The clean up

The final laundry load

The post party, post visitors' laundry and kitchen clean up.

Three lots of queen size bed linen, four bath towels, six face towels, eight tea towels, one dining table table cloth and three loads of my personal laundry in addition to two loads in the dishwasher.

All done.

Exhibition standard

The vey nice couple from whom I have purchased my next apartment have kindly offered access for my friends to view the establishment ahead of settlement should I wish. All they ask, quite reasonably, is some notice so that the place is at 'exhibition standard'.

I know how they feel. My current apartment would rarely meet the 'exhibition standard' test and then there is the thought of an unannounced viewing interrupting some delicate activity. The latter thought occurred to me in the dark of this morning as I was myself engaged in an enjoyably delicate activity. Perhaps I should terminate that line of thought here.

Returning to 'exhibition standard' I am learning quickly that one element of that standard, for the estate agents, is clutter, or more to the point the lack of it. The two earnest, yet attractive, young men marshalling me through the rough waters of selling property are very keen on the 'uncluttered look'.

Now, I am a gay man but a man nonetheless. That means I have a tendency to leave things where they drop. Literally. By no manner does that mean in the 'stowed' position as air stewards might say. I suppose that constitutes clutter. On the other hand my apartment, even after 22 years of habitation, would be universally described by my friends as minimalist in decoration. After all, I still have four totally bare walls in my bedroom. There are prints and other knick knacks decorating the other rooms but my bedroom remains resolutely for sleeping and...well...delicate activity...not for art appreciation.

I have found it difficult to 'declutter' my apartment to the estate agents' standards. There has been much stowing of material into cupboards, a useless exercise to my mind, given the clear evidence following each viewing that some viewers have inspected the insides of said hiding receptacles.

Without revealing too much, here is a photograph of part of my kitchen prepared by me to 'exhibition standard'. I would call the style, 'desert bare', but in the minds of the estate agents I have left them a rain forrest for clearance.

'Clutter' be gone!

Anyway I do try but the two agents looks of reproach towards me as though they are dealing with a schoolboy possessed of two left feet trying to emulate Fred Astaire are unmistakeable.

Cough, splutter....

I've got a cold. I've been coughing, spluttering and occasionally my nose has been running. It started Monday night and as I type this on Saturday afternoon the symptoms are still around.

I think it was Cs who 'gave' the cold to me. We went to Belvoir Street theatre last Saturday after first having a pub lunch together. We walked from the pub around to the theatre. It rained the entire day and was very cold. Cs sneezed numerous times during the day and each time he did so, he sneezed precisely three times in quick succession. Never more, never less than three times. How neat...or anal...is that?

Anyway, I blame Cs. Tellingly, he has had cold symptoms all week as well.

On the other hand my condition could be a side effect of my purchase of the new apartment this week. After all, the cold symptoms emerged on Monday night within hours of an escalation in the race for the apartment deal to be sealed. I didn't sleep well that night, nor the next two nights either. Three nights in succession, three sneezes in succession. Spooky, Dame Edna might have declared.

Like a true man...even if a gay one...I haven't seen the doctor...yet. I've tried self treatment in the form of a well known cough mixture I had in my bathroom cabinet. It hasn't seemed to work so far. That could be because having finally looked more closely at the bottle I discovered this morning that its use by date is in 1995. Remind me to clean out my cabinet, someone.

I've purchased a fresh bottle today. Maybe that will work.

Years come and go....

....but ironing is for ever.

There's nothing to do...

Shouldn't really winge that there's nothing to do in Sydney today.

Among other things I could attend...

Eminem's Sydney concert with 55,000 others just a couple of kilometres from my home, or

Australian Labor's National Conference with a whole lot of ratbags, errr idealists, another couple of kilometres away, or

The ear splitting V8 Supercars yet another few kilometres away with it's 'high-octane days of non-stop entertainment combining a hair-raising street race with two nights of sensational concerts'.

I think I'll forego all three for a night at home on the sofa in front of the television whilst the week's laundry hums away in the background.Yes, it's an exciting life!

Carry on neighbouring

A neighbour in the building across the street could be seen ironing his business shirt in the nude yesterday. I heartily approve of these overt displays of domesticity.

