Seing as none of you were really interested in our Federal Budget 'cos it turned out to be a complete waste of time even having it on TV as the damn thing was such a negative and nothing thing, this then in the main is a blog about a wonderful little marsupial that we have here in OZ call a Bandicoot. But first I shall endeavour to give you a bit of background into our animals vis a vis yours.
One of the more endearing things about the names of animals here in the Antipodes is that none of the nomenclature of the little beasties sounds threatening or majisterial. Unlike those beasts of Africa ,Europe,Nth /South America and Asia we here in Australia don't having any screechy roary, mad things that will devour you in one bite. None of our nasties are like that,bit like us really, we do have nasty things that snap, poison and kill very quickly but all that is done with style and finesse.The taipan snake is the deadliest in the world,no roar at all, dead in 30 seconds, funnel web spiders creep beneath the sheets,one nip, goodnight you,not a peep out of it either.Box jelly-fish, get that down your speedos and look out, lets hope the beach resort is close to a hospital.Keep the trainers on when you go for a paddle in the waters of Queensland's Great Barrier Reef, that's in case you step on a stone fish,oops you didn't need that leg anyways.Ssssshhh though, notice just how quiet our deadliest things are? Unlike other countries .
Take TIGER for one, doesn't that conjure up a fierce, striped wild animal with enormous great teeth and very bad breath that will just be waiting in the wings to bite off a slice, of YOU? Then on the other hand we have here in OZ, the echidna, ooohhhhhhhhhh, how sweet, a little cutey pie thing that just curls up into a wincy little ball when frightened and only eats ants, those nasty critters that spoil your picnic, shame on you ants.Like the platypus, Echidna is a monotreme, an egg laying mammal. Next there is Rex the LION.Great hairy bit of a thing it is too, always poncing about the veldt like it owns the place, well you try and tell it to shove off then, see how you get on sistaaaahh.In the OZ corner we have the platypus, soft sleek furry type of creature that just burrows in the river bank for worms and stuff, doesn't even make a noise when doing so either and if frightened by any loudness will whip into its burrow where it hides until the nasty crashing about thingy has sloped off. Last but not least is the ELEPHANT, a monstrous great lump of a pachyderm that you cannot even make piano keys out of anymore, really good for nothing else than leaving massive huge piles of 'IT' all over the grass . Noisy sod of a beast too, trumpets away sixty to the dozen, then stomps all over the farmers maize crop,useless.
That is just Asia / Africa, space wont allow me to list all the yelling loud things from Europe along with the Americas .I have shown you just some of our nice little creatures who have no real obnoxious habits and finish up with a most personable lovely chappie who is a soft cuddly wuggly, that I myself relate to well.
We have the wombat, a pleasant sort of fattish fellow who is most congenial only coming out of his burrow at night making no sound as he goes about his business. He just eats, roots and leaves.
Enter my lovely little BANDICOOT.Not a monotreme like his friends the platypus and echidna just a common old variety marsupial and very shy, also where we stumbled across him, quite rare.To see him well you will have to enlarge the pic.
So there we have just some of our lovely sweet harmless denizens of the forest and glens of OZ, nice homely sort of a quiet likeable spot is OZ, but don't stand under the black wattles in midsummer as a pile of follow- me -caterpillars might drop down on you and their collective bites are deadly,no known antidote either.....sorrrrreeee, but I did warn you.
No Hortense I don't know the official name for those caterpillars, we used to see them on the farm. Remember when they fell on the horses neck and he could never race again? those little green ones that ball up together until one crawls out and they all go marching off in line.If you pluck the middle one out they all stop and ball up again until a leader just wings off , squash them and they give off a really punguent eucalypt smell. You do remember !, and that green stuff you could never get off your blouse so you had to throw it away, was a nice shirt that too.
Horty you didn't really like that Government minister who rabitted on about the infrastructure spending this morning, the Hon.Anthony Albanese . You don't like him, good, he sounded like a goat talking about billyons of dollahs then wouldn't admit to the fact that all the money he talked about wasn't actually going to be spent this year or even next,not for another 10 yrs Horty. What a load of old cobblers girl, to be quite frank m'dear I think he didn't really give a damn , just wanted to hear himself talk over the top of the interviewer.
Good deal that going to see 'angels and demons' friday then 'star trek' today, I does like a rollicking good movie or two.The gelato was at its best in Cocolat as well me lovely, in all, a top weekend
Saturday, 16 May 2009
Sunday, 10 May 2009
ink marks on a blank page Sunday 10th May
Our federal budget day looms on Tuesday, not that it will bring any surprises as most of the details have been carefully leaked to the media over the last few days. The treasurer is a chap who like the three main players in this Government appears to have completely mastered the art of talking whilst the mouth is full of marbles and under water at that. The whole of the cabinet can mouth the same mantra of rhetoric at warp speed, and really have been able to spin at force ten of the cycle. For some weeks now the top movers and shakers in Government have been flogging themselves ragged to sell just how wonderfully conservative and fiscally responsible they are, at the same time though they have been handing out cash to all and sundry like drunken philanthropists. Poor old OZ is going to be in debt forever and three days, the legacy of their largesse will be carried by the grandchildren of this generation.
Okay so I'm not an economist, who has to be when there is at this moment the country is saddled with largest national debt ever and theGovernment of the day can't even tell us, the people, how they will manage their way out of the fiasco. The only thing that they can actually say forcefully is "Why haven't the opposition been putting forward their policies". Got news for the Government, the opposition aren't actually wielding the reins of power, you lot are.
We are relatively well off here with a very stable banking system, there once was a lovely big surplus in treasury as well, we still have stuff to dig up that folk need and we beat the New Zealand team in the rugby test, so all is not so bad in the land down under.
Just made myself an espresso,cut a wedge of home baked fruit cake then sat down if front of the TV . Not much of note flickering away on the lcd, puerile offerings even on the public channel that I normally watch. So I turned to the commercial lot, even worse there. One of the commercial stations had a really slow cops and killers show,on one,football (oz style) another,a more juvenile USA cop shoot 'em up, last also very least was a chat show run by 30 something folk who all spoke in shouts with lots of face gestures. One segment on the chat thing was a young fellow who looked as though he had been dressed by the op-shop doing a voice over to a filmed piece on the philosophy of fate. The only thing interesting was the title , but perhaps I show my age here as all the 30 somethings laughed their collective heads off. Never like to get on stage about age either, you are each and everyone of you all sorts of age. I am 67, love being that, cannot wait to be 68 then 69 etc etc etc. My generation had all been married for years with children when we were thirty, not saying that was a good thing, but it was different times with a different set of values. Here in OZ we had lived an insular sort of life for years even as far up to the Vietnam war, the normality of life hadn't changed much for most of us until after that conflict had been and gone. Lots of young Aussie men and women had been to wars all over the place as far back as the Boer war but had come back here then just picked up as nothing much had happened. Perhaps it was the tyranny of distance from anywhere that was anything that isolated us, or was it just in the national physche that we were who we are and that made us different ,willing to stay the same. Folk from OZ travelled far and wide doing all sorts of things but they always came back and then settled back into being parochial Aussies almost as they stepped off the plane. Just about every jouralist who interviewd any visiting famous o/s person as they stepped off the plane asked this question,"What do you think of Australia?" There was a famous incident in Melbourne when Frank Sinatra was asked a bunch of really fatuous silly questions, he got very upset with a female journo then called all Australian female journo's "$20 Hookers" The local transport union got so incensed they refused to allow Sinatra's plane to take off. We really didn't appear to be very cosmopolitan at that point but life here moved on allowing us to gradually catch up with the world. So we are now at our place in time where on a per capita value we have almost as many murders per thousand as London, drink more beer than the Germans, become alcoholics as fast as the Russians, rack up credit card debt at a rate similar to Americans, have the same rate of obesity in major cities but thankfully we now smoke less per thousand than almost all Western Democracies. We have devoured the American way of life so well most of our children know more words of the American national Anthem than their own. A survey was conducted recently where the respondents related more to Barack Obama than their own Prime Minister. Hey, but who could blame them,that man is charisma. One thing that we must stop doing as a nation though is having our movers and shakers fly o/s, get sold the latest snake oil(that dont work), then come back here to install it to be the next great hope only to see the wheels fall off two days later. Grow up OZ, we can do our own version of snake oil!
