Tag Archives: sleeps to go

Happy Birthday To You!

Posted on by
Reply

Today is the 4th of July. It’s the day that America left the empirical embrace of Great Britain and declared their independence some 237 years ago.

And my recent sojourn to visit Seattle-A and her boys (that’s Husband, the little dudes and G the wonder dog!) means that America’s National Day has featured a little higher on my radar this year.

In doing a little research to prepare for this post, I have learned that today is also Republic Day in The Philippines – celebrating their cessation as a US territory in 1946 – and Liberation Day in Rwanda – commemorating the end of the Rwanda Genocide in 1994.

I’ve also learned that Eritrea Independence Day (24th May) is by far the hardest to say and that Morocco The Day of Enthronement of His Majesty King Mohammed VI is the longest (30th July) closely followed by China Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China (1st October) – try fitting either of those on a postage stamp.

And last but not least, I’ve been overjoyed to discover that 1st August is both Switzerland Confederation Day and the Tonga Official Birthday of His Majesty King George Tupou V. Thanks goodness! I started to think that my own official day was to be celebrated amongst only the equine.

(Do you like how I slipped in the birthday reference? Clever huh.)

Anyway, it should come as no surprise that today’s lunch-table conversation naturally turned to the National Days celebrated by my colleagues of many cultures.

My French colleague claims Bastille Day (14th July) as her national day with a raised fist and ‘vive la revolucion!’  Our Italian celebrates the liberation of Italy from the Germans on the 25th April. (Incidentally that’s ANZAC Day in Australia which commemorates the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who fought to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915). The Turks at the table celebrate on 29th October with Turkey Republic Day and the English contingent hold St George’s Day (yes, he of the dragon fame) up as the beacon of their nation.

And Australia? Well we have a celebratory beer on January 26th. Australia Day commemorates the day in 1788 when Captain Arthur Phillip sailed his fleet of eleven convict ships into Sydney Cove and ‘settled’ Captain James Cook’s 1770 claim to Eastern Australia as a colony of the British Empire. We give out a few awards, go to the beach and chuck a few snags on the barbie. And we usually watch a bit of sport – tennis, cricket, horse-racing, yachting just to name a few.

Australia Day doesn’t celebrate a separation as such (and rest assured I have plenty of views on that score). What it does represent is the birth of our modern nation, built on the shoulders of the brave who, in true pioneering spirit, forged a life for themselves in a strange and hostile land.

So as one pioneer to another, I raise a stubby to our American friends and with a taciturn nod, wish you a laconic ‘happy birthday’.

Hope you’ve had a good one.


ps…and speaking of good ones, my loved ones have asked for ‘The List’ which means a certain blogger’s big day is just 27 sleeps away…yes peeps, the countdown is back!

Boats And Bridges…

Posted on by
2
Being part of a somewhat caring and supportive family, Lil Chicky and I decided that it was time that we do a little window shopping to find the next lucky man in my life. Fortunately, the family had decided to take a ferry ride over to Williamstown yesterday so at 12.30 the family Hamer (including those with a myriad of other names) gathered at Southbank, boarded our ship of dreams and set sail.
 
The one hour cruise took us along the Yarra River and out through The Docklands which has developed significantly since I last lived Down Under – there are lots of interesting buildings to ooh and aah at on the way but for now, let’s maintain some focus on the purpose of this post and leave architectural meanderings for another time.

The title promises bridges and we headed under many of them – here are my top three:

The Bolte Bridge, named for Henry Bolte who remains the longest serving Victorian State Premier (17 years from 1955). The bridge was opened in August 1999) and also forms an integral part of the entrance into Melbourne by car from the airport. The view of the City from here always feels like a big ‘welcome back’ to me. 
This bridge is a new one since my departure – it was difficult to capture the whole bridge but I loved this side, looking like one of those hooped underskirts from yesteryear.
The clean lines of this bridge and the Australian flag fluttering in the breeze typifies the clean, stark lines of the Australian landscape for me – no idea what this bridge is called either but I loved it all the same.
The weather was gorgeous – a pleasant mid 25C – and a gentle breeze cooled our sun-kissed noses and cheeks as we motored along. There were many boats out of all shapes and sizes, some puttering along at a more sedate pace…

Before we knew it, we had arrived at Williamstown Pier so it was off the boat for a stretch of the legs, something to eat and a hearty discussion about our plan of attack (which mainly revolved around ice-cream).
 
