lucy's lunch

2007-09-23T10:53:00.001+09:30

things i like about edinburgh

2007-07-25T05:31:00.000+09:30

the view from the plane flying in - lovely!

my street (my flat is about the fifth window along from the right) (although its in the basement ) (and i share it with 6 other people) (it is a big flat though) (but my flatmates are theatre technicians) (apologies to any theatre technicians reading this but i'm sure you'll appreciate what i mean)

its summer here = stone fruit in season! yay! although otherwise you would never know its summer

scottish raspberries. so cheap i have a huge handful of them on my cereal every day. i'd have to take out a small mortgage in order to afford this in oz

cobble stones. i love them. although not so good for walking on if you're not paying attention/tired/drunk/etc

monster mash! bri this one's for you! alister and i went there on my first night for dinner.

and then we had some of this. yum again.

i have no explanation for this but i like it

x

extras from a woody allen film

2007-06-24T22:12:00.001+09:30

a bunch of stuff that happened

2007-06-24T20:48:00.001+09:30

i finally got the bluetooth connection working on my laptop, so was able to download photos from my new camera mobile phone - yay! so here's a little catchup photoessay of the last few months...

i had mega pizza with matt and bridget - for adelaideans, at the italian bakery place on magill road - go there, its brilliant, even though matt doesn't look all that impressed

can't beat a chocolate donut for an afternoon snack

this is my grandma - her name is kitty. isn't she cute?

and this is her loungeroom, more fake wood panelling than you can poke a fake wood stick at

i had lunch with beck - steak sanger at the exeter, this one wasn't so great actually but usually really good, and cheap!

<

laura practicing hard on her smoking technique, and doing a very good impression of a caterpillar while she's at it

i actually went to burnside - ahhh, amazing burnside. never fails for a good fix of gold bags, gold shoes and gold accessories

take a good look kids - here's a picture of an ikea virgin

and this is just plain bizarre...

woh look, is that clark kent sitting in the exeter wearing the whitest white hoodie you've ever seen? and my, isn't he looking sultry!

i had a sunday roast dinner at my mum's place. pic makes it look a wierd colour, but trust me, mighty good

robin made me a moroccan lamb tagine, took all afternoon to cook, was y-u-m-m-y

oh. my. god. cutest. bunny. EVER!

spotted at the markets, a girl with giant pink blowup hearts growing out of her head

and just yesterday, we went for a picnic up to mt lofty gardens. unfortunately a posse of marauding potoroos decided that they wanted to join us. those potoroos seem to have a penchant for salami, cheese, dip, cake and mineral water. and they are mighty persistent.

best thing on the internet

2007-06-22T09:38:00.000+09:30

handsome

2007-06-22T00:00:00.000+09:30

so i was in the lunchroom today at work, eating my sandwich and reading the paper. a couple of work colleagues were having a conversation - talking about their husbands, and one of them actually said in a completely matter-of-fact voice... "oh no, my husband's not handsome, nooo not at all. he's *word i can't remember here but i keep thinking she actually said ugly*. i gave up the handsome one for the one i got. but i don't regret it one little bit."

i was freaked out by this. i mean, sure she seems happy about her choice, she doesn't regret it. i certainly don't think looks are everything, but how could you actually marry someone you did not find physically attractive. i don't get it.

x

vegetables

2007-06-18T16:47:00.000+09:30

further to my blog a while ago about strange conversations i have at work sometimes, here is one i overheard just now (it was the same woman that accused me of stealing her sunglasses).

"… (other bits of conversation I wasn’t listening to) …

Vegetables

Yes vegetables!

Have we got any vegetables?

No, I’m talking about vegetables.

To go with sausages.

No, I’m talking about vegetables to go with the sausage things.

Yes that’s right.

Vegetables.

Ok, here’s some inspiration for you. Defrost the sausages, and we can cook some vegetables to go with them. But have we got any vegetables?

I don’t know, steam them?

No.

Oh... ummm... maybe carrots?

Ok, I’ll get some."

it really does make you wonder...

x

the other story of the day at port adelaide...

2007-05-20T20:17:00.000+09:30

this is what bridget's day looked like:

this is what bridget's bosses' days looked like...

hmmmm.

there are a lot of dolphins around the place at the port. this one is a flying dolphin. ah-huh.

this is a strange painted laughing dolphin. whoops its sideways too, sorry.

here's the top of the stairs that everyone seemed really scared of. and my new melbourne shoes!

this was at the port markets, some people just get on a theme and get just a liiiiiiitle too carried away with themselves. oh well, at least it keeps them off the streets.

there's a great vintage clothes shop in the markets too, i tried on fur coats, they're... kinda... creepy.

i had a rocket icecream! ah the nostalgia.

all the daytime activity finished, and we had to wait around for about 4 hours until the performance at night. of course we spent the majority of the time at the pub. i don't know who looks more bored here, bridget or matt...

but the prize goes to... this guy:

well he already won the prize actually - the meat tray raffle at the pub. rockin.

x

one of the best lunches i've ever had

2007-05-09T22:40:00.000+09:30

strips of beef cooked fresh with onion, lemongrass and chili, on top of carrot, cucumber, mint, rice noodles and bean sprouts. then you pour the dressing - a sweet, sour and bit spicy - over the whole lot. crunchy, chewy, freash and cooked all at the same time, so incredibly yummy. and topped off with jasmin tea.

if you're an adelaidean, go to the old food court at the markets, the vietnamese place on the right as you go in the north end, its number 4. you won't be disappointed.

x

this is a little story about the day Mark went to the Port...

2007-04-26T20:05:00.000+09:30

There's Mark, can you see him?

Here's Mark's lunch. Fish and chips - yum!

and here's Mark's dessert. Ooo ice-cream, and a coke!

Mark went for a little walk to work off all that yummy lunch.

"Wow, you're up so high!" says Mark.

Ooo careful Mark, its a long way down!

"I love Batmobiles" says Mark.

Whoops, I think Mark bumped his head against that mannequin!

Mark asked the lady some questions, she looked at her cards and told him he would meet a beautiful princess. And that he should bet on the number 9.

Then Mark took a little rest, "It's been a busy day!" he says.

Mark took a bit more of a rest at the hotel. He drank lots of drinks and smoked some yucky cigarettes.

Then it was dinnertime! Here's Mark's dinner - sausages, mashed potato and gravy mmmm.

Mark had lots and lots of drinks and then he danced on the table outside the hotel.

He was having so much fun!

And then it was time for Mark to go home. Wow, what a great day it was.

its good news week!

2007-04-17T20:18:00.000+09:30

Debbie got the job as Gallery Manager at Object in Sydney, I hear she was head-hunted. whoop! sad for us though coz she's leaving in a month, so quick.

Mark has had all sorts of good response to his article in Australian Art Collector. Some guy called him to say he was going to fly from Sydney to Melbourne to see the show at Bus Gallery where he is showing at the moment! wow! lets hope that guy has his chequebook handy.

Kristy was offered a job in marketing at the Adelaide Festival - so deserved, you'll have a ball, well done Kristy! (and someone new for me to play with at work yay)

Bridget found out that she's been accepted into the residency program at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Kitakyushu, Japan. There's only like about 15 people accepted each year into this program, and it has all these amazing visiting artists and curators, the likes of Hans Ulrich Obrist, Laurence Weiner and Maurizio Cattelan. For you non-art people, they are somewhat like art gods. She'll be gone for six whole months starting from September. Needless to say, she's rather excited.

On the other hand, I've had no good news. None at all. And then I was having celebratory dumplings at Dumpling King with Bridget tonight and as I bit into one of the little steamed Shanghai dumplings, a scalding hot explosion of dumpling juice spurted out from the dumpling and burnt me on the lip.

(not the actual dumplings but looks just like them)

It bloody hurt. Those things should come with a warning.

x

takin' the bull by the horns (so to speak)

2007-04-06T17:41:00.000+09:30

wednesday night at downtown art space we had a corker of an opening for meet&greet - an open exhibition for adelaide artists - including no less than 64 works. was a feat in itself to hang such a show i can assure you (well done peter, mark and tamzin).

note the sold sticker - the building sold at auction this week for a cool $3.6 million. we popped into arts sa that afternoon just to let them know we'd bought it and to check that the increase in downtown's funding would be ok - funny, none of them would see us (haha). i guess its a matter of time before townhouse disease takes hold.

lots of cool kids came out for the opening... here's the lovely anne, lovely louise and half of lovely shaw

akira!! don't look so worried! its all not that bad!

this girl made a very good impression of a drunkard at one point by holding a full box of empty bottles with one arm, whilst standing in a bucket. i'm not sure why. not surprisingly, one of the bottles fell out and smashed on the ground. next time maybe lay off the vino lady! still, no great harm done.

after the marathon opening a bunch of us ended up at the falafel house to fill empty bellies.
it was chips with garlic sauce all round (tasty, thanks for the tip peter)

peter with hat hair

mark with hat head and chip lip

tamzin showing her true bogan colours

i'm not sure whose idea it was (i suspect sofia) but suddenly it was decided that we were going to the very classy Woolshed on Hindley Street to ride the mechanical bull. funny how these things seem like a good idea at the time.

james and sofia - looking all innocent-like

but actually it was quite a good idea, most entertaining! sofia was the first cowgirl off to the rodeo...

then mark put his chaps on. not too bad an effort...

and he here is making a hasty retreat. nice dacks mark, purple's definitely your colour

then it was james, hanging on for dear life. he leaped off after about 10 seconds! disappointing!! i'd picked him for more of a daredevil...

then romi, after a leg-up, not too bad!

but then there was peter "the cowboy" mckay. complete with cowboy-esque hat, he held on...

and on...

and eventually fell off in grand fashion. very impressive! the only disappointment was that he didn't hold his hat in the air and yell yee-haw

the ladies checking out the action...

then one of the woolshed regulars had a go and managed to break the bull until it was crying in the corner. no more bullriding for anyone. here's tamzin looking really disappointed that she missed out on her turn

and if you're wondering, no i didn't ride the bull. unfortunately i was next after tamzin on the bull's dance-card. shame...

x

peaches in breeches

2007-03-19T21:32:00.000+10:30

I was watching one of those new bizarre gameshows on telly just before and this was an actual question...

Which of these is a children's television show:
a) pears in flares
b) bananas in pyjamas
c) peaches in breeches

Hilarious! Their question writer must be really bored with their job. But then I thought, bananas in pyjamas is actually a pretty crazy idea anyway.

x

feradelaide and the chef

2007-03-16T13:03:00.000+10:30

Last weekend I volunteered as an artist minder at Womadelaide.

