Disgrace by JM Coetzee

Booker prize winner 1999, Nobel Prize for Literature winner 2003.

Okay prizes don’t usually attract me to a book. I was burned by reading Voss by Patrick White (Nobel Prize for Literature 1973) - oh it was interminable.

However, after reading To Kill A Mockingbird (finally) I’ve been encouraged to give prize winning authors* another chance…

The other thing that put me off was the cover frankly. It looked miserable. Some moth-eaten bitser in a dusty yard.

And lets face it the back is hardly inspiring - some toe-rag professor does the funky wild thing with a student and is forced to leave (and so he should be) - I mean - how am I supposed to sympathise with my “hero”? Anyway, he lands on his lesbian daughter’s doorstep and she takes him in. The story continues.

On the plus side, I had heard it was good. And Groover liked it, but found it confronting.

So when I saw it on the returns trolley I thought - what the hey - one can’t only take Janet Evanovich books home - it’s not a good look. I needs me some kulcha.

It’s surprisingly easy to get into. It starts with the professor’s relationship with a prostitute and despite myself I was drawn into his story. Then the relationship with the student starts and I just wanted to slap him - what a pathetic nob. And I guess that my reaction means that the writing works - no?

So he’s kicked out (this is all on the back cover so not giving away any secrets yet) and so he should be and disappears to this farm that his daughter runs - living alone.

I found this book to be yes - confronting - especially about the dangers of being a white woman living in South Africa and the attitudes to the ongoing rape and violence. The comparison with his sexual transgressions with what happens to him and his daughter are interesting. Her reaction in particular confounded me.

It’s not a pleasant journey - but it is one that you will carry with you, and every time you see South Africa mentioned you will think of his daughter, alone on the farm, and her relationships with her neighbours. I’m not sure you will think of Professor David Laurie though.

If I was to note one annoyance - I didn’t like “high literature” parts about his operetta - I couldn’t quite get a handle on that and felt it distracted from the story. Yes, yes, I know he is supposed to be a literature professor - to me it felt like showing off. Then again, maybe that’s all he had left in the end?

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*Oh and I hate to be the radical feminist - but only 11/104 literature Nobel laureates have been women.

Foggy bottom

Well foggy bottom in the burbs anyway. :)

This was Saturday. It’s never foggy in Perth. Or at least, not by the time I wake up on a Saturday…

It was eerily quiet too, as if the fog blocked out not only our sight but our hearing.

Writing Foggy Bottom reminds me of all those great English names for places… and not just the English - the Canadians too have a cute sense of humour when it comes to naming towns - Medicine Hat springs to mind, Bilby (imagine naming a town after an Australian marsupial *grins*), and any number of towns with Beaver in the title. Would you like to live in Dogpound?

I wonder what the real estate agent pitch is around there?

Taking rainbows for granted

Guest post from Groover

There is an old proverb which says “The best place to hide a leaf is in a forest”. In other words, a nice way to say: “sometimes we fail to notice the things that are right under our nose”. I met a new Australian the other day who had recently arrived here in Perth from the UK and without knowing she pointed out a leaf in our forest.

During the the usual exchange of ex-Pom niceties she said something which struck a chord, “I have seen more rainbows here in Perth in the past 2 months than in an entire lifetime of living in London!”. It’s true, the inclement skies of Northern Europe rarely treat its citizens with the full-on glory of a spectacular rainbow. Yet here in Perth, nature frequently rewards us with ostentatious displays of colour across the horizon.

I’d forgotten how special this minor miracle is and how good it makes me feel.

It got me wondering. We’re surrounded by rainbows. The smell of slow-cooked garlic and rosemary lamb-shanks wafting through the house on a winter’s day. Watching my 11-year-old daughter smile to herself as she reads a book. We spend lots of our lives looking at life through the lens of a half-full glass and yet nature is constantly playing full out in the game and we barely notice.

What rainbows are happening in your life that you are taking for granted?

Is it worth queuing for Yum Cha?

Yep. I think so.

I don’t like queuing for food - hell - I don’t even know how to spell it - here’s hoping that’s correct - so when we got to the Northbridge Chinese restaurant on Sunday an hour after opening I was somewhat dismayed to have to get an orange coloured raffle ticket - number 23 - and wait - our clothes steaming in the packed entryway.

Of course I’d rather take my chances and wait at a packed out restaurant than sit down immediately at the half empty one next door…

And the waiting turned out to be good.

First of all it gave us a chance to check out all the food so we knew what we’d go for. Secondly we built up an appetite.

I wanted the veges… to balance all the yummy deep fried stuff… and they were delicious.

Of course we partook of the steam trolley.

Boy do the waiters move fast in Yum Cha. What a business model! Bang bang bang - food immediately at your table - before you know it you’ve said yes to three prawn dishes and two pork and something you’re not even sure what it is - or was before it was deep fried in yumminess.

And the tea. I love Chinese tea and Groover had picked up a great tip from Kylie Quong’s TV show. If you want the waiter to refresh your pot - just take the lid off it. Forget trying to catch their eye - you’ve got no chance at the speed they move.

And suddenly you’re on the street - stuffed to within an inch of your life - wondering what the hell just happened and busting for the loo.

Yum cha on a Sunday morning. You can’t beat it.

