Canberra's underbelly

Here we were, hubby and me at a local brasserie, no pretentions , but offering very good food. Suddenly there was a kerfuffle. Hubby with his mouth open staring at something behind me, and all of a sudden one of the chefs or maybe it was a waiter yelling at someone who ran out and he, the waiter ran after him.

It turned out that this person had come into the restaurant with a hood and a mask and brandishing a  hypodermic syringe, and wanted cash. The "he-man" waiter yelled at him and when he (the baddie)  tried to run off, he (the he-man waiter) ran after him yelling to the others to call the cops. The cops came very quickly and apprehended the villain and then came the tedious interviewing of all of us, the customers. I had not even taken my handbag to the restaurant since it was very close to the hotel, so I couldn't identify myself.  Sorry I also had not brought my camera but it is all true; it really happened.

This was not the first scary thing today. When I was walking back from the Australian War Memorial I came across a bikie who was laying in the street after having been hit by the car of a young girl. He really looked like he was dead and I was quite shaken up.To the point of dropping one of my favorite cardigans that I had been schlepping around all day, and not noticing it until I got back to the hotel.
However, the cop who interviewed us in the restaurant said the bikie was okay. So thank goodness for that, since I was convinced he was dead.

There was also my 250 dollar haircut!  I strolled out this morning, past a hairdresser and since I needed a cut and highlights, I stopped by. I got in there just after nine and got out just before two in the afternoon. It was a thorough job, every strand was cut seperately. The hairdresser was Korean. But 250 for highlights and a cut, is that normal? It did include cappuccinos and wine though so it was very pleasant.

Back to the War Memorial. I didn't even really want to go but thought that I should. Let me tell you I walked around and tears sprung to my eyes several  times. It covered all the wars and conflicts that Australia has been involved in and there was so much I didn't know. I guess in European schools you tended to learn more of what happened in Europe.  Anyway, if you are in Canberra I recommend that you take time for a visit.

Hundreds of soldiers back from the war

Australian War Memorial

Wall of small photos of the death March in Borneo where more than 1,700 Australians died

Aussie prisoner of war

Typical restrained handshake between father and son on returning
from the war

Cockatoo Island

I went to Cockatoo Island yesterday and I didn't see a single cockatoo, but there must have been lots, hence the name. It's a World Heritage listed place and very nice to visit, but this time I went there for the film festival.

I had to go by bus, train, and two different ferries to get there. I must have arrived at a dull moment because it was quite peaceful and not the bustle I was expecting. I had read that the opening had been a little chaotic with not enough people serving in the bars etc but when I was there, there seemed to be more personel that visitors.

Even a red carpet has to be vaccumed now and then

The films I wanted to see had either been on another day or had just started so I ended up just walking around which was OK too.  I had wanted to see  The Master with Joaquin Phoenix and Xingu by Brazilian director Cao Hamburger and several others, but it will have to be for another time.

They had compared this festival to the Cannes festival  in France or the Sundance in the US but I think they have a little way to go yet. However, this was only the first time, I think.

When I got back to Circular Quay I had a little walk around and listened to music here and there. The jacaranda trees are in blossom now and absolutely gorgeous.

Just another Tuesday

Yesterday was so windy my sunglasses blew off my nose, but today is back to normal, i.e. sunny, mild, pleasant, and around +25°C. It really is quite livable here at this time of year!

Today I have started a new painting class and it is a nice little group. There are several reasons why I am not going back to where I used to go but nothing serious and I think I am going to like this place. We are already going out for lunch together on Thursday so that will be fun. I'll keep you posted.

Nothing more to tell right now other than that I heard on the radio a good expression, "finjury", meaning fashion injury, for example falling, like the Australian Prime Minister did in India, because maybe your heels are too high for the occasion, or other injuries caused by fashion.

Oh, yes another thing! It is probably very old news, but I saw that a Swedish couple had gotten married in a Klingon wedding last week-end, very romantic!

Gallery walk

I have had a wonderful day, finally using my Mother's Day present. It was a walk to five or six different galleries, with mainly contemporary or modern art. It was just me and two other couples and the guide, and we had all been offered this as a present from our kids. We all agreed it was a great present. Nothing wrong with the macaroni necklaces and matchboxes with feathers on them and the handmade cards, that we used to receive when the kids were little. We loved them, didn't we?! But I guess we have moved on now when the kids are in their thirties.

One of the favorites was the exhibition called Ignition in the GBK gallery with Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy. It was a husband and wife team and they had some great stuff on show.

