The weekend, it is where the fun starts

For most people, the weekend is the flipside to having to working to bring in the bacon and I am no different. The past couple of weekends have been amazingly cool and a complete adventure.

I’ve always had a mild obsession with the weekends; an obsession spawned by having to work full time.

A few weeks ago, after a difficult day at work and while I sat in my parents’ living room having a cup of tea I challenged myself to fill the next couple weekends with fun and adventure.

There have been a book launch and drinks with mates as well as whale watching and skydiving. Not to mention, a choir concert and moving into my own home.

Let me tell you about them.

The first weekend of this challenge started off by coffee at Love Thy Neighbour Café in Northbridge which is this cute little place in an arcade off William Street. Their Short Mac and Banana Bread set my little sister and me up for some whale watching.

After traipsing up from the city to Hillarys Boat Harbour (a place I wouldn’t recommend anyone visit unless they wanted to know what boredom felt like) we hopped on this boat and proceeded to chase whales for about two hours.

When I first had the idea of whale watching, I had images of them putting on a show and leaping out the water and leaving us breathless with their majesty and size. But no!

Of course we had to spend a little time getting to where it was deep enough for them to swim but what ended up happening was that the closer we got the further away they seemed to be. We saw a pod of dolphins swim past which was quite cool but we wanted to see the big whales work their magic.

The next day saw drinks at Bar Five and a Tim Winton book launch, which topped off a really nice weekend.

Another weekend I got to go Skydiving which was totally cool. I originally was going to go several weeks ago after sandwiched in between a choir rehearsal and dinner with a friend but it got cancelled because of the wind.

But luckily the weather was perfect and a balmy 32 degrees with not a cloud in the sky. The 60 seconds of free fall was the biggest adrenalin kick that I’ve ever had in my whole and entire life. Once the parachute was open, it was amazing to see the city that I live in from another prospective.         

Sky diving - a once in a life time experience

The rest of that weekend was spent setting my new flat and making it my own.

With a mortgage, the theory goes that weekends will be a lot less exciting due to budgetary restraints but we shall see.

Lunch down lemon lane

Perth over the last couple of months has been wet, windy and overcast but over the last couple of days the weather has improved to perfection.

With it there being not a cloud in the sky and temperature at a warm 30 degrees, I decided to enjoy the outdoors and do lunch somewhere.

Luckily Claremont is great on a beautiful day so after walking around for a little while I decided to visit Lemon Lane.  

This light and breezy café is down a laneway off the main Claremont drag and has space both indoors and outdoors where you can sit and watch the world go past.

After grabbing a few magazines and a short mac, I chose a Tasmanian Smoked Salmon Crostini with Avocado, Brie and dripped with lemon oil. The presentation was lovely and none of the various elements were too overpowering.

       

While the bread is supposed to be toasted, here it was a little too toasted. But that is no matter because as a whole it was wonderful.

The Coffee wasn’t bad and the service was good. It was a lovely moment in a beautiful day.

The only problem with Lemon Lane is that it shuts so early (1pm) on a Sunday which is hardly conducive to a long and leisurely brunch.

But opening hours is a city wide problem and I am really looking forward to when you can get a good coffee in Perth after 4 pm on weekdays and good places like Lemon Lane extend their opening hours on weekends. It is all about the money, I guess.

So if you want to go somewhere that is nice in Claremont that isn’t too pretentious but still really good, give Lemon Lane a try.   

Every memory has a song

I don't know about you but music is like a sound track to life - play me a song from my playlists and I can tell you what I was doing, where I was going and who I was with.

St Germain started off being background music to Christian Union meetings and soon became the sound track to my undergrad degrees and the existential crisis that accompanied them. It always reminds me to getting up to shenanigans at mum and dad's when they went on holiday, they were the days!!

Emilie Simon's Rocket to the Moon was part of the So Frenchy so Chic 2010 CD and transports me back to backpacking around Europe and especially walking around Amsterdam while  desperately trying to contact relatives who I was supposed to stay with on my final night but who I couldn't get hold of. 

Belleruche was Album of the Week on Radio National Breakfast and on just on one hearing I knew I had to get it. It reminds me of living in Sydney and in this granny flat in Marrickville. It was a draughty, it wasn't The Hilton and it was abit of a hole but it was in Marrickville so what can I say? 

