Million Dollar Quartet

We took our seats to the sound of the new fangled rock 'n' roll music of the time and watched the ushers dancing along and the audience peering at their tickets short-sightedly to work out where they were
sitting.

The story was of one night at Sun Records, where the owner, Sam Phillips, brought together 4 stars that he had discovered: Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley. In the first half, characters were introduced bit by bit, with the backstory of how they had introduced themselves to Sam Phillips and what he had seen in them. I found myself unconsciously tapping my foot in time to the
music or dancing in my seat.

The premise for the show was a bit thin, but it was an excellent way to hear the hits from the four stars. The actors appeared to struggle with the accent and Elvis, in particular, had a tough gig, turning on and off the showmanship. Jerry Lee Lewis, on the other hand, was set to On the whole time - it was entertaining to watch his larger-than-life performance as he instructed the other stars about hits (before he even had one).

I would recommend this show to people who wanted to see a performance of the music from these stars. I came out singing, "I keep a close watch on this heart of mine.." (I walk the line - Johnny Cash).

The Cast
Carl Perkins - Steven bor
Johnny Cash - derek hagen
Jerry Lee Lewis - ben goddard
Elvis Presley - Kevin mains
Jay Perkins (bass) - phil bloomberg
Fluke (drummer) - Adam Riley
Sam Phillips - Bill Ward
Dyanne - Francesca Jackson

Seen or heard anything strange?

Last night the doorbell rang at 12:15. It was the police. They had found a man 20m from our front door and were wondering if we had heard or seen anything strange. I had no useful information for them that I could determine.

Soon after I realised what an insular life I lead, as I walked home from the station (not passing the place he was found) thinking about the cold, about training that night, thinking about what I was planning to eat for tea, and not noticing a thing around me. (All that thinking is probably generous too.)

This a reminder that the whole world does not revolve around ourselves and that life is fragile.

Hampton Court Palace and Bushy Park

Today I enjoyed a relaxing and informative day at Hampton Court, one of the entertaining palaces of Henry VIII. I was joined by one of my Iceni friends, Caroline.

Together we explored the Tudor kitchens and great hall, the history of Henry's wives in his quest for a son and then the Baroque half of the castle, updated by George and ??  Before they ran out of money.

From there we went outside to explore some of the gardens and the maze. There were several sections of formal gardens as well as Woodland parks. I really enjoyed the woodland parks with the exciting array autumn colours. Another highlight of the garden was a small, but as always, exciting, maze.

From there we had some lunch in the cafe - not surprisingly a pie - after all the ones we had seen in the kitchens, and then stretched our legs in Bushy Park.

Bushy Park
The feel of cold, misty rain against my face, the drag of camera bag on my shoulder.
The smell of woodsmoke and damp earth.
The bellows of horny stags sound over the top of the crunching of autumn leaves under my feet and the constant drone of traffic.
The darkening twilight, turning vivid reds and oranges to murky browns on the trees, the ground and the expansive, ground-covering ferns. The deer blend into the environment, until they startle, splash across an otherwise still stream. One stag has stolen two doe, while the alpha is chasing others. A lonesome stag returns the bellow, head tipping back, antlers along its back to release a deep, guttural mourning.
The lights of distant cars and houses seem nothing to do with this existence.

Bournville and Birmingham - Cadbury Factory!

Attempting to make the most of our few remaining weekends in London, today I headed to Bournville and Cadbury World.
Perhaps it was because I was on my own that I took a pessimistic view of the place. Each of the exhibits has been added piecemeal as the demands of the audiences over time changed. As a result, the whole experience is repetitive and non-cohesive. The exhibits:

• Trace the history of chocolate and Cadbury (mix of models and hologram video) 
• Takes you through the process of how chocolate is made at Cadbury (animation);
• Takes you through the process of how particular chocolates are made (creme egg, buttons, orange cream, nut chocolate bar; video);
• Get your picture taken with Cadbury images (against a green screen);
• How chocolate is made at Cadbury (video);
• View of the wrapping and packing machines (real life);
• A history of Cadbury's television ads (while queuing for);
• A small world mini train ride through mechanised cocoa bean characters (who helped with the discovery of dairy milk chocolate);
• Demonstrations of the techniques of hand-made chocolate (real people) and a shot of liquid chocolate;
• Advertisement avenue (a fact-learning exercise with the history of advertisements followed by some fun, interactive, movement games. Eg squash the chocolate by jumping on it);
• Out through the shop and outside past the playground to Essence where you learnt about the 'magic' discovery of Cadbury Dairy milk chocolate and are then treated to a cup of liquid chocolate from the tubes with your choice of additives (I had wine gums).

It is recommended to set aside 3h for a visit. My visit was close to that and I was left with the impression that it was one long queue while they kept you occupied by feeding you information in lead up to the good bit.. Which never really came.

Please take this review with a grain of salt:

1. I was on my own
2. Lee wasn't there
3. It is a working factory that just happens to make chocolate

After over-purchasing at the factory shop I explored some of the well-kept village that the Cadbury family had created for their factory workers - a factory in a garden. My favourite was the Ladies
Garden (the Gents were using theirs for football).

