Back to the Drawing Board Productions

THE BOOK OF LOVE

Posted on April 13, 2021February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

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February 14

The wedding of my best friend to his bride was a wonderful affair.

I barely spoke to him on the day.

But I saw him smile. I saw people cry.

I met a lot of new people who lived and worked in Canberra and were in the life of the bride and groom in a way that I just am not.

They were amazing people to spend time with and get to know. I kind of fell in love with them and felt like I knew the bride and groom just a little better because of them. Just one more reflection of what I have always known that they are good people – the best people – my people.

The wedding took place at the Function Centre at the Taronga Zoo, there were not many people there but quite a lot for COVID, we ate a high tea and the food was really nice. It was a lovely day and a lovely wedding following a lot of anxiety and holding their nerve to get to the day.

I can only imagine what it felt like to have the day occur after everything that preceded it.

On my wedding day a million years before COVID, I had unexpectedly shed a tear the second I went to sign the registry. I think somewhere deep inside I thought, “It’s done.” or maybe I was just so moved by Gabriel’s Oboe by Ennio Morricone being played.

The main entrance to Taronga Zoo. Not where we went. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Dessert options. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The view from the function centres where the wedding ceremony took place. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

There are three of us in this Band of Brothers.

We went to Scouts together as kids.

In our twenties we spent often a late night out, not partying or in the clubs but in lounge rooms watching old movies or in video game cafes and cinemas. Unpacking the mysteries of the universe the way young people do.

It moved very slowly, very organically but we all ended up working jobs, getting married and one of us is now a father.

Would you believe me if I told you that they’re still my best friends even if I barely see them now.

One afternooon not so long ago we were driving somewhere and I told one of them, “I sure do like being your friend.”

He answered, “Me too.”

Nothing else needed to be said.

So all three of us were in Sydney on Valentines Day and one of us got married to the love of his life, the best person in the world for him and the other two were there to celebrate that.

I’m fond of the expression the ties that bind.

I am not in their lives the same way anymore but somewhere in those nights in our 20s we became bound together and I still feel and honour that link.

Whenever I have needed them, they were there and whenever I am needed I will be there.

They’re my friends.

The best.

And I feel very grateful and pleased that now all three of us have met and married our best friends.

Now we turn away from the wedding and people who shall retain their privacy.

Karen and I headed out into the night to get dinner in Sydney Harbour on Valentines Day without a booking.

Well we hadn’t been told what the plan was after the wedding.

Despite driving my car to Sydney I had no interest in driving around Sydney.

We caught a cab to Taronga Zoo and now we caught a cab to Circular Quay.

Unlike the cabbie earlier who couldn’t find the lobby of our hotel, this guy knew his stuff and made sure we saw the city right as we headed to our destination.

In 2008 I had stayed a week with the groom in Sydney not far from Circular Quay.

It was an amazing week and Sydney had been such an amazing place back then but Circular Quay was not quite how I remembered it.

We went and got our obilgatory shots outside the Sydney Opera House that was cordoned off with security guards.

I decided we would head to Darling Harbour even though that is where we ate three years earlier.

We still didn’t get to Star Casino this time either, my Dad took me there to have a great meal in 2003.

I headed back up to the jettys wondering what the hell I was going to do.

I saw people boarding a boat and trampled down the jetty and introduced myself to the Captain.

I told him I didn’t know how this worked but I was wondering how I could get to Darling Harbour.

He informed me that he was a privately chartered boat but pointed me to a sign and said I could use the number on it to order a water taxi.

I was about to thank him when a head popped out from behind him and asked where was I headed?

I told him Darling Harbour.

“That’s where we’re headed. Hop on!” he told me in what I think was a Lebanese accent.

I looked at Karen and we hopped on that boat.

The man didn’t want any money.

And that is how we came to sail out over Sydney Harbour at sunset for free.

In a handful of minutes we were in Darling Harbour, all our problems solved and a memory to last a lifetime thanks to the random generosity and kindness of a stranger.

Don’t give up on the human race just yet.

Our saviour. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Sydney Harbour at sunset. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

A pair of stowaways. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Passing under Sydney Harbour Bridge. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

I say this as a proud Queenslander, you have to give it to them.

There is something special about Sydney Harbour.

When we arrived in Darling Harbour our fellow passengers jumped off and were gone. The guy who offered us to hop on board said to his friends he’d already paid for the trip.

We thanked him but they were off.

Karen and I now had to figure out where we were going to eat. I’m not going to lie, we went into a few places after checking out the menu only to find they were booked out.

Then we reached the Cyren who were churning through couples having dinners. They told us, if we were happy to wait, they would give us a table as soon as one was available. We weren’t the only ones and sure enough minutes later we were ordering a seafood basket and a Greek salad.

I had a dinner in Darling Harbour on Valentine Days with my wife.

