{"id":2249,"date":"2016-12-02T03:25:16","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T03:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/?p=2249"},"modified":"2016-12-08T04:07:32","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T04:07:32","slug":"whale-meet-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fatbeetle.com\/blog\/?p=2249","title":{"rendered":"Whale meet again."},"content":{"rendered":"

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The usual accompanying gallery of annoying photographs can be found here. Note the new format, good eh?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

I know what you\u2019re thinking; \u201dWhy the hell has the daft bastard written a blog page about going home for his mother\u2019s death?\u201d<\/em> I thought long and hard about that myself, before deciding that, seeing as it\u2019s a pretty bloody major life event, it should be recognised and recorded. Also, it\u2019s written to honour the living as well as the dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cOk, so why have you decided to add in your normal feeble attempts at humour?\u201d<\/em> Well, again and after some thought, there was some lighter moments in that time, and they should be stated, and used to alleviate the sorrow.<\/p>\n

Not only that, but what is death but the greatest joke which is played on us?<\/p>\n

You can judge for yourself here This link is to<\/a><\/p>\n

“Where is death\u2019s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?<\/a>“<\/strong><\/p>\n

The trip home for mam’s last few days, and funeral.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo, apart from your mother dying, what else has been going on Taff?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

You may have noticed that I’ve cleaned up the look of the blog, and am using a new skin on the gallery, neat eh? Please leave feedback via the comments box at the bottom.<\/p>\n

(Sorry Janet, still no comments facility on the gallery, but you can link via facebook.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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L~A had a birthday, and she’s now a year older than last year. We decided to eat at the highest (Tripadvisor,)\u00a0rated restaurant in Canberra\u00a0“Pomegranate.”<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Ok, it wasn\u2019t what I had been expecting, seeing as this was a top rated restaurant, I was expecting a fine dining evening But it was all the better for that. The setting is pretty standard\u00a0“Canberra restaurant”<\/em>, as, with the exception of Sage, most restaurant design, due to being in modern buildings, tends to a\u00a0“modern urban”<\/em>\u00a0decor. But it was pleasantly lit, the chairs were comfy, service was first class, friendly, urbane, knowledgeable and prompt.<\/p>\n

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The menu options were good, and, being reasonably low in number, not overwhelming with choice. (No matched wines, heresy!?!?) But the food itself was glorious, being modern Australian\/Mediterranean. The serves were very generous, and the flavours top notch. I had two fish dishes, (now that I\u2019m a \u201cpiscatarian\u201d I eat nothing but bloody fish,) \u00a0and both were full of flavour, with the baby kingfish being particularly novel and tasty.<\/p>\n

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One slight quibble, you must allow me one, was that I had, as I usually do, the cheese plate for desert. This was huge, it served four. Not that I’m complaining, I did manage most of it. But surely it could be slimmed down if only one person requests it.<\/p>\n

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All in all a great place for a family celebration, which there were many of going on, and a hearty eating experience. Probably not for those who are looking for the “art on a plate” style of fine dining, but more for the person looking for a fun and filling meal out.<\/p>\n

One funny incident from the night was Bethy\u2019s entrance. Accompanied by Brandon, she approached the table, and, when her coat was taken, she was revealed to be wearing the most glamorous red dress. This, with her amazing head of hair and good looks, (and new tits,) caused most of the male heads to swivel in her direction. Cutlery was dropped on more than one table. She looked utterly fantastic, but bear with me here.<\/p>\n

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After she sat, she leaned in conspiratorially and said;\u00a0\u201cDo you see the waiter who took my coat?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0I looked over to him;\u00a0\u201cThe one with his jaw on the floor, his eyes on\u00a0stalks, and he looks like he\u2019s about to burst into tears you mean?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0She grinned;\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s Amir, I asked him for a date when we were in High School together, and he knocked me back.\u201d <\/em>Poor bugger, it must have been like realising you chucked away a winning lottery ticket.<\/p>\n

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We\u2019ve been doing our usual, ceaseless efforts to support the arts. Well ok, we\u2019ve been to see a couple of shows.<\/p>\n

