Latest in wet weather shoes
You know it’s been a wet year when high-end fashion houses start selling plastic shoes.
These little VWs followed me home from Sydney (oops) and could be seen walking the streets of Brisbane today.
Isn’t the Brisbane City street art gorgeous? Sandstone carved with an image of a traditional ‘Queenslander’.
All-plastic high heels by 'Melissa' and Vivienne Westwood. Just amazing what can be done with plastic. Sadly, I couldn't take them all....
Brisbane today:
Chanel gumboots, anyone?
Gumboots, up close (in case you didn't believe me).
Or, Chanel thongs? Translation: Expensive flip-flops (in case readers are looking for underwear. In Queensland, we call them 'thongs', whereas the undergarments are G-strings).
Olive festival: Watercress Creek Olives & Limes
Scandals plague the olive industry from time to time: be it oil that isn’t what it’s claimed to be, or Aussie farmers being bought out by Chinese business interests. Now, more than ever, it’s worth knowing who’s growing your food and where it’s actually coming from. Buying local isn’t a quaint legacy of a 1980s green-and-gold advertising campaign; it’s actually smart, environmentally sensible and fair (if you believe that what goes around, comes around).
But this is a good news story, so let’s get to the good bits.
If you’ve ever wondered where places like Brisbane’s Cloudland source their delicious olives, I can let you in on a well-kept secret: Watercress Creek Olives & Limes, at Pine Mountain.
The property is near Ipswich and has bounced back remarkably after Queensland’s devastating floods of 2011. If you’re a dedicated foodie, you should contact the Mahon family by email and request an invitation to their next Olive festival. Entry is free, but unfortunately, you’re going to have to wait a year.
Tour of the grove
I had the pleasure of attending on 11 March 2012: the day was a stunning success, beautiful food and scenery. Be sure to get a tour of the olive and lime grove. And instructions on how to marinate your own olives.
Bernie giving a tour of the grove. What goes into growing your olives is simply amazing.
Some of the delights of the day…. There were products featured from other locals, including sheep milk cheeses, honey, natural soaps, woodturning pieces, to name a few.
What came home with me….
Limes & olive delights
The sheep-milk cheese was a lovely surprise, quite unlike cow or goat milk products. It made my Sunday night ironing in front of the tv something special, along with a few olives, figs and dark bread.
A tip for using limes: the green ones are best for your Coronas (beer) and other drinks; the yellowish ones are sweeter and best for marinating fish. A tip for storing limes: freeze them either whole (wrapped in plastic) or squeeze them out and store the juice frozen in ice cube trays.
I’m going to have a lot of fun cooking with my variously infused olive oils. They’ll make great gifts for the people I most love to visit at dinner time, also. Just sayin’.
The Queen, Super hornets and B105′s Stav.
It’s been another great week for Brisbane. There have been several good reasons to skive off work ….
The streets near the Brisbane River, full of people waiting for THE PLANES.
Twenty Super hornets ...
First, we took delivery of another four Super hornets. Half the city came out to the river, looking in precisely the wrong direction (down the Brisbane River, ‘cos that’s what happened for River Fire, all right?!) when the cluster of twenty Super hornets whizzed over the city, from behind us. It was a moment of WOW, quickly followed by WAS THAT IT? And, ARE THEY COMING BACK? Sadly, a few thousand people had to go back to work sooner than they had hoped.
Then, a certain classy lady came to town on Monday 24 October 2011.
Photo by Anthony Cox, used with permission. Copyright Anthony Cox, 2011.
Sure, she only spent 4 hours in the state that bears her name, but she made the most of the time. We’re still twittering about it. Kids have embedded the day in their memories of childhood (and somewhat embellished it – thanks S for tricking us all into believing that you shook her hand!)
Today, feeling almost sad that there was nothing big going down in the town, my luck turned. Local FM radio personality, Stav, from B105, came to my local cafe as the coffee-making apprentice. Being in the right place, at the right time, I scored my favourite gluten-free coconut biscuit and lactose-free flat white for free! Sure, we had to shout FASTER STAV! but he managed in the end, and that’s what matters.
Who could resist?
Stav from B105, probably wishing that he was back behind the microphone.
Occupy Brisbane, Part 3. In honour of the Queen’s visit.
Possibly in honour of the crowds drawn into the city today, on occasion of Her Majesty’s visit, Brisbane’s Occupiers found some friends and pitched a few more tents. They probably, very nearly reached the overly generous estimate of 40 tents, which I published yesterday. They also kindly put out some new signs for me to photograph today and most generously did not display the offensive anti-American anti-Jewish sign of last week. So, everyone’s happy. More or less.
Great juxtaposition.
The Occupiers' camp-craft could do with some up-skilling. They wouldn't survive in the wild.
Art lessons for those who hate cats.
Why are animals going extinct? (Why is literacy dead?)
Nice, for cannibals.
Now I get it. The signs were written by science students. (Where are the arts students? CHOGM?)
Occupy Brisbane, or not…. Part 2
This is Part 2 of the riveting story around Occupy Brisbane. If you’re missing the plot, you’re not the only one.
Imagine, peak hour Brisbane City, in Post Office Square...
People are on their way to work and the Courier Mail warns us that "Jobs are on the line"
Our Occupiers have put out some signs saying “What does our society value?” and “This is what I fought for”. To be honest, putting a sign on a statue of a serviceman is disrespectful. Servicemen and women fight for something, namely their country (the whole 100%). Five people and forty borrowed tents doesn’t quite equate, no matter what your perspective.
Finally, an explanation of the 99% and 1%. Poor Occupier was sticky-taped inside his tent all day (poster being on his door and all. What commitment.)
Why not bring Einstein into it? Makes it seem ...clever?
Occupiers looking occupied, but clearly not here...
Sign says, "Love is the Answer. What was your Question?" Well, after a whole week, I'm still wondering what your point is.
To be fair, they eventually found 2 people one morning, late in the week.
Newspaper columnists, keen to seem edgy, have put all sorts of intelligent arguments forward for this group. But, investigative journalists (as opposed to creative writers, such as myself), might’ve come down, taken a look at the empty tents and nonsensical signs and made a rational assessment for themselves. Anyone who’s a camper from Queensland, knows that you’re not going to be sitting inside a zipped-up tent at almost nine, on a humid October morning. The pram parked outside of one of the tents was theatrical but again, an unlikely prop. Anyone who’s been camping with a baby or toddler knows that said baby or toddler is up before sparrows and will not under any circumstance, stay silently inside a zipped-up tent.
Taking people for fools is impolite. Professional protestors should know better.
Women driving in Saudi Arabia: hot music video
M.I.A. – Bad Girls
I came across this jaw-dropping music video and had to share it with you because:
1. You won’t have seen anything like it before.
2. You won’t have heard anything like it before. Listen to it twice. It’s serious girl-swagger on steroids.
3. It makes a statement and it makes it well. Really well. Love it or hate it, but you can’t un-hear it. Its effect stays with you. It may even inspire me to work on my reverse-parking (because girls can do anything).
As you may know, women in Saudi Arabia are banned by clerics from driving. This restricts their ability to work, socialise and do many of the things women in the west take for granted. They are completely dependent upon males driving them and essentially supervising them in public. Read more about the stirrings of an Arab Spring for Women.
MIA, the British visual artist turned singer, will be responding to her favourite YouTube comments on 10 Feburary 2012. Go say hi.
What I love about this particular music video is that it mocks the arbitrariness of the unwritten rules which prevent Saudi women from driving as badly as their men and participating in society. It leaves their religion alone. Let people believe what they want without ridicule, but let fly at the way they conduct themselves in the world when it’s oppressive.