Afterwards we caught a cab back to the hotel.

It had been a big day and the drive home awaited us tomorrow.

We did look out over that harbour again though.

We were here and it was so beautiful.

-Lloyd Marken

Sunday morning in Sydney. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Descending down to Circular Quay. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Sydney Opera House. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

With lowered restrictions, Sydneysiders were out and about. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Obligatory tourist shot. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Sydney Harbour minutes before we would be sailing across it. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Centrepoint Tower. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The Australian Maritime Museum with the new Crown Casino in the background that was in the news that week and improved the skyline according to our generous fellow passengers. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

HMAS Vendetta. Brisbane has a frigate. Sydney has a destroyer. Both have a lighthouse ship. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The restaurant was not hurting for business. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Karen preferred the Greek salad she had but kindly posed for the photo. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

People lining up outside Cyren restaurant. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Callback to the Newcastle post. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

ROAD TRIP TO SYDNEY

Posted on April 11, 2021February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

Sydney Harbour ladies and gentleman. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

February 13

On Saturday Karen and I set off to drive to Sydney to attend a wedding.

Longtime readers may recall my first real holiday in six years in 2017 was a long weekend drive to Newcastle and back.

We went to Fort Scratchley the only Australian military fort that ever fired its guns in anger.

We also ducked in to Sydney and ate at Darling Harbour.

The drive to Newcastle on Saturday and the drive back to Brisbane from Newcastle was the furtherest I had ever driven in a day.

Now I planned to drive further to Sydney in one day.

I had taken the Friday and Tuesday to give me a buffer of a day to prepare and recover in between the trip and being at work.

We didn’t get away early on Saturday morning but off we went with the odometer reading 211,771 kilometres.

About to set off on our journey. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

I haven’t travelled very much but this would mark the third time I was driving down the east coast of New South Wales.

In 2012 I drove to Port Macquaire to meet coincidentally the bride newly dating the groom for this wedding. A lot of the highway was being worked on at the time and constantly the speed limit was set at 80kms per hour.

In 2017 it was a lot smoother going to Newcastle.

In 2021 there was no question where the first stop would be and sure enough we stopped at Ballina.

In 2017 we parked at the Bunnings car park and made our way across a road with no traffic lights and heavy traffic to grab something to eat from a bakery/cafe. This time we parked in their car park and didn’t have to cross the road.

It was a perfect beautiful temperate sunny day in the morning at Ballina.

We went into the Wicked Delights Bakery, I spotted a bread role and asked what was on it and they mentioned salami and some condiments. It was soooooooooooooo good. I think I had a jam and cream doughnut too or something.

After we had finished eating I waited a while the person there served someone else and told her this was the place to always stop going down the coast.

I had waited to be able to thank her.

Anybody who goes on road trips knows the joy of eating at such places and how their reputations tend to travel.

Tivo Magic at Ballina. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The Big Prawn at Ballina. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The best place to grab a feed on the way down the coast. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Last time in 2017, we stopped for KFC at Coffs Harbour but I didn’t want to hit all the same places again on our second trip.

Except for the Wicked Delights Bakery in Ballina!

We filled up for fuel in in Coffs.

Then ended up on some turn off road around Taree for a bathroom break.

I was keen to drive on and reach our destination as soon as possible. It was getting late.

Somewhere near Taree. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The weather changed on us.

We drove through rain.

Sometimes cars passed us, sometimes I tore up the passing lane myself on those wet wet roads with the rain so thick that visibility was poor.

It was getting dark but still light as we drove along road cut into mountains around Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The indication we were about to reach Sydney.

Karen activated google maps as we entered Sydney traffic. One of the wipers had reached the end of its usefulness. It was the one on the driver side. It was still raining and visibility was now at an all time low as I made my way to the hotel but made it we did.

The odometer read 212,654 kilometres.

The most kilometres I had driven in a day – 883.

I had been sucked in by the photos on the website, I’d checked other things but I saw that window looking over Sydney Harbour, looked at the price, looked at the room and thought yeah that will do.

It turned out View Hotels – Harbourview was an interesting mix of the sublime and pecuilar.

The rooms were nice even though full length window in the bathroom that would facilitate some kinky acts if you didn’t pull down the draw sheet.

The carpark was underground and looked suitable for shooting a horror film.

If one of those lights starts flickering I’m bolting. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Tivo Magic waits patiently in the dungeon. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Karen in our room. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

On the other hand after we checked in, we went down to the restaurant in the lobby as we fast approached 9pm and were given a table last minute by the excellent staff. Our meals were delicious, I’m not a big pork belly guy but I loved the one I ate there.

I had checked in with the groom and a third great friend who were staying elsewhere in Sydney.

I looked out over the Harbour.

Tomorrow my friend would get married to the woman he loved and Karen and I would be there.