Artist minding basically means being the first point of contact for artists for just about anything whilst in Adelaide for their gig – you pick them up from the airport, check them into the hotel, orientate them to Adelaide a bit if necessary, get them to the venue on time, get them into their dressing-room, introduce them to the stage manager, accompany them to publicity calls, etc etc etc and just generally be around to assist if they need it. I was assigned 3 separate groups of performers, Asha Bhosle, an incredibly famous Bollywood playback recording star (statistically the most famous person in the world), who was performing with the Kronos Quartet (also pretty damn famous), an 18 piece gamelan orchestra from West Java called SambaSunda and an 8 piece group from New Caledonia called Celenod. As you can probably tell, I had a busy weekend. And it was 37 degrees on Saturday.

I saw countless tie-dye wearing hackysack players. I saw some pretty damn impressive hippie dancing. I even saw some guy stop mid-dance, turn around and ask the general crowd "does anyone know where my wife is?". I saw an 11 year old boy wandering through the crowd wistfully singing Bob Dylan’s Blowing in the Wind. Someone else told me they saw an even younger kid singing “We are the World”. Hmmm, next generation of emo maybe? I also ate a handmade byron bay organic jamfilled doughnut. I forgot to take a picture of it, but I think the doughnut summed up Womad - decadent, expensive, very messy, and pretending to be good for you.

I won’t bore you with the story of how hard I worked, or how hot and bloody dusty it was, because a much more exciting thing happened.

On Sunday afternoon I was standing out front of the Hilton, where all Womad artists stay, waiting for somebody or something - I can’t remember what now. Anyway, there were a few people milling around too, I didn’t take much notice of them. Then suddenly my gaze locked onto a man standing on the Hilton front steps. It was the Chef from The Cook and the Chef! (Shame on you if you don’t know what I’m talking about, and I’m not going to explain, but go here to have a look.) (Those of you overseas are excused from this shame.)

I gasped! It was really him! He was in full cheffy outfit, arms folded, chatting to some minions and surveying his kingdom (ie Victoria Square and assorted drunkards). I immediately rang Bridget to share my excitement. I then tried to nonchalantly walk close enough behind him to hear his voice, whilst still on the phone to Bridget so she could hear it too (if you’ve seen the show you’ll know what I mean). Bridget demanded that I get his autograph for her, so I went to the concierge to get a piece of paper as I had nothing - I know, so ridiculously unprepared. When I returned he had gone!! No!!! We were most upset. I won’t admit to this but I may have lurked around the Hilton foyer until I found where he was, which may have been in the Brasserie, and I may have then sat in the middle bar area so I could see him through the palm fronds as he had a very serious conversation with someone about the glasswasher (I think). I may have then rang Bridget to update her as to his location. We may be now trying to invent a reason for an expensive dinner at the restaurant, so that we can spy on him further.

x

it all ends in tears

2007-03-05T00:46:00.000+10:30

(click on the image to read the story)

x

backstage at heatherette, NY fashion week 07

2007-02-11T23:19:00.001+10:30

cigarettes are bad, ok

2007-02-11T17:55:00.000+10:30

RIP lucia

2007-02-06T01:16:00.001+10:30

shuffle (always thought you were a disco chick)

2007-02-03T16:46:00.000+10:30

ok my turn to press shuffle on the ipod and see what musical secrets it reveals...
sorry mark for ripping you off, but then i know you ripped it off someone else anyway...

here goes...

1. know your product - the saints (woohoo great start... rock on!)

2. sunrays – yesterday’s new quintet, from fila brazillia another late night mix (a gorgeous warm and enveloping, perfect for sunday afternoon with a few beers)

3. stylophone pet – moloko (used to love them more, still a fan, roisin murphy totally rocks)

4. influx - dj shadow, from mo’wax royalties overdue (beautiful tripped out smooth sound)

5. la femme d’argent – air (when brett and I went to italy, qantas were playing this as everyone went on and off the planes. so now I associate it with travel, new places, nervous excitement, freedom... sends shivers down my spine)

6. galang – M.I.A. (always makes me wish I could dance like beyonce or missy elliot)

7. heroes – david bowie (love david bowie, though I like a lot of his other songs better than this one. he's one sexy man tho)

8. a song for you – whiskeytown country slow rock (I have absolutely no idea whatsoever how this got on my ipod, must have been from honor, she’s the country-lover!!)

9. only you – portishead (reminds me of art school (same as you mark) but god but I love it)

10. modern romance – yeah yeah yeahs (beautiful fragile new york sound)

11. the groove ep – astrojazz, from a night at the playboy mansion mix (absolute classic disco! love it! i really am a disco chick. i think i rediscovered it due to this album by dimitri from paris. I saw him when he came to adelaide a few years ago but it was really disappointing coz they could have just played his cds ad you wouldn't have known the difference)

12. dauphine – mu-ziq (ok now its getting really interesting. absolutely brilliant old school electronica, never ever ever get sick of it, ever)

13. pearl in – tosca (as in the electronica tosca, not the classic one. a must - check them out)

14. monkey bars – jurassic 5 (unstoppable)

15. je n’ai pas le choix – the mighty bop (one of the first electronic cds I got addicted to, these guys are the best classy french smooth hip hop. perfect seduction music)

16. two darn hot – retroactive (got this track from cds I used to collect from acid jazz magazine back in the mid 90s, still has not aged one iota)

17. underwater love – smoke city (got this from a rebirth of cool cd, kinda nice little song, but gimmicky, boring after a while)

18. gold digger – kanye west (see comment for track 6) (this one's for you david roberts)

19. bigmouth strikes again – the smiths (ahh, the memories)

20. i'm losing my edge – LCD soundsystem from swayzak fabric 11 mix ("I'm losing my edge to the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties." read the full lyrics here, they are too good

21. ukelele - birth glow (my favourite adelaide band, except for women moving furniture of course...)

22. howl - the grates (saturday music)

23. seven army nation - the white stripes (marry me jack)

24. the man from sinaloenese - kronos quartet (manic mexican string quartet, makes me want to jump about an bash a pinata with a stick)

25. the message - cymande from dj andy smith presents the document (got this from mr akira, a brilliant addition to my colection, thanks!)

26. substitute - madonna (confession time: huge madonna fan. one of the first albums i ever bought was like a prayer with the picture of her navel on the over. the middle insert was scented with patchouli)

27. alone together - the strokes (music to turn up loud and thrash about the loungeroom with)

28. horses in my dreams - pj harvey (cheer up pj, its not all that bad)

29. unhooked generation - freda payne from good times 3 with joey and norman jay (disco-funk, a-la jackson 5. so good. if you havent check out the good times compliations, they're a must - norman jay plays the notting hill carnival in london every year, i missed it by only a few weeks last night booooo)

30. ottos journey - mylo (the soundtrack for my travels last year, especially driving around the isle of skye on a macbackpackers mini bus with bri and jamie the tourguide yeahhh!)

ok thats probably enough. think i wrote too much. if you made it this far, congrats and apologies.

x

soup and cigarettes

2007-01-31T12:57:00.000+10:30

the office or The Office

2007-01-23T10:25:00.000+10:30

me: (sitting at my work desk reading emails)

woman: (walks up, looks strangely at me over the wall divide, and then stares at my sunglasses sitting on my desk. "they're your sunglasses, are they?"

me: (i look at sunglasses on the desk, and notice that they’ve been moved since i put them down last. "ah, yes, they are."

woman: "oh right... i thought you might have found them."

me: "no... they're mine."

woman: "oh."

me: (silence... staring… confused)

woman: "oh, its just i've lost mine"

me: "ah, ok. well, they're mine."

woman: "yeah i lose them all the time."

me: "oh, that's... a shame."

woman: (silence... still staring at sunglasse) "right then, ok". (walks away whilst looking suspiciously at me)

x

old sydney town

2007-01-20T00:41:00.000+10:30

Decided to set off for a little new year visit to Sydney – my cover story was to check out the Sydney Festival, but it was really about eating, drinking, shopping, swimming and hanging out with some great big city friends. I stayed with Honor and Luke at their brilliant little place in Manly – well Queenscliff actually, a short stagger from the beach. It’s a great place to hang out, feels a world away from the city – and not really that far away (although it sure feels far if you miss the last ferry).

Straight after dumping my bags at Alison’s work I met Mat for a beer at their old lunchtime local for a few schooners (which are actually pints - confusing) of Coops, Alison joined us bit later and we made our way to the Sydney Theatre in the Rocks to see Seemanslieder , a Festival show by Euro Director Christophe Marthaler (called the bad boy of Swiss theatre!) There was a bit of pressure on as I had picked this show, everyone was looking a little scared after a pretty damning review in the paper that morning, and the fact that it was 2.5 hours long with no interval (!). I was keeping hopes up (festival brochure copy writers don't lie do they?). Charlie arrived and we positioned ourselves in the corner of the foyer to scull a pre-theatre drink, and I somehow managed to knock over everything in sight.

Anyway, the show was great. Sydney audiences obviously struggle with anything more than banging a bunch of cans and sticks around. After we went to the Lord Nelson pub in the Rocks for a beer (they brew all their beers on the premises – so cool!). Me and my suitcase then trundled back to Circular Quay for the last ferry to Manly, where Honor picked me up from the wharf with her rockin ute.

Saturday morning I made the trek from Manly to Potts Point (1.5 hours with bus–ferry–bus) to meet up with Alison, Mat, Andrew and Marie, and Nicola and Ildo. Unfortunately I took so long that they’d all finished their brekkie when I arrived booo! Set off on a pub crawl towards the DnBBQ (drum n bass barbecue – good tunes and even better chicken and rice by all accounts). The door charge had mysteriously doubled, so we ditched it and continued the pub crawl on to the Rose in Erskinville to meet Dean for a few more – yes, you guessed it – beers and a burger...

I love the seagulls that fly with the ferry at night...

Sunday morning met at the MCA to check the one-and-only visual arts inclusion in the festival program, Centre Pompidou Video Works 1965-2005. Fave works...
1. João Onofre's Untitled (Vulture in the studio)
2. Tony Oursler's Switch (Philosophers)
3. Dara Birnbaum's Kiss the Girls: Make Them Cry
4. Pierre Huyghe's The Third Memory
5. Bruce Nauman's Going around the corner piece

Monday I had lunch with Alister and spent the rest of the day wandering around the city, I love this building at Martin Place

i think this chick forgot to go get her hair cut, for a few, ah, hundred years

Tuesday I spent in Manly with Honor, we started the day off with a beachside walk to the Bower cafe for the least greasy fryup I have ever had in my life!

We spent the whole day on the beach - swimming, reading, chatting and polished off a bottle of champagne in the process, slapper-style!