Docking at Williamtown foreshore…yes, that bright shiny object is the sun…
One of the great things about Williamtown (apart from the ice cream) is the fantastic view of the City of Melbourne so here’s the shot, complete with the millionaire shopping arcade boats in the foreground… 

After a pleasant few hours we decided to head back but finding a millionaire/boat had not gone so successfully so we decided to keep our eyes peeled on the way back. A single girl’s work is never done, you know…

As with some of my past experiences with you critters from Mars, this one seemed to over promise (Global Dream? Really?) and under deliver. I know it’s a working boat and all but a lick of paint wouldn’t have gone astray. There’s always something to be said for making an effort.
Now this is more my style: Sleek and white and celebratory even in name. Unfortunately a small child appeared as we chugged past which is just going a bit overboard (pardon the pun) with the accessories I feel….
This one has a spot in the boot for one’s jet ski. Very handy!
Suddenly the Bolte Bridge loomed above us again, signalling that our sea adventure (well the combined waterways of the Yarra River and Port Phillip Bay in any case) would soon be over…
The Bolte Bridge with the bright shiny sun-thing again…
So that was the Day of the Family Hamer, seven intrepid wanderers out to see the world of Williamstown and conquer it with ice cream.
 
Which brings me (not so neatly) to the end of this post, my last for 2012. And all that remains is to wish you a Happy New Year wherever you are and however you choose to celebrate it.
 
There’s one ‘sleep’ left peeps – let’s show 2013 we mean business!

Tis The Season…O Christmas Tree

Posted on by
Reply

I’ll be away over Christmas/New Year so there is a notable absence of Christmas regalia at Gidday HQ this year.

No festive Christmas wreath at the door, no flickering Christmas candles and no Christmas tree.

That’s right. Gidday HQ is tree-free.

Which means I’ve had to find my foilage fun elsewhere. And in my kicking up the leaves, I’ve found something both inspired and eco-friendly.

Eco landscaping company, Green Rabbit, have come up with a scheme which offers the Viennese a Nordmann fir (sustainably grown of course) for free. They then collect your Living Christmas Tree after the big day and replant it elsewhere but if you want to keep this tree and plant it yourself, you pay and Green Rabbit will supply a booklet to help you care for your tree.

What a great idea…what a shame that it’s only available in Austria.

I’ll just have to stick with the version the Pelangi Beach Resort, Langkawi has provided.

O Christmas tree O Christmas tree, only 9 sleeps to go…

Tis The Season…Pass The Parcel

Posted on by
4

We are down to just 12 sleeps peeps and in the interests of providing you with a Gidday helping hand, I’ve come up with a few quirky and slightly questionable gift ideas for your nearest and dearest.

A subject close to my heart is reading so at the top of the shopping list is a little something for the bookworm in your life. Upon opening one of my daily Emerald Street e-newsletters this week, I found this fab booklight. It also holds your book open – you know, while you go a make a coffee or hang out the washing or go to the loo. You get the picture…

Available from Suck UK (yes really) for £40

Next it’s over to I Want One of Those. Popping in here always yields something unusual and it was a tough choice about which curiosity would inspire you most. But back in November, I lamented the wearing of socks with sandals so this has to be the perfect present for the saddo in your life…and let’s face it, everyone has one.

Available on I Want One Of Those for £7.99 (or 3 for £20 – you could knock off 3 saddos in one!)