Indeed so Hortense, news wise it is a mighty poor week. you rightly point out too m'dear that most of the budget has been leaked out. That might make a mockery of the journo's all getting locked in a room with no communications to read the budget papers, then when the doors get opened all run to file their stories at the same time, so as not to spill the beans scoop wise an all.
As if! Yes I do agree Horty, the treasurer is a sort of smarmy looking fellow at that, the sort who when he was at school would tell the teacher on you before you did stuff,then swear he didn't.
Sorry about the trip to Cocolat old girl, no movies this week either.Still Mothers day lunch was pretty full on, the call from daughter was great, life is good init.
Okay so I'm not an economist, who has to be when there is at this moment the country is saddled with largest national debt ever and theGovernment of the day can't even tell us, the people, how they will manage their way out of the fiasco. The only thing that they can actually say forcefully is "Why haven't the opposition been putting forward their policies". Got news for the Government, the opposition aren't actually wielding the reins of power, you lot are.
We are relatively well off here with a very stable banking system, there once was a lovely big surplus in treasury as well, we still have stuff to dig up that folk need and we beat the New Zealand team in the rugby test, so all is not so bad in the land down under.
Just made myself an espresso,cut a wedge of home baked fruit cake then sat down if front of the TV . Not much of note flickering away on the lcd, puerile offerings even on the public channel that I normally watch. So I turned to the commercial lot, even worse there. One of the commercial stations had a really slow cops and killers show,on one,football (oz style) another,a more juvenile USA cop shoot 'em up, last also very least was a chat show run by 30 something folk who all spoke in shouts with lots of face gestures. One segment on the chat thing was a young fellow who looked as though he had been dressed by the op-shop doing a voice over to a filmed piece on the philosophy of fate. The only thing interesting was the title , but perhaps I show my age here as all the 30 somethings laughed their collective heads off. Never like to get on stage about age either, you are each and everyone of you all sorts of age. I am 67, love being that, cannot wait to be 68 then 69 etc etc etc. My generation had all been married for years with children when we were thirty, not saying that was a good thing, but it was different times with a different set of values. Here in OZ we had lived an insular sort of life for years even as far up to the Vietnam war, the normality of life hadn't changed much for most of us until after that conflict had been and gone. Lots of young Aussie men and women had been to wars all over the place as far back as the Boer war but had come back here then just picked up as nothing much had happened. Perhaps it was the tyranny of distance from anywhere that was anything that isolated us, or was it just in the national physche that we were who we are and that made us different ,willing to stay the same. Folk from OZ travelled far and wide doing all sorts of things but they always came back and then settled back into being parochial Aussies almost as they stepped off the plane. Just about every jouralist who interviewd any visiting famous o/s person as they stepped off the plane asked this question,"What do you think of Australia?" There was a famous incident in Melbourne when Frank Sinatra was asked a bunch of really fatuous silly questions, he got very upset with a female journo then called all Australian female journo's "$20 Hookers" The local transport union got so incensed they refused to allow Sinatra's plane to take off. We really didn't appear to be very cosmopolitan at that point but life here moved on allowing us to gradually catch up with the world. So we are now at our place in time where on a per capita value we have almost as many murders per thousand as London, drink more beer than the Germans, become alcoholics as fast as the Russians, rack up credit card debt at a rate similar to Americans, have the same rate of obesity in major cities but thankfully we now smoke less per thousand than almost all Western Democracies. We have devoured the American way of life so well most of our children know more words of the American national Anthem than their own. A survey was conducted recently where the respondents related more to Barack Obama than their own Prime Minister. Hey, but who could blame them,that man is charisma. One thing that we must stop doing as a nation though is having our movers and shakers fly o/s, get sold the latest snake oil(that dont work), then come back here to install it to be the next great hope only to see the wheels fall off two days later. Grow up OZ, we can do our own version of snake oil!
Indeed so Hortense, news wise it is a mighty poor week. you rightly point out too m'dear that most of the budget has been leaked out. That might make a mockery of the journo's all getting locked in a room with no communications to read the budget papers, then when the doors get opened all run to file their stories at the same time, so as not to spill the beans scoop wise an all.
As if! Yes I do agree Horty, the treasurer is a sort of smarmy looking fellow at that, the sort who when he was at school would tell the teacher on you before you did stuff,then swear he didn't.
Sorry about the trip to Cocolat old girl, no movies this week either.Still Mothers day lunch was pretty full on, the call from daughter was great, life is good init.
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Ink marks on a blank page Sunday 3rd May
Been away for a week or so,went to see daughter and her family in another state,Victoria that is.
Nice trip, but missed the goings on here in SA ,the rain and then more rain. All good that, it did pelt down too. Just in case y'all didn't know we are or were going through an almighty drought, worst for years so 'they' say. Mind you ,a lot, and 'they' said it as well, all down to climate change, 'they' said. Let me put you in the picture regarding the robbi thought on climate change. Notice I said thought and not the plural as I only ever have the one thought at a time. Of course it is all down to climate change, irrefutable reasoning that as it be the Earth is continually changing and has done for millenia. Humans have repeatedly polluted the Earth, been doing so for 40k years or more , the Australian aboriginals lit huge bushfires each year to burn off country to 'manage' it for their way of life. The burning off in some places altered the ecology of Australia and made the Eucalypt the dominant tree specie there. So much so that many indigenous shrubs and trees do not reproduce each season unless there is fire. We had been living on our farm for some ten years when a wildfire came through and after the next rains some two weeks later on the roadside verge across from the house there were three species of plant growing that had not grown there for ten years(acacia family). Some of our natives need smoke to germinate,Discaria pubescens and those in that family are just some. This blue ball we live on is in a continual state of flux and change,so why am I back on this hobby horse? as I seem to remember not so very long ago I waxed on lyrical in a similar vein.You may well ponder but there is a simple answer, not related to a senior moment either.
On the way back from Victoria I decided to make a detour and drive the coast road(Great Ocean Road) to a place in my state called Nelson. One reason was to see if I could get down on a beach called Dinosaur Cove( in Victoria), yup there are lots of nice fossils there to scrabble for if the tide is out that is. Hortense had never been to that part of the country as well but I do not equate Horty alongside fossils either.
I do have more that a passing interest in fossils and this particular place is a great example of the early Cretaceous period (100+m-y), bad luck robbi the tide was well in and as I only go 5'7'' in my shoes I would have been about a foot underwater. However the drive is nothing short of spectacular and for 400kms the scenery is just awesome. You drive into the bottom half of the Otway ranges which has some of the best stands of mountain ash forest in OZ and some really dense rainforest as well. The tree top walk (rainforest) on suspension bridges is one of those things that make your head spin, in an inspiring way. Coming out of the Otways the descent down to Apollo bay is breathtakingly beautiful and the town itself is friendly and just a great spot to lunch, plenty of top restaurants and a couple of good bakeries.
