Wednesday 30th October 2019 - Myer AGM

Well this will be interesting to see how many shareholders actually turn up at this year's AGM and for a number of reasons.

It's in Sydney for the first time well at least the first time I have been attending them ie when the share price started plummeting - yes I only start attending AGMs when a company is in trouble!

So where was it held this year in Sydney? - at Dockside The Balcony @ Cockle Bay at 2.30 pm today - it's been a while since I attended an AGM here - the last time I attended one here was I think when I held MYOB shares and the company was a publicly listed company. Yep that long ago!

So why the change from holding the Myer AGM at The Mural Hall at the Myer Melbourne store to having it in a random location in Sydney ( not even walking distance from Myer Sydney store on Pitt St Mall) ? Maybe it had to do with "There's no such thing as a free lunch!" ie a cost cutting exercise. It was actually explained at the AGM that it was because they wanted to make Myer more "National" to allow more shareholders from Sydney to attend the AGM who can't travel to Melbourne or do not reside in Melbourne and to move it away from the 3 busiest months of the year towards Christmas/New Year ie November December and January. The annual AGM's are usually live via a webcast for those who are unable to attend.

Same old story about dividends ( lack of them) and various company strategies to turn the company around in order to make it " profitable again - yes no increase in profit from sales but cutting staff to a bare minimum who can never be found on the floor to serve you and have no product knowledge in fact not having the products and selling off assets and reducing expenses will make a troubled company look better dividend wise.

No free lunch after the AGM but at least there was tea coffee water mini quiches and mini scones with jams and whipped cream after the meeting and I got to ask Mr Housell in person a few of my questions which I was too scared to ask in public during question time! (including how can I apply for a job at Myer!). Questions I asked were 1. What is the difference between the My Myer online store and the Myer Market online store - in sumnary they are completely separate but Myer is working to somehow intergrate them both. The Myer Market online store sells products that are only avasilabke online and not in stores however the My Myer online store sells products that are also available in stores. There is no overlap and it does not mean larger items are only available online on the Myer Market store and smaller items in stores and on My Myer. 2. How do you determine which charities fund raisers or donations Myer will support? and has Myer ever considered sponsoring more well known events? There is a committee that is responsible for this and suggestions can be submitted for consideration. 3. There have been several pop ups how successful have these been - The Harry Potter pop up you mentioned is doing really well with a long queue on Saturdays just to get in. How about the pop up mini ice skating rink at Myer. Was that in Melbourne? No in Sydney - he wasn't sure about this - he thought it did ok but not to tge extent of the Harry Potter pop up in Melbourne ( currently open).

I am disappointed though as after the AGM I usually take a walk around the Myer Melbourne store, buy something unique and then take a look at the Myer Christmas window. Oh well I'll be down to see the Harry Potter pop up store and the Myer Christmas window in November sometime during one of my trips down there.

I still like the previous Myer chairman. I found him more approachable.

No sign of Solomon Lew ( gee he has gone quiet and I did expect him to attend today) or his little legal possy. Question time was really brief and civilized this time round. And I was expecting a punch up again particularly after the class action ( I won't go into details refer news feeds online). Are Melbournians more uncouth then Sydneysiders? The venue where the AGM was held was only half full and there were a few late arrivals however nowhere enough to fill the empty seats up.

In summary this years Myer AGM was all rather BORING  with only the re election of 2 female board members ( the board now has an almost equal number of female to male members) and again the same old for against abstain in regards to remuneration and performance what ever!

4 pm end of meeting and time for refreshments and networking/ questions with the chairman board members and other Myer senior staff .

4.30 pm time to leave for home walk bus bus. Back to deal with my problematic fridge that I have been defrosting or at least trying to defrost yesterday and today hoping the ice has now melted down enough at least on the lefthand side of the freezer for the door of the fridge to close - I hope the tray and 2 towels I left in and around the fridge has been enough to catch and soak up all the water that will be leaking from the melting ice. I am looking for a replacement fridge as I don't have time to stay home all day waiting for someone to come and take a look at everything that doesn't work. Not even a response from the real estate over the 2 days - it is their fridge not mine and the fridge has had this problem since I moved in.

Work tomorrow.

