November 2011

Some of our friends have accused us of having some somewhat eccentric friends. Mind you, it’s usually our more eccentric friends pointing the finger at other eccentric friends who they feel are slightly more eccentric than themselves.

So yes, we probably do have some eccentric friends.

On a completely unrelated matter, our good friend George (otherwise known as His Imperial Majesty George II, Imperator et Primus Inter Pares), this month celebrated the 30^th anniversary of the establishment of Atlantium, a parallel sovereign state located in the middle of nowhere somewhere north-west of Goulburn in country NSW.

So, on a rather miserable Saturday morning, Greig and I snuck quietly to the car and hit the road, bound for the Empire of Atlantium. We had to sneak because the neighbourhood Christmas Party was held the same morning. If they saw us, we’d never get away.

Atlantium is located a convenient 335km away from Sydney. Most of the drive is on a freeway so it’s not too arduous. It’s not until you get outside Crookwell that the road starts to get narrower.  By the time you get past a little settlement called “Rugby” (Population 6) you are on sealed goat tracks.

Anyway, just five hours and a couple of missed turns after we left Sydney, we arrived in Atlantium.

The formal reception at the Imperial Palace.

Atlantium itself is an area of land less than one square kilometre. The sovereign state has many and varied landmarks. There’s the Imperial Residence (a largish portable tin shed), a post office (a smaller portable tin shed) and Capital Hill (a concrete slab with some flag poles).

And there are some portable tin sheds.

The living is fine in Atlantium. As well as tin sheds it has gravel and grass. It is however completely devoid of mobile phone signal, running water, electricity, or a working toilet. But despite this, George (sorry – His Imperial Majesty George II, Imperator et Primus Inter Pares) put on an excellent day of celebration and BBQ to commemorate this important event.

Greig and I weren’t the only people to make the trek. As well as those from the “official party” the event also attracted Kita and Dave. They also shared our accommodation back in Crookwell, about 100km goat track away from Atlantium.

The accommodation was actually quite nice; an old bank converted into a guest house. (The banks see little point in having branches in country towns now. Most farmers have no actual money these days.) I think I remember getting a money box at the Royal Easter Show that looked almost exactly like this building.

The guest house was huge. I have no idea how many rooms there were in total, but the four of us were the only residents. In fact, not even the owners were to be seen.

What did surprise me was the café scene in Crookwell. For a town its size there are numerous little café’s serving real coffee. It’s a shame the same can no longer be said for Goulburn.

One of Bailey's more "butch" roles.

In other news, it appears to be the end of an era this month. On Saturday the 5^th of November, Bailey played his last show with Opera Australia.

This is rather a major career move for him. He’s been singing professionally ever since he left school but it has got to the point where he needed to decide if he was going to continue as a professional entertainer for the rest of his life or take on a job that will position him for better things.

I’m sure the decision didn’t come easily to him.

So he’s officially made the move from Opera to project management at the Australian Centre for Photography.

OK. So it’s still “the arts”, but I’m told that one of them is slightly less jaded and bitchy than the other.

In other “arts news”, Greig and I popped along to a taping of Gruen Planet at the ABC Studios in Ultimo. Not much to report other than it was a great way to see a very funny show for nix.

There was also a rather interesting get-together of friends this month called the Interfriendtion.

It seems that a relative newcomer to our merry group has turned out to be somewhat unbalanced and was actively working to try to turn friend against friend. He used rumour and indiscretion to get friends off-side with each other so that . . . well, I’m not sure why, really.

Interfriendtion

Luckily for Greig and I, we were far enough removed from this interloper to suffer from his efforts. Also, our shit don’t stink.

The situation was serious enough for Bailey to intervene and get everyone together for a casual drink and chat at a bar in Kings Cross. This “Interfriendtion” was designed to get everyone back together and taking again, reminding them of why we were all friends in the first place.

A brilliant idea on his part, I thought.

And finally – just a warning. Jimi is back in town from Paris. Nothing to report just yet – I just thought I should warn everyone. :-)