   

Omar Sosa came to Becks Verandah (Perth International Arts  Festival's live music programme sponsored by Becks) in 2006 or 2007 and it always reminds of being a "glassie" at the verandah. It was such a cool job, just working the floor and picking up beer bottles and used glasses while listening to the many acts that came in from overseas then enjoying a staffie after work was done for the night.     

Apart from world music, jazz, etc. I also love classical music and Schubert's Piano Trio in e flat (opus 100) is one of my favourite pieces of Chamber Music, I just love it. It would help me study in first year uni while in student accommodation for the first time. I would marvel at the skill needed to play this work well.

It makes me think of my parents who, at 4 pm, love to stop and enjoy a cup of tea with some chamber music. 

    

These are just a few and I love playing them again and being transported to some really cool times in my life.

You don’t need to be a dude to enjoy dude food

I first heard about Dude Food on Master Chief a few years ago and being not much of a foodie and more the arty bookish type I filed this food genre under “food fad” and promptly forgot about it.

But going out for a burger a few weeks ago reminded me of dude food, and being the bookish and nerdy type, I’ve been doing a little bit of research which turned out to be a little difficult since there didn’t seem to be a clear definition.

Dude food is far more than your traditional American fast-food fare and while it has its roots in burgers, hot dogs, etc, it takes these old time favourites to a new level to incorporate European, Asian, and contemporary Australian influences.

My latest visit was to grill’d at the Brookfield Place where I went for a Moroccan Chicken burger. For something that is supposed to be influenced by a style of cooking steeped in spices and flavour, this burger was a little bland and lacked a real flavour kick. 

I know this Grill’d place is part of a chain but it did seem too much like a fast-food joint with staff seeming to work there just for the money (which is fair enough because I am doing the same) but it would be nice to go to a place that made an effort that made you feel that you were not going to just another outlet. It was super fresh though and I loved the crunchy salad. 

But you know where I really loved?

The Flipside!!

This favourite burger experience of all times was getting a burger from and this has to be Dude Food at its best.        

They have an arrangement with The Mechanics’ Institute upstairs where you can enjoy a burger with your beverage. The result is that there is this little funky dynamic happening above street level where you can enjoy a really cool burger in one of Perth’s coolest spaces. I got a blue cheese and pear burger that went really well with my Rodger’s Pale Ale.

Another cool place is Jus Burgers across William Street. While Mr Jus does have a couple of stores around Perth, and the quality doesn’t make you feel like the burgers are the same. The bread is awesome and perfect anecdote to a big but classy night out. If you have cool out-of-town Cousins that you want to impress, bring them here. 

They also have an arrangement with the Ezra Pound Bar where, like the Flipside and Mechanics, you can order a burger with your bevvie.          

Finally, if you find yourself anywhere near Hampten Road in Nedlands, pop into Burgermeister. Here is not your usual student hangout nor is it full of staff from the local hospital, despite discounts being available. 

Ended up having one of their burgers in between a shift and a choir gig at the university and thought it was cool décor and enjoyed their well presented burger which didn’t taste too bad. I loved the discount for hospital staff even more.     

Hope you enjoy your burgers and remember that you don’t need to be a dude to enjoy dude food!!!  
  

       

Small Bars - a great addition to a rich city life

I don't know about you but I love spending time with my friends and family. They are interesting, funny and wildly entertaining.

Whether we visit an art gallery or concert, go to the beach, attend some kind of political event we always manage to squeeze in a visit to a cafe or bar - just so we can chat, catch up and enjoy each other's company.

Depending on where we are we often go to one of the many small bars that have sprung up around Perth. Often they have a great vibe, great coffee and menu as well as good selection of beverages.

These small bars are a relatively new concept in Perth and have been imported from Melbourne, our defiantly cooler cousin.

But the growth in these smaller venues have been met with some resistance often by those who haven't really been to enough to know that they aren't really like your local pub.

Many people argue that these small bars (which operate under the Government's small bar licence where you can enjoy an alcoholic beverage without buying a meal at the same time) encourage the over consumption of alcohol, causing people to become loud and disorderly.

But I beg to differ. 

Small bars generally pull a different crowd. A crowd that is there to enjoy a quiet night out with friends. A crowd that is probably slightly older or not into the mainstream Aussie culture. A crowd that doesn't, on the whole, drink to get drunk. 

Seriously people, they aren't that bad. They are just like cafes but with a more diverse menu.   

Sure, they might be slightly louder than your newborn's bed room when she or he is sleeping but they aren't loader than your standard footie game or even your Friday Night Youth Group and kids birthday party. 