Later met Bri for some amazing handmade noodles in chinatown and had a bit of a boogie at the Spiegeltent, of course. Wednesday only had time for a quick farewell lunch with Alison (vegetarian yumcha, actually quite good!) before flying home to the unmistakable adelaide suburbs...

x

ps oh, almost forgot, jack black was on my flight home! he's hiding in the middle here... nowhere to run, jaaaaaack!

strange things

2007-01-05T00:12:00.000+10:30

a little photo-essay of a recent adelaide weekend.

starts with walking to work on friday morning, even without glasses, i noticed this lady across the road wearing a very strange getup indeed:

did she say to herself that morning, ok union jack singlet - check! unflattering blue and purple skirt made from unnatural fibre - check! floral pattern cap with neck flap - check! little useless shoulder bag and other slightly less useless aqua handbag - check! trolley decorated with multicoloured plastic stuff - check! right, lets go then.

so then at lunchtime, thought i would wander up rundle mall for a sandwich and i am confronted by this:

giant strange sand sculpture for no particular reason whatoever? who are these people and where do they learn their rather impressive sand sculpture skills? and then i realise, oohhhh, its a giant strange sand sculpture for *christmas*, ohhh well thats ok then.... (and i think santa is making eyes at that guy with the shovel)

saturday drove down to my cousins for lunch, pulled up behind this ute:

i was positively mesmerised! can you read the middle one? it says "fuel was up, water was down; we still rode em for eight; while the utes went round." hmmm.

at my cousin's place that she's just bought from some old italian people:

why would they pour concrete right up the base of a tree? why would they then cut the tree off just above the base? maybe they liked it this way? so many questions, so little time. but i have to say i find it strangely satifying.

but the piece de resistence was this little assemblage, found in a city carpark on sunday arvo:

so we have the former wrapping for an issue of Hustler's Barely Legal magazine (nine wicked young wenches drop their kit for you - boy, how could anyone resist?), a broken mobile car carger and a black satin glove with fake fur trim. i swear to god above that this was exactly as it was found.

i think i need a holiday.

x

halloween, LA style

2006-12-10T23:26:00.001+10:30

it was a nice LA afternoon, i was just wandering through the santa monica mall, grabbing a coffee and minding my own business, when i saw this...

yes, its a guy in dressed in a spiderman costume, casually talking on his mobile and unlocking his bike. que?? then i remembered, its halloween. LA people (and americans in general) take halloween verrrrrry seriously. they get so incredibly into it.

later on i knew something fishy was going on when tam and mat practically kidnapped me and starting talking a million miles per hour about halloween this, and trick or treat that, and costumes something else.... hang on... what's going on lucy thinks... and then we arrived here:

this is a shop in LA that just sells halloween costumes and accessories. that's all. well actually they sold a few other bits of novelty stuff (mat took great delight i tricking me and tam with a very lifelike toy cat in a curled up sleeping position, that he KICKED!). this shop was pretty surreal, its was packed with people, all trying on costumes and spending a fortune.

at first i thought this chick (who worked at the shop) was in costume. but she wasn't.

tam found a brilliant low-maintenance costume

once we were all costumed up we went to meet up with mat's friend heath, his girlfriend sam on the left and her sisters jessie and katie on the right. heath didn't look like he was enjoying himself much at all.

we went to busby's - a bar on the santa monica boulevard. after having the car valet parked (of course) we glided on through the doors and i'm not kidding you, everyone... EVERYONE was dressed in costume. it was seriously crazy, hilarious and slightly scary at times...

check out eric estrada from chips!!

and the deal or no deal girls - classic costumes

this was my fave costume. this chick went as a starbucks coffee shop assistant, except wearing only the apron. i also don't think that hotpants and fishnets are standard issue starbucks uniform. she was absolutely trashed, the apron precariously clinging to her chest, and at times failing. she disappeared at one point in the night, came back wiping her mouth as though she'd just been off throwing up somewhere. and then she kept on drinking.

matt in costume, looking vulnerable in the crowd. just before we left the flat to go out, matt turned to us and said something like - "hey i know fairy wings are gay, but, like, are they toooo gay?". Yes, matt. they're too gay. but we love it.

x

los angeles: part 3

2006-12-10T23:10:00.000+10:30

here's a few things that i learnt in LA that i'd like to share:
1. men shouldn't wear pashminas
2. the world doesn't need $6,000 value meals (you get burger, fries, coke and a really expensive bottle of wine)
3. valet parking does not make you any more important, despite how it may seem (however it does come in handy in some circumstances)
4. billy bob thornton has an unexplained phobia of antique furniture

anyway, back to the pics...

we visited eames house, design and former residence of the brilliant charles and ray eames. the building used off-the-shelf parts ordered from catalogues which i think was a pretty new idea at the time, especially for a residential design (i think?)

went on a little window shopping expedition on the famous rodeo drive - all i could think of was that scene in the film 'pretty woman' where julia roberts goes back to the rodeo drive boutique that had snubbed her earlier to rub her it in their faces. we didn't really do anything like that. the spell was broken somewhat by this couple:

it was like we had an agreement with the shop assistants on rodeo drive, they knew we weren't worth bothering to be nice to coz we clearly had no money. we were happy because they left us alone to drool on their clothes and diamonds. its so classy there they have chandaliers for street lights, albeit encased in plastic boxes. wierd.

i think these are the best shoes i have ever seen. ever.

tam and mat took me to this amazing italian deli near their place, they do absolultely amazing sandwiches. its bit like soup nazi in that the ordering system is stringent - you have to know exactly what you want, be ready to place your order as soon as your number is called - pay attention or lose your place and have to wait your turn again... and don't even try to ask questions.

my pick is on the left - mozzarella, tomato, basil and olive oil. tam's on the right - about 58 layers of salami, pickles, cheese and i can't remember what else - yummmmm!! we went halves each of course.

but this was mat's - a meatball sandwich, or more like a meatball debauchery. unbelievably good.

on my last day we went to the Getty Center (sic), you park underneath the building and catch a tram up the hill to the museum. this was the view back along the highway.

a panarama of the building (i didn't take this one!)

its just dripping with money, the building (designed by richard meier) is pretty amazing. the collection is said to be not that great, more money than taste. i'm not really sure - we didn't really have enough time to explore the whole place properly - its just huge - with multiple galleries, gardens, etc etc...

this is the outdoor cafe

some of my favourites from the collection...

this crazy marie antoinette style bed, complete with feathers on each corner!

i have no explanation for why i liked this!

they had an amazing exhibition of illuminated manuscripts

we layed about on the lawns in the sun for a while

and this was my last view of LA - what a crazy building, its a restaurant, called the encounter i think. fairly obviously built in the 60's! kept expecting james bond to walk out.

sending big thanks and much love to tam and mat for hanging out with me in LA, i had a ball... you guys rock!

x

los angeles: part 2

2006-11-28T22:58:00.000+10:30

tam and i spent a day walking around downtown LA - starting with el pueblo which is the oldest part of la, where the original spanish settlement of the city was.

on julianne's recommendation we visited the biltmore hotel - or should i say the 'millenium' biltmore hotel!

we had high tea - needless to day it was expensive, but gorgeous. we were certainly on our best behaviour.

went to union station, built in 1939 - it was a beautiful mix of deco and spanish architecture styles, a relaly lovely space to be in

this is the walt disney concert hall, designed by architect frank gehry. really is one of the most breathtaking buildings you'll ever see

downtown also has some amazingly tall buildings - its so strange how they're spaced out, compared to NY where the skyscrapers are all packed together. it makes them look even taller somehow.

later went to the farmer's market - not really like what i imagine a farmer's market to be. it was more like a collection of great foodstalls. tam and i had some lebanese food, v yummy, although i was pretty tempted by this...

this couple were sitting at the next table over. they were like the perfect classic american jewish couple, love it!

was about to leave and tam spotted this little beauty - its a fudge brownie monster - a chocolate brownie, with icecream, fudge sauce, cream and nuts. my god, so good.

later at night we took a drive on mulholland drive - famous from the david lynch film (although it only features a tiny bit in the film), but lots of stars apparently have houses there. its a really windy, dark and inredibly spooky place - amazing views of the city. cheers mat for driving, it was no mean feat!

tbc...

los angeles: part 1

2006-11-28T22:57:00.000+10:30

los angeles was the last city on my trip, so i was determined to enjoy every last minute of it.

i stayed in santa monica, a chilled out part of LA - my hostel was only a few blocks away from where my friends tam and mat were living - they had very recently moved to LA from adelaide and i was their first visitor! (their flat was above a raw food restaurant, of course) they had been so busy setting up their new life that they'd really had no time to do any sightseeing, so it was great to be able to explore some of the city together.

the cliches of the LA landscape are actually pretty spot on!

this is venice beach - a little way south from santa monica..

the santa monica pier. this guy wasn't all that busy... (although i'm kicking myself now for not getting one)

it was only a few days before halloween when i arrived, so pumpkin stuff was everywhere. tam and i couldn't resist this pumpkin pie...

we even stumbled across an (american) football game, complete with cheerleaders.

apple pan is a classic american burger joint - it hasn't changed a bit since 1947 when it opened. mat told me how its exactly like the original mcdonalds burger restaurant, mcdonalds was turned into a chain, but apple pan has stayed exactly the same.

the burgers were so good, fries served on a wierd paper plate with another one for a small pond on ketchup that the guy squirts out for you, and the coke is served in a waxed paper cone, sitting in this metal holder, cool! the people working there look like they just stepped out of the 50, white aprons, complete with little white hats. they eemed like that'd been working since 1947 too - pretty grumpy, but in a kinda charming way. when he gives you your burger, he whacks it down on the counter on one end - the burger makes this sloppy thwack sound!

never got here but mat tells me that the sandwiches are as good as their sign

gotta love this numberplate. ("adelaide ladi" just doens't have quite the same ring to it though)

the hollywood walk of fame

this is grauman's chinese theatre, hollywood icon of the hand and footprints in the concrete fame

here's mat's proving that he can measure up to the big samuel j.

tbc...

mexico, ny

2006-11-27T23:29:00.000+10:30

i caught a good ole greyhound bus north from new york city to visit my mum's cousins Hank and Ida (i think that makes them my second cousins?). They live in a place called Mexico, in the middle of New York State right near Lake Ontario and the Canadian border, took about 5 hours on the bus from NYC.

this guy was on the bus too - his tracksuit was priceless, looked like a giant cream-coloured amoeba or something

hank and ida live in a gorgeous log cabin in the middle of the woods, its so lovely and serene, couldn't get much more removed from the city!

here's hank and ida! (sorry guys its a bit blurry)

and the loungeroom

almost all the leaves had dropped from the trees, the landscape was really quite beautiful. hank and ida said it was a lot better in spring, but i thought it was still pretty great.

