Life by the park

Change of service

2011-09-13T20:36:00.001+10:00

I've been very lax about posting lately, not really finishing off covering my trip to Britain.

Since I've signed up for Google+ I'm realising it's developing into something between Facebook and a blog and I'm considering doing less of both and more of Google+.

I realise some of my regular readers (all two of you) may not have Google+ accounts - if you're interested please email me at lbthepark@gmail.com and I'll send you an invitation.

Cambridge revisited

2011-07-25T17:50:00.000+10:00

I arrived in Cambridge on Saturday afternoon and got a cab to the hotel I had booked - it turns out that with cheap hotels you get what you pay for. The room, on the third floor of a two-storey house is tiny - box-room tiny. There's a single bed along one wall with not much room to spare at the foot and the bed is against the curtains and the wall making them unclosable; the bathroom takes up most of another wall and there's a small desk filling in a third. wall. The last wall, of course has the door.

The bathroom has a teeny basin with a small cabinet above artfully placed so you hit your head with it when you are cleaning your teeth. The shower, to be honest, is quite good, lots of hot water. However the shower door is not easy to close from the inside - the result being that the bath mat, placed outside the door, gets soaked.

The desk is covered with: a small tray with the makings for (instant) coffee and tea, a kettle, a mirror and a small television - this does not leave a lot of room for anything else.

Oh, and there's a clock. A battery-powered digital alarm clock. Which beeps ...

On.

The.

Hour.

Who has a clock that beeps on the hour? Beautiful little gilt clocks that chime delicately on the hour (and quarter and half) I can understand, but a digital clock that just ... beeps?

It took me several hours before I actually identified that it was the clock that was beeping. However it was then a very easy job to remove the batteries.

--------

Cambridge itself has been lovely to re-visit. I have done some very long walks, yesterday spending some time along the Backs and wandering through Clare College.

On Saturday night I went in to King's College Chapel to hear the Aurora Orchestra play. They're a new group of young musicians and the program was Mozart, Mendelssohn and Beethoven, so I thought it would be nice.

They were set up in the back half of the Chapel, in front of the rood screen. However as soon as they started, with the overture to Cosí fan tutte I realised that it was totally the wrong place for an orchestra to play. The echo in the chapel is so long that any detail in the playing was completely lost. They seemed to be very good, but it was impossible to really be sure. I left at interval.

Yesterday evening I went to evensong at Great St Margaret's, which sits dwarfed opposite the magnificent King's Chapel. Being holidays the choir was made up of the "younger girls" - the youngest appeared to be around 5. But they didn't do a bad job and the congregation struggled through the hymns.

The high point of the service was the unexpected entry of a woman who announced herself during the reading of the second lesson: "How dare you!"

The elderly lady reading the lesson stopped. However the newcomer was just starting and, using colourful language, proceeded to harangue the church in general for, as far as I could work out, not allowing her to light a candle for a deceased friend. Eventually the vicar managed to carefully shepherd her out (nobody touched her at all) and shut (locked?) the door behind her.

The woman reading the lesson then continued from where she'd stopped and everything proceeded as if nothing had happened.

The good and the bad (no ugly so far)

2011-07-23T03:15:00.000+10:00

Last Saturday afternoon I went to Covent Garden for a performance of Massenet's take on the Cinderella story, Cendrillon. The production was by Laurent Pelly (I have a couple of his productions on DVD, notably Rameau's Platée, which I love) and was a straightforward telling of the story, with a great deal of humour, aided hugely by the wonderful sets and outrageous costumes.

The glorious mezzo, Joyce DiDonato, sang the title role with Alice Coote as a rather believable Prince Charmant. The extraordinary contralto Ewa Podles did an a very entertaining comic turn as the evil step-mother. Musically the work is pleasant but fairly unmemorable, but the quality of the production and, above all, the performances made it a great afternoon's entertainment.

Life was entertaining in a different way this week with the direct broadcast of the appearance of James and Rupert Murdoch in front of the Parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport Committee. Murdoch senior looked initially like a sad old man; junior was quite glib, if not verbose. In the long run, probably, not very much was achieved, but it was very satisfying to see. I've been in Britain at a rather interesting time, seeing a complete volte face being done by many in the public eye who had previously courted Murdoch and News; and seeing various people being caught up in their own webs of lies.

On Tuesday Paul B came over to Lewisham and we went to a local Turkish restaurant A&A had recommended. The food was very tasty, but there was so much (probably enough for four) that P took the leftovers home in a doggie-bag.

The next night I went to the Apollo Theatre to see a performance of Yes, Prime Minister. It has been up-dated to the twenty-first century (references to the Internet and Blackberries) with even references to the recent tribulations of News Corp. Like much of the television series the story revolves around Jim Hacker landing in a moral/political dilemma, from which he is eventually saved by Sir Humphrey. It won't win any awards, but was a bit of fun.

Last night's outing was to a concert to celebrate the life and works of the composer Geoffrey Burgon, most well known for the music for the TV series Brideshead Revisited. The City of London Sinfonia played well and other performers were the choir Wellensian Consort. Ex-Python Terry Jones, who knew Burgon from childhood, introduced the works including his viola and cello concertos, the latter receiving its premier public performance.

The bad occurrence this week was the cancelling of my Visa card - I'm not sure why, but my credit union said Visa claimed its security had been breached. I managed to use my alternative card (from another bank) successfully, but on the second attempt it too bombed out. Luckily I have my Cash Passport which still seems to be working OK - I just can't book anything online.

Dublin, Derby and back to London

2011-07-16T04:46:00.000+10:00

On Friday I returned from Dublin and went to stay with my cousin Rosemary and her husband Brian in Derby. They took me for a fascinating walk by the Trent and Mersey canal at Shardlow. As well as narrow-boats there was a regatta of small steam-powered boats, six of which shared the lock. After lunch at a local carvery (tasty roast pork for me) we went to Lichfield where we attended evensong at the cathedral.

On Monday I caught the train back to London and made my way to Lewisham, to Andrew G and Alyson L's. They kindly said I can stay here for a while. It turns out they are going camping this weekend and then off for another family holiday in Suffolk on Monday, and as they have a cat they're happy for me to stay and feed the cat.

More museums this week:

the Museum of Childhood has a wonderful collection of things including a huge range of toys. It's lovely to see them, but a bit sad to see them all in glass cases - toys are not toys if they aren't being played with.
the Handel House Museum (including a small memorial to Jimi Hendrix who also lived in the house in the sixties).
Treasures of heaven exhibition at the British Museum. Wonderful collection of mediaeval artifacts showcased in what used to be the British Library Reading Room. Nice to see the wonderful dome, but a shame not to be able to experience the wonderful room as it was. Nonetheless, the collection on display was pretty breathtaking.

This morning I caught up with Danny E, who I knew from work at The Age, and then later with Polly M - she and I had a very tasty lunch at a splendid Turkish restaurant near the BM.

When I got back to the house this afternoon A&A and the family were still getting ready to leave for their camping trip - the bad news is that the weather forecast isn't particularly positive for them.

2011-07-06T03:30:00.000+10:00

After a very enjoyable week in Oxford with Taffy, Julie and Emily I left on Sunday morning for Heathrow where I got on a plane for Dublin. I was here last in 2009 and this time am staying with DVR and Kirsty H in their very nice seventh-floor flat in the redeveloped docklands area.

DVR gave me a Luas card (their version of an Oyster or myki) for me to use on the trams. There are only two lines, but they provide access to all the areas I want to visit. The system is very easy to use, but differs from Melbourne's myki system in that you must touch on with your card on the stop before you board - there are no card-readers on the trams - and touch off when you get off. An ideal way to avoid clogging the doors of crowded trams. According to DVR the inspectors (and I have already encountered one) are very strict about infringements and will fine you on the spot.

I have spent the last couple of days re-acquainting myself with the city: yesterday I visited the Chester Beatty Museum with its extraordinary collection of ancient manuscripts and books, and its current exhibition of the books of Henri Matisse.

Today I took the tram to the Kilmainham Gaol where I joined a tour around the grim prison. Starting in the earliest part we saw the ghastly environment locals were condemned to, including young children, often for very minor offences. A later section was built based on Jeremy Bentham's idea of the panopticon which housed only one prisoner per cell - this section of the gaol has been used in a number of films, including In the name of the father. Outside we were shown the bleak exercise yards and, even more sombre, the Stone-breaking Yard where many prisoners, including some interned after the 1916 Easter Rising, faced the firing squad. Grim.

After this I needed a change so I took the tram along to the Collins Barracks part of the National Museum to see, among other things, a lovely collection of Irish silver.

Farewell London, hello Oxford

2011-06-29T18:48:00.000+10:00

On Sunday morning I packed my bag (with a bit of difficulty) and went around to St James, where Paul B sings in the choir. Bruce M also turned up for the service, which included the Byrd four-part mass. The service went on a bit longer that expected as, being Corpus Christi, we all processed around the church holding candles.

After the service Paul and I farewelled Bruce and headed off to Paddington station where we had lunch before I caught the train to Oxford. Julie and Emily were at the station to meet me and we went back to their house, not far from the flat they were in when I last visited.

On Monday Taffy, Julie and I took Emily (in the pusher) for a lovely long walk down to Iffley Lock to feed the ducks - there were supposed to be geese, but they must have been otherwise engaged.

Yesterday I walked into Oxford where, among other things, I did a walking tour of some of the colleges. Many are closed at the moment as it is exam time, but we did get to see New College, which is possibly the most impressive.

Emily is a very sweet, well-behaved toddler with a bright disposition - she sleeps through every night and cries very rarely. A delight to be around.

More museums and fun

2011-06-25T07:28:00.000+10:00

I spent a good part of yesterday at the fascinating Museum of London, near the Barbican. Starting with a pre-historic outline of the site it covers from the stone- and bronze-ages, through Roman occupation up to the present day. There are plenty of interactive displays and a huge amount of material covering all aspects of the history of London.

In the afternoon I dropped past TKTS again and got my self a cheap ticket to see Dominic West (McNulty from The Wire) playing the lead in Butley, written by Simon Gray in 1971. Despite its age the play really isn't as creaky as I expected and West and his supporting cast (including Withnail and I's I, Paul McGann) provided much food for thought in this story of a self-destructive lecturer.

This morning, acting on a Facebook comment from Tat, I went down to West India Wharf and visited the Museum of London's Docklands museum - a very well put together presentation of British mercantile shipping, slavery and the development and re- of the London docklands .

Then this evening I met up with KM, BM, and several of their friends for drinks and dinner at the Knights Templar, an ex-bank now a pub in Chancery Lane. As expected for a Friday night it was packed but we managed to find a quiet room. Much fun was had by all.

Dirt and opera

2011-06-23T21:07:00.000+10:00

Yesterday morning I went to the wonderful Wellcome Collection. As well as a splendid permanent collection (which includes a piece of Jeremy Bentham's skin - his whole body is just down the road at University College London) there was an excellent exhibition called Dirt which looks at our relationship with the multifarious things we refer to as dirt. Some of the art works in the show were made from dirt and house dust, and the scientific displays included some fascinating old films. The film about the Peckham health centre, made in 1948, is an interesting example of propaganda for the newly-created National Health Service.