A snowflake made with toy cars

Made in Lego

Lifescape made with biscuit tins by Christine Turner in the  Brenda May Gallery

Bondi and Sculptures

Well, I finally managed to see the outdoor exhibition of sculptures that they have every year in Bondi. It is really such a beautiful setting. It is called Sculpture by the Sea and you walk along the coast walk from Bondi to Tamarama Beach. This is the 16th time. There is also a similar exhibition in Århus in Denmark apparently but I have never been.  If you are in Denmark this summer it is on from 1-30 of June under the patronage of HRH Crown Prince Fredrik and HRH Crown Princess Mary (or like hubby says, "our Mary", because she is Australian.)

Anyway it was a beautiful day and not too crowded. Tomorrow and Sunday will be terrible, I am sure. I even ran into some Swedes and had a little chat.

Twice I have taken visitors to this event before and dropped them off with the intention of meeting up with them along the walk but the parking has been impossible, and I have spent hours driving around further and further away without finding a spot. Here are a few of the sculptures. In the end my battery ran out so I bought the catalogue as well.

It was very funny the first time, when I heard of this Sculpture by the Sea, I thought it was a sandcastle competition. They can be fun too and I have seen some very good sand sculptures. In this case though, they are not made of sand but they are made from everything else. The crocodile for example is made by a remote indigenous community from Queensland and they have used wire, rope net, buoys etc to make it.

I will leave you with a little snippet that I overheard when listening to a conversation between two ladies having a smoko (it means having a break for a cigarette when you are working). One of them said out of the blue "Garry has a brain like a sieve"! I almost burst out laughing. The rest of the conversation made it clear that Garry was deliberately "forgetting" lots of things. Like taking the rubbish out and cleaning the coffee machine and other chores that they were supposed to be sharing.

The Potty Potter

I am saying the potty potter in the nicest possible way of course.  The man I am talking about is a potter in Lue. Maybe he is a a little original but not potty as such, and we visited his pottery on our Mudgee trip. We were the only ones there so he had time to show us around and we loved it. He makes all of his own glazes, and his clay is dug locally. He has also invented many of his tools.

As my friends from Grenoble know I have done a bit of pottery myself and they might still have a peanut bowl or two as a memory of it. I never got much further than the "peanut bowl" stage though.

His other passion in life is SCA or the Society for Creative Anachronism. They are interested  in research of the pre-17th-century European history. They meet regularly and he had just come back from a session where he is the character of a potter in the year 1450 or something. They make their own clothes and tools. Unfortunately I didn't have a pen and my notebook so I couldn't  write down what he was telling us and I have already forgotten some of it, but I tell you, it was gold!

I am going to leave you with a few words from the latest Chambers Thesaurus. For example I love the expression "social notworking" which of course is the office time spent on Facebook. Another one is "ringxiety" which refers to the panic you feel when hearing someone with the same ring tone as you.

Tomorrow is going to be 30+°C so I might go to the beach for a dip.

As always, feel free to leave comments. See ya!

Girl's night out

I had a great evening out in Mosman with the "girls" in SIS or Svenskor i Sydney. They meet regularly at Hotel Mosman and have a bit of a fun gossip-catching up night. It is particularly nice for newcomers, and we had two last night, but equally fun for the "oldies" to see old friends.

The venue is nice too, you have plenty of space for a big group and you can have an inexpensive meal as well. People bring books or magazines or videos that they want to share or exchange.

It was a little like our Swedish group in Grenoble, where I lived before, even though there we used to meet in people's homes for coffee in the daytime and we also had a book club which was quite popular.

It is funny, the older I get the more Swedish I feel in many ways. Even though having lived away from Sweden for most of my adult life I don't know very much about social changes and politics in Sweden today. So when I say I feel Swedish I don't know quite what I mean. I guess I mean sentimental memories of my childhood, and youth, and funnily enough it is always summer.

My father on the right before leaving for the USA

My father, RIP, who went to seek his fame and fortune in America when I was five or six, was more American than anybody, but when he got older his Swedish accent became much more pronounced and he also declared that he wanted his ashes spread in the place where he was born. So Swissair let me travel with his ashes in my hand luggage! He now rests in a beautiful place near where he started his life.

When the cat's away...

Just feeling a bit forlorn this evening. Hubby is off to France for three weeks so I have to find some fun things to do by myself, I guess.

