Happy New Year

Happy New Year to my readers.

2012 was a fast-paced, interesting and enriching year, with (i) lots of travel to some beautiful places, (ii) research, conference presentations and a hectic publication schedule, (iii) many contacts with family members and friends in perhaps 25 countries all over the world, and (iv) considerable effort in furthering the game of contract bridge, which I adore.

I pay special tribute to Dot for her good humoured and touching companionship, her  great assistance in my achievements, and her provision of wise counsel on many issues.

The coming year promises more of the same and I can only hope I'll come through unscathed by ill-health and in good humour.

AS

A Drought of Fish

The fishing side of our trip to Malpas Dam was disappointing. Max, Rob, Bec, Bruce and Andrew all cast their lines, but only caught four fish between them the largest of which would hardly make a meal. This is the largest of the specimens and Max seems somewhat under whelmed:

Still, like most such expeditions the event was rather restful and I spent my time listening to a broadcast of the second test match between Australia and Sri Lanka in Melbourne - apart from wandering around and taking pictures of the excitement at the water's edge.

It was a nice day out and I didn't even get wet in the end because swimming is banned in Armidale's water supply.

AS

New England Cloudscapes

Yesterday we embarked on a fishing expedition - literally. We headed to Malpas Dam north of Armidale which (a) supplies Armidale's drinking water and (b) permits recreational fishing - about which more later. I suppose that the altitude was about 1200 m (or 3800 ft).

The thing that took my imagination immediately was the fabulous cloudscapes above the lake. The weather around here has recently turned stormy and the area around Malpas, which is significantly higher than Armidale, has generated the build-up of considerable clouds and a lot of rain. Yesterday morning started in threatening mode, but the skies lightened as the day wore on. Have a look at the pictures I took:

AS

Christmas Day 2012

Christmas Day passed in usual format: breakfast, distribution and opening of presents, a trip to the skate-board park, a long lunch, and an afternoon playing some social game. The breakfast is of little interest since it took place in disjointed shifts over at least an hour as people awoke at different times in various degrees of reverie. However, the distribution of presents proceeded with all six of us attendance, Dot and me, her brother Dick, Rebecca, Dob and Max, who scored handsomely. I cannot begin to describe all the items he received and there are more to come on boxing day as we head to the shops to spend up so more.

One or two of Max's presents caught my attention specifically - a machine gun firing 'soft' bullets (not the hard variety that are discharged regularly in the US); a BMX bike, a Google plane powered by an amazing new technology - a wind up rubber band, and a Polaroid camera!

Lunch was a sumptuous affair, though adapted to our climate by being largely cold: turkey, ham, chicken, whole tiger prawns (which had be stripped of their heads, exoskeleton and feet), a large variety of salads, a lot of fruits, and various forms of alcohol including champagne. We also had the usual corny jokes from Christmas crackers and the whole affair was taken out of doors. Apart from we six, we also had Rob's parents (Marianne and Bruce) and brother Andrew in attendance, making nine in all. Half way through we had a heavy storm and had to retreat indoors, but it fortunately didn't last long.

After lunch we nattered and played Bocce on our poor excuse for a lawn and I was rather pleased with my technique - copied by others - not having played the game before. Here's a glimpse of most of us on the grass, including Max who also played his first game. I'm wearing my new flash singlet from YD - I'm the one with back turned and thinning hair!

AS

Warming Up

I cannot remember a December as hot as this! The temperatures have been over 30C for several days and this is set to continue with increasing humidity and storms. As I type this looking northward I can see tall clouds with the tell-tale signs of rain falling beneath them. It's very much like a sauna and I was covered in perspiration after riding home on my bike at lunch-time when it was already 30+.

AS

A Little Devilry

I am Chief Director of the Armidale Bridge Club and every year about this time I run a special Devil's Pairs tournament prior to the bridge club's Christmas party which always occurs on a Saturday. This year was no exception and I set some fiendish deals I culled from my extensive library of important bridge books. I warned the participants - a record 18 tables - that my selected deals involved complex plays and disciplined (but imaginative) bidding, and that suits would not break according to probability tables and finesses would tend to lose!

So I made things tough for the players, but they rolled up in record numbers to suffer at my hands. To add gravitas to the occasion, I also dressed appropriately as the devil and circulated around the room chiding players and watching them make the expected mistakes as the result of my warped humour.

The next picture shows the full club-house, which hardly had room for any more tables. Moreover, it was a very hot day outside (30+C) and with 72 players in the room the temperature began to soar despite the air-conditioning. Players complained, but I told them they'd find it hotter where I came from and they needed the practice just in case they were placed in my hands.

