The Twilight Report

rights and privileges

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 22:25:00 GMT

Yikes! I have to vote tomorrow and I have no idea who to vote for, or even who is going to be on the ballet, aside from my current state MP. He is part of the opposition conservative Liberal party and it is apparently a marginal seat, meaning it’s a bit like I live in Ohio (except not as flat, and the beach is not as far away), so the vote might have an actual impact. There were no less than three helpful posts to sydneysiders today with useful information on finding out how and where to vote, but I am still confused. I felt like I was much better informed about the issues and candidates when I was living in New York.

75 years and still the world’s largest coat hanger

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 00:55:00 GMT

In 1932 my grandma crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge when it opened. She was being pushed in her pram (she was about 8 years old, mum decided). Today, 75 years later Sydneysiders, myself included, celebrated the anniversary by closing the bridge to cars and doing it again. Walking over the bridge was fun. The ABC had big speakers set up along the length of the bridge blaring historical spoken and musical passages which gave the impression of walking through history. They were giving out free caps in this hideous shade of neon yellow green. Almost everyone was wearing one, which made for an impressive sight as the hats flowed and surged. On the back of the cap was written “our bridge.” I have decided that “our” is the Australian national pronoun, as Australians take any excuse to claim ownership of family, celebrities, buildings, bridges or anything that hails from the land down under. There were lots of people, but it wasn’t over crowded. Kudos to the organizers for pulling it off. The state government has gotten a lot of flack over a few recent fiascos ahead of the state election, so I think they were holding their breath hoping that nothing would go wrong! (like when the QE2 and QM2 came to town and the city had no plan for the huge amount of traffic they caused, and last week when commuters were stuck on the trains for 3 hours because apparently there wasn’t an evacuation plan; good thing the trains weren’t on fire or anything). I’d like to be here in 25 years to do it again, celebrating the bridge’s 100th anniversary!

waiting

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 04:29:00 GMT

Sydney was in awe as the Queen Mary 2 and QE2 arrived yesterday. Walking through the gardens afterward was a mess. Brits have a reputation for being good at queuing (waiting in line; I don’t know if it is actually well deserved). Australians... not so much. What ensued resembled a free-for-all. Maybe because it was.