Happy Boxing Day

/ Robert / 4 Comments
Detail, Victorian inspired papier-mâché baubles

Boxing Day is an English bank (public) holiday.

Currently a favourite for people wanting to grab a bargain in the post Christmas sales and for sporting events including, one day cricket and soccer. The day is not known for boxing.

A round robin of sites courtesy of Google yielded the following theories for the origin of Boxing Day:

Alms boxes
In the Middle Ages (approximately late 5th – late 15th centuries), it was common for churches to open alms boxes on the day after Christmas, distributing all the money inside amongst the poor.

Christmas boxes #1
In Queen Victoria’s reign (1819 to 1891) servants of wealthy household were given a rare day off to visit loved ones. Masters would gift a Christmas box, containing food, gifts and sometimes a financial bonus.

Christmas boxes #2
Tradespeople such as milkmen and butchers would spend the days after Christmas collecting money or gifts left to them by customers. As a child, I remember my mother putting aside some Christmas box money to give to the men who delivered bread, pop (soft drink), milk etc.

After the excesses of Christmas Day, we are spending Boxing Day relaxing with our Sydneysider friends. This evening we will join dear friends for a rooftop barbecue in Newstead, Brisbane.

Merry Christmas 2022

/ Robert / 11 Comments

What a year this has been, what a strange mood I’m in…..

Left hand sporting chipped China Red nail polish.
It started off as an idea of red, green, red, green until I realised the six colour nail varnish kit is ‘gel’, requiring curing under a UV or LED light.

Eh bien!

The last two weeks at work have been a frenetic push to complete everything possible before starting just over a week off.

We welcomed our friends from Sydney yesterday afternoon. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to spend Christmas with them again; the last in this house.

We have settled on two options for a new home, a top floor apartment closer to the city or a detached single storey house on a modest block of land with at least a one hour commute into the office.

The new location will remain unknown until we sell this one.

My husband has been rewarded with much gratitude from the local charity shop as we ruthlessly donate, clothes, glass wear, electrical items, etc.

It is a cloudy 29oC Christmas Eve. In unison we four sit on the patio gazing at our phones while sipping an Espresso Martini to the dulcet tones of light jazz.

Merry Christmas, dear readers xxx

Darkness

/ Robert / Leave a comment

Soft, drowning, slipping; darkness
Of heavy lidded slumber
Creeping up to steal the light.
Eyes closed, relaxing in to
Drowsy, down plunging, black hole.

Loosing, grip, realness, draining.

Mirtanza warning; ‘may cause,
Drowsiness and may increase
The effects of alcohol.
If affected, do not drive
A motor vehicle or
Operate heavy machinery. ’

The Secret

/ Robert / 6 Comments

I have read the book, watched the video more than a couple of times, cast spells and promptly forgotten about visualising something into our live.

This evening, my husband revealed to me in the spa; whenever he has focussed on our next move, it has eventuated.

We are currently in a period of extreme life challenges. According to the ravings of evangelical fundamentalists, we are faced with oppotunities.

Carpe diem, indeed!

Time will tell if our mid-century modern, Palm Springs house is realised in Queensland…….

Diamond Birthday Jubilee

/ Robert / 4 Comments
Detail of eye shaped sculpture front of MCA

I met my future husband when he was about to turn 31 and I had turned 30.

Over the years, our shared adventures have taken us around the world and jetting between hemispheres. Amazing family and friends have enriched our lives.

Yesterday morning, we arrived in Sydney, our home for 20 years prior to making the move to Brisbane. This is our first visit in over three years.

After a light lunch at the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) we headed to the Sydney Opera House for a cocktail with a friend whom we haven’t seen for two years. He and his partner took us for a sumptuous French dinner at the Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks, Sydney.

Looking toward Kent Street from Clarence Street

Today after a late breakfast we wandered from our accommodation in the Skye Suites, Kent Street to the Queen Victoria Building, the revamped David Jones department store, and Martin Place.

Westfield Tower from QueenVictoria Building

This evening we are celebrating my husband’s 60th at Capriccio Osteria in Leichhardt, Sydney. Friends are joining us from Brisbane, Melbourne, Newcastle, and Sydney.

Overcooked

/ Robert / 8 Comments

Those algorithms have started showing me ads about the price of cremations.

Reflecting on my heightened emotions and conversations, a couple of weeks ago, I question if they were due to a state of mind or reality.

Frustration; outrage; self righteous injustice; being aghast; and matters beyond my control are descriptors that pop into my consciousness.

At home I felt supported.

