Birthday Blues

It’s been a week of blues – blue sea, blue sky, bluebottles, blueberry birthday cake, and a little of The Blues.

Firstly – an update since I began to extract myself from the increasingly worrying Sex and the City vortext – I went to the Opening Night of the Mardi Gras Film Festival – which was lots of fun, but when I think back to the Opening Night of the 2006 London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival – in Cafe de Paris, with the fan dancer and other fantastic entertainment, it does pale somewhat in comparison (finally something that London does better than the Gay Capital of the World!).

Speeches before the Opening Night Screening

Last weekend I took advantage of the beautiful weather and wandered along Bronte beach to Bondi – I’m slowly being charmed by the more beachy parts of Sydney and am considering moving nearer the sea. Pics on Flickr of the dangerous animals I encountered!

Carmel talking nonsense by the sea

Last week was another Sydney Institution – Tropfest. This is an annual short film festival, where a TSI (Tropfest Signature Item) is announced a few months before the screening date, and every submission has to feature this TSI. This year it was a sneeze, which is quite a tricky one, (last year’s was a kiss) so it was interesting to see how the filmmakers dealt with it. It’s there to make sure people don’t just recycle old films they’ve made, so that the films are made specifically for Tropfest. Anyway, being a film industry bigwig over here (lol) I had VIP tickets – which meant free food and endless cointreau cocktails in the VIP tent, and actual seats to sit on (the screening is outside in a huge park so everyone else has to bring their own picnic blankets or cushions) – the atmosphere was great, and as all films were under 7 minutes, people’s attention spans didn’t wane too much. Next year I might even try to enter a film!

One of the Tropfest screens

Surry Hills in Sydney is littered with lots of lovely little art galleries, so there’s a gallery opening nearly every night of the week here. I’ve managed to get myself onto the lists of quite a few, so Christina and I went to The Sherman Galleries this week. The space was lovely (see pic) but the exhibition was about animal rights, which doesn’t really interest me, so we supped the free wine and played at being art critics for the evening. If I see anything nice I might purchase something sometime, but these were all a bit twee.

Surry Hills art appreciation

Which brings me to the pinnacle of the week – my birthday! Was initially quite excited about the prospect of having a summer birthday, but the heat has been pretty unbearable of late, I’m covered in mossie bites and heat rash, and quite frankly the novelty is wearing off somewhat. I looked at Heidi’s recent Finland photos with longing nostalgia the other day – I think there’s a reason I was born in the Northern Hemisphere – I was meant to have a winter birthday! But anyway, let’s not be too humbug about it – the evenings are wonderful and warm – where else can you wander by the harbour at 1am and not even wear a cardigan?

My housemates bought me an Australian world map for my birthday:

The World according to Australians

This tickles me – I never even thought that there was another world map to the one I’ve had on my wall for the last 10 years! Isn’t it cool? It excited me somewhat more than the Dior lipgloss they also got me, which I think is a bit like when kids play more with the packaging of their really expensive Christmas presents…

The guys at work surprised me with a yummy birthday cheesecake, and I skived off work for a few hours in the middle of the day to get my hair done with my new marketing coordinator Steph – she’s fab. Then after work we wandered over to Cockle Bay Wharf in the Darling Harbour to a restaurant called Chinta Ria for yummy asian food and BYO wine. This part of town was a little too touristy and tacky for me, so we were soon back in our Darlinghurst comfort zone, but it was a fun evening.

The Birthday Girl

Things are still going well over here, but I did miss you all on my birthday – thanks to everyone for the parcels, texts and emails. It was great to hear from you and feel a little less far away. And remember – no moaning about the cold British weather – some of us wish we could swap climates ;-)

cx

Sex and the Single Sydneysider

Well I’ve been criticised lately for only putting the fun parts of my life on the blog. There’s none of the ‘I stayed in and watched shit TV with a ready meal’ type stuff. Of course not, I wouldn’t go near any food that wasn’t homemade or organic, and I’m far too much of a social butterfly to have watched even 5 minutes of Australian television. But here’s your fix, you schadenfreuders… Happy Valentine’s Day.

Never a fan of the greetings-card-creation that is valentine’s day, and single in a new city, I planned a quiet night in cooking dinner for my singleton girlfriends, Jaya, Ruci and Rachel. I baked some barramundi, roasted some sweet potato and pumpkin, and Jaya cooked up some brocollini and green beans in sesame seeds on the side. All while quaffing copious amounts of New Zealand sauv blanc and discussing in great depth our various relationship failures.

On the way to the corner shop to get ice cream for with dessert, I noticed that everyone out on the town was either an adoringly devoted gay couple or a stunningly beautiful and well-dressed group of 25-35-year-old women. This is Darlinghurst, people. There is a drought of eligible straight single men. They’re thinking of raising our taxes and doing something to remedy this.

Then we four gorgeous single twentysomethings capped off the night eating home-made banana bread (wheat-free!) with vanilla ice-cream, watching vintage episodes of Sex and the City (season 2 – we’re jumping around all over the place, it’s so confusing, Carrie’s back with Big) and instead of laughing at how tragic these women were, we were groaning in knowing collusion with their lives.

