Bad manners and uncomfy seats mar glorious recital
I’M a fan of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. It’s always had a place in my heart ever since about 199293, when, as ODT city council reporter, I covered the discussions about turning the old DIC building into the gallery.
On Tuesday night I went to a fantastic recital by the University of Otago’s 2018 Mozart Fellow, Dylan Lardelli, in the gallery. It was a beautiful setting, with Japanese artworks on the walls surrounding us as Mr Lardelli played a number of highly complex and challenging compositions on classical guitar.
Unfortunately, the wooden floors and the open space meant any extraneous sounds were greatly amplified. I couldn’t believe it when people who were late were walking in, shoes echoing loudly on the floor, and scraping seats while he was in the middle of a piece. They should have waited until he had finished.
My other complaint is about the glorified camp stools we sat on for an hour. They would have to be the most uncomfortable seats I’ve ever experienced.
You were kind of half hanging out the back of them. All I could think of, for the people sitting behind me, was the timehonoured old phrase: ‘‘Does my bum look too big in this?’’
Which way round?
Curtainmaking is a fraught business. Shona, of Opoho, Dunedin, has shared her story, and her quandary, with us.
‘‘I had bought some lovely cream fabric, to make curtains, that was embossed on both sides. But which was the right side?
‘‘I consulted with some friends who are weavers and learnt that the fabric was damask. Mr Google told me that, typically, the fabric does not have a right or wrong side, but presents both sides perfectly finished, although conventionally the shiny background is considered the right side.
‘‘As it happened, that was the side I thought I wanted. But how embarrassing was it that I hadn’t known, when you consider my greatgrandfather, John Duncan, worked in a damask factory in Dunfermline, Scotland, at the beginning of last century as a ‘tenter’.
‘‘These are the people who stretch the finished fabric out by hooking it on to a frame, hence where we get the word ‘tenterhooks’ from.
‘‘I hope he didn’t turn in his grave to think a descendant of his didn’t know which way was which!’’
Thanks Shona. We can’t know everything.
Mystery object
A reader called to say she thinks the odd rubber bootshaped object found on the Esplanade at St Clair is from the end of one of those Nordic fitness walking poles.
Sounds sensible to me, but has anyone got a different opinion? I can assure you it’s not a frisbee or a tin of baked beans.
Bitter weather
I’m still chuckling about how often this week —especially yesterday — I have remarked to others how cold it is, only to get the reply from hardy Dunedinites that ‘‘it is a bit fresh’’.
Is this ‘‘fresh’’ thing a refusal to be cowed by the cold?
If you’ve lived here all your life, you probably won’t even notice you, and others, are using the term. But it makes me wonder if there are any people here who ever use the ‘‘cold’’ word.
Signs of confusion
Hot on the heels of Tony Binns’ complaint about confusing cyclelane signs on State Highway 1 in Dunedin comes this from Kath Beattie, of Wakari:
‘‘Reading your column today reminded me that some years ago there was a traffic sign as one drove on to the northern motorway from Wellington which read ‘USE BOTH LANES’.
‘‘Even more confusing is the sign on the cooked halfchickens at New World supermarket which reads ‘HALFCOOKED CHICKEN’.’’
Seminar tips
Some people love standing up in front of others and are naturals when it comes to being informative and entertaining. Others, like me, find it very challenging, as do many other journalists, who would rather work quietly in the background (unless they are television reporters).
I’m giving a seminar next week at the university about science reporting and reporting on the Christchurch earthquakes. It’s a subject I know well but already I’m waking in the night worrying about it.
Anyone far more used to this kind of thing got any tips to assuage the nerves?