-Lloyd Marken

REVIEW OF QUEENSLAND MARITIME MUSEUM AVAILABLE ON WEEKEND NOTES

Posted on April 6, 2021February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

Weekend Notes 21

February 06

Karen and I set out on a very warm summer’s Saturday to the Queensland Maritime Museum (QMM).

The QMM was set up in 1971 at an old dry dock.

I remember going to it around the time of Expo ’88 as a kid. The showpiece of the museum was an old anti-submarine warfare frigate named HMAS Diamantina. You can imagine how exciting it was for an eight year old to walk across the planks, the bottom of the dry dock metres below. Climb down step ladders and walk along railings in the guts of an actual naval warship.

HMAS Diamantina had not long been retired at that point having served decades before coming the maritime museum in the early 1980s.

4.5 inch guns that shelled Pacific Islands in the closing days of World War II. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The underground pumps of the dry dock. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Bofors anti-aicraft guns. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Ella’s Pink Lady. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

HMAS Diamantina. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

HMAS DIamantina. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Years later as a young university student studying a journalist subject across the river at QUT I went across and looked for someone to interview.

I found a volunteer who had served in World War II with Z Special Force and had previously been a coal stoker on corvettes in the navy.

He had lied about his age to join, he had also been working in a munitions factory before his service.

He was in his early 80s then, having spent his life working many jobs and beating cancer, with the sprightly energy of a toddler he danced on his feet.

His life and stories were fascinating, but he never talked about the combat he may have seen.

If I can find the old assignment, I will post it here with his name. For now of him I took back in 2003.

QMM Volunteer

There was another R.A.N. veteran who volunteered at QMM at that time who had served in the Korean War. He told me of a stop over at Okinawa during their voyage north. He told me how the trees had still not grown to a proper height years after the battles on that island.

These were the kind of people who kept the Queensland Maritime Museum running and still do.

In 1974 Brisbane was flooded and so was the museum situated on the banks of our river.

In 2011 Brisbane was flooded again, volunteers came down and repositioned the ropes to ensure that is the water in the dry dock rose HMAS Diamantina was not damaged by crashing into its own dock.

Expo ’88 came and went replaced by Southbank. The city and the area changed but HMAS Diamantina and its museum remained.

After 16 year old Jessica Watson sailed around the globe, her 10 metre long ship became part of the collection at QMM.

Floods, recessions and the Global FInancial Crisis all came and went but when COVID hit all of sudden the huge workforce of volunteer of over 60s could not do their work and attendance was also affected.

The financial situation of the museum radically changed and quickly.

They closed their doors.

But they were not out for the count yet.

A petition was raised to secure the future of the museum which you can click on here and put your name to Petition · Secure the future of Queensland Maritime Museum · Change.org

You could also donate money to helping them keep open which I did and when they opened their doors in late January I went to buy tickets but they were sold out.

So um I bought them the following weekend and we went.

Personal effect from the 19th Century QGSY Lucidna. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Scale model of QGSY Lucinda. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

A painting from the collection at QMM. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The museum was a little different then I remembered with some new interesting stuff and slightly younger volunteers. We could walk the deck but to COVID restrictions we could not go below decks on HMAS Diamantina. I also got to see Ella’s Pink Lady up close.

I wrote a review of it which you can read here at Weekend Notes Queensland Maritime Museum – Brisbane (weekendnotes.com)

I took a lot of photos and put a lot of thought of where they were placed in the narrative of the review. The review was featured on the Facebook site of the Queensland Maritime Museum.

Weekend Notes are a growing online magazine with a wealth of contributors based out of several cities across the United Kingdom, Australia and New York. Articles are leisure related and can include a wide variety of subjects from rainforest hikes to cultural festivals, from what hot new play is on at your underground theatre to a ultra trendy eatery. Writers are paid for their work based partly on how many views their articles get so please feel free to stop by and show some love.

I wish the Queensland Maritime Museum all the best, it is a wonderful Museum that should be ensured for generations to enjoy.

-Lloyd Marken

My city. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Karen and i onboard HMAS Diamantina. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Karen on HMAS Diamantina. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

GOD BLESS SIR TOM MOORE

Posted on April 2, 2021February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

A mural of Capt Sir Tom in Southport

February 02

Many years I was walking through the city on my way to work in the lead-up to ANZAC Day.

There was a gentleman big jowled sitting in a wheelchair selling badges.

On his cap was stitched 105 Field Battery.

I noted that 105 had been at the battle of Long Tan.

“Long Tan was the last action I was in,” he told me.

I thanked him, I asked him to pick a badge out for me. He chose a slouch hat with the feather that denoted the Australian Light Horse. Our calvary that charged at Beersheba in World War I and now rode armoured personal carriers.

I wondered if he had a relative that served in the Light Horse and that is why he chose it.

