for some reason, i feel the need to let you all know what my plans are over the next little while. maybe it’s just in case we have an opportunity to catch up along the line. or maybe you’ll wanna tune out once this little baby gets on the road and i need to give you forewarning. maybe i just need to clarify it for myself – who knows, but here’s my plan, which may or may not go awry in the next 6 months:
next week – jump on a plane, arrive in dubai on thursday – at 5:40 am!! stretch the friendship of one of my bestest buddies by having her pick me up from the airport on her day off. she has an itinerary planned which includes checking out the sharjah biennale, gasbagging over cups of tea, checking out the blue souk, dancing at the palm ethiopian nightclub, more of the biennale, a bit of the desert, more gasbagging and then i’ll be spent.
next sunday – arrive at heathrow at a very sensible 2pm and do my best to go through customs unflustered. apparently the heathrow express now has wi-fi! i’ll be trying it just for the novelty.
staying in finsbury park with my friends matt and mariella.
that week – spend time job hunting, opening a bank account, buying oyster cards and mobile sim cards. checking out the sights and sounds. maybe drop into coffee morning and resist the urge to currency convert. use as much australian slang as i can possibly squeeze in – just for fun.
the week after that sometime – jump on the train to paris for a night (hopefully). my friend russell is in paris on holidays before he heads of to Cannes to review the film festival.
send my shirt to TDC for offical interesting 2007 conference wear (see below).
rest of may – try to get work in london/working in london, trying to find a place to stay. checking out bands, start some guerilla works, go to loads of galleries. adjust to the climate (i don’t care if you think it’s spring, it will still be fucking cold) and hopefully catch up with loads of friends i have there.
june – interesting 2007. i have my ticket and my blue badge waiting. i’ll get to catch up with NP, marcus, rob m (i think?) gemma and a swag of other new kids on the blog (NKOTB).
july – well i was going to head to madchester for the weekend. i have a guilty love for the arctic monkeys and they’ll be playing there, but tickets are all sold out already. i’ll have to go to cardiff instead. hmm. wales.
august – spend time enjoying the summer sun. work, do more guerilla stuff. document and do research. the street art and renegade artists should be out in force in summer. resist homesickness and the urge to boast about australian summers.
september – whirlwind going east: trying to catch a bunch of art festivals on the continent:
venice, italy for a few days while the biennale is on. try not to blow my mind.
munich for a couple of days (catching up with marcus, saying hello to gilbert & george),
then to linz, austria for ars electronica.
back to munich to fly to athens for the inaugural athens biennale for a couple of days. interview a few artists/curators there too.
then back to london.
late september – catch up with my very good friend jem, who will be in the south of france for his sister’s wedding. i might just have to head over there again. or we’ll meet up in london.
october – recover from all that galivanting and then head back to melbourne via dubai (and maybe singapore) at the end of the month.
so – if you’re in any of those places, let me know – would love to catch up. if not, well, sucked in. i’ll be posting as regularly as i can and i might even send you a postcard if i’m feeling chipper.