it had been raining pretty solidly. the ground was soggy and waterproof boots were a must to walk around (luckily ida had some spares that i could borrow)

this is a 360 view standing out near the big shed, which doubles as an aircraft hangar - yes i do mean aircraft hanger - hank and ida have a little 2-seater plane that they fly around in, so cool! unfortunately the weather wasn't good enough to go for a ride when i visited, save that for next time!

ida baked us the yummiest apple pie ever! we had it for lunch with cream and icecream, soooo good

not a bad backyard for a cat...

this is hank and ida's workshop - where they run their business making electrical circuit boards, mainly for theatre applications. they did a huge board for a casino in las vegas, it controls the movement of a platform for dancing girls!

just can't get enough of that photo stitch program - here's a vertical one - ooo clever...

and it even snowed - albeit a tiny bit - on the last day of my visit

was so lovely to visit hank and ida and see where they live, have to say a huge thanks to them for putting me up, driving me around and feeding me!! they were most generous to me and it was lovely to meet them again... hope to go and stay another time for a bit longer.

x

new york: part 3

2006-11-03T16:11:00.000+10:30

i've always wanted to see the Guggenheim museum, seen lots of pictures and its such an amazing building. so i was pretty - shall we say - unhappy when i arrived and it looked like this:

excellent. i know it needs to be restored but did they have to do it right when i wanted to visit?! still, the interior is also amazing. they had an exhibition on by zaha hadid, which was ok, but i'd rather see the building with nothing in it.

alison told me about this place that andy warhol used to love called serendipity 3, he had his own table there and used to pay his bill with drawings. they're famous for their frozen hot chocolate - strange concept, but i assure you its really really really yummy. like really.

also went to trump tower, just to say hi to the 'ole don.

unfortunately he wasn't in that day. but he left a couple of pictures of him and the wife around just in case they had visitors.

later went on a sunset cruise of the harbour

this is john, our cruise tour guide. he's a native new yorker, studied to be an actor and ended up running cruises. he was lovely, but seemed a little bored.

also went past some lady holding a torch

and last but not least, went up to the viewing deck the empire state building. not a bad view of the city...

so there you go, i feel like i only just touched the surface of new york. saw great stuff, ate great things, met nice people - what more can you ask for!

x

new york: part 2

2006-11-03T14:02:00.000+10:30

there are good things and bad things about staying in hostels.

the bad things are that you have to sleep in a room with millions of other people, with no space, in bunk beds, with acrylic blankets and often pretty festy bathrooms. but the good things are that they are (usually) really cheap, often in great locations, and you meet great people such as these...

that's paul, tim and pete, 3 lovely english boys who'd travelled to New York for their friends' wedding. but not just them - the bride, groom and everyone else all travelled from from england, crazy! sounded like they all had a brilliant time.

and that's carly, kellie and paul again - just after he came back from the wedding held at the very swanky rainbow room. carly and kellie were visiting for a few days from florida, kellie has plans to move to ny permanently in a while.

i caught the train along the Hudson river to visit the Dia Gallery at Beacon, its an old biscuit factory converted into a vast gallery space, very serrrious modernist work, absolutely amazing exhibition space. the train ride was great too, beautiful autumn colours

i love train stations in general, but this one relay takes the cake - Grand Central Station - its just breathtaking.

as was the Chrystler building...

had dinner at the famous Katz's Deli, a brilliant Jewish deli/cafe opened in 1888 that serves the best pastrami and pickles around.

here was my corned beef sandwich - was huge - this is only half of it! brett, the pickles are for you haha...!

after your sandwich you can "send a salami to your boy in the army" - this is for real! you can actually get them to send a whole salami to your son/husband/whatever serving in the forces wherever in the world

next day i spent with Martin, lovely dutch guy also staying at the hostel. we walked up through central park and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

here's Martin in a very familiar pose!

the Met has an absolutely amazing Egyptian collection, so fasctinating and really well displayed.

the Met building also gives a great view over central park to the Manhattan skyline

never get sick of the squirrels, even though they're everywhere! so incredibly cute - here's us trying to coax one close enough for a photo...

then we caught the subway down to lower manhattan island and to the financial district and wall street. this is the NY stock exchange. again, not shy of displaying the flag

this is ground zero, site of the former World Trade Centre towers. its really spooky down there, eerie. there's still just a big hole in the ground, no-one can decide to do with it i think. we went to the memorial exhibition place, which was very moving. it had artifacts and all sorts of things recovered from the site, lots of stories from those involved, films and stuff - but i did wish that the exhibition wasn't so emotive, and that it was left to speak for itself.

at sunset we walked over the Brooklyn bridge and back again, great views back to the lower manhattan skyscrapers...

tbc...

new york: part 1

2006-11-02T13:26:00.000+10:30

Ok strap yourselves in ladies and gentlemen, this is gonna be a big one, just can't seem to edit this big fat city down!

The first couple of nights in New York I stayed in Brooklyn, one of the 5 boroughs just over the East River from Manhattan. In the past Brooklyn was pretty much a place to be avoided, so I understand, but now its becoming gentrified.

I was in Greenpoint, staying at the YMCA. Breakfast was provided by a diner just down the street. If you imagine what a diner in Brooklyn at breakfast on a Saturday would be like, this is it. Big eggs, bad coffee, huge hair, women yelling at each other in the broadest Brooklyn accents… it was brilliant! Ordering at a place like this is certainly an art to be mastered. The whole experience was a little confusing, but fascinating. This was my waitress…

And across the road, John C. Deere's handy law van should someone decide to sue someone else during breakfast…

Corner Manhattan and Nassau Sts, Brooklyn…

My first NY dinner, a slice of pepperoni pizza

Moved over to Manhattan after a few days, this was the view when I first emerged from the subway…yikes!

i love the snack carts that are everywhere

here's the hot dog i had in Times Square, not really that remarkable, but authentic

next stop, Museum of Modern Art

That place is seriously huge, and has an amazing (perhaps greedy) collection, all the big guns are there. The museum building is very new, absolutely immaculate white walls, each gallery is named after its private benefactor (all private money, very little public – has interesting implications I think).

This work by Arthur Young is a helicopter suspended about half way up in the gallery

There are lots of windows through MoMA so you get great views of the surrounding buildings

not a bad apartment to have i'd say

Just wandering the streets of New York is enough to keep you entertained for hours… this is the Hershey’s shop in midtown.

Amercans seem to be mad for chocolate/peanut flavoured things – and for those who really just can’t get enough, chocolate-peanut flavoured lip balm...

Classic NY street view, complete with crazy speeding cabs

tumbled across the Rockerfeller Centre one night, where they set up a skating rink over the winter. They also don’t mind a bit of the American flag

They have just installed this work by Anish Kapoor, called the Sky Mirror. Its a massive concave stainless steel mirror, leaning back towards one side so it reflects the sky and tall buildings on one side, and the street scape on the other. (10 points if you can you spot me...)

tbc...

matt banham this one's for you...

2006-10-25T12:50:00.000+09:30

london part 2

2006-10-25T12:48:00.000+09:30

becky and i decided to catch the ferry down the river - unfortunately it was a bit of a rainy day (i know, sooo surprising for london)...

under the tower bridge...

got off down near the tate britain to visit the current turner prize exhibition, then caught the special damien hirst decorated boat back to the tate modern. they've just installed the new work in the huge turbine hall, by carsten holler - its a series of covered slides that you can actually ride on! i was actually bouncing up and down like a 7 year old when i walked in and saw this...

and can you imgine the extreme pouting looks on my face when told that there were no more riding slots available that day. i was leaving the next day, so no chance to go back! i begged and pleaded but to no avail, those london gallery people have no mercy BOOOOO!!!!

so we were left to watch all the other people having the time of their life...

holler says in the catalogue essay that one shouldn't assume that to enjoy the work you need to actually ride on the slides. bollocks!!! well maybe not, it was still cool watching the people's expressions as they shot off the bottom. As the catalogue ssays, "For Carsten Höller, the experience of sliding is best summed up in a phrase by the French writer Roger Caillois as a ‘voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind’".

then walked back up towards soho...

never get sick of the cute squirrels... here's one i staked out - think its just busted me.

and here it is running away from me...

can't decide if this is the best or the worst name for a pub ever...

drinks at the pub (with food but no chef) to farewell becci from london...

x

london part 1

2006-10-16T10:38:00.000+09:30

and then I hit big ole’ London town...

went to camden town with becci, we were given tickets to be in the audience for taping of a tv show at the mtv studios nearby.

our excitement was dampened somewhat when we realised that it wasn’t a mtv show, but a uktv show – which is the old folks tv station. We were the youngest people there by about 30 years. The show was excrutiating, oh well, you win some…

afterwards wandered towards soho, past the theatre where the queen musical is playing. Hmmm I think I’ll pass on that one.

Then we discovered this brilliant little original 50s café in soho

The menu was a copy of the original 50s one with scribbles and things crossed out all over it.

Dinner was incredibly yummy. I had veal escalope, becci had the cheesiest cannelloni ever, in a really good way. Dessert was steamed treacle pudding.

Went to Brick lane on Sunday for the markets

Apparently if you run an indian restaurant, it helps to have had either prince charles or posh and becks visit for a quick curry.

This glass box was the entrance to an underground club, the ground was absolutely thumping – at about midday on a Sunday.

Every now and then some extremely trashy people would emerge from below and stumble out of the doors. All the people standing around in the pic were trying to get in, but the bouncers would have none of it. The guy on the right spent the whole time bashing on the glass yelling at someone inside trying to convince them to let him in.

Later went to the Frieze Art Fair.

(that’s Jake and Dinos Chapman painting people’s portraits)

Brekkie with Becky, Dan and Jeff – I have been staying with Becky at her wicked flat in Greenwich – have to say a biiiigggg thanks! Also massive thanks to Nora for putting me up at her equally wicked flat in Kentish Town! You ladies rock!

x

paris fashion moment

2006-10-16T10:37:00.000+09:30

rachel and i were in collette, an uber cool shop in paris, and we saw karl lagerfeld.

who? i hear you ask... this is him:

he's the head fashion designer for chanel, like a god in the fashion world. he was dressed remarkably similar to that picture, except he had on black pants with a silver stripe down the sides and silver fingerless gloves. he had a little entourage of boys to carry his (many) bags of shopping, one of whom was wearing a boxing flighter belt.

of course us and karl, well, we got along like old mates and he invted us back to his place for a barbie.

the strangest thing was we were standing at the shop counter right next to him, and there was a whole window of people on the street taking photos of him with their mobiles. we were probably in the background of the photos. should have given him rabbit ears.

x

paris

2006-10-15T08:16:00.000+09:30

ahhh gay par-ee...

so lovely, so romantic, soooo… many queues. I really love paris, I know it’s a cliché, but just can’t help it.

here's the catacombs, a series of underground caves filled to the brim with human bones… not so lovely, but very interesting.

