Fishing Trip

The final highlight of our trip to Canberra was a fishing trip on Saturday afternoon. Max, Rob and I headed off to the shores of Lake Burley Griffin with three fishing rods and some hooks, but no bait. I was assured that this was enough equipment to snare a few fish even though we were also missing a net to land any fish we caught. Now, this was the first time I'd held a rod in something like 35 years and I wasn't that confident. On that distant occasion I'd actually landed a Bream in a boat on the Tweed River in northern NSW.

This time around I caught another fish, pictured with Max holding it. The other photo shows him holding his line over the lake having just caught a fish himself. Both fish were unhooked and returned to the lake, but it seems that Max's fish subsequently died from wounds received and excessive time out of water. The poor thing was trapped by the hook and Rob took a while to release it. This sad outcome makes me want to give up eating fish! It was a great learning experience in excellent conditions, but I somehow cannot see myself line in hand any time soon.

AS

Floriade

Our trip to Canberra coincided, as I've already said with Floriade and the 'official' festivities - separate from our visit to Tulip Top - were held in Commonwealth Park alongside Lake Burley Griffin in the centre of Canberra. Tulip Top was highly formal and concentrated on floral displays. Floriade had a mass of flowers, but also a huge range of other attractions for the whole family, including fantasy items like a forest glade with umbrellas floating in the tree-tops; a mechanical organ playing funfair tunes; a Ferris wheel and other funfair items; a planter basket competition; and flower displays (all shown here). Kids had a competition to paint gnomes and there were additional exhibitions of a lifestyle kind, together with lots of shops - many with a garden theme. In the middle of the park someone had even sculptured a model of old Parliament House out of sand and elsewhere there was a herd of full-sized, but artificial, Zebras!

The flower beds were, compared with Tulip Top, somewhat post-modern. Many were works of modern art, with complex and not altogether fathomable designs. And the beds sometimes did not show the same care in their planting out and maintenance as at Tulip Top. Nevertheless, the gardens and displays were overrun with locals and tourists alike. Being Canberra, visitors included scores of different nationalities from all corners of the earth, which gave the proceedings a cosmopolitan air. And unlike Tulip Top which attracted an older and slower paced demographic, Floriade was for all generations. So it was a successful event and one I'd certainly visit again. Entry was also free!

AS

Tulip Top

Just outside Canberra, alongside the Federal Highway linking that city with Sydney, a family has worked on establishing a brilliant garden which they throw open to the public in Spring. They call the place tulip top, for reasons that will be clear on viewing the pictures attached. The day we (Dot, Emily and I) visited it, the weather was beautiful and the crowds thick on the ground as they ambled through the valley housing the display or climbing the various slopes for views from above.

It must have taken a huge amount of effort to create their vision over perhaps 10-15 years, but the results were outstanding. Everything was manicured perfectly: colour combinations; juxtaposition of flowering trees an bulbs; everything in bloom at the same time; landscaping with artificial waterfall and water features; mass flowers all at the same height; and neat paths and borders. The flowering trees were a surprise and delight, especially the hybrids which had blossom in up to three different colours on the same tree. And, for the hungry and thirsty, the hospitality tent threw in the likes of coffee and poffertjes (Dutch pancakes) free of charge.

It was really on of the high points of the year for me and another reason why our overseas visitors, if any, should try to come at the end of September and in early October. By the way, the temperature on the day in question was a nice 20C. By the way, the pictures were taken early before the hoards of people arrived!

AS

Golden Canola

Dot and I travelled to Canberra for the Floriade long weekend and to pick up Max to look after him over the school holidays. As usual, we went down and back via the inland because it avoids heavily trafficked roads and the scenery is better. This time around the abundant winter rains had transformed the parched south of NSW into a garden of Eden. Dams were full; lams frolicking in the fields; pastures were green; and the winter crops looking well - wheat and canola predominating. Add to that lovely sunny spring weather on the way down and it really lifts the spirits of the driver and passengers, not to mention the farmers who are looking at the best conditions in a decade.

One of the most magical parts of the journey was towards the end of our 800 km journey - after we had been through the town of Cowra on the Lachlan River. Between there, Boorawa and Yass we floated as it were on a carpet of yellow flowers - Canola to us, bur Rape Seed to the Poms. The pictures shown above give some impression of this landscape as seen from the Lachlan Valley Way south of Cowra. The yellow is intense and, because the crops were so dense, the carpet was often seamless as far as the eye could see. Though not perfect, the pictures give some sense of the occasion.

AS

More on the Ayenbite of Inwyt

Ever since I posted an email comment on the ayenbite of inwyt (remorse of conscience) to all the members of the Armidale Bridge Club, I've been deluged by erudite responses on:

• the origins, uses and significance of the term,
• the quality of education in the 1930s,
• the merits of James Joyce's Ulysses,
• the etymology of Middle English (ME),
• 14th century monastic living, and so on.

Two of my correspondents have been two Professors, one of Economics and the other of Chemistry, who remember with great clarity being taught about the Ayenbite at high school., and their average age is 88! They both play a good game of bridge, by the way. I would have thought that a bridge club was the last place to have such a discussion, so I was pleasantly surprised. One of the things that exicted me is the simplcity of word construction in ME. When you think about it, conscience is made up of two stems, (in) and (wit) or (in mind). Do any of my readers know the origin of ayenbite?