Drove on after lunch to the Twelve Apostles and then stayed the night at Port Campbell.
The Twelve Apostles have been carved out of the cliffs by wave action as well as the normal gyrations of the tectonic plates over millenia and are sculpted into amazing shapes,whilst the cliffs and bays are geological time capsules that show how the Earth has continually evolved over time. After Port Campbell comes the Bay of Islands and for me the most spectacular of sights and if the weather is on,that is a stiff onshore breeze blowing with the tide incoming the blow-hole there is a fantastic sight. We had a long drive back home on leaving the motel so although the day promised a good breeze we had to get there at 0700 when it was relatively calm. Good things happen when you least expect, walking up the track to the viewing platform there in front not 10mtrs away was a bandicoot. These little marsupials are very shy and rarely seen in daylight, especially here where there are normally lots of people. I managed to get quite close and took as many pics as I could before it scampered away in the undergrowth. Bandicoots have become rare there as they have no defenses against feral cats and foxes, they are also solitary animals and seem only to pair when they mate.
The drive back to Adelaide was about 540kms, a good road, no hills until Adelaide so I just put the cruise control on and we were home at 1830 that night. Got some top pics which I'm about to load on here now.
Hortense hasn't had a Gelato fix for a week plus so we must wend our way to Cocolat in the next day or so, a plan do you think? She is also a little more than miffed that I haven't been able to wind myself up about the Government at all, just far to busy driving and looking at OZ. There is a late news flash though. Surprise surprise, our federal Government is delaying and reducing the Carbon Trading scheme it earlier promised to get elected to one that is going to set the carbon price down to $10 a tonne and will also can the start date until 2011. Old cynic that I am there could also be a stop put on the thing altogether as the next federal election will have to be in 2010, is the timing convenient or what? The Global recession is a godsend for this Government, they have blamed everything from cold coffee to where do the flies go in winter down to it, but then as Hortense will tell you, I really am an old cynic.
Nice trip, but missed the goings on here in SA ,the rain and then more rain. All good that, it did pelt down too. Just in case y'all didn't know we are or were going through an almighty drought, worst for years so 'they' say. Mind you ,a lot, and 'they' said it as well, all down to climate change, 'they' said. Let me put you in the picture regarding the robbi thought on climate change. Notice I said thought and not the plural as I only ever have the one thought at a time. Of course it is all down to climate change, irrefutable reasoning that as it be the Earth is continually changing and has done for millenia. Humans have repeatedly polluted the Earth, been doing so for 40k years or more , the Australian aboriginals lit huge bushfires each year to burn off country to 'manage' it for their way of life. The burning off in some places altered the ecology of Australia and made the Eucalypt the dominant tree specie there. So much so that many indigenous shrubs and trees do not reproduce each season unless there is fire. We had been living on our farm for some ten years when a wildfire came through and after the next rains some two weeks later on the roadside verge across from the house there were three species of plant growing that had not grown there for ten years(acacia family). Some of our natives need smoke to germinate,Discaria pubescens and those in that family are just some. This blue ball we live on is in a continual state of flux and change,so why am I back on this hobby horse? as I seem to remember not so very long ago I waxed on lyrical in a similar vein.You may well ponder but there is a simple answer, not related to a senior moment either.
On the way back from Victoria I decided to make a detour and drive the coast road(Great Ocean Road) to a place in my state called Nelson. One reason was to see if I could get down on a beach called Dinosaur Cove( in Victoria), yup there are lots of nice fossils there to scrabble for if the tide is out that is. Hortense had never been to that part of the country as well but I do not equate Horty alongside fossils either.
I do have more that a passing interest in fossils and this particular place is a great example of the early Cretaceous period (100+m-y), bad luck robbi the tide was well in and as I only go 5'7'' in my shoes I would have been about a foot underwater. However the drive is nothing short of spectacular and for 400kms the scenery is just awesome. You drive into the bottom half of the Otway ranges which has some of the best stands of mountain ash forest in OZ and some really dense rainforest as well. The tree top walk (rainforest) on suspension bridges is one of those things that make your head spin, in an inspiring way. Coming out of the Otways the descent down to Apollo bay is breathtakingly beautiful and the town itself is friendly and just a great spot to lunch, plenty of top restaurants and a couple of good bakeries.
Drove on after lunch to the Twelve Apostles and then stayed the night at Port Campbell.
The Twelve Apostles have been carved out of the cliffs by wave action as well as the normal gyrations of the tectonic plates over millenia and are sculpted into amazing shapes,whilst the cliffs and bays are geological time capsules that show how the Earth has continually evolved over time. After Port Campbell comes the Bay of Islands and for me the most spectacular of sights and if the weather is on,that is a stiff onshore breeze blowing with the tide incoming the blow-hole there is a fantastic sight. We had a long drive back home on leaving the motel so although the day promised a good breeze we had to get there at 0700 when it was relatively calm. Good things happen when you least expect, walking up the track to the viewing platform there in front not 10mtrs away was a bandicoot. These little marsupials are very shy and rarely seen in daylight, especially here where there are normally lots of people. I managed to get quite close and took as many pics as I could before it scampered away in the undergrowth. Bandicoots have become rare there as they have no defenses against feral cats and foxes, they are also solitary animals and seem only to pair when they mate.
The drive back to Adelaide was about 540kms, a good road, no hills until Adelaide so I just put the cruise control on and we were home at 1830 that night. Got some top pics which I'm about to load on here now.
Hortense hasn't had a Gelato fix for a week plus so we must wend our way to Cocolat in the next day or so, a plan do you think? She is also a little more than miffed that I haven't been able to wind myself up about the Government at all, just far to busy driving and looking at OZ. There is a late news flash though. Surprise surprise, our federal Government is delaying and reducing the Carbon Trading scheme it earlier promised to get elected to one that is going to set the carbon price down to $10 a tonne and will also can the start date until 2011. Old cynic that I am there could also be a stop put on the thing altogether as the next federal election will have to be in 2010, is the timing convenient or what? The Global recession is a godsend for this Government, they have blamed everything from cold coffee to where do the flies go in winter down to it, but then as Hortense will tell you, I really am an old cynic.
Monday, 20 April 2009
ink marks on a blank page Mon 20th April
I haven't looked through all of the old blogs( ink marks) to ascertain if at some time or other there was some waxing lyrical about where chez robbi is situated (Adelaiode, South OZ). Perhaps there is, but if so then it is back in the annals of and I shall refresh the memory buds anyway.Y'all just knew I'd say that now didn't you, ego tripper that I am. Adelaide being what and where it is folk who live here just mostly accept their lot. We live in a temperate clime, not enough rainfall at the moment but that might change. The city is ringed by hills, faces like most OZ cities, the sea. A great coastline as we are at the top end of a gulf (St.Vincent) plenty of great fishing ,water sports galore couple that with good weather with a smallish population then the recipe is set for a good mix. The population stands at about 1.2mill in the city/suburbs with around 800k living in the country.We have our unique problems of course, any homogenous lot do, but in the main we tend to get along with ourselves and others pretty well.
Adelaide was different in that it was specifically laid out by a surveyor,one Col.Light, settled by free men, plus land was divided up by a title which was unique in the world for its time. The Torrens title, named after the designer, gave unfettered access to a parcel of land in a suburb/subdivision, to the registered owner of that piece of land inviolate to be included on a Government register with the sole purpose of creating one title to ownership. This meant that it became a simple process to but sell or transfer land in one transaction and without re-surveying each time the land was sold. Boring? useful though.
