Happy birthday Simon

After Rosie's concert at the Concordia Club (at which she didn't sing) and after the chain broke on the van, which meant Spike had to hold the door closed using the oily chain, and after driving up and down Leichhardt's busy streets in search of a parking spot, we spent what was left of the evening with Simon and Dilys, the family and friends helping him celebrate his birthday. S & D are off to Spain in a couple of weeks. It's the first I've seen of them for 9 months. It was, of course, slightly odd at the outset but genuinely enjoyable in the end. That's progress I suppose.

Giles Bettison at Sabbia Gallery

Spike took me to an opening at Sabbia of work by South Australian glass artist Giles Bettison. I admire the commitment that's obvious in the pieces made using a traditional technique known as murrine. The troble is that as admirable as that commitment is and as technically precise as it must be I'm afraid Mr Bettison's work left me unmoved. I couldn't imagine living with any of his work. Still, at least half of the works sported red dots so my guess is Giles doesn't care what I think. In fact, he doesn't even know I'm alive.

I had a near-miss ... although strictly speaking it was a near hit. I moved in my chair, lost balance and headed toward the floor. I stopped when Spike grabbed me then hauled me back to upright. I missed a plinth holding two of Giles's pieces by the smallest fraction imaginable. There would have been a $15,000 fall I could certainly have done without.
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Happy man

6 weeks and $2,600 later ... I got the van back today. Hip, hip, hooray!!!
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Beloved part 1

First of two classes on Toni Morrison's Beloved. I said it is one of the finest novels I've ever read; a truly great work of fiction, which is a very rare thing indeed. Dr Morrison did not disagree. Some in the class talked a bit about the movie version, which I've not seen. It's hard to imagine Oprah Winfrey carrying off the Sethe character but Fiona M reckons she does a decent enough job but that Thandie Newtone is somewhat less than spectacular as Beloved. I'm surprised by both.

At the end of my class we received our second essay marks ... 17.5 out of 20 for my piece on Pride And Prejudice. That's the high distinction I was aiming for. All I need to do now is keep up that standard, improving on it if I can.
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Hip hip hooray

I don't have an essay to write today for submission tomorrow. I get an essay back tomorrow (Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice) and have at least two weeks to write the third and final assessment of course work.

Hip, hip, hooray. (Card by Alice Carmen here)

Spike, I'm sorry to say, does have an essay to submit tomorrow. We can't all be lucky all the time ... or can we?

Lazy start, lounging in the sun, followed by toast n mushrooms n tea n juice. I continued with my re-reading of Beloved (subject of my third essay). Spike wrote ... slowly, as she describes it ... at her speed, is how I think of it.

Track work on the railway lines below us drove me past the point of distraction. I'm sure it's necessary. I understand it can be noisy. But guys ... please ... it's been two years. Aint it fixed yet??????????????

Sydney College of the Arts Open Day

We attend the College Open Day. Can it really be a year since the last one? This time Spike is a student.

The van is still off the road so we were required to catch buses, which is not without its challenges when it's essential they have wheelchair access. Our first bus (7:05 a.m.) was scheduled as accessible. It was late (of course) but accessible as promised. We anticipated a forty-five minute wait for the connecting accessible service ... not quite long enough for breakfast - too long to make hanging around much joy ... but lo and behold the first bus to come was also accessible. The whole journey took 45 minutes. We'd feared twice that time.

Breakfast in Rozelle, La Grande Bouffe in Darling Street. Good eggs. Pushed to the college in light rain for which neither of us had prepared; promised (as we were) 28 degrees and sun.

I don't mean to br critical ... but ... Ok ... it's an art college. They're creative people; talented I'm sure. To be frank (but diplomatic) organisation is clearly not their forte.

Whatever ... the open day started ... eventually, sort of. Stuff seemed to begin; people arrived (exhibitors at least as puzzled as the visiting public). But the clouds cleared from the sky, the sun warmed up the windswept precincts of the former asylum, the day unfolded pleasantly.

Spike gave a tour of the glass studio, sold earrings at the market stall (6 pairs) and gave a demonstration of lamp work to genuinely interested passers-by and an enthusiastic in-house video crew.

I watched a woman called Stevie (in the left of this photo) spin a platter, which I subsequently purchased. It's cooling in the kiln. At the end of the day, after the public had gone, students and staff of the glass studio tidied up, shared some beers and crowded in to the hot shop to watch a team pour molten glass in giant ladles into a sand-filled casting box. Hot stuff.

We had a long wait between buses on the return journey but not (interestingly enough to me) because buses weren't accessible. It's just that public transport ... as much as one wishes it could be otherwise ... is sometimes less than wholly convenient. There can be delays. Those are understatements.

Finished off the day with pizzas. It's been a more than decent Saturday.

Settlement

So, the flat became mine today at Noon. At least the mortgage became mine, which is not quite the same thing. I'll be working until I'm 82 to pay it off!! Does that mean I'm not allowed to die before then? Even then I'm sure that banks have worked out ways to keep sucking the blood right out of you. But what a funny old day it's been (by which I mean peculiar as opposed to comical).

I took on a debt of something close to half a million. I visited the bank to personally authorise the transfer of 25K from my bank account ... as if I actually had $25,0000 ... to my layer's account. I activated a new credit card ... as if I really need another one of those! Still, once the transfers are completed I ought to be able to ditch the Amex thank God. Withdrew some cash for me to spend and here we suddenly are returned to the real world: 250 bucks and most of that will go on food and travel.

And, of course, there's the whole back-story that makes all this wheeling and dealing necessary. That's the serious part of all this to-ing and fro-ing ... 4 banks, two mortgages, lawyers, mortgage broker, credit cards, loans, binding agreements, deadlines, settlement. Shit is what amounts to. Not my finest hour and not the best day of my life.

There is always Scarlett O'hara, of course or the irrepressible Suggs and the boys in Madness. Take you pick Dougie. Either way, the sun comes up.