I'm posing that question without much hope because my readers here, unlike bridge players, are apparently immune to the joys of ME. I don't like criticising people because I might lose my remaining readership, so I'll presume that you've all been fiendishly busy! I hope that at least some of you will be moved to respond in ME!

AS

Intermediate Lesson

I have just spent about 3 full days putting together an intermediate bridge lesson which I delivered this morning from 10 am to 1pm. It was number 5 in the series and I had no less than 26 people, including two from Glen Innes, 100km away. Anyway, it went really well and several players told me at the end that they enjoyed the session and gained a lot!

The presentation was given in our club premises just round the corner from where I leave and I used the data projector I donated to the club complete with automatic slide changer which meant I could stand at the front and a fair distance away from the computer. So, we're a tech-savvy club and getting more so as we consider get the latest electronic scoring package. The picture shows me in full flow wearing my Suomi Kalevala T-shirt with the tragic figure of Kullervo riding a motor-bike!

AS

Ayenbite of Inwytt

A friend of mine recently sent me an email which recorded the phrase "Ayenbite of Inwyt". This is apparently an English expression, but it is not easy to track down even in Google.

I gather that Wyclif said "fyve inwytts: wyl, resoun, mynd, ymaginacioun, and thogt" in about 1380. Don't bother looking at the spelling, which is about right for Middle English. And even today it's easy to see what most of the words mean, except for inwyt(t). However, the Ayenbite bit has me worried.

Advise me please! I look forward to a flood of responses. By the way today's author of the email is a 92 year old former professor of chemistry! It appears that maybe 70 years ago scientists were given a broad education.

As a postscript, I should add that I forgot to do a Google search and merely looked the phrase up on an on-line dictionary. Having just done the search, I can now report the following from Wikipedia:

"The Ayenbite of Inwyt (also Aȝenbite of Inwit, literally Prick (or Remorse) of Conscience) is a confessional prose work written in a Kentish dialect of Middle English. As a literal rendition of a French original by a "very incompetent translator" (Thomson 1908), it is generally considered more valuable as a record of Kentish pronunciation in the mid-14th century than as a work of literature."

"The Ayenbite is a translation of the French Somme le Roi (also known as the Book of Vices and Virtues), a late 13th century treatise on Christian morality."

"The surviving copy of the work was completed on 27 October 1340, by a Benedictine monk, Michael of Northgate: þis boc is dan Michelis of Northgate / ywrite an englis of his oȝene hand. þet hatte: Ayenbyte of inwyt. (This book, called Remorse of Conscience, is the work of don Michael of Northgate, written in English in his own hand."

"In the 20th century, the work gained some recognition when its title was adopted by James Joyce, who used it numerous times in his novel, Ulysses. In Joyce's spelling, agenbite of inwit, the title has gained a limited foothold in the English language."

It seems, then, that my chemistry professor is merely a fan of James Joyce and / or Ulysses. That is something of a disappointment.

AS

More Signs of Spring

We've had Rebecca, Max and Robb back home for the week-end. It was only a fleeting visit, for they drove up from Canberra - all 860km - on Friday and are returning today. Why drive over 1700km for a couple of days in Armidale? The answer is that Beck had a school reunion on Saturday evening, celebrating 10 years from leaving Duval High School in 2000. On Saturday evening, we were baby sitters for (a) Max and (b) an adorable little 1 year old girl, the daughter of one of Beck's friends.

Yesterday, we took off for Wollomombi Falls, which have appeared previously on these pages. That was after Max, Dot and I had a game of UNO Attack, which  Max adored. The weather was very windy, but also fine and warm for early spring. Much of Eastern Australia received torrential rain on Saturday - with some places that had been in drought for a decade getting over 250mm in an evening. Even Armidale had heavy rain overnight and we took off for the falls because we expected strong flows and because Max loves being out of doors.

Well, the falls were not quite as thunderous as we expected, but still impressive. They are among the highest two or three falls in Australia, and among the highest in the southern hemisphere, as shown on two of the attached pictures. The second shows both the Wollomombi and Chandler falls, which merge in the pool at the bottom of the gorge. The flat tablelands lie at about 1100 m above sea level (asl), and the third picture shows the distant mountains rising to over 1600 m asl.

The gorge has many lookout points and one picture show Rob and Max (where is he?) on the steps leading down to one of the viewing points. Meanwhile, it's Spring and a great feature of the countryside is the massive splashes of yellow from wattle (Acacia) trees in flower.

After the viewing, we went to the village of Wollomombi for a meal and Max found a lot of kids to play with. The village is tiny - almost barely alive, but the beer garden was full of locals who had come in from the nearby properties (farms) for a bit of socialising.

AS

It's Spring

The southern Spring technically arrives on the 1st September, and this year it's arriving right on cue. After a colder and wetter Winter than average, we awoke this morning to brilliant sun and stunning temperatures. It was 8 degrees C at 7.00am and is forecast to reach 18C today and 20C tomorrow! Flowers and trees anticipated this turn of events and many are coming out into leaf and flower.

OK, that's only about the same as Plymouth or Bournemouth at this time of year, but our prognosis is upwards, not descent into Winter and, for me, weather strongly determines mood and confidence. A nice day, and I'm a nice bloke!

Anyway, this post confirms what I told my UK correspondents during our recent UK visit. This is the best time to visit Australia if you want to avoid the hotter weather, but I'd leave it another month as October and November are really nice.

AS