But I did not ask.

We said our farewells and walked on to work.

The gunners at Nui Dat rained down hell on the Vietnamese at Long Tan. Over three thousand rounds in three hours from their L5s. Without them the vastly outnumbered 6RAR soldiers would have been overrun.

At one point they were ordered by the Australian infantry to fire on their own positions, the situation so precarious.

Here was a man who had been there.

He had a story.

I wondered how many people passed him that day oblivious to this fact.

I wanted to hear his story.

We owe a lot to our vets but how often do we even recognise them?

Captain Tom recalls fighting on the front lines in Burma in WWII and memories of VE Day | EXPRESS INFORMER

I imagine it was the same for Captain Tom Moore for many years.

A hero in our midst unheralded but loved and known and appreciated by those in his community.

That all changed last year.

A simple goal on his part to use his walker and do some laps of his garden to raise some money for other heroes galvanised a nation to action and lifted morale in the most of desperate of times.

It was never what he did that was the big deal – it was what he got us all to do through the simplicity of his actions and beliefs.

As the Chief Nursing Officer for NHS England, Ruth May, put it, “Capt Sir Tom Moore has been the model of all that has been good about our country’s response to Covid-19. For me his biggest achievement and most important contribution to helping my fellow nurses, doctors and all those in the NHS responding to coronavirus, has been how he brought the country together and gave us all a boost when we most needed it.“

We were and are in trouble – so ask yourself what are you going to do about it? What can you do about it? Where is the help needed most?

Captain Tom Moore had an answer to all three of those questions and got to work.

Captain Tom Moore invited to ring Lord's bell and offer England team-talk | England cricket team | The Guardian

The fact that a veteran of war raised funds for those on the frontlines of saving lives and risking their own in hospitals and health care centres across the country was wholly appropriate.

One old hero spurned to action yet again for our current health care heroes of today.

His old Regiment gave him a medal and an Honour Guard as he finished his final laps. The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flew over his house for his birthday. The Queen knighted him.

But perhaps his greatest honour and at the heart of his legacy is 1.5million people donated to his NHS Fundraiser and over 39 million pounds went to our health care workers.

One and half million people did something inspired by him.

Countless more too indirectly, prompted to take action even if it was in support of another charity or through another mechanism other than fundraising.

Why the British hero Captain Tom Moore mattered - Chicago Tribune

You of course already know where this is going.

Captain Tom Moore was admitted to hospital on Sunday and passed away on the 2nd of February, 2021 from COVID.

He was 100 years old.

It had been less than a year since he completed the 100th lap of his 25metre garden on the 16th of April, 2020 way ahead of the deadline of his birthday on April 30th.

Medication that he took for pneumonia meant he could not be vaccinated. Somehow the fact that a hero of the COVID pandemic who could have passed from a whole range of natural causes at such an age was cut down by the virus quietly angers me.

But Captain Moore faced the foe we are all facing with dignity and grace and courage.

One last example of inspiration.

One more act of courage from a man who had lived his life well and a soldier who had never failed to answer the call to action and to do his duty.

Britain′s ′Captain Tom′ dies of coronavirus at age 100 | News | DW | 02.02.2021

The flag at 10 Downing Street flew at half mast, Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying, “Captain Sir Tom Moore was a hero in the truest sense of the word. In the dark days of the Second World War he fought for freedom and in the face of this country’s deepest post-war crisis he united us all, he cheered us all up, and he embodied the triumph of the human spirit.He became not just a national inspiration but a beacon of hope for the world. Our thoughts are with his daughter Hannah and all his family.“

His daughters Hannah Ingram-Moore and Lucy Teixeirareleased a statement full of thanks to everyone but in particular our health heroes who they wrote, “unfalteringly professional, kind and compassionate and have given us many more years with him than we ever would have imagined.”

“We are so grateful that we were with him during the last hours of his life; Hannah, Benjie and Georgia by his bedside and Lucy on FaceTime. We spent hours chatting to him, reminiscing about our childhood and our wonderful mother.“

Who was Captain Tom's wife Pamela?

Dr Adam Briki on working for the NHS and the fundraising of his great uncle, Captain Tom

Picture shows proud Captain Tom Moore with his daughter on her wedding day - Mirror Online

Captain Sir Tom Moore: His Life In Pictures

Who is Captain Tom Moore's daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore?

Captain Sir Tom Moore: 'I always think of the beneficial things' | British GQ

An Audience with Hannah Ingram-Moore, Captain Sir Tom Moore's daughter - MKFM 106.3FM - Radio Made in Milton Keynes

“We shared laughter and tears together. The last year of our father’s life was nothing short of remarkable. He was rejuvenated and experienced things he’d only ever dreamed of. Whilst he’d been in so many hearts for just a short time, he was an incredible father and grandfather, and he will stay alive in our hearts forever,” they wrote.

