Blogpost April 9th
After a fabulous three weeks “mooching” around Mount Maunganui and a few fabulous days being grandparents in Sydney we’re now happily ensconced on the Gold Coast not far from Brisbane. I’ve had two great rehearsal days with the Maestro himself: Michael Fix and we’re feeling fairly confident for our first show tomorrow – gulp! – at Magda Community Artz in Brisbane.
In New Zealand our favourite mooching activity was to walk along the beach as the tide was ebbing to it’s lowest point and coming back as the waves started to reclaim the wet, shiny sand. It’s a truly inspiring place as you can see from my photos:
This is just an interim post trying to keep up with the turning of the world and all the adventures Bob and I are attempting to cram into our magical live’s and I’m excited to share how tomorrow’s gig goes as soon as I have footage to share. Next week we have five glorious days to ourselves in a little cabin at Tin Can Bay – great name huh? With the possibility of daily dolphin sightings! That makes me very happy in deed!
There was one almost-calamitous event that happened as we were leaving Mount Maunganui when Bob asked … as we were clearing the last roundabout out of town: “Have you got your passport?” … “yes …” I nonchalantly replied reaching for my bag and the evidence to prove my confidence, only … my passport wasn’t where I knew it to be! Nor was it in any other place in or around the car. We drove back to Chris’s house and all three of us searched in quiet desperation as panic continued to rise.
At one point I decided to call the local police and declare my passport lost. The very helpful and sympathetic woman I spoke to looked on the national data base and said there was no sign it had been handed in anywhere and suggested calling the British Embassy in Auckland to start the procedure of having an emergency travel document issued. I put the phone down and said to Chris: “I’ll look one last time before I talk to the Embassy.” She looked at me with great compassion and shrugged her shoulders: “OK.”
Nothing turned up. I began a slow walk down the stairs to start the inevitable conversation with Auckland when Bob shouted down: “Have you looked in the scanner?” “No. Why would I look there I haven’t used it?” But I looked anyway – why not right? And there, snuggled up in one lonely corner of the printer’s scanning plate was my upside down Passport! “IT’S HERE!” I shouted instantly bursting into tears. “IT’S HERE!”
Then and only then did I remember during the first week of our happy stay, having to scan a copy of my passport to my agent in OZ who was sorting out all the official shenanigans that go with performing in foreign parts … and I’d completely wiped the experience from my memory banks in the mooching days and weeks that followed. I can not begin to tell you how awful that hour of frantic searching felt, nor just how elated I was at the sight of my passport lying inert under the scanner’s innocuous lid.
All is well all shall be well.
And so here I am the evening before our first show in OZ and I’m feeling nothing but gratitude for life, the universe and everything. Here’s a little musical interlude to take into your week wherever you are on the planet the usual mix of incongruous images and this week my version of Higher and Higher which was released way back in 2008 – ish on Under Construction -enjoy:
Thanks as always for dropping by
With love and light
Christine xx
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Christine Collister 