I danced after I watched this

Once again, I may be the last person on the planet to have seen this clip but even if you’ve seen it before it is worth watching again - just for the sheer joy of it.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo

And marvel at the brilliant idea behind it. Matt’s a clever boy.

The chicken of discontent

This is our bed. Pretty ordinary. You’ll note the second duvet as required by the freezing cold mornings lately.

What I see when I look at this bed is that Groover is not angry with me. I’m in his good books.

So what is the sign that this is the case?

He has placed the big cushions on the floor rather than leaving them on my pillow.

That’s right. If I was in the bad books I’d have to take the pillows off myself.

Subtle yes?

In fact too subtle for this little canard noir. He had to eventually tell me about this sign of his love.

I think it stems back to his childhood. He was the youngest in a family of four, his next oldest sibling six years his senior.

As a youngster, Groover was often frustrated by his older brothers and sister. They were bigger, cleverer, meaner. They could gang up on him…

So to express his displeasure Groover used to put a toy chicken (or it might have been a rabbit - but he thinks it was a chicken) on the offender’s bed.

The chicken of discontent.

photo credit: BebeZ

Meanwhile - I don’t think my signs are very secret. Not subtle, this one.

And the smallest planet is?

Out of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune?

Yes like me you knew it was Neptune. You probably also knew it was Tasman who discovered a number of Pacific islands in the 1600s - unlike me.

In the end it didn’t matter - WE WON!

Oh you’ve guessed we’ve just come back from a quiz nite where I swear our table drank more than any other. Luckily we won a voucher to a wine bar.

This is Groover shortly before he had to sit down for getting the true/false answer wrong:

It was an electronic quiz. Multiple choice. You buzzed in your answers. Here’s the leader board.

It was fun having the instant scores. It increased the anticipation each round - especially towards the end. We drew first in the first round, won outright in the second, and came second in the last round due to not knowing about Tasman. Doh! Still overall first and that’s what matters… doesn’t it?

Actually second place got a few bottles of wine which also looked attractive…

:)

Privacy at school

I drove past the new buildings at Christchurch Grammar School the other day and took this photo - quickly because of course the lights turned green as I was getting my camera out.

I hadn’t really looked too closely before but the lights were on in the upstairs classroom and I could see a student wandering around.

It occurred to me that I’m not sure I’d be too comfortable as a teacher or a student in a classroom that could be seen from the road. By people picking their noses at traffic lights. Not that I was but you know what I mean…

Oh c’mon! I was scratching it!

I also wouldn’t feel that great if the general public could see me at my desk at work. It would feel like an invasion of privacy.

And that’s a bit odd because we have regular tours through our offices - I guess they don’t go near my desk.

Do you work in an office where the great unwashed can walk by and watch you?

I’ve seen a few banks in New York who have desks right up against the window - just a pane of glass separating them from the shoppers, office workers, tourists and homeless.

I don’t think I would like that.

And I certainly wouldn’t have like my parents seeing me misbehave at the back of the classroom when I was at school… not that I did Mum…. that was a joke! Really.

I think the US version just might work

And I might even want to watch it.

I’m talking about the American version of Kath & Kim. Iconic Australian comedy. It’s hard to imagine the Yanks getting “our humour” right but I don’t know, the ads look… funny.

Kath’s hair is not so frizzy, Kim’s love handles less obvious, Kel not so daggy - but y’know I didn’t hate it… I hope we get to see it in Australia…

What do you think?

—-
And for those bloggers out there who sometimes find themselves at the computer wondering what on earth to write - check out the Lazy Blogger’s Post Generator - and you can post like me:

Darling I just had a cup of tea and realised I have not updated this since you last visited… You would not believe the amount of people that are totally stalking me. Seriously!.

I am absolutely consumed with keeping up with my favourite daytime soaps, playing The Sims, just generally being a coach to the local soccer team, my day seems to be a litany of stuff and giggles from sun-up to 11pm at which point I fall asleep on the couch. I am beyond drunk most of the time. but never say never.

I send you kisses and I will write something that makes sense soon. Until then I need your shoulder to cry on. Unless of course the pool with the cocktail bar is heated!.

Sign me up for Dim Sum

Here’s an interesting statistic from this month’s Walkley magazine… Eric Ellis writes “Some time about 2025 but possible as soon as 2015, China will take over from the United States as the world’s largest economy.” Eric Ellis is a former China correspondent for the AFR who now writes for Fortune Magazine from south-east Asia.

photo credit: j.fisher

They are very different economies, very different communities. As Eric asks, now I’m asking you, how will our world change with China as the dominant force?

We are moving from the known to the unknown so you’d expect some scaremongering. While some might scoff at Americans and lament the amount of Americanisms leaking into Australian culture - the whatevers, the baseball caps, even the spellings; will we look back on this time with nostalgic fondness?

I think we will. From the “over sexed, over paid and over here” mentality from the 40s to the ‘knickers over the top of low slung jeans” fashions of the noughties we will look back and think “ahhhh those were the days” and “we had so much in common”. Yeah like the ANZUS treaty.

So can you imagine a world with China as the world leader?

It is hard when we are so enmeshed in the status quo.

Will we look to China to sort out Iran?

Would the Australian Prime Minister dare question their choices when it comes to things like Tibet?

Will our teenagers start wearing cheongsams?

In the meantime I’m planning Yum Cha this Sunday for brunch.

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