I'm starting to pack already, and yes, it's early, but I've got a little stop off on the way, spending a night in Sydney seeing a play and visiting friends before making my up North.
The Darwin office wear is packed in a cube. I'll need to do some washing while I'm up there. Being away from home for over a week, there's no need to pack that much underwear when you have a washing machine in your room.
I need to work out what I'm going to wear in Sydney for the day - as what you wear in Sydney in late Autumn is a bit different to what wear in Darwin in the dry.
Then there's festival clothes - as myself and a couple of workmates are heading off to the Bass in the Grass festival at the end of the week. Do I take my docs and go all Mosh Pit Panda or risk it in my runners?
There's also a few more items that I'll keep in a desk drawer while I'm up there. A bottle of gin. A fold up yoga mat. Some resistance bands. These can go into my Darwin bag while I'm up there. If found the yoga mat at K-Mart tonight while I was looking for swimming goggles - also required and will live up in the Darwin bag.
Of course, I've got my cereal for the week I'm up there. And decaffeinated coffee bags - again, may as well take them up with me. Having a cup of coffee and some cereal to hand when your plane gets in at 1 a.m. and you're due at work in seven hours is a good thing. Anything to help you running. A pack of muesli bars in going in the bag too.
Oh, and my knitting. And the Fire Stick - which means I can stream Netflix onto the telly at the hotel.
It's all part of this FIFO life. Getting things organised early means less stress when I leave for the airport on Saturday morning.
The Performance: RBG: Of Many, One by Suzie Miller
The Theatre: The Playhouse, The Arts Centre
Stars: 5
Until 12 May
Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Supreme Court Judge. Woman. Monumental Brain. Mother. Shit Stirer. Wife. Opera fanatic. Iconoclast. Jewish girl from Brooklyn. All round inspiration.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg, or Kicky to her family, or the Notorious RBG to the zeitgeist is one of those people who was kicking down doors from a young age - and she forgot to stop. Her dissenting voice in the Supreme Court has become legendary.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who died during the last days of Donald Trump's presidency, only to be replaced by Amy Coney Barrett.
In Ruth Bader Ginsberg you have a woman of intelligence, warmth, humour and a sense of justice - a woman who has done more for American civil rights than almost anybody.
And yes, I've been a fan for years.
In Suzie Miller's (of Prima Facie fame) play RBG: Of Many, One, Heather Mitchell embodies Ginsberg, from her early days in Brooklyn, to her time at Cornell, Harvard and Columbia Universities, her long and happy marriage to her husband, Marty, to her time in front of the courts, to her time waiting to hear from various presidents - Clinton who nominated her to the bench, to Obama, who spoke to her about the possibility of resigning, to her dissing of Donald Trump.
All of this is covered in this one woman play.
Under Priscilla Jackman's direction, Heather Mitchell embodies RBG with seeming ease. This is a virtuoso performance - an actor in their prime. Out of Miller's wordy script, she lets us see into RBG's life, holding conversations with the people in her life, explaining herself, her decisions and actions. Her impression of Donald Trump is impeccable.
Heather Mitchell is extraordinary. The four curtain calls with standing ovations are testament to this performance. It's second to none.
This only has a week to run in Melbourne. Beg, borrow, steal or buy a ticket. It's phenomenal, not only as a representation of an enigma, but for the performance on stage. It goes to show what woman on a stage can do.
And yes, maybe I'm biased. RBG has been a hero of mine for years. God bless her.
I learned of the passing of two friends today - feline friends. Feline friends of friends.
And I felt the fear that every pet owner faces at times. What are you going to feel when your little mate goes.
I still think regularly about Maow Maow, Blarney and Barney's cat, who crossed to the other side in 2020. He was my best mate. We loved each other, even if he belonged to my friends. I got to see him the day before he went, a shadow of his former self - riddled with kidney disease, he'd lost over half his body weight. He was no longer my fat boy. But I got to say goodbye, give him a cuddle, tell him all the things I wanted to tell him, and to wish him well.
As sad as it was, I got a little bit of closure.
My friends weren't quite as lucky.
The first fellow to go was Jack, my friends old white boy. They found each other about six years ago. When my friend took him in, she was told he didn't have long. Indeed, six years on, he saw her through many trying times.
My friend went out for a bit in the afternoon and came back to find him dead on the bed. In many ways, a perfect ending. He wasn't sick, he wasn't suffering. He just went.
An hour later, I was reading about the demise of my friend Shadow. My friend adopted two black kittens during COVID. One had one eye (Wink). The other kitten had two perfectly good eyes. That was Shadow. They were wonderful. Hilarious. Spunky, funny slinky black cats.