Rachel’s having a good long look to see if she recognises anyone.

Thanks so much to Rachel and her dad, I was lucky enough to be able to stay in their flat in the 4th arrondissement. Reminded me again about how much better it is staying at someone’s place in a foreign city, makes you feel like you can sink a little into the city instead on remaining on the surface as a tourist.

banana and nutella crepe – heaven

creme caramel - never fails

the shrine above the underpass where Diana died (stumbled across this - truly bizarre)

the louvre – i went to go one weekend and the line was about 58 hours long, so went back and luckily got straight in. still huge crowds…

you can't take pics of the mona lisa any more. But this is what it woud be like to be the Venus de Milo. Lots of people taking your photo, more people standing with their backs to you having their photo taken, onkly a few people actually looking at you.

Loved the Palais de Tokyo gallery, I think my favourite works were these:

This boy figure would intermittently whack its head against the wall like a jackhammer, so loud you could hear it in a few rooms away.

The real boy here tried to imitate him, ended up in tears of course.

Its hard to get a sense of this work from the pictures, but it was a small room with a large loop of cassette tape flying around the outside, kept buoyant by airflow from the circle of fans in the centre.

So simple but beautifully effective. The tape kept you pinned against the wall, it would gently brush up and down against you like it was caressing you.

x

zurich

2006-10-10T08:33:00.000+09:30

I really only went to Zurich because it was a good halfway point between Vienna and Paris. I caught the overnight train there, got a sleeper car coz I thought it would be romantic (sooooo not). But its such a pretty place – just wandering the streets was great.

The first day I followed a walk in my guidebook that took me on a path around the centre of the city. Walking around was pretty much all I could afford to do, this place was sooo incredibly expensive!! Everyone was so loaded, I’ve never seen so many luxury cars and expensive shops in such a small place. It is the world centre of banking so I guess to be expected, but was pretty eye-opening.

Ohhh, some pretty swans on the Limmat river...

The transport system is incredibly efficient. Its said that you can set your watch by the trains, they are so reliably on time.

Surprising - I’m sure you’ll all agree – but I managed to find a bakery or 3. This is Sprungli, one of Zurich’s best known and most revered sweet makers. They make these macaroons which are almost too pretty to eat. But I did.

Zurich is also the home to Freitag, a company that makes bags and wallets out of recycled truck tarpaulin and seat belts. I visited their headquarters, an amazing building constructed out of stacked shipping containers, which were gutted and refitted.

The structure is positioned so that you can watch the trucks on the highway through its glass end walls. Its so cool.

Then you can climb to the top to the truck viewing platform complete with binoculars to spot trucks on the highway.

This is the one I spotted...

Also visited a Le Corbusier building, totally cool. Unfortunately couldn’t get inside (I still jumped the fence and pressed my face up against the glass).

I also found a bookshop that had a whole department of books to describe Swiss etiquette and culture. One book said that Australians think that people everywhere are basically Australian, and are therefore surprised when they encounter people who act differently. The book also described australians as like peaches (ie with thin skin) and Swiss as like coconuts, with thick defensive outer skin that is hard to break through. I'm not really sure what I think about this...

x

vienna

2006-09-29T07:54:00.000+09:30

vienna is all class.

my guidebook said it was "sweet and bitter". i'm not sure what they mean by that, maybe they mean that the city is absolutely gorgeous but the people are pretty snooty. if so, then they're spot on.

This was my hotel (not). its the Hotel Sacher, yes chocolate lovers, it the home of the Sachertorte (for you un-foodies that is an amazing dense kinda mud cake) The true recipe is still a secret. I was going to go have a slice at their cafe but couldn't get past the American tourists.

Being the home of music, thought I should go along to the opera. Bought a standing room ticket to see 'Robert Devereaux' at the State Opera House (thats it above), an opera about Queen Elizabeth I – it was absolutely unbelieveably amazing. (blew the one in Prague away). I know it’s a big call, but the most amazing opera singing I have ever heard – actually almost brought me to tears.

Even the buskers in Vienna are classy.

And the window displays are classy too, in a euro-trashy kinda way.

Viennese Art Nouveau architecture is amazing - this is the Secession, a beautiful exhibition building originally built for the 'Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession'.

and the Majolica Haus by Otto Wagner, an apartment building.

couldn't get inside to have a look but this is what its like....

Not so Nouveau, but this is the Hofburgh, a vast castle inhabited until the early 20th century by the imperial family, now is basically the office of the Austrian President - and a very impressive office it is!

This is the Museumquatier, a complex of about 7 different museums. The best one was the MUMOK (Museum Moderner Kunst (Art)), it had a massive survey show of comtemporary photography - was just vast and amazing!

There were these huge specially round seats designed for people to just lay about and soak up the sun and the atmosphere. Here's the frühstück (breakfast) I had at a cafe in the museum courtyard...

on the last night, a few people from the hostel went to get dessert – that’s mine in the front, a nutella sundae. I only got through about half of it. (that's John, an irish guy - he was heading for Munich for the octoberfest)

L x

prague

2006-09-29T06:10:00.000+09:30

Day one in Prague started about as perfectly as you could hope for.

On the train from I met some nice people from Adelaide, and someone had thoughtfully left their copy of the Guardian behind. I had booked a hostel that looked palatial on their website (usually means it will be a complete dump), I followed the instructions provided on the website to get to the hostel, and they were perfect. Only took me a few minutes to get there, and the tram stopped right outside… yeah. When I arrived, it was actually nice, like really nice! But even better, it was an old building that had been renovated, so it didn’t stick out from the surrounding buildings. There were a few people sitting in the lounge area talking, not yob-like or too quiet. They were even playing St Germain in the foyer. I immediately decided to stay 2 extra nights (which they of course had available just by luck) – I had a feeling I was gonna like this town.

The guy at the reception desk was so helpful, without being annoyingly happy. He gave me a map and pointed out where we were, where the city centre was, and where the trams and underground lines went. There was a lift, so no lugging the case up millions of stairs. I had decided to go luxury style this time, and get a single room – the room was clean, they windows opened right up, it had a massive bed, new linen and massive fluffy pillows… heaven.

The hostel wasn’t in a tourist area, which is perfect for coz it means you see people going about their daily business, and get a much better sense of what the city is like. On the tram I saw a man carrying a bag of hay, and another man carrying a huge tv antenna.

I quickly discovered that this place is cheap – like really cheap! Was able to catch up with Selena, Chloe and Danny again for a final farewell dinner – I was gunning for some good eastern European meat dishes, but they were sick of it already – so chinese it was. We ate a feast for about $5 each.

Bought a ticket to whatever was on in the Opera House that night – it was Madama Butterfly. I think they wheeled out the C-list orchestra, was ok but nothing to write home about (well maybe to blog about). But the interior of the theatre was amazing…

un petit miroir so you can check yourself before going out for drinks at interval...

And after the opera I had this for dinner...

Yes, I actually ate that. (you can even see a bite – couldn’t wait to get the camera out)

Next day wandered about in the old city and Prague Castle, and walked over the Charles Bridge…

all the little shops have great window displays – Bridget, this ones for you…

On the last night went to a traditional beer hall and had Goulash and Budvar, the local favourite beer.

The were hoards of tourists in Prague, especially around the old city, and the really annoying loud pushy (often American) kind. Ruined the experience a bit, but Prague still rocked!

L x

berlin

2006-09-24T18:41:00.000+09:30

On the train from Brussels, we stopped at Koln for a little while, just long enough to announce loud and clear that I had arrived in Germany… saw all the clichés of German people in about 5 minutes – a roly-poly man eating a sausage with a tiny belt stretching around his enormous waist. Crazy german gothy-punky kids with bizarre spiky dyed red haircuts. 80s style young guy with tight stonewash jeans and white tshirt, and greasy wave hairdo - think james dean if he was german in the 80s. but my favourite was an aging german bruce springsteen with a spangly red peace symbol embroidered on his jeans pocket… brilliant!

Berlin is a strange and amazing place, there’s was a sense of lawlessness about, as though people are just doing whatever they want, whenever and wherever. The city has had such a tumultuous history, I think its just taking a breath and getting itself back together, hoping the next chapter doesn’t start for little while yet. After WW2 and the opening of the wall, the city was in such a desperate state and is still being rebuilt now. Apparently in the years just after the wall fell, 80% of the cranes in Europe were in Berlin… crazy! The landscape is so grand, architecture just huge, solid and imposing – a real shock to the system after the Netherlands and Belgium. I also found it really strange that a lot of the buildings are actually reconstructions of originals (usually built to exactly replicate the original) – so often the only way to tell if you are looking at a building that stood before the war is to see if it has bullet holes or not – the originals are completely riddled with little chunks taken out from gun battles.

Was able to catch up with Chloe, Danny and Celena again, as our travel paths had crossed – we went at night to the Reichstag, the German parliament.

Its one that has been extensively repaired, and has had a new Dome section built on the top – by Norman Foster. Its designed so you can see down into the Parliament chamber, with a huge mirrored centre column reflecting light down into the room, and the giant eagle hung on the wall - yikes!

Next day went to the new Holocaust Memorial and exhibition . I’d seen pictures of it already, but its not until you are in it that you feel how powerful it is. The huge grey concrete pillars swallow you up and really gave me a sense of isolation.

The accompanying exhibition was - amazing – but horrible. Not the happiest way to start the day, but a good experience.

Later went to the East Side Gallery, a section of the Wall that has been sacrificed to some incredibly baaaadddd mural art – I was really surprised about how thin the wall actually was – but later learnt that other sections were much thicker, and there a no-go zone surrounding the wall, sometimes as wide as 500m, patrolled by armed guards.

Berlin is built on a big swamp ('berl" actually means swamp in old polish i think), if you dig down only a little you get to sand – so all around the city there are these riverside ‘beaches’ where people go to drink beer, lay around in banana lounges and pretend they are somewhere near the sea. Of course we joined in! any excuse for a beer in the middle of the day…

Next day i went on another bicycle tour, this time with Karl the Danish-born ex-Melbournite (wanna-be) filmmaker. He spent a substantial amount of time in his tour intro plugging how good his mega-blockbuster film was going to be. Of course all he had to do was finish the script and get the money... right-o! But the tour was good, visited all the greatest hits, including the Siegessäule, or Tower of Victory with a gleaming figure of Nike at the top. The tour guide shorthand lingo for this is the chick-on-a-stick.

