Dirty ducks and galloping geese

My favourite radio programme.



Absolutely filthy. That was the only description I could come up with for the ducklings that I was minding for Julie while she was away. They looked glum and no wonder. Not only were they spattered with water, mud and muck but so was everything within six inches of their crate.

I wasn't sure what to do with them while I cleaned out their box, so I ended up secreting them in the wheely-bin (fortunately I hadn't yet filled it with rubbish for this week's collection). But, since it was no use putting dirty ducklings into a clean crate, I had to wash them one-by-one in a basin of warm water.

Needless to say, they were a bit startled by this, but I took a look at them an hour later and things seemed fine. They looked clean and dry and were curled up together on the thick layer of kitty-litter I'd used to line their box.

Meanwhile the gosling is growing up rapidly. She now looks like a young goose rather than a baby. I was amused the first couple of times I took her out into the driveway by the manner in which she followed along at my heels. I could walk down to the front gate and know where she was without looking by the frantic slap-slap-slap sound of webbed feet on the concrete.

But the last time I took her out she was more interested in grazing than following me, and when I went to scoop her up she looked as though she was going to try and waddle off in the other direction. I'm not sure that I'm ready to let her out if she's inclined to go off on her own like that.

I've been on a literal "wild goose chase" in my time but that's a story for another time. Suffice to say I'd rather not repeat the experience.

---

Rain for the last few days. This is the sort of weather we usually get around the time of the Royal Hobart Show!

Feeding the animals at Julie's house is a muddy experience at the moment. The horse knows what to do – he was waiting in the shed when I took him his lunch today, a nice dry spot to eat.
Hence the expression "horse sense" I guess.

---

Can you believe that after a long period of cinematic abstinence I've been to two movies in a week? I won a double pass to the new big-budget film biography of Cole Porter De-Lovely starring Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd. It's not exactly a musical (the main focus is on Porter's private life and its difficulties) but many of his songs appear on the soundtrack, sung by contemporary singers like Diana Kraal and Alanis Morisette.

I was initially taken-aback when I collected the tickets and found the screening was at the Eastlands Cinema in Rosny. I hadn't been there before and noticed a few differences to the picture palaces I was used to in times gone by. The seats had more support, almost like on an airliner, and the screen was bigger than I'm used to. Much bigger! After years of watching films on television and DVD, it was startling to be able to see every line and blemish in the close-ups of the actors' faces.

Tim Cox from ABC Radio introduced the screening. A couple of days later I woke up to hear him on the radio reading my e-mail about the movie and agreeing with my suggestion that it would be interesting to hear from somebody who'd never heard of Cole Porter before they saw the film.

In fact he's asked one of the reporters from the rural news show to do it. I hope we don't get a critique of the agriculture in Porter's garden and the blood-lines of his horses!

---

It would have been nice to see the high-profile guitar quartet Saffire, who were appearing at the Federation Concert Hall tonight. But seeing that was an expensive show on the other side of town, I was content to go round the corner to the free show at the Moonah Arts Centre.

This week we got to hear Musique A Trois, a group made up of pianist Philippa Moyes, bassoonist Alan Greenlees and soprano Charlotte McKercher. They performed an eclectic mixture of French music, mostly centered on birds, animals and the countryside. All the usual names were on the play-list – Saint-Saens, Ravel, Debussy, Satie and Faure (along with a couple I'd never heard of, like Michael Starokadomsky!).

It was all a lot of fun. McKercher was interviewed by the local press before the show, and described the music as ranging "from reflective and lyrical through to very witty and frivolous. It's a very light, not very serious program that should appeal to a lot of people. Most of the music was written for salon performances for small, intimate venues and the setting at the Moonah Arts Centre is perfect for this type of music."

---

The "young adult" demographic is doing well for Australian-produced science-fiction serials this month on television. Not only do we have the space drama Silversun (inexplicably running on both the ABC and Southern Cross) but today the WIN network premiered the new serial Foreign Exchange in the 4 p.m. time slot.

This is an amusing Twilight-Zone-like concept about a disgruntled teenager in Western Australia who stumbles over a space-warp that lets him step from Australia to Ireland in a split-second. It is, needless to say, a co-production between Australia's Southern Star studio and Ireland's RTE. Has potential, though it lacks the raw dramatic power of Parallax or Thunderstone