So, the next time you have nothing to do, go exploring a bit and see how much Perth is changing.     

  

    

    

Phone call from Australian Christians reinforces separation between church and state

Since moving back to my mum and dad's house to house sit for them while they take a well earned holiday, I have fielded a couple of calls from people wanting to speak with them.

One such call was from the Australian Christians who wanted to know if Mum and Dad were available on election day and, explaining that they were on holiday, the caller (naturally assuming that I was a Christian) asked me if I was available to help.

If you know me at all you would know that I am a member of the Australian Labor Party and so when I said no because I believe in a separation of church and state and would be voting for a secular party, I was told that I 'hadn't thought it though'.

This seems a little unreasonable as I hold a degree in Politics and very interested in politics. It is inappropriate that a perfect stranger should tell me that I haven't thought it through just because I don't agree with him and the political party he represents.   

As I am a facebook addict, my status update following this phone call invited a few people to comment and many of them were interesting.

They range from avoiding any debate of any kind to the idea that human rights sit outside religious doctrine and that we don't need religious politicians in order to have a civil society went on to disagree with the idea that if a person doesn't agree with another's religious beliefs they are not a moral and ethical individual. 

Others pondered whether the introduction of Sharia Law by the Australian Government would assist the Australian Christian in reassessing their priorities in terms of separating organised religion and the state. 

You only have to go to Iran and other similar countries to see how dangerous theocracies are, especially for minority religions such as the Coptic Christians in Egypt.

Someone else wrote something along that Christians often assume that the only religion to get a say is theirs but in a pluralistic country you have to give equal weight to all religions. He went on to say how aggressive (his words not mine) Islam can be politically and separation between church and state is key to ensure moderation and governing for all citizens. 

It it not to say that politicians shouldn't be people of faith because at our democratically elected governments is a representation of the diverse Australian society and those who have religious convictions are an integral part of that. 

All religious groups are more than welcome to participate in the debate and, after pontificating about gay marriage and abortion, can work with the system to promote common themes in the bible (or other such text) such as the working on behalf of the marginalised, mentally ill and those who have the miss fortune of being homeless. 

It is important to be mindful of the plurality and secular nature of the Australian society and not to assume that a particular value systems can be transplanted on the Australian public. 

While some might go for the pre-enlightenment patriarchal paradigm of yesteryear, I'll be voting for progressive Labor Party values such as working for the common good, fairness at work, marriage equality, balancing environmental sustainability with economic progress  as well as a women's right to choose and gender equality in the workplace. 

Non-fiction provides punctuation for some amazing stories

I love reading and it has to be one of life's great pleasures and here are some that I have recently been reading.

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work was a beautifully written book about work and daily life. Alain Du Botton beings looks at what people do for a living and why they do it. He  goes on to look at logistics/shipping and what goes on in making sure with have “stuff” on our supermarket shelves and goes on to look at biscuit making, career counselling, accountancy, etc. 

Du Button reminded me that humans are just a tiny cog in this massive wheel and that work is just one way that we feel connected and useful to society, even though in reality it has no lasting impact. He is the only writer that makes accounting cargo ship spotting and commuting to London sound remotely romantic.

This book does seem like a poetic report of various random jobs and I would have liked a stronger and overarching narrative. Du Button does interview very well on TV. 

I was really excited to begin about Gillian Slovo’s Black Orchids as the colonial era I find a little exotic but this book shows its dark underbelly. 

The book Black Orchids is set in 1950s Ceylon and Britain about a girl of English heritage who had lived in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) for most of her life and subsequently marries a local boy from a “good family” then proceed to move to England. Unfortunately, it was at a time that England wasn’t really impressed by those married people from the colonies. 

So the main character Evelyn doesn’t really feel like she belongs anywhere, not really British but not really from Ceylon either. When I first brought it as stories of outsiders, cross cultural upbringings and marriages really interest me but I soon became disappointed with the story and by the end I was glad it was all over.

The story did show what England was like at the time and how far it’s come, although that is up for debate.  I felt that Evelyn began as a formidable woman but who ended up being a bit of a cop out.

There was so much that I loved about Hugh MacKay’s Advance Australia Where? It seemed to take the pulse of Australian society and shows how the country has changed. Mackay’s general argument is that, to cope with the plethora of big issues that affect us such as terrorism/national security, the global economy and climate change (just to name a few)Australia has become increasingly insular and inward looking. 

