A couple of weeks ago I found a pair of second hand Harley Davidson biker boots on eBay. They were picked up for a steal - $25 plus postage.
Today, I found them at the post office waiting for me.
They are in good knick, but need a polish. They have a chunky heel on them. They have two buckles on the outside and they are marked with the Harley Davidson mark.
I was a little worried that thy were' going to fit - thinking I'd bought men's boots - but no, all is good - Size 9 women's boots.
I put them on my feet - and my demeanor changed instantly.
If I do the word associating thing you say 'new order' and I think of Joy Division, Ian Curtis (vale) and The Happy Mondays and Blue Monday and Echo and the Bunnymen and I look at this sentence and I think that you have to be of a certain age to understand what I am talking about.
No, as a Freemason, I am taking the next step in the journey and joining another lodge. A lodge with a completely different ritual and a lodge with a new set of rules and ideas to learn and follow.
So far, I've saved up my subs for the year, had a gown made that makes me look like a member and Eastern Block Women's Olympic Weight Lifting Team, and purchased some second hand regalia which I have had to make a few amendments to (removing some burgundy trim for the original white - I have no idea what I am doing this for) and cleared my Wednesday night schedule. There is a part of me that would rather be in Wednesday Night pump class, but thems the breaks.
I find it interesting that this has fallen on this day. My father would have turned 78 today if he was alive. He died over twenty years ago. Strange things often happen on this day. Joining a new order is about as strange as you can get on the Panda scale of things.
Anyway, tonight, after work, and feeding myself, I have to turn up to the temple in my normal masons gear (Black skirt, black shoes, white shirt, black cardigan/jacket, white glove and my mason's pinny).
What happens after that, I do not know. There are a few givens. This is an initiation. I will be asked to do some things, say some words and take in what they are doing. It will all be very symbolical. There will probably be candles. (Modern freemasonry issue #23 - new lodge buildings and insurance policies mean that they have to get electronic candles as naked flames are forbidden - and there is a bit of candle light involved in all of this. Insurance companies take all of the fun out of things).
Other givens. I won't be asked to strip naked (a good thing as the temple has no heating at the moment - besides, not a pretty sight), ride a goat, have sex on an altar (eww and no!), drink blood or do anything that would compromise me in any way. Although there are some truths in the myths that these rituals are held in darkness with people standing around in a circle. Just for this ritual, I do not know. It is all unknown and this is a part of the joy of initiation.
Once I get through the initiation I will get changed into the new gown and regalia which is currently sitting in the boot of my car. The gown, a surplus, was made by a friend of mine from lodge. She took the measurements just as I was starting the food wanker plan. The robe is now loose, but this is a good thing as I can wear clothes underneath - good for this weather. Being a fairly heavy cotton, it breathes - but I don't know how warm it will be in Winter.
Then there will be a cup of tea afteward. I will be very bummed if my friend Raeleen, aged 82, stalwart of the order, has made her inimitable asparagus rolls - as being gluten free, she will have used fresh white bread with the crusts cut off. One of the best things about modern Freemasonry for Men and Women - the CWA supper at the end of the night. I will have to remember to take my caffeine free teabags so I can have a cup of tea afterwards.
So what do I get out of all of this? I like working ritual. I find ritual fascinating. I love the energy I get from it. I really enjoy thinking about the lessons that come from the ritual - just as I love pondering a good Catholic catechism, a Buddhist prayer cycle or a Jewish Seder. I love the universal truths which Freemasonry provides guidance and instruction.
It's funny, I found myself yelling at a friend the other night, "But how can you go back on your word. My word is my bond. I'm a Freemason, you know!" I couldn't understand how somebody could say one thing and do another. It just made no sense to me at all. A Freemason's word is their bond. Walking the walk and talking the talk is what we do.
The strange thing about joining this new order. I know I will get a lot out of this - just as I do my normal lodge work - and just as I get a lot out of my other spiritual workings. I just have no idea what this will be. My friends in this order have said that this is just up my alley. What, there are gin and cats involved? I don't know.
This is just another step in the journey. Just because I have no idea what is going to happen to me is not a bad thing. If there is one thing Freemasonry has taught me, it is to trust the well worn path. I will be in safe hands.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Four Stars)
Solo: A Star Wars Story (Three and a bit Stars)
It was an entertainment sort of weekend. A play on Friday night, a movie date with Jonella on
Saturday night and a family movie with Blarney, Barney and the boys for birthday treats on Sunday.
So there was a bit of cultural overload.