Unfortunately, cats don't have much road sense and Shadow fell victim to a hit and run. Thankfully, despite best efforts, he didn't suffer either.
My friends are devastated.
I'm grieving with my friends, as I hate to think what it will be like if Lucifer was to go quickly, like that, particularly like Shadow, who went well before his time.
Needless to say, somebody is getting a bit more attention than usual. He needs to be cherished.
We don't get them for long, and we don't know for how long we have our little friends.
What is the dinner you have when you have done your food shopping but you don't want to have anything you've bought?
You're not feeling the microwave dinners, as they are reserved for quick lunches during the week.
You don't want to cook the chicken breasts in the fridge. They are for later in the week. Maybe tomorrow.
You don't want pasta. The only pasta in the cupboard is chick pea pasta, the only jar of sauce possibly has an expiry date of a few years back - but the jar hasn't been opened, so it should be good to go.
I don't want takeaway. I had a meal out last night, and Jay and I had our normal breakfast at a local cafe, where the service was crappy, but the zucchini and corn fritters were very good.
And I don't want to get much in because I'm heading interstate next Saturday and there's no point in getting too much in.
But I want comfort food.
If there was more than me and the cat home, I'd make Sausages in Onion Gravy with Mashed Potatoes - it still is one of my favourite things to both eat and make. But I haven't made that for years, instead, going for the freezer meal version which isn't too bad - but it's not the same as my onion gravy, which is then pimped up with tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce - and lots of onions. (Oh,I wish I had somebody to make sausages and onions for - mashed potatoes for one just isn't a thing - and they are the best.)
I wanted something easy tonight.
So, I went down the supermarket. I found a large potato; some cheese and some coleslaw.
I baked the potato in the oven, grated the cheese, smeared a bit of butter inside the spud once it was cooked, and plonked the coleslaw on top.
I'm just back after a day of roaming around the bayside suburbs of Melbourne. My hair colour around my temples has been freshened up and I'm waiting for a mate to come over for dinner. In many ways, a successful day.
And now, I'll get the Sunday questions done and out of the way for the week, while I wait for my friend to turn up. I'm looking forward to a meal at my favourite Chinese/Vietmamese place down the road.
1. Who is your best friend and why? What do you like to do together?
I can't say that I have a best friend, but I do have a close circle of friends - Jonella and Blarney being the main two - they're listed as my In Case of Emergency people. We drink a lot of tea together while putting the world to rights.
2. What is your town like? What are your favorite places to go?
What is Melbourne, Australia like. Well, it's a multicultural city of about five million people, with great coffee and food, trams, cultural events and Australian Rules Football. I love going to the National Gallery of Victoria - which is excellent, any of the many theatres, and one of so many restaurants it's not funny. Oh, and drive an hour of the city and you're in picturesque hills and forests. It's a great place.
3. What is your favorite meal? Where and when do you eat it?
Mum's roast lamb with all the trimmings - but I only ever get it at Mum's place.
4. What is your job like? What do you like about it?
My job, at the moment, is very busy and pretty stressful. I write for a living, working for big companies. I've done it for a long time, but it's when the projects get like this that things get a bit hairy. It is always interesting and I'm doing a lot of travel at the moment, which I am also enjoying. Great people, interesting work. What more do you need.
5. What is your favorite place to go on vacation?
I love going to Europe. I like hanging about with old stuff. The only thing it does do is makes me want to stay though. For a toes up holiday where I do nothing, then it's Bali or Thailand, places not too far away. And I really want to go to Japan and Cambodia in the not-too-distant future. For a driving holiday, nothing beats the South Island of New Zealand.
6. What country would you like to visit one day?
In no apparent order:
Japan
Cambodia
Canada
Belgium
The Scandinavian Countries
Tanzania (or more to the point, Zanzibar)
7. What bores you the most?
Umm, that would be tennis. I've got no interest in it at all in the game. Melbourne hosts the Australian Open every year. Sorry, no interest at all.
8. What are you looking forward to this summer?
I'm in Australia. Summer is not for another seven months. I'm just loving autumn (fall) and looking forward to Winter, which is my favourite season. I love rugging up and open fires and rain.
9. What is your favorite film?
I haven't seen it for a while, but I adore Three Colours: Blue - a French film which was made in the nineties. French cinema at its best.
For something more mainstream, I still get a kick out of When Harry Met Sally, Atonement and The Shawshank Redemption.
And what is my favourite movies I've seen in the last twelve months. Take your pick from Monkey Man,
Poor Things and Past Lives.