He cites our inability to deal with issues on a personal level which makes us focus on things we can change for example home renovations and spirituality. MacKay feels that our keen interest in shows such as Better Homes and Gardians, Backyard Blitz and shows like CSI and Law & Order are an attempt to escape from having to engage with the big issues facing our society. It is easier to renovate your house than to “stop the boats” or reduce Aboriginal disadvantage, for example.      

I found myself wanting to throw the book at the wall when I was reading the chapter on the Gender Revolution, not that I disagreed with it but because it was so spot on, especially how modern Australian females have little appreciation of the work done by generations of feminist women. His discussion about the changing nature of gender roles was also really interesting.

This is a great book about Australia and is well worth the read if you are interested about modern Australian cultural history.  

Ohhhh how I loved Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks and gets 5 stars straight away. It is about the first American Indian to attend Harvard University but more importantly it was about the relationship between Caleb and the highly intelligent Bethea (I think that is how you spell it) who is often relegated to domestic duties solely based on her gender. 

It was so well written and the characters were so clearly defined. The protagonists moved throughout the book with much clarity that I felt that understood them even if I didn't identify with them directly on a personal level or even agree with their politics. 

As a modern girl who has gained a university education, the era when even a basic primary education was denied to 50% of the population just because of their gender was a bit of a shock to me but Brooks wrote in such a way that I didn't hate the culture. This book is amazing!!!!    

Far To Go by Alison Pick is a book that I had mixed feelings about. Partly because the central theme (why many of the German/Polish/Czech Jews didn’t flee their homelands sooner) of the story seemed to fascinate me so much and the characters seem shallow in the circumstances and partly because the romantic subplots didn’t seem to add value to the story.

But I really loved how Pick managed to show the two sides of the Non-Jewish people that the story’s family had contact with and how in their company they were pleasant and friendly but out of their company they were sucked into the Nazi propaganda. As it turns out it was one of these individuals that informed the authorities of their Jewish heritage, despite their secular lifestyle.

But despite the depressing story, it is easy to read and, while Far To Go is fiction, it gives you some idea of why so many didn’t see the horrors of the holocaust coming.  

I kept going with the Jewish, World Wars and exile theme with Anna Funder’s All That I Am. It is written from the prospective of two of Political Activists (plus close knit group/family) that escape Nazi Germany and live in London.

The narrative is written from when these two Characters are in old age and trying to make peace with their troubled past.

While it centres around a close group of refugees in London who are trying to make a difference in a world in turmoil but not everyone can stand the pressure of fleeing persecution and surviving in a new hostile environment. Towards the end we realise that not all is well and one of them becomes betrays the political work of the group and this leads to a sad and tragic end.

In the final quarter of the book, we slowly learn the details of the betrayal and ultimate fall out.  

I loved how the present and past intertwined and found the characters to be interesting and thoughtful.

I didn’t really know much about the German political activists and while I know it is fiction, I wonder if I could risk everything do the same thing if in a similar situation   

Swiss clock brings back memories and marks moments of happiness

While trawling through eBay one rainy Sunday afternoon I stumbled on the kind of wall clock that you find in Swiss train stations and I immediately knew I had to purchase same.

Having a Swiss Mum and having been there on holiday many times, I have great memories of train journeys from Geneva to Neuchâtel and beyond. Not only are the train network super efficient but the views from them are amazing and breath taking. My all time favourite journey is going from Geneva to Paris which meandered high up along the sides of the mountains, giving spectacular views of the landscape. Next on the list would have to be going to Interlaken at such a speed that it was hard to fully appreciate the views.         

The Swiss are famous for their clocks as well as time keeping in general but what I really appreciate about this clock is that it reminds me that I am not at work and therefore my time is my own. Not that my weekends are run Swiss military style with every minute accounted for but it reminds me to enjoy my time off and fill it to the max with activities that are actually rewarding and stimulating.

Everyone needs something that reminds them to use their time wisely and to create a life well lived and my Swiss clock keeps me in time.  

Toastface Grillah takes lunchtime staple to a new level

Sometimes you want a change of routine – something different, something new.

So yesterday, as I was doing my usual workout at the gym and deciding what I wanted for lunch before work, I decided on a change from my usual cheese sandwich.

Nestled down an ally way in a part of Perth’s CBD that is not traditionally known for its cafés, Toastface Grilliah had a menu that would be a definite improvement on my usual boring lunches.  

This joint is based around toasted sandwiches and while this sounds like something that couldn’t possibly work (why would you pay for something as simple as a cheese sandwich?), the creative menu is what made me want to buy one of their toasties.

