The week that someone in the UK tried to help me speak...Australian.
What happened last week this week
Freelance journalism is these days mostly ghosting, when you do land a commission being paid late and trying to make sure and hope that your stories aren’t stolen in-between. It’s never been so bad. I’m being honest not to moan - it’s the truth -but in a bid to also help others in case they think it’s only them finding it challenging.
So seeing my friend Peter from Uganda, who back in 2014 used some of my reporting in his asylum application and has now made a new life in the Netherlands, last week really made the exhaustion and frustration worth it.
I had such a good time on my birthday trip. One of the highlights was going on the Eurostar. I could sit on a train for days (I have) but especially it.
I love the Netherlands and the Dutch. Someone also told me I’d love Utrecht, which I hadn’t been to. I did. (According to this it’s the fastest-growing and healthiest city in the Netherlands plus the happiest). I didn’t see very much of the city, but I loved seeing the design of the mall and the train station alone.
The hostel that I stayed at, Bunk, in a renovated church, was one of the best that I've ever been to. (I should know). The funky co-working space actually made me want to work on a Saturday night. Sleeping in a small box or a “pod” in a dorm didn't look very comfortable at all at first. But it was definitely the best sleep I’ve ever had in a hostel. The mattress was so comfy and I didn't hear a single person next to me.
I also went to The Hague. To be honest, I thought it would be like Canberra. But I soon learnt that it’s very cosmopolitan. And much bigger than I thought. Highlights were visiting the Mauritshuis, where I saw the Girl with a Pearl Earring painting by Johannes Vermeer. Unfortunately I didn’t get all the way up the Binnenhof viewing towner (it was shaking to be fair) given my fear of heights which is getting worse with each year, or even get to the Peace Palace but there was too much to do. I was also trying to listen to a virtual summit at the same time so was exhausted. (I did however get to the Tulip Museum, and the cheese one - and took plenty of free samples. And I went to the beach. Who knew the the Dutch did such good beaches?!)
One of the only things that I’d fault the Netherlands on is that you do have to book the museums six weeks in advance. So I didn’t get to see the Anne Frank House but I did go to the Van Gogh The Immersive Experience which was spectacular. My only regret is that I wished I was a bit more present and sat on a beanbag on the floor instead of a chair and thinking about all the other things I wanted to do and would I get time. Here’s a clip below:
I only went for three days and was trying to see too much, but it was the best birthday that I’ve had in years.
On Tuesday, I went to a freelancers charity meet up in Maidstone, Kent, and made some nice new contacts. We had lunch in Frederic Bistro, a French restaurant. On the way back to the station I saw Iggy the Iguanodon, which everyone from the area is quite rightly proud of. The fossilized remains of an Iguanadon were actually dug-up in Maidstone in 1834.
I’ve been trying to do as much as I can in London while I get the chance before the weather turns nasty but also before I go to Oz next month for a break. Considering I was also sick last week I did well. Last Tuesday night I went to a talk at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London - Afghanistan three years on: resilience in the face of gender oppression. The speakers were Laurie Bristow (Hughes Hall, Cambridge University, formerly FCDO), Richard Bennett (UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan), Zahra Joya (Rukhshana Media), Amie Ferris-Rotman (News Lines Magazine).
I’m not going to write too much about this, but for any one interested here’s what Zahra told the audience people can do to help: focus on the voices of women and girls of Afghanistan especially. They also need to hear what the international can’t do for them - not just what they can. Afghanistan women are also fighting for basic human rights, Zahra stressed. They need space on the negotiating table.
On Thursday I went to a small Substack meet up in Notting Hill with Sarah Wilson, an Australian writer best-known for I Quit Sugar and This One Wild and Precious Life among others. It was my first Substack meet up.
Sarah Wilson fascinates and inspires me. I enjoyed her previous book First, We Make the Beast Beautiful. Her activism is admirable. But I also love that she’s living a completely unconventional life for a woman her age. (She turned 50 last year and soon after moved to Paris). I adored her recent guide to the city in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) in which she made some interesting comments about why she left Australia and being nomadic. And all her hiking adventures sound amazing.
There were about ten people (all women) at the meet up and we went around the table and introduced ourselves and any one could ask a question. I have to be honest I first thought that Sarah must be working for Substack but then I realised she is very keen to create a community on here.
I was super impressed that such a successful writer was doing this, not charging anything for it and not trying to sell anything. I asked her what she thought of the idea that journalists should not be activists, an issue which I’ll write about later.
Sarah also spoke during a session about beauty during the HowTheLightGetsIn festival that I’ve been at today (Sunday) on Hampstead Heath. I have so much to say about it , so I will try to do a summary on it for the end of next week.
A couple of other things:
I am most likely the most Australian-sounding person in London (apart from former prime minister Julia Gillard). But this week I received a press release or some sort of promotional email about using an AI tool to come up with Australian phases, which referenced the reality show I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! With a UK signature on it. The reason it was funny is because not only can I speak Australian (the last time I checked), but the show is filmed in the town where I'm from. It’s definitely not the jungle.
Finally, I loved this piece on here by Emma Rowley and reading it was really a trip down memory lane back to my first year in London in 2007 when I worked for a certain local news agency which supplied copy to the papers, but mostly the tabloids. In fact I started to write my own piece last week, but to give you a preview here’s one of the first ever stories I was sent out on. (Not my actual story. I can’t find the original one because the paper I was sent out for has, er, since been shut down. But this will give you an idea of the topic and kinds of things that I had to do. And speaking of speaking “Ooohstrayan”, I “doorstepped” with a very broad Australian accent, too. And without wearing the right clothes, in the snow, at first. Of course I have many thoughts about this - I have covered mostly human rights for the past 12 years. But I’ll write about this later).
Going forward, I’m trying to do one post mid-week on a particular topic and then another one at the end on what I’ve been doing (or not doing or just thinking about) during the week. Hope you all have a great week every one!