Apart from this great method of flogging land we are reasonably well known for the wine we make, some of the best reds in the world and getting up there with the reds, lots of great whites too. To go with all this fantastic drinkable stuff there are about 800 or so pretty good restaurants in the city and suburbs with lots out in the country as well, especially in the wine region of the Barossa valley, Mc Claren flat,Limestone coast ,not to forget the Clare Valley. Not only do we make great wine, South Australia was the first to give women the vote, forward thinking lot are we not?
I have travelled over a lot of OZ, not all ,but a rather large portion.My own state of South Australia I have covered many times, lived in some of the really remote places. Even survived getting lost in the outback on a couple of occasions, so I know, admire,love it well. I have also been to many many countires all over the globe and will readily admit to being an Anglophile but whenever I return here just the smell of the place brings my legs to quiver. There is just something about Eucalypts that brings out the tears in me, which I suppose is why I live where I live.
Where I live is right on what is quaintly called the Linear Park at Paradise. My front door opens to the garden, a smallish road then the park, so on a water rushing day I can actually hear the river gushing along singing its song. The Linear Park starts at Athelstone right on the Hills Face and follows the Torrens River all the way down to the sea at Henley Beach, some 37kms of park. One reason it is called Linear is perhaps because the Park itself at the widest point would only be 750mtrs and on either side is a cement/bitumen path just wide enough for maintenance vehicles. As befits even the smallest of rivers such as the Torrens it trickles around gracefully with plenty of meander so there is actually a plethora of paths and parks for picnics,lovers to spoon,trysts to make and children to play. Funny quirky little things like a fully functioning suspension bridge such as one would see in a Tarzan movie and of course lots of Billy Goat Gruff bridges for children to look at trolls. We shifted from the farm then across to a Hills village then down here, so folk who knew us were at first horrified to think we would shift back to the suburbs after 30yrs of living like real people, until they saw the place that is. We ride our bikes on several different 5km rides each week, each morning at 0630 I walk up to the big road bridge on Darley rd and back, that takes about 35mins unless I get waylaid by taking pictures. Please don't think that I paint this word pic of my suburb because I want you to believe this is the creme de la creme of living , not at all , just suits me well really. I'm going to put a few pictures that I have taken this week up, you can judge for yourselves.
Oh Hortense I do know that not everything is perfect in Paradise. Look at all the trouble Mr Tom Koutsankanis got himself into as the Roads Safety Minister. Someone found out he had something like 58 tickets for speeding and running red lights etc and then told the newspapers. To make matters worse Horty he went on talk-back radio and said that he was speeding because he was very busy going to important meetings and the like. Tut Tut Hortense, very busy just didn't cut it at all with the good folk of Adelaide so he had to resign that portfolio. Shame isn't it that the honest people who actiually paid their fines, unlike him, they didn't get any reward as Tom did they, $148k per annum plus a driver , not bad for a young chap eh? We finishe the day off well did we not, took the g/kids off to Cocolat for some of their fine Gelato and that lovely young Barista chappie Thanth, made us a super little coffee. A great day !!
Adelaide was different in that it was specifically laid out by a surveyor,one Col.Light, settled by free men, plus land was divided up by a title which was unique in the world for its time. The Torrens title, named after the designer, gave unfettered access to a parcel of land in a suburb/subdivision, to the registered owner of that piece of land inviolate to be included on a Government register with the sole purpose of creating one title to ownership. This meant that it became a simple process to but sell or transfer land in one transaction and without re-surveying each time the land was sold. Boring? useful though.
Apart from this great method of flogging land we are reasonably well known for the wine we make, some of the best reds in the world and getting up there with the reds, lots of great whites too. To go with all this fantastic drinkable stuff there are about 800 or so pretty good restaurants in the city and suburbs with lots out in the country as well, especially in the wine region of the Barossa valley, Mc Claren flat,Limestone coast ,not to forget the Clare Valley. Not only do we make great wine, South Australia was the first to give women the vote, forward thinking lot are we not?
I have travelled over a lot of OZ, not all ,but a rather large portion.My own state of South Australia I have covered many times, lived in some of the really remote places. Even survived getting lost in the outback on a couple of occasions, so I know, admire,love it well. I have also been to many many countires all over the globe and will readily admit to being an Anglophile but whenever I return here just the smell of the place brings my legs to quiver. There is just something about Eucalypts that brings out the tears in me, which I suppose is why I live where I live.
Where I live is right on what is quaintly called the Linear Park at Paradise. My front door opens to the garden, a smallish road then the park, so on a water rushing day I can actually hear the river gushing along singing its song. The Linear Park starts at Athelstone right on the Hills Face and follows the Torrens River all the way down to the sea at Henley Beach, some 37kms of park. One reason it is called Linear is perhaps because the Park itself at the widest point would only be 750mtrs and on either side is a cement/bitumen path just wide enough for maintenance vehicles. As befits even the smallest of rivers such as the Torrens it trickles around gracefully with plenty of meander so there is actually a plethora of paths and parks for picnics,lovers to spoon,trysts to make and children to play. Funny quirky little things like a fully functioning suspension bridge such as one would see in a Tarzan movie and of course lots of Billy Goat Gruff bridges for children to look at trolls. We shifted from the farm then across to a Hills village then down here, so folk who knew us were at first horrified to think we would shift back to the suburbs after 30yrs of living like real people, until they saw the place that is. We ride our bikes on several different 5km rides each week, each morning at 0630 I walk up to the big road bridge on Darley rd and back, that takes about 35mins unless I get waylaid by taking pictures. Please don't think that I paint this word pic of my suburb because I want you to believe this is the creme de la creme of living , not at all , just suits me well really. I'm going to put a few pictures that I have taken this week up, you can judge for yourselves.
Oh Hortense I do know that not everything is perfect in Paradise. Look at all the trouble Mr Tom Koutsankanis got himself into as the Roads Safety Minister. Someone found out he had something like 58 tickets for speeding and running red lights etc and then told the newspapers. To make matters worse Horty he went on talk-back radio and said that he was speeding because he was very busy going to important meetings and the like. Tut Tut Hortense, very busy just didn't cut it at all with the good folk of Adelaide so he had to resign that portfolio. Shame isn't it that the honest people who actiually paid their fines, unlike him, they didn't get any reward as Tom did they, $148k per annum plus a driver , not bad for a young chap eh? We finishe the day off well did we not, took the g/kids off to Cocolat for some of their fine Gelato and that lovely young Barista chappie Thanth, made us a super little coffee. A great day !!
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
ink marks on a blank page Thursday April 8th
Just a little bit of trivia to start the day. Some years ago Feng Shui got a bit of a roll on here, and possibly just about anywhere there was enough money to start up and run a Feng Shui business. Not that I am knocking it , not at all, as I have always believed that cultures such as the Chinese can teach us many ways to live a better life. Many years ago my maternal Grandfather had a great deal to to with the Chinese and worked in business partnership with them. He often told me of the degradation that Opium had caused the Chinese and laid the blame squarely at the feet of the East India Company and its practise of paying the Chinese in Opium and conversely enlarging the Opium trade. Australia played a part in this and an Australian diplomat and adventurer ,Morrison, was so incensed by the corruption and double dealing by some of his diplomatic colleagues he tried to stop this trade. He was also a bit of a wheeler dealer and womaniser himself and possibly was not quite the white knight he appeared on the surface. Grandfather painted such a dire picture of Opium dens, the joss houses, that I lived in fear of falling into one on the way past the local Chinese herbalist shop.
