Showing posts with label celebrations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label celebrations. Show all posts
Thursday, 8 March 2018
There Goes The Bride
A wedding party passes by in the French Quarter of New Orleans accompanied by a band, the wedding guests and a police escort.
Tuesday, 2 January 2018
Welcoming in the new year
The Sydney fireworks display for this New Year's Eve was not blessed with the best weather conditions. Smoke from the various fire works sites eventually covered much of the display on and over the Harbour Bridge. Here is the start of the display.
Monday, 1 January 2018
Sunday, 31 December 2017
9 hours to 2018
An update from six hours ago.
The rain seems to have cleared and whilst it is still cloudy the sun is shining and the temperature is 25°c.
Bradleys Head can be seen more clearly than before but to my surprise there appear to be no people camped there waiting for the fireworks as in previous years. I wonder whether the Police have blocked off the area for local residents only as they have done in other parts of harbour frontage areas.
Off Double Bay there are a few more cruisers anchored ahead of the fireworks.
Small craft gathering at Neutral Bay.
The easterly breezes continue leaving all craft facing away from the main fire works sites.
The rain seems to have cleared and whilst it is still cloudy the sun is shining and the temperature is 25°c.
Bradleys Head can be seen more clearly than before but to my surprise there appear to be no people camped there waiting for the fireworks as in previous years. I wonder whether the Police have blocked off the area for local residents only as they have done in other parts of harbour frontage areas.
Off Double Bay there are a few more cruisers anchored ahead of the fireworks.
Small craft gathering at Neutral Bay.
The easterly breezes continue leaving all craft facing away from the main fire works sites.
15 hours to 2018
Fifteen hours until the New Year and as forecast it is raining in Sydney. This bodes badly for the city's famous new year fireworks but the rain forecast is for morning and early afternoon so hundreds of thousands spectators will hope that the forecast is accurate and that the sky clears by tonight.
In the murk of my zoomed in iPhone camera here is Bradleys Head, visited earlier this year by Andrew & R, barely visible through the rain. I guess that as usual the location is already packed with people facing the long wait for the fireworks.
Meanwhile on the harbour, off Double Bay, several luxury cruisers are early arrivals for the armada of watercraft that annually packs the waterway for their very special view of the celebrations.
The wash from a Manly Ferry headed for that seaside suburb can just be made out. An easterly breeze at the moment has the two cruisers facing the opposite way from the main fireworks location.
In the murk of my zoomed in iPhone camera here is Bradleys Head, visited earlier this year by Andrew & R, barely visible through the rain. I guess that as usual the location is already packed with people facing the long wait for the fireworks.
Meanwhile on the harbour, off Double Bay, several luxury cruisers are early arrivals for the armada of watercraft that annually packs the waterway for their very special view of the celebrations.
The wash from a Manly Ferry headed for that seaside suburb can just be made out. An easterly breeze at the moment has the two cruisers facing the opposite way from the main fireworks location.
Monday, 25 December 2017
Sunday, 12 November 2017
Bride Wars?
It is not unusual to see wedding ceremonies occurring in Sydney's magnificent Centennial Park. Indeed the Park's website has an entire section on reserving space in the Park for a wedding ceremony, scheduling wedding photographs in the Park and even on staying in the Park in connection with a wedding.
So when I was driving through the Park yesterday and saw this sight at the Belvedere Amphitheatre in the Park my first thought was that a wedding was about to occur.
How fancy. An orchestra in place!
But then I took a closer look.
A lovely setting. Sweeping views towards the South where upper right you see the upper levels of the main Grandstand at Randwick Racecourse. The buildings upper middle belong to the University of New South Wales. The domed building in the centre is Federation Pavilion constructed in 1988 to mark the place where the Proclamation of the Commonwealth of Australia occurred in 1901.
But back to the wedding. The orchestra appeared to be a youth orchestra. Unless the wedding party involved teachers and/or students a Youth Orchestra seemed an odd choice for a wedding. And then the Orchestra started to perform; apparently in rehearsal. The first few notes were very much the sounds of young musicians. Not only that but the first few bars of music also clearly were the Star Wars movie theme.
Now, that is an odd choice for a wedding.
When I returned home hours later I checked the What's On section in Park's website. My more considered reactions proved justified. The orchestra was not preparing for a wedding yesterday. They were rehearsing for Classics in the Park; an outdoor family concert performed by 'Sydney Youth Orchestras'.
Interestingly the website advertises the price for this event as $20. I could see and hear the Orchestra perfectly well from my vantage point beyond the loosely roped off area which surrounded the white plastic chairs. Had I attended the concert I think would have joined the early gathering hoi polloi on their blankets and fold up chairs beyond the rope.
So when I was driving through the Park yesterday and saw this sight at the Belvedere Amphitheatre in the Park my first thought was that a wedding was about to occur.
How fancy. An orchestra in place!
But then I took a closer look.
A lovely setting. Sweeping views towards the South where upper right you see the upper levels of the main Grandstand at Randwick Racecourse. The buildings upper middle belong to the University of New South Wales. The domed building in the centre is Federation Pavilion constructed in 1988 to mark the place where the Proclamation of the Commonwealth of Australia occurred in 1901.
