Aamer Rahman: Culture War

It's been a whopping ten years since I last saw Aamer live on stage, and the various more casual interactions in the meantime have firmly made him more of a "human I happen to have met" than a minor celebrity that lives in a completely different world.

So I'm kind of lucky that a spare ticket turned up for a show he was performing that I had otherwise decided to skip as tonight's set was quite excellent, and I suspect I enjoyed it even more than The Truth Hurts a decade ago.

Not much has changed. Aamer is still precisely (and wonderfully) mocking the obvious topics of racism and privilege, but now he's doing it with the more powerful contexts of wars in the Middle East and more personally, becoming a father.

As before the insight isn't necessarily novel - you may have cracked the same jokes and made the same observations yourself in whichever generic brown social media group with a level of intelligence you happen to be in. But with the platform and the ease and confidence and charm in which Aamer delivers, the message is compounded to a sublime level.

There was lots of laughter, pride, hope and assurances tonight, in an hour that flew by way too quickly.

The Chronicles of Australia

I've finally managed to write up my trip to Australia, a good six weeks after my return. Yes, that's right, I have written over fifty retrospective posts detailing what I did, how I did it and who I met on the way (and any argument I have about not being addicted to writing up my life has now crumbled to dust).

I know that it's taken way too long (enough to make it kinda irrelevant now), but some of you wanted to know when it was done so here's your heads up.

I've labelled all the relevant posts to make them easier to find, just in case you were interested. If not and you only wanted the short version, well, I had a wicked time and it ranked as one of my all time favourite holidays ever. If you want more than that, well, now you know where to go.

From Australia to Austria

It's funny; I always got these two places mixed up when I was young - most obviously due to the similar spelling. But still, I can't help but be amused at how I'll be able to say I've been to both, back-to-back, in such a short period of time.

Anyway, I'll be in Salzburg for the weekend visiting a friend. Really looking forward to it actually, even though I've flown quite a deal this year already. It's with a different group of pals and we have a car sorted too (since Geneva I've come to realise exactly how handy a rental is, if only for a day or so), so it should be excellent fun.

And yes, I have my Sound Of Music at the ready. #Doe, a deer, a female deer...

Australia: The Land Of Opportunity. Allegedly.

Since my return I've had many people asking me how my holiday was. Interestingly most, if not all, of these conversations go something like this:

Them: So how was your trip?
Me: It was frikin' aweome.
Them: So... Did you find anyone?

I mean, what, is Australia famous for its desperate women or something? Was hooking up with a sheila the only reason people thought I was travelling half way across the world for? Have I somehow failed you all by coming back empty handed?

(And if you haven't guessed by now, the answer the the actual question is a resounding no).

Small Worlds

This morning, I bumped into someone I first met on the Whitsundays boat trip last week.

Now although I'm not usually taken aback by chance encounters (I believe that the world is smaller than we think it is; I recognised someone from uni on the flight back from Sydney too), I was kinda stunned when I saw them at Oxford Circus - perhaps it was 'cos the Whitsundays are so far away or maybe it's because I had such a wicked time there.

And although it was only a week ago, it does feel like it was ages more. In fact the memories of Australia as a whole are starting to fade, so it was nice seeing someone who pulled me right back into it. Bizarre.

Back From Australia

Yes, the rumours are true - I landed on good ol' Heathrow tarmac this morning (specifically 5:45am). For those of you wondering how my time in Australia was, I will of course be frantically blogging it all retrospectively. But in the meantime the short version is that it was blummin' awesome, and ranks as one of my best holidays ever.

But for now, a few thoughts on returning to the UK:

• Although 24 hour flights aren't as bad as they sound, going straight to work after landing is a bit tough. Still at least it's not as bad as the Hong Kong-cum-uni lecture of 2000.
  
• No more four minute showers! Not that I was particularly good at restricting mine, but at least now I don't have to feel guilty about that.
• In just over two weeks some things have changed here at home. I've come back to a new Prime Minister, a home vastly modified and a bedroom that is no longer painted pink. I'm particularly upset about that last one.
• On the other hand some things never change. Work is the obvious one, and the refurbishment going on at Oxford Circus still hasn't been completed. Although that's been going on for months so I guess there's no reason to expect it to have been done with now.
• Around two weeks of no Internet, although liberating, is making it painful to come back again. I've caught up with the e-mail part (all four hundred items across three accounts), but groups and news just frighten me. I guess I should make a start...

Anyway, keep coming back for Australia updates. If you actually care, I mean.

Back In London

I landed at Heathrow at around 5:45am this morning and it's good to be back. I've got to go into work today; that should be fun. I'll expect to act like a zombie for the rest of the day.

I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank the lady in seat 26D. She is indeed proof that some people just shouldn't have kids (or at the very least shouldn't fly with them). I'm sure she probably got the worst of the child's manic crying, but that doesn't really compensate for the fact that the flight home was no way near as comfortable as it should have been.

Result!

With only eight Australian Dollars left in my wallet, I managed to get ten Singaporean Dollars (plus change) at the local rip off money changer (hey, I was desperate).

And ten Singaporean Dollars happens to be exactly how much a Burger King Double Whopper with Cheese meal costs. Oh yes. The burger will taste even better now that it's been so efficiently bought.

Mmmm.

Changi Airport

Good old Changi airport. I've been here a few times now, each trip leaving me with some pretty fabulous memories.

I've done my prayers already, so there's only one thing left to do now. And that's to get me a Big Mac.

I can't come to Singapore and not grab a burger now, can I?

Halal Sydney

One thing I've been really impressed with is the number of halal joints in and around Sydney.

I just had a halal shawarma in the airport, and apparently there are two halal MacDonalds in the city too, both things you certainly don't get in London.

