Sunday Diary

BRY ANTICS

August 30th

World news was dominated by the death of Teddy Kennedy, the horrific sex-slave drama in America and the British soccer riots. Here I was very interested in a small item in our local paper saying a form of nano technology for desalinating sea-water had been discovered by Australian scientists. Water is a big problem in this country and, if this dry winter is anything to go by it's going to get worse, so I hope something comes of this. I'm fascinated by the new technologies. My favourite is Hot Rocks, but I don't suppose I'll live long enough to see much of the new technology come to fruition. I don't care if we're responsible for Global Warming or not, I just think a nice clean world would be an advantage to us all.

On SUNDAY Harry came for a lesson. He's just about to 'break the code' with reading, so that's quite exciting. He's turned into a really sensible little boy and we get on very well. Here he is sorting pictures for a sort of Memory game.

In the afternoon I took a stroll down Darby Street. It's a very busy street at the weekends because it's almost entirely restaurants, a lot of them out on the street, so it's an interesting venue.

A sunny Sunday.

I love the architecture.

And the sentiments!

MONDAY was Probus day. We had our usual meeting and then someone called Bob talked to us about the U3A movement. This is the University of the Third Age  which is popular here. I've been to quite a few of the lectures and I actually run the Poetry group myself. But it was new to many members of our club.

Here are members of Probus socialising over morning-tea.

On TUESDAY I introduced the Melodrama group to my new shortened version of 'Pirate Pie' and we read and sang it. It will take very little preparation for the Xmas entertainment season. Carole, the pianist, came and she was very helpful with her ideas. I'm in my element at such times.

On WEDNESDAY there was a drama! But not until the evening! I had booked for ten of us to go to the theatre to see the musical 'Menopause'. Many of us had seen it before in Sydney. The title was off-putting, but the parodies (of the Village People type) and the performances made up for that. Anyway, I booked for us all to have supper at the 'Clarendon' first. Here you see some of the crowd.

Another gastronomic shot!

Shortly after I'd taken this picture my blood ran cold! I'd left all the tickets at home! I'd just collected all the money too! I rang Malcolm and he said he'd bring them to the theatre, but when he arrived he said he hadn't been able to find them! Panic! Luckily, the theatre staff replaced the tickets with a docket without demur. I suppose they're used to stupid women!  Anyway, we all enjoyed the show in the end.

"Menopause; the Musical"

On THURSDAY it was one of my delectable Rebecca-and-Max days. This time we took him on his bike to Throsby Creek. We had a picnic when we got there, sitting on the deck of  a disused pavilion.

Banjo at the ready.

Max took his bike but preferred the pelican!

Having a rest on a strange concrete sofa at the edge of the water!

Malcolm seemed to enjoy himself!

And I got a lovely shot of friend, Pam's, house on the other side of the water.

On FRIDAY the U3A class was cancelled in favour of a Trivia Morning, so I just pottered at home, preparing for the 'Jeopardy' rehearsal in the afternoon. We were downstairs in the Bingo Room this time. I think we have the club officials who were walking in and out quite a shock as we acted our ridiculous drama!

Goodness knows what was happening here!

On Saturday I made up my mind to work on preparing my blog-jokes for publication. That sounds very grand, but all it means is that I'll self-publish them in a very cheap and cheerful manner to sell to audiences when I go round performance-poeting. I'm often asked for such a booklet. I'd like it if people desired my more poetic offerings but no, it's the jokes that are in demand! Anyway, after cleaning the bathrooms and doing a Big Shop, I decided to leaf through our next Book Group book......and I was hooked. I usually make-up my mind about a book in the first page (style, topic etc) and this one enchanted me from the first capital letter! It's 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society' by Mary Ann Shaffer. The words flowed, and the wit was entrancing, although I'm not too sure about the character-drawing yet. Then I read about the author and discovered that this was her only book and that she died before it was published!  I felt really emotional about the tragedy of it. Anyway, the book consumed my day. So much for plans!

Here is the author with the niece who assisted her when she became ill.

The book.

SATURDAY was a very quiet day. I read my book and worked on my joke booklet, to be called 'Chips Off The Old Blog'. At night we watched an ancient film from the Public Library, 'Chariots of Fire'. I still found it quite moving after all these years.

Till next week.

Brenda