June 14. Day 165. Not in my backyard

There's this phenomenon called NIMBY or Not In My Back Yard. It goes like this. Whenever there is a proposal to build anything those most directly impacted will object. (We journalists occasionally referred to it as the BANANA principle or build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything. But then again journalists are cynical types). Normally the grounds will involve such things as traffic impacts and endangered animals. Often, in fact, it will come down the fact that they don't want it because it will impact on property values or quality of life. You can't blame people for that. But I have another NIMBY problem. Snakes. I thought the snakes in our area had an agreement. I thought the agreement was out of sight, out of mind. I am not stupid. I know there are snakes around out property but they are not supposed to show themselves or leave any evidence of their presence. In exchange I will leave them be. What could be fairer? Nothing. So why exactly is there a snake skin just by the gate? That is breaking both the spirit and the letter of the agreement. Not fair, I say. Not fair. I know snakes control other things I don't want to see but still.

June 13. Day 164. Lovely weather ... for ducks

 The weather today was lovely ... for ducks. It was cold. It was wet and commitments had me running between a car and a building - repeat. It kind of sucked but then I have a car, a home and an umbrella when outside. Many do not. My tasks today had me walk by a park on Wickham Terrace. There was a Brisbane City Council sign announcing the park was cleaned regularly and anything left unattended would be removed. I can only assume what it wasn't explicitly saying was that if you are homeless and leave your possessions there, don't expect to find them when you return. That's kind of sad. A little bit of compassion would go a long way. Later I looked at the wildlife. I rather assumed that birds would seek shelter. The ones at my house rather like the cover of the pergola by the pool. At South Bank, however, there was no shelter or the birds didn't seek it out. Given that crows and ibis don't exactly win the bird popularity stakes probably the care factor of most people was zero. But I watched the ibis and I swear they were shivering. Everyone knows down is pretty useless at keeping you warm if it's wet. And not only that the rain keeps the tourists away and no tourists means no food scraps. Lose, lose. It might have been lovely weather for ducks but for the rest of us, not so much.

June 12. Day 163. Somewhere over the rainbow

Being a shy assuming type, I'm not big on public displays of affection. No, really. If others want to snog in public that's their right. It's also my right to think "get a room". I'm a bit the same about public displays of exercise. Although I'm happy to take a walk I'd rather not appear at my worst in public places and the hot sweaty beetroot face is not a look I wear well. But others seem to be able to find ways of working out and at the same time looking effortlessly stylish and talented.  So it was in the City Botanic Gardens this afternoon where I saw not one but two women finding ways to make getting fit look fun. I might even be tempted to have a go at this park workout business if either cartwheeling or ribbon twirling was a possibility. Unfortunately, a degree of coordination beyond tragically inept is required for both these activities. So back to walking I go. Still walking has an advantage. I can take photos of randoms while I walk. I bet they'd struggle to do the same while they exercise. There's my pot of gold right there.

June 11. Day 162. Wet, wet, wet

 What would a sensible person do on a very cold, very wet, winter Sunday? What if that sensible person was still not symptom-free after a four week battle with the flu? Would that person a) curl up in bed, head under the doona or would that person b) walk five kilometres in the rain with no umbrella to the markets which were outside, also exposed to the elements. Naturally, being a sensible person I was curled up in bed under the doona with one dog at my head and one at my feet. Unfortunately that was after I had walked five kilometres in the rain with no umbrella. In my defence it wasn't raining when I left home. Sure it was overcast and the forecast was rain but I thought it was clearing and I rarely bother to listen to the forecast. My bad. It is true I arrived late and wet but on the upside was the very big positive. Waiting for me were my human friends Tania and Anna and one of Anna's fur babies Bruce. And because my friends have more sense than I do they insisted on driving me home in a nice, dry car. And then I went to bed.

June 10. Day 161. A sight for sore eyes

Sesame Street posed a very important question: Who are the people in your neighbourhood?  They talked about mailmen (yeh not so much these days),  doctors, dentists, bakers, firemen and so it goes.. "Oh, who are the people in your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
Say, who are the people in your neighborhood?
The people that you meet each day..."  Seriously, in my neighbourhood you never know what people you will meet any day. And that's on a "normal" day. But this weekend was the  Madman Anime Festival at the Convention Centre and that adds an element of insanity to the normal unpredictable. What's not to love about that? People in weird costumes were just the icing on the cake of an interesting walk around the city and the fringes this afternoon. It's a benefit of my current step challenge. My feet may hurt a bit but my eyes are the winners from the efforts.

June 9. Day 160. Dancing in the streets

 There's a dance movement that is becoming a "thing" in Brisbane. It's called No Lights, No Lyrca. The idea is that with the lights off  people loose their inhibitions and are able to dance for the pure joy of dancing. There's no self consciousness and no worry about what other people are thinking. You can dance like no-one is watching because no-one is watching. Some people, however, have the ability to dance like no-one is watching even when it is obvious everyone can watch and many, many people are. On Friday nights in the shadow of the Brisbane Square Library it's Latin Friday nights. It's free, thanks to Brisbane City Council sponsorship and you can even enjoy free lessons from 8pm to 8.45pm. After than it's social dancing until 11pm.
Although I've hazarded upon the street salsa before, it always takes me by surprise and in a good way. Although personally I prefer Bruce Springstein style dancing in the dark,I truly admire those who love dance so much they care not who is watching.

June 8. Day 159. Enough is enough

 

You don't get that much for $100 these days. You certainly don't get two hours with a therapist or a motivational speaker. And yet for around the cost of one of those green notes tonight you also got to hear the voice of an angel. Broadway and West End star Sierra Boggess performed her cabaret Awakening at the Concert Hall, QPAC tonight. Strangely though seconds after the Phantom of the Opera star walked on to the stage, I was transported not into a Paris opera house but to the cafe booth of that iconic scene from When Harry Met Sally. I speak here not of Sally's impression but the reaction of the diner in the next booth who says "I'll have what she's having". My God, where does that energy come from. It was like the Energizer Bunny after a few cans of Red Bull.Oh for a fraction of that energy. Oh for a fraction of that talent. Oh for a fraction of that beauty. Wait up. Time for me to take a dose of Sierra's tonic  "You are enough. You are so enough. It is unbelievable how enough you are." Good for her. It's not that I didn't like her motivational sayings... "We are not what we do. we are not what we have. We are not what other people think of us" ... they made a lot of sense. It's just that I didn't come to QPAC to hear the words of motivational guru Wayne Dyer. The voice I wanted to hear was Sierra's. When she was singing she was sublime. When she was telling her own life stories she was captivating. That's what I wanted to hear not the best of quotes of speaker who died two years ago. Still Sierra doesn't care what I think because to quote her quoting Wayne "What other people think is none of your business".
For what it's worth I preferred it when she talked about the need to escape into nature, preferably near water when things get tough. I get that. I do that. I did that with the dogs today. She was at her best when she wove her own stories through her music. She shone. She glowed. Enough of the folksy home spun wisdom. Sierra, you are enough. You are so enough. It is unbelievable how enough you are.
You can here our podcast review here