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
