Feb 26
Do you think that the song playing on your iPod of a morning stays with you for the rest of the day, or even the week?
I can’t get Peter Allen’s “Not the Boy Next Door” nor Midnight Oil’s “Best of Both Worlds” out of my head – yet there were the two tracks playing on my iPod this morning on the train!
Very strange. Two very different songs and performers.
“The one it could have been”*
*Line often repeated in the “Best of Both Worlds”
Feb 25
The Queen Mary 2 (QM2) pulled into Sydney Heads this morning and is currently docked at Garden Island.
Hard to think that after having dinner with them last night at the tackily furnished Neptune Palace (savouring the wonderful salt and pepper squid/prawns, amongst others), that Lucy and her mother Patricia (aka Madge) will board this oceanic leviathon afternoon for a cruise to Singapore via Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok.
Feb 23
Here are some pics taken on our second trip out on the Great Barrier Reef from our recent Queensland holiday. A big thanks to Paul and his girlfriend (whose name unfortunately escapes me), a lovely Scottish couple who took these shots for us and emailed them a few weeks ago.
Apart from some action shots of Rado in full aqualung gear – who proved to be very adept at scuba diving on the day thank you very much – the rest show the old tall ship we sailed out on, the “Falla”, as well as a gorgeous underwater shot.
Just before we boarded, a few of us managed to swim with a medium to large turtle right in under the boat. I was amazed at how quickly they can move underwater, a real contrast with how they are on land. They are speedy yet graceful - just one of many gorgeous sights in this most magical spot on Earth.
It’s difficult to remember, given the national tragedy of the last 48 hours, just how commonplace infernos such as the one in Victroria are to the Australian bush. To a large extent, they are part of the ‘pull and push’ aspect of natural ecosystems. They have happened before and they will happen again.
That sentiment however will not erase or lessen the momentus impact this disaster - currently being touted internationally as Australia’s worst – will have, both from loss of life and property. Like all tragedies of this magnitude, it brings out both the best and worse in us.
The best – total strangers giving of their all to protect, defend and safeguard the wellbeing to people they barely even know.
The worst – cruel opportunists who are nothing more than cold blooded murderers, whose sick need for a twisted thrill consumes not only precious resources, but lives , memories and futures.
The ash has barely settled but the repercussions from the last 48 hours will be with this nation for a long time to come.
Jan 23
Australia Day weekend will be spent with the lovely Ms Coops (Kylee) and lovely Ms KOBster (Kristy) up at – wait for it – the Tamworth Country Music festival. Yeee Haaa!
Mine and Kylee’s first time, although I heartily suspect Kristy is NOT a country music festival virgin.
Seriously, I have only some idea what to expect – so it will be interesting to compare the fantasy to the reality. This is NOT the intent behind the two images you see here – these have been provided purely for the sake of my travelling and tent companions for the weekend.
One is what I think they would LIKE to see – the other is probably what we WILL end up seeing!
Happy Australia Day!
Jan 20
Echoing the post release title of the inaugural Star Wars film, Barack Obama was elected 44th President of the United States this morning, ushering in a new chapter in America’s manifest destiny together with a plea that the ideals of hope will and should supplant those of fear.
In an address designed to serve a global audience, the most telling subtext of the speech for me was simply this: although America faces many threats and enemies abroad, perhaps its greatest foe is America itself. The rallying cry for the people of the United States to forget their selfish ways of the past and to unite behind a new era of collective and personal responsbility is the single unifying theme the Obama administration will bring to the US and the world, and it will one of the biggest yardsticks he will be measured on in four years time.
By all accounts, on the strength of the campaign over the last 18 months and on the goodwill and excitement of today’s events, he is off to a magnificent start.
Here are some of the more memorable images of this historic day from the New York Times:
How much has the world been looking forward to seeing the end of George W?
No one does POMP like the Americans!
OK – I’m going to say it – what is WITH the HAT?
The Capitol Building at dusk and a swarm of Washington humanity below
Jan 20
Speaking of Hitler*, its now official – I am a bonafide, card carrying fan of Larry David and his brilliant, post modern, post Seinfeld masterpiece “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.