L-R Jaya, Rachel, Carmel and Ruci

So, to remedy this, I’m off to the Opening Night of the Mardi Gras Film Festival tomorrow, and I’m gonna have me some FUN. Now, what frock shall I wear?…

cx

La Vita e bella

Ahhh, I feel complete. Yes folks, I have finally bought myself a bike. Look at it. Isn’t it wonderful?

My shiny new bike

Ok, so it’s not quite as perfect and swanky as my German Fahrrad bike I had to leave behind – but it is enough to make me feel liberated and independent! Life is beautiful indeed.

Cycling home this evening felt great. I didn’t realise how much I’d missed it until I got back in the saddle this morning to test drive my new velo. (I also didn’t realise how much I’d come to rely on back-pedal breaking, but that’s another story. I’m sure that will cause a few accidents over the next few weeks while I get used to using the brakes on the handlebars…) But it’s lovely, despite the fact that Sydney decided to behave like a November Manchester and absolutely chuck it down today – so I got totally soaked, and regretted my decision to favour a basket over mudguards in my accessories purchasing hierarchy. It definitely took the edge off my cycling euphoria when I arrived at the theatre with suncream running down my arms and a wet arse. But I didn’t feel that mortified in Newtown – home of predominantly Birkenstock-wearing bicycle-riding vegan lesbians who wouldn’t look twice at a drowned rat in pigtails like me. I’m just pleased to be mobile again. Now navigating the Sydney streets and selfish motorists will be my next great challenge – I’ll fill you in on my progress.

This week has been a week of firsts: the first time I went inside the Sydney Opera House. The Sydney Morning Herald (equivalent of The Times – they sponsor the festival) invited me for front row seats at Sweeney Todd, you know, the demon barber of Fleet Street. The air of nostalgia brought about by my memory of journeys home on the 76 bus down Fleet Street was missed by the rest of the audience, but it was jolly enough. VIP drinks in the interval brought on some more schmoozing, and I met the woman who runs the Sydney Writers’ Festival (related to my past life at Waterstone’s, so I’m going to meet up with her again) and the woman who runs the Taronga zoo (supposedly the best zoo in the world – overlooks the harbour) so that was all fun. Took the obligatory tourist photos, plus there's more on flickr.

The Harbour Bridge at Night

Blurry Girl in the Emerald City


Friday was the first time I ate Vietnamese food – it was yummy. Heartily recommend it. And today I had a Korean barbecue for the first time – many flavours were similar to those Taey used to cook at Princess May Road, but this had an air of DIY about it. The rather dire am-dram I had to endure before it made it all the more delicious.

Matt cooks up a Korean BBQ feast

Apart from that have been working hard, watching films, eating fabulous breakfasts, and generally living.

More about work later (I know, I keep promising, but it’s a biggie.)

cx

Legal alien

Please join me in giving three cheers to the Australian Department of Immigration - as they have, in their wisdom, today decreed that my visa hath been granted. Hurrah! I'm now legally permitted to live and work in Australia until 8 February 2010.

This is a huge relief to my employers, who would have had to send me back to the UK a month before the festival had my visa not been granted (I've been here on a 'working holiday' visa until now) which would have been pretty disastrous.

So now I'm officially a legal immigrant. I am now finally allowed to get a contract mobile phone (I HATE pay-as-you-go!) and an Australian credit card (so I can buy things online), and I'm sure it opens lots more wonderful doors - will investigate and let you know.

cx

My so-called (bug) life

I’ve had several requests for an update on The Bug Situation, so herewith my report. I’ve broken it down by bug type for your ease.

Cockroaches
There have been no further sightings of cockroaches in my bedroom since the aforementioned Nightmare Bug Experience. Or in the rest of the house either for that matter. This is, I’m sure, largely due to the environmentally-friendly repellent papers I have bought and liberally distributed near doorways and windows.

Practical aromatherapy for the home

However, I did find one sleeping on my desk when I arrived at work last week – underneath my copy of In Style magazine (Angelina Jolie cover) but I persuaded one of the boys in the office to quietly get rid of it.

Locusts
Here is our pet locust…



…which has taken up residence on our bannister, and seems quite content to hang out there while Rachel watches Sex and the City reruns until the wee hours.

Mosquitoes
These are evil little swines, which wait until you’re just about to drop off to sleep before revealing their presence with that oh-so-irritating whine, right near your ear. Not sure if you can make it out, but here’s one I splattered earlier…



… with some satisfaction, although half the blood on the wall is probably mine. Nice.

Apart from that I’m doing quite well actually, in the bug department. (Famous last words.)

cx

Fans, furniture, film

I’m Your Man, the Leonard Coen movie I saw at the Chauvel on Friday, simply blew me away. What a talented man, and what an incredible bunch of people they assembled in one room to pay tribute to him – all my faves, Rufus Wainwright, Beth Orton, Antony, Jarvis, etc etc. I wanted to lay down in a darkened room and hear nothing for hours afterwards. Wow.

