The swell season indeed

Perfect. Sometimes things just fall together nicely.

There had been tension and disrupting thoughts in the air all day. I'd had a bad day...a real bad day...and Kirilie had a difficult decision to make that was difficult even to begin contemplating...but I had bought her some tickets for Xmas last year (the Xmas that shall forever be known as 'The Xmas that Wasn't...cos it basically sucked a bit') for a concert last night.

The concert was a performance by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová...the name for their collaboration is The Swell Season. Who are these strolling minstrels? I hear you ask...well, do you remember the film Once?

Of course you don't...half the population didn't see it...but it's a great little film...they both won an Academy Award for Best Song for 'Falling Slowly'...they fell in love during the course of their collaboration...etc, etc....beautiful story.

And they were everything we thought they would be and more...intimate...which is a big ask at the Palais in St Kilda...charming, funny, moving...I tell you...that Geln Hansard has the best voice...it's part Cat Stevens and part Angry Young Man...so there's this gentle sweet sounding voice...and then a song might get angry or emotional and out comes this roaring kick-ass part of his voice...it's dynamic...so bloody moving. And Markéta Irglová is just this sweet little bundle of cuteness and depth and perception...

It was simply amazing. Perfect atmosphere...warm, sultry night...by the sea...beautiful music and musicians...Raffaello and Kinder Surprise ice cream after...and to satisfy K's cravings...a slice of ham and pineapple pizza on Brunswick St a bit before midnight...what a fantastic night...

And...true to Markéta Irglová word...when you let go of a problem or a difficult decision and go to the sea...the solution inevitably finds you...and it kind of has...Kirilie's difficult decision now seems a whole lot easier...we're going to keep the baby!



Oh God am I kidding! :)



We're not keeping it...

Reflection of James Antonas

Life is full of disappointments...sometimes bitter...sometimes they bite you...and sometimes it's one crushing blow or defeat after the other...you struggle to keep your head above the water...or even worse...you put all your eggs in one basket and that basket turns out to have bloody great big holes in it allowing said eggs to fall to the ground smashing in a dramatic fashion spilling the precious yolk that are your dreams all over the pavement or grassy area....so there they sit...dirty broken messy dreams...the egg cannot be put back together again...no matter how many of the King's horses rock up. They're frigging horses! They don't even have fingers...they can't pick up sh*t! Stupid nursery rhymes.

Anyway, you have hopes and sometimes you pin them on one thing...this one thing...and after some time has passed...that one thing takes on mythical and mystical qualities...it will be the one thing that will spell your ticket out of the particular hell hole you find yourself incarcerated in...and soon it's the only thing that will get you out...nothing else. This thing will somehow transport you to a better life and cure your ills.

Then...reality...like a callous slap on a sunburnt back...steps in...ending unicorn hopes and bunyip dreams...ripping up your one way ticket out and confiscating your passport until further notice.

But it's at these times you truly appreciate who you are and what makes you so f*cking great...you're you...or in this case James Antonas...you're nothing if not resilient (as well as devilishly handsome but that's another story)...so you pick yourself up and dust yourself off and look at what you've got going for you...and you can't help but be somewhat pleased.

There are slow realisations and gradual dawnings. You convince yourself that this is a blessing in disguise. A very good disguise...but a disguise all the same. There is sweetness in life...that's the main thing. Whether it's sitting on a rug in the park on a warm evening, dressing up and going to a nice dinner and a boring play, treading the boards, writing inappropriate emails, eating frozen honeycomb milk on hot nights, sharing laughs, smelling loved ones, eating too much, jogging in the morning with no worries about the day that follows, closeness, laughing at your own jokes because no one else will, brunch on Saturday, brunch on Sunday, friends, and reading in bed with the light on...so many precious and beautiful things that make what's important important. And you think these things will cover the cracks in the facade...and then you begin to realise...that these things are the important things...these small things make up the whole...and they are what make the whole so damn fantastic.

Life is life. You can't control it. You can't predict it. You can only try to enjoy it and not put all your eggs in a holey f*cking basket.