Home sweet home

As enjoyable as my short visit to Melbourne was it is good to return home even if it is to an apartment covered in dust from the windows installation undertaken last week. And then there are the little bits of broken glass and debris that wasn't noticeable before I went away but that now seem to have formed a new crackling carpet.

It was pretty cool in Melbourne this morning, just 6 centigrade, but by the time I got to the airport it was clear the city was going to enjoy a sunny mild day that would have been easily the best weather of my five days visit if only I had been staying. Isn't that always the way with holiday trips?

My flight was scheduled to depart at 12 noon but was delayed by half an hour so that an engineer could secure the pilot's seat. Apparently it was unstable. I haven't heard that explanation for a flight delay before. When finally we got away we were informed the weather in Sydney was showery but if so there was no evidence of that when we flew in. It was sunny if cool when I arrived. The taxi driver confirmed that it had been raining earlier.

So now I'm home. First chore to get my laundry underway, then to get some food, milk etc and then sleep, blissful sleep, before returning to work tomorrow.

Just for the record a photo from my stay in Melbourne of morning balloon flights over the city. Andrew occasionally posts photos he takes of these joy flights from his high rise so I was somewhat chuffed to observe the same sight from my hotel window on Sunday morning.

Three balloons on the rise

A balloon passes over the 91 storeys tall Eureka Tower

On a clear day....

....I can't see forever.

My forty years old building is undergoing maintenance. All the windows and window frames are being replaced. This is a major project expected to take about four months to complete. We are in the second week of the project and the workers have reached my unit on the fifth floor which is also the fifth to be worked on. I've had to clear the lounge room and dining room and a small room the Doyen of our resident owners refers to as 'the den' as well as the bathroom. I've used up every old sheet I have and then some donated by said Doyen as protection against the considerable amount of dust the work is stirring up and clumped as much of the furniture as I can alongside walls and well away from the windows.

Here is my lounge room...

After taking this photo I upended the coffee table and rolled it against the sofa and covered them both. The view is obscured by protective boards on the ledge outside the lounge room window.

Keen observers who expand the photograph will note that The Bold and the Beautiful is screening on the television. I had switched the television on to view the evening news which was about to commence at 5pm. Later on the television was also covered and moved away from the window.

Here is the view from the other direction towards the dining room....

The dining room furniture was moved a short time later. I only noticed hours afterwards that I had forgotten to remove the print still showing on the right hand side of the dining room and so that was temporarily relocated to the bedrooms along with so much of the other furnishings.

The workers will start on my unit tomorrow (Wednesday)  morning at 7.15.

Update Wednesday at 4.45pm:

As promised all the windows and frames in the four nominated rooms were replaced by 3.30pm. However the workers have to return Thursday morning at 7am to complete sealing the windows. In the meantime all the relocated furnishings, prints etc remain under cover and out of use.

The workers will return later in the project to change the windows, window frames and glass doors in the two bedrooms, the kitchen and the balcony. There is still a long way to go.

Not a-twitter today

Just as well I'm not into Twittering as I would have nothing to twitter about at the moment.

It was busy at the hospital today without anything remarkable arising. The most out of the ordinary event being the patient who prior to being admitted to the ward took time out to seek some needy individual on the street who could make use of his travel pass for the remainder of the day.

Another patient facing surgery later in the day wanted a coffee and asserted his doctor had instructed him to drink plenty of coffee in the lead up to the procedure. Of course, this was the exact opposite of what the doctor had instructed him but I suppose it was worth a try in his view.

Anyway, in keeping with my day of unremarkable activity it's time to do the laundry. Mmmmm, yes I know, pretty boring stuff. Sorry.

Christmas in Brisbane

The flight to Brisbane on Christmas Eve was uneventful, if forty-five minutes late. For the first time in my memory of many flights into Brisbane we landed from the south-west rather than from the east. This photo was taken as the plane banked to the right swinging over the Gateway Bridge and aiming towards the runway which can be seen upper left.

(Click all photos to enlarge)


Rather than stay at Ll and Fd's home, where Mt had already made arrangements to stay, I was booked into Brisbane's Hilton Hotel where I had also stayed for Christmas last year. The rooms are comfortable and the hotel's CBD location places it in easy walking distance for many of the attractions and activities. This photo was taken in the hotel's atrium. My room was on the eighteenth floor.


