Hit capacity

You know you’re getting old when you spend four hours on your feet at the launch of the 2026 Vivid Sydney program and can barely walk afterwards.

My hips and back were killing me and I was literally hobbling as I made my way to the bus.

I am very lucky I don’t have a job that requires me to stand every day. I’d be a Nurofen addict.

On the upside, the installations for Vivid Sydney’s Light Walk are looking very cool.

French multimedia artist Yann Nguema will bring his unique fusion of science, music and computer programming to the Sydney Opera House sails with a major new work called Opera Mundi. 

There will also be a spectacular laser installation called Molecule of Light. Standing 23 metres tall on three metal legs, a glowing 6.5-tonne meteorite will sit above Barangaroo Reserve, visible from Balmain and Chatswood.

And I’m fascinated by Cristal Palace, an open-air extravaganza of aerial acrobatics, dance and circus feats that will take place on the Sydney Opera House Forecourt.

Cristal Palace reimagines the Forecourt as a baroque ballroom, complete with a gigantic chandelier overhanging the stage that is home to an airborne wind orchestra.  

There will also be up to 22 drone shows above Cockle Bay. The crowds will go wild!

Yesterday started at 8am at the State Library of NSW, I tottered home at noon to take the dogs out for a wee, wrangled production of a corporate video highlights reel of the event that was finally approved at 4.50pm, then headed back into the city again at 5pm for a colleague’s farewell at Squire’s Landing.

I thought I was going from there to an event at a nearby Greek taverna for a night of wine pairing and Greek dancing, but alas I was ditched.

I was invited by a PR on Friday afternoon, replied on Saturday morning and on Tuesday got an apologetic message saying “I’m so sorry, we’ve since hit capacity for the event!”

“Since hit capacity” would be code for “we panicked on Friday about numbers and sent out a flurry of last-minute invitations, too many people said yes so we spent Monday deciding who our favourites were. You weren’t cool enough. Soz!”

There are impolite things I could say about PRs who rescind invitations, but I won’t.

I’d prefer that I wasn’t part of a pool-style invitation send-out that has a “capacity”.

They’ve offered to host me at another time. Yeah, nah. Not feeling it.

The same thing happened to my former colleague Kelly a few years ago. She ended up on tellie after voicing her displeasure.

“If you invite me to an event, of your own accord, and I RSVP, do NOT then come back to me to decline my attendance,” she wrote on LinkedIn.

“It’s so obvious they were chasing numbers but then when they had them we were no longer needed. Imagine if your friend did that to you? Unimpressive.”

Yup.

So I went home and made myself dinner instead, a recipe I saw on Our Cow’s Facebook page for chicken caesar pasta salad. I forgot to put the boiled eggs in, but it was still delicious.

Here’s the link: https://ourcow.com.au/recipes/chicken-caesar-pasta-salad

Unfortunately I made enough to feed an army, so it will be my lunch and dinner for the next week.

Song of the day: Simple Minds “Don’t you forget about me”