We’ve had a lovely time since we arrived in Sydney on Sunday. It’s been too hot, with Sunday’s searing 47 degree daytime heat in parts of the city and then a hot night we were tired on Monday. Then on Monday night we had thunderstorms almost every hour which kept us awake again. It’s forecast to be a much more pleasant 25 degrees today so we’ll finally get out and around the city again, probably by bus, ferry and train which we enjoy. We’ve been out for Sydney brunch, twice so far, which suits us. Yesterday we did some food and wine shopping then I cooked a couple of dinners whilst Paula finished our washing and ironing after our recent travels, so very domestic up to now.
Sunday evening was fun. The girls booked us all tickets for the premiere of The Post, Steven Spielberg’s new film starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, about the Washington Post’s decision to follow the New York Times to publish the Pentagon Vietnam papers, just before Watergate. It is a good watchable film, if not compelling, but appropriate in today’s Trump times. I think we were all surprised how Meryl Streep portrayed Katherine Graham, the wealthy and comfortable owner of The Post, who decided to risk everything, including her very liberty, to expose 30 years of government cover-up, against the advice of her Board and threats from Nixon’s attorney general. This was 1971, a time when even Graham’s own father either did not feel it was ‘right’ for a woman to head the company or didn’t feel she was capable, but she proved to be very capable indeed. So the film is as much about Kay Graham’s huge personal decision to publish the papers, to hold the government to account, which clearly steeled her for The Post’s Watergate exposes a short time later.
But the highlight was the ‘cinema’ itself. Only in place for a few weeks during the summer, the screen stands in the shallows of the harbour and the audience face it, seated on a slope of the botanic gardens with Sydney harbour, the CBD, the Opera House and the Bridge in the background. It’s billed as the most beautiful cinema in the world and I don’t doubt it.
Robin has been working afternoon shift up to now so we’ve not seen him yet. Today is his final day on this shift so we’ll meet him and Leah again tomorrow. I’m told we’re all going away for the weekend on Friday but no further details yet.
So, after the very eventful last few weeks we’re just relaxing. The forecast shows temperatures here will climb again, with more thunderstorms, over the weekend but not back to those searing levels of last weekend again, I hope.
