This piece is several things.
It’s a big ‘thankyou’ to Anne Cahill Lambert for sharing her holiday snaps and thoughts with those of us who have chosen to follow her on Facebook.
It is a case study in the conversion of a Luddite to an understanding and appreciation of what Facebook is and does.
And it is a demonstration of the joy and potential of vicarious pleasure.
Being informed about the holiday that Anne and Rod have enjoyed over the past 60 days has connected and touched me many times and at a number of levels. It is clear that there are degrees of vicarious pleasure – hot, warm, cool – determined by the extent to which the active person’s observation of a particular place or event reflects or matches the experience of the other – the passive person experiencing things through another.
So, for instance, I gained some limited (or neutral) vicarious pleasure from the pictures and descriptions of my daughter’s trip to Machu Picchu. But having never been there myself, my enjoyment of what I saw through her eyes was limited – more cerebral than emotional.
Anne and Rod, on the other hand, have been to and reported on places with which I have a strong connection. Some of what they have observed and said has reminded me of things that were once dear to me and that had to be left behind as a part of becoming Australian: historic streetscapes, stone walls, green fields and castles.
When Anne was CEO of the Women’s and Children’s Hospitals Association, we shared a tenancy in a building owned by what was then the Australian Hospitals Association. Times were tough: Anne had one half of the broom cupboard, I had the other. It was a close relationship. We were both herding cats, had similar political approaches and fed off each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Anne then contracted ‘an incurable lung disease’ – which of course she eventually beat, after a huge amount of effort, energy and determination. Her strength of purpose was always an inspiration, whether in her personal travails, as an advocate for oxygen and organ donation, or as a gun for hire on health consumer issues. On winter weekends I sometimes call in on them for a beer after my hockey at Lyneham.
We are close.
Anne just had time before she and Rod left for their holiday to impart the best bits of Retirement 101 in which she lectures, gratis, to anyone who will listen. I have tried to put her lessons into action.
Between 28 June and 24 August Anne posted to Facebook about their holiday 55 times. These posts included 473 photos, 82 of which (17.3 per cent) feature Rod. Only 6 of the 473 (1.3 per cent) include Anne herself. That’s a poor example of the gender agenda.
The earliest highlights include a photo of what Anne describes as “high tech border protection” near Helsinki: a naive and forlorn looking sign standing on a grassy rise with an arrow pointing to ‘Passport control’.
On 4 July there was a photo of both Rod and Anne, with Big Ben in the background, in which Anne is wearing a Gift of Life hat. (She never lets a chance go by!)
Another memorable shot has Mahatma Gandhi watching – with strong approval, surely – a small demonstration close to the Houses of Parliament.
Anne succeeds in embedding her record of where she and Rod are at a particular moment into notable events elsewhere, as with the picture (from a TV) of Andy Murray in the fifth set against Tsonga, “while Wales is playing Portugal in the European cup”.
Manchester’s architecture surprises her, including the impressive facades of Carlton House and the Corn Exchange, and the walkways between the Town Hall and council offices which, to me, look a little like the Bridge of Sighs! “It’s breathtaking looking at buildings that were built hundreds of years before my own city”.
From Manchester, where Alpha worked in a music specialist school just a block from the Cathedral, they go to Edinburgh, where Anne takes stunning shots of and from the castle. Some connections: brother Peter went to university in Edinburgh; Pella and I went to The Fringe Festival; Jonathan and Katrina now live there; Parri passes through with tour groups.
The photographic record Anne takes on board the Royal Yacht Britannia is impressive, with its gorgeous sitting room. From there they went to Greyfriars Bobby at 34 Candlemaker Row, for Rod to continue “eating pies around the UK”.
In York they come across Dame Judi Dench walk. Yes: she was born near York.
Moving south they visit Bob at the Wold Gliding Club, who winters at Benalla. Anne sums up the complexities of the enclosure movement and hundreds of years of the English countryside: “I love the use of hedges to divide paddocks”.
On 16 July: “When you think an old building can’t be any better or worse than you’ve seen elsewhere, then visit Cambridge.” Connection: The uni graduations they interrupted there were only a few days later than the ones in which Scott took part. While in Cambridge Anne and Rod busy themselves “looking for Inspector Morse, DS Lewis and avoiding murder”.
Next evening they saw the Corrs in London at Kew Gardens in London. Tad and I saw the Corrs at the National Folk Festival years ago when they were just starting out.
One of the strongest coincidences is the fact that, in Paris, Anne and Rod came across Le Jardin du Luxembourg (23 July). Our family have stayed several times in a cousin’s unit just across the Boulevard Saint-Michele from the gardens. We all have fond memories of Le Jardin.
The last stage of the Tour de France hit the Champs-Elysées on Sunday 24 July. Were Anne and Rod secretly watching before they set off for Spain?
Rod features heavily in the reports and pictures from San Sebastián between 26 July and 8 August. He represents Australia in the world unicycling championships, and proves to be the 19th fastest (50+ male) in the 800 metres, with a time of 3 minutes 31.9 seconds. He also competes in the hockey and, in the wet, in the 10 km race. Number 301, Rod Lambert “comes home with a wet sail, shirt and shorts”, notes his doting supporter. Connection: Pella spent time in San Sebastián last year.
Then – what a day! – the two of them celebrate their 29th wedding anniversary, still in San Sebastian. There’s a lovely selfie of Anne and Rod – with red wine.
En route back to England Anne is reminded of some of the world’s current realities. “We saw the refugee camp in Calais. Overwhelmingly sad.”
From London they fly to Dublin. More green fields and hedges welcome them. In a pub in Kinsale they catch an ad hoc performance of The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, just a few days after the Pacific Boy Choir show the piece off as their Australian speciality when they perform it during their visit to Canberra.
Back in England, near Windsor on 22 August, we see (at last) a nice portrait of Anne and Rod together. They pass through scenic Bourton-on-the-Water on the way to Cardiff, resist feeding the feckin’ ducks, as requested, and in Cardiff they see the Welsh National Assembly.
Soon they will be back in their refurbished, well-appointed pied–à–terre in Canberra. Anne will want to worry about the Hawks’ form. But we all know that hers will be immaculate. Thank you so much Anne!