Geographical Trivia

I was talking to colleagues during our morning break today and we discussed how hilly Armidale is compared with many places. I said I though our offices were about 100m above the creek winding through the university and that explained why the last hill is a bit of a grind.

Well, Google Earth corrects me. The rise from the lowest point on my bike journey is only 69m (or 225 feet for those still on imperial scales). That doesn't sound much does it. In fact my journey to work descends 36m from our home to the creek and then rises the 69m to leave me just 33m higher overall. And over the 5.5 km from home to work, that's not much of an average gradient. In fact, much of the trip is more or less flat. The big hill comes right at the end.

More trivia:
Home is at 1012m; 30 31.08' 02" south and 151 41.18' 50" east; and
my office is at 1045m; 30 29.07' 53" south and 151 38.30' 71"

That puts us at the same lattitude south as Ismailia (on the Suez Canal) is north: or Marrakech in Morocco; or the ruins at Petra in Jordan; or Kuwait City ; or Lahore in Pakistan; or Chengdu in Sichuan (China); or Wuhan (where UNE has an educational ti); or Tanega - Shima off the south coast of Kyushu (Japan).

I told you it was going to be a trvia post.

AS

Antiques Fair

Three days ago, Armidale - Dumaresq Council's renovated Steinway piano was launched in the Town Hall. Today, the same building hosted the 2010 New England Antique and Collectibles Fair. The event attracts vendors from a long way away, including four from Victoria (1000+ km from Armidale), Sydney and Brisbane. Some items on display were quite brilliant and we were much taken with a William IV folding card table priced at about $5500 (or about 2,900 GBP).

This annual event always attracts Dot and me, and we often come away some delectable items, such as our hall stand, my throne, and last year our antique filing cabinet. This year, Dot acquired two items: a Coalport bone china nude (!) and a Walker and Hall silver plated sugar container, both pictured here. We'll be back next year for more and perhaps the kids will gt a nice surprise when they read our wills in the distant future.

AS

Steinway Piano

Fifty-five years ago, Armidale City Council bought a Steinway Piano. Years of hammering by such luminaries as Geoffrey Parsons, Tamas Varsary, Idel Biret, Paul Badura Skoda and Roger Woodward slowly damaged its lustre and led to calls for restoration. Council, to its credit, stumped up the $32,000 (18,000 GBP) necessary for the task - aided in part by Musica Viva Australia. And, tonight, the grand piano's career was relaunched in the Armidale Town Hall (pictured) with a most unusual list of performers.

There were 8 works, all but one for solo piano; 10 performers (all local); four blokes and 6 sheilas; and seven of the performers were aged between 12 and 18!! I hazard a guess that few places of 25,000 people in the world would be able to offer high quality performances from this number and age of performers. The following notes amplify these remarks.

The difficult works presented brilliantly included:
1) a Granados Mazurka (played by an 18 year old);
2) a musically scenario about the big bang creation of the universe (written by a Malaysian born Australian, Sonny Chua) played by a 12 y.o. boy (Jol) whose father was born 50 years ago in Inner Mongolia!;
3) Chopin's Prelude #17 (Op 28) beautifully played by a 17 y.o. boy;
4) Sonnetto 104 del Petrarca from Liszt's Annees de Pelerinage (sorry no accents!) played skilfully by another 17 y.o. boy;
5) Saint-Saens' Piano Trio #2 played by three young girls from the Local Presbyterian Ladies College;
All these artists were school children!

In addition, their music teachers played two excellent piano duets (for one piano) by Debussy and Rachmaninov. And, to end with, the organisers gave the instrument to a local Paediatrician, Keith Power and he chose a beautiful work by Chopin that all of the world's great pianists adore: Chopin's Ballade #1. And, I imagine that most of those pianists would have been impressed by the cascades of sound Keith produced. The performance was electric and fast-paced.

And, the piano itself passed the test with flying colours. Well done all.

AS

Dragon Boat Racing

Next Sunday, 7 February, Canberra is holding a multicultural festival to celebrate the Chinese New Year. As part of the festivities, there will be Dragon Boat racing on Lake Burley Grffin from about 7.20 am until the finals after lunch based around the Southern Cross Yacht Club.

Emily and Rebecca are in two separate teams formed around their workplaces and they have been practicing hard for a while - often before work. The Canberra Magazine runs a section called Daily Capital which posted the attached picture today. OK, you cannot see Beck, but she's in there and it shows what a Dragon Boat looks like. The boats are often sponsored for charity.

AS

Off to School

Dear little Max headed off to School for the first time on Monday, and has now completed two of the expected 2,600 school-days before he goes to university! Fortunately, the transition to school was hassle free and he appears to be very happy in his new surroundings.

AS