20 September 2018 at 10:28 pm (Surry Hills, Australia)
It’s not that I’ve led a double life. Not really.
It’s more like several, sequential, sometimes-overlapping (but often not) lives.
I was back in Canada recently, where my parents are (finally) starting to think about moving out of the home I grew up in.
But the side effect of that is, everything in the house has to go someplace else; so the things I left behind, when I went overseas “for a year” (in 1996), now need to be dealt with, sorted through, decided on. And, being a filer - someone who files things - I could hardly just throw everything out.
So one of those bags that came back from that trip was full of paper - and now it’s here. And it still needs to be dealt with…
13 September 2018 at 8:02 pm (Surry Hills, Australia)
Spring’s arriving.
Sydney’s warming up, flowers are blooming, and beaches are starting to fill up with sun-seekers, and even swimmers.
A birthday lunch on the north side of the bridge took us to the sandy shore, and the signs of the summer to come were everywhere to be seen.
The sun’s getting hard, again. The shadows are crisp and dark, without a cloud in the sky.
Spring’s arrived.
6 September 2018 at 3:40 pm (Surry Hills, Australia)
Sometimes, it's just the lines.
The intersections & collisions. The mix of new and old, of sun and shade, of hand-painted and computer-created - and, once in a while, a burst of something organic.
I guess because I've been away recently, the lines of Sydney are fresh to me again…
30 August 2018 at 5:08 pm (Surry Hills, Australia)
It's early. But I'm late.
People are off to work, I've got an appointment on the other side of our neighbourhood - but the light is good, and I can't help making myself just that little bit late as I walk.
Everyone else is rushing, but I go in fits and starts - I'm a fast walker any any time, but then I'll stop suddenly when something catches my eye, the shadows mingle, the angles line up, the dog has David Bowie eyes, whatever.
So I'm going at a relatively good pace; except, of course, when I'm not.
And...somehow, I've misjudged it…
August 27th, 2018 at 16.23 pm (Motherwell, Scotland)
By Derek Clark
Late nights, early mornings. 2 am bed, 5 am awake. Most of my adult life has been this constant struggle. A morning person mixed with the musician time. It was easier when I was younger, but it gets more difficult as each year passes. This might be eased with a siesta, but I don't do afternoon snoozing.
25 August 2018 at 2:10 pm (Surry Hills, Australia)
A week is a long time in politics, and in life.
This time last week, we were in Canada, it was summer, the days were long - and we knew who was running the country back home in Australia.
Over the course of this week, we've spent 24h in transit, a week trying to adjust our internal clocks (finally with some success overnight); and 5 days watching our parliament being brought to a halt by internal struggles, and the party in charge attempting to choose a new leader - finally with some success overnight…
18 August 2018 at 01:54am (Toronto, Canada)
The sky is calling. It's time to go.
There's no clearer sign that a trip is ending than the email from your airline saying 'check in online for your flight tomorrow!'
The packing has been going on all day; and at the same time, I'm drawn back to the details of where we are, the particulars of this place, which may or may not be here when I'm next in this country. So my focus is split between putting things in bags, and appreciating my surroundings one last time…
August 17, 2018 at 7:05am (Motherwell, Scotland)
By Derek Clark
Every day seems like groundhog day, but different each time. I've been making adjustments to this pedal board for months, ironing out problems by removing pedals and replacing them with solutions. A mic preamp, a monitor mixer, graphic EQ. It always looks so over the top for saxophone and a little bit of guitar, but it's all relevant. I hope it's finished. I'll find out soon.
Then a short intermission in groundhog day to go to the opticians to get my eyes tested. My eyesight has got worse since my last check, but I already knew that. I take a quick look at the kids section because that's where I choose my glasses from, due to my tiny cranium. But I'm not in the mood for change these days and I ask the optician to find me the exact same Ray-Bans I have at the moment.
I format memory cards and charge batteries for a shoot on Saturday and then the kids come home from the first day of school, showing mum the new timetable as they grab the first thing that's edible. It's official, the holidays are over. The recent groundhog day is about to become more like the old groundhog day. Pretty soon dance and music classes will begin again and we'll settle in for the winter.
11 August 2018 at 9:24am (Toronto, Canada)
I'm home.
Well, it's one of my homes - it feels like I have three, really: in Sydney, Toronto, and Pointe au Baril. But this is where I spent the most time, growing up.
This house has been here longer than I have; my parents bought it in 1962, and have somehow stayed here all that time - while I can't even remember all my addresses in the last 20 years, theirs has remained fixed…