God bless Captain Tom Moore and thank you for your service.

Rest now old soldier.

Your duty is done.

We can’t all be heroes like Captain Tom Moore but we can all live a little bit more from his example.

-Lloyd Marken

Captain Sir Tom Moore's funeral to get flypast by WWII plane | World news | The Guardian

‘HOTMESS’ REVIEW AVAILABLE ON SCENESTR

Posted on January 24, 2021February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

December 06

I was very fortunate to be back on assignment for Scenestr magazine, this time my first live event since COVID shut down the Brisbane Comedy Festival in March.

It was at The Sideshow in Brisbane’s West End. West End has its own character and history as a southside boy from the suburbs I am fairly ignorant of.

It’s down from the city’s South Bank precinct which I am more familiar with which is a giant cultural and restaurant hub with museums, art gallery and markets.

West End is the cheaper hippier end of this.

I remember going to see show with David Hasselholf years ago and seeing young people eating on a window sill out of saucepans in an apartment above a set of shops and just being delighted by it.

Places like West End are in danger of losing such culture with increased urban development but it was alive and well on sunday night December 6.

Scenestr4

We entered what looked like a regular cafe, went up some stairs, got served at some makeshift bar and sat on pretty simple chairs. Nobody was wearing masks, we just didn’t do that in Queensland.

There were 13 active cases in the state.

The venue had the setting of being in someone’s large living room for a get together on a sunday arvo for a few laughs.

It was good to have a laugh.

The comedians were diverse in their styles and backgrounds and led by MC Steph Tisdell who got the crowd supporting them fully and open to the experimentation of the event.

You can read my review here https://scenestr.com.au/comedy/hot-mess-comedy-brisbane-review-the-sideshow-20201208

Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.

Christmas Decorations. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

This War of the World piece is a mainstay of West End.Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Afterwards Karen and I wandered the streets of West End looking for a place to eat and also making our way back to where we parked in South Bank. Yeah we kind of had to let it across the suburbs to get to The Sideshow.

With some delight we saw some Christmas decorations and entered a Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant we had seen packed only two hours later completely empty.

As someone who has always enjoyed quiet places Karen and I settled in for some fried rice.

There was a garden inside with a pond and we had the whole place to ourselves as West End started to quiet down for the night.

Karen waiting for our dinner. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The West End Garden Restaurant staff were so good to us, the food was fantastic and the whole place was just wonderful. Karen and I really enjoyed our night out.

Numbers were climbing around the word, I was worried about people who lived there. It was almost surreal what was happening in Australia. It felt like we being kept out of some sick game although I’m sure Victorians would agree they had had their fill.

On the 6th of December the World Health Organisation reported there had been 66,184,789 cases globally with a daily increase of 652,608.

1 million 5 hundred 2 twenty 6 six thousand and 6 hundred and 6 sixty 2 two deaths.

1,526,662 deaths globally from COVID.

With a daily increase of 10,767.

In Australia there had been 27,956 confirmed cases with a daily increase of seven. There had been 908 deaths.

In Canada there had been 402,569 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 6,299. There had been 12,496 deaths with a daily increase of 89.

In the United Kingdom there had been 1,705,975 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 15,539. There had been 61,014 deaths with a daily increase of 397.

In India there had been 9,644,222 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 36,011. There had been 140,182 deaths with a daily increase of 482.

In the United States of America the day before, the 5th of December had been a day of big numbers. A new record for daily increase in confirmed cases – 218,671. The highest number of daily recorded deaths since March and April – 2,844.

On the 6th of December there had been 14,191,298 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 213,127. There had been 276,503 deaths with a daily increase of 2,426.

-Lloyd Marken

‘THE BEE GEES: HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART?’ REVIEW AVAILABLE ON SCENESTR

Posted on January 19, 2021February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

Scenestr3

November 29

On Sunday the 29th of November, 2020 I was lucky enough to attend a preview screening of the HBO documentary The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart? at New Farm cinemas and I got to take Karen with me.

Just another milestone that things were pretty in our neck of the woods while case numbers continued to rise astronomically abroad.

I enjoyed the documentary, it rang very poignant for me given Barry Gibb’s advancing years. I can tell you there were quite a few people of Barry’s and my parent’s age in the audience. I even floated the idea of taking my Mum but she had to decline. Maybe in the audience there were people who had known the Bee Gees from their days in Redcliffe. They certainly laughed and nodded at points like they were flicking through the pages of a photo album. Your culture remains your’s for life – it takes hold you of for life.

I grew up in a household of The Beatles and The Bee Gees. I heard The Rolling Stones and David Bowie but they weren’t in the house. I’m prety sure at one point there was a copy of every Bee Gees album on at least LP, tape or CD.

