We are now spending a day or so in Sydney, which is a very comfortable city Everyone we talk to is very friendly. We were last here when we flew in for the Australian Worldcon, and we keep walking around saying, “Oh! I remember this!” Which is a sign that we either enjoyed it, or are emotionally scarred. Pretty sure we enjoyed it.
The weather is cooler than up in the Whitsundays, but then, anything would be. It was refreshing to get hit with a breeze that doesn’t feel like getting wrapped in a hot, wet towel, and the food was a welcome bit of change too. Don’t get me wrong, Daydream Island had a respectable kitchen staff, but the menu was the same the entire time we were there, and we are, frankly, hedonistic creatures who thrive on variety. At the end of the fourth day, I was looking at the breakfast buffet, with its unchanging regimen of institutional scrambled eggs, Canadian bacon, stewed tomatoes and veal sausage, and seriously considering pouring honey on my shoes and eating them…but if I splurged today, what would I have to look forward to tomorrow?
Looking this over, I’m aware that for a person on vacation, I’m grousing a lot, which is probably not sitting too well with some of my readers who are reading this as a desperate delaying tactic before they trudge outside to pour napalm over the car to try to get the engine block unfrozen. I apologize for this, but there’s an old family saying that admits that we’d “Bitch if we were being hung with a new rope.” …This actually raises some interesting questions about my family history that I never really thought about before.
Spent a little time wandering about Sydney today. The concierge of my hotel and I commiserated about the sad fact that there was only one real used book store in the city. I refuse to name them, because when I asked the owner if he had any Lord Dunsany, he wanted to know who the author was. Sic transit gloria mundi, m’lord. Stopped by Kings Comics (http://www.kingscomics.com/), a very fine shop that stocks Girl Genius, as well as many other worthwhile independent publishers. bought Experiment # 2 some My Little Pony graphic novels for the long flight home.
Strolling back to my hotel, I got caught in a rainstorm. So, like any other writer, I ducked into a wine seller’s shop. While there, I found Stone’s Original Green Ginger Wine– produced & bottled in Australia. I have never heard of this, even though, according to the bottle, it’s been made for over 270 years. If they let me take it through customs, I’ll let you know how it is.
We had an opportunistic stroke of luck, and tonight, we are taking the Experiments to see The Magic Flute at the Sydney Opera House. Apparently one of the designers is the lady who did all the puppetry work for Disney’s Lion King play, so I am expecting great things. It will be Experiment # 2’s first opera.
Filed under: Phil's Blog, Studio News Tagged: Australia, Foglio, ginger wine, Lord Dunsany