In the afternoon I went into the TKTS office in Leicester Square to see what was available. As luck would have it they had £85 tickets for the ENO's Simon Boccanegra at the bargain price of £25. A superb seat in the middle of the stalls - perfect viewing was ensured by the three empty seats in front of me.

The production is ... interesting; and not helped by huge amounts of text explaining the back story (a complicated plot à la Trovatore) being typed across the front drop. The prolog setting is a William Hopper Nighthawks style scene with a town square on the right.

The transition between the prolog and the first act was one of the most amazing things I've seen in the theatre. The crowd scene at the end of the prolog froze and this image was projected onto the front drop; the first act then starts with two characters walking in front of this image, which then starts to shrink until it is the contents of a painting on the wall ...

Anyway, the work is very sombre: lots of low brass in the orchestration and only one woman's voice; all the men's roles are bass or baritone except for the lead tenor. The performance was excellent musically, including the small parts, but the work itself is mostly without many arias, the music being mostly declamatory.

Education, art and music

2011-06-22T08:32:00.000+10:00

Brent left to go back to Utrecht yesterday afternoon - it was great having a house guest and nice being able to return the favour.

This morning I went out to see Bruce M at Harrow-on-the-Hill. He spends a couple of months there every year, accompanying for students' music exams. We went on a huge walk up the hill and around the various buildings that make up the school. The view from the top of the hill is wonderful - you can see all the major London buildings.

Afterwards we jumped on the train into London and went to the Royal Academy where, thanks to Bruce's membership, we lunched in the Members' Lounge before spending some time taking in the Academy's Summer Exhibition. There was an extraordinary range of works, ranging from prints, through paintings and prints to a fascinating collection of architectural models.

This evening I took the train over to Shoreditch where I went to a concert by the Joyful Company of Singers. It consisted of various settings by Victoria interspersed with settings of the same texts by modern composers - Pärt, Campkin, O'Regan and Jackson. The performances were very satisfying: nice tone, well tuned and intelligently performed; while not without a couple of shaky moments, in all it was a very satisfying night.

A bit of a blur

2011-06-20T17:57:00.000+10:00

The weekend past I spent running around London, dodging the rain, with BA. I've got into a habit of brunching when I can find a suitable place and luckily last week's edition of Time Out featured brunch places, including the London version of Melbourne's St Ali. We've been there a couple of times - great to get some real, proper coffee.

Yesterday we went to church around the corner at St James', Sussex Gardens, where Paul B. sings and afterwards the three of us headed off for lunch before walking all the way through Hyde Park to the Strand. He stayed around for drinks and some food at the local pub.

A most satisfactory, social weekend.

A house guest

2011-06-17T18:00:00.000+10:00

On Tuesday night BA, who now lives and works in Utrecht, arrived to stay for a few days. It's nice to be able to return the favour, as he put me up in 2004. He arrived around 6pm and after we'd settled him in we went out for a meal at one of the local pubs.

Back at the flat I went into the bathroom and ended up nearly locking myself in: as I pulled the door to shut it (why shut the door when you're on your own?) the handle came off in my hand. Luckily the door didn't shut completely or I would have been stuck. I'm just grateful it didn't happen when I was on my own ...*

Yesterday B and I headed out for breakfast at St Ali - unfortunately the weather has turned again and we got a little damp, but the breakfast was worth it. We visited the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum; both were full of children but we managed to see most of what we wanted to, and had a late lunch in the Science Museum cafe. We made our way home via Waterstones and the Apple Shop as B was interested in looking at iPads.

Made contact with PB yesterday, and hope to have lunch with him today.

* Maintenance fixed the door while we were out.

You put your left foot in ...

2011-06-14T18:28:00.000+10:00

... you put your left foot out.

At the National Maritime Museum.

The lovely Polly

2011-06-14T18:26:00.000+10:00

Lots of chatting was done, over coffee.

V&A treasures

2011-06-14T18:23:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I made a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum. They had a large exhibition, The cult of beauty which was devoted to the Aesthetic movement of the late nineteenth century and included material by and about the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood. There were some extraordinarily beautiful objects on display, and some not so. Gilbert and Sullivan were not forgotten with a couple of references to Patience and the Grosvenor Gallery, where much of the new art of the time was exhibited - thus Bunthorne sings: "a greenery-yallery, Grosvenor Gallery, foot in the grave young man".

After the exhibition I had lunch in the courtyard before exploring the rest of the museum. One high point was the theatrical exhibit on the top floor with some fascinating material, including film clips of various notable London theatrical production of the last couple of decades.

The weather is finally starting to warm again, no rain yesterday and none tipped for today, in fact today's predicted top is 23C.

Pictures and music

2011-06-13T05:09:00.000+10:00

More rain today so I took myself in to the National Portrait Gallery - quite a few people there hiding out of the wet but not too bad. It's a great collection and I particularly liked the early 20th century portraits. There were also splendid portraits of Huxley and Darwin whose biography I have been recently reading.

After the gallery I looked for a brunch place mentioned in this week's Time Out, situated near Goodge St station. Alas, I wasn't the only person who'd read the review and there was a queue out the door, 3 Bags Full-style. I found an alternative.

Later in the afternoon I took the tube out to Hampstead where I attended a concert presented by the choir Voxcetera - the program included a few old favourites from the Tudor anthem book and the inevitable Tavener, Whitacre and Lauridsen. An enjoyable concert but Gloriana has nothing to worry about.

An old friend and sore feet

2011-06-12T00:24:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I re-acquainted myself with the British Museum, though was disappointed to see that you can no longer get in to see the Reading Room. But I had a nice wander around the Egyptian and other antiquities (not all of them in cases).

Afterwards I popped around the corner to Russell Square where I met up with Polly M, who I last saw in Brittany with P&B. It was lovely to see her and she took me to a very nice Anatolian restaurant where we had a very satisfying lunch and did lots of chatting. After lunch we went to a pretty good little place for (proper) coffee and more talk.

This morning I went down to Greenwich to visit the old Naval College and the National Maritime Museum. Lots of fascinating exhibits and also lots of work being done to prepare some of the surrounding land for next year's Olympic shindig.

After the NMM I trudged up the hill to the Royal Observatory and had a good look through there, enjoying the view across the top of the glorious Wren buildings below to the less-than-glorious splendours of Canary Wharf and the Jubilee Dome.

On the way back to the station I dropped in at the Greenwich Market where amongst a staggering range of food stalls I found myself some lunch; I had a rather nice cheese and spinach pie.

I fell as if I've earned a nap today ... that's a very steep hill up to the Observatory.

Art and coffee

2011-06-10T00:56:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I had an early breakfast at one of the many local eateries after which I set off for the Tate Modern. They had an interesting retrospective exhibition of works by Joan Miró - of particular interest was a pair of huge triptychs which I found extraordinarily beautiful.

After walking back across Hungerford Bridge I dropped in at the National Gallery, but didn't stay long before heading back to the flat.

Had a slight problem in the morning with the plug in the bathroom basin getting stuck; the shower doors are pretty useless too, so I called the main office. They said they'd send someone to fix it. Of course when I got home, there was no sign of anyone being there.

This morning I headed off to the British Library to see a quite interesting history of science fiction, mostly illustrated with copies of books discussed in the accompanying texts, some of which were quite fascinating. After having a look at some of the other highlights of the BL collection I wandered down Farringdon Road to Clerkenwell where I had lunch at St Ali, the London branch of the South Melbourne-based coffee merchants. The food was good and the coffee was the best I've had since home. A brief visit to Covent Garden and then home.

When I got back to the flat the maintenance man still hadn't been so I sauntered round to the main office. The nice woman on the desk, who looked as if she was having an awful day, rang to discover that there was someone there working on it. So I thanked her and quietly headed off to Bayswater to buy a bottle of wine to take to AL/AG's tonight, where I am going for dinner. How long it's going to take to get to Lewisham I have no idea, but it'll be a visit to somewhere I've never been before.

Back in London again

2011-06-08T00:33:00.000+10:00

The flat is mostly good, with a few odd and annoying aspects. It's in Paddington, an area full of hotels of all kinds from the Paddington Hilton down to very basic ones. It's essentially a bedsit and has obviously been done up within the last five years or so, with everything in pretty good condition. There's a large double bed (which will be interesting when guests come to stay) taking up most of one end of the room, a kitchen along one side and a small table with two chairs at the other end. Plenty of cupboard space; also plenty of power points for a change.

In the kitchen there are a fridge, kettle, toaster, cooktop and oven and two of everything - glasses, small and large plate - but there is no cutlery. Four kitchen knives in a proper block but no knives, forks or spoons. Luckily I brought my trusty all-in-one. And for a big plus there is a washing machine, though with no dryer it will mean the place will be festooned by damp clothes most of the time.

There is a large window by the bed, but the venetians seem to be stuck in one position ... down; and the rod for changing the angle of the blinds is broken half-way up.

The bathroom is small, the shower tiny. One of the curved shower doors constantly sticks in its track and consequently, as you have to turn the shower on before getting in (to avoid a freezing blast), by the time you're under and have managed to shut the doors, the floor of the bathroom is awash. Luckily the place is warm and it all dries out fairly quickly.

That brings me to another aspect: the place is a bit too warm for my liking. In front of the kitchen unit the floor is marble-type tiles. When I arrived it was warm - I located a switch at the back of the bench which looked a likely culprit and turned it off which seems to have worked, although there is one patch which is always a bit warmer than the rest. Perhaps there's a dragon living beneath.

There are a number of electrical switches in the room the purpose of which is not immediately ovbious; in fact I haven't worked out what a couple of them do yet.

When I booked in the pleasant young woman who did the processing told me there was wifi in the room - well, yes, my netbook can see a number of networks, some of which are unsecured, but as far as I can see the management don't provide any of it. While I could connect to a couple of them, the signal strength was useless. This and the fact that my phone doesn't seem to like my British SIM card (which worked perfectly in 2009 in my previous phone) has decided me to buy a PAYG phone and a mobile wifi dongle. In the long run it will make life much easier.

Oh, and the TV only seems to pick up four channels.

But all this is nothing as I don't expect to be spending very much time here, and there is a nice range of cafes and restaurants (some with free wifi) just around the corner. And at least the place will be cleaned every three days, with a change of bed-linen and towels every week.

I managed to get a good sleep last night, waking at 4am but managing to get back to sleep until around six.

Beautiful jelly

2011-05-03T16:53:00.000+10:00

Watch it full screen for the best effect.

Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do

2011-04-09T14:34:00.000+10:00

'Twas on a Monday morning the painters came to stain ...

... the new door which was hung last week - and the builder returned to fit the new striker-plate he had found - so I now have a matching (well almost) pair of back doors. It only took about two months. On the plus side, yesterday I had a call from the repair company to make sure it was all completed to my satisfaction.

On Wednesday morning DT came to do an Autumn clear out in the garden - he arrived around 8am and we had a talk about what needed doing before I headed off for 3MBS.

Thursday morning was catching up with TM who came to tune the piano - it had been a couple of years since its last tuning. It was very pleasant to see him again and the first half hour was mostly us chatting and drinking coffee. Then I retired to the sofa with a book while he beavered away at the piano.

And on Friday morning I went into town to visit the lovely B at Flight Centre and booked myself a ticket to London. Instead of Business class this time I've got a hybrid ticket: Business class for the longer leg (Melbourne - Abu Dhabi) and Economy the rest of the way. It seems like a good compromise ... and cheaper.

