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Drag Queens, Dragging Days
Jun. 24th, 2007 11:11 pmSo, I was invited by an old friend & her husband, at the last minute, to go to a fund-raising dinner in Paddington on Friday night.
Having arranged to meet at an up-market pizza restaurant, before proceeding to Paddington RSL for the evening proper, the adventure started. First & foremost, I should have known better than to trust the directions given. I've been on the receiving end of her directions before & wound up everywhere in Canberra (& Queanbeyan) except where we had to be. So, having been told that the place had a huge sign outside making it "impossible to miss"... & after catching a bus past the place once & walking past it twice, I finally found my old friend on the pavement outside this supposed landmark location, texting me to find out where the hell I was. At this point, it occurred to ask why, if it was a fund-raising dinner, we were having up-market pizza & nice red wine somewhere else entirely. The answer... don't ask.
But then, having arrived at the RSL & been told that the only food on offer was from their bistro downstairs from the function room, I was quite grateful for the arrangement. So, on with the show, which was to benefit the Kirketon Road Centre - a Drug & Alcohol medical centre in Kings Cross, which has been operating for 20 years. A "Cabaret" show was the theme for the evening, hosted by Vanessa Wagner a drag queen I remember from years ago & have never found funny. However, the talents shown by the staff of the centre included mediaeval madrigal singing, showtune crooning & exhibition tango dancing. Not quite professional, but well above Red Faces or The Gong Show standard.
Parting company with the old friends at about 11pm, I headed down into Oxford St proper to meet up with SarinG at the NYPD pizza joint for... well, more pizza of course. Thence to the bar where she works for cheap drinks, loud music & people watching, before pouring myself into a taxi & directing him northwards.
Work on Saturday was notable only for how much time I spent hanging around the slow-combustion fireplace trying to keep warm.
No such trouble later in the evening at Reynardo's never-too-late-for-a-birthday party, where, outside, the new BBQ was in full swing & a brazier of coals kept the rain & cold at bay. The fare was as varied & copious as always at her evenings & the company was equally diverse. I ended up at the dining room table with LederHosen, SarinG & a couple of new acquaintances, discussing everything from Pirate typewriters (R!), to a new method of distance measurement involving the size of your average Westfield shopping centre.
A lazy, rainy day today. Breakfast at the local, then a quick trip to the MegaMall with SarinG for film development, DVD shopping & holding her back in Target from the display of Hello Kitty electrical devices ~ including DVD players, clock radios & a car adaptor for iPods. All of which are bright pink, with that bloody cat's expressionless, beribboned face all over them. I'll doubtless get into trouble for saying that...
An afternoon & evening of DVD watching & now, having braved the about-to-be-becoming-foggy Sydney roads, there's a bottle of red to finish before hitting the hay.
Having arranged to meet at an up-market pizza restaurant, before proceeding to Paddington RSL for the evening proper, the adventure started. First & foremost, I should have known better than to trust the directions given. I've been on the receiving end of her directions before & wound up everywhere in Canberra (& Queanbeyan) except where we had to be. So, having been told that the place had a huge sign outside making it "impossible to miss"... & after catching a bus past the place once & walking past it twice, I finally found my old friend on the pavement outside this supposed landmark location, texting me to find out where the hell I was. At this point, it occurred to ask why, if it was a fund-raising dinner, we were having up-market pizza & nice red wine somewhere else entirely. The answer... don't ask.
But then, having arrived at the RSL & been told that the only food on offer was from their bistro downstairs from the function room, I was quite grateful for the arrangement. So, on with the show, which was to benefit the Kirketon Road Centre - a Drug & Alcohol medical centre in Kings Cross, which has been operating for 20 years. A "Cabaret" show was the theme for the evening, hosted by Vanessa Wagner a drag queen I remember from years ago & have never found funny. However, the talents shown by the staff of the centre included mediaeval madrigal singing, showtune crooning & exhibition tango dancing. Not quite professional, but well above Red Faces or The Gong Show standard.
Parting company with the old friends at about 11pm, I headed down into Oxford St proper to meet up with SarinG at the NYPD pizza joint for... well, more pizza of course. Thence to the bar where she works for cheap drinks, loud music & people watching, before pouring myself into a taxi & directing him northwards.
Work on Saturday was notable only for how much time I spent hanging around the slow-combustion fireplace trying to keep warm.
No such trouble later in the evening at Reynardo's never-too-late-for-a-birthday party, where, outside, the new BBQ was in full swing & a brazier of coals kept the rain & cold at bay. The fare was as varied & copious as always at her evenings & the company was equally diverse. I ended up at the dining room table with LederHosen, SarinG & a couple of new acquaintances, discussing everything from Pirate typewriters (R!), to a new method of distance measurement involving the size of your average Westfield shopping centre.
A lazy, rainy day today. Breakfast at the local, then a quick trip to the MegaMall with SarinG for film development, DVD shopping & holding her back in Target from the display of Hello Kitty electrical devices ~ including DVD players, clock radios & a car adaptor for iPods. All of which are bright pink, with that bloody cat's expressionless, beribboned face all over them. I'll doubtless get into trouble for saying that...
An afternoon & evening of DVD watching & now, having braved the about-to-be-becoming-foggy Sydney roads, there's a bottle of red to finish before hitting the hay.