On Saturday Christina took me to Erkinsville (West again, damn that heat!) to a furniture auction house. This place was incredible – full of the most beautiful things for your home. I had to forcibly restrain myself from buying things, constantly reminding myself that I’ve decided not to ‘homebuild’ as I’m enjoying my new-found minimalism since ditching loads of stuff in the UK. I was totally ruthless in the week or so I had before moving out here, and got rid of things I’d had for years, so I don’t want to simply start all over again, and acquire loads of ‘stuff’. Even with books (which was the one thing I couldn’t bring myself to be ruthless with, and shamelessly boxed them all up for storage) I am going to make sure I pass them on once I’m done. (btw, I just finished ‘Perfume’ by Patrick Suskind, and am really looking forward to seeing how the hell they’ve managed to make it into a film! But I hear the lead in it is a young actor called Ben Whishaw, whom I saw as Hamlet at the Old Vic in 2004, and in Chekhov’s The Seagull at the National Theatre last year, and from his stage performances I think he’s perfect for the role of Grenouille.) Anyway, I didn’t make any bids on the furniture, but here’s a picture of some of the wonderful stuff they had – I’m sure I’ll be back!

Lovely 20th century furniture at auction

These summer months make me miss my annual tennis feast, but I’ve been combatting Wimbledon withdrawal symptoms by watching the Australian Open – seeing Federer kick everyone’s ass in Melbourne. What fun. It’ll be weird watching Wimbledon in the middle of the winter (well, Aussie winter is probably on a par with a London summer, so no change there!)

It’s unbearably hot here. Soooo muggy. There’s no point in opening the window because in will come warm, still air. I just got back from the cinema – saw a 30 minute film funded by the AFC which was beautiful – it was the cast and crew screening, my colleague Andrew knows the producer, and they got $200,000 to make this 30-minute film (about £80,000) – can you believe it?! Set in one small town in the Blue Mountains with a cast of about 6! But conditions of AFC funding mean you have to pay market rates for everything, including wages, so they still had to shoot on HD! But it did look beautiful – and I was impressed with the evident talent that had gone into making it. Am slowly trying to work my way into this crowd... Give me time.

The cinemas here are air conditioned, so they are freezing, which in my current overheated state makes me think cinemagoing might become a bit of an obsession over the next few weeks. Escapism in multiple senses.

cx

Cabaret, crackers and customised gnomes

Another week of the Sydney Festival! For those of you bored of hearing about this, there's only one more weekend, so hold on. February brings Chinese New Year, then in March it's the Mardi Gras, so there's plenty to look forward to.

Anyway, the next event I managed to go to (thankfully someone else queued from 6.30am for me this time, hurrah) was La Clique at the Famous Spiegeltent. I didn't realise what pedigree this space held, until I read that Marlene Dietrich herself sang on the stage in this very tent. So with awe and reverence I again stepped forth into the antique mirrored haven. Photography is not allowed, but check out the pics on www.spiegeltent.net for an idea. La Clique was fantastic - a mixture of cabaret, burlesque, vaudeville and the circus. I did have to turn my head away when the Norwegian guy managed to climb through a 10 inch tennis racquet (flashbacks of Cowburn's print-weekend coathanger trick with added gruesome double-jointedness!). But there was plenty of eye candy and nudity, which is always a bonus.

On Sunday I dragged Christina, Jasmine and Martin out West to see 'The World Famous' firework display, Crackers. This was an awesome experience, as we were surrounded by the fireworks rather than watching them from afar - and many of them exploded above us, which was quite unnerving. Plus there were people with fireworks attached to them (see pic) which was very Wicker Man, and eerie. Venturing to the 'inner west' as it's called was quite an experience. I hadn't realised how much we benefit from the sea breeze, those of us who live in the 'eastern suburbs'. The further West you go in Sydney the further away from the sea you are, so when I got off the train at 7.30pm out west, it was like walking into a sauna! No breeze at all to take the edge off the heat. I don't think it's a trip I'll be making often...

A moving firework-wearing person

Last night I went out with the Frenchies to a gallery opening in Surry Hills. The guy who is launching his gallery space gave 100 artists each a garden gnome, which they had to customise for the occasion. There were some really creative ideas - my favourite was a video of a skateboarding gnome, and one encased in marble. Here are some more, although a bit blurry as I still haven't got used to using this camera, sorry.

Some customised gnomes

Another gnome

Speaking of pics, I've made my flickr page private, but it's easy to see my pics. Just create an account for free and I'll permission you to see them. I just came across some problems with people linking to my page.

My local 2nd hand bookshop, Berkolow Books - it's fab

Ok, gotta go. Today's Australia Day, so it's a public holiday, yay! It's a celebration of the slaughter of indigenous peoples by settling white Europeans or something (or just a celebration of the 'discovery' of this terra nullis) so I'm off to a barbecue, then to watch a Leonard Coen tribute movie, and then to see a Japanese beat box band at the Sydney Festival. Not much on then.

cx