This morning P&I did the shopping as B was at the hospital being a guinea pig. After the market at the farm we headed off to Victoria Street to shop at the Woolworths; we had a rather plain lunch at Quint.

Skeleton house

2011-03-29T11:47:00.000+11:00

A house not far from me. It will be interesting to see what it's like when completed.

Musical catch-up

2011-03-29T11:44:00.000+11:00

Sorry - it's been much too long between drinks.

The last couple of weeks have been full of wonderful musical experiences starting with the concert at ANAM. The first half consisted of the Webern Variations for orchestra (so good they played it twice!) and a rather exciting trumpet concerto by Ledger. The second half was a performance of Beethoven's Eroica symphony - Sebastian Lang-Lessing conducted.

The following Sunday I accompanied B to the Recital Centre (P was in Brisbane) to hear an all-Mozart concert by the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. Paul Dean, the new director of ANAM, played the clarinet concerto superbly; the sound went from whisper soft to full burble. The concert finished with a brisk performance of the 40th symphony.

More Mozart on Tuesday: Victorian Opera's new production of The Magic Flute. Sung in German but with English dialogue the production by Jean-Pierre Mignon was simple and very effective. The singing was a bit uneven with outstanding performances by Sam Dundas as Papageno and Janet Todd as Pamina. Suzy Shakespeare's Queen of the Night was perhaps a little underpowered, but very impressive to watch. Probably the disappointment of the night was Jacob Caine's Tamino - he sounded as if he wasn't quite up to the part, but the night we went there was nothing to justify BZ's Age review which said that Caine was better when he wasn't singing; unnecessary and cruel. Sets were faux Rousseau le Douanier and costumes definitely had a touch of Priscilla.

On Thursday night B and I had a quick meal at the Malaysian place at QV (P was still in Brisbane) before wandering down to the Town Hall to hear the MSO under the exiguous Mark Wigglesworth play Mahler's seventh symphony. What a knockout - both the work and the performance impressed. I don't know the Mahler symphonies as well as I would like and this performance has made me dig out my recordings.

It's been very nice hearing these performances in venues other than Hamer Hall - acoustically all these other places seem to be so much better. Let's hope the current work being done on the hall results in a better listening experience.

On Sunday afternoon Gloriana gave our first concert for the year - Rachmaninoff's amazing setting of the Vespers. We sang to a packed church and the performance went off very well - Andrew R was very pleased at the end and the audience enjoyed it so much they stamped their feet as well as applauding. It was a hard sing requiring great stamina, especially for us on the top tenor line (quite often doubling the altos), but all the work paid off.

A wonderful start to the musical year.

Minchin about

2011-02-27T12:06:00.000+11:00

Last night LE and I went to the Palais to see Tim Minchin in concert with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He is a very talented performer, writing clever, often very funny, songs which attempt to rip away much of the hype of modern life. Always taking a strictly rational view of the world, his songs, with one exception, display a complete lack of sentimentality. Often profane (I wonder how the MSO players reacted to F*** the mother-f****** Pope when they first heard it) but usually right on the mark, he interspersed his songs with fairly laid-back patter to the audience.

After singing Cont(ext) the first part of which is a string of outrageous racial, sexual and other slurs, all of which are ameliorated when sung, in the second part, in context, he was verballed by a woman at the front of the audience who claimed that she was offended by the song. He suggested that if that was how she felt, she would be better off to leave immediately, as it was only going to get worse. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with Minchin she was quietly but firmly escorted from the theatre.

He seemed a little spooked by this encounter, but was quickly back on form. In all it was a most enjoyable night. His one indulgence in sentimentality was White wine in the sun (Christmas song) in which he describes how, without any recourse to religion, he "really likes Christmas".

As an ex-ginger myself I'll leave you with this:

Viva Victorian Opera

2011-02-19T22:06:00.000+11:00

Last night I met up with P&B for a quick Japanese meal before going to the Town Hall for Victorian Opera's Viva Verdi concert. The concert began with a spirited performance of the overture to La forza del destino by Orchestra Victoria.

This was followed by act one of La Traviata with Joanna Cole as Violetta , Virgilio Marino as Alfredo, Sally-Anne Russell as Flora and the energetic Victorian Opera chorus - this was a good choice as the act shows off the performers very well. Apart from a couple of squeals near the end of Sempre libera, Cole was very good; Marino's voice however didn't quite match up to Cole's.

After interval we got excerpts from Il trovatore, an opera with a convoluted plot which doesn't do much for opera's reputation. It started with the vigorous Anvil Chorus, followed by Russell giving her all as Azucena singing Stride la vampa. As Roger Howell was taken ill, Michael Lewis stepped in at the last minute to sing the role of Count Di Luna - he inhabited the role most impressively. Maxine Montgomery as Leonora sang in the final Miserere.

As an encore Montgomery, Russell, Marino and Lewis sang the quartet from Rigoletto, with Russell's Maddalena outrageously playing up to Marino's Duke.

The rest of the soloists also acquitted themselves well; it was an extremely impressive start to the year for the company. I look forward to the rest of the season.

Las Palmas

2011-02-17T23:23:00.000+11:00

If this is the trailer, I can't wait for the film.

2011 is under way

2011-01-21T13:44:00.000+11:00

The insurance people have been quite prompt - I had a visit yesterday from a man from the company who will be doing the repairs. As I suspected one of the doors will have to be replaced, the damage to the other one is minor enough for it to be repaired. The man said he would put the order in yesterday afternoon and, depending on supplies and how busy the manufacturers are, it would probably take about a week to ten days.

My singing year starts this afternoon with a rehearsal at St John's Southgate for Sunday's Bach cantata service; this week it's BWV 73, Herr, wie du willt, so schick's mit mir! in which we only have two chorales to sing. In another couple of weeks we will be starting rehearsals for Gloriana's first concert, which I think will include the Rachmaninoff Vespers.

... and again.

2011-01-12T12:03:00.000+11:00

Yesterday I spent the whole day at 3MBS; it was quite busy which made the day pass fairly quickly. When I got home I noticed that the front gate wasn't shut properly ... oh, well, I thought, someone may have called trying to sell me something. People don't always shut the gate properly.

I think you know where this is going.

Then I noticed that the old recycling crate was upside-down. My Spidey-senses started to prickle. I went inside and on a first look could see nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn't until I unlocked the back door that I could see that someone had been trying to jemmy the doors open. Thankfully they were unsuccessful, but they damaged the frame of one of the doors - the other door was relatively unscathed.

So then the old routine kicked in - I'm so lucky the police station is so close. After reporting it at Collingwood there was a crime scene man on the premises within minutes (good work, guys). Of course he couldn't get any fingerprints, but took a few photos of the damage and suggested more options to secure the place before he left.

This morning I spoke to the insurance people to set the whole repair/replacement process in motion - they said they'd get back to me tomorrow

Change

2011-01-10T14:29:00.000+11:00

Things are not going so well at a certain place I've been working at lately - the man I have been working closely with was last week made redundant. The new GM is instituting a whole raft of changes by way of "restructuring" and D was the first casualty; how many more there'll be remains to be seen. It's difficult when most of the work is done by volunteers to see the paid staff being given their marching orders - I suspect some volunteers will follow suit.

I will stay on for the moment and will see what the atmosphere is like when I go back tomorrow. After surviving several rounds of restructuring and redundancies at my previous employer, I'm a bit over it by now.

Joyce DiDonato

2011-01-09T15:55:00.000+11:00

I've recently discovered Joyce DiDonato, an American mezzo and on her blog found this interesting plug for her soon-to-be-released CD, Diva, Divo.

Her blog is worth checking out, for some fascinating background into opera preparation and performance.

A shiny new year to play with

2011-01-03T14:43:00.000+11:00

Well, we're a few days into 2011 and so far it seems OK so I'm going to do a short post on last year.

I had a couple of short trips in 2010: in February I went to Dunedin to stay with AC and her family and then later in the year I spent a week with Tat in Port Douglas. Both were very entertaining and enjoyable visits.

Also in 2010 we (P&B and I) had a very satisfying year of opera, one of the highlights for me being last month's Opera Australia A Midsummer Night's Dream, an often beautiful work in Baz Luhrmann's glittering production.

For the last couple of months I've been volunteering at 3MBS, the local "volunteer-run, listener-funded fine music radio station". So far I've been working on the reception desk and this has allowed me to get to know many of the volunteers and staff as well as getting an idea of how the place works. Like other similarly run organisations it is not without its tensions; as I'm still a new boy (!) it's interesting to observe, from outside, as it were. I'm also taking on some responsibilities for the online arts directory, which could be interesting. They're a very friendly group of people.

As for this year ... well, I'm vaguely thinking of a couple of months overseas, but as yet haven't made any clear decisions as to where, or when. I will continue the shifts at 3MBS, and may even find another group to volunteer with. As well I will continue slowly sorting through the mess in the house disposing of those items I really don't need ... or at least some of them.

Oh, and I will endeavour to post here more frequently. We shall see what we shall see.

Plumb wrong

2010-12-20T21:11:00.000+11:00

Over the last couple of months we have had quite a lot of rain - I'm not complaining, it's great to have it and our reserves are now much higher than they've been for years.

However, one thing I've been meaning to do for ages is to get the gutterings cleared out. As a result, when it rains most of the water spills over instead of draining away, and the other night it spilled over down an interior wall. Luckily the wall it spilled down was in the shower recess so there was no real damage done.

This was the spur for me to call the plumbers to clear out the gutters. I thought while they were at it I could get them to replace the washer in the mixer tap for the shower which has had a slow drip for a while. This would be a simple job, I thought.

Alas, no. It turns out that with the type of mixer I have it's not simple to replace the washer. After some time spent searching the plumber came back with a part that did fit, but there was a small leak remaining, though from a different part of the tap. His advice is to buy a whole new mixer set and get it installed - initially he thought this would necessitate removing tiles, though after some thought he suggested doing it by going in from the other side, removing weatherboards.

So that's what I'll do in the new year.

More on Cuénod

2010-12-09T13:55:00.000+11:00

The Guardian has run a more extensive obituary of Hugues Cuénod, written by Alan Blyth, who died in 2007. It's common practice for newspapers to have obituaries prepared and it's good to see that The Guardian are not wasting the immense talents of Blyth. Also nice to see the addendum by John Amis, who some may remember from the BBC radio show, My Music.

Vale Hugues Cuénod

2010-12-08T19:31:00.000+11:00

The extraordinary Swiss tenor, Hugues Cuénod, has died this week at the age of 108. One of the seemingly endless list of musicians who studied with Naida Boulanger, he also sang regularly at Glyndebourne. He sang in the premiere production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress in Venice and made his debut at the Met in his 80s - as the old emperor in Puccini's Turandot.

His recordings of the French chanson repertoire are few, but essential listening for anyone interested in song.

Here he is in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann, at the age of 69:

Slowing down

2010-12-08T19:05:00.000+11:00

Well, all my singing gigs are over for the year - after the Bach B minor mass I sang at St John's Southgate (on the Sunday) and then the following Saturday I sang in the annual Messiah at St Peter's Eastern Hill. All concerts went very well and I was (am) very happy with my performances in each.

