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Sydney Morning Herald

How to spend a Saturday like Dickie

When you're woken at 5am every morning during the week, it's hard to sleep in on your day off, so I begin my Saturday pretty early. My partner Mia and I like to go for a walk on the beach near our home, then we grab a coffee, smell the salt air, stretch our legs and pick up fresh flowers for the house and provisions for the weekend. While my Saturdays are often peppered with Zoom calls and interviews ... and my show on smoothfm goes from 10am till 1pm ... after that, it's 'tools down'. I like to clear the decks ... sorting the pile of paperwork on the kitchen bench and going through my backlog of emails. To me, Saturday is for recharging and setting myself up for the week ahead. I also love pottering around the house. I enjoy tidying and fixing things, and doing all those little chores I've been meaning to do but find myself putting off. I love going out into the garden, talking to the plants, checking on the geraniums and seeing if the cockatoos are leaving the rosemary bush alone. I find wandering around, watering the plants and checking on things very relaxing. Of course ... being an ol' muso at heart ... I love nothing more than messing around on the piano, trying to learn an obscure chord on a guitar, playing an arpeggio on my violin or sitting behind my drum kit for a tune or two. In winter, a 5- star Saturday afternoon is spent at home in front of the fire, watching a new series or a bit of footy, and we enjoy having friends and family over. If it's summertime, the front door's always open, friends and family drift in — the pool and barbie are there for the taking. The house is named Watermusic ... we have lots of water ... and there is always music playing throughout the house and around the property. Keep family close I'm never happier than when my family is here. I close the front door and it just does something to my psyche ... all the problems of the world just drift away. I treasure Saturdays with the family more than anything. I don't have to be asked twice to do a round of my 'world-famous' bruschetta. I'm sure my family still call it that to humour me, but I find cooking really helps to clear my mind ... when you're focused on not drizzling too much oil on the toast, you forget about so many other things.