The two films couldn't be more different. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a British film starring Lily James and Matthew Goode.
The plot is fairly simple. Juliet (Lily James) is a writer on the rise in post-war London. Her books are going gangbusters and she has been asked by the The Times to write about England post war. She receives a letter from one Dawsey Adams (Michel Huisman) who has come into possession of one of her books and the two start a conversation. Dawsey tells her of the trials and tribulations of the people of Guernsey during the occupation. There is a bit of romance and some intrigue and some glorious settings. This is a movie you go to with your Mum.
What stood out for me is how well the Brits do these war stories. The Brits are a resilient mob and the Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society have bucket loads of resilience, from the down to earth Dawsey, The plucky Elizabeth (Jessica Brown Findlay), the dippy Isola (Katherine Parkinson), the be-leagued Amelia (Penelope Wilton) and the stalwart postmaster, Eben (Tom Courtney). The five make an inspirational team as the navigate living under German occupation.
The setting of the Guernsey is stunning as well.
Jonella and I loved it in equal measure - again, it's a great movie to go to on a Sunday afternoon with your Mum. I'd happily see it again - but then, I'm a sucker for English films.
I wish I could say the same for Solo: A Star Wars Story. I'm not saying I hated it - I was just a little underwhelmed by it all. This one didn't gel with me as much as the other Star Wars films have done in the past. Rogue One, in particular, was fantastic. The Force Awakens was also great.
Solo has the standard Star Wars plot ie: Oh-ah must escape a bad situation and fly across the galaxy, oh-ah, the baddies are everywhere, oh-ah once again good overcomes evil. It also has the well loved characters, which I think is its saving grace.
Well that is it in a nutshell. There were some great things about the movie - the droid, L3-37 is very, very funny. Alden Ehrenreich is very good as the juvenile Han Solo.
The movie does give a good view of Han Solo before he met Princess Leia and her tribe of Rebels. A punk and a street kid, he tries to become an Imperial pilot, but his mouth appears to get in the way.
Woody Harrelson is good as Tobias Beckett, but he isn't overly stretched.
The film has some really good bits to it. We find out how Han and Chewbacca met. We find out how Han came to take possession of the Millennium Falcon. We also found out a bit more about the Empire and it's early days. And we now get why Lando Calrissian doesn't like Han Solo that much. (My comment to Barney during the film - isn't he the guy who ends up headless - I think I've muddled up my Star Wars characters.
But this film doesn't have the pace or the heart of other Star Wars films - the direction feels heavy handed - and at times, it feels a bit preachy - but think that of the last Star Wars film.
The other person who got up my nose was Emilia Clarke's Qi'ra - Han's love interest. She just didn't ring true and came across as rather annoying.
In all, not a bad venture, but unlike other Star Wars films, I don't feel the need to rush back to see it again. It's an okay film - just nothing to write home about. For me, it fell a bit flat.
So I am getting some time at home. So far this weekend I've seen a play, gone to meditation, breakfast, had a haircut and colour, picked up a gown for a ceremony on Wednesday, seen a film (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - loved it), slept, had breakfast and saw another film (Solo - the latest in the Star Wars back story films - a bit meh - but not awful) done my food shopping and started preparing lunch and dinner for next week. I think it has been a productive weekend.
1. Is there a smell that will immediately sicken you?
Human vomit will normally turn my stomach. The smell of dead things is awful too (I was brought up on a farm - I know what long dead things smell like) And as I found out yesterday in meditation, geranium oil did nothing for me either. It wasn't that it made me feel sick - it just reminded me of my grandmothers toilet.
2. When you want quiet, where do you go?
To bed or for a walk in a park. 3. Do you need/prefer total darkness when you sleep?
I need darkness. I rarely go to sleep if it is not dark and I am horizontal. I have a bugger of a time on planes.
4. What is your least favorite taste?
Banana. Okay, that is a lie - over ripe banana. Not overly fond of pesto or anything overly aniseedy either. Ouzo is fine - Pernod not so much.
5. How heavily do you rely upon your sense of touch?
Very heavily. Other than I'm a very tactile person, I'd never find anything in my handbag if I didn't have a good sense of touch. My handbag is a veritable tardis or Mary Poppin's carpet Gladstone bag. 6. Do you mostly prepare your meals at home or do you eat out more?
Half and half. It depends on the day and the timing and the activities. I eat out more than I should - I blame a lot of that on laziness.
7. Is there a time of day when you are more likely to buy food already prepared?
Weekday lunchtimes. I have to forage around the city for something gluten, dairy, sugar, caffeine and alcohol free. It's not as hard as it sounds.