Also went to the crazy tourist mecca that is Checkpoint Charlie, which was the last checkpoint between east and west in former berlin. Nothing really happens there now. Its pretty strange actually.

Next day visited the Neue Nationalgalerie, it was holding a giant exhibition called 'Berlin-Tokyo/Tokyo-Berlin'. (dont ask me about the wierd brown man sunning himself - no idea what he was about!)

My fave work was called 'Then, I decided to give a tour of Tokyo to the octopus from Akashi' by Shimabuku, a Japanese artist. He takes a freshly caught octopus on a trip to Tokyo by train. (the octopus is in a esky kinda-thing - still alive!). They go in a cab and visit the Tokyo tower and then go to a fish market where it meets a Tokyo octopus (the market guy says Tokyo octopuses are high sprited). Then he takes it back to the sea where it was caught - the artists said that he "hopes it is still talking about its Tokyo experience to other octopuses". I love it!

bridget - these pics are for you... stumbled across a kids festival thing in the street near the gallery...

alison - this ones for you...

My hostel didn't have a laundry (stupid) so I had to walk about 20 mins to find one, took a wrong turn and ended up here...

the pic doesnt really show it well, but the whole street was like a wasteland, people are living in those vans with dogs etc. it was only a tiny bit away from other busy neighbours.

anyway, four days in berlin was definitely not enough, feel like i only just touched the surface. will definitely come back later...

x

rotterdam

2006-09-24T00:57:00.000+09:30

whoops, forgot about this one. in chronological order, this came after Utrecht... no offence, rotterdam.

I’d read that Rotterdam was the only city in the Netherlands that doesn’t have a declining population of ‘young’ people, so was pretty keen to go take a look. When we arrived into our hostel the bar was full of old Dutch people having a birthday party for Jojo – they were all wearing red handkerchiefs and angel wings…

This is a bad pic but the woman dancing in the background had a dress with sunflowers sewn all over it – bridget you would have loved it!

The rooms at the hostel were themed, ours was the ‘Festival’ room. We left and stumbled across – yes you guessed it – a Festival. Hmmm. A whole street had been blocked off and completely covered in pink dots – walls, ground, windows – everything…

Wandered about the city, discovered the port area with a huge ocean liner berthed there.

Check out these lights – looks as though they were moveable.

Settled in at a canalside bar for a few drinks – this was their mascot (it was motorised, the jaw and tongue moved!)

x

brussels

2006-09-17T18:14:00.000+09:30

brussels and i didn't get along that well. its actually the capital of europe, as i learnt, and i think it suffers from capital city syndrome, ie boring. its a business city - too big and built up to be nice to wander about in, completely over-run with traffic and crazy roads. but not enough exciting things to do like in a real big city.

my hotel sucked too, pretty pricey and for no real reason. and the staff were completely uninterested. as were most people i came across! and their internet cost 5 euros for 15 minutes!!! ridiculous.

however it does have an amazing town square - said to be the most beautiful in all of europe...

this statue was just up from my hotel, its the namesake of the belgium national anthem.

i did a walking tour of art nouveau buildings, they were really amazing - but frustrating too because you couldnt see inside any of them!

love the details of the buildings...

however one thing the belgium people do know about, its chocolate. i went to a few shops - purely research of course... this one called pierre marcolini...

the shop's street level was like a chocolate gallery - to buy anything, you had to go to the upper level through a dramatic stairwell with black velvet curtains and downlights. it was like going to a chocolate brothel.

anyway, wasn't sad to leave brussels but sad that we didn't get along. i guess you can't be friends with everywhere you go

x

antwerp

2006-09-17T18:13:00.001+09:30

sorry gonna be brief with this one... all I need to say is Antwerp is way cool. Definitely my favourite place so far.

Classic train station

Best steak and chips in town

Coolest cloakroom ever, in the Fashion museum

Amazing gothic cathedral in the middle of town

Yummiest apricot tart

Cool cat hanging out in the newsagent (I love how dogs and cats are allowed anywhere – shops, restaurants, even bars!)

x

utrecht

2006-09-17T17:50:00.000+09:30

Didn’t have the greatest of starts in Utrecht – the hostel we had booked (which was gorgeous) had no record of our reservation, and we were sent to another hostel out in the ‘burbs (not so gorgeous)... As we had absolutely no idea where we were, decided to have a night in, picked up supplies from the local supermarket, danny cooked dinner and we had our own little bunk party!

This one’s for you brett – this is the hallway of the hostel…

Utrecht was a bit of a mecca for me – firstly because it was the home of architect Gerrit Rietveld and the location of his Rietveld Schröder House (among many others).

I joined a tour to visit the House - had to wear strange little plastic showercaps over our shoes (to protect the floor, and to my disgust weren’t allowed to take any pics from the inside BOOOOO!!! (sorry brett) We went through the House room by room with the guide demonstrating its features, including the super-cool moveable walls in the upstairs level that allowed the entire upstairs space to become one big room. For its time, this was totally revolutionary.

I think my favourite bit of the house was the Shopping window, with the ‘speaking tube’ linking outside to the upper level. The milkman could ask Mrs Schroder how many bottles of milk she wanted via the tube, then leave them inside the window (which would automatically close) –so that Mrs Schroder did not have to disturbed to come downstairs… brilliant!

Utrecht was also the home of Dick Bruna, creator of the character Miffy, and we visited the museum (and gift shop) devoted to Bruna and Miffy. I think the museum was meant for kids actually but we had buckets of fun pretending to be 7 years old again!

I was a little scared by the giant golden Miffy…

But the best thing about Utrecht was just wandering around the streets – was sooo pretty. We stumbled upon an opera performance on the bank of a canal, and learnt that there was a festival going on in Utrecht that day! The singers were on the far side of the canal in this pic…

All in all a very cool town... loved it!

x

amsterdam

2006-09-16T04:38:00.000+09:30

The first destination on my euro travels… yay!

I set off, all bright eyed and bushy tailed… ready to hit the ‘dam! Plan was to meet up with my travel buddies celena, chloe, danny, damo and millie who had already been there for one night. Apparently there was a huge conference in town so we had trouble getting beds. Our hostel was right smack bang in the middle of the red light district – nice. Here’s what it looked like when I arrived…

hmmm

It was ok in the end, pretty festy, but we had some funny dorm roommates on the first night – Gaelen (from Canada) and Casey (from Alaska), doing a whirlwind backpacking tour of europe. They were only in town for one night and unfortunately slept through the whole thing… oh well, next time boys.

Went to the Van Gogh Museum, of course only half of it was open. Still cool though. We absolutely did not visit any coffeeshops at all, none whatsoever. Nor did we wander about looking at naked ladies in the bizarre sex district. Damo certainly didn’t want to go to a live sex show, and I certainly didn’t agree to go with him. But in the end we didn’t go (we actually didn’t). I think it may have caused Damo mental trauma so probably a good thing.

There was this one alleyway in the red light area so narrow you could only get through 1 or 2 people wide at a time, completely lined with bored naked women behind windows, some doing their hair, some talking on the phone, and some desperately wiggling their ass and looking seductive to try to get the attention of passers-by. Oh yeah, that’s the other weird thing, the streets at night are completely filled with men – posses of them. Felt strange to be a woman.

Found a great little bar in the middle of the tourist area for a yummy dinner – here’s me and millie deep in conversation (thanks for the pic celena!)

But the highlight was a bike tour we did conducted by Pete the Dutch-Canadian gay bike rider. About 2 seconds of instructions, then we were let loose on the streets of the ‘dam! Everyone rides bikes, its so great. We rode in single file formation, stopping every now and then for a history lesson.

It was totally ace, took us to the outer city and some pretty neighbourhoods, then right out past the city to a cheese and clog factory. Cheese was yummy, farmer was a total loser – but the cheese won out in the end.

Then visited a windmill… (of course)

Gave us a completely different perspective on Amsterdam, just as well coz I think I would have written it off as a sex tourist hell-hole. Its definitely a place I’d like to go back to another time and discover more off the tourist track.

x

some more random pics from edinburgh...

2006-09-16T04:18:00.000+09:30

the Royal Mile in full swing

don't even know what this building is but it looks pretty amazing all lit up at night!

some dodgy person hanging around in a spooky alleyway : )

yummy shepherds pie at the Monster mash (eat your heart out martin parr!)

the first punter for the season at st george's west - we gave her a piece of cake to celebrate!

celebrity sitings at st george's west

2006-09-12T07:21:00.000+09:30

of course the most important question to be asked about the edinburgh festival - how many celebrities did you see?

1. kylie

yes, that kylie.

she rocked up to good ole st george's west one night for the havana rumba show (cuban music and dancing). she had a bit of a dance around on stage, hung around and chatted to the dancers a bit afterwards, then disappeared into the night. bri (stage manager) told her to get out of the backstage area (until she realised who she was). mike (production manager) wouldn't let her up on stage coz he didn't know who she was at all (he's american). andrew our publicist almost fainted when he saw her, he was on the phone to the newsdesks until at least 3am. our director took this photo and it ended up in loads of newspapers across the UK... bizarre!
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=631&id=1141762006

2. mandy from hollyoaks

i have absolutely no idea who this chick is but apparently she's famous in the UK for being in a soapie called hollyoaks (sort of like brit neighbours). she came a few days after kylie to the same show - i reckon she was trying to get on the same publicity bandwagon.

3. miranda from sex and the city

my personal favourite. cynthia (her actual name) showed up with her girlfriend looking pretty shoddy actually, greasy blonde hair, daggy clothes. she saw animal farm and congratulated gary the actor afterwards, which is nice. a few days later i saw her standing in the foyer looking really freaked out, turns out she and the gf had come to st george's to see a show that was actually back at the assembly rooms (about a 15 min walk away). she rushed out to the street, waving madly for a taxi, looking super-stressed. couldn't get a taxi at all, gf trying to calm her down loudly in the middle of the (busy) street. eventually tries to steal someone else's taxi but fails miserably. then runs off down the road.

4. sally phillips

from smack the pony (also bridget jones' diary). not really that exciting, but worth a mention.

5. tim brooke taylor

before

after

last but certainly not least, tim came along to see a couple of shows. he's looking decidedly wrinkly now, but still with an undeniable twinkle in the eye. i also met graeme garden at a party i went to one night. he introduced himself as graeme, and it wasn't until about 15 minutes later that i realised who he was. he was really boring, but i think he thought i was too. i went to see the retrospective show he and tim were doing, it was boring too.

some things are better left in the past.

william street

2006-09-09T05:23:00.000+09:30

it wasn’t all work in edinburgh (although there was a lot of that)...

william street near st george's west was a pretty regular haunt and it was packed with great little places.