I’ve done a fair bit of travelling this year (and it’s not over yet!) so my next inspired idea is for the traveller in your life. Cue The Scrubba, a lightweight portable bag which lets you wash on the go. Your clothes that is…

Visit www.thescrubba.com and fork out 59.95 Aussie dollars to Do It (your washing that is) Yourself

Christmas presents of the participative kind are next on the agenda. Imagine, you’ve stuffed yourself silly with Christmas fare, squeezed in a spot of pud and are looking for something to stop the family snoozing on the sofa. Billed as a ‘no holds barred game which stimulates after dinner discussion on controversial subjects of our times amongst friends’, After Dinner Arguments could be just the thing to inspire a bit of spirited conversation around your festive table this year…

Available from shinyshack.co.uk, you can get hours of family feuding fun for just £7.99

And finally there is the ultimate in glam grooming: a ridiculous gift at an entirely ridiculous price…

Glam up those tootsies with a Swarovski crystal duck nail brush from Etsy for the bargain price of US$175.

Because couldn’t we all use a brush with a duck on it?

12 sleeps to go peeps…can you believe it? Best you get cracking or you’ll end up as a late addition on Santa’s Naughty List.

Tis The Season…Party Feet

Posted on by
2

With the big day fast approaching (only 17 sleeps to go peeps), attention has suddenly turned to collaborations of the festive kind. And this week has seen me celebrating with considerable commitment to the Christmas cause, the result being that I am ensconsed on the comfy couch at Gidday HQ today after last night’s work Christmas party. Amongst today’s priorities is resting my aching feet, having kicked off my dancing shoes *slash* drinking boots in the early hours of this morning before pouring myself into bed.

It was a fabulous night, starting with a drinks-style mingle (with a spot of champers, of course) and delicious dinner table conversation under the majestic Rubenesque ceiling of the Banqueting House in Westminster. Commissioned by King Charles I and installed by Inigo Jones, the ceiling comprises the only canvasses from the old Whitehall Palace to remain in situ. Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens painted them in his studio in Antwerp, shipped them across for installation in March 1636 and was paid the princely sum of £3,000 for his efforts.

Eyes up at dinner – what a spectacular view!

After dinner it was down to the Undercroft for a spot of drinking dancing. Designed as a drinking den (how appropriate!) for James I, the area went on to host lotteries after his death, which sounds kind of akin to some (alright, most) of the moves on show under the temporary disco lights last night. And a big shout out to DJ Jeff who kept the floor packed with swinging, singing partygoers – and at whose feet I lay the blame entirely for my scratchy throat and tender tootsies.

But this was not the only celebratory collaboration as earlier this week, we turned to team-building of a whole different kind. On Tuesday night we found ourselves in the south London suburb of Wandsworth for a night of culinary negotiation at Venturi’s Table. Split into three teams, we kneaded, chopped, stirred, dipped, chatted and laughed under the careful supervision of Anna Venturi’s team of patient chefs before sitting down to a fabulous three course meal – fresh pasta, chicken ballotine and a super-scrummy pannetone pudding. Oh and a few drinks. (There may also have been a bit of singing. Yes it’s true.) This is not the first time I’ve done something like this (see my post on Hot Chicks & Hens) and let me just say right here and now, it won’t be my last. It is such fantastic fun.

And last but by no means least, I managed to squeeze in a catch up with three colleagues from workdays past and over a bottle of wine (or two) and a cheap and cheerful meal at my local Italian, we shared the news, reflected on 2012 and speculated on what changes 2013 might bring.

It starts again this week so right now, I’m feeling rather grateful for today’s respite. But not for too long. After all, it is the season to be jolly…

…and my drinking boots still have plenty of tread.

Your 2012 five-a-day: December

Posted on by
1

It’s December 1st, the first day of winter (on this side of the planet anyway) and a mere 24 sleeps from the Big Day. The temperature this week has really dropped: it was a brisk -1C when I was standing at the bus stop yesterday morning. I have some present wrapping and a little prep for next week’s work Christmas do (at the Banqueting House in Whitehall no less) on my to-do list today. And to my absolute delight, this month’s Violent Veg gives a big festive nod to one of my favourite Christmas traditions, carolling.

Seattle-A was in town on Thursday night (it was like a surprise early Christmas present when I got her text message this week) and as I made my way through Richmond train station to meet her, I saw my first set of carol singers for the season. A big group of kids, all rugged up in their vibrant winter woollies, braved the chill to fill the space with joyful tunes and I snatched a brief moment to stand on the stairs and enjoy a little of their festive spirit.

