The First Lady's First Boyfriend

Last Thursday, at an extraordinary meeting of the Emerald Museum and Nobelius Heritage Park committee, I was elected president. Since our AGM last August two presidents have resigned, the first before Christmas, and after stepping from VP to President, the second a couple of weeks ago. I was the only member at the meeting willing to step into the breech.

There's another AGM in a couple of months so my presidency may well be shortlived. Whilst it's not something I sought, I'm not unhappy to do it, if not only because as president I can now officially refer to my good wife Elizabeth as my first lady, a title to which she's most deserving.

Now also, I can reveal a little known fact about my first lady, who happens to be an avid fan of singer/songwriter/poet Leonard Cohen. I think she finds him the most attractive man alive. It must be an intellectual thing because he's 75 and while his hair may not be as white as mine, man, have you seen the hooter. But try as I might I just cannot match him with the poetry, in fact I've almost given up trying to write even the most basic verse. It escapes me totally.

My first lady was given a Leonard Cohen DVD at Christmas by her sister Margaret, who can be my second lady anytime she likes, and our friends John and Raylynn (another in the running for second lady), cultured people who regularly holiday in France and with a similar love of music, gave her another DVD recently titled 'Leonard Cohen Live in London.'

So the husky tones of this amazing man with such power over women regularly resonates from our house into the trees and hillsides of Gembrook. The first of these DVD's has a collection of other artists singing Cohen songs including James Wainwright and one of the McGarrigle daughters and a fellow with a similar voice and style to Cohen, Nick Cave.

This is the good bit, and may partly explain the trance like state Lib enters while listening to Cohen. Nick Cave, the Nick Cave, was Lib's first boyfriend. They were in the same year at Wangaratta High School. My first lady told me the other night she remembers walking down Phillipson St. hand in hand with Nick Cave after school, when they were in Form 2, now called Year 8.

How about that!