I also made some awards during the Christmas party. One was for the most expensive error made at the table (something like -1860 points); the pair that got closest to the score on one deal where a parrot made the world's first grand slam by a feathered player; and the pair who got the best score on my constructed deal where there was a lay-down small slam on just 16 high card points. They didn't bid the slam, but they successfully played in 5S redoubled! And another of the deals had quite a history because, according to one of my books, it was first played successfully by Robin Hood in Nottingham Castle in 1185.

If anyone would like my hand records for this event please let me know and I'll send them. You can then run your own bit of devilry.

AS

In and Around the 'gong

Yesterday, I travelled from Hervey Bay to Wollongong via Sydney. The flight to Sydney was one of the roughest I've had as the plane was tossed around by very strong winds. But I and two colleagues landed safely and caught the train down to Wollongong (or the 'gong) as most people call it. One of those colleagues was Mario Polese from the University of Montreal in Canada.The 'gong was an industrial, coal mining and steel-making, city and a major port for the export of coal and grain. The coal mining side and steel-making sides are much reduced because of import competition, but the port facilities remain strong.

The train trip down was very attractive as the line passes across broad rivers, the Royal National Park - one of the oldest in the world - and then travels close to the coastline giving great views of the craggy Illawarra escarpment and the small but now up-market communities below:

Despite its working-class image, the 'gong has a gorgeous location as these pictures show. There are lovely beaches, little headlands and coves, and a mountain backdrop:

 However, some images of the industrial past and present are visible from time to time, like the steel-works itself and the ships waiting off-shore to enter port to carry away coal and wheat.

Yet, we visited the university of Wollongong's research precinct to day to look at the technologies of the twenty-first century being developed and they're in the global forefront of several things like the mass production of graphene, which is light, incredibly strong, and can be woven into clothing to produce electricity to recharge your tablet or smart-phone as you walk along, prevents bullets from harming the wearer, and might eventually make people invisible! I also saw my first 3-D printer, which we all might have at home one day. I asked if it would be possible to make a digital cast of me and the feed that information into the the printer to make a life-sized statue of me. Apparently that could be done!! So I'm considering immortalising myself for future generations! Instead of seeing my ashes in an urn on the shelf they could be placed in one or more replicas of me to be seated permanently in my descendants' lounges.And I was told that the biologies they're working on might lead to functioning clones of me in perpetuity. Fancy having me around for ever?

AS

Sea-sick on a Dinner Cruise

Yesterday evening we took a dinner cruise organised by my colleague Paul Collits who organised our conference at the University of Southern Queensland's Hervey Bay campus. We boarded the Whalesong at the picturesque Urangan harbour and headed out on what seemed the smooth waters of Hervey Bay.

The smooth waters gave way to choppy swell as we headed NE into a stiff breeze which grew stronger by the minute and soon the vessel was bouncing up and down between shoals of jellyfish. Fortunately, the craft didn't sink! However, the crew brought around finger food, which I soon down in some quantity along with some fizzy drink and I then began to feel queasy from that combination and the movement of the boat. In fact I was feeling rather sick - unusually so because I normally can take the movement sideways and up and down of boats.

We  saw a delightful sunset over Urangan, pictured here and some beautiful cloudscapes illuminated by the setting sun before anchoring in the lee of a sand island for dinner.

Alas, by then, I was feeling rather sick and could scarcely any of the enticing fayre!! In fact I felt like chundering over the edge of the boat and avoided company lest I coughed up over them. By the way, chunder is an Australian word for being sick and elides the words "watch under". It was used on sailing craft bringing settlers - and convicts - to Australia to warn those on lower decks about their fate if they were hit by vomit. So the end of the cruise was miserable - but great for others of course.

AS

Novel Breakfast

Dot and I were traveling from Caboolture, just north of Brisbane, to a 3-day conference at Urangan near Hervey Bay. We stayed overnight at a motel at Caboolture and departed early on the 3+ hour trip north and needed some breakfast badly. We decided to stop at Nambour and found ourselves passing the big pineapple, which we hadn't visited for years since Emily and Rebecca were young. Australia has lots of big things ... sheep, bananas, prawns and, well, the pineapple shown here.

Well, we found a farmer's market and alternative food stalls selling interesting things. I bought some Dutch-style waffles with berries and ice-cream and some Greek baklava, neither my usual fare. Indeed the Dutchman who served me came originally from Haarlem, which I visited in May and was blown over when I mentioned the connection.

And, while we sat and ate our breakfast out on the extensive veranda, we were serenaded by a couple of female jazz musicians, which was very pleasant.  The views across the pineapple plantation were also serene at 8 am! This was definitely something to repeat should we come this way again.

AS