First off, the mother-in-law, Mary, bought us tickets for, and insisted we attended with her a show; \u201cThe Wharf Review\u201d. How could we refuse, and why didn\u2019t we?<\/p>\n

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CELEBRATING 15 YEARS\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe Wharf Review<\/span><\/a>
\nOver 15 years and 21 shows, they\u2019ve mercilessly mocked all the usual suspects. We\u2019ve watched Howard Tampa with refugees, Rudd give pennies from Kevin, Gillard refuse to be lectured by \u201cthat man\u201d, \u201cthat man\u201d scrap the carbon tax, stop the boats and \u2013 um \u2013 get the budget back into surplus… But no one has been able to outplay, outwit or outlast The Wharf Revue. So, we\u2019re throwing a party and everyone\u2019s invited.<\/span><\/p>\n

We started the evening off in a new bar in Canberra “Social and Co\u201d. <\/a>It wasn\u2019t too bad, just lacked anything, individual or a \u201cUSP\u201d to make it stand out from any other Canberra watering hole. The food was ok, just ok, not special.<\/p>\n

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The \u201cWarf Review\u201d?<\/a> Oh god, it was dreadful. I\u2019m sure the performers found it funny when they were writing it, but I didn\u2019t even crack a grin. What made it worse for me was that most of it was sung. Funny songs, especially sketch based funny songs are always hit and miss. But I have a particular aversion to them, don\u2019t ask me why, I just cannot stand them.<\/p>\n

To be fair to the old bird, even Mary said it was a bit of a curate\u2019s egg.<\/p>\n

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Other gigs have been more successful.<\/p>\n

You may remember that a couple of years back, and \u00a0in the same week I attended gigs by PIL, <\/a>and T\u00f5nu Kaljuste conducting the Estonian Symphony orchestra<\/a> and choir, doing an evening of Arvo P\u00e4rt.<\/a><\/p>\n

Earlier this year, in the same week, I saw Stiff Little Fingers<\/a>, in Sydney, and The \u00a0Choir of Trinity College Cambridge<\/a> in Canberra.<\/p>\n

This month\u2019s \u201codd pairing\u201d has been Bad Manners<\/a>, and The Tallis Scholars<\/a>, (under Peter Phillips.)<\/a><\/p>\n

We got dressed up in our best \u201cRude boy and girl\u201d<\/a> outfits for Bad Manners. I can see you laughing from here, but why not? It\u2019s great fun you old fuddy duddy!! We bumped into a pair of Scots couples who were dressed similarly, and had a great bit of chat with them. The bar \u201cThe Transit Bar\u201d<\/a> was rammed for the gig. I was, as usual, first to the bar. While there I spotted a familiar face and so asked; \u201cOy Dougie, fancy a pint?\u201d<\/em> He very kindly took a drink off me, but only after I made him promise to let us have a photo taken with him, which he duly reciprocated with.<\/p>\n

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Yes, that\u2019s us with\u00a0Mr Buster Bloodvessel <\/a>himself.<\/p>\n

Lovely chap, like Otway<\/a> he still seems genuinely amazed, and ever so pleased, that he still has fans. We had a chat, and I bought him another low calorie beer. WTF? Buster Bloodvessel on low calorie beers, you may think. Well apparently at his heaviest, Buster weighed 31 stone, not really sustainable that. So he had a \u201cpioneering treatment\u201d, a tube was inserted into his stomach, and his stomach was stapled alongside the tube, cutting off the blood supply from the remaining stomach area. Without the blood supply, that area of stomach separates and Buster was left with a stomach dramatically reduced in size. He now weighs in at only 13 stone.<\/p>\n

They played all their hits, and me and L~A\u00a0 danced all night like very drunk old people reliving their glory days. One strange, but bloody lovely, cover version they did was Deep Purple\u2019s \u201cBlack Night\u201d<\/a>, but done as a ska track.<\/p>\n

The encore was, inevitably \u201cLip up Fatty.\u201d<\/p>\n