But back to the wedding. The orchestra appeared to be a youth orchestra. Unless the wedding party involved teachers and/or students a Youth Orchestra seemed an odd choice for a wedding. And then the Orchestra started to perform; apparently in rehearsal. The first few notes were very much the sounds of young musicians. Not only that but the first few bars of music also clearly were the Star Wars movie theme.
Now, that is an odd choice for a wedding.
When I returned home hours later I checked the What's On section in Park's website. My more considered reactions proved justified. The orchestra was not preparing for a wedding yesterday. They were rehearsing for Classics in the Park; an outdoor family concert performed by 'Sydney Youth Orchestras'.
Interestingly the website advertises the price for this event as $20. I could see and hear the Orchestra perfectly well from my vantage point beyond the loosely roped off area which surrounded the white plastic chairs. Had I attended the concert I think would have joined the early gathering hoi polloi on their blankets and fold up chairs beyond the rope.
Monday, 24 July 2017
Sunday, 1 January 2017
NYE
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| ABC News: Photo by Brant Cumming |
This year I played the NYE equivalent of Scrooge by staying at home and inviting nobody. It can feel selfish not to invite friends to share this comfortable way of enjoying the event. There are no crowds to battle, no need for milk crates to stand on for a shaky glimpse of the festivities, no fee charged for the 'exclusive' viewing location and I provide comfortable furniture for guests to sit on between displays. To top off, even my 'cooking' would be marginally better than fast food options at harbourside fast food outlets.
But I invited nobody. I didn't feel guilty about it; just a bit weary. Weary from a hard year of volunteer work four days a week. Weary from a commitment to play bridge two nights a week, a commitment now given up. Weary from an enjoyable overseas trip that involved huge amounts of walking plus the stressful, if eventually satisfying, experience of driving on scary mountainous, hairpin roads in Sicily.
My immediate neighbours, a youngish upwardly mobile couple, showed off their fancy view to a full balcony load of guests. I'm not certain exactly what form their party took. It was slightly odd. Their apartment was packed with oggling guests for the 9pm 'Family fireworks' display but fifteen minutes afterwards all the guests had departed. The apartment was packed again for the main display at midnight. What happened in between? Did everyone adjourn somewhere else for dinner? Was the second group a different group from the early guests? Did the couple offer two fireworks 'sittings', so to speak?
I'm curious but I won't ask. They might think I am stalking!
Sunday, 25 December 2016
Friday, 23 December 2016
Food queues
Oh how we pitied those poor burghers of the Eastern Europe Communist regimes in the 1980s and earlier. The burghers who had to queue for hours to enter supermarkets to purchase the odd loaf of bread or a can of tinned food forlornly displayed on near empty shelves.
Those indignities didn't befall we smug residents comfortably ensconced in our First World Western democracies, did they?
Fast forward to 2016.
This is a queue in the affluent Sydney suburb of Woollahra two mornings before Christmas Day.
Of course, this is not a food shortage queue. This is a queue for the fashionable shopper. The ones who want to purchase their Christmas meat from a shiny, fashionable, expensive butchery where the word 'shortage' is never uttered nor understood.
In case you want to be a part of this nonsense, the name of the butchery is Victor Churchill. Those who reached the head of the queue this morning were greeted by a gentleman wearing tails and a top hat (of course) and a young lady who could take their order and swipe their credit card, all before they were admitted through the hallowed doors.
I wasn't in the vicinity for the butchery or the queue. I was headed to the chicken takeaway store next door.
Those indignities didn't befall we smug residents comfortably ensconced in our First World Western democracies, did they?
Fast forward to 2016.
This is a queue in the affluent Sydney suburb of Woollahra two mornings before Christmas Day.
Of course, this is not a food shortage queue. This is a queue for the fashionable shopper. The ones who want to purchase their Christmas meat from a shiny, fashionable, expensive butchery where the word 'shortage' is never uttered nor understood.
In case you want to be a part of this nonsense, the name of the butchery is Victor Churchill. Those who reached the head of the queue this morning were greeted by a gentleman wearing tails and a top hat (of course) and a young lady who could take their order and swipe their credit card, all before they were admitted through the hallowed doors.
I wasn't in the vicinity for the butchery or the queue. I was headed to the chicken takeaway store next door.
Friday, 9 December 2016
A hospital meal
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| (The Treasury Casino) |
The hospital entertained its volunteers at the annual Christmas lunch today. The photograph above is not an image from our volunteer lunch but - as captioned - from an advertisement for functions offered by an Australian casino.
The hospital is very generous in its acknowledgement of the work and participation of volunteers. Our lunch took place in a hospital function room which was decorated in grand and tasteful style. The three course meal was beautifully presented and very tasty. A seafood selection for starters (prawns, oysters, salmon, crumbed calamari and crumbed fish pieces) was followed by ham and turkey and vegetables for the main course. Christmas pudding and custard, coffee and tea, mini chocolates for dessert completed the lunch. Oh, and wines, orange juice and sparkling water accompanied the meals.