I've been doing a bit more reception work at 3MBS (and have committed to Tuesday afternoon for the next few weeks) - though I was disappointed to hear yesterday that the woman I have been working with on the online listings page will be leaving the station in January.

I have been having fun lately cooking up various Indian dishes, mostly feeding P&B - always appreciative dinner guests. I resurrected my old copy of The Bengal Lancers cookbook, a recipe book from a restaurant that used to exist in Chicago, and have also bought another book to work from. Most recipes have turned out well, though I do find that it's better to err on the side of more when it comes to spice mixes; this could be a function of my taste buds being less sensitive, but the others haven't complained yet. One slightly less successful outcome was last night's attempt at parathas - they were OK, but not quite what I was hoping for. I'll try again next week.

Glorious Gloriana

2010-11-27T16:51:00.000+11:00

Last night's performance by Gloriana of Bach's Mass in B minor was one of the high points of my performing life. The orchestral rehearsals on Monday and Wednesday had suggested to me that Friday's performance would be exciting, and this was ensured by the presence of nearly 500 audience members in St Mary's Star of the Sea, West Melbourne, which definitely boosted the adrenaline levels.

A fabulous baroque band, superb soloists Siobhán Stagg, Sally-Anne Russell, Timothy Reynolds and Nick Dinopoulis and the Gloriana choir, all under the direction of our director Andrew Raiskums produced an evening of extraordinary music. From the opening of the Kyrie I felt that this was going to be a night to remember. Aside from the forces involved performing there was also the attentive and supportive audience - at times you could almost have heard a pin drop.

I am very grateful to have been a part of such a performance, and think I acquitted myself well in what is very difficult music to sing.

For me the Bach doesn't end with last night as today I had a rehearsal for tomorrow's (early) performance of the cantata Ihr Menschen, rühmet Gottes Liebe with all of last night's soloists but Nick. What a treat.

If anyone is interested, the service starts at 9am at St Johns, Southgate. Admission is free.

Historical trams

2010-11-16T18:58:00.000+11:00

I found this clip on Twitter (thanks to @henriettacook via @danielbowen) - it follows a tram going through St Kilda along Gray and Barkly Streets and through Elwood, terminating eventually in Brighton. I had no idea there used to be trams on this route. The cars are also interesting to see.

It's been a bit wet lately

2010-11-15T14:04:00.000+11:00

Food, history and music

2010-11-15T11:24:00.000+11:00

Well, things have been fairly busy of the past couple of weeks. I've started volunteering at 3MBS, the local volunteer-run "fine music" station. So far I'm working on the reception desk answering phones and doing some data entry and it's proving to be very interesting and the people most friendly. At the moment Friday afternoon is my time there but I'm quite flexible with my time and have made it clear that I'm available at other times as well.

Saturday was a market day at the Children's Farm - it had rained most of the night so the ground was rather soggy and the attendance was fewer than usual. I picked up a tasty goat's cheese tart which we (P&B and I) had on Saturday night. After the market we headed to Smith Street for lunch - we had an extraordinarily good meal at Huxtable, one of the numerous new eateries in this burgeoning part of town. The opposite side of the road has at least a dozen places to eat between Peel and Gertrude Streets, with more to come. I see this as a challenge.

After lunch we walked up to the Johnston Street bridge where we joined a walking tour arranged by the Collingwood Historical Society. Despite a slight change of route and almost constant rain we all enjoyed a very interesting talk given by Gary Presland covering the geology, aboriginal history and the earliest European exploration of the area.

Yesterday I joined P&B again for a visit to Melbourne University on its Cultural Treasures Day. We went on a guided walk around campus learning about the history of the university - we finished the tour in the underground carpark under the south lawn, an extraordinary space which has appeared in many films and TV shows. After the walk we made our way to the Conservatorium for a concert by the Consort of Melbourne of music of Percy Grainger. As I had missed the two previous chances to hear this concert I was thrilled to be able to enjoy what was a very impressive concert - the highlight was possibly the two-piano version of Blithe Bells, though the Tribute to Stephen Foster was pretty amazing too.

Listening to: Joyce DiDonato, Colbran, the Muse, music of Rossini.

Sherlock for the 21st century

2010-10-22T16:18:00.000+11:00

Last night I managed to catch the first episode of "Sherlock", the latest iteration of the Sherlock Holmes stories. It is set in present day London in an alternative universe where Conan Doyle didn't write the Sherlock Holmes stories - by which I mean that it presents us with Holmes and Watson without any references to the originals. Holmes is a self-described sociopath and free-lance detective ("The police don't consult amateurs.") and Watson is an army doctor who has been invalided back to England after having been wounded in Afghanistan - as indeed had the original Watson.

Holmes is played by the splendidly named Benedict Bandersnatch ... Cummerbund ... er, Benedict Cumberbatch, who looks and sounds just right for Holmes; Watson is the wonderful Martin Freeman, late of The Office and The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy; Rupert Graves is DI Lestrade, and Una Stubbs tops off the regulars as a rather perky Mrs Hudson ("I'm your landlady, not your house-keeper.).

One of the things that impressed me about the show was that it addressed something that, to my knowledge, has never been directly addressed in previous versions, viz the fact of two single men sharing a flat and working closely together and the suggestion that the relationship could be more involved. The recent film, Sherlock Holmes, with Robert Downey Jr as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson, in its own campy way suggests that Watson and Holmes are an item; but the whole film is just that - camp.

However the possibility that the pair's relationship could be more than platonic was confronted head on in the café scene where the proprietor, ever grateful to Holmes for getting him off a murder charge, offers to bring a candle to the table the two are seated at, to make it more romantic. "I'm not his date", Watson insists (twice, if I recall); and a little later even Holmes admits to the misunderstanding that Watson is interested in him "like that". This again Watson staunchly denies.

Now, I'm not for a moment suggesting that in this incarnation the two men are romantically involved, just that it's like a breath of fresh air that the possibility is aired and explored.

One other aspect I really liked was the presence of the other great character in the Conan Doyle stories, the city of London. The story, A Study in Pink, centred around a series of suicides where the people involved had all taken the same drug. Lestrade calls for help from Holmes who quickly decides that rather than suicides, these are all murders, and so begins the hunt for the murderer.

The script is snappy and the visuals gloomy, though not in the steam-punk fashion of the Downey/Law film. I look forward to seeing the next episode tonight.

The third episode of Sherlock is being screened on 9 on Sunday.

Bach to rehearsals

2010-10-12T12:26:00.000+11:00

Last night was my first rehearsal for the next Gloriana concert: Bach's magnificent Mass in B minor. The concert will be on Friday, November 26 at 8pm, at St Mary's Star of the Sea, West Melbourne. It promises to be a wonderful concert and I hope at least one of my readers will come.

It's a long sing, and for the tenors quite high, but last night reminded me of all the wonders contained in this amazing score. I think I'll need all the coming weeks' rehearsals to build up the stamina needed to last the distance.

While I have sung the work a couple of times at St John's Southgate, it has always been broken up into parts and spread over several weeks. The only time I have performed it as a whole was with Ensemble Gombert in 2000 for their weekend of Bach performances, timed to celebrate the 250th anniversary of his death if I recall correctly. The Mass opened the weekend festival on the Friday night, and was performed to a packed St Patrick's Cathedral; it was one of the high points in my choral-singing career.

Vale Dame Joan Sutherland

2010-10-12T12:05:00.000+11:00

It was announced this morning that La Stupenda, Dame Joan Sutherland, has died. She was 83 and hadn't sung for about a decade, but it's a huge loss nonetheless.

The Collaborative Piano Blog has collated links to coverage here.

I saw her perform only a few times, but was lucky enough to see her Lucia, at the Palais of all places. Despite the size of the theatre her pianissimos could be hear at the back of the stalls - she was running around the stage in the mad-scene and producing this extraordinary sound. A truly amazing tour de force. I have a few of her recordings, though not a lot as it is mostly repertoire I've never been a huge collector of. But today I'm overdosing by listening to ABC FM which is, quite rightly, devoting much of their airtime to reminiscences and recordings.

Picture linked to at Collaborative Piano Blog

Wagner City

2010-10-07T22:55:00.000+11:00

Tonight I went with BN and KN to the Victorian Wagner Society meeting at MLC. The speaker was Lyndon Terracini, the new Artistic Director of Opera Australia (OA). He was there mainly to talk about the recently announced Ring cycle to be performed in Melbourne in 2013 but spoke about opera in Australia in general and in Melbourne in particular.

He said there were two main reasons that the cycles will be done in Melbourne: the first is the obvious matter of a suitable theatre; the second (which surprised me) was that Terracini is of the opinion that Wagner fits Melbourne's cultural life better than Sydney's. In fact the plans are to make Melbourne the Wagner centre for the Southern Hemisphere.

The Melbourne Ring (as they are calling it) will be a tri-ennial event from 2013 to 2019 after which it is planned to have a new production. As well OA plans to include at least one other Wagner opera in each year's Spring season in Melbourne in the years between each cycle year. (I hope I'm making it clear.) They hope to form a Wagner orchestra for these performances which will give training to young players and develop a level of experience and performance practice amongst local musicians.

In response to comments from the audience about the 2011 Melbourne opera season being fairly pedestrian he made it clear that he agreed (making it clear that when he took up his position all except the new Bohème were already programmed) and said he was committed to bringing the current Sydney-only productions of Der Rosenkavalier and Peter Grimes to Melbourne in the near future. He went on to declare a commitment that the company would also produce at least one Australian work each year, including newly commissioned operas and revivals (and in some cases reworkings) of such works as Batavia, Mer de Glace and The Eighth Wonder.

In all it was a very interesting night and much more optimistic than I expected.

Ketchup

2010-09-23T15:08:00.000+10:00

It's been much too long since my last posting. During August I have:

Been to the European Masters exhibition at NGV International. Interesting, but not outstanding.
Sung Tallis' Spem in alium for VMcA's 40th birthday
Heard Stephen Fry talk for two hours non-stop - fascinating
Bought a wizzy new computer (with JW's help); returned it to get it fixed (with CW's help)
Been to see Scott Pilgrim vs The World - great fun
Sung in a Gloriana concert
Been to an organ recital at Scots' Church with D&PC
Been to MTC production of All About My Mother

and had meals with P&B, Peter A, DG, MG, RD'C, A&M, amongst others.

I will attempt to keep this up-to-date, but make no promises.

Film, art and food

2010-08-02T16:52:00.003+10:00

On Thursday I went along to the Forum (where I remember seeing Lawrence of Arabia in the early 60s) where the Melbourne International Film Festival was screening a fascinating film called Pianomania which follows a Viennese piano technician as he attempts to adjust pianos to the requirements of several different pianists. Full of humour it's a film I would recommend seeing.

On Friday I met P&B for lunch at Journal Canteen - I had delicious chicken involtini. The only downside was that while I was chewing on a soft piece of bread half a tooth broke off. A quick tongue inspection and glass of water showed that it wasn't sensitive (this has happened before, luckily with no tenderness each time) so I proceeded with my meal.

After lunch we went down to the NGV St Kilda Rd to see the European Masters exhibition; works from the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. It was an interesting show but without any major highlights, though it was nice to see the famous Tischbein portrait of Goethe in the Roman Campagna.