I received an Amazon package a few days ago so that should contain some DVDs, I hope, to keep me amused a few afternoons. Tomorrow I am going to the Sutherland library to listen to Peter Watt, an Australian author talking about his new book. Wednesday night is the Swedish ladies club get- together at a pub in Mosman. I have been once and it was fun but it is just so far away from this end of town, so I am hesitating a little. Sydney is very spread out and all the Swedes seem to live on the North side and we are down South.

What I really have to do is get on with finding another place to live. This big mansion was fine when mom was still living with us and when only son lived with us for a year but now it is ridiculously big for two people. When you go to see places for rent, inspection is just between 10.15 and 10.30, or something like that. And only on Saturday morning it seems. You find yourself together with twenty, thirty people, or more, all of them running around trying to see as many places as possible in as short time as possible. It is very stressful. We'll probably end up somewhere like this:

BYO

It's been a very quiet week, only broken up by a restaurant visit with some French visitors from hubby's work. We live in a great spot for impromptu entertainment. Across the road we have three different restaurants and also a bottle shop.

For you who have not yet been to this wonderful country, let me explain why the nearness to a bottle shop is vital. Many smaller restaurants have a sign up that says BYO, which means Bring Your Own. This means that you bring your own wine because they don't have a license to sell alcohol. Then they charge you a small fee for opening and serving the wine and everyone is happy.

We went to a Thai restaurant called Sweet Chilli, run by a French guy from Nancy, France, and his Thai wife, and you always have a good meal there.

I wanted to add something to last week's blog..... when I slept in the car, due to the spider incident, it was only 5^°C that night. That is seriously cold, and my heart goes out to all the homeless who spend their nights in temperatures like that. Every year in Europe people die in the winter when the temperatures drop to under 0^°C.

Sometimes, when we are on a road trip, we play a game to alleviate boredom. Well, not a game really, more of a pastime. It consists of hubby spotting houses here and there and then asking me the question "if they gave you that house would you take it?" I then say yes, or more often, categorically no, and give a reason. Some of the houses might look like these:

Of course, they are not always fixer-uppers, like these, but the other "normal" ones I don't have photos of. Believe it or not, I would take the yellow house with the red roof; it has potential.

A big exciting last day of our last weekend had been planned around going to Bathurst. Hubby loves motor sport, and this is the place apparently. He had hoped that we could drive around the circuit even. However, when we arrived, everything was blocked off for the following week-end's Great Race. So all we could see was this:

Back from Mudgee

So we are back from the Mudgee region, where we had never been before.  In fact, it is nice that not even hubby, who is Australian, has been to the places we go to. I quite like that it is a discovery for us both.

We stayed in Sofala at the Tanwarra Lodge Lodge which was a very nice and comfortable place.  Being that it was the Labour Day weekend everything was booked, and we were lucky to get a place even though it was not in Mudgee proper. It is run by a couple who came up from Sydney and built it to live in themselves, but eventually it developed into this lovely, welcoming B+B, where you are a bit away from the touristy areas but still within easy reach of the places recommended to see.

You can go fishing or fossicking for gold in the river Turon. I was very tempted but we have to come back another time and do only that. This time we had so much to see and do. I am sure I'll find gold, I just know it!

Sofala, in its heyday had a population of  25.000 people or more and about 10.000 were Chinese. Today it is just a nice, very small town to visit with, some old buildings, a great pub and a hidden gem, the Cafe Sofala. We ate there twice and just loved it.

Another cute little town, which was previously much bigger was Hill End. It used to have four churches and an opium den, and even an oyster bar in those days.The oysters were brought up from Sydney in lead containers, to keep the temperature but which also, quite understandably,  caused poisoning. Hill End has also inspired some of Australias finest artists. Russel Drysdale's painting of a cricketer was mentioned when you walked around the town.

I was also quite intrigued by this sign near the school, about the children in the gold mining towns in those days. It must have been such a hard life for the women and children! In 1872 there were 129 deaths and 74 of them were children.

So after an exciting first day with wine tasting and a nice meal at the Cafe Sofala,  we return to our lodgings to go to bed and this is what I find over the bed on my side!

Hubby managed to fumble and drop it out of the bowl that he had caught it in and it disappeared under the bed. Now, would you have slept in that bed?  I didn't think so! So I put on all the clothes that I had and took a blanket as well and spent the night sitting in the car. Aside from the stiffness and sleepiness the next day it was not all bad, because it was a full moon and a beautiful starry sky.

There is lots more to tell, but I'll save some for next time.  Back to reality, since I have to do some unpacking and laundry and shopping now.