The theme for the lunch was 'a splash of silver'. I wore a silver bow - in reality a decoration for present wrapping - poking out from my shirt pocket 'kerchief style'. Cs was a bit of a stick in the mud pointing to his grey hair as his splash of silver. No-one, though, could match our volunteer manager dressed, dare I say it, gayly, with his silver coloured crooner style hat, silver sequinned jacket and silver coloured shoes.
Sunday, 26 June 2016
My lost timeline
A friend asked me recently why I hadn't acknowledged the birthday wishes she sent me.
'What birthday wishes?', I asked.
'The message I placed on your timeline', said she.
'My timeline? What timeline?', I asked.
'Your Facebook timeline' said she.
Facebook.
Ah yes.
I joined Facebook shortly after its launch. It seemed an interesting idea but it only took me a few months at best to tire of the countless friend requests from complete strangers around the world with whom I appeared to have little in common and what seemed like a mountain of emails pinging in my in tray all day long.
At the time it seemed there was no way to shut down an account so I took the next best steps and stopped using the service altogether not even as a curiosity for occasional enquiries or observation. That seemed to work. Apart from the occasional (annual?) email mentioning that I hadn't accessed my account in some time which offered help in restoring my password in case I had forgotten it, I was not bothered by the ubiquitous service again.
Until this week and the unrequited birthday wishes.
Fearing it was a dangerous thing to do, I accessed my account using a newly established password (for indeed I had forgotten my earlier password), found my timeline and the aforementioned wishes and I sent the desired acknowledgement.
Facebook is a more complex looking affair now. I have been conscious during my Facebook dormant era that others use it to keep loved ones informed of their travel and other celebrations and whilst I was never sorry about being inactive I did think occasionally how useful it could be in keeping those I want informed up to date about myself.
Inevitably I have been drawn back into the demon site. The effect has been immediate. Former work colleagues and friends have spotted me there and the friend requests are flowing. Someone I worked with in Beijing more than 35 years ago and with whom I have had not a single contact since and who now lives outside Washington DC spotted me after only two days.
I have tracked down some friends too, although without necessarily asking each of them to befriend me (again). Andrew is one I located on Facebook but as his site appears untouched since 2012 I decided to leave him be.
No doubt I will tire of Facebook yet again but for now, in the approximate dialogue from, I think, 'The Godfather' and with a New York criminal twang, I say that 'I keep trying to get myself out and they keep drawing me back in'.
'What birthday wishes?', I asked.
'The message I placed on your timeline', said she.
'My timeline? What timeline?', I asked.
'Your Facebook timeline' said she.
Facebook.
Ah yes.
I joined Facebook shortly after its launch. It seemed an interesting idea but it only took me a few months at best to tire of the countless friend requests from complete strangers around the world with whom I appeared to have little in common and what seemed like a mountain of emails pinging in my in tray all day long.
At the time it seemed there was no way to shut down an account so I took the next best steps and stopped using the service altogether not even as a curiosity for occasional enquiries or observation. That seemed to work. Apart from the occasional (annual?) email mentioning that I hadn't accessed my account in some time which offered help in restoring my password in case I had forgotten it, I was not bothered by the ubiquitous service again.
Until this week and the unrequited birthday wishes.
Fearing it was a dangerous thing to do, I accessed my account using a newly established password (for indeed I had forgotten my earlier password), found my timeline and the aforementioned wishes and I sent the desired acknowledgement.
Facebook is a more complex looking affair now. I have been conscious during my Facebook dormant era that others use it to keep loved ones informed of their travel and other celebrations and whilst I was never sorry about being inactive I did think occasionally how useful it could be in keeping those I want informed up to date about myself.
Inevitably I have been drawn back into the demon site. The effect has been immediate. Former work colleagues and friends have spotted me there and the friend requests are flowing. Someone I worked with in Beijing more than 35 years ago and with whom I have had not a single contact since and who now lives outside Washington DC spotted me after only two days.
I have tracked down some friends too, although without necessarily asking each of them to befriend me (again). Andrew is one I located on Facebook but as his site appears untouched since 2012 I decided to leave him be.
No doubt I will tire of Facebook yet again but for now, in the approximate dialogue from, I think, 'The Godfather' and with a New York criminal twang, I say that 'I keep trying to get myself out and they keep drawing me back in'.
Thursday, 11 February 2016
Lunar laughter
The Lunar New Year is being celebrated in Sydney with various installations around the CBD; some of them lighthearted in appearance. These three wise monkeys on the promenade at the Opera House amused me.
The monkeys are lit up at night making them look more and more like giant jelly babies.
The monkeys are lit up at night making them look more and more like giant jelly babies.
Tuesday, 26 January 2016
Shipping movements
P&O cruise vessels on the move in the past twenty four hours.
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| Pacific Eden passing by the Wharf Theatre |
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| Pacific Pearl anchored off Point Piper for Australia Day harbour activities |
Friday, 1 January 2016
Friday, 25 December 2015
Saturday, 20 June 2015
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