Predictably the days were set around food and eating. Even more predictably I indulged heartily in every meal and now face a new year with the usual intention of eating more sensibly in the future.

For Christmas Eve, Fd prepared a seafood meal continuing the tradition of his native Austria.

On Christmas Day, we had morning drinks at Ml's place, followed by light lunch at Ll and Fd's and later a full Christmas Night buffet and get together at Rs and Gg's.

Boxing Day was a casual dinner and DVD night at Ll and Fd's clearing up what food remained from Christmas Eve and Day.

On Saturday Mt and I had lunch by the bay at Scarborough and at night we joined the others and Mg and family for a birthday dinner at a bustling Indian restaurant in Toowong followed by coffee and delicious cake at Mg's home.

Then on Sunday it was lunch at the Paddington Tavern with a fish and chips dinner in the open at Wynnum.

That was a whole heap of dining.

I did manage to fit in some touristy activities between all those meals. I visited Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art to see its Contemporary Australia: Optimism exhibition. It was a quite a diverse exhibition and I especially enjoyed the various video items. A sign of modern times, I suppose.


Brisbane is no longer the big town almost city of my visits in my youth. It is thriving and growing at a bewildering rate. There are four high rise buildings well advanced in construction just in the space of this photograph.


I did quite a bit of walking, perhaps not enough to balance the heavy food intake, but some activity nonetheless. This photo was taken as I walked riverside on Boxing Day. I must try out the ferry service, seen here dropping off passengers at Eagle Street, on my next visit.


The flight home yesterday was smooth and on time and within half an hour of returning to my apartment I was into the mundane task of doing my laundry.

Life goes on.

Chocolate

I took advantage of yesterday's rainy 'stay at home' type day to file a lot of paperwork that had been piling up for months. I feel virtuous now, not to mention that the apartment is back to its minimalist look now that the mountain of paperwork has been dealt with.

I discovered a number of documents in that pile that I thought had been lost as well as some my tax agent had asked me to search for before filing my latest tax return. Oh dear.

I also found buried in the paper tower two birthday gift cards I have yet to convert into presents that I had forgotten about. One is (yet another) Borders gift card. I have a queue of books waiting to be read so that card can wait a while longer. The other is a Lindt Chocolate gift card to the value of $50. The thought of $50 worth of rich chocolate is a bit scary even to a sweet tooth like myself. I better tread carefully there.

Getting busy....and what did I miss?

As the Two Ronnies might have said, "In a packed day....".

I was quite busy after dropping Mt off at the airport this morning.

I'd noticed on the drive to the Airport that the traffic heading back into the CBD on Southern Cross Drive was chock-a-block so I took an alternative journey home via Randwick which gave me a convenient excuse to stop at the cake shop there to pick up some Apple Slices and Lamingtons. I have a sweet tooth and very basic taste in cakes and will get stuck into them later.

Then to Edgecliff for some essential shopping at Coles. Back home, I got through three loads of laundry and when done it still was not quite midday. With plenty of time ahead of me, I drove up to Bondi Junction where I tried on and purchased a pair of black walking sneakers at Rebel and then moved on to the Mall where I purchased a bagel for lunch.

Still plenty of time available so I drove to the car wash in Cleveland Street for a badly needed cleanup for my Corolla. Finished reading my current book, Survivors, just as my car was ready for collection and then returned home.

Then I spent the afternoon catching up with my regular blog list which I'd not been able to get to for the past week whilst Mt was in town. I was amazed at the number of fellow gay bloggers who had watched the Eurovision Song Contest.



I hadn't watched this event since I'd lived in London back in 1974/75. In fact I had never had the inclination to do so since then. Obviously I'm missing something that so many of my gay brothers find unmissable. I better take a peek when it returns in 2009.

It will seem strange to get back to bridge tonight. I haven't played for over a week.

Home alone

This morning I dropped Mt at the airport. If the flight left on time Mt should now be in the air and about half way home to Ballina.

It was good to have someone at home the past week sharing experiences and enjoyment but now I am back to my solo state and doing the week's laundry.

Preparing for a visitor

Mt arrives tomorrow for a week's stay during which we will be attending sessions of the Sydney Writers Festival.