Have you ever been into a genuine Chinese herbalist? They are fascinating places and for a small boy with a large and vivid imagination simply worth all the trepidation of falling into an Opium den or Joss house just to visit. The shop we used (Mr Wu) was an Aladdin's cave full of dried shark fins, snakes and things in ceramic pots, stranges twisted roots, powders in large jars all to be weighed out on brass scales and wrapped in brown paper, the bill was totted on an abacus at lightning speed and written in a neat hand on strips of very light paper like a present day cash out strip. Mr. Wu, who appeared to be the apothecary, was a tiny man normally to be seen sitting on a high stool with a rattan back and gazing out of the window into the street as if he could somehow mesmerise customers into coming in. His parcels were always wrapped in brown paper and tied with a dark brown twine whilst his recommendations for taking the medicine were written both in Chinese and English on the left hand side with your name printed in large block letters on the right. Heavens knows why he bothered to write in Mandarin as to my knowledge there wasn't anyone in the family who could read the characters. If by any chance it was me who needed his potions and Grandmother couldn't come with me I would appear at Mr Wu's with a note from her, place it on the wooden counter top and repeat, in my piping little voice, exactly what Nana had told me. "Please Mr Wu my Nana says I am to ask you nicely to read her note and then ask me what is wrong" Whereupon he would leap from his chair ,read the note and then come around the counter and hold my chin in one hand and look intently into my eyes. He then would take my hands one by one and look very carefully at the back first then the palms,each of the fingers/nails. He would speak very slowly in measured very quiet tones "Missy Grace say you feel not well here,(poke) ahhhh so, that is feeling bad?"Sometimes he would look through my hair, take a few strands and disappear into the back of his shop. I could then spend time gazing in wonder at the various odds and sods on the shelves and hanging tied with that brown string all over the shop. What was I looking for, I never asked myself that, but quite possibly it was eye of newt, frogs tongues, bat wings or dried dragon blood, anything that a small boy might think he would find in a Chinese apothecary. Once, after reading a story about Brooke of Sarawak and the Dyak headhunters I ran to Wu's shop looking for dried and smoked human heads,alas none to be found, but it was fun to sneak into the shop when he was busy and look.
Back to Grandfather. Over years he made many Chinese friends and along the way developed a love of Chinese architecture, artifacts, including the Chinese way of doing business. He used to tell me that if you do 'good' business with a Chinese on the shake of a hand then years later you will be able to do the same business with his son and his son and their cousins and their cousins relatives. The Chinese played a big part in the development of early Australia as thousands of Chinese came here in the gold rush days to work the emerging goldfields and create business such as market gardens in the mining settlements. Melbourne, which was at that time the richest city in the world, became a hub for the Chinese immigrants as did the provincal cities of Bendigo and Ballarat. Many Chinese also landed in the port of Darwin and stayed there to make a vibrant and busy culture. Gowdowns became during that early period a feature of the wharves in Darwin and much trade was done in trepang,beach-de-mer,shark and pearl shell to many Asian countries. Grandfather was a part of all this and I have been fortunate in being able to keep some of the artifacts and antiques he collected or was given over his years in dealing with the Chinese traders.
For us who live in the Southern part of OZ sometimes we forget that at the tip of our country (Cape York) it is only 20 nautical miles to a foreign country which is part of Asia. In 2007 I stood right on that very tip and if you look at a map of OZ you will see that Cape York goes to a point. Well I can vouch for that as I stood right on that tip and looked down into the crystal clear water I could see the tip of OZ. The helicopter I had hired landed some 60metres from the actual tip saving us a three hour walk and a massive climb down (and back up)from the normal landing site. That time ,(hour or so) I spent there was in retrospect an extremely cathartic experience, as not many folk actually get to go there for to drive from the nearest settlement is ,if the road is passable, about a four hour trip and then you have at least another three hours of strenuous walking and climbing.
Yes Hortense I do know that our esteemed leader can speak perfect Mandarin and that he is great mates with everyone who is anyone in China. Me?, you also know that I have a few words of Mandarin, don't look like that, I do know that there are some of those phrases I could never use in polite society. Being friends with the Chinse is wonderful stuff Horty but I don't think that our Defence Minister should have had his business trips paid for by that lovely Chinese lady who seems to know every top General in the Peoples Army. He also rents an apartment from her when he is Canberra too, possibly gets a cheap deal I would think. Do you think he asked her what all the echoes and beeps / whistles were in every room whenever he discussed Government business? Oops! best I stick to stuff I know lots about, like the wonderful selection of Gelato at Cocolat we had Saturday morning after the moving picture show. Wasn't such a bad movie either, 'The Boat that Rocked', not Gone with the Wind or anything but it was great fun. Nope,I'm not going to apologise for leaping up from my seat and singing along with the EasyBeats to 'Friday on My Mind'. Oh, and I wont mention that you sang along with the Supremes either.
Great day it was Hortense and I thank you heartily for being the you that you are,"gonna have fun in the city, be with my girl she's so pretty,I'll be right tonight, toniiiiighhhht, for I've got friday on my mind, na nah nuhhnahhh na nah....i've got friday on my mind"
Have you ever been into a genuine Chinese herbalist? They are fascinating places and for a small boy with a large and vivid imagination simply worth all the trepidation of falling into an Opium den or Joss house just to visit. The shop we used (Mr Wu) was an Aladdin's cave full of dried shark fins, snakes and things in ceramic pots, stranges twisted roots, powders in large jars all to be weighed out on brass scales and wrapped in brown paper, the bill was totted on an abacus at lightning speed and written in a neat hand on strips of very light paper like a present day cash out strip. Mr. Wu, who appeared to be the apothecary, was a tiny man normally to be seen sitting on a high stool with a rattan back and gazing out of the window into the street as if he could somehow mesmerise customers into coming in. His parcels were always wrapped in brown paper and tied with a dark brown twine whilst his recommendations for taking the medicine were written both in Chinese and English on the left hand side with your name printed in large block letters on the right. Heavens knows why he bothered to write in Mandarin as to my knowledge there wasn't anyone in the family who could read the characters. If by any chance it was me who needed his potions and Grandmother couldn't come with me I would appear at Mr Wu's with a note from her, place it on the wooden counter top and repeat, in my piping little voice, exactly what Nana had told me. "Please Mr Wu my Nana says I am to ask you nicely to read her note and then ask me what is wrong" Whereupon he would leap from his chair ,read the note and then come around the counter and hold my chin in one hand and look intently into my eyes. He then would take my hands one by one and look very carefully at the back first then the palms,each of the fingers/nails. He would speak very slowly in measured very quiet tones "Missy Grace say you feel not well here,(poke) ahhhh so, that is feeling bad?"Sometimes he would look through my hair, take a few strands and disappear into the back of his shop. I could then spend time gazing in wonder at the various odds and sods on the shelves and hanging tied with that brown string all over the shop. What was I looking for, I never asked myself that, but quite possibly it was eye of newt, frogs tongues, bat wings or dried dragon blood, anything that a small boy might think he would find in a Chinese apothecary. Once, after reading a story about Brooke of Sarawak and the Dyak headhunters I ran to Wu's shop looking for dried and smoked human heads,alas none to be found, but it was fun to sneak into the shop when he was busy and look.