After that, I caught the train back into Birmingham for a look around.  All the things I had heard about it were true: industrial and grimy, that they are trying to clean up. The entire centre of the city
appeared to be shops, and plenty of them.  While this in itself provides an interesting photographic subject, I struggled to see it after the factory in a garden and a week of travelling the French countryside with Mum and Dad.  I'm sure if I had more time to adjust and explore (when it wasn't getting dark), I could have found the gems in Birmingham that I was looking for.

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Blood Brothers

As an ongoing aim to see as much while we're in London as we can, I have bought tickets to multiple theatre shows, the first of which was tonight - Blood Brothers.  (Spoiler alert.)

As the musicians played the first few notes I heard the conversation of the young couple behind me,
"..well, it's a musical"
"Why did we come to a musical? 
"Did you know it was a musical? 
"I wouldn't have come if I'd known it was a musical."
Teehee!


It is a story of twin brothers split at birth and brought up by two very different families in and around Liverpool.  It was a funny show for the first half, particularly when one of the main characters farted at a particularly opportune moment, and the others on stage couldn't recover.   

The end however was teary for me and I could only imagine what it would be like for a mother to be in those shoes.

A cast of 13 did a great job, in particular the Mother, Mrs Johnstone (Amy Robbins) and the son Mickey (Stephen Palfreman), although Edward (?) did well too.  The Narrator (Philip Stewart) had an excellent voice, but unfortunately was drowned out a bit by the instrumentals that were a little too loud.

I would recommend the show to most people.

London Versus Melbourne

There's nothing quite like a visit to the homeland to highlight the
differences between two homes. This time around it was related to
population.
The very first thing I noticed coming out of Southern Cross station on
a Friday night, was that the city was empty. I was busy wondering
where all the people were. Not only that, but I noticed other side
effects as a result of the difference in population.
First, the public transport. We are spoilt living at a major public
transport junction in london, so were a little disappointed to learn
that trains were much less frequent from Boronia into Melbourne -
every half hour. I was also a little uncomfortable when I realised I
was the only person in the train carriage. In realistic terms though,
london has 6 zones of public transport, whereas melbourne only has 2.
Comparing frequency of trains in zone 2 Melbourne, to zone 2 in London
is not really fair.
The interior of the trains though are quite different. Where london
has overhead shelves and strangers' knees overlapping on facing seats,
melbourne trains have wide open space and wider spacing for seats.
One of the biggest symptoms of fewer people that I had previously read
about and didn't believe - Australians have a larger area of personal
space. You stand further away from strangers and even when talking to
people you know. It is, of course, less pronounced in the city, but it
is still present like a big bubble around every person.
It may be this bubble or maybe lack of practice but Australians are
unable to move through crowds effectively. It's difficult to get
anywhere at speed, as the people aren't great at the simple task of
getting past each other. The plus side of this is plenty more eye
contact, more smiles and as a result, a more friendly atmosphere.
The differences are not surprising, when you compare the population of
the two cities: Melbourne 3mil, versus xxmil in London; but they do
make for a nice study.

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Worth it

I am spoiled. I have spent the last week spending time with wonderful
people. It started with us being picked up from the airport by Dad
(who had already driven to Geraldton that morning).
Thursday we rallied to help mum with an excursion of her class out to
the farm. She had gone all out to organise fruit for morning tea, an
orienteering walk, egg and spoon races, sack races, a treasure hunt,
obstacle course, sand castle competition, sausage sizzle, as well as,
distress whistles for the parent leaders, a porta-loo (with water,
soap and towel) and transport for children out to our farm. My
favourite part was the treasure hunt because my team found a feather.
From there I raced up to Geraldton to join my fellow bridesmaids and
the bride, Amanda, for some pre-wedding primping and pampering.
Kristal gave us tans and we re-convened the next morning for nails.
The day was filled with haircut, eyebrow shape, church rehearsal,
preview of the reception venue, more tanning and topped off with a BBQ
tea with the Soulliers at Phillip's house.
The wedding day proceeded without any hitches. The only threat of
Bridezilla appearing was in getting to the church in time - it didn't
matter what we were wearing, even if it was nothing at all - so long
as we were on time. The two monkeys, Riley and Caleb were surprisingly
well behaved during the ceremony for their mum and dad. Head Monkey
Wrangler Uncle Phillip did alright - especially given that 2 days
previous Caleb hadn't even come near Phillip.
After a sleep in, we spent Sunday with Wayne, Vanessa, Bridget, may,
mum and dad. The highlight was watching the two girls hoon around the
playground on the foreshore.
After that we headed to see Rocco, rachael, Dakota and lyla. It was
the first time I had met lyla (lee had met her the previous day). She
was just beautiful, spending most of the time asleep.
We stayed the night and in the morning rocco took us to the sand dunes
with the motorbike. Rocco was working on the assumption that we could
both ride a dirt bike.. One that was not entirely correct - but we had
an awesome time nevertheless. (Rocco burnt more fuel in the 10 minute
ride home than we had in an hour on the dunes.)
Anyway, the extra time in WA was well worth it.

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