I guess being close to a major source of halal meat helps, plus the fact that Muslim areas may be a bit more focused here than in London, but still.

Sydney airport also has a prayer room, but that's just to be expected nowadays.

British Airways

Just checked in at Sydney airport for my flight home and I'm amazed how patriotic I'm feeling after seeing the British Airways logo...

Mount Coot-tha And The Botanical Gardens

Since I was due to fly this evening I wasn't able to do anything too ambitious. Still, we managed to do quite a bit anyway despite a lazy start. After packing and finishing up my chores, we left after lunch at around 1pm.

First up was Mount Coot-tha, a 25 minute drive from South Bank. This was a real life mountain offering us stunning views of the city and surrounds - visibility was crap, but I could still make out the sea. Photos here.

After taking in the view, I followed a trail to the JC Slaughter Falls. The name made it out to be something pretty exciting, but I was a bit weary having had been disappointed by so called waterfalls before. And so was the case this time too - there wasn't anything to see at all (as a passer-by neglected to tell me till I met with her later, there is no water this time of year. Thanks!). Still the trail was nice: I was on it for over an hour by myself (the aunties I had come with declined the challenge. Humph).

The remaining time was spent walking around a botanical garden at the base of Mount Coot-tha. It was more interesting than it sounds actually, not that I can describe it as anything more than a zoo for plants.

Leaving Brisbane

So I'm now packed and waiting for my lift to the airport. I spent some time just now on the balcony looking over Brisbane, and thinking about my time here. I've done quite a lot these past two weeks (has it really only been that long?), and this definitely ranks as one of my best holidays ever. Still, despite writing about how I'm loving it here and haven't felt homesick yet, I think that I actually want to go home now.

I've pretty much done all I can in Brisbane. I've been a tourist and guest, and to stay any longer would be either an imposition or overkill. Either way, the weather seems to be agreeing with me - it was pretty cold today what with the rain and all.

It seems that this holiday will come to a natural end whether I want it to or not.

Homesick

I've one more night in Brisbane, and two more in Australia. That means that I've been here for over two weeks now. This in turn is bizarre since I've yet to feel at all homesick.

Feelings of homesickness usually kick in for me after around a week. I would say it hits me without fail, but Australia seems to be an exception. Quite the opposite in fact since I really don't want to go back home and am a bit jealous of my friend, the groom, as he's staying behind for a further two or three months.

So instead of missing home, I'm missing this place already; I have to admit feeling slightly poignant and even depressed when saying goodbye to everyone at my last dinner party here this evening. So much so that a few people had commented that I didn't seem myself any more.

Just goes to show what a fantastic time I'm having here - it's been fun, busy and interesting, but most of all I've been made to feel so welcome I've not missed home much at all. It feels like I've been here for months, but in a good way.

The Joys of Three

One of the many pleasant surprises on my trip is that I can use my Three phone as if I'm still in the UK. This means that I can call and text anyone back home out of my inclusive minutes, and get charged nothing for incoming calls either.

Pretty neat. I still need a local phone to keep in touch with all the people here, but there's nothing like being able to keep in touch with home too while on holiday.

Pancakes

Went to another sister's house for breakfast this morning. We had pancakes made for us - not bad, eh? Yet another example of how much we're being looked after by the locals here. They're really showing us a good time.

It was yet another free flowing hanging out session (we actually had breakfast around midday) which was, again, really nice...

... Except for the niggle in the back of my mind that it was all coming to an end soon. There's really not long to go at all.

Bowling, Pool, Karaoke, Pictionary

Aaaah, this is the life.

After a pretty uneventful Saturday day, I couldn't help but feel that it had been somewhat wasted; probably because my trip had been so jam packed up till then. It's now coming up to 3am, and I've had such a brilliant night that I've definitely salvaged the evening... And then some. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I've spoken before about how super the new in-laws have been here. Today was another example of that, especially seeing as they were just taking me out and no one whom they were actually related to. The plan was to have dinner and then head to a bowling ally and play a couple of games; nice and easy going.

The lanes were full, so that was a bit of a bust. Instead we hit the Pool tables and had a game or two. I lost abysmally of course.

After that, we managed to somehow swing the already booked private Karaoke room for half an hour. I did Karaoke in Brisbane! Fantastic. It's much cheaper there then it is here too.

Finally we headed back to one of the sister's place. We spent the main part of the evening/night/morning there sitting around the dining table chilling out, eating Tim Tams (there's a way to eat them don't you know), and playing Pictionary (which the guys shoulda actually have won) and just having a good old general laugh.

It really was superb and exactly the kind of thing I was after after the adventure that was The Whitsundays. Some people thought that I was a bit boring to be coming back to Brisbane when I could have fitted in another excursion, but I knew that I'd always enjoy the company of friends and local people over seeing another rock or beach, especially since the weather was so not on my side.

And I was absolutely right in this case too, 'cos today rocked.

Signs and Advertising

There are two possibly related things I've noticed about Australia during my stay here.

The first is that there seems to be an excess of signage. There is one for almost everything - when to wash your hand, where to walk, which lane to drive in (and how many demerits you'll receive if you don't) and even that you're driving down the wrong way on a slip road.

But more interesting to me was the sheer amount of advertising about. From billboards, to sponsorships to advertorials it really is a striking amount. Once again it's a stark contrast to the UK and indicative to me the different levels of controls present in the respective countries.

Perhaps the people here are more influenced by/receptive to visual signs and stuff?

Ey

I've managed to pick up an inflective "ey" that I place at the end of any question I have requiring affirmation. So for example, I'll ask "It's cold this morning, ey?".

I've no idea if it's Australian or South African, but I kinda like it. Pretty cool, ey?

Netball Rocks!

And Australian Women's Netball rocks even more so.