Back to Grandfather. Over years he made many Chinese friends and along the way developed a love of Chinese architecture, artifacts, including the Chinese way of doing business. He used to tell me that if you do 'good' business with a Chinese on the shake of a hand then years later you will be able to do the same business with his son and his son and their cousins and their cousins relatives. The Chinese played a big part in the development of early Australia as thousands of Chinese came here in the gold rush days to work the emerging goldfields and create business such as market gardens in the mining settlements. Melbourne, which was at that time the richest city in the world, became a hub for the Chinese immigrants as did the provincal cities of Bendigo and Ballarat. Many Chinese also landed in the port of Darwin and stayed there to make a vibrant and busy culture. Gowdowns became during that early period a feature of the wharves in Darwin and much trade was done in trepang,beach-de-mer,shark and pearl shell to many Asian countries. Grandfather was a part of all this and I have been fortunate in being able to keep some of the artifacts and antiques he collected or was given over his years in dealing with the Chinese traders.
For us who live in the Southern part of OZ sometimes we forget that at the tip of our country (Cape York) it is only 20 nautical miles to a foreign country which is part of Asia. In 2007 I stood right on that very tip and if you look at a map of OZ you will see that Cape York goes to a point. Well I can vouch for that as I stood right on that tip and looked down into the crystal clear water I could see the tip of OZ. The helicopter I had hired landed some 60metres from the actual tip saving us a three hour walk and a massive climb down (and back up)from the normal landing site. That time ,(hour or so) I spent there was in retrospect an extremely cathartic experience, as not many folk actually get to go there for to drive from the nearest settlement is ,if the road is passable, about a four hour trip and then you have at least another three hours of strenuous walking and climbing.
Yes Hortense I do know that our esteemed leader can speak perfect Mandarin and that he is great mates with everyone who is anyone in China. Me?, you also know that I have a few words of Mandarin, don't look like that, I do know that there are some of those phrases I could never use in polite society. Being friends with the Chinse is wonderful stuff Horty but I don't think that our Defence Minister should have had his business trips paid for by that lovely Chinese lady who seems to know every top General in the Peoples Army. He also rents an apartment from her when he is Canberra too, possibly gets a cheap deal I would think. Do you think he asked her what all the echoes and beeps / whistles were in every room whenever he discussed Government business? Oops! best I stick to stuff I know lots about, like the wonderful selection of Gelato at Cocolat we had Saturday morning after the moving picture show. Wasn't such a bad movie either, 'The Boat that Rocked', not Gone with the Wind or anything but it was great fun. Nope,I'm not going to apologise for leaping up from my seat and singing along with the EasyBeats to 'Friday on My Mind'. Oh, and I wont mention that you sang along with the Supremes either.
Great day it was Hortense and I thank you heartily for being the you that you are,"gonna have fun in the city, be with my girl she's so pretty,I'll be right tonight, toniiiiighhhht, for I've got friday on my mind, na nah nuhhnahhh na nah....i've got friday on my mind"
Thursday, 2 April 2009
ink marks on a blank page Thursday April 2nd
Some of you ,after reading this, will possibly be left with a feeling that I am over critical of my fellow humans. That I must put my hand up for if so labelled, not really the way that I see myself but one really cannot make an arms length judgement of self that is exact and to the point of being as how others view. Goodness that was long winded ,convoluted and pompous was it not, but something that had to be said, clearing the decks . Follows next why I have said the above.
Today marked the first major day of the G20 talks in London. What scenes did we see on our television news? Thousands of people demonstrating in a violent and anti-social manner screaming out slogans such as "Down with money" and the like, folk by the thousands pinning police officers up against a wall and a loon high up on a building trying to set fire to it. I well remember the violent anti Vietnam demonstrations, the Weathermen bombing and others of the same anti establishment ilk all around the globe doing exactly the same thing. As serving Navy during the early part of the time of Vietnam I was apalled at the treatment returning soldiers here in this country got from the general public as they marched through the streets of Sydney. People were right in condemning the Vietnam war and I do uphold the right to protest as all in a democratic society should have that right, all peoples should be able to exercise their right to protest at what they see as unjust and cruel. However I do not see where violent anti-social behaviour can be justified in any protest as in my opinion being violent just plays into the hands of those right wing elements who seek to contain the right to any protest.
That, (the above)was the main thrust of this week blogging on Ink Marks,but as the G20 ended with very much an accord and with a degree of hope for the future I deleted most of my write in favour of just letting the status remain at quo.
The second point about human behaviour I would like to touch on is this; Trends and counter trends. Or: What the heck is happening?
The robbi is unfortunately a slow learner, by that I do not mean that life has to bludgeon itself around my head to push in a few facts. Nope, not at all. One of the terrible shortcomings I have is that I see lots of things as black and white. Take sunglasses for one, they are meant to shade human eyes from the sun , true? Yes I do have a pair, somewhere in the house is a pair of hugely expensive precription sunglasses with special lenses that make everything crystal clear and are ground to my special requirements so that I might drive with them and read, although not at the same time. That they are very rarely worn is not because I don't go out in the sun, I do, but I found that I still needed to carry my normal glasses in case I wanted to go into a building or someones house. That means having to carry two pairs of glasses ,being the robbi that I am carrying two pairs is really asking for one pair to be left on a park bench or summat. Plus of course the cars that we have always have tinted windows anyway so that negates most of the need for sunglasses. The point I am slowly coming to is; as I look about me I appear to be the only human not wearing sunglasses. Whole families wear them from the littlest toddler right through the ages. Sitting in the movies the other day most of the folk coming in to sit down had them on top of their heads,some actually wore them and only took them off to perch said glasses on top of the head as they sat down. needless to say I started to think that I must be missing something and got to worry. Monday this week the answer came in the form of a cartoon strip in the morning Murdoch. Garfield occasionally talks to a ball of wool, this Monday morning the ball of wool said to Garfield "I'm cool" Garfiled to ball of wool" You are a ball of wool, how cool is that" the next panel showed the ball of wool saying "See!", wearing a large pair of shades, Garfield agreeing that said ball was now 'cool'. Ergo, shades =cool. The point I ask myself is,what then is 'cool'? Am I somewhat out of a loop because I don't wear shades, does that make me a non-person?
Many years ago(44actually) I was laying on the lawn in front of the Adelaide Uni waiting for the love of my life and reading 'MAD' magazine. It was the paperback version 'Son of Mad' and I was laughing out loud to the extent folk walking past were looking at me with disdain and clucking ,"possibly drugs Henrietta, you know what these Uni types are" The panels I was laughing at were a 5 or 6 page cartoon of artsy folk going to a party and being fawned over because they were wearing dyed ,hand knitted jackets and trousers that had been made from sea grass. my memory can't extend to anything else about the strip except the couple in question eschewed any knowledge of TV saying it was passe and everyone else nodding sagely whilst rushing to switch of the myriad TV's around the rooms.I also think that some of the really cool guests had dreads as well whilst the two mentioned just kept putting down all those not wearing sea grass. Reading MAD was obligatory for me, they had a way of looking at life that seemed so much how this is what it will be in the future. Was I 'cool' in that I read MAD and therefore 'knew' ? The medium is the message ,everyone will be famous for ten minutes. Looking down a telescope the wrong way seems to be how society is going, life is a microcosm of itself and no longer are we content to let it just unfold it has to happen right in front at breakneck speed.
You see Hortense even you are subject to this creeping malaise that is society. Just now you were badgering me to go to a moving picture. When I looked at the trailers for the films you picked I could see that these were not for me. Yes Horty being the sort of chap that I am I would go to a film not of my choosing just to please you, sometimes. They do have to have a few redeeming qualities Hortense, not just because Viggo whatshisname is a gorgeous hunk, the film has to be summat I can sit through. You are on holidays and there is plenty of time for film,why don't we go for a pleasant bike ride instead? Then tomorrow we can go into Cocolat and peruse the film list whilst snacking on a lovely Gelato, sound a plan Horty. Indeed it are, let's do it!