I enjoyed the documentary of which you can read the review here https://scenestr.com.au/movies-and-tv/the-bee-gees-how-can-you-mend-a-broken-heart-film-review-20201201

Karen and I. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Me posing with Rocky poster. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

It sent me down a bit of rabbit-hole of Youtube clips.

I would urge you to listen to a live acoustic performance they did of one of their lesser singles Blue Island from one of their strongest later albums from the early 1990s. The thing is, it’s not a bad song but something magical happens when the harmonies those brothers had together sing it. It is something special.

There is an interview Maurice Gibb had in the wake of doing rehab for alcoholism, (I thought he got clean well before Andy Gibb’s death not after) and Barry Gibb talking about his brothers, his wife – his family to Piers Morgan.

There are personal favourites here like The Nights on Broadway (I had no idea they were that broke when they recorded that album), and younger hits like You Win Again which is soooo 80s, their last hit single This Is Where I Came In which I will defend to the death is proof they were still crushing it in 2001, their first big hit as they left Australia in the 60s – Spicks and Specks which is a personal favourite and maybe lesser known to Americans and even Brits I think.

Songs like Alone and Immortality from 1997 which resonates even more now. Absent are the disco hits which I loved as a kid but have listened to a lot more than these gems and I suspect you have too.

Anyway enjoy.

-Lloyd Marken

OH CHRISTMAS TREE, OH CHRISTMAS TREE

Posted on January 18, 2021February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

20201128_220402 — Our Christmas Tree. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

November 28

On Saturday the 28th of November we put up our Christmas Tree again for the second year in a row.

I never really got around to getting a Christmas tree when I was a bachelor.

But as soon as Karen and I moved in together she got one for our apartment.

It was 2011 and I was temping and working nights at BIG W. We lived pay to pay.

It was an old fibre optic tree that no longer worked that she picked up at a Salvos store.

Half a metre tall, bent over we had no decorations but Karen placed a Christmas Penguin toy at the foot of it and voila we had a Christmas tree.

A year later a colleague at QUT offered me is Christmas tree lights that he was throwing out because a third of them did not work.

With all of them wrapped en masse around that tiny tree you couldn’t tell.

Last year I was made a permanent employee after years of working contracts.

I decided I was getting our first proper tree.

I had always wanted a fibre optic tree but the ones in the shops seemed lacklustre in their lighting. I remembered ones that shone like the embers of a fire, not these little specks of light.

Resigned to having to temper my expectations my mother suggested we try the Christmas Warehouse just down the road from our place.

There we found a tree.

People advised us fibre optics don’t last.

The guy at the warehouse suggested not to get lights to go with the fibre optics, it would be overkill.

Karen worried I was spending too much by getting our first decorations but I saw it as an investment and at my urging she picked out some.

A nice European wintry feel to this. My Mum as a young person once had a friend who drove a VW Beetle and her dream car as a young person was a Mini Cooper. Its a stretch but I guess I was thinking of her with this decoration. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Sombre gloss. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Karen putting up the decorations for the first time. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Me putting up the decorations for the first time. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

My roots are in Scotland, Ireland and Italy. Alas though there was no Italian decorations in David Jones and I had no interest in the leprechaun. This proud Scottish bagpiper can stand in for them all. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Birds always make for nice decorations and again bring back memories of decorations that have been in the family. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

A decoaration my Mum gave to me to hang on our Christmas tree from Karen and I’s Wedding Day. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

This decoration made me laugh and amused my Dad. Now I can’t help but think of him when putting it up. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

For me a must when I saw it as I do still think of myself as a Christian. It’s the decoration placed highest on the tree too. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

One of the decorations that Karen picked out. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Something a little evocative of a decoration my family had when I was growing up. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

It’s not a snow globe but I like it. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

A pretty decoration Karen has come to admire more. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

A little Australian flavour. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

A set of Santas currently hung by me and Karen but maybe as time goes on, a favourite will be a go to for a little one. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

How they hung in 2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

A consistent Christmas grinch I found myself excitedly putting up the tree and placing the ornaments with care.

Finally the sun went down and I flicked the switch.

The Copyright Lloyd Marken.first time our Christmas tree was lit up in 2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

My God it was beautiful, so beautiful that Karen beamed and we hugged each other.

Over a tree.

Why?…

I guess in that moment, we felt we got some points on the board.

The Copyright Lloyd Marken.first time our Christmas tree was lit up in 2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

I hope that tree may end up in our first home.

I picked out ornaments to maybe one day be hung by the hands of a child or two.

Regardless of what the future may bring, looking at that lit up tree I felt I had one to look forward to.

If Christmas is truly about giving then my place of employment in 2019 gave me a truly generous gift and one that I will always be grateful for.

More so even given what had transpired for so many in the twelve months that followed.

Our tree after we lit it up in 2020. We had a few new decorations from family.Copyright Lloyd Marken.