Tuesday 29th October 2019 - Ramon's Last Jazz Workout class

I just had to go to Ramon's last Jazz Workout class. He won't be gone forever just 3 whole months as he is taking long service leave - he has been teaching jazz for as long as I can remember and I have been going to Sydney Dance Company Open Dance Classes for a very long time!. Again he joked about getting gender reassignment surgery saying " when I get back I'll look like this" cupping his hands on his chest to indicate the addition of breasts and flicking a blond wig he left the class briefly to find and put on before doing and saying what he said last week about liking the way he is. I think his students will miss him - Mardi Gras and all. Ramon took 2 photos of him with the class - one with the blonde wig on and the other without. I hope he posts it somewhere for everyone to see!

After Jazz class it was a quick bite to eat at a fast food place called The Hub House Diner on Broadway.  This is one of many student eatery joints. I have been past it on several occasions but have never tried it. The menu looked ok for a typical fast food joint ( someone once told me that student food is pretty good). I decided to try the basic young hen burger for $6. Why does a meal deal or combo always have to have an option of frys and a soft drink? The burger took about the same amount of time to make as any other fast food joint such as Maccas or KFC but was it as good to eat? In short no. When I received the takeaway burger it was as described a piece of Southern fried (brown meat) chicken with shredded lettuce and a honey mustard dressing. The packaging was more interesting then the burger itself. It was a pleated pull over piece of paper designed to wrap around the burger unlike the normal square or rectangular wrapping that other fast food burgers are wrapped in
before being placed in a plain white paper bag. So the chicken initially tasted like KFC chicken however the following bites became less chicken and more fried greasy batter - not nice to eat. Yes it was brown meat meaning drumstick or thigh fillet rather then breast meat. Now the shocker there was a hair in it! Either it was a hair or the " silk" from the root of the lettuce leaves which were very limp and looked as if they had not been washed. It was the look of loose lettuce leaves placed against hot chicken pieces and drizzled with honey mustard which I could not even taste. Not recommended. Rating 3/10.

I had to go shopping before my quick bite to eat at Broadway Shopping Centre for fruit and non perishables and seeing how much a small bar fridge is as a back up fridge. Yep I am having a huge problem with the bar fridge supplied.

In fact I am having all sorts of issues in my rental apartment ever since moving in - none vital except for my fridge which seems to only be cold on the lefthand side and is freezing up so severely on that side that I could not get the freezer compartment door open last night to get the ice cubes out. The ice cubes melted when I tried to defrost the freezer without sucess. I managed to get the freezer door open but now because of the build up on the left hand side of ice the whole fridge door won't shut. How long the door has not been closed properly I have no idea. I can't keep turning the temperature down  then back up again too long as the temperature in the fridge will rise above the safe level which is now what it is doing as the door won't close. The righthand side of the fridge is much warmer as well as there is less ice on that side of the freezer compartment. The top of the fridge keeps heating up and the fridge randomly makes funny popping sounds  and I just noticed the bottom part of the door seal is not suctioning closed only noticing this last night by looking down the lefthand side of the refrigerator. I have placed a refrigerator thermometer in the fridge from when I first moved in and kept a close eye on it all this time. It has been really unstable so I have been constantly adjusting the temperature control which I should not have to do. I did talk to the refridgerator repair person at the beginning but told him that I would monitor it. I have notified the real estate agent twice now but no response. I only have tomorrow morning off. Should have purchased that fridge today as a back up today - I have left the fridge to defrost - this unfortunately means eat or when in doubt chuck out!

Monday 28th October 2019 - Sculpture By The Sea

This blog is still a work in progress. Apologies I tried to upload some more photos and text and it crashed yet again on me. Happens all the time.

Ramarama Beach - The end of Sculpture By The Sea

Marks Park - The Sculpture At The Sea midway point , at least I think this photo was taken at the bottom of Mark's Park. It's these fitness stations that are popping up around the Bondi to Bronte coastal walk that are partially interfering with the future of the annual Sculpture By The Sea event coninuing to being held along this coast walkway.

Bondi Beach South - Starting point of Sculpture By The Sea , Bondi Baths & Bondi Icebergs

The annual Sculpture By The Sea exhibition between Bondi and Tamarama commenced last Thursday and is on until 10th November 2019.

It would have been packed on over the opening weekend as it was a really hot weekend. 

I decided not to go on Saturday and could not go on Sunday due to work but decided to go today. It was a sensible choice as it was not crowded or too hot and there was a breeze later in the afternoon cooling slightly later into the night (although my studio is always hot).

This year there were 111 sculptures on display although a few were still being installed or were absent. There were also a few repeat artists with slightly different art installations.

Below is a list of sculptures at this year's Sculpture By The Sea.

# 98 Pods

# 97 Column

# 96 Silent Hollows

# 95 Of Earth and Air

# 94 Lunar Shadow

# 92 Ghost - This sculpture was still being erected by the time I reached Tamarama Beach. When it was finally upright everyone clapped.