Ranging from the traditional like ham and cheese to the downright strange such as brie and jam as well as more contemporary flavours as pear and blue cheese, I went straight away for the 3 cheeses sandwich.

Having both Swiss and English heritage, a toasted cheese sandwich that included Gruyerre, Emmantel and Cheddar seemed to be a combination to die for and instantly brought back memories of these far away countries.  

At $ 7, it is little pricey but worth the trip down memory lane, and a move to sourdough bread or the like would be the icing on the cake.

To compliment my sandwich and to prepare for the eight hour shift that was to come, I ordered a coffee which was well made but lacked flavour and proper caffeine hit that I was looking for.  

It defiantly has an unusual menu, quirky vibe and is one of many new venues in Perth’s alleys and laneways but I hope that is enough to ensure its continued success.

What was it with Maggie?

Ever since Maggie died in April I have been wondering why Britain’s first female Prime Minister polarised people so much. You either love her or you hate her!

Dressed up as Maggie at a the Street Party fancy dress comp  

I grew up in Thatcher’s Britain. I lived in her shadow not knowing anything else until her demise in the nineties and her recent death has inspired me to find out more of the leader that ruled the country of my childhood.

I must admit that my older sisters hated her with an absolute passion but as I grew up I couldn't really understand why they found her so abhorrent while she continued to win election after election.

Depending on who you talked to, Thatcher’s rampage though Britain’s manufacturing sector either destroyed the country for good for or gave it the clean out (read “modernisation”) that it had to have.

Thatcher’s closing of the collieries in the north of England, an act that that many people say that the area never really recovered from. Without a proper plan to transition from an area that dug things out of the ground to a region was a part of the innovation revolution, it has become a place left behind from the modern day knowledge economy. Rates of chronic employment remain high in the north east due to low economic growth in areas such as construction as well as the decline in apprenticeships and other modes of capacity building.

Another big criticism of Thatcher’s selling off of public housing.

While allowing people to own their own homes is a great policy, encouraging people to buy overvalued properties isn’t such a wise move and according to an investigation by The Daily Mirror 80% of these council flats have ended up being rented out by private landlords.

What also happened was that the properties that were sold in the North of the country were worth much less than the houses in the more prosperous south.  

It seems that the policy of making property ownership more accessible has not really benefited subsequent generations in Britain and we are seeing that the rich continue to be in control of the property market and cheaper social housing has become harder to find as they've been sold off.  But I guess this policy was developed to help the aspirational working class at the expense of those who don’t have the means to own their own home. 

But Thatcher’s changes weren’t just limited to the housing market.

Like any good Conservative, Thatcher believed in small government and this included reducing the number of rules and regulations that the financial sector had to follow. For example, this meant that building societies were given greater freedom for to provide mortgage services and banks were now also allowed more freedom to merge and acquire new businesses that provided financial services such as stockbroking and insurance. The market was also opened up to foreign investors and businesses.  

While it meant that the sector was allowed to grow and develop, it also meant that the financial industry saw phenomenal growth as the same time as being more susceptible downturns in the market as we saw with the Global Financial Crisis.    

She was also an amazing political tactician. In a conversation with Radio National Broadcaster and ex Liberal Senator Amanda Vanstone, David Burchell describes her as an essay in hatred in politics and how to present your opponents with a set of issues that they don’t know how to handle. She had the ability to not only bring great strength to her own cause but to also weaken the cause of her political opponents.

In 1979, Britain Labour was in a state of flux – wedged between the traditional values of the Union Movement and the need to move with the times. But when Thatcher came to power, it gave them someone to hate and having such a clear enemy to focus on seemed to lead them down a path of self destruction.  

    

Struggling with issues such as immigration, defence and what it meant to be British, the party imploded and proceeded to take 20 years to regroup.

Burchell argues that Thatcher didn’t set out to destroy the Labour Party but by developing a set of “modernising” policies that the Labour Party couldn’t create viable alternatives for, they were soon driven in to a corner to be perceived as the bastions of “anti – modernisation”.

Thatcher showed how easy it was to divide her opponents by pursing a set of clear set of ideas and how to use political hatred to her advantage. Labour was so hell bent on hating Thatcher that they became irrational and unable to develop policy alternatives. 

I could go on about her record divided Britain and making it country that focuses on the individual pursuit of wealth at all costs. In her death I hope she may rest in peace and that we may learn from her mistakes and continue to work for the common good so that no one may be left behind.