One more final thing.

A shout-out to my wife.

I tried months earlier to untangle the Christmas tree lights.

Eventually I had decided I would hand them over to a charity store and buy a new set. A stupidly extravagant waste of money but one that I had resolved to make.

One morning Karen said she’d give it a go untangling them if that was my decision.

I went off and got ready for work and ten minutes later I come back out and she had them all untangled.

My wife had saved Christmas.

-Lloyd Marken

REVIEW OF THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY FLYING MUSUEM AVAILABLE ON WEEKEND NOTES

Posted on January 13, 2021February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

20201121_120424 — Copyright Lloyd Marken. The view of Oakey airfield.

November 21, 2020

At the gym on Friday night I saw on the TV that India became the second country to pass 9 million COVID-19 cases. The only one since the U.S.

Per chance I was about to catch up with my brother from another mother the next day who had family in India.

It was a scary time but we intended to have a nice day out in each other’s company.

We were driving out west to the small town of Oakey.

Famous for the race horse Bernborough and where I had recently been reminded my grandmother had been born.

As a result I wore a hat that my grandfather had worn in travels when I was a boy. The hat fitted his head better but I wanted to wear it and pose at the statue of Bernborough like he had in a photograph many years ago.

It’s true.

They live on in us.

20201121_132935 — Copyright Lloyd Marken. Me with Bernborough.

I was with my wife Karen, her sister and her husband, as we had been a few weeks earlier when we travelled to Capriccios Pizza in Maleny in the wake of his Uncle passing from COVID-19 in India.

I’ve never met a man who didn’t work harder. As we drove along he passed along information of everywhere we went. A ride share worker who had previously driven cabs and worked his way up in trucking to drive semis interstate. He knew when we were coming up to the well known Fernvale Bakery in Ipswich, he told us of businesses off the main track he’d gone to as we started to get out in the country. He quietly advised and offered stories of so many places.

We did stop at the bakery in Fernvale although I went for the sweets rather than their famous and beloved pies. We will have to return and partake properly.

Around people I truly love I relaxed a little and even started to sing songs like Don McLean’s American Pie and Cold Chisel’s Flame Trees. I am not a singer so spare a thought for the poor people in that car who had to conjure their best poker faces as they realised, “Oh man Lloyd’s really going for it!”.

It was a beautiful sunny day, the Museum is housed in a hangar that is located on the perimeter of the fencing of the defence base. You do not need to enter the base to enter the museum as a result. Very cleverly located.

Me in cargo/passenger compartment. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

HUEY! Copyright Lloyd Marken.

“Get out of that Fokker you Fokker.” Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The Bougainville Finger. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Sioux helicopters made famous in the film and TV series MASH that was set during the Korean War. This is indicative of the ones that served Australian forces in Vietnam. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Sopwith Camel. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

If I was mugging for the camera, certainly Karen was not. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Kiowa faces off with Huey. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

CH-47 Chinook. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

If I see anti-aircraft weaponry, I take a picture of it. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

SR-70 Blackhawk. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Tivomagic parked outside the Australian Army Flying Museum. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The AS350 Squirrel which served in the Australian Army, Royal Australian Navy and Royal Australian Air Force. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

CH-47 Chinook. Most recently used by the Australian Army during the horrendous bushfires last summer. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Maintained by local volunteers it is a wonderful display of aircraft and stories from Australian Military Aviation.

I wrote a review which I was lucky enough to have published on Weekend Notes which you can read here Australian Army Flying Museum – Brisbane (weekendnotes.com)

Weekend Notes 20

We had a late lunch at the Oakey RSL Club.

Oakey ANZAC Memorial. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Bernborugh. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Oakey ANZAC Memorial. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

A tale from a pandemic past. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Oakey RSL Club. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Having driven north from Ipswich through Fernvale, past Wivenhoe Dam and through Esk I decided on the way back we would drive through Toowoomba.

I was hoping we would find the University of Southern Queensland campus where there is a beautiful Japanese peace garden but we actually googled just a public garden in Toowoomba and ended up there. A callback to simpler times when sometimes you just turned down a road and found you were where you wanted to be.

The Japanese Garden are well known and are quite beautiful and peaceful in these troubled times.

At one point we went over a bridge and looked down at ducks in a pond. In the late afternoon I exclaimed with excitement when I saw a creature underneath the water and realised it was not a fish. I grabbed everybody’s attention and the words escaped me on instinct “Look a platypus!”

A platypus sighting at that time of day with those amount of people would have been very special indeed but alas what became abundantly clear in the next couple of seconds was we were looking at turtle.

Oh well, still pretty special.

Flame Trees on the Toowoomba campus. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

LOOK IT’S A PLATYPUS! Copyright Lloyd Marken.

