Happy discoveries

As you can see The Australian Choreographic Centre did indeed still have red bubbles. Andrew Garrett, to be precise and only $4 a glass. Can life get much better than this?

The performance was mesmerising and the costume for Bluebird breathtaking in the first performance (although the pleb in me did start getting images of Eurovision* at one stage as she ripped the skirt off and had to refrain from bursting into a rousing rendition of "You've got to speed it up, and then you've got to slow it down..." )

Seriously, though I would have to rank this as one of my favorite Risky performances. The second piece, Radha, was a re-interpretation of a performance created by Ruth St Denis in 1906 and was introduced by a talk by Dr Garry Lester, a dance historian who explained some of the background of the piece.

Now I thought I had a passing interest in ballet and knew all the main historic figures but I'd never heard of Ruth St Denis. So I'm intrigued and know I have some serious reading and catching up to do.

There was no mention made of any talk afterwards and it was only that I cheekily said to one of the staff as I left "It just doesn't seem the same without the talk" that we discovered there was indeed a talk but they had forgotten to announce it. So more bubbly was bought and we trooped back into the (now almost empty) theatre to hear from Liz Lea about what she was trying to achieve with the pieces.

So there was my evening. And I'd consider it frugal: $15 for the ticket, $8 for the bubbles.

This morning I woke up obscenely early. I had money in my wallet. This meant only one thing - a trip to Jamison Trash and Treasure Markets at 7am.Where I found a woman selling off what looked like her entire craft stash very very cheaply. I explained that I wasn't allowed to buy anything as I was doing Use What You Have Month (at which point the woman scrabbling through a tub of threads next to me said "Divorce him!") and I scuttled quickly onwards.

You'll never guess what I did buy though. Did I hear you say books? My how clever you are!But just to mix things up a bit I also bought some videos and some CDs.

From top to bottom:

CDs
* Sophie Ellis Bextor, Read My Lips: $4
* Triple J Hottest 100 Vol 4 (double CD): $1
* The The, Infected:$1
* U2, Rattle and Hum: $1

Videos
* The Last Goon Show of All (for Dad): $6
* High Fidelity: $5
* Chicken Run: $3
* Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory: $3

Books
* Madonna biography: $5
* Photoshop guide book $4
* Katharine Hepburn biography $2

And then, just as I was leaving I saw this:Acting very nonchalantly I asked the seller "How much for the old bike?" They said "What are you offering?" I pulled out my wallet, counted all my remaining money, looked up and said "$18.80?" expecting to be told to bugger off (especially as I'd seen another old push bike at an earlier stall and they wanted $40 plus I'd also seen one at the Jamison YMCA op shop a couple of weeks back for $45)

But the seller said OK! So I'm no longer the only person in Canberra who doesn't own a push bike. And look! It has a cute springy seat, very cute handles and cool shiny mudguards.

Now all I need (apart from the get it serviced, new tires and a helmet) is a little basket for the front with a daisy attached and then I can ride to work this saving $21.40 a week on bus tickets.

I wonder if I can be bothered painting it black with white spots?

(Soundtrack: Sophie Ellis Bextor, Read my lips)

(*speaking of Eurovision can someone in the USA tell me if it is televised there? Come on, it's a HUGE country with a kazillion TV channels - surely someone's broadcasting it? Or do I have to get my friends to tape it and watch it when I get home?)