There is nothing like cleaning up the apartment in preparation for a guest to make you realise how much mess you put up with in your normal life. I think of myself as a neat freak with everything in it's place as the norm but tidying the apartment today turned into a major production as I realised just how much needed to be done.

I may not have much opportunity to post whilst Mt is around. In that case, this blog will be quiet until I am back to my usual solo lifestyle on Monday week.

Making a day of it

Yesterday's funeral turned into a day's event.

I picked Be up from Edgecliff Station at 9.45 and drove us to Northern Suburbs Crematorium. It took only about 15 minutes using the various tollways/tunnels and most of the other mourners were already in attendance for the service which got underway at 10.30.

Hn had arranged a beautiful service. Je, Ae, Ty and Ce all delivered delightful eulogies/recollections. The celebrant spoke well and set a nice balance between sadness and joy for Ds' life and passing.

The wake was arranged for the nearby Atlantis Restaurant, a Chinese cuisine venue. They also specialise in catering for wakes being situated only minutes between two cemeteries. There was a tasty selection of hot savouries, sandwiches and rolls.

At about 2.00, those of us still in attendance at the restaurant adjourned to Hn's for an 'after-wake' wake. Lots of reminiscences and laughs followed until we decided to break up the party at 6.15. I dropped Be of at home rather than just dumping him at the station and then got caught in the awful evening peak traffic on Cleveland Street when returning home.

Back to the hospital today where it was a relatively quiet day for admissions. I was able to finish by 3.00. Back home and I was feeling pretty frisky. Luckily a mate was online so I engaged him in a bit of a cyber chit chat 'with extras'.

Now that that's done, I've started on the week's laundry and will settle down later for some crime night viewing on ABC1.

Assortment.......

I'm about to start the ironing and in the absence of an ironing board cover such as this I am using The Bold and the Beautiful as background distraction whilst I do the deed. It is insanely ridiculous but the adventures of Brooke, Ridge, Stephanie et al help the drudgery fly by.

As back up, I am on a sugar binge and have just opened a packet of Jelly Babies. My intention is to eat just one which really means can I stop before I eat the entire packet in one go. The usual answer is no.

Spent four hours today on Day 13 of hospital bedside vigil for my Mother. In fact she is well enough to return to her Nursing Home but now they are waiting until she is as mobile as when she entered the hospital before she is discharged. Unfortunately she simply would not cooperate today refusing to sit up in bed, let alone take a short walk around the room. Looks like Mum will remain in hospital a few days more whilst we get her back on her feet. This is very disappointing.

On my way home from the hospital I stopped off for a dalliance and luckily was successful. Once again a short exchange but a pleasant one.

Hospital vigil....cockney ironing

The sixth day by my mother's bedside at the hospital. I was encouraged on my arrival this morning to find her sitting on the bedside chair for the first time since her admission last Thursday evening and that she was looking more clear-eyed than for a few weeks.

The Doctor told me her heart rate had returned to normal. She was to undergo an ultrasound later in the day to determine the exact location of the fluid on her chest which would then be drained. It turned out to be hours before that procedure. In the meantime various nurses monitored her vital signs and it was interesting to compare their bedside manners. Some were excellent and easily achieved my mother's cooperation. One nurse was businesslike and my mother responded coolly to her style completely sabotaging her every attempt to monitor blood pressure.

I left after five hours at the hospital. I find it quite draining spending that amount of time in the hospital environment. Driving home I stopped by the gourmet chicken place in Queen Street to pick up something for dinner as I was not in any mood to cook. Waiting in the queue I changed my mind about what to purchase three times eventually settling on a couple of chicken schnitzels and some fried rice. Not the healthiest dinner choice. Had I spent any more time in that queue I probably would have ended up with a fifth or sixth choice.

My relief at arriving home was immediately spoiled by the sight of the ironing I had left out for my return. I'd completely forgotten about it during the day and wasn't in any mood to attack it then and there. After dinner I girded my loins and got into the ironing. I used the English soap 'Eastenders' as background buzz. Its been months since I watched an episode and I wasn't really sure what this episode was about but I have to recommend 'Eastenders' as a perfect background foil to ironing. I sailed through the ironing in no time at all and was really pleased it was done.