12.9.67 Post-audition day

Sydney 12.9.67

Dear Mother, Another day spent wandering hither and yon – gee, I think I’ll go in for the long distance walk soon!

Breakfast – got the worst waitress every today – and for once I was down comparatively early – I might as well have gone down at my usual late hour. That’s the worst thing altogether about this hotel – there’s only one or two decent (that is, quick) waitresses in the lot – and I never get ‘em. [Boy, what a snob!]

Decided to make use of Ricordi’s again, so spent another hour in there.

El Alamein Fountain

Came back to K.C. for lunch and watched a fellow in a white bathing suit blithely step into the El Alamein fountain, take a short (very cold) shower and step out again, whence he started to dry himself on an enormous striped towel, that, along with his briefcase, seemed to be all he had! He was there traipsing around the fountain, looking like a latter-day prophet for about 10 minutes before a cop told him to leave. The prophet then splashed water in all directions (not at the cop) and went stalking off, presumably mumbling something about his rights as a citizen!

About one, a quartet, with a piano, from the State Opera Co came and performed a group of about 16 songs (mainly love, and only 2 of which were from operas!) in the Fitzroy Gardens (where the Fountain is) over a loudspeaker, which meant their voices bounced beautifully off the surrounding buildings – quite a lot of people stayed!

Back into town and during the course of the afternoon I disposed of practically everybody on Robin Lovejoy’s list! The State Opera Co is now actually defunct – don’t know where the quartet fits in; the Conservatorium of Music has pretty well finished for the year as far as opera goes; the Opera Centre are interested, but already have a pianist, and would only require part-time work; Rochdale Opera Co are in the same boat; the ABC don’t need another pianist!!! So I might really just as well come home – unless the Trust turns up trumps; but I don’t think they will till next year.

So – I was going to go to the Opera again (Don Pasquale) but couldn’t stand it straight away again, [another opera, that is] so went to Half a Sixpence which is based on Kipps instead. Not as good as Oliver but still with plenty of  pep, and some easily memorable tunes. Nice relaxing night. [I thought I’d seen this already in Dunedin – maybe I did later.]

Decided I’d better start doing something about German, since I’ll be required to have a basic idea of it, and Italian, if I work with the Trust (they do all their operas in the original languages), so I bought a Teach Yourself, and went quite well on the first lesson!

See ya, Mike

10.9.67 Mass, lunch and the beach

10.9.67 [Sunday]

St Candice interior, courtesy Sydneyorgan.com

Hi! Went to Mass this morning at St Canice’s which is about 3 blocks away and tried to mumble my way through. The trouble is, the Aussies, in typical fashion, have simplified a good deal of the language and so we got, ‘The Lord be with you’ – ‘And with you’ (!) (which incidentally, is much better because it cuts out the emphasis on ‘And with Your spirit’ which is wrong. If anything, it should be, ‘And with your spirit.’ 

Anyway, I got there and then went and had a read of me ‘Annals’ and Catholic Weekly in the Fitzroy Gardens (where the El Alamein Fountain is – there’s a TV ad for raincoats with it in) which are just round the corner from the Manhattan. [The Annals Australasia – journal of Catholic culture, I think this might be.]

Then rang Anne Newbury, as she had suggested, and she invited me out for the afternoon. By this time there was a message from Cecil to ring him, which I did, and which took a considerably longer time than expected due to the slow, slow way he seems to talk and think. He finds he and his wife are all booked up this week, so they may have me out next Sunday. So it looks as though I’ll be here till at least next weekend (the money will last!) because I’ve got to ring Pikler then too. [The money barely lasted – I arrived in NZ with so little cash I had to borrow some money off Marge Quinn in Christchurch to get the train home to Dunedin. Marge was a former workmate of my mother, and we used her home as base before and after the Oz trip.]

Went out to Anne’s via the subway (after walking into town) which was another new experience. Some of the carriages here are double-deckers like the buses; I went in one (upstairs) on the way back tonite. That train goes over the Breedge (!) which was also interesting. [Me being rude about the Sydney accent.] Anne picked me up at the station and took me to her place, where I met Christopher (9) and Jenny (11). 

We had lunch in the sun, (a terrific day today) and then went for a ride to the beach (not Bondi, but beginning with B.), where we walked back and forth for quite a little while; even did some paddling (me – with me Sunday suit on – but I’d left me coat and tie at Anne’s.) It was really lovely in the sun, and think I’m getting a bit red in the face – it’s about time: I’ve been out in the sun enough lately. Stayed for tea, too, at Anne’s, and we watched TV – mainly a Disneyland on D Duck. Some of their programmes, in spite of the fact that they’ve got 4 channels, are behind ours – there was the beginning of that new Dean Martin show, for example. And they’ve still got the Underwater puppet show, and don’t seem to have heard of Thunderbirds! So!! [Anne was separated from her husband – she and I had met on the Die Fledermaus tour, when the Australian Opera orchestra was bought over to play, and had got on very well. She played oboe, if I remember rightly.]

Well, tomorrow, is the big day – and I’ll be glad when it’s over – I don’t really think I’ve been particularly relaxed all the time I’ve been here.

I’ve got another lunch date with Cecil tomorrow, and then back to the Trust for the (gulp!) audition!

So, see ya, Mike