8. What is your average weekly grocery bill (for how many people)? What is your total restaurant/fast food bill for an average week?
Oh, that is a loaded question. I just spent $150 on groceries, but that was a big shop with lots of cleaning products and nuts which now need activating. It's normally around $80 just for me. Do remember that I cook from scratch and need healthy stuff.
I'd easily spend $100 a week on eating out - and that is a slow week. This weekend it was more like $150, but I haven't been home all weekend.
9. What is your favorite meal to prepare at home?
Chicken meatballs and pasta - not that I can have that any more. I do a wicked chicken and roast pumpkin stir fry too.
10. What is your favorite meal to order in a restaurant?
I will more often than not get lamb or duck if it is on the menu. Fish or Kangaroo are also favourite. And I am a sucker for creme brulee - though anything with passionfruit or yuzu (a Japanese citrus fruit which tastes like a mix of mandarin, orange and lemon - and it is awesome) and I'm in. 11. Do you believe in fate?
Yes, unfortunately.
12. If Karma was to visit you now, would it be kind or kick you in the butt?
I'd like to think it would be kind to me. I make an effort to tread lightly on the earth.
13. Do you believe you have lived another life previous to this one?
I do. I'm a great believer in reincarnation. I've also done a couple of past life regressions and come up with some seriously freaky stuff - a herbalist / witch in Toledo Spain, and and English woman who was shot by the Germans in WWII. Interesting and very freaky stuff.
14. What do you believe in with an unshakable resolve?
I believe that compassion and kindness will never, ever lead you astray.
15. What one factor influences your life the most?
Literature. Words actually do have power. People have forgotten this, but words matter. Words matter more than anything else in the world.
Melbourne Theatre Company - The Sumner Theatre 5 May - 9 June
"Do you want the truth, or do you want to hear something that will make you feel good?"
A man. A woman. A hotel room. What the hell is happening here?
Mike Bartlett's three-man play has the audience gripped from the second they walk into the auditorium, there the stage, surrounded by television screens with people on their computers talking to one another. The only noise which can be heard is static. Then the action begins.
Wild broaches the subject of what happens to the whistle blower once the whistle has been blown - on the scale of Edward Snowden or Julian Assange. Andrew (Nicholas Denton) finds himself locked in a hotel room with a strange woman (Anna Lise Phillips). The woman is familiar, yet strangely off putting at the same time. In the first ten minutes of the play, we learn that Andrew has let some very big secrets out of the bag. He has gone from being Mr Nobody, to the name on everybody's lips - just like Assange or Snowden. After a border run, he is stuck in a Moscow hotel room with these strange, sometimes funny, sometimes menacing people come and visit. Who are these people? We never quite know.
What is apparent over the 100 minute play is that this psychological thriller is that this cat and mouse game is both funny, tense and very on the ball as it looks at our world, the digital media and how taking responsibility for your actions can get you into serious trouble. It was an experience to watch a play where you were forever on edge, wondering what the hell was going to happen next.
Nicholas Denton is perfect as the hapless Andrew, indignant and innocent in equal measure - who looks enthralling without his shirt on (worth the ticket price alone in my humble opinion).
Anna Lise Phillips is the woman - who at one stage calls herself George. Who she is and who she is working for is never fully revealed. Her whack job persona is both joyful and unsettling - and would never want to be stuck in a room with. Toby Schmitz is the man - another unwelcome visitor, who has a more calming, yet still unsettling persona. These two torment and appease Andrew in equal measure. Are they working together? Are they on different sides? Did the CIA/MI6/ The Pentagon send them? There are no answers, but one does have to wonder.
The set also comes into its own in the last ten minutes of the play. Some of the best staging I've had the pleasure to witness in ages.
For the 2018 MTC Season, this is by far the best performance to date. On point, thought provoking, unsettling and fun, it is a play for our digitally challenged times.
I'm off to the theatre in a bit. And MTC production - and having a quick dinner with Jay beforehand.
It's not been a bad day, spent testing with the guys. I'd forgotten how much I love working with a cohesive team - I've been on my own for a long time in this job, so the change of pace and the camaraderie is just wonderful. In many ways it's a pity I'm leaving here in a month as I would love to keep working with these guys.
But tonight, I have the theatre - and as it is Fri-yay I will get to have a bit of fun window shopping before I get to the restaurant.
I have my ticket.
It's going to be a busy weekend.
No time to write tonight. But I will give you a dodgy song or two to celebrate the weekend.
