Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Random Adelaide-ness
Soundtrack: "Different Class" by Pulp
Good morning this morning.
Yesterday, I decided to go to the art gallery. The thing is, I ended up only looking at the modern Australian stuff, as in Melbourne, in fact. There were some amazing Rembrandt etchings in the Renaissance section, but I pretty much avoided the rest of the stuff from that time. It's because it's mostly religious stuff, crucifixions, stimata etc etc, which always unsettles me. This must come from my religious upbringing. I still don't really like holy statues - the worst ones are where Jesus still hasn't died on the cross, and he's looking at you with pleading eyes.
Talking about my Catholicism, I forgot to say where I went to Mass on Sunday. I actually went to the Cathedral for 11am Mass, and I actually rather liked it. The priest is just a big leftie, and he was telling off the congregation in his sermon for not being more welcoming towards all the Sudanese refugees who've just recently turned up in town. The choir and organist were really good as well. And the best bit? No more not-knowing how to sing hymns. I could even sing the ones I didn't know, because they put the notation on the hymnsheets. Elgarites may be interested to know that we sang a hymn with music by Elgar.
After the gallery, I went to the Festival Centre because Aunty Wendy seemed to think that it was a rather good idea. It wasn't - there was buggerall to do apart from drink coffee, and you know how I feel about that. However, the Centre is beside the River Torrens, and I ended up going on a boat ride on the Popeye, which apparently something that you have to do in Adelaide. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but that was probably because I love boats and being surrounded by water.
I also went and had a look round the casino, but walking very quickly because I've got a compulsive personality and I knew that if I even stopped to watch one game of blackjack I'd get sucked in and end up losing all my money. The place was full of elderly people playing on the slotties. Did I mention that as well as being a nation of alcoholic, obese smokers, Australia is also a nation of gamblers. The old people gamble during the day because they don't have to work, and then when everybody else finishes work, they go to the casino as well. It just proves that Australia is an amazing place to visit, but if you live here, you turn into one of the above.
Good morning this morning.
Yesterday, I decided to go to the art gallery. The thing is, I ended up only looking at the modern Australian stuff, as in Melbourne, in fact. There were some amazing Rembrandt etchings in the Renaissance section, but I pretty much avoided the rest of the stuff from that time. It's because it's mostly religious stuff, crucifixions, stimata etc etc, which always unsettles me. This must come from my religious upbringing. I still don't really like holy statues - the worst ones are where Jesus still hasn't died on the cross, and he's looking at you with pleading eyes.
Talking about my Catholicism, I forgot to say where I went to Mass on Sunday. I actually went to the Cathedral for 11am Mass, and I actually rather liked it. The priest is just a big leftie, and he was telling off the congregation in his sermon for not being more welcoming towards all the Sudanese refugees who've just recently turned up in town. The choir and organist were really good as well. And the best bit? No more not-knowing how to sing hymns. I could even sing the ones I didn't know, because they put the notation on the hymnsheets. Elgarites may be interested to know that we sang a hymn with music by Elgar.
After the gallery, I went to the Festival Centre because Aunty Wendy seemed to think that it was a rather good idea. It wasn't - there was buggerall to do apart from drink coffee, and you know how I feel about that. However, the Centre is beside the River Torrens, and I ended up going on a boat ride on the Popeye, which apparently something that you have to do in Adelaide. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but that was probably because I love boats and being surrounded by water.
I also went and had a look round the casino, but walking very quickly because I've got a compulsive personality and I knew that if I even stopped to watch one game of blackjack I'd get sucked in and end up losing all my money. The place was full of elderly people playing on the slotties. Did I mention that as well as being a nation of alcoholic, obese smokers, Australia is also a nation of gamblers. The old people gamble during the day because they don't have to work, and then when everybody else finishes work, they go to the casino as well. It just proves that Australia is an amazing place to visit, but if you live here, you turn into one of the above.
