That Happy Feeling

Connections and Reconnections

Work was a little stressful, full on and over the top last week, so the weekend was something to look forward to. My brother is up from the country so yesterday I took him out to the Royal Easter Show. We walked around for a couple of hours, saw the cattle, the horses, a fairly lame show in the main arena and then came home. I put him on a bus to my other brother's place, and then went into town for a beer or three.

A fairly early night followed.

This afternoon was a choir soiree over at Balmain, overlooking Sydney Harbour. Good friends, great weather, fascinating conversation and a couple of glasses of wine. The idea was a fundraiser. Pay a fee for lunch and one glass, and buy the rest with the profits going to the choir. About 15-17 people showed up. The back yard was large and we could have catered for twice that number. Kudos to the hostess with the mostess, and the organising team.

And the weather was glorious - high 20's C, mid 70's F.

For a reason which escapes me, this year we put daylight savings back one week. Later- They're trying to harmonise the change for all the states as in the past states have changed daylight savings time both in autumn and spring on different dates which can cause confusion when you're flying from state tot state and you leave earlier than you arrive, or vice versa, even if the states are directly geographically similar (i.e. on top of one another). Obviously between the Eastern, and Western states and south Australia its different, but Victoria, NSW, and Queensland should all basically have the same time, which they don't usually do as a rule. Do you get my drift! - But all the computers, all the mobile phones, all the airport indicator boards were showing the time they should be showing next week, i.e. 1 hour back as we "fall" into autumn. Chaos reigned, flights missed and delayed etc. A little bit like Y2K, but Y2K was a bit of a fizzer.

Aint technology grand.

So This is Easter

Good Friday, so Happy Easter to those who celebrate the period. Happy Passover if that's a kosher expression (pardon the pun) and for the rest of you, enjoy your break.

In Sydney its been a cool, cloudy, intermittently rainy day, and the weekend promises to be fairly soggy. We'll just have to wait and see.

I felt very ordinary this morning when I woke up. I've got a tickle in the throat, and my voice has lowered itself an octave or two, and i feel like its going on me. We'll see what happens.

The plan for tomorrow is to go to the Royal Easter Show, which is a bit like a State Fair down under, if you want a comparison. Animal exhibits, the Country comes to Town etc. I'll take a jacket and a brolly and we'll see what happens. I might even have a good day.

Enjoy your break.

All Quiet

Things are pretty quiet here.   A busy week at work, but choir was a tonic on Thursday evening.   A couple of wines last night was a good way to end the week, along with dealing with paperwork and household clutter.   Managed to reduce both the paperwork and the clutter, and whether the wine bottle is now half full, or half empty depends upon your perspective.   

A beautiful day today; warm and sunny.   I'm killing some time in the city (Sydney) before waddling up to St Vinnies hospital to visit a friend.   Later this afternoon, I'll have a couple of cleansing coldies and a fairly early night.   

Tomorrow may be a beach day, or at least out in the sun again.

Have a good one folks.

Happy Mardi Gras - 2008

This is Mardi Gras weekend in Sydney. Last night, the Parade (similar to Pride Parades everywhere) and then the after party from about 10pm until 10am for approximately 18,000 hardy souls. The rain held off until after the Parade finished but from about 3am this morning it was coming down in buckets for a few hours, so lots of drenched costumes, makeup of all descriptions running, and the wet bedraggled look which follows people caught in the rain.

I watched the parade from a vantage point near the end of the route,not too far from Fox Studios where the party was in 4 different venues, each dance space a little different. After the parade, I met up with a choir friend, and we entered the former Sydney Showground which is now Fox Studios, where they made Happy Feet, a couple of the Superman series, (I think)and some Tom Cruise Mission Impossible stuff (but don't hold that against them.

My friend, was chaperoning the friend of a mutual friend (if you get my drift) and they both went off to watch the mutual friend perform with the choir in the 12pm show (1st show of the night). I retired to the cloak room which was run by MCC who had a team of volunteers trying to sort order out of chaos, trying to label and stow various bags, costumes and accoutrement which our community uses to party with (all the legal stuff). A bonus of this was that cloakroom volunteers were classed as Service crew and got a free ticket to the party, but by the time the shift finished at 3.30am, and I put in another hour just to help with the sorting I was as they say in the world of horses, knackered. So I didn't stay to party, but beat a hasty retreat, found somewhere warm to rest for a couple of hours, tried to sleep but couldn't and stayed in town for my usual Sunday roast at my cafeteria of choice.

So now I'm home, will try to kip for a couple of hours, and then watch a bit of tv etc before retiring for hopefully a goodnight sleep (possums in the roof permitting).

Have a great week folks.