ALIA Board Blog

What does the ALIA President do on Sundays? Has a leisurely breakfast, catches up with family and friends, takes a long walk, reads, enjoys a glass of wine and a good meal, and ends the day feeling content, ready for the week ahead. This Sunday I am far from home but my routine has been remarkably similar.

I left Melbourne bound for Queensland mid morning. For me flying is dedicated to reading of the recreational variety; long ago I developed a rigid personal policy of no reports or business papers en route, why waste a dedicated space of total enjoyment where someone else runs around and makes the coffee? By the time we began our descent I’d finished my novel and had time to contemplate it. I did have a second book ready to go in the overhead locker but it was too much trouble to climb over the passenger in the aisle seat dig it out(besides which she was engrossed in her own book). On Sunday there’s no need to rush!

Brisbane is a great city to explore, even on a day with intermittent rain. Four hours later I had roamed far along the river, on foot and by ferry. There’s such a holiday feel about being in a different environment, especially when it’s sub-tropical. I wasn’t surprised that my travels took me to the beautiful State Library of Queensland building which hugs the river and looks across the water at the funky Brisbane City Library. Nor was I shocked to discover myself buying something in the Art Gallery store which is another favourite!

Here we are at the end of day 7. So how did my week conclude? Would you believe standing the middle of the aptly named Goodwill Bridge which spans the Brisbane River, soaked to the skin and laughing wildly with fellow ALIA Directors Graham Black and Philip Keane! Yes we shunned the offers of lifts and decided to be healthy and walk back to the hotel after dinner unaware that the heavens were about to open. Philip’s fold up umbrella and the badly broken one Graham had rescued from a dustbin were no match for the downpour and in the end we gave up retiring to a nearby pub and calling for a taxi.

As I write the rain has started again, a wondrous sound for this drought effected city, and the perfect lullaby on which to close.

Jan

Jan Richards, ALIA President

  librarydayinthelife

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 5:49 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.