Saturday was full of fun: shopping, singing, Stephen Fry. For VMcA's 40th birthday he had arranged a group of friends to sing Tallis' 40-part Spem in alium; We also got to sing through a 40-part piece V has been composing, all conducted by JO'D. A splendid afternoon tea was provided by some of the singers. After the performance most people were continuing the celebrations at a local pub, but a small group of us made our way into town to attend the evening's talk by Stephen Fry.

It was an extraordinary performance - for two hours he stood on the stage and spoke. Much of it was about his early life but his delivery was full of many side-tracks and anecdotes and the time passed very quickly and enjoyably.

On Sunday I visited LE to help her set up the new printer she has bought. It was mostly straighforward, but there were a couple of things which didn't work how I expected them to. Then in the evening I went to P&B's where I was given a most delicious meal of carrot soup followed by P's tasty roast chicken. We finished with some very nice cheeses. To celebrate one year of retirement I took a bottle of Morris' Durif from 2001 - it was delicious.

Ketchup

2010-07-27T17:09:00.000+10:00

Last week P&B and I went to see the Victorian Opera production of Julius Caesar which was presented at the Melbourne Recital Centre in a spare, but effective, production. The singing was uniformly excellent with the two counter-tenor leads showing off their abilities brilliantly. There was a bit of extraneous business with the dancing supers, but I suppose that's to be expected when the director is an ex-dancer (Stephen Heathcote). Considered with the other works we've seen presented by VO, the future of opera in Melbourne looks very healthy.

Saturday before last P, LE and I went to see the entertaining Bill Bailey in his first performance (of four) at the Palais. Unfortunately we were stuck up the back of the Dress Circle (near the ceiling) and didn't have a fabulous view of the stage, but it didn't matter that much. He was very amusing; I particularly liked his take on art history, especially when he animated the doubter's hand in and out of Christ's side in Caravaggio's The Incredulity of St Thomas.

On Sunday P&B and I met up with LP, LL and MP for brunch in town - as our first choice, The European, was packed we wandered down Little Bourke Street and went to Dragon Boat for yum-cha. It wasn't fabulous, but it was a lovely chance to catch up with the Canberra lot who I hadn't seen for years.

Afterwards P&B and I set out to explore some of the buildings open for the Melbourne Open House - this picture was taken at the ANZ's flash new building at the bottom of Collins Street. We also visited the Missions to Seamen (yes, I know it's now known as Missions to Seafarers, but that's what I grew up calling it), the new bowls club in the Flagstaff Gardens and the Royal Historical Society headquarters in the old Army Drill Hall in William Street.

Yesterday I went over to BN's to deliver her Stephen Fry tickets - this was the first time I had done the trip using my myki; it went live on all modes of transport on Sunday. Everything worked fine; I don't think I was overcharged. The only drawback is that on the buses the scanners don't seem to be able to detect my card while it's in my wallet.

Today I had an enjoyable lunch with JW at Birdman Eating - I had the pork belly and JW had the braised oxtail with noodles. Both were delicious. I am planning on buying myself a new desktop computer and JW gave me some advice on what I need to ask for which I really appreciate. He's currently on holidays and is taking the chance to get to some sessions at the Melbourne Film Festival - I'm thinking of going on Thursday to see Pianomania, a film about a piano technician which comes with strong recommendation from BO.

Vale Charles Mackerras

2010-07-16T21:14:00.001+10:00

An extraordinary musician who almost single-handedly introduced the operas of Janaček to the west. He pioneered the idea of historically informed performances, and as well as conducting the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Dvořak he also left several excellent recordings of Gilbert and Sullivan operas.

This is one of the many appreciations published over the last few days.
More at On an Overgrown Path.

Opera and a farewell

2010-07-16T20:28:00.000+10:00

Last night P&B and I went to the Playhouse to see Victorian Opera's production of Britten's The Turn of the Screw. An excellent cast brought this spooky work to life supported by a small but terrific orchestra - the production brought out the eerie qualities of the opera, particularly the appearances of Peter Quint and Miss Jessell. Danielle Calder's Governess was wonderful; in a long demanding performance she was able to show the character's concerns, particularly her doubts about what she thinks is happening. It's not my favourite Britten opera, but I won't pass up a chance to see it.

This afternoon I went into The Age for a farewell to LC, who has been working there for several years in Photo Sales. There was a good spread of food (thank you to NE for the chocolate/rice bubble slice) and, more importantly, a lot of my ex-colleagues to catch up with.

The weather continues cold, but hey, it is Winter.

Films and music

2010-07-13T21:57:00.000+10:00

Busy day, today. This morning I had my coffee at Journal, the café at the CAE. Then I headed to ACMI, only stopping at an ATM to get some cash, to see the Tim Burton exhibition. It is full of some amazing drawings and film-clips - some of his cartoons remind me of a cross between Ronald Searle and Hieronymus Bosch. There was a nice one of "the hunch-back packer at Notre-Dame". There were lots of people there (I had to queue for about 10 minutes) and it was a bit hard to get a good look at some exhibits.

The exhibition reminded me of a number of his films I'd forgotten about, including Beetlejuice and Ed Wood, which I should chase up.

After a quick lunch in the ACMI café I jumped on a tram down to South Melbourne where I met up with Peter Rowe at ANAM for a splendid recital by three talented young pianists - playing Franck, Rachmaninoff, Liszt and Chopin.

Saturday: shopping and stock

2010-07-10T21:21:00.000+10:00

It was farmer's market this morning so I went around to P&B's early and we walked over to the Children's Farm. I bought some rhubarb, and some globe artichokes which I haven't cooked for a very long time (like, over 30 years). Then it was off to Brunswick St to pick up the car and we set off for Vic Gardens for Coles and Toscano's. At the chicken place I got a bag of chicken frames (three for a $1 - what a bargain) which I am presently making stock with - the house smells wonderful.

As P&B were having a birthday lunch with B's father (happy birthday Bob!) they dropped me back at the house. BO was at the market so I called and suggested he drop in - he did and we went around to 3 Bags Full for lunch. It was very crowded, as usual, but we fluked a spot in the window. We had good coffee, good food and a good chat.

BO came back afterwards and we spent the afternoon talking about anything and everything. After he left I briefly roasted the chicken carcasses before throwing them into pot with everything else needed to make the stock.

Temptation conquered, but not for long

2010-07-09T21:33:00.000+10:00

Just for a change this morning I took the bus up to Brunswick Street. After a coffee at Don Vincenzo (alas no Age or even Herald Sun available) I wandered up to the Brunswick Street Bookshop, but while I saw a few books that looked quite interesting I resisted the temptation, but made a mental note to return.

I walked up to Gertrude Street and then down to Title, the book and record shop on the corner of George where I found a couple of items I decided I did want - as it turned out there is a 20% off sale on at the moment so the damage turned out not to be as bad as it could have been. I may even go back.

This evening I cooked up the remaining rhubarb with a couple of apples and half a vanilla bean ... it's delicious.

"It's been a blast, Sugartits"

2010-07-08T22:56:00.001+10:00

Today I had lunch with PR at 3 Bags Full - he's just back from two months in South America and Europe so we had a good talk about his trip ... and lots of other stuff as well. He was lucky enough to get a ticket to see Götterdämmerung in Buda Pest, which he said was terrific.

I spent the afternoon in the spare room doing a bit more sorting through stuff - I found some photos I hadn't seen for ages and will pass copies on to the appropriate people.

Tonight DK came round again after his yoga class - I heated up some of last night's beef stew for him and we sat and watched the Glee series final. We actually talked more than watching, which was good as we haven't had a chance for a while.

After DK went I sat down to watch the last episode of Gavin and Stacey, a little gem of a program which deserves more attention than it got. A nicely written (and performed) rom-com that I like to think of as a cross-cultural love story: boy from Essex, girl from Wales. In turns funny and tender - a great cast.

One posting in search of a title

2010-07-07T22:23:00.000+10:00

After coffee and walk this morning I got back to sorting through the mess in the spare room; I even managed to almost fill the recycling bin with stuff. As well I'm building piles of books to either sell or throw away. I also put some quinces on to cook - they filled the house with their unbelievable smell.

This afternoon I went up to the Nova cinema in Carlton where I met LE and we both went to see Toy Story 3 which I thoroughly enjoyed; must confess that I blubbed a little near the end. Mind you, that's not totally unexpected with me, I do tend to have a low threshold for crying at films.

Then I had to make a quick return home as P&B were coming to dinner - the beef casserole I had made yesterday was delicious and the quinces from this morning were superb.

On Monday I sent emails off to RH in Derby and DP in Brighton - mostly just chatty stuff to let them know what I've been up to. Today I was very pleased to get a reply from DP. All seems well with him and AC: this year's Brighton Festival was deemed a success, though they are expecting cuts in the funding they receive from the Arts Council.

Another Tuesday past

2010-07-06T19:22:00.000+10:00

Not much to report today except for the glorious weather - still cold, but clear skies all day. Coffee today was at Cavallero in Smith Street, followed by a nice walk the long way home.

This afternoon I attacked some of the stuff filling up the spare room - more programs (including one for the very first opera I ever saw), and some other stuff which straight into the recycling bin. That felt good.

My less-than- interesting life

2010-07-05T20:16:00.000+10:00

This morning I was a little late getting up so I had my breakfast at the Bomb café in Johnston Street - rather nice toasted fruit bread and the always-good Genovese coffee.

Later in the morning I walked down to Bridge Road where I caught a tram out to Hawthorn to meet up with MG. We walked down to Readings in Glenferrie Road where we decided to have lunch at their newly refurbished café. It was worth it: I had very tasty gnocchi and MG enjoyed her BLT.

After lunch and a browse in the shop MG headed off home and I walked up towards Barkers Road - I stopped briefly to drop a CD in for AF at his work before walking along Barkers Road to catch the tram home.

This afternoon I made Stephanie's Beef Stew (which is smelling very nice indeed) which I will probably share with B&P later in the week.

* I am going to attempt to blog every day this week, to attempt to get back into a routine.

It's been too long

2010-07-04T21:54:00.000+10:00

I do hope there's someone out there who still looks at this silly little blog. I'm afraid I spend much too much time on Facebook and Twitter at the expense of this blog, but I will make an effort, particularly as it can serve me as an aide memoire.

The last couple of months has been full - much coffee-drinking and walking, lunches and dinners out, a performance of "The Threepenny Opera", concerts, etc. At the moment I'm watching the BBC's excellent version of "Little Dorrit" - another book I must read, though it will have to wait until I've finished the giant biography of Darwin I've just embarked upon - it's a marvellous cast and looks wonderful in high definition.

This winter we've actually been getting some proper cold weather, and some rain, too, which is good. Despite the weather I usually manage my walk (and coffee) every day - last week I spent an enjoyable time wandering around the National Gallery, renewing acquaintance with various paintings.

Last week I lunched with RdS and helped AR move house; on Thursday evening I went to Alliance Francaise for the opening of a splendid exhibition of illustrations and paintings by Leigh Hobbs. It was a great turnout with a lot of people I hadn't seen for some time.

Health update

2010-05-06T13:04:00.000+10:00

Today I went back to the health centre to get the results of my last set of tests. These are the first tests after I decided last year to stop taking the Lipitor for my high cholesterol. Since I retired I've changed my daily routine to include a 30-minute walk (usually to or from a nice cup of coffee) and am having oats for breakfast most mornings. As well, I have found that not working makes it very much easier to control what I eat for lunch and have been eating much more sensibly.