Today marked the first major day of the G20 talks in London. What scenes did we see on our television news? Thousands of people demonstrating in a violent and anti-social manner screaming out slogans such as "Down with money" and the like, folk by the thousands pinning police officers up against a wall and a loon high up on a building trying to set fire to it. I well remember the violent anti Vietnam demonstrations, the Weathermen bombing and others of the same anti establishment ilk all around the globe doing exactly the same thing. As serving Navy during the early part of the time of Vietnam I was apalled at the treatment returning soldiers here in this country got from the general public as they marched through the streets of Sydney. People were right in condemning the Vietnam war and I do uphold the right to protest as all in a democratic society should have that right, all peoples should be able to exercise their right to protest at what they see as unjust and cruel. However I do not see where violent anti-social behaviour can be justified in any protest as in my opinion being violent just plays into the hands of those right wing elements who seek to contain the right to any protest.
That, (the above)was the main thrust of this week blogging on Ink Marks,but as the G20 ended with very much an accord and with a degree of hope for the future I deleted most of my write in favour of just letting the status remain at quo.
The second point about human behaviour I would like to touch on is this; Trends and counter trends. Or: What the heck is happening?
The robbi is unfortunately a slow learner, by that I do not mean that life has to bludgeon itself around my head to push in a few facts. Nope, not at all. One of the terrible shortcomings I have is that I see lots of things as black and white. Take sunglasses for one, they are meant to shade human eyes from the sun , true? Yes I do have a pair, somewhere in the house is a pair of hugely expensive precription sunglasses with special lenses that make everything crystal clear and are ground to my special requirements so that I might drive with them and read, although not at the same time. That they are very rarely worn is not because I don't go out in the sun, I do, but I found that I still needed to carry my normal glasses in case I wanted to go into a building or someones house. That means having to carry two pairs of glasses ,being the robbi that I am carrying two pairs is really asking for one pair to be left on a park bench or summat. Plus of course the cars that we have always have tinted windows anyway so that negates most of the need for sunglasses. The point I am slowly coming to is; as I look about me I appear to be the only human not wearing sunglasses. Whole families wear them from the littlest toddler right through the ages. Sitting in the movies the other day most of the folk coming in to sit down had them on top of their heads,some actually wore them and only took them off to perch said glasses on top of the head as they sat down. needless to say I started to think that I must be missing something and got to worry. Monday this week the answer came in the form of a cartoon strip in the morning Murdoch. Garfield occasionally talks to a ball of wool, this Monday morning the ball of wool said to Garfield "I'm cool" Garfiled to ball of wool" You are a ball of wool, how cool is that" the next panel showed the ball of wool saying "See!", wearing a large pair of shades, Garfield agreeing that said ball was now 'cool'. Ergo, shades =cool. The point I ask myself is,what then is 'cool'? Am I somewhat out of a loop because I don't wear shades, does that make me a non-person?
Many years ago(44actually) I was laying on the lawn in front of the Adelaide Uni waiting for the love of my life and reading 'MAD' magazine. It was the paperback version 'Son of Mad' and I was laughing out loud to the extent folk walking past were looking at me with disdain and clucking ,"possibly drugs Henrietta, you know what these Uni types are" The panels I was laughing at were a 5 or 6 page cartoon of artsy folk going to a party and being fawned over because they were wearing dyed ,hand knitted jackets and trousers that had been made from sea grass. my memory can't extend to anything else about the strip except the couple in question eschewed any knowledge of TV saying it was passe and everyone else nodding sagely whilst rushing to switch of the myriad TV's around the rooms.I also think that some of the really cool guests had dreads as well whilst the two mentioned just kept putting down all those not wearing sea grass. Reading MAD was obligatory for me, they had a way of looking at life that seemed so much how this is what it will be in the future. Was I 'cool' in that I read MAD and therefore 'knew' ? The medium is the message ,everyone will be famous for ten minutes. Looking down a telescope the wrong way seems to be how society is going, life is a microcosm of itself and no longer are we content to let it just unfold it has to happen right in front at breakneck speed.
You see Hortense even you are subject to this creeping malaise that is society. Just now you were badgering me to go to a moving picture. When I looked at the trailers for the films you picked I could see that these were not for me. Yes Horty being the sort of chap that I am I would go to a film not of my choosing just to please you, sometimes. They do have to have a few redeeming qualities Hortense, not just because Viggo whatshisname is a gorgeous hunk, the film has to be summat I can sit through. You are on holidays and there is plenty of time for film,why don't we go for a pleasant bike ride instead? Then tomorrow we can go into Cocolat and peruse the film list whilst snacking on a lovely Gelato, sound a plan Horty. Indeed it are, let's do it!
Monday, 23 March 2009
Ink marks on a blank page Monday March 23rd
Could be lots of things to write about this week, much ado about everything happening in OZ. There are some goings on that I think are best left to the judiciary to decide and here I refer to of course the horrendous fracas at Sydney airport, plus the sad demise of Justice Marcus Enfield, a former Justice of the High Court of Australia. Oh no he didn't die, but he did tell a few huge lies to get out of a speeding fine and that has landed him in gaol.
I don't really understand about the Hells Angel situation, we call them 'bikies' here in OZ , sort of lump them all together in an amorphous conglomeration of fat geezers who ride Harleys and deal stuff. So they are not all Hell's Angels, although the one that died I believe was. Of course none of you might know ,or even care, what the heck I am on about but it is my understanding by looking at the online news grabs, the story about this brawl has been picked up all over the world.Poor little Sam the koala has been forgotten for the moment.
The Einfield trial has been done and dusted so unless he appeals and gets let out whilst his appeal is being held then what I will tell you isn't subjudice but fact that has gone on record, so therefore is not in dispute.
Marcus Enfield was a senior Judge, he was speeding in his car, the speed camera snapped his vehicle going 70kph in a 60kph zone , ping , caught, pay the man $77. He swore on oath that he wasn't driving, subsequently was found to be lying went to trial after some nearly 3yrs ,found guilty sentenced to 2yrs in prison. What is disturbing some folk on the bench here and in parliament is that he actually did the same thing three times before, but was never caught. The position the courts must now find themselves in is a rather tricky one. As there is irrefutable evidence that as far back as 1999 this revered Justice had been lying about speeding fines by saying that he was not the driver of his car when snapped by the speed camera, what then is the truth about judgements he made from 1999 to the time he retired from the bench.
If he has lied about such a simple matter as a speeding fine then how can anyone believe the veracity of his judgements? The can of worms that this case will have opened will well ripen in the sun.
What I did set out to write on was a marvellous little film I saw on Sunday...'Dean Spanley'
Jeremy Northam as Fisk, Junior (Henslowe) (also narrator)
Peter O'Toole as Fisk Senior (Horatio)
Sam Neill as the Dean
Bryan Brown as Wrather
Judy Parfitt as Mrs Brimley
Jenna Pollard as the housemaid
Dudley Sutton as Mariott
Charlotte Graham as the woman in the park
Eva Sayer as a girl
Elizabeth Goram-Smith as a young lady of stature
James Lever as the cricketer
Ramon Tikaram as the Nawab of Ranjiput .
