Out of the way

I arrived early this morning in Sydney, for some meetings. I had forgotten that it was Mardi Gras weekend though, so accommodation wasn't quite as easy to find as normal. (Although it turned up - there really are a lot of cheap places to stay, so not being able to find anything would have surprised me).

Getting a place was the first win...

I am in Manly, a beachside northern suburb, and my brain was fried. So I went for a walk, and found at Desire Books that they have a little stand with a few books connected by a theme. The idea was that if you could guess the theme you could choose one of the books as a prize.

Confederacy of Dunces, Animal Farm, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone were the ones I had read. The other two were Ginger Man, and a novel about Van Gogh by (I think) Irving Stone, although I have forgotten the title.

I pondered, wondered, couldn't quite find it. The owner of the shop begged me to make some guesses - apparently they had almost finished their week's run, and nobody had got it. Nor could I. But against my better judgement (i.e. following my basic desires) I wandered in to see if there was a book I liked. Not that I need to load my bag down. I'll have to give away some T-shirts to make space.

But I found something - "The Shiralee". A "classic Australian story" which was made into a film I never saw. And then I had a sudden flash of inspiration...

"They were rejects".

"Take a book. They were indeed all rejected by publishers".

I chose Ginger Man, on the practical grounds that I hadn't read it, and it was the smaller of the two in that category.

Feeling quite pleased with my day, I thought I would go back to the backpackers and read a bit. (I have hardly done any work today. It's a rare experience, and I felt like the man from Ironbark - although remembering the cautionary nature of that tale I decided against following his example too far). Instead, I was invited to a game of chess.

I enjoy watching chess, but I rarely play. I am not very good at it - I have no sense for how to set up an opening, in particular. But I played. And I set up a simple opening, and was then on the defensive for a few moves, following a mistake where I hadn't got my knight's position properly settled in my head. (Hmm. That sounds like a person who thinks about chess). And then as I started to set up an attack I got worried. I spent a long time on a move, and suddenly saw a real opportunity. From there, I had to think hard, and I almost missed a couple of crucial moves (a fast game is a good game). But little by little I managed to play a decent game, until I actually won! (That is very rare. Of my last two opponents, Jack might only just have turned 12, but he is a better player than me, and Will is much better than me).

Tomorrow is BarCamp, and probably other stuff too. Maybe I will see the Mardi Gras parade. Or maybe jetlag will get me and I will fall asleep. But today has been a quiet, pleasant day. (I think I am no getting SMS messages, which might add to the quietude, if only temporarily).

Avagoodweekend.