Today's results were not as good as I'd hoped for, but much better than I'd expected. The cholesterol level is up a bit, but not as high as it has been; strangely there were no results for the "good" cholesterol, HDL, so we don't know the ratio of HDL to LDL, which is a useful measure - we'll make sure we get them next time. Blood glucose was fine; however the liver function was up slightly - the doctor thinks this could be as a result of the bad cold I had in the week before the blood test.

My blood pressure was slightly elevated and we've made an appointment for a catch-up appointment in six weeks time when we'll check it again, possibly with several readings.

All in all, quite an encouraging result.

Yet another Ring

2010-04-14T17:49:00.000+10:00

Last week I discovered a Ring cycle on DVD that I didn't previously know about - it's from Valencia and the production is by the amazing Catalan theatre collective Fura dels Baus. The setting is very high-tech with extraordinary projections and people being flown in and out; as well as the stunning look to the production it's also musically very satisfying with excellent singing and a great orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta. Brünnhilde is the wonderful Jennifer Wilson (who did Turandot in Sydney a few years back) and the Canadian Lance Ryan does a fantastic job as Siegfried.

So far I've only got Götterdämmerung but will definitely be looking out the rest of the cycle.

A taste.

Busy week starts

2010-04-13T11:30:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was P's birthday and, as he had the day off work, he, B and I went to Three Bags Full for lunch. B and I both had the very tasty house-cured salmon on corn and pea fritter and P had the hot cakes with poached fruit and ricotta. Afterwards we strolled down to Victoria Street where we checked out the new Aldi which just opened last week. We decided we can probably go there for much of our grocery shopping.

Back to Gloriana last night - the next concert is going to be great. We started with some glorious Brahms after which we moved on to Striggio's 40-part motet Ecce beatam lucem. This is an interesting piece but not nearly as much fun as Tallis' Spem in alium, also in 40 parts, which we rehearsed after the break. We will be performing Spem spread out around the audience in eight five-part choirs; who said surround sound was a new invention?

We finished last night's rehearsal with a run-through of Clytus Gottwald's transcription of Die zwei blauen Augen by Mahler (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen). It actually works quite well, so I'm looking forward to Gottwald's arrangement of the Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, which is also on the program.

Tonight it's a Gombert rehearsal, and again on Friday for the concert on Saturday. I'm also catching up with people on Wednesday and going to the doctor's on Thursday.

Rehearsals

2010-04-09T21:35:00.000+10:00

So far this week I've had two rehearsals for Sunday's Bach cantata at St John's - Tuesday was a piano rehearsal, learning the notes and how it all fits together, then tonight we had our run-through with the orchestra. Graham always puts together a great collection of instrumentalists and this week's cantata, Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, uses the oboe da caccias (oboes da caccia?) owned by the church. Add an oboe and a bassoon for continuo and it's a wonderful reedy sound.

We only heard two of the soloists tonight, Robert Macfarlane, the tenor, and Nick ? a wonderful sounding bass who is also singing in the next Gombert concert. Sunday morning promises to be a most excellent performance.

Tomorrow afternoon we have a rehearsal for the Brumel Earthquake mass to be performed as part of the Ensemble Gombert concert the following Saturday. So I'm keeping myself out of mischief.

Et ecce terræ motus

2010-03-31T10:52:00.000+11:00

As well as singing at St Peter's for Tenebrae on Good Friday night - Gesualdo, Victoria and Allegri - I've also landed a spot with Ensemble Gombert in the "Earthquake" Mass by Brumel. I have sung this work a few times with Gombert and Gloriana, though in quite different editions, and really love the piece. It's not easy and has some quite tricky rhythmic bits although this time I've landed a part with quite a bit of cantus firmus, which is less satisfying. But I do get to sing with some of Melbourne's best young singers - mostly tenors!

Last night was also NE's birthday and she had made a cake the ingredients of which included a whole jar of Nutella. It was delicious!

Melbourne train lines - Werribee and Williamstown

2010-03-31T10:44:00.002+11:00

On March 19, Tat and I set off on our second expedition, this time in a westerly direction. I met Tat on the train at Collingwood and we changed at Flinders Street for the Werribee line. The train we caught was express from Newport to Laverton.

As we expected, we didn't have the verdant views we had on our first foray, rather an industrial landscape, at times quite bleak, and housing estates. On the express leg we passed the oil refineries at Altona. When we pulled in to Werribee both of us decided that we would catch the train at the opposite platform back to Newport thus saving us the cost of a zone 2 ticket.

I'm not enough of a gunzel to know what sort of carriages these are, but they seem light and airy.

The train back to Newport stopped at the stations the previous one had bypassed (on a separate line). At Newport we changed for a train to Williamstown; we didn't have to wait very long.

The end of the line is a bit odd - it just stops, in the middle of not very much at all. However the views are pretty good and there are some interesting old buildings around to look at as you walk around to the main centre of Williamstown.

It was a lovely day ...

... so we decided we would eat at Williamstown, preferably outside. We found some rather nice fish and chips at a place in Nelson Place and crossed over to the reserve where we found a shady spot - but away from the child-filled rotunda.

HMAS Castlemaine with the city behind.

After lunch we wandered through the streets to Williamstown Beach station where we caught a train back to town.

Melbourne train lines - Glen Waverley and Almein

2010-03-12T19:39:00.000+11:00

Tat and I have embarked on a project: to travel to the end of each of Melbourne's railway lines. For our first expedition today we knocked over two lines - Glen Waverley and Alamein.

I met Tat on the 11:20am from Collingwood, which we had agreed on, and we travelled into Flinders Street where we changed to the Glen Waverley line. It was a beautiful day and the train was not very full and we had a dream run to the end of the line.

Although I travelled this line regularly when visiting Mum, I had never been past Darling so it was very interesting to travel the whole line. The route, which travels by the freeway for some distance, is quite pretty, with most houses having substantial gardens and trees.

We wandered through The Glen, a shopping centre larger than I was expecting, and as shopping centres go not bad. We had lunch and coffee before making our way back to the station.

There was a train waiting for us which we boarded; we got off at East Malvern where we crossed the Monash Freeway on what looks like quite a new footbridge.

Once on the other side we walked through the golf course to the end of the Anniversary Trail, a shared pedestrian/bike path running along the plantation left when the Outer Circle line was shortened.

The day was perfect and we had a very pleasant walk along a verdant path to Alamein station.

A train pulled in as we reached the station and we were soon on our way back into the city, the train running direct to Flinders Street rather than requiring us to change at Camberwell.

In all, a great start to our project.

Stormy weather

2010-03-06T19:40:00.000+11:00

Last week I visited Land Victoria to get my name on the title for my house - they use computer-produced titles now which, while efficient, have absolutely no charm. Luckily they gave me the old heavy paper title with all the detail of previous owners on the back.

Last night I went for a wonderful meal with Stewart and Susan to Rumi in East Brunswick - good company and wonderful food ... or is that the other way around? This morning after shopping and brunch with P&B, Stew and Suse dropped in so Stew could fix my back door and side gate; reasonably simple jobs he was able to finish quite quickly.

After they had gone I was settling down for the afternoon when I noticed that it had got very dark - then it sounded as if someone was throwing golfballs on the roof. Melbourne had its most extraordinary storm for several decades: lightning, thunder, hail, rain. The city has been flooded in several places, Southern Cross Station was closed for some hours and Moomba was cancelled (gasp!).

There's more predicted for tomorrow.

More music

2010-02-26T11:58:00.000+11:00

Last night I went with P&B to the South Melbourne Town Hall for the season opening concert for the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM). The hall was packed to the gills - standing room only for a most enthusiastic audience.

The program was chosen to represent some of the composers who will be highlighted in the academy's 2010 season: Schumann and Chopin, both born in 1810; Gyorgy Kurtag; and Anthony Pateras who is ANAM's composer-in-residence for this year. The works performed covered a wide range of ensembles, from solo piano through horn and piano, to tenor (Steven Davislim) and orchestra; the performances were of a consistently high standard.

The night was thoroughly enjoyable and confirms my feeling that music in Melbourne is in a remarkably good state - now I have to sit down with the ANAM program to plan out my year of concert-going.

Christchurch

2010-02-26T11:49:00.000+11:00

Christchurch Art Gallery

Christchurch Arts precinct

In the Christchurch Botanic Gardens

Lake Te Anau

2010-02-26T11:40:00.002+11:00

Land of the long white cloud - Part three

2010-02-16T10:38:00.000+11:00

Christchurch is delightful - a small city with heaps of character. Yesterday I paid a visit to the Gallery which had an exhibition of Ricky Swallow watercolours, plus an interesting survey of their own collection including many works which have been in storage. There was a Warhol Chairman Mao print, but not nearly as nice as the one I know - Christchurch's has a dark blue face.

There is a tourist tram service which circles the city but I prefer to walk - trams are no novelty to me.

This morning I walked down to the Arts Centre which occupies the old premises of Canterbury University, elegant Victorian neo-Gothic stone buildings. Over the road are the Botanic Gardens and these are spectacular; there are many mature examples of European trees (some are huge) and shrubs as well as an excellent area of New Zealand native vegetation.

Next door is the Museum. There are many old-fashioned exhibits, but over all it's a very interesting collection including some wonderful displays of native birds in great dioramas. It brought back memories of the old Melbourne museum. There is also a rather nice cafe with views over the Botanic Gardens, where I had lunch.

On my way to the Arts Centre this morning I discovered a wonderful bookshop, Scorpio Books, a friendly old-fashioned bookshop with an amazing range of books and a nice laid-back atmosphere. Unfortunately (or fortunately) my bag is already full to bursting so I only bought one book.

Mustn't be late tonight as my flight leaves at 6:30 in the morning; I'll probably have to leave around 5:00. Wish me luck!

PS I'll post some pictures when I get home.

Land of the long white cloud - Part two

2010-02-15T11:04:00.000+11:00

After two days of concentrated walking at Te Anau, Sunday was quiet and relaxed. After a late rise we got ourselves organised and set off for St Kilda beach (I kid you not) where A and Billy (the dog) went for a beach walk while T (with O on his back) and I strolled along the park and onto the beach further down - we met the other two on the way back.

After this exercise we made our way to a great little Chinese restaurant which was strangely empty considering it was New Year. However we heard that the evening was completely booked out. The food was excellent and included a delicious ocean cod (?) with spring onions and ginger, half of which we took away and finished off for dinner.

In the afternoon A and a friend sang through some duets with me on the piano - nothing very serious, just getting to know what was in the various collections by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Faure and others.

After our dinner of leftovers we all staggered to bed obscenely early and flaked out, but not before A booked an airport shuttle for me in the morning.

This morning T and I were up fairly early and the shuttle arrived to whisk me away to the airpot where I caught the plane to Christchurch.

Land of the long white cloud - Part one

2010-02-13T12:36:00.000+11:00

I landed on Thursday afternoon at Dunedin's tiny airport (I love walking across the tarmac) and was picked up by Amanda (and Olivia) and whisked back to their place. She and Tim have a lovely, roomy house with a great view out the kitchen windows.