Simply a delight to see such a wonderful actor as Peter O'Toole in this role. All in the cast are just right for this film and the set is wonderful as is costuming and music.The screenplay is an adaptation of fantasy author Lord Dunsany's "My Talks with Dean Spanley", a 14-chapter novella published in 1936. After seeing the film I will grab a copy of the book from Borders or
some such and have a read. No car chases or four letter words and not even a bare boob, but a film that had me watching intently every minute. O'Toole's facial expressions and body language conveyed as much meaning as the lines he spoke and at times the acting was so good you didn't need lines to telegraph what was coming next. This isn't a film for a big audience, possibly never set the box office alight but hopefully have a following and the acting will be noticed. We all of us have familial situations that we would rather not had transpire, life is like that and most just move on to eventually get over whatever caused the angst in the first place. Families are a dynamic that is inevitable as the tide, we live within family and that makes a clash impossible to distance ourselves from, live on we must, so we do. All the people learn and live on gracefully in 'Dean Spanley', which seems au naturel for the period in which it is set, a period that on the surface seemed gracious and uncompromising but that of course was very far from the truth. This was the period that saw great changes in Britain, Darwinism had been the focus for years and all sorts of ism's had arisen over time. Phrenology, magentism et al and of course spiritualism which is the backbone of this storyline. Swamis and Gurus were as thick as Autumn leaves and the papers of the day carried advertisements for all the quack cures and latest fads imaginable. For all its so calledVictorian purity the late Edwardian age was full of salacious gossip and flashy newspaper articles about the goings on of the titled and rich.
I must admit to a clinging to the past mentality, yes much wrong with trying to clasp what has gone before to ones chest like a prize from the fairground. But what went has to me anyway great import and a reverence. Of course like most humans I tend to glorify some bits, forget others , but in the main I think that I am true to what actually transpired . Others might see their past that melded with mine in a different light, perhaps that salmon I caught from Brighton pier wasn't as big as it has grown to be, but for a ten year old it was magnificent. Will the children who are ten today have the same treasures to remember when they reach their 3score and? My feeling is that they will, a different set of wonders, but theirs will be a similar grab bag of love,laughs, tears and triumphs that so delighted my generation.
Truly Hortense that little moving picture did enthrall me so, yes Horty I know we only went 'cos you urged me so. It is because of you that I get to these little performances. I well remember the first play that you dragged me off to see,'Camelot', Richard Harris in the lead. We haven't stopped going to the theatre and film since. Yes indeed Hortense I do love to brag about seeing the original 'Phantom of the Opera ' in London too, but that was such a memorable night wasn't it. When that super scene of the Ghost poling that little punt thing along and singing as the mist rose up started, the hairs on the back of my neck rose up , and to think I don't really like much Andrew Lloyd Webber music either. A little like my conversion to Van Gogh after you dragged me off to the museum in Amsterdam, couldn't get me to leave.
Puts me in mind of Cocolat and the Gelato we had Sunday, now that was awesome was it not?
I don't really understand about the Hells Angel situation, we call them 'bikies' here in OZ , sort of lump them all together in an amorphous conglomeration of fat geezers who ride Harleys and deal stuff. So they are not all Hell's Angels, although the one that died I believe was. Of course none of you might know ,or even care, what the heck I am on about but it is my understanding by looking at the online news grabs, the story about this brawl has been picked up all over the world.Poor little Sam the koala has been forgotten for the moment.
The Einfield trial has been done and dusted so unless he appeals and gets let out whilst his appeal is being held then what I will tell you isn't subjudice but fact that has gone on record, so therefore is not in dispute.
Marcus Enfield was a senior Judge, he was speeding in his car, the speed camera snapped his vehicle going 70kph in a 60kph zone , ping , caught, pay the man $77. He swore on oath that he wasn't driving, subsequently was found to be lying went to trial after some nearly 3yrs ,found guilty sentenced to 2yrs in prison. What is disturbing some folk on the bench here and in parliament is that he actually did the same thing three times before, but was never caught. The position the courts must now find themselves in is a rather tricky one. As there is irrefutable evidence that as far back as 1999 this revered Justice had been lying about speeding fines by saying that he was not the driver of his car when snapped by the speed camera, what then is the truth about judgements he made from 1999 to the time he retired from the bench.
If he has lied about such a simple matter as a speeding fine then how can anyone believe the veracity of his judgements? The can of worms that this case will have opened will well ripen in the sun.
What I did set out to write on was a marvellous little film I saw on Sunday...'Dean Spanley'
Jeremy Northam as Fisk, Junior (Henslowe) (also narrator)
Peter O'Toole as Fisk Senior (Horatio)
Sam Neill as the Dean
Bryan Brown as Wrather
Judy Parfitt as Mrs Brimley
Jenna Pollard as the housemaid
Dudley Sutton as Mariott
Charlotte Graham as the woman in the park
Eva Sayer as a girl
Elizabeth Goram-Smith as a young lady of stature
James Lever as the cricketer
Ramon Tikaram as the Nawab of Ranjiput .
Simply a delight to see such a wonderful actor as Peter O'Toole in this role. All in the cast are just right for this film and the set is wonderful as is costuming and music.The screenplay is an adaptation of fantasy author Lord Dunsany's "My Talks with Dean Spanley", a 14-chapter novella published in 1936. After seeing the film I will grab a copy of the book from Borders or
some such and have a read. No car chases or four letter words and not even a bare boob, but a film that had me watching intently every minute. O'Toole's facial expressions and body language conveyed as much meaning as the lines he spoke and at times the acting was so good you didn't need lines to telegraph what was coming next. This isn't a film for a big audience, possibly never set the box office alight but hopefully have a following and the acting will be noticed. We all of us have familial situations that we would rather not had transpire, life is like that and most just move on to eventually get over whatever caused the angst in the first place. Families are a dynamic that is inevitable as the tide, we live within family and that makes a clash impossible to distance ourselves from, live on we must, so we do. All the people learn and live on gracefully in 'Dean Spanley', which seems au naturel for the period in which it is set, a period that on the surface seemed gracious and uncompromising but that of course was very far from the truth. This was the period that saw great changes in Britain, Darwinism had been the focus for years and all sorts of ism's had arisen over time. Phrenology, magentism et al and of course spiritualism which is the backbone of this storyline. Swamis and Gurus were as thick as Autumn leaves and the papers of the day carried advertisements for all the quack cures and latest fads imaginable. For all its so calledVictorian purity the late Edwardian age was full of salacious gossip and flashy newspaper articles about the goings on of the titled and rich.
I must admit to a clinging to the past mentality, yes much wrong with trying to clasp what has gone before to ones chest like a prize from the fairground. But what went has to me anyway great import and a reverence. Of course like most humans I tend to glorify some bits, forget others , but in the main I think that I am true to what actually transpired . Others might see their past that melded with mine in a different light, perhaps that salmon I caught from Brighton pier wasn't as big as it has grown to be, but for a ten year old it was magnificent. Will the children who are ten today have the same treasures to remember when they reach their 3score and? My feeling is that they will, a different set of wonders, but theirs will be a similar grab bag of love,laughs, tears and triumphs that so delighted my generation.
Truly Hortense that little moving picture did enthrall me so, yes Horty I know we only went 'cos you urged me so. It is because of you that I get to these little performances. I well remember the first play that you dragged me off to see,'Camelot', Richard Harris in the lead. We haven't stopped going to the theatre and film since. Yes indeed Hortense I do love to brag about seeing the original 'Phantom of the Opera ' in London too, but that was such a memorable night wasn't it. When that super scene of the Ghost poling that little punt thing along and singing as the mist rose up started, the hairs on the back of my neck rose up , and to think I don't really like much Andrew Lloyd Webber music either. A little like my conversion to Van Gogh after you dragged me off to the museum in Amsterdam, couldn't get me to leave.
Puts me in mind of Cocolat and the Gelato we had Sunday, now that was awesome was it not?
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