It took me back to Christmasses in Oz where opportunities to belt out a few yuletide tunes seemed to be around every corner, where the point was to join in rather than what you sounded like – probably just as well in my case. This was never about show-pony-ing (I’ve never been a Karaoke fan) but about sharing a bit of Christmas spirit with a disparate group of people who, in embracing the anonymity provided by the crowd, sang simply because they could.

I particularly remember bouts of Brownie carolling as a youngster in Brisbane in the 70s and another hot sticky evening somewhere in country Victoria in my early twenties, grown-ups and kids alike sprawled on picnic rugs under the riverside gum trees and a community band playing in the background while everyone sang their hearts out.

And in any of my excited witterings about Christmas (and particularly with Christmas Down Under in my sights), I cannot omit one of Melbourne’s most wonderful institutions, Carols by Candlelight, a televised open air concert held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl every Christmas Eve. I watched this on telly for many years and finally found myself singing along on the grassy slopes under the stars nine years ago just before I moved to London.

These every-man-sings opportunities don’t seem to abound in the same way in Old London Town. There are many chances to sit and listen – from The Hallelujah Chorus at St Martin in the Fields and the Christmas Festival at The Albert Hall right through to a myriad of local community events but it seems that spirited audience participation is hard to come by. And as I stood amongst the swirling commuting masses on the stairs on Thursday night, watching those bright young faces, I realised that I missed this little piece of Christmas Past.

So that’s another thing to add to the festive to-do list before the fat man in the red suit comes to town. But I’ve been a good girl (no really I have) and have already ticked one thing off the list this morning…

I do so love Christmas. Only 24 sleeps to go people…I’m excited!

This post also completes Gidday from the UK’s Five A Day series for 2012: 12 posts containing both a whole range of random themes inspired by my merely turning the page each month and the laugh out loud cleverness of my Gidday Guest Stars, the vitamin-rich team from Violent Veg. The back catalogue is below for any of you that missed any…I hoped you’ve enjoyed it.

November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

Sheepish…

Posted on by
2

I am perturbed people. Seriously perturbed.

With Christmas fast approaching and a trip Down Under on the agenda, it goes without saying (but I shall say it anyway) that I am looking forward to embracing all things festive with loved ones in Oz this year.

You know, the Christmas Day feast, either a BBQ or a seafood selection depending on whether we are at Mum’s or Lil Chicky’s.

The annual Stocking Sprint – or who can open all the small, ridiculously over-wrapped presents in their stocking first, thereby spoiling the ‘surprise’ element of each piece of tat gift for everyone else.

Or the Festive Forage otherwise known as where will Husband of Lil Chicky hide random pieces of Christmas wrapping at Mum’s place and how long will it be before she finds them.

Yes I am confident that these traditions will resist our continued path through adulthood the test of time as well as Mum’s desire to have a clean house/stop staying up til all hours wrapping teeny tiny presents.

But there is one tradition unique to Melbourne that really brings out the big kid in me, the 5-year-old who presses her nose against the window in wonder (okay maybe my nose doesn’t exactly touch the window any more but you get my drift.)

The Myer Christmas Windows.

Every year, the windows of the Myer Store in Bourke Street Mall pay tribute to the festive season with an animated display of fairytale movement and magic. The crowds, young and old alike, line up and file past the windows, ooh-ing and aah-ing at Cinderella, The Nutcracker, The Night Before Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and many other well-known storybook worlds.

But this year, things have gone awry in a big way.

This year’s windows, unveiled last week, pay glittery homage to…

…Russell the Sheep…who has apparently saved Christmas.



Who is this interloper?

What on earth happened to Rudolph and his shiny nose?

Only 33 sleeps to go til I can investigate for myself. 