I watched the opening two episodes last night and on the strength of the bellylaughs on offer, promptly made a bee line for JB Hi Fi to pick up series 4 and 5 at the bargain basement price of $15 a pop – come on, that’s like $5 a disc. With all the hassle and time involved, you couldn’t even burn them for that price.
All the reviews of the show on sites like IMDB in this case are totally accurate – the show is nothing short of comedic brilliance. Maybe its me, but I seem to have a real affinity for shows without fixed dialgoue and that deal in subjects like neurotic existentialism. Like the fantastic Christoper Guest and Woody Allen, David’s show consists entirely of loose plot outlines, and the actors essentially improvise on set with how they feel the scene should play out in terms of what is funny, black, semi tragic or facetious.
Check it out - I’m champing at the bit to work through the series as fast as I can!
* because in the opening episode, Larry calls his wife “Hitler” while on the cellphone to his manager, little knowing that said manager has him on speaker with his elderly cantakerous Jewish parents in the car. Said Jewish parents are morbidly horrified at Larry’s indiscrete remarks, given that they had a gay Jewish cousin who survived (or was it didnt survive?) the Holocaust. Plot unravels when Larry is forced to apologise to the parents but this results in further mayhem blah blah blah!
Just see it!
Jan 18
Well, as the old Rogers and Hart standard attests, God sure did ‘paint the scenery’ up in the mountains at Blackheath this weekend. Perfect summer weather, sunny but with a light breeze to maintain the warm, crisp bush feel.
Truth be told, it did feel more than a little strange, as this was the first weekend I had spent up there (ie at Dowling Cottage) without Rado. But, anticipating this, I bought along a collection of suitable distractions – some personal admin work, DVDs, music, newspapers (ha!) – so I was more than occupied.
The garden is looking very lush, green and verdant at the moment. When the lawn is freshly cut, like it was on Sunday morning, I feel a real sense of pride. We have lavender in full bloom next to the front door, and gladioli as well next to our rose bushes which I hadn’t even noticed. Our blue hydrangeas are also busting out all over – it really is a sight!
Kath and I also did some housekeeping chores on Sunday, including ordering a new outdoor table and chairs with removable cushions. It should really make our back courtyard significantly more pleasant, as the old table, although suitably rustic, was falling to bits.
It also acted as a spur on my Dowling list for the year, ie the things I’d like to get down up there to make sure the cottage is ‘moving forward’ both in terms for guests and also for when Rado and I get up there. One of the items on that list is a definite – ie to have more friends up there for weekends away. Its so beautiful that you just want to share it!
Now that the world’s media have descended en masse to the Hudson, there are some equally spectacular shots of todays ’aquajet’. Its yet another example of how New York can effortlessly provide the backdrop for jaw dropping disaster.
The pilot is now being feted as an international aviation hero, given the incredible fact that not only did no one perish, but that the plane is in ‘remarkably good condition’ (how they ever determind this, or indeed why beggars belief – are they looking to sell the wreck on eBay?).
Its now put paid to the theory one wag reported in the press of “you ditch – you die”
Aircrash Invvestigations (the TV show) should sue!
Jan 15
And in breaking news, we’d now like to bring you the latest in sturdy Airbus engine design. From the icy depths of New York’s Hudson River, the crash this morning of a US Airways flight 1549 is currently thought to be caused by – wait for it – bird strikes!
I hope the engines on the Airbus A380 are made of sterner stuff, or else the naming of Qantas’ new “Nancy Bird-Walton” may seem to be ironcially prophetic.
Meanwhile, this is all cause for posting what I think is one of the most gorgeous, and rarely seen vistas I’ve seen of old New York – an aerial shot of Manhattan directly from La Guardia airport. (the abovementioned plane departed from New York’s La Guardia airport).
Love it!
Meanwhile, Huff Post this morning have titled their breaking news article as “Miracle OFF 47th Street”. Thats not bad – but I think mine is better! Lets see what the blogosphere throws up today (hmm – note to self to check News of the World later on).