Our local pub was the Teucters – pronounced Tooke-terrs – which I always called the choo-choo coz I couldn't say it right. The barman knew more about whisky than i could ever hope to (although i never seemed to stray from Jamiesons!).

then there was also the Melville across the road, which has a pretty mean pub quiz night on thursdays. it was also the scene of a wild brawl one night (which i unfortunately did not witness) but i am told that there were even women in floral dresses punching each other out - brilliant!

niki's did the best bacon and egg roll for brekkie, woke me up many a morning...

and if we were feeling like being healthy, herbie's did great lunches - especially this yummy couscous and roasted vege salad... yum! also did pretty good coffee, which is bloody hard to come by in edinburgh.

life on the Fringe

2006-09-08T06:12:00.000+09:30

well its all over! my first edinburgh fringe festival has come to a close and i have to say, it could actually send a person quite crazy.

here's the lowdown on how i spent most of my time...

so I worked as the venue manager of Assembly @ St George’s West, which is a satellite venue of Assembly Theatre, one of the biggest Fringe organisations in Edinburgh. here's the view from the front..

St George’s West is actually an operational church which is hired by Assembly for the fringe season and converted into a theatre venue. For the first time we had 2 theatres in our venue – the biggest was The Sanctuary, built into the church itself (the stage is built over the pulpit and the organ!). It seats about 470 people.

this is the stage being built in the Sanctuary during bump-in

here's a couple of shots of during performance

For any of you technical types, the rig in the Sanctuary was hung from 9 points in the ceiling of the church, through the holes made for the lights. Heres the riggers Colin and Harpo after coming down from the ceiling - we went to the pub straight afterwards!! (Colin is also the previous Production manager of St George's - an all-round legend and trouble maker!)

The other space was brand new this year, called Candlish Hall, a 100 seater theatre built from scratch in a completely bare room – complete with raked seating.

We had 11 companies performing in the whole venue, with all of them performing almost every day of the 25 day season. The shows were a crazy mix of theatre, music and comedy – including Russian clowns, American super-serious ac-torrrrs, English-hungarian fencers and a Dutch acapella man-band who performed one number in their show wearing skirts made of ties. Yes, it was a mad month.

check out the audiences waiting to come in - they had to queue out on the footpath!

We had a technical crew of about 10, front of house staff of 23 and a box office staff of 5...

here's the busy busy box office

Essentially my job was to make sure that everything was running well at St George’s, particularly the front of house, and to be a general problem-solver, back-slapper and occasional ass-kicker for the whole of the venue, staff and performing companies. It was pretty huge and pretty damn hectic, many loooooong days but lots of fun too. I worked with some great people and made some brilliant friends...

thats mike, lovely production manager and yank (but dont hold that against him) (heehee sorry mike)

On the left, Nora – Front of House Manager - totally gorgeous girl, so funny and completely mad and an actual Edinburgh local (they were rare on assembly staff) with a brialliant accent. Also has a knack at eating any food within reach, and does a mean impression of a yeti. Then Darren, Front of house staffer, an irish boy with the quickest wit this side of the black stump, regularly had me in tears of laughter. Then Andrew, our resident Press Officer and wicked gossip monger. Don’t let his sweet innocent face fool you! He cuts a mean figure on the dance floor and is totally addicted to crisps (or chips in oz language). Then James, classic London geezer, drinking partner and trouble maker, with a permanent seat in the Lane bar, Club bar and of course the Spiegeltent.

this was olivia's mini birthday party in the venue office

So there you have it - Edinburgh was certainly intense, lots of work, but lots of fun too...

L x

I think I must have a sign on my head that says "Randoms: talk to me"

2006-07-30T22:03:00.000+09:30

1. Man in Scotmid

There's a supermarket a few minutes walk from our flat called Scotmid. (I love the name, don't know why). It closes at 10pm every night - handy - and about a week ago, I walked down to get some milk just before they shut. As I was standing at the checkout, this guy right behind me starts talking quite loudly to the guy behind the counter. He was middle-aged, dressed in a suit, with a laptop bag, but kind of all dishevelled. Something about him wasn't quite right. He was just loud enough to be a little wierd, but all friendly-like, so no real bother. He seemed familiar to the shop staff - as thought they were used to him starting random loud conversations in their supermarket. His conversation with one shop assistant turns to his (the shop assistant's) girlfriend, as it seems he had been having some problems with her. And inevitably, I get drawn into the conversation... "Girls don't like it when you open the door for them do they?" he asks loudly. "Hmm, I'm not really sure", I politely answer. Of course then the accent gives me away, and he's like "Where are you from?". I tell him. "What are you doing here, are you working?". I tell him, as vaguely, but not rudely, as possible. He tells me all about his 3 BAFTA nominations, how he went to school with Irvine Welsh, he teaches at the university and a bunch of other stuff of other stuff I can't remember. I say "oh, that's... umm... very... good". Then I'm like, "ok, I'll be going then". The guy kinda grabs my arm, not roughly, "Don't go yet", he says. A slight shiver of panic waves through my spine. But there's security guards and lots of people around in the shop, so its ok. Then they turn the shop lights off and kick everyone out, because its 10pm. I find myself walking out with the random into the street. Mental stocktake: I have only about 10 pounds on me and my flat keys, but no mobile. No-one knows I'm here. Fantastic. I'm thinking, I have to play this one verrrrry carefully. I hedge, trying to see which way he's going to walk, and its the same way as me. He says " where are you going". I say "Ohhhh, just up there". He keeps talking a million miles per hour, walking along as though we were old friends. I'm internally freaking out. And then after a few minutes, he stops and puts out his hand to shake mine, says "lovely to meet you, all the best". And he walks off down the side street.

2. Euro guy

The next afternoon, I'm walking down my street with my ipod on after just getting off the bus, and I feel a tap on my shoulder. I spin around, and there's this guy standing there - he looks kinda northern euro, well dressed in a neat northern european sort of way. He very politely asks me asks me to take a picture of him in front of a building. He explains he's been living there and is leaving to go back home the next day. Of course I agree, take his camera and step backwards ready to frame the photo. Then the guy reaches inside his bag and pulls out one of these...

A novelty scottish tartan hat with bizarre shaggy red "hair" attached, commonly called a see-you-jimmy hat. He puts the hat on, and then does this half squat stance, with two thumbs up, elbows out - can you picture it? If he was in aus-land, he would have been saying "maaaaaate" with a tinny in one hand. It completely caught me by surprise, and I totally lost it, shrieking with laughter and can hardly hold the camera still. This perfectly normal, mild-mannered guy suddenly transformed before my very eyes into a euro-scot yob. I took a couple of photos of him, then gave the camera back and he left. I'm kicking myself that I didn't have my camera to take my own shot of him.

3. Crazy black guy

Friday night we had a bit of a meet-and-greet (read: drinking session) at the main Assembly venue for all the tech staff. I was stuck at work until well after it was underway, it was about 10pm before I arrived, the streets were full of drunken crazies and I was on foot. I put my head down and powered through it all. Next minute, this guy appeared in front of me with his arm out, inviting me to link my arm with it. He's African, black as anything, wearing an almost luminescent pink-and-white striped white, and he has this big wierd grin on him face. I say no thanks, I'm ok. He persists. No, really, I'm fine. Again polite but firm. He persists, and its getting embarrassing, so I link my arm with his and walk along the street. I was only about 50 metres away from the theatre anyway, and lots of people (albeit drunk) around. Then the usual where are you from, why are you here line of questioning, I tell him I'm working at Assembly Rooms (not true). He wants to know what shows are on (there's like hundreds), so I say "Oh quite a few". Then he wants to know exactly where I will be because he will come back to visit. That's impossible to say, in there somewhere, I say. He's not being threatening, just annoying. I extract my arm as we appoach the Assembly and then he starts going on about how men and women should be friends more, that people don't talk to each other on the street, blah blah blah. I'm like "that's nice, have a nice life and I'll be going now". And off he goes.

4. Taxi driver

Taxi drivers in Edinburgh don't mind a bit of a chat. Nothing unusual there really. Anyway, last night I was so buggered after work that I caught a cab home, and it all started when a couple of deaf people crossed the road whilst we were stopped at the lights. He pointed them out, and seemed quite generally fascinated by their signing. I asked him if he'd seen deaf people laughing, how they make a "laughing" sign with their hands, kinda like a bird's beak. He laughed at this like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. He seriously was laughing so much that I was worried he couldn't see where he was driving. Once he'd calmed down, its the usual questions. He asked if I knew about - of all things - Chopper Read. "Umm, yeah, I know a bit about him". Then he proceeds to recite lines from the film in his best Aussie accent, which I have to say, wasn't all that bad. I tell him that Chopper is a painter now. He tell me that Chopper lives in Tasmania. I sense that he knows a little too much about Chopper Read, so I pay and get out of the cab. He yells out through the window "cheers love, have a brilliant time and hope everything goes really well".

Wear nice knickers... police advise binge-drinkers

2006-07-20T22:56:00.000+09:30

as found in local paper, the Metro

"Don't flash when you're trashed
Thursday, July 13, 2006

Banish your Bridget Jones bloomers to the bottom of the drawer and wear your nice knickers when you go out. It sounds like advice from your best mate – but in fact it's from the police. The controversial message is included in a new magazine which encourages young women to cut down their drinking and be safe when they go out clubbing.

Making sure you have had a recent bikini wax is another prize tip from the first issue of safe! – published yesterday by Suffolk Police. In an article showing a girl passed out on the floor and flashing her bottom, fashion editor WK Dee says: 'For those of you intent on getting ratted this weekend, think. If you fall over or pass out, remember your skirt or dress may ride up. For all our sakes, please make sure you're wearing nice pants and that you've recently had a wax.

'Better still, eat before you go out, drink plenty of water in between bevvies or better still, don't get in this sorry state – it's not nice.'

The free eight-page guide also includes fashion tips, a problem page and horoscopes. Ch Insp David McDonnell said the magazine would be useful in the fight against anti-social behaviour."

my rock star weekend

2006-07-19T18:40:00.000+09:30

Weekend before last i decided to go to london, partly coz i had to sort out some banking which apparently could only be done there, but also coz i wanted to check out the modernism exhibition on at the V&A museum, which was closing in a few weeks. i'd heard that there was a gig by a certain electro musician/dj who visited adelaide recently, who you have all heard me talk about, and who i shall refer to only as 't'.

so, i decided to call up t's agent so see if i could get a free ticket. met up with him and t on the friday night, for dinner at Ravi Shankar's restaurant - very unimaginatively called 'Ravi Shankar'. food was amazing though, vego indian, wayyy yummy. then i learnt that the gig was in exeter, a town about 3 hours drive west of london! but i must have caught him at a generous moment coz he invited me to go along with them to the gig! maybe he felt guilty coz he knew how much i had to put up with them in adelaide. i decided to abandon my very well-planned weekend in london and joined the t entourage.

the tour bus (van actually, disappointing) left on saturday morning, t decided he wanted brekkie so we stopped at a traditional english caff. almost full english with a mug of brickies tea.