Stay tuned peeps, I’m on the case…

Film Favourites…

Posted on by
Reply

It’s Sunday again here at Gidday HQ and after a month of on-and-off work travelling, I am looking forward to being at home for a few weeks. Today I’ve done the washing, vacuumed and cleaned, and even popped out to replenish my lately depleted stock of vegetables. I have plans to cook some favourites: there’s a veggie stir fry, a warm Mexican chicken salad and some sort of pasta on my culinary horizon this week. 

It’s brisk and cold out today and right now I’m curled up on the comfy couch watching You’ve Got Mail. It’s one of my favourite films. I have watched it so many times and yet I still well up when Kathleen closes the store and Joe’s ‘bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils’ brings a smile to my face every time. My favourite line is when Kathleen’s wise old friend Birdie tells her that closing the store is the brave thing to do because she’s daring to imagine life without it. It’s such a beautiful sentiment and really strikes a chord with me. 

Yesterday was a different kettle of fish. It was grey and damp after the overnight rain yet the prospect of being indoors all day was making me feel restless. So I hopped on the bus just after lunch and headed down to the Odeon Cinema at Swiss Cottage with Skyfall in my sights.


I’m not what you would call a Bond fan. I have seen a few, enjoyed a few and have Sean Connery firmly placed on The Best Bond pedestal. And I’ve had my doubts about Daniel Craig’s iteration of the world’s most famous spy.

Not any more. Skyfall was brilliant.

For two and a half hours I was glued to my seat – from the opening chase and the strains of Adele’s thrilling Bond theme right though to the closing credits. Javier Bardem may just be the best Bond villain ever and Ben Wishaw’s Q is brilliant as the world’s coolest gadget man. The story shines, the stellar cast sparkles and Craig has finally won me over.

A fellow blogger has bemoaned the similarities between this and Batman: The Dark Knight and while there are some parallels, there is a richer story than such a simple comparison offers. I’m not one for issuing plot spoilers here on Gidday From The UK – suffice to say I would recommend you avoid finding out what happens and just enjoy the journey. In the meantime, I have been left in a state of excited anticipation, wondering what this brave new Bond world will bring. Bring on number 24 I say!

And on top of all of that, I have ‘discovered’ Swiss Cottage – well the intersection where the cinema, tube station and bus stop all congregate…

THE Swiss Cottage at…Swiss Cottage

Seems to me that that’s a weekend very well-spent.


ps…speaking of weekends, I heard on the radio this morning that there are only 5 weekends left until Christmas. That makes it sounds really close. Let’s stick with the sleeps to go thing shall we?  So that would be 37 sleeps to go. See? Plenty of time really…

A Hard-Earned Thirst…

Posted on by
6

I read this week that alcohol consumption in Australia will reach its lowest point in 10 years this year.

I know. I couldn’t believe it either.

Yet the Age newspaper has reported that a 2.4% drop means that Aussies will down just 9.8L per capita in 2012. This is ahead of our US compatriots (8.61L) but well-behind the Brits at 11.75L.

So what’s the deal?

Well I’d first like to say that the badge of hard-drinking Aussie is pinned to the proud chest of the nation that gave the world Foster’s…and kept the best beer (and wine for that matter) for itself.

 


Yes, Australia was not built on hard graft alone. Good call….

The second point I’d like to make is that this dubious honour is bestowed rapidly upon any colonial and then put to the test with considerable alacrity…and mixed results. At one after-work drinks sesh shortly after I landed on England’s green shores (actually I fell in the snow and broke my elbow but that’s another story), I found myself hard-pressed to keep pace with pint after pint downed by my workmates in the space of an hour. Brits can drink!

Interesting to note though that this decline Down Under has occurred in the time since I departed. So it appears to me that whoever my ‘replacement’ is (the population has grown to over 21 million since 2004 so someone is standing in my thongs flip flops shoes) is not pulling their weight. So there’s nothing for it but for me to get down to Melbourne town and support my countrymen and women in their endeavours to regain their crown.

The Big Wine Cask is at Buronga, NSW just over the border from Mildura in country Victoria.


So to all you Aussie blokes and sheilas down under, don’t despair – I’ll be there in just 43 sleeps, drinking boots at the ready.

And I could really do with a nice Shiraz or two…