The Day That Was - June 15th, 2011

I woke up this morning at 8, and turned on the heater in my room. It was a cold morning, and I got out of bed and had a bread roll, a bowl of rice bubbles and soy milk, and a cup of tea for breakfast: 7/10. I listed to Elephant (fantastic album) and Anti-Tiger over breakfast, before hoping on my bike and cycling to the library. I did internet things on their free wifi and browsed the dvds. Around 11:30, I walked down Victoria Mall. It's currently home to the Coburg Carnivale, which is a really nice cultural community event. I bought a cup of veggie soup for $1.50 (yum: 8/10), and walked down Sydney Rd to find the act of the day - King Marong and Safara. They were an African drumming duo, and it was great to hear and watch them - they were infectiously happy and rhythmic: 10/10. I drank my soup and wandered around Coburg Market. I bought some nuts and fruit, and confirmed that I really love the suburb. It's amazingly multi-cultural, and I really like walking down the street hearing all manner of middle eastern and  Mediterranean languages. 10/10.
I cycled home and had a peanut butter sandwich. I checked my map book and headed off to Oak Park station. It's the site of an art installation which is causing some outrage in the community. It consists of orange plastic fencing. All objections I've read have been frustratingly stupid: 'it's not art' - yes, it is; 'it's just plastic fencing' - in the same way a painting's just paint?; 'they should've spent that money on roads' - $10,000 is a small fraction of roading costs. And it goes on like this. The sculpture was okay - parts had been cut out to make pictures of birds, leaves, teapots etc: 8/10.
On the return ride home, I went to Fawkner Crematorium and Memorial Park, which is massive. I walked around, and it was a beautiful Autumn afternoon: 10/10. I picked up some abandoned plastic flowers and decorated barren graves. I found the site of John Batman's internment. And factoid of the day - I learnt that the Cemeteries and Crematoria Regulations 2005 deems it an offence to play sport in a cemetery. Though as I left I saw a father and son kicking a football.
Back at home, I sat on the porch in the sun and finished reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It was great, highly recommended: 9/10. I then cycled to the library to return the book, and bought some baking ingredients at the supermarket. I was angry at how busy the roads were: 2/10. Back home, I made some broccoli and chickpea pasta (9/10), and my flatmate Paul and I watched a few episodes of Scrubs. We then biked down to the Drum Hotel to watch the State of Origin rugby league. We had a few beers, and it was a really good game. Plus, NSW ('my team', I guess) won: 8/10.
We headed home after the game, and I started to read 'The Deep End' issue of Granta. A pretty good day: 8/10