Reading....
I am currently reading The Sea by John Banville (Booker Prize winner 2005). I am finding it hard to grasp why he won - the book so far is slow moving and turgid.
I have just finished Confessions of a London Call Girl by Anonymous. It was entertaining but oddly the writer bore resemblance to someone I know.
Swim School
I have noticed each week at swimming lessons that if a child in the toddler or 3 + age bracket becomes unwilling to perform a certain task or becomes frightened, the teachers start to lose patience a bit. As an onlooker who has no qualifications in teaching swimming, I am inclined to think that some of the methods employed are a bit harsh. Maybe, I have no clue as to what sort of instruction and enforcement is required when dealing with children of this age in this context. Maybe I too would start to lose it a bit if I had to deal with a constant stream of reluctance to co-operate.
Swimming however, is not like being asked to pick up one's toys or to clean up a room or sit nicely at a table. It can potentially be a life and death situation and there is a certain amount of healthy fear attached to holding your breath under water.
For example, I can see no point in telling a child that unless they are willing to dive for a ring or swim with their face in, they will be forced to remain in the pool - even if everyone else has gone home. I don't know about you but if I was 3 or 4 and someone made this sort of threat to me I would be pretty disturbed by it.
One child a few weeks ago started howling and claiming that ":I will never be ready to do this - I am scared! Scared! I don't want to!" The father of the child became angry and made more threats and in the end the kid was cowering in the corner of the pool. It nearly broke my heart. I had to hold myself back from pulling the child from the pool and spiriting them off to safety. The swimming instructor was not sympathetic to the child's plight and even turned to the small but increasingly horrified crowd of mothers and exclaimed "It's okay, he does this every week."
Try a little tenderness springs to mind. If a child performs and creates because they don't want t o do something, then maybe a gentler approach is required. Who knows? Maybe I am just missing the point??
Displaced? Or Are Australians Unfriendly?
I met a potential new friend on Sunday. Her husband is in the same baseball team as mine and she has a son also. We got on really well - she is originally from Cronulla but has been living in the States for years so has an accent. Her husband is Californian.
She expressed dissatisfaction with some elements of life in Qld. I had to agree in some respects. She described feeling alienated by some of the locals on the basis of accent and experience and was finding some things hard to adjust to. I have heard exactly the same issues from two other friends - one a New Yorker living in Sydney and the other a Canadian living near me.
When we first moved to Qld I found it hard to get into the local groove - everything seemed to happen far more slowly than in Sydney (not that this is always a bad thing) and people seemed to be less inclined to travel overseas or to other parts of the country.
Australians like to pride themselves on being friendly and outgoing. I have heard many people describe us as other. Maybe this attitude is not as prevalent in bigger cities. Brisbane is after all quite small compared with Sydney and Melbourne and the cultural diversity is a lot less. I have found two interesting things about Qld:
1. There is a greater tendency to villify peopel on the basis of nationality
2. Despite this tendency and a reputation as "redneckish", there is a greater acceptance and integration with the indigenous community and Pacific Islanders.
I also notice a lot more negro persons in Brisbane than I ever saw in Sydney.
In terms of adjustment, I think Qld is lagging behind in its quality of service in shops and restaurants and attitude generally.
McDonalds is not fast food - it's sometime later today food. Waitresses in cafes will happily serve two meals on the one plate, negate to refill glasses, forget orders, over charge and generally take their time about attending to you at all. Employers take weeks and months to respond to job applications and delivery drivers turn up when it suits them. It's like people here are operating on a differnt time zone. Maybe this means less stress in the long run. In the short term though it just cheeses me off.
Books Galore
I have just finished reading Joanna Trollope's Brother and Sister. It was very disappointing compared with some of her other books. It took a long time to get started and when it did the reader could hardly care a toss for the central characters. Hardly anyone in the book is truly likeable except maybe David who certainly is the most dignified.
I am now reading The Blue Bedspread by Raj Kamal Jha. It is written in a glorious prose style and set in Calcutta. The protagonist is a lonely misfit whose early life was coloured by an incestuous relationship. As an adult he finds himself caring for his dead sister's child.
I am on a mission at the moment to mix the classics with the reading of modern literature. I usually tend to read a lot of the Booker Prize nominees.