Outside, my reactions were analysed; The objects of my week of discontent were rationalised and normalised.

I was simply having a bad week however, not bad enough to need cremating.

Blue sequin jacket

/ Robert / 10 Comments

In the spa this (Saturday) evening, the 38oC temperature and the Campari spritz loosened my thoughts.

Voicing them, I related my reliving teenage memories of listening to Funny Girl on vinyl borrowed from the Birmingham (UK) Central Library through listening to the soundtrack on Spotify during my journey to work this week.

Funny girl is a stage and movie musical from the late 1960s based on the life of Fanny Brice. Brice is played by Barbra Streisand, one of my teenage idols.

I am platonically attracted to strong females.

In an instant, I remembered, I also love the Neil Diamond, Jazz Singer soundtrack. I have never seen the movie.

My husband said ‘he wears a blue sequin jacket in that’. ‘No’, I replied.

Sure enough you can buy one from The Jacket Shop, Reenactment Clothing for $419.98 USD and it’s in stock!

Aside from the Streisand and Diamond duet of ‘You don’t bring me flowers’ that never happened, apparently delivered to the World by a radio DJ, all mixing.

I prefer to keep my teen years where they belong as memories.

Dame Angela Lansbury

/ Robert / 4 Comments

For me Dame Angela Lansbury was Bed Knobs and Broomsticks. 30 years ago I was living in Droitwich, a small spa town in England. The cinema was located in one of the forgotten spa buildings, grandly named the Winter Gardens. Built in the 1930’s, in its heyday it was reputed to have the best sprung dance floor in the Midlands. Rows of seats were screwed to the floor to create the picture palace. The building became a victim of redevelopment at a time of video cassettes and a general loss of interest in cinemas.

I remember with dewey-eyed nostalgia, the musty smelling space with dampness pervading the air. The chill of the place lingered in my bones long after leaving. Those were the days; buying Kia Ora, toffee apples and Cornettos from the usherette and watching cartoons before the feature film. My eyes smarted from the cigarette smoke fuelled haze caught in the oblong light stream from projector to screen. I’m sure I went to the cinema as a teenager more than twice. Yet there are only two movies that I remember seeing: Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Mad Max; significant given my interest in paganism and eventual move to Australia!

Cabot Cove’s television sleuth in Murder She Wrote passed away on 11 October 2022, aged 96.

One of my treating general practitioners remarked to me, the passing of those around us is a reminder of our mortality.

Happy Halloween

/ Robert / 2 Comments
Accepting and channeling my inner, shadow dwelling, fun loving, witch. Very much part of my authentic self.

A solitary feminine alter ego who feels connected to Gaia, Ancient Greek Earth goddess.

Practising white magic, she strives to bring no harm to others.

Numerology

/ Robert / 5 Comments

Some say numerology is bunkum. My approach is to treat it with cautious respect. I don’t live my life by it however, I’m fascinated by numeric occurrences that appear to reinforce something.

According to numerology.com adding all of the digits of one’s date of birth together (year digits, month digits and day digits) until a value between 1 and 9 reveals one’s life plan number.

For example, my husband and I share a life plan number of one. Apparently, an auspicious number, ‘People with a Numerology Life Path 1 are born to act quickly and have no problem changing course and starting down a new path. A secret fear of failure makes them ultra-driven in every endeavor they pursue and will often make them victorious. As soon as one finish line is reached, they are already running toward another.’ This is reasonably accurate of the two of us.

Taking the concept a step further, the date my partner and I became husband and husband is 24.10.2014. Maybe it’s coincidence that 2+4=6, 1+0=1 totals 7 and 2+0+1+4=7, does this balance equate to balance?

Assuming a shared life plan is a thing, the date of our wedding in numerology is 7+7=14, 1+4=5. If our combined life plan is five, ‘People with a 5 Life Path number are on a lifelong adventure. They are ready for anything and want to soak up every experience this world has to offer. Life Path number 5 people tend to learn by living and don’t allow themselves to get stuck in any situation that has outworn its interest. The moment things start to get humdrum, a person with this Life Path will move on to something more fascinating.’ Our life together is indeed a shared adventure and we seem to be constantly moving house. My husband wants us to become grey nomads.

On Friday 28/10/2022, we had a delightful belated eighth anniversary lunch at the Manly Boathouse. As we were leaving, I noticed we were seated at table eight. This just happens to be my favourite number and wait for it, ‘go down the stairs and shut the front door!’, on the day of our wedding we wore matching silver cuff links with the symbol for infinity, eight. Oh, and the date is also eight.

I rest my case.