FInally arrived in Exeter in the late afternoon, couldn't find the venue, nobody seemed to know where they were going. t woudn't have known of we had driven for 3 hours in the opposite direction (then again, neither would i). eventually found the hotel, which they were putting me up in as well, it was a poshy english boutique hotel.

I got verrrry excited when i heard that it was Michael Caine's hotel. I'm thinking, cool, possible celebrity sightings may ensue. However apparently there's another Michael Caine who is a minor celebrity chef in the UK. Not exciting.

Still the hotel was very nice, all big piles of cushions and rows of free little bottles of grapefruit-smelling toiletries (i took them all when i left). So we checked in, they all went up to the venue to check it out, I went shopping. They all did soundcheck and teched the venue. I had dinner, paid for with t's dinner allowance money. So far, a pretty damn good deal!

I rocked up to the gig and it turned out to be a community world music festival (term used very loosely) run (also used loosely) by a bunch of hippies. Bless them, they were trying hard, and they did manage to pull together a pretty reasonable lineup. But I really had to turn off my event manager brain, it was all a bit of a free-for-all. But I had a great time all the same, danced all night, t's playing wasn't that great, but he did had heaps of problems with the sound.

Next day had brekkie at the hotel (included with the room of course) - this time a real full english, I stuffed myself. We set off to go back to London. Next minute, the agent was like, oh, that's Stonehenge over there. Right-o.

I'd booked a flight back to Edinburgh from London leaving that night at about 6pm, there was only about 30 mins leeway in our schedule, and I HAD to get back coz i was starting my job the next day. Then t decides he wants to stop for lunch. All hopes of making my flight disappeared. He wanted to take us to the area that he grew up in, way out in west london, it was cool, seriously just like being in Delhi. Had the most amazing vego indian lunch, i think maybe the best i've ever had, complete with Bollywood films playing on a telly in the corner.

I've seriously never heard someone talk about themselves so much, and be completely unaware of it.

And I did miss my flight and had to catch a train instead, took ages and cost a packet and had to put on a happy smiley face to cover my exhaustion for my first day at work. And I had to book another trip to London the next weekend to do the things I had planned to do...

But it was so worth it.

lucy in the skye with... backpackers

2006-07-12T18:52:00.000+09:30

My god thats the corniest title... anyway, this is a little story about our trip to the Isle of Skye...

I'm generally pretty dubious about those backpacker bus tours advertised at hostels, they're all a bit wacky and zany for me. But Bri and I had a reliable tip-off that the 3 day bus tour to Skye was a good one, so we signed up. We departed at 9am Sunday morning (way too early) with a tour group including was a mix of aussie, canadian, russian, south korean, german. Our tour guide Jamie was a Scotsman (who unfortunately doesn't wear a kilt whilst driving the bus like the other drivers apparently do, loses points for that according to Bri!), but he had gorgeous dry scottish sense of humour and a brilliant story-telling manner, recounting all sorts of tales of murder, rape and pillage from scottish history whilst driving us through the countryside.

First stop was Dunkeld to check out a 14th century cathedral, still operational, but with the back half in ruins.

It was so beautiful, complete with amazing chiming bells. I also managed to find a bakery nearby for a top class cornish pasty yummm! Drove through Inverness, and then on to Loch Ness, where Jamie invited us to take a dip in the (freezing cold) water. We all thought he was kidding until he stripped off to his shorts and waded in, only one other guy from Melbourne joined him - except for Nessie of course who was already in and waved hello to us ; )

Stopped at Urquart Castle and then Eilean Donan castle, which for all you 80's film fans is the setting of Highlander! (apparently of Die Another Day and Entrapment too hmmm). Finally arrived in Skye and checked into our hostel in Kyleakin, where we stayed for the two nights. Its a tiny town, no shops at all but 2 pubs of course. Spent the first night at the pub, ate a yummy fish supper of haddock and chips (yum again) and then Bri beat us all at countless games of pool.

This was the pub we DIDN'T go to...

Day 2 was a day trip around Skye, starting with us all dipping our faces in a creek, which as legend has it will make you beautiful (bring it on i say...). Strangely the South Koreans didn't join in, perhaps coz they thought they were beautiful enough already. But more likley they had absolutely no idea what Jamie was talking about and wondered what the hell we were all doing dunking our heads in the freezing creek at 9.30 in the morning.

Then wandered about Portree, Skye's capital, which had a pretty bay lined on one side with coloured houses...

We picked up some supplies for lunch, and had a yummy brunch of a real sausage roll and tiny perfect pineapple tart...

Strangely again, the South Koreans re-emerged on the bus carrying the most enormous packet of chips (crisps). It was almost bigger than them. Maybe you can't buy crisps in South Korea.

After a drive up to the north of the isle, we walked up into the hills for a picnic lunch surrounded by the crazy shaggy sheep and drank in the view.

Then stopped by the McLeod Castle, and got to explore this one from the inside. Wouldn't mind hanging out there for a while, althought the torture chamber didn't look too appealing. It was built next to the kitchen so the prisoners could smell the food being prepared for the fancy people upstairs, which they of course wouldn't be eating. so mean... Anyway, next visit was to a little valley called the Fairy glen, where everything is tiny - mini trees, little flowers, and a rocky outcrop they call the fairy castle. Hippie heaven!

Day three we made our way back to Edinburgh, past Ben Nevis - the highest peak in the UK and with a very bad rep (heaps of people die trying to climb it). Then to Fort William, where the Fort has now been replaced with a supermarket (!!) and to the William Wallace monument in Stirling.

We spent lunch in the valley of Glen Coe, a really beautful place which was the site of a horrible clan massacre. When climbing back after lunch, a busker completely kitted out started playing his bagpipes up at the top of the hill. The sound drifted through the valley was really spookily beautiful.

Scots are obsessed by cows and we stopped to meet Hamish the highland cow, poor thing was held in a pen near a main road and harrassed by tourists constantly. I have no idea why Hamish is so famous, there was a whole souvenir shop devoted to him. He was pretty cute though.

Got back to Edinburgh completely buggered, but it was a great few days, really worth doing. I did make a bet that I would go back to Lock Ness for a dip, but lets hope everyone forgets...

xx

och aye, its Auld Reekie

2006-07-07T18:32:00.001+09:30

Well, I've arrived safe and well in Edinburgh... can't believe I've been here for two weeks already. The plane flight was pretty torturous, beginning with the 'suspicious package' found at adelaide airport that delayed my flight by 3 or so hours (of course it was nothing in the end). Flew straight through to Edinburgh, arriving bright and early on a Monday morning and with the most ridiculously swollen legs ever (think elephantitus of the ankles - truly disgusting).

Spent first few nights in a hostel, it was a great one - 20GBP for my own room an absolute bargain. Shame about the beer garden up the road that was holding regular boozy screenings of the World Cup, resulting in the occasional dumpster-upturning beneath my window in the middle of the night...

Last Saturday Bri and I moved into our flat... yay! Its just behind Calton Hill, about 15 minutes walk from the city centre. We're sorta house sitting for a bunch of aussie girls - none above the age of about 22 - who have headed off into a camper van for a few months to drive to portugal (hope someone tells them there's a bit of water inbetween). These chicks were seriously mingin (that's UK speak for dirty) (i mean dirty like as in not clean) (oh you know what i mean - matt this is your fault!!) Of course the flat was left in a pretty unfortunate state - my idea was to get a hose in and just spray the place down (bri wasn't so keen). Nothing that a few hundred hours of scrubbing couldn't fix. But, the rent is mega cheap (for the Ed summer anyway) and its close, so happy days...

here's the outside (the blue door is the entrance to the flats)

and the lounge

We of course made the obligatory trip to Ikea to help set up house...

rental flats over here are almost all fully furnished - wierd - but great, otherwise we'd be sleeping on the floor.

As for work, I have managed to win the job as Venue Manager for Assembly @ St George's West, an Edinburgh Fringe Festival venue hosting a bunch of shows. It's actually a church (which will still hold services on top of the stage on Sundays yikes) and its houses 2 Fringe venues, The Sanctuary and Candlish Hall. Check out the link for the list of the shows. Bri will be the Stage Manager for the venue too - we're hoping for some salsa lessons from the latin dancing people!! I start next Monday 10th July, and will work through til mid September. (Was hoping for another week to play in Edinburgh before starting work, but thems the breaks!) Should be a great gig, I'm very excited! (but quietly freaking too)

But to much more important things - the food. Its way better than I expected, but the Scots do love a bit of potato. Haven't ventured to black pudding or haggis world yet, but I have vowed that I will. (Apparently haggis is actually pretty good). Had dinner at the city Mosque with Bri and her brother Robin, a brilliant chicken curry for less than a fiver - yum! They will also deepfry anything not nailed down - mars bars, even haggis and even cheeseburgers! WTF! There's the old alcohol-in-the-supermarket trap to deal with too... gotta love it, but way dangerous.

Fave city fact so far? Edinburgh's nickname "Auld Reekie" which comes from back in the days when the city sanitation was so bad that you could smell the place from miles away. Luckily things are a bit better now... although the tourist season is only just beginning...

xx

got a bit of catchin' up to do...

2006-07-06T10:20:00.000+09:30

first item of business, some pretty brill pics from farewell drinks. ohhhh the fun when alcohol, bad 90's music and digital cameras meet...

they might draw it in pretty colours, but it aint pretty

2006-05-31T00:52:00.000+09:30

the root of all evil

2006-05-31T00:29:00.000+09:30

so last week i started to feel this ache in my tooth, well, not really in my tooth - more like in my jaw underneath my tooth. i'm thinking... oh it'll go away, no worries. but it doesn't. so i go to the dentist monday afternoon - an "emergency" appointment apparently these are called. anyway, i had a baaaad feeling about it all, and as i was laying back in the chair i swear i could see little dollar signs lighting up in the dentist's eyes...

yes, i have to have root canal work.

ROOT CANAL!

just the sound of it makes me shiver.

i won't go into detail about as its pretty boring, but suffice to say that's its way painful, way expensive and just generally *sucks* big-time. the dentist even gave me a brochure to read about it - called "So, you have to have root canal work".

what a lovely way to spend my last few weeks in adelaide...

2006-05-19T19:53:00.000+09:30

a brand new blog

2006-05-18T23:45:00.000+09:30

ooh how exciting. this is my blog. its all brand new and sparkly clean. i don't really have anything to say at all right now, i just want to see what happens when i post something