Hectic Pace in the Land of Chooka
Is it just me or did Redhead matches use to light easier, burn with a stronger flame that was, shall we say, hungrier for fuel? I swear now days their flame is lacklustre and hesitant as if once again we have put some additional safety feature into place, in case some silly people might accidently, oh I don’t know, try to start a fucking fire with them.
They do say that the candle that burns twice as bright lasts half as long and I have been so busy this month it does feel that way personally at the moment. It feels like I have covered more ground than your average National Party candidate during an election so as they say in writing school less telling and more show.
Bells Beach and the famous Rip Curl Surfing Competition was great fun except for the irritant that I never saw a wave surfed in anger. I was there on the Friday and Saturday and the competition ran on the Thursday, Sunday and Monday. Very disappointing but thanks to out and out cronyism and good friends I did go to one of the Rip Curl fully gratis, go nuts pissups, bought some cheap merchandise, had a tour of the Curl’s headquarters including the boardroom [if that boardroom table could talk] and plenty of other fun too.
In some ways the highlight was a viewing of my first ever country footy match where the Torquay Tigers gave the Queenscliff Coutas a flogging. This was a bummer as I was with hardcore Queenscliff supporters. The Torquay Tigers Full forward kicked 10 goals and could have had more. His tenth goal kicked a minute or two before full time led to rousing chants of “Chooka, Chooka” from the Tigers faithful and I had a new experience under my belt. Looking around the capacity crowd in front of the beer tent I am sure I was the only Queenslander in the crowd because I was the only person I saw with thongs on.
So my surfing has been in The Tulla tub aka Urbnsurf wave pool again this month and it continues to be great fun. The water is chilling at a rapid rate, faster and colder than the ocean now that we are in April. Apparently it can get down to single figures in the depths of winter which is seriously chilly. Thanks but no thanks. I have gone one up a level in the wave intensity and interestingly the vibe in the water has changed too. Still friendly but a little more seriousness, anyone would think it was the World Tour the way some carry on. Either way I think I might woose out and wait for September to come along before another session.
April in Melbourne means Comedy Festival and I tried to get to a few shows but one of those medical procedures that life over 60 seems to usher in got in the way along with some other plans. Be assured, nothing serious in the check-ups or in the results fortunately. It was another new experience as being a healthy chap [jinx jinx] I have never put on a hospital gown before and the whole anaesthesia thing was naturally kind of weird. I had always thought that going under was like in the movies – you know, count backwards from 100 get to about 96 and a grey curtain gradually descends. But I didn’t get to 99 and just like a light, bang I was out. Waking up was the same. One minute blackness, next minute wide awake. It probably wasn’t like that but that is how it felt.
Anyway the comedy festival act that I did see was quite exceptional. Her name is Ms Jordan Grey. Transgender Jordan riffs on that process, superheroes, dogs, plays piano, sings songs, dances, you cannot take your eyes off her and her voice is incredible. Check her out on social media YouTube etc.to get the vibe.
Drinks and eats this month have been a real mixed bag. Some after work beers in the CBD’s Mitre Tavern, the oldest building in the city and 140 years a licensed venue. In contrast a long train ride down to Mordialloc on the bay to see my old boss and all-around good guy Dromanaman and have lunch in Doyle’s, surely the largest pub in the Melbourne region. Also a return, no less expensive but tasty visit to the Everleigh cocktail bar, a few at the bar at the local - The Union Club, dinner at the Builders Arms, catch up with old friends at Bowl Bowl in Smith Street.
Into the last week of April and you might say with hindsight I had it coming. The ANZAC Day surf forecast and weather report was very pleasing to the eye so I thought I would go for a paddle around an ocean and not a pool, so I locked that one in and then on the 28th I was going to round out April with a gig in Northcote. A new Australian act named “Minor Gold”, a duo with great songs, fantastic harmonies, think late 60s LA canyon sound with some Nashville country chops. What could go wrong?
COVID
I could, for the first time catch COVID.
The Artist and I are no longer COVID virgins. On the 24th it nailed me and The Artist went down swinging on the 26th. Anybody who says they are not sure if they have had COVID has to be joking. Maybe it is my advancing years but buddy I knew. Mind you my first vaccination put me on my back for two days so I guess the real thing with all its new variants would give me a licking.
Still with rest and hydration and an enormous amount of reading and television I have slowly mended but the last weekend of April was finally the weekend when I had to wind it back a notch or six and do nothing.
Amusements taken in while aching, sweating, shaking, sneezing, coughing, complaining were…..
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh - this the TGBC [look it up] book of the month, a 1930s gentle satire on media moguls and fake news, very topical, very British. It was smart, amusing but I think satire needs to also provoke outrage and I left this book feeling it had too much whimsy with not enough outrage and moved straight into The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy.
That move is like going from the tune “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” to a symphony. As I write I have not finished this book. It cannot, will not be rushed but if you are a fan of McCarthy as I am you will not be disappointed. McCarthy is truly one of the greatest American writers, essential as anyone alive or dead.
Couchbound I binged watched Jordan Peele’s latest movie Nope [interesting, 8/10], M Night Shyamalan’s movie Old [like a lot of his work - great concept that never quite gets going 5/10], hybrid creepy town, vampires, time portal series From on Stan [basic, not an original idea in sight but tries hard 6/10] and Only Murders in The Building on Disney [clever and witty, lightweight but charming with star power 8/10.]
And of course listening to and watching excepts from the work of the late, great Barry Humphries. The man who virtually invented Australian satire was a supreme talent.