As we drove out of Toowoomba my sister-in-law spoke of working as a speech pathologist in the town years ago making long commutes for the job. My wife had also worked around as a speechie.

In the late spring of Australia, the jacarandas were in full bloom in Toowoomba and so much more beautiful there.

It was only a 2 hour drive out of Brisbane but it had been years since I had come to Toowoomba and I had no memories of Oakey. Seeing this part of the world buoyed my spirits in the way only getting out and about can. I understood I was becoming older and now came to understand weekend trips as a child where we were packed out and driven out to dams and beaches that held no interest for me then.

As much as I appreciated my freedom which earlier in the year had not been possible and was not currently for so many around the world.

What I appreciated more was the company I kept.

It was a good day out.

-Lloyd Marken

20201121_131057 — Copyright Lloyd Marken.

THIRD SEASON OF MY NEXT GUEST NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION

Posted on December 12, 2020February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

October 21, 2020

A favourite of mine David Letterman returned to Australian screens on Netflix with season 3 of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. The show has proven a mixed bag, fans of Letterman’s acerbic wit don’t know what to make of him fawning over Kim Kardashian, the gentle kinder and yes older Dave make you miss that smart alec Hoosier but what remains is someone with a fervent curiosity who wants you to see the whole individual. I also enjoy watching Dave now in his 70s find ways to relate to people younger than him simply through curiosity and common ground. Maybe some interviews go on too long but I still think this is a good show, that David Letterman is a national treasure and has a way of getting to things in an interview that others may have missed.

There were four episodes, the weakest is Kim Kardashian, she’s enjoying being at the height of her powers, the audience is packed with her crowd and she’s maybe ready to have one over Letterman but she gets him to open up and talk about the time she was robbed and show that there is always a human being at the centre of a headline and lest we forget it. His goal and her vulnerability is admirable.

The interview with Robert Downey Jr is polished with some Hollywood flair. RDJ is on and ready to have a laugh but also talk about his past. It’s the closest to what we might have expected, The Late Show but longer and on location with an entertaining star.

The one with Lizzo is great in watching how the two connect to each other and talk careers and families. A highlight is Lizzo telling Dave not to be so hard on himself with his rapping.

But the greatest episode is easily the one with Dave Chappelle. an artistic and witty figure who is arguably the greatest stand-up comedian working today. Dave probes him here but it is Chappelle who makes the show so special in light of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter. I absolutely agree with everything he says about community, about how we are all victims of prejudice but some more often than others and how we have to all come together to fix our problems. The people of Yellow Springs, Ohio should be proud of themselves too. They take care of each other, such communities are special.

-Lloyd Marken

TENET FILM REVIEW AVAILABLE ON SCENESTR

Posted on November 9, 2020February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

Scenestr2

August 20, 2020

I went to a preview screening of the new movie Tenet for Scenestr magazine.

Tenet was the first blockbuster to be getting released in cinemas since COVID had shut down cinemas earlier in the year. Warner Bros. was betting big that people would return to the cinemas but if they did, the blockbuster would have the run of the movie going public.

Attending a preview screening of a blockbuster is always a thrill for me. The preview screening was in a VMax screening at Indooroopilly Shopping Centre. There were only other critics present at the screening, familiar faces. People seemed fairly relaxed. At the screening of Waves there was some sense of hopefulness and rustiness at what was for some of us the first screening we had been to in a while. Here things were more relaxed but there was security at this one given the high profile nature of the film. There was a media embargo to enforce.

My review was published the following week on Wednesday the 26th of August with the film premiering the next day.

You can read my review here https://scenestr.com.au/movies-and-tv/tenet-film-review-20200826

So far Tenet has grossed $350 million dollars worldwide, the fourth highest grossing film of the year. However $55 million dollars was accumulated in USA and Canada. In North America at the time of opening, 65% of cinemas were operating at 25-40% capacity. In its first five weekends at the US Box office Tenet remained number one but that gross is significantly down on previous Nolan hits. Warner Bros bet big and it has not paid off. Too many territories remain closed and too many people have not returned to cinemas in America and Europe where COVID-19 remains an all too real threat.

I would argue that while Tenet is billed as a blockbuster, it is not a crowdpleaser and in a particularly dispiriting year I think something like Wonder Woman 1984 would have played much better but COVID remains the all too important factor. Its actually a relief to know that people would rather prize their lives over seeing a movie where they deem the risk too much. In Queensland we felt relatively safe with a small number of cases.

Yet on the same day that I went to see Tenet, a supervisor in her 70s at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre in Wacol tested positive for COVID-19. She had been working shifts until she started to have symptoms. She was now admitted to hospital. Her diagnosis led the centre to go into shutdown with testing of 127 youths and over 500 staff at the centre. There were eight active cases in Queensland at the time.

-Lloyd Marken

I was solo again for this preview screening. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

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