the ’sham

This whole business of reading stories from one year ago sometimes forces my lazy arse to meet up again with people I haven’t seen in ages.

The other day I bumped into Rohan on the street. “You’re not around much any more!” he complained. He was in the process of chucking out a bunch of things from his house onto the kerb. He has one of my typewriters to return to me.

The same complaint (that I’m not around so much) has been said by Gail at the Bowlo, Sam at Charlie’s Deli, and Rachelle next door. Sarah Sauce I bumped into on the street - she says she rides past my balcony almost every day and I’m never there. Sigh.

I guess one of the hazards of “hanging around so much” for a particular period, as I was in April-May 2006, is that it creates a sense of disappointment when you partially “disengage”. This ’sham project was set up so that it might continue (in a low key way) after its official finishing date - unlike a classic artist-in-residence, in which the artist leaves never to return.

Sure, I still live here. I am still around! But my life has, to a certain extent, “returned to normal” after the ’sham experiment. Racing around like crazy here and there and all over the place, not to mention trips to Melbourne, etc. And now, with a hot new girlfriend who lives in Bondi, I suppose my ’sham-attention is less undivided.

Anyway, what I was getting at was that the process of reading-podcasting makes me remember folks I haven’t seen for a while. One of those folks is Lucy, in North Petersham. One year ago, on Mothers’ Day, Luciana, Lisa and I took Lucy to lunch at the Bowlo. So this year, on Mothers’ Day, we once again called in with flowers to wish our adopted auntie well. She was very pleased to see us. And her children had returned from their overseas adventures, so her big family house didn’t seem so empty this time. Lucy gave us big bouquets of basil and chili from her garden.

As we were walking away, I thought about other people’s lives. They carry on quite happily and independently without you. For a whole year, we didn’t see Lucy. Then we call her up and slot right back in.

Listen to the episode here [mp3, 3.5min, 1mb].

Read the original entry here.

This is fun. Today I wrangled Luciana the next door neighbour to come over and read with me. It’s the episode where we go for a walk to the video store, past Moz the hairdresser, and look in at dog grooming and scrapbooking. We meet Lucy for the first time, the lovely Chilean lady who lives next door to Lisa. Luciana makes interjections, and clarifications. She has a good memory!

Listen in here [19 minutes, 8mb, mp3].
Read the original posting here.

PS, if you feature in one of the blog entries from last year, and would like to read along with me in one of these podcasts, let me know! We’ll get together and make a recording.

In lieu of spending time with our own mothers (who are in Perth and Milan) Luciana and I decide to take Lucy out to brunch at the Big Bowl. Lucy’s become our Petersham Auntie. On Thursday, I swing past her place to leave a note in her letterbox. On Friday she rings me back, very excited: “Are you SURE you want to do that? Because, you know… no pressure!” But of course we want to, we wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise…
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Saturday, 7.21am:
An overcast morning. I open the kitchen door to survey the street. The block of flats across the way has done a big “hard rubbish” purge. An old mattress, metal ironing board frame, wooden clothes rack, dead TV. Actually, it looks like someone has moved out. That’s the second family this month. Chris said the building’s owned by the church - they house refugees there for up to six months at a time. A man shuffles past the pile of junk, noses around, selects a plastic mop, and continues on his way. Without warning, Drazic appears at my feet. Has he been out all night? I scoop some grutz into his bowl. He wolfs down his breakfast.

And now, I’m sitting in the dark, with a cup of lemon and ginger, typing. All is quiet.

So far so good.
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It’s Friday night, half past ten. You may have detected from the tardy, irregular updates, that I’ve been having a bit of a hard time knuckling down this week.

Not that it’s been “unproductive”. Sure, I’ve been meeting people. There’s been no shortage of good feedback about the project, and exciting new adventures are lining themselves up for next week. Best of all, some of the friendships I formed early on are really starting to firm up.

For example, who could believe that only a week has passed since I first met Tully (and he’s already buggin me with curly questions)? Or that things could be quite solid with Lucy, after only two cups of tea? Or that I lived in Petersham for nearly two years before starting a conversation with Carmela and her daughters from Charlie’s Deli? And who would have known that Chris (”eyes on the street”) could turn out to be such a strong local ally?
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On Wednesday night Bec came home late from work. We watched a bit of TV together. On Lateline, there was a report about the booming price of petrol. It’s now pushing $1.40 a litre, and there was the treasurer, looking somewhat amazed that the hike in transport costs hasn’t really resulted (yet) in a general lift in inflation. “So far, so good,” he said to the camera.
Bec: “We really are going to run those oil supplies down to nothing before we start thinking about different energy sources, aren’t we?”
Me: “Well, it’s just human nature. For instance, in theory it should not be difficult for us to predict when we are going to run out of toilet paper or washing powder at home. But we always do, we run em down to nothing and then there’s a minor crisis before we get around to doing anything about it. The oil issue is more or less the same thing on a larger scale…”

Sure enough, yesterday, my dirty clothes were piled high in the basket, and my stubble was moving from “designer” to “vagrant”. There was nothing for it. It was time for a visit to the chemist. I got washing powder and shaving cream. To show how highly evolved I am, I even splashed out on toilet paper, although we still have a roll and a half to go.
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Wednesday:
Things are returning to a more manageable pace. I had coffee with Anna from the council, down at Sweet Belem. She hurt her back at the Cook’s River Festival last week, and is only just beginning to recover. The most exciting news Anna had for me was that a pair of Filipino artists is heading for the ’sham! They arrive in early May, here to set up an installation for the Sydney Biennale. As part of their residency here - above the Petersham Town Hall - they are required to do some kind of public presentation. This is great news. I suggested we join forces and do a slideshow down at the bowling club, with drinks and Fiona’s catering and music and all. I reckon the Filipinos will have some amazing tales to tell. And for me it’s a good chance to answer that curly perennial question: “So, what kind of art do you do?”

[Speaking of the Bowling Club, this Sunday will be a good time to check out how the noble game actually works, how many folks are needed for teams etc, in preparation for our big North versus South 'sham bowl-off. After this research, I will set a time and date and we can start training in earnest... Do get in touch if you'd like to join in the tournament. I reiterate, no prior experience required...]
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