Safetosea

A different day yesterday.

Since the beginning of Musica Surfica, whenever the Australian Chamber Orchestra is in town, Richard Tognetti, Satu Vanska and I try to catch up for a surf on a Concert Monday morning, my workload and weather permitting. Yesterday it was just me and Richard, so it was off at 6am to find the best waves in our short time window.

Usually we score but yesterday I opted for the closest option. Bad move. Thirteenth Beach often delivers the goods, but on arrival the banks were more set up for lower tides and the swell was inconsistent and a bit ho hum.
Nevertheless conditions were beautiful, a rare glass settling the water and the sun out and warming, despite the winter chill. We had some fun , I got a couple I was vaguely content with, as did Rich, but it was all a bit boring, so we decided it was offshore at the local cafe and settled into bacon and eggs and a chat before returning to the real world.

Later, much later in the day, I heard that the banks at another spot in the other direction, the spot that was my alternate choice anyway, were all time and the waves had been perfect.

I informed Rich of this later that evening and this morning there was a friendly but pointed email waiting for me. He'll choose... next time he's in town.

The evening was a doozy though as I took Sue, the resident barbarians, Joey and Tomas, and Pepi, who is far from a barbarian and just about the most cultured 16 year old I know, along to the ACO performance of The Red Tree.

A transporting evening, much enjoyed by all, even Tomas, who is better known for leaping off high places on his skates, breaking bones and generally disgracing himself in refined company.

The after concert catch up is always loved by the kids as they really enjoy Richard, and the people who come along. Last night's gathering was no exception.

At the table were Richard and Satu, Shaun Tan, composer Michael Yesersky, Gondwana Choir director Lyn Williams, Andrew Walsh, and Master Photographer Bill Henson. A more talented line up you'll rarely find so the table buzzed away, and laughed a lot as Tom told fruity jokes and made a nuisance of himself.

At least he didn't fart.

A great fun evening though and we managed to extract ourselves early enough to allow the above fine people a more gentle moment together before the evening ended.

The photos of Thirteenth flatter it, thought to be fair it gave us little to complain about. Perhaps it was a mood thing.