothing of note to report as I have spent the last few days working in the evenings -- M&M came around on Monday evening to check out the TV reception and the train noise, but MH seems to be cooling on the idea of buying 110. Pity, as they'd be great additions to the neighbourhood.

This week is full up with work, and then Friday evening I am singing again at St Aloysius' -- Palestrina's Missa papae marcelli and a few odds and ends.

I hope to catch up with B&P on Saturday morning for the Farmers' Market and other shopping; then with DG on Saturday evening for a meal.

Not even listening to much at the moment.

Friday night was a lovely beef bourgignon chez B&P, with LE as well -- a nice evening in a cosy room with enjoyable company. Then on Saturday the three of (B&P and I) us visited the wilds of Brunswick for Italian goods from the Mediterranean Wholesalers -- lovely grana padano and tins of tomatoes and all sorts of other goodies. Home to P&B's via Piedimonte's to get such mundane things as cat food. We than enjoyed a nice lunch of bits and pieces despite my forgetting to bring the ciabatta.

Saturday night was dinner and cards at M&D's -- I found a Buller's durif at the local supermarket which went down very nicely.

After lunch at Mum's on Sunday it was back in to work to help SL processing Sunday and Monday's paper -- as it was I got away around 6.30 which wasn't bad. Had a call last night from MH asking about the house up the street which is for sale -- he's interested and was asking about life in the area. He may come around tonight to check out my TV reception; a very important aspect to moving, I would think.

Busy

Life has remained hectic at work, as well as away from work. Still ironing out a few teething problems with FDC, but it has mostly settled down. Processing is still taking a bit longer than expected but this will improve as the processors learn more shortcuts and become more proficient.

On the social front I had a nice dinner on Monday with AB from FDC (keep up with the initials please) at the Carringbush Hotel, where I had my birthday dinner. Then Tuesday night was dinner for all Melbourne FDC people at the Pub at Crown; and lunch today with LG, AB and DL at Hanabishi - yum! Tonight I'm off to meet GW after work, then on to dinner with the German class in a Degraves Street dive. I'll have to watch out or I'll burst out of my clothes. Luckily I was able to put my feet up and relax last night, and catch up with all the telly I'd taped.

Listening to: Bevenuto Cellini by Berlioz. The wonderful Nicolai Gedda in Colin Davis' recording from the 60s(?). Still getting to know this work, but being a Berlioz fan I have really enjoyed it and will program it again soon.