Yesterday morning we packed the car up and set out for Te Anau and booked into quite a nice little cabin. Then we set off on quite a long walk; it was through the beech-forest and very lovely, but in the end for me just a bit longer than I would have liked. Young Olivia (14 months) was carried on her father's back and, considering the length of time we were out, behaved extraordinarily well.

We were exhausted when we got back and it was early to bed for all. Then this morning we had a frantic pack and clean up before we set out walking along Lake Te Anau - this walk went to a beach where I caught the water-taxi which Amanda had booked for me. Five minutes or so across the lake to Te Auna where I will wait for Tim and her to walk back to the carpark; they'll drive around and collect me before we return to Dunedin. The woman running the cabins has provided lunches for us both days with enough food for an army. So much for walking off the inches ...

Wine, or cheese?

2010-02-09T00:29:00.000+11:00

In the course of sorting out the junk in my spare room I have discovered a collection of diaries dating back to 1976. As I've never been very consistent in keeping records these journals are quite patchy; there might be regular entries for a few months, or even weeks, and then nothing for months. Some are written in proper, page-a-day diaries, but many are in a motley collection of notebooks.

To save space I've decided to transcribe them before throwing them out - it's been an interesting exercise and I've learned a few interesting things about myself in the process.

Those who know me will be aware that my memory is not very reliable; until I started using the Google Calendar I was constantly double- (and sometimes triple-) booking myself. Recently, on the basis of some not very definite evidence, I stopped taking the cholesterol-reducing drugs I had been taking for several years, with the hope of some improvement in my memory function.

However, looking at my scribblings from the early 1980s makes me realise that my memory was just as bad back then; some entries mention these problems specifically. So perhaps in a few months when I have my regular battery of tests done and my current regime of diet and exercise hasn't managed to keep my cholesterol levels down I am inclined to return to taking the statins.

Probably the most surprising thing I've found in these diaries is the person I was nearly thirty years ago; I don't really like who I was then. I was self-centred, lazy, wasteful, amazingly promiscuous and frankly, quite often pretty obnoxious. Certainly there is ample evidence that I was nice to friends, kind to animals and children but the overall picture I get in these journals is of someone I would not like to spend time with.

I think I've certainly improved with age.

Roll playing

2010-01-25T20:44:00.000+11:00

Saturday before last LE asked me to make some bread rolls for a dinner party and I surprised myself by producing a dozen of the best rolls I have ever made, so tonight I thought I would see if I it was just a fluke or whether I could repeat it. And it worked.

I bought some new flour a few weeks ago, a brand I haven't used before, so I think that might have something to do with it. Now I can't wait to make pizza.

(Very) Pleasant Sunday ... and Monday

2010-01-25T20:25:00.000+11:00

On Sunday B&P and LE picked me up in Roz the Yaris and we set off for the Mornington Peninsula. First stop was the McClelland Gallery to check out the sculpture.

Then we headed down to the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery to see an excellent exhibition of landscapes of the region - paintings ranged from the early 19th century to the late 20th century.

Today I went into town to the bank to check if I will be liable for extra fees when I pay off my mortgage later in the week; it turns out there won't be any extra to pay. After this good news I wandered down to Media House where I met up with Andre, Johan and Roger for coffee.

Not again ... yes, I'm afraid so

2010-01-20T17:18:00.000+11:00

On Monday morning I caught the train to visit DG in Castlemaine. I had a lovely visit and cooked him the lamb tagine-ish dish I had made for P&B on Sunday. It was very tasty.

He had finally located the remote for his TV and it was a simple matter to retune the TV. He hasn't had access to broadcast TV for a couple of years - he was so excited that he sat up late last night watching the tennis.

He drove me back to Melbourne this morning with B - he dropped me near Jewell station and I caught the train home. I didn't realise it immediately I got inside, but while I was away my house had been broken into yet again. One of the back windows was jemmied open but oddly nothing seems to be missing. The only sign of the intruder was some dirt in my shower recess; no real sign that the shower had been used, just some dirt. Weird.

Thanks to the helpful people at my new insurance company (my previous one had declined to continue my coverage) I had a visit this afternoon from a handyman who managed to make the house secure by fixing the window.

Another trip? Yes please

2010-01-14T19:10:00.000+11:00

Off into town this morning to visit the lovely Brihony who has been organising a trip to New Zealand for me. I'm going to stay for a few days with AC and TM in Dunedin with a couple of days in Christchurch on the way home. Not for a few weeks, though.

Also in communication with the solicitor about Mum's estate - everything is almost tied up now, my brother, sister and I should get our shares over the next few days. While I was in a financial mind-set I started sorting through all the receipts, bills, statements, etc to get ready to get my tax done. It's a job I dislike intensely, not helped by the fact that my records are always in such a mess. I've done the first bit, but still need to lay my hands on a few more bits and bobs before I can make an appointment with the accountant.

The weather continues to be glorious, just how I like it, though I think there is some rain ahead. Good.

Cooler again

2010-01-13T17:22:00.000+11:00

It has been a beautiful day today, the weather very pleasant. For my walk this morning I went up to Smith Street, my destination Cavallero for coffee before walking home the long way.

I had a call from the solicitors this afternoon letting me know that the settlement on Mum's unit had gone through successfully. Later I received an email from her with all the details for me to check. This marks the end of my job as executor - not what I would call an onerous task, but I'm glad it's all over.

Also had a conversation with AR this afternoon - he verified that Gloriana will be doing the Poulenc Figure humaine again in the first concert for the year. I am very much looking forward to singing this extraordinary work again and can't wait to start rehearsals.

BN's flight gets in tonight so I'm going out to her place to help K and L surprise her - I didn't mention this on my previous posting so as not to spoil the surprise.

Phew!

2010-01-12T10:09:00.000+11:00

It's been stinking hot: 43 yesterday, only down to 32 overnight. With no air conditioning this place gets pretty hot; I have a fan in the lounge and a ceiling fan in the bedroom, but they just move the hot air around without much cooling effect as far as I can tell. With luck we should get a cool change some time this afternoon.

I'm currently trying to arrange flights to Dunedin to visit AC and TM - I'll probably spend three or four days with them and perhaps a couple of days in Christchurch, as I've never been there and most flights to Dunedin go through there.

BN gets back from Oxford tomorrow evening - as far as she knows the flight is still on schedule. It will be good to see her again and I'm looking forward to catching up with all her news.

Dinner at MoVida Aqui

2010-01-10T14:04:00.000+11:00

Yesterday was LE's birthday, so she, P&B and I went to MoVida Aqui, the latest in the MoVida franchise, for a celebratory dinner.

The food was delicious: we started with a range of tapas which we followed with four different larger courses including pork belly and bacalao dishes. We considered a serving of patatas bravas, but instead moved on to dessert, B and I having the Spanish version of trifle while P and L opted for the special which involved pineapple. I topped things off with a glass of a most delectable quince liqueur.

The restaurant is well laid out, with tables not too close together, and the service was exemplary, as compared with the unfortunate experience we had at lunchtime at Madam Sou Sou's.

Today is quite pleasant, top temperature around 33, but for tomorrow 41 is still forecast, so I think I'll spend the day in hibernation.

2010 - A new year

2010-01-06T10:59:00.000+11:00

I'm very relieved 2009 is over, it was fairly turbulent - I had two trips overseas, retirement and, in the middle of the year, the loss of my dear mother.

In May, I spent time in France and Spain with P&B before heading for Britain, visiting my cousins in St Andrews and Derby and spending some time with AC & DP in Brighton.

When I got home I found that Mum's condition had deteriorated while I was away; she died just over a week after my return. I miss her.

Back at work I discovered that my request for a redundancy had been accepted and I finished up for good at the end of July.

In mid-October I flew back to Britain with BN; she had rented a flat in Oxford so I had a base, from where I visited Dublin, Derby, London and Brighton catching up with friends and family.

I got back to Melbourne mid-November. Xmas was spent with DG in Castlemaine and New Year at home on my own.

The second trip away meant that I missed out on singing in the last Gloriana concert for the year, but I did go and hear it; a slightly odd experience, being on the other side of the action, but enjoyable.

The second half of the year has also been busy getting Mum's affairs in order - cleaning, tidying and preparing her unit for sale and dealing with bills and solicitors and such like.

My life now is very different from what it was at the start of 2009 - I wonder how much more it will change over the next year.

Money problems

2009-10-30T21:39:00.000+11:00

In the weeks before I left I was trying to find flights and accommodation in Dublin for a short side trip. I found what looked like a good deal and went through the procedure; when I got the the last window the system declared that they had a problem and the whole transaction was cancelled. After some international phone calls and rather unfriendly service the charge on my card was finally reversed.

However it wasn't without its consequences. A few days later, while asking for a balance on my account at an ATM, my card was "retained". This left me without access to my money for the trip.

I went immediately to the credit union office where an excellent young man promised to get me a new card which will eventually make its way to Oxford (not helped by a Royal Mail rolling strike). He also alerted me to an interim option: Cash Passports. These work like a card in ATMs, the good thing is that you can top them up using BPay/internet banking.

This has been a great alternative, but can't be used for booking trains, flights, concerts, etc over the web. So I am currently awaiting a courier bearing my new card - LN in Melbourne has kindly arranged this service for me.

Time for a break

2009-10-30T21:27:00.000+11:00

Mmm ... Mini Jaffa Cakes.

Oxford

2009-10-30T21:07:00.000+11:00

On our first day B & I crashed fairly early. The next day Taffy picked us up and took us shopping to stock up our larder; that night they fed us at their flat. Over the next few days I began to explore Oxford, walking along the river and into the city centre. It is truly an amazing city with some extraordinarily beautiful buildings; most of the centre is mostly car free and a pedestrian's (and cyclist's) paradise.

One of my highlights so far has been a visit to the History of Science Museum which is currently housing an exhibition of Steampunk. The museum's collection is also fascinating and includes the original of the pastel of the moon by John Russell which appears in the book The Lunar Men which I have been reading.

Barbara has been busy as well. As she can't walk very far she has obtained herself a little electric-powered scooter which allows her to get around without having to rely on Taffy. As she will be here for around three months it makes good sense.

J&T's baby is due any minute and J is impatient for it to be over.

Picture: Museum of the History of Science (http://emu.mhs.ox.ac.uk)

Melbourne to Oxford

2009-10-30T20:47:00.000+11:00

I got to Barbara's late afternoon and we were picked up by the limo around 7pm to whisk us off to Tullamarine. Once there a wheelchair was produced and Barbara was wheeled off, with me following, to the Qantas Business Lounge, with express passage through check-in, security, etc. We weren't long in the lounge before we were called for the flight and again a wheelchair and pusher materialised for Barbara.

Once on the plane we were each presented with a glass of french champagne (Mumms) and settled down, getting ourselves acquainted with the amazing seat, which, along with being able to transform into a totally flat bed, had a massage setting.

The food was delicious - my breakfast actually included poached eggs - and we were waited on hand and foot. We had a two-hour stopover in the Business Lounge at Abu Dhabi before heading off on the second leg to London. We were both able to get some sleep on the plane, helped by being able to lie flat.

On arrival at Heathrow we were fast-tracked through Immigration and Customs (B in wheelchair) before being deposited at the limo which took us straight to Oxford.

