August 27th, 2006

A Gossip Columnist’s Life…

Sigrid Thornton with Saab’s Parveen Batish

Sydney is divided into a set of social tribes and I thought that I was familiar with most of them until I walked into the 20th anniversary party for the Saab convertible last week and didn’t have a clue what was going on. It was as if everyone had been given the right time and venue but the wrong event information. They had all converged on the same place but they had nothing in common.

There was a couple of veteran socialites who would feel right at home at a Black & White Committee ‘ lunch, Sydney party girls in puff skirts, businessmen in suits, motoring correspondents and lifestyle writers. None of them mingled. Nineties’ design hero Jamie Gordon in his signature checked shirt, attempted to work the different party zones. “I don’t know what I’m doing here,'’ he said, looking askance at the shiny Saab convertible parked on the dock. “I don’t even drive.'’

Luckily Morgantha - the publicist hired to put the night together, had cornered me earlier on before I had stepped off the white carpet and managed to grab my first drink from the Mr Sweden style’ waiters. We had explored the different areas together while I looked for a kindred soul I could talk to - but the music was too loud and the lights too low. I felt like a teenager turning up at a party out of town.
It was clearly going to be a big night, what with the ice bar serving vodka shots and the stage set up for speeches and entertainment but it was difficult getting into the mood to enjoy it. A couple of people asked me what I did for a living. When I explained, over the din, that I was a gossip columnist, they thought I was being sardonic. It was as if I had owned up to being a mortician or a lollipop lady. They tittered uneasily. So, when Saab’s ambassador Sigrid Thornton and husband, Tom Burstall arrived they were suddenly my new best friends. And when Sigrid moved inside to prepare for her speech, I all but mobbed, GQ’s Grant Pearce - another regular of the social circuit.

People always think my job is glamorous. “You get dressed up and go out to so many different parties,'’ they say, “all that champagne and those celebrities… ‘’ But on nights like this, it’s just really hard work. I managed to linger for another 20 minutes looking for a story and then I quietly slipped away. From now on I’ll just attend events with two tribes present at the most and where people pretty much know what I do…

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