The bits of stuff that fall in the cracks between Life, Music and outrageous fortune.         December   Close this window to return to Mike Rudd & Bill Putt's Stop Press   1) Mike holds up the poisonous Bonsoy - Professor Stockigt will be pleased 2) Dislexic Mike communes with God 3) Chris says grace at the Sullivans' new Christmas trestle table Yer actual Christmas Day 28.12.09 - Sue advised me to arrive at 12.30 and I arrived sometime after 1.00. The McClatchys are up in Qld - hence I'm house-sitting at Heathmont - so it wasn't quite the usual Christmas Day, apart from having to wait till after 3.00 before the serious eating began. (pic 3) I played Santa and dispensed pressies in the interim before collapsing on the floor and communing with dog. (pic 2) I was astonished to see on the Christmas Eve news that the Japanese made soy milk, Bonsoy, (pic 1) has been withdrawn from the market. It's been my staple milk alternative for maybe ten years or more, and as I only really use it on my rolled oats every morning I've never felt the urge to experiment with other brands.* I don't know why on earth it took so long to discover that it contains an alarming amount of iodine, but it explains why my blood tests revealed that I had an iodine imbalance when I was going through my thyroid turmoil a couple of years ago. My thyroid consultant, Professor Stockigt, will be grateful that that mystery has been solved! * I've just discovered that Vitasoy, that I bought randomly to replace the Bonsoy, has the same iodine-rich Kumbu additive! A rich vein of expletives can be imagined..   1) Oh, for Christ's sake! 2) Mike's acapella busker of the season caught at The Well 3) Dick feigns delight at his Top Gear T-shirt gift The season turns slightly jolly at last 26.12.09 - It bothers me that people need to ask how to spell Camberwell - it seems self-evident to me, but I guess at over two syllables it can confuse the semi-literate. The sign-writer for the local newsagent (pic 1) had time to contemplate and has no excuse. The young lady singing a predictable selection of carols outside The Well (pic 2) attracted a small crowd of older male admirers, myself included. I asked if I could take her photo, and when I complimented her on her singing she told me she was using her 'choir voice' and that she was really interested in musical theatre. I forgot to find out her name, but her voice had just the right androgenous quality (hovering tantalisingly between boy treble and soprano) and combined with her personable demeanour she earned Mike's prestigious Drool Award for the 2009 Christmas season. Chris and I went up the Warrandyte Rudds' on Wednesday night for a BBQ and to swap pressies. We watched the first half of Ross Wilson's 5DOC DVD and I was again struck how generous Ross was in allowing me to sing 'the song' on his show. We had a fine meal accompanied by the Waipara Hills pinot I'd cunningly bought for Dick. More festive fun to come!   The year that was.. 15.12.09 - In some respects. 2009 has been the year of marking time, but in one area at least things have been on the improve. Last Christmas Chris and I spent a couple of weeks together while I house and doggette sat for Kath and Geoff, which we're doing again this year coincidentally. Chris' medication had been reduced considerably over the year and he wasn't stumbling around in a thoroughly sedated fashion, but you could tell he was still in a chemically-induced haze. His house supervisor and I felt that the drug regime needed to be reviewed more frequently, but his psychiatrist was intransigent, the end result being that Chris now has another psychiatrist who has taken him off all medications save the lithium, which seems to act as a mood leveller with no obvious side effects. This has had the effect of opening up a line of communication between us that is at least there, albeit haphazardly, and there have been a couple of auspicious moments recently that you feel we might be able to build on over time. For instance, he said a couple of words to me on the phone a week or so back - that's a first! There have been other moments too - like at the Manningham when he came up to the stage and said how much he'd enjoyed the set and that we'd played really well - situationally-aware stuff that I'd never heard before. I have to bite it, of course, because these things are never linear with Chris, but maybe we can look forward to the New Year together with renewed optimism.   Mike gets a shot of the talented duo at the Junction Scrooge won over by dots 16.12.09 - Bah! Humbug! etc. But I'll admit when I'm wrong. Who could resist the darling dots (pic) so earnestly playing their violin and cello outside Laurents at Camberwell Junction? I didn't hang around so I'm not sure what they were playing exactly, but it wasn't the usual hackneyed selection of carols. (If I hear one more lone saxophone rendering Jingle Bells or some such twaddle I shall..) I had time to ascertain that the litle girl dot could actually play the cello before casting two dollars into their collection case and requesting a photo from the boy dot, (have I seen him before somewhere?) who crouched obligingly for a better composition without being asked. These kids are talented and polite.   Dick tries to look as if he's in control of the city Lunch with Dick 11.12.09 - I haven't done lunch with Dick for a while and he's usually compelled to eat at midday, so I was pleasantly surprised when he suggested the moderately civilised hour of 1.00 - and then unsurprised again when he rang late this morning and asked if I could please make it earlier. We compromised at 12.30 as I was coming in by tram, and as it happened I had a tram adventure to relate when a little old lady at the Junction toppled off the first step as she was getting on the tram and fell flat on her back onto the road. I'm happy to say she seemed to suffer no serious damage - although I think she'll be sporting a couple of nasty bruises tomorrow. Dick was clearly under some time constraints and appeared relieved when I took up his suggestion to eat 'in-house' - he'd mentioned a couple of times that Telstra had a café on the 112th floor and that 'anybody could walk in off the street and eat there', but of course you'd have to know it was there in the first place. I got the last available ravioli and Dick settled for an unenticing rice dish, but it was all quite acceptable and very cheap. And the view! (pic) Dick brushed me off promptly at 1.30 and I could still barely breathe after the ravioli so was glad of the chance to walk it off. I wandered down to The Basement Discs before catching the No. 75 tram to pick up a couple of bottles of Waipara Hills pinot in Richmond. I sat next to a bloke with a fan in a box who was muttering to himself and smelt like a dead dog and and so was relieved to discover I was on the wrong tram and quickly disembarked. Naturally I ended up at Choclatté and consoled myself with The Age and a cup of English Breakfast before checking the post box, (clogged up with bloody Xmas cards), and heading back home, farting all the way.   1) The card was the best part 2) Chris remains ultra-cool on getting his birthday cake Chris turns 42 6.12.09 - Chris' actual birthday fell on a Friday this year, so I was happy to take up Teri's suggestion that Chris share his birthday celebration on Saturday with a planned Xmas party at the famous Olinda (in the Dandenongs) tourist trap, the Cuckoo Restaurant. The Vermont St crowd is known there and they get special treatment as a result. I suppose the last time I went to the Cuckoo was about forty years ago, and apart from the latest intake of young virgins/serving wenches wandering around helpfully in Bavarian get-ups, nothing much has changed. Chris had an OK time but he tends to deflect 'special' treatment at the best of times, which he did typically when his birthday cake arrived (pic 2) and the whole room was singing Happy Birthday Chris! (Who? Me?) At a bit after 2.00 I was required to do a phone interview with Ron from 96.5FM, so missed some of the 'everybody-join-in' jollity and I annoyingly managed to mislay my camera case in the confusion, but everybody else seemed to be having fun and I think Chris enjoyed himself. I took him to Choclatté afterwards for a real coffee and we shared a gratuitous bag of licorice allsorts on the way back to Vermont St. If you're going to go over the top, go all the way I say..     back to the top