# 93 1001 Nacht

# 99 Transfiguration "Screw" XIV

# 100 Never Alone Throne

# 111 Sea Enemies 5

# 110 One Home

#107 Old friends.....a day at the beach. Somehow I don't think this is what this sculpture was suppose to look like.

# 106 Precious Moments - love it

# 102 Echos

# 109 Tripod - someone yells out "What kind of animal has 3 legs?"

# 103 Silence 1.2

# 91 The Sun Also Rises

# 101 Bird In Flight

# 90 Sky Is The Limit

# 105 Night Moves

# 104 Celest

# 89 Septem Oceanus Despoiled - is this meant to represent poo on the beach?

# 87 Kore that Awakening ( 2016)

Colossus Awakens ( 2016) 

# 88 Waiting for Rain

# 86 In the Grey of Daybreak

# 85 Vintage I Bush Truck - love this

# 84 Grace

# 83 Kuma Room - my favourite I want one but the Dunny was quite cool too!

# 82 Rhythms of Life

# 81 Thru

# 80 Ouroboros

# 78 Sea Garden

# 77 Filter

# 71 SEQUINtial Reflections

# 74 Siteplan 2026

#  70 At Ease

# 73 A Choir - just as well it was a windy day ( refer Youtube video)

# 72 Agamemnon

# 76 The Elements of Time 2018

#  75 More Than It Seems - love it

# 23 Viewfinder - another one of my favourites - one big upsidedown periscope 

# 22 Front Line (2014)

#  28 Transience - I have seen art installations by Cave Urban quite a few times previously on various sites and in different forms (refer Cave Urban on my old blog on Simplesite)

# 68 O.U.T.

# 69 Rosati's Butterfly

# 67 Cloud Dawn

#  66 Veiled

# Floating - Grounded Figure (2018)

# 64 Circle - Door to the Future ( C- 41)

# 61 Exception*

# 27 Yellow (2015) and Green (2012)

# 26 Between (2017)

# 25 Shelter

# 30 Emergent

# 34 Windstone

# 40 On Balance (point)

# 36 24.2m2 - The Great Dividing Range

# 35 Origin 19-2

# 29 Four

# 33 Floating (2018)

# 32 Kakukaku (Squares) (2018)

# 31 Paprika

# 45 Dune

# 46 Inside - Out Succah

# 44 Trace

# 49 Monolitus Domum

# 47 A Portable Territory & #  43 Village ( one of 6 reflective tables & benches scattered around the architectural type structures at Marks Park)

# 62 Life Support

# 63 Terpsichore's Tribute (2011/2019)

# 60 Urban Containment

# 59 Dunny

# 52 2030

# 57 Levitation

#  58 Lay Down and Shine

#51 Bird of Paradise

#56 The Water Carrier

#55 Rock. Paper. Scissors

#53 Capture and Store

# ????? could not identify this sculpture from 23rd edition of Sculpture By The Sea guide book

#42 Baptismos

#39 Angry Boy (2017)

#41 Tower for Jan Palach

#38 Pinktank Wreaked

#24 Oushi Zokei - Trajectory of Winds

#21 The Present Moment, this Moving World

#18 Voices at Dawn

#17 Time After Time No. 2

#16 Out of Reach

#15 Complex Nest

#14 Red Gum

#13 Divine Assembly #8, #9 & # 10

#11 Empires Dismantled

# 10 Kintsugi Coral

#9 Golden Age

#7 The Vague but Slightly Illuminated Eye of Perception

#8 Spilt Imprint

#6 Rain(2017)

#5 The Statue of Mad Liberty

#4 Level

#2 Shared Light

#3 190601

#1 Light & Gale

There is uncertainty of whether the annual Sculpture By Sea will continue to be at its current location due to issues with the local council. The alternative sites to run this free annual event I think could be Cockatoo Island if it does not clash with the Biennale of Sydney or an alternative option would be the smaller Goat Island to raise its tourism profile.

Rating:  8/10 Liked it but didn't have time to visit the Sculptures Gallery at Marks Park or queue to go inside The Dunny. There were some culptures that I missed that were listed in the guide book  and some saw but I could not identify from the guide book. 

Note apologies for not acknowledging the artists, the page keeps crashing more often and it has taken me 2 weeks to get to this point ie near completion. You can Google them or if paying a visit to Sculpture By The Sea, a guide can be purchased with cash or card for $12 at the information booths.