When we arrived at Oxford Taffy and Julie were there to help settle us in. It's a nice little flat: one bedroom, bathroom and living area with kitchen space. I sleep on a foldaway bed provided by T&J. There's a washing machine (thank goodness) and a teeny-tiny TV providing access to a mind-numbing array of channels, most of which we have absolutely no interest in. It's a ten-minute walk out of the centre of Oxford.

Socialising

2009-10-06T18:24:00.001+11:00

Yesterday I went with LE to help her buy a new TV and DVD player/recorder. We had excellent service and the transaction was completed - then I called on LE to help me out in choosing a new pair of glasses. Again we had excellent service and they should be ready next week.

This morning I met LE for coffee, collecting her keys so I can be at her apartment when they deliver her new toys. Then I went out to Hawthorn for a very pleasant lunch with MG. Unfortunately, apart from all this, I've done nothing towards the cleaning up. Oh well, there's always tomorrow ...

Comings and goings

2009-10-04T14:53:00.001+11:00

Last week was brightened by a visit to DG in Castlemaine; the weather was glorious and on Wednesday we did a lovely drive to Clunes and surrounding towns. In the evening we had a meal at the Railway Hotel which, as usual, was extremely busy. Good hearty and cheap food.

On Monday and again on Thursday we had rehearsals for Friday's concert to open the Spring Early Music Festival. Friday was a busy day as in the morning ST and I went to Torquay to sing for the funeral of DD's mother - then it was back to Melbourne and the concert in the evening..

The main work was the Brumel Earthquake Mass, an extraordinary 12-part work with wide-ranging parts and exciting rhythmic ingenuity to test one's wits. This went off fairly well, though not without a few odd glitches and, as BO calls them, sharpranos raising the pitch. The highlight of the evening for me, and others, was Gombert's setting of Lugebat David Absalon, an extraordinarily moving work which on Friday night seemed to have an emotional life of its own - an amazing experience.

Yesterday saw the usual shopping and brunch in Brunswick Street with P&B, always fun, followed by a lazy afternoon and a televisual evening.

Today I've been quite industrious, sorting through a lot of papers and throwing away lots of rubbish. I figure if I take B's advice and do an hour a day I'll be completely organised by ... oh, perhaps 2012.

Today's tasks

2009-09-17T13:11:00.001+10:00

I'm still slowing working through a lot of material we found in Mum's unit - all sorts of letters to and from her including all the letters I sent back from Europe in 1976. No shattering finds (I don't expect any) but some nice information about her daily routine running the house in Gympie: washing, ironing, shopping and sewing. Eventually I will make all or some of this material available to those who might be interested.

Catch up

2009-09-17T08:54:00.003+10:00

Long-term readers of this blog will know that the end of my left index is now permanently numb. Well, now I'm having similar problems with my right little finger. I saw the doctor yesterday: the upshot is that we'll leave it for a week to see if it settles (it is improving slightly) and then perhaps investigate further with a scan and/or a visit to the orthopaedic surgeon.

Anyway, enough of whingeing - I've been busy. On Saturday night I went to the Ensemble Gombert concert: they sang works by 20th and 21st century composers. The latest works were world premieres by Peter Campbell, Vaughan McAlley and Calvin Bowman. It was a wonderful night of fascinating music and great to catch up with all the members of the choir.

This was followed on Sunday afternoon my singing in a most satisfying Gloriana concert in which the major work was Alfred Schnittke's Choir Concerto. It is an extraordinarily complex work - I like to think of the style as a cross between Rachmanninof (of the Vespers) and Sandstrom, the Swedish composer whose Agnus Dei we performed last year. We were all exhausted at the end, but in a good way.

On Monday night it was straight back into rehearsal - for the opening concert of the Melbourne Spring Early Music festival in which the major work will be Brumel's Earthquake Mass, a wonderful, crazy (but in a good way) work. A bonus is that ST is joining us for the concert, as he is not going on the Gombert tour.

On Tuesday, after a nice catch up lunch with MG, I met BN in town where we booked Business class tickets for Britain. Then yesterday I met the agent to arrange the sale of Mum's unit.

My calendar for the next few weeks is filling up.

Lunchtime concert

2009-09-10T18:27:00.003+10:00

Today I went up to Trinity Chapel to a performance of "An Avian Miscellany: A Parlour Songbook of Birds", a collection of songs about birds, by Peter Campbell. The songs, the texts of most of which were taken from a Mother Goose collection, were beautifully sung by Louisa Hunter-Bradley accompanied by Jonathan Bradley on the piano.

A good-sized audience heard a collection of well-considered songs, many displaying great humour. The thoughtful settings avoided the obvious and reflected the emotions of the texts beautifully. I'm glad I had a program as Hunter-Bradley's diction was variable, although her performances were delightful and displayed much thought.

There were many familiar faces in the audience - I sat with Stuart and MdeC was sitting opposite.

Simon's cat

2009-09-04T15:15:00.000+10:00

An oldie, but a goodie

My exciting life

2009-09-04T10:02:00.005+10:00

Yesterday I walked up to Clifton Hill for lunch and a visit to Retravision. LE is looking for a new TV so I checked out what they had on offer; only a cursory look as I'm not quite sure exactly what she wants. Just an initial foray.

I got back in time for the dishwasher repairman who came and fixed my dead machine - I was getting a bit sick of washing up in the sink so it was well timed. The last time I had a problem (about six months ago) the repairman then told me that, as the machine was about ten years old, it may not be worth repairing if it broke down again.

But it's working again now, and this repairman said that the model is a good, reliable one, so I'm glad I tried.

Last night I went to P&B's for a dinner of sweet potato and lentil soup followed by boeuf bourguignon; both were delicious. Their new rug and sofa have arrived and look splendid; and the sofa is very comfortable - ideal for afternoon naps. B goes into hospital today for the FESS procedures to fix his sinuses; he's supposed to be in just overnight, but suspects he may be there a little longer.

Today I'm having lunch with nephew S and his girlfriend S (henceforth S&S); he's cleaning out his room in Richmond before moving into their new house in Ascot Vale South.

Telstra efficient - amazing

2009-09-02T19:43:00.002+10:00

Today, after spending the morning at Mum's unit helping I, G & D finish cleaning it out, I went into town for my physio appointment. As I had been tasked to cancel Mum's phone account (a job I was expecting to take some time and effort) I dropped into the Telstra shop in Swanston Street. In all honesty I was only going to ask for advice on where I should start.

Surprisingly, I was able to do it on the spot. They didn't even want to sight a copy of the will or death certificate and the whole procedure was completed within ten minutes.

If I've ever said bad things about Telstra (and I think I might have) I take it all back ... well, almost.

And, thanks to the wonderful Bec, my sore neck is less so after her ministrations.

I'm back

2009-08-28T13:41:00.003+10:00

It's been too long. But a lot of things have happened over the last couple of months and I've been distracted.

I have now retired from work, with the help of a redundancy payment from my employers. Since then people have often said, "But what will you do?" To which I reply, "Where do I start?"

I've been very busy tying up things for Mum's estate: seeing the solicitor, visiting the bank, helping I and G clean out the unit: cleaning up the unit, washing walls and painting, getting rid of "stuff" and generally making it ready to sell.

I'm also starting to clean out my own house - a task that's long overdue, I'm afraid. I'm not rushing, but hope to have full bins to put out every week, as well as sorting books and other material to take to op shops, etc.

The picture above is a watercolour and ink caricature done for my departure from The Age by the wonderful John Spooner, to whom I extend my heartfelt thanks. The original is much subtler - this was taken from a photo, as I forgot to scan it before it was framed.

Vale Peg

2009-06-09T15:38:00.000+10:00

17/3/1913 - 9/6/2009

Madrid

2009-05-17T01:13:00.002+10:00

At last we´ve arrived in Madrid. I´m not going to cover everywhere we´ve been yet as I think I´ll to sit and think about it all and arrange some pictures too. But this morning we spent at El Escorial and were surprised at the quality of the art work, some amazing Bosch pictures I didn´t know and lots of Titian and Tintoretto ... oh and lots of dead Spanish kings and queens, too, in the mausoleum.

Finding our way to the drop-off point for the car this afternoon was a bit stressful, but we finally made it and are now safely ensconced in our hotel. P&B are well, as am I, if a little sunburnt.

I probably won´t blog properly until I get home, so don´t all hold your collective breath.

Dinan - Hello and goodbye

2009-05-09T19:49:00.002+10:00

The flight was painless, except for the lack of serious sleep. I made my connection at CDG onto the train for Rennes with time to spare and changed there for Dinan. When I arrived P&B were waiting and whisked me off to the house where PM was waiting as well.

Yesterday we took a trip to visit Mont St Michel which is truly an amazing place, if a little over-endowed with very tacky souvenir and food places. I will post pictures after I get back, but I would recommend a visit to anyone who is visiting the region.

Last night we had a fabulous dinner at a local restaurant; I started with duck breast stuffed with foie gras; followed by salmon tarte and finishing with passionfruit mousse. P&B shared an enormous seafood platter followed by half a lobster each. We were all well fed-up.

Today we packed up and I'm writing this while the boys drop PM at Dinan station. They'll pick me up and we will set off for Rennes where we'll catch a train to Paris.

Having a wonderful time, wish you all were here.

Tim Minchin rules

2009-04-10T12:05:00.000+10:00

The future of telephones ... (ca 1969)

2009-04-06T13:07:00.003+10:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqtoVmACDng&feature=player_embedded

This cheered me up a bit

2009-03-28T09:28:00.001+11:00

I don't believe it! (as said by Victor Meldrew)

2009-03-27T20:54:00.002+11:00

When I got home today I decided to ring my sister to update her on Peg's status. As I was talking to her I happened to look across the room, only to see that ... my ... brand ... new ... HDTV ... wasn't ... there.

Yup, burgled again, 24 days after the last time. Same things taken: TV and remote. I hadn't even had it a week ...

Another window, toughened/laminated glass, was broken, using a brick this time. It's now 9pm and I've had a call from the police to say they won't be around tonight, but I would be first priority in the morning - any time from 7am.

Peg's back

2009-03-23T22:51:00.004+11:00

The good news is that Peg is out of hospital - I had a call this afternoon to say that she would be discharged around 3pm, but that it would depend on availability of an ambulance to transport her. Then just at tea-time I got a call from Good Shepherd to say that she's back.

She seemed quite bright when I saw her at St V's this afternoon, so much better than she was on Friday.

Had a nice lunch with LE today at Rosa's Kitchen (Journal Canteen). So I have come to the end of my lovely four-day weekend - back to work in the morning.

Back in hospital

2009-03-16T22:26:00.002+11:00

This morning I had a call from Good Shepherd to say that Mum had been taken to hospital - she had been short of breath and they decided to call an ambulance. They rang a little later to let me know she was in St Vincent's so I went in to see her.

She was still in emergency so I sat with her for a while. I spoke to a doctor who said he thought she had a chest infection which he was treating with antibiotics; they planned to admit her for two or three days.

I left mid-morning and went back early afternoon. She is fairly bright but understandably not happy to be in hospital. Later in the afternoon another doctor rang me to say that Mum had had a small heart attack (as happened while she was in St George's) and that they would be trying to control her blood pressure which is elevated while she is in hospital; he also thought she would only need to be in for a few days.

Unfortunately it means she'll be spending her 96th birthday in hospital - which is no fun.

Happy birthday Peg.