Insubordinate Klaus?

As we were setting off yesterday for Christmas dinner at Jane Stening's home I was asked to put on a Santa hat. Jane is one of Dot's friends and her son William who had flown home from Vancouver, made up our quartet. The meal and the company were nice and made up for not having either Emily or Rebecca and their families chez nous. In fact, I think we were there for about 4 hours.

Here's me wearing my hat along with William. I don't really look like Santa do I? Nor one of his many subordinate clauses! So I'll call myself an insubordinate Klaus, especially wearing that gear which was suitable for a hot (29C) and steamy day.

Although we can dress down without too much comment, the food we eat and the other paraphernalia surrounding Xmas are much more unmoveable. For example we ate lots of turkey and stuffing, ham, roast veges and all those things. We also pulled crackers dispensing party hats (not much use given my head-gear), bad jokes and ... on this occasion ... magic tricks. One I got enabled me to take a single piece of rope, splice it in two, and then put it back together again in the blink of an eye! It wass very effective. The only dispensation to the heat of a southern Christmas was the desert. Dot slaved several hours to construct this elegant Pavlova, which disappeared rapidly once placed on the table.

AS

Graham and Shirley

Last week we hosted two of our relatives whom we had never met! Graham and Shirley hail from Hillcrest, which lies to the west of Durban in South Africa, and their father (Maurice) and my mother (Phyllis) were first cousins. Their respective mothers, Rose and Kate, were sisters and their mother - our great grandmother - was Lucy Page who died in tragic circumstances as long ago as 1930. Lucy was of course the ultimate common link.

Graham and Shirley are in Australia to visit Graham's sister (Anne) in Brisbane and her family and then to travel to New Zealand to visit Maurice, now 95, and his wife Iris in Auckland. We'll also be catching up with Maurice there within about three weeks as we explore the North Island. They and my Aunt Hazel in Plymouth are apparently our last relatives alive of my mother's generation.

Anyway, they spent three nice days with us catching up on family history, politics and lifestyle in our respective countries, and our various philosophies, goals and achievements in life. We also visited some of the main tourist attractions around this region, which was voted one of Australia's major tourist destinations for 2014. We also sampled a range of cafes, restaurants, and even a winery. of course, