Mister Brisbane: City beach
A trip to Cleveland gets me thinking, and have you locked in your love?
No thanks to Siri, which thinks the place in Ohio is the one and only, I went to Cleveland. It ain’t the heart of rock and roll, but it is a place with a lot of soul. (Note to self: is that stretching it too far?)
Anyway, it’d been a long while since my previous visit and now I’m wondering why that is. I braved quite blustery weather to take a walk around Cleveland Point, where the lighthouse, the Fish and Chippery and the public park are the attractions. Oh, and the seagulls — dozens of them, with very little fear of humans. I suppose they hang around in hope of picking up the odd chip and other piece of discarded edible material.
The thing about Cleveland, and Wynnum and Manly are other spots in the vicinity, is that they are seaside places, but not what we think of as “proper” beaches. I write this because I was part of a discussion recently about the nearest natural beach to the Brisbane CBD. Is it, as I ventured, Nudgee Beach? It has the name, but it’s not quite the kind of place you’d take a interstate or internationally visitors, is it?
STARRY, STARRY NIGHT
Some of Brisbane’s best-known faces and voices, and I, turned out for the opening night of the Van Gogh Alive exhibition at Northshore last Thursday. The display features many of the troubled genius’s works projected around the audience, along with animations and quotes from the great man. You can also step inside the famous painting of his bedroom and lose yourself among hundreds of sunflowers. Details are here.
THINK ABOUT IT
A bloke I knew died alone in his flat in a foreign capital just last week. Work commitments and COVID-19 border closures meant he and his wife were stranded in different countries. I also know people who live in the same city yet refuse to talk to each other because of an old feud. Life’s short; make your peace.
FEEDBACK
On the subject of shared cats, Dobbo sent me this photo (above) of a ginger cat called Ranga, who “lives at ours but eats at home”.
Ted writes: “Living in Bangkok, I've adopted a street cat I first called Eric (in deference to Eric Clapton.) Then I realised Eric was actually an Erica (after she had kittens). My girlfriend has another name for this cat which is too rude to be posted here (she thinks I love the cat more than her - not true) ...”
Mandy on proposed changes to the Matilda Awards: “It’s a pity to lose the Best Female Performer award, because women will have to compete with men again, and men will usually win, of course, being part of a patriarchy, where most plays are written by men, most roles are for men, there are still plenty of shows with only a token female, which wouldn’t pass the Bechdel test. We have women’s Olympics, and awards of all kinds for a reason. The Matildas are kidding themselves if they think it’s not a competition.”
PHOTO FINISH
I’ve seen them on bridges in Europe, but this is the first time I can remember seeing them here. These padlocks on the sea fence at Cleveland were presumably placed there by lovers. I wonder who put them there, and whether they are still together. Perhaps somebody reading this has some information about these locks — particularly the large one and six small ones — or has the experience of placing a lock somewhere else. Please let me know where, when and why!