EastEnders - the best soap on cable
I used to be addicted to Eastenders when it was on the ABC back in the late '80's. I was dismayed when it was axed but delighted to get back into it when I got Foxtel in 2002. Because it's not your average soap where nothing ever happens, it took me at least 3 months of viewing to really catch up on what had been happening in the years I had missed. I went on line to try and fill in the blanks as well.
It was heaven to learn that not only is it on Foxtel every week night, but they have upped the half hour to one hour. Sometimes I get a back log of episodes as I have to tape them!
What makes it such compelling viewing? Definitely the quality of acting, the storylines and the clever dialogue. Like all long running programs, it does have a tendency to occasionally slip into the doldrums for an episode or two, but more often than not, it is exciting, tear jerking and hilarious. The fact that the writers have tried to recreate autrhentically a small part of the East End of London is evidenced by the cultural and racial mix amongst the characters, the market stalls, the dingy launderette and the grimy inner city setting.
My favourite characters of all time are:Grant Mitchell - what a rogue
Phil Mitchell - some of the best episodes were when Phil lost his
temper
Sharon Watts - I was over the moon to see they had brought her back looking better than ever with her platinum hair extensions, fake tan and black clothes
Steve Owen- He was only in the show for a short time but the storylines he generated were great
Mel Owen - the show seemed to gains something when she was in it
Frank Butcher - the smooth talking conman was definitely an attribute
Kat Slater- I have liked her and felt repelled by her
Dennis Watts - dark, brooding and damaged and a murderer to boot
Den Watts- a great blast from the past
Paul Trueman - a gambler, drinker and smoker and a conman but there is something very likeable about him nonetheless
Dan Sullivan - added intrigue and thrills
Tiffany Mitchell - what a shame she copped it on New Year's Eve
Characters I can't cope with:Little Mo - somebody give me a shot gun. She is high maintenance - whiny, stubborn and always making stupid decisions
Addy: Cowardly freak who is frightened of his father
Sam Mitchell - tarty and underhanded
Andy - why is that guy's mouth so small and his chin non-existent and what is it with that annoying try-hard voice?
Bianca Butcher - total fish wife
Sonia and Robbie Jackson - it was a relief when they got rid of ugly Robbie and his stupid personality. As for Sonia - she's always moaning and whining and complaining and is way too old before her time.
Coronation Street airs prior to Eastenders but somehow it just doesn't light my fire like EE. I don't mind The Street but I find it is often directed at an older audience and is not as fast paced or as risque as EE.
Australian Idol no music to the ears
I am quite disappointed with AI this year. The caliber of contestant seems to be fairly low in comparison with previous years and the show itself generally lackluster.
I miss Dicko's sardonic wit - he is streets ahead of Holden, Marcia and Sandilands in the intelligence stakes. I don't mind Mark Holden but feel he can be irritating when he gets swept up with his made-up language and starts pontificating. When I discovered that he has produced David Hasselhoff who now has a glittering career in some parts of Europe, I felt like laughing. This is hardly an endorsement.
Marcia seems to be off in a neurotic world of her own. Her stock standard phrases are : that was a joyful performance - you go girl - well done darlin'. She never says anything of any utility but spends her time in a hand holding exercise with all contestants regardless of how pitiful their singing is.
As for Sandilands - where on earth did they dredge this freak from? Somebody stop him! He is physically unappealing - a definite head for radio - aggressive, vacuous and charmless.
I really hope Lee wins as I feel the others are very average and it would be good to see someone a bit alternative take out the prize.
***Dancing with the Stars***
It's good to see Darryl Somers back on TV and hosting something highly successful. I really like Darryl's sense of humour and his ability to laugh at himself and others! Sonia Kruger, however, is almost as annoying as Kyle Sandilands on Australian Idol.
I lam loving the glitz and glamour, the bitchiness of Todd McKenney, Dicko's theatricalities, the music and of course the dancing.
I am pretty convinced that David Campbell has fallen head over heels for Luda Kroiter and that some hanky panky may have gone on between Ky Hurst and Masha Belash. Campbell comes across as highly likeable damaged goods.
I am always intrigued by the exotic-sounding names of the professional dancers - Aric, Luda, Csiaba.
Roll on Tuesday night