10. Do you sing in the shower?
Sometimes. If I do, it's normally songs from the seventies and eighties.
11. What is the best gift you’ve ever received?
I'm always grateful when I receive a gift. Of late, I've had a couple of mates buy me dinner at some lovely establishments. Feed me and I am very happy.
12. Do you prefer being indoors or outdoors?
I like both. When I'm inside, I want to be outside, and vice versa. It depends on what the weather is doing.
13. When was the last time you cried, and why?
I was watching a movie, The Great Escaper a few weeks ago. It was a very touching movie. What got me more is knowing that it's probably going to be one of Michael Caine's last movies. After all, he is in his 90s. (Glenda Jackson was in this as well - it was her last film - she was very frail in this - it's life, but it cut to the core.)
14. What do you keep in your bag or handbag?
In my green Uniqlo banana bag you will find:
My phone
My wallet
A lipstick or three
A lip balm
My house keys
Often a phone charger
Sometimes my ear buds
And occasionally my Myki (Melbourne public transport card)
Oh, and a map of the Paris Metro and some Parisian business cards.
15. Can you play a musical instrument?
Sort of. I learned the flute at school. I haven't played it in years, but I'm sure I can get a tune out of it.
I've picked up the cable scarf that has been sitting on the back of the couch for the last year, waiting to be finished. It's now well over a meter long and really should be finished.
Knitting it is a joy. Bendigo Woollen Mills 12 ply wool. It's lovely to knit with. I've also got my pattern, which I remember taking a photocopy of in a wool shop in town, then typed it out. The paper is now grotty and torn, but as this is a cable pattern you have to keep your eye on what you're doing. As I've only got another two balls to knit up, it's nearly there.
And it's lovely.
So, I'm going to go back to the couch, and sit next to the cat, and do a bit more knitting.
I've had a massage tonight so I'm all floppy. I don't have the brain power to write.
Tonight was one of those nights where I can truly say I love my life. Great company, a quick dinner at Movida Next Door, patatas bravas, a gin and tonic and some Shakespeare. It does not get better than this.
Add to this a day at work where we talked about the music of Icehouse, popping home quickly to feed the cat and dump my backpack - and then, a definitive win by the Crows, the day - how much better can a day get?
(If you could feed me patatas bravas regularly and I would marry you. Add Shakespeare to the mix and I am yours forever.)
My friend Millie, who was at a loose end, agreed to join me in this school night jaunt to the theatre. She said that she hadn't exposure to Shakespeare but was willing to give it a go. As an entry point to Shakespeare, this silly little play about fairies, Athenian lovers and a troupe of incompetent actors is perfect. Light, silly, fun and really, if you're a bit worried about the language, you shouldn't be.
What I love about Bell Shakespeare is they take what can be seen as banal and they bring it to life in an inventive way. They've been doing this for over a quarter of a century.
This troupe of eight players played multiple roles across the play as they fairly divided the Athenians from the Fairy Folk to the players. Peter Evans direction is near flawless as he brings a menace to Oberon (Richard Pyros), a sense of hopelessness and agro in Hermia (Ahunim Abebe) a languid air to Titania, who doubled as a very sensible Peter Quince (Imogen Sage), and one of the best Bottoms I've seen in a long time. (Matu Ngaropo). Please take that as read. Bottom is a character. Not a lifestyle preference.
I also enjoyed the androgynous Puck, played by non-binary actor, Ella Prince. In the last few theatre-based Midsummer Night's Dreams I've seen; Puck has often been portrayed by a gender-neutral/non-binary actor. The role lends itself to this, and Prince's otherworldly appearance and fluid physicality lend bring the role to life.
Set in what looks like a derelict attic, the actors came in and out, happily moving between characters with the change of a coat. The set is climbed over, used as a bower, tree branches and a climbing frame, which keeps the audience on their toes.
As always, the Bell Shakespeare as some of the best footwear found on the Australian stage.
And the most wonderful thing about this production? It has to be the play within a play, where the hapless players bring out the story of Pyramus and Thisbe to the Athenians. I heard somebody behind me say that in 400 years, nothing funnier has been written. They've done this so well. That good that dear Bottom, once dead as Pyramus, was quietly choking on his own laughter. Yes, it's silly. But that's why you go to see this. And of course, there is the Wall. The Wall is perfect.
If you know, you know.
This cast is taking this to Canberra and Darwin after they finish up here in Melbourne.
Bell Shakespeare has done what they do best. Bring thought-provoking, fun, interesting Shakespeare to the masses.
For me, it was a part of a very enjoyable night out.
