Dark chocolate marquise with raspberry sorbet, raspberry coulis, vanilla sponge and meringue. Thank you, Monté Restaurant, Norton Street, Leichhardt, Sydney, Australia; absolutely delicious.
Author: Robert
Old friends
We never grow tired of seeing the Sydney Opera House. It is synonymous with living in this Antipodean city. We are thrilled when friends visit and we get to experience the moment when they see it for the first time.
A couple of weeks ago our next door neighbour from Worcester, England came to visit. She is working in Brisbane for six months. Even though we had not caught up for 22 plus years, the conversations were like it was yesterday.
Tracey saw the Opera House as we arrived at Circular Quay train station. This picture was taken from the ferry. We were on our way to Manly for lunch.
Poetry revisited
I recently met a writer in a non-authoring situation. After completing a little background reading on them, I decided it was time.
I enjoy writing poems, but are they any good? When viewed through Olumide Holloway’s creative writing lens (Word Up), they mostly suck.
In the spirit of reflective self improvement I have revisited one of my ditties.
On a side note I learned that shaking the iPhone, in frustration, allowed me to undo the accidental deletion of said poem.
Tinsel
Polyvinyl chloride sparkle, eons in the making;
Irresponsibly procured, a token,
In an intergenerational
Treasure hunt for more,
now strewn.
Destined to voyage and become entwined,
In a grotesque ocean whirl.
To disintegrate and be consumed by
Zooplankton and coral; the primordial source.
Reports abound of microplastic laden seafood, served upon the plate.
Will it lead to ecocide and humanity’s suicide? Scientists debate.
Let me know if you think it is an improvement on the original, below, or not.
Incongruous
Beneath a hedge
Beyond leaf litter and bark
Draped over twigs
The blue tinsel-tousle dwells
The Vineyard
In varying my morning walk from Anzac Parade to the Chancellery Building, I discovered a colonnade. As it is not far from the faculty of Built Environment, I assumed it was the result of a student project.
Upon closer inspection, I found a plaque proclaiming the sandstone columns having been salvaged from a Greek-Revival style house in Subiaco, Parramatta, called the Vineyard. It was torn down in 1961, to lay a factory car park.
The following image of the house, taken in 1961 is from Sydney Living Museums.
Clouds that look like snow
Catching a glimpse of the clouds out of the corner of my eye, I quickly grabbed my phone to take a couple of photos. The Arctic looking scene was mesmerising. Within moments it was replaced by the Pacific Ocean.
I find aeroplane windows a challenge when taking pictures towards the sun; smears and reflections being the case in point. Thankfully no condensation or ice, this time.
Good morning
Detail of The Silvering, 2017, mylar, helium, by Michala Dwyer, Art Gallery of New South Wales.
‘Morning’ filter, Google Snapseed
Mauve crepe myrtle
Mauve crepe myrtle, as far as the eye can see, Leichhardt, Sydney, Australia.
Somewhere over the rainbow
The KLM flight landed just after 6am at Kingsford Smith Airport, twenty years ago, today. The morning was very much like the one today, around 17oC and a huge blue sky.
We had spent the previous month in a heightened state of anxiety; a mixture of panic and excitement. We had packed up our home, shipped it to Australia, furnished the apartment we were letting out, and farewelled our dear friends and family.
The final scenes in the UK are etched on our memories. Friends sat waiting with us until the last moment when we needed to go through passport control and security at Birmingham International Airport. The usual chatter felt somehow constrained by what was about to happen.
This prelude culminated in a long walk of goodbye, amongst tears flowing freely, while carrying more hand luggage than a pack horse would carry in its lifetime.
The relief of taking our seats on the plane to Amsterdam, where we were to pick up an international connection to the Far East, was overwhelming.
Time has dimmed the memory of the stopover in Singapore and the flight to Sydney.
Why is it significant to mark this milestone? It is an opportunity for us to reflect on our choice to make the journey over the rainbow, to become immigrants and aliens in a foreign land. The fact that we have lived over 54% of our adult lives, to date, in Australia is an indication of commitment, at least.
We plan to review our decision over dinner, this evening.
Excerpt from the song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, lyrics by Yip Harburg:
Somewhere over the rainbow way up high
There’s a land that I have heard of once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true
Someday I’ll wish upon a star
and wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Way above the chimney tops that’s where you’ll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow why then oh why can’t I?
Points
Man made and natural points.
Post extraction
It will have been a week, on Christmas Day, since tooth #16 was extracted. This first molar in the upper right side had caused me excruciating pain during the previous week. X-rays did not help in explaining the symptoms. A bit of bashing around with a seemingly metal implement, followed by a “does that hurt?”, identified the offending, not so pearly white. The cause could be due to the nerve dying or a fracture. Root canal surgery would fix the former, while a crown would sort out the latter. The monitoring period, when I planned to work out which organ I would need to harvest and sell to pay for the procedure was short lived.
On the following day, a sliver of dentine on the inside of the tooth was behaving like a bottom hinged window when brushed gently with the tip of my tongue. Another visit to the dentist quickly cleared up the mystery. It had fractured down the middle, below the gum. With not unpleasant memories of wisdom teeth removal, while asleep, over thirty years ago, I happily agreed to a tooth pulling. To take place there and then with local anaesthetic, although “it will not be an easy one to get out”. Four injections later, what seemed like an eternity of rocking the ivory back and forth and a great deal effort, it was out, despite exclamations of “your bone is dense”. Isn’t that a good thing?, I silently asked myself.
When the anaesthetic began to wear off, I took ibuprofen with codeine for the pain. A sleepless night and limited relief resulted in the dentist prescribing panadeine forte. Migraine like headaches and earache followed for the next two days. Another visit to the dentist revealed I had a dry socket, the pain was due to the jawbone being exposed. After an uncomfortable rinsing with saltwater, a rather pleasant clove tasting concoction with analgesic properties was packed into the wound. Yesterday was my first pain killer free day. This morning the cavity is throbbing. I call upon the Universe to allow me the enjoyment of being able to partake in the upcoming feasting, even with using my left hand teeth to chew.
theINFP 