The reflexology session was assisted by Maow Maow, who climbed up onto Gloria's chest and spent the session purring at her. She loved this. Gloria has two very antisocial Siamese - having a boofhead like Maow Maow about made her day.
Once the treatment was over, food was served and Gloria and I sat down to watch Hannah Gadsby's Nanette.
I've wanted to see this for a while. I also knew that Gloria would like to see this.
Gloria and I are very different people, but share some commonalities. We're both spiritual. We're both of Cornish descent. We both love animals, brought up in the country and had pretty miserable childhoods. We bonded in meditation many years ago.
Gloria, who is now in her mid-sixites, is also gay.
I don't see people as gay or straight - I just see people. But you really can bond over a shared knowledge that you are one of "the other". For Gloria, it's her sexuality. For me, well. I grew up the "crippled, weird" kid.
This fact has always made me sensitive to the needs of "The Other". Being "the Other" has made me empathetic.
There was something that told me Gloria needed to see Nanette as much as I did.
Nanette is one of the best pieces of television I have ever had the honour to witness. It's amazing stuff. Funny, powerful, sad, excoriating, brutal. This is the stuff you don't see enough of on telly.
The first half of Nanette is very funny. Very, very, self-effacingly funny.
The second half is where the pathos comes into effect. Hannah Gadsby is angry. She's furious. And rightly so.
I remember holding council with Gloria when the awful plebishite was going on here. I listened and bore witness to many LGBTI friends at this time - conscious that the persecution they were feeling was so very real and incredibly deep.
The second half of Nanette had me weeping.
You could have heard a pin drop in the Sydney Opera House that night.
Hannah Gadsby is now playing this show in New York.
She gives her reasons for giving up comedy in this show.
And between the tears, and the gasps and the fist pumps you understand fully, why she wants to do this.
The story about her mother tore me to shreds. There were other stories. Horrific stories, that had me wanting to hold this very, very brave woman.
Most of all, I want to shake her hand and say thank you. For her bare faced honesty.
Here is the Atlantic's take on it.
As the final credits rolled, Gloria and I dried our tears. I think, best of all, Nanette has given a tangible voice to "the other" Not only the LGBTI community, but for anybody who has felt that they were's an accepted part of society.
Me, the fat, crippled, weird kid - she gave me a voice too.
Nanette is required viewing. It's on Netflix at the moment. Save yourself a quiet hour. grab a glass of wine and a box of tissues, and see the power of a woman standing in her power.
As she says in one of her last lines of the show, there is nothing more powerful than a broken woman who has had to rebuild herself completely.
Hannah Gadsby is now one of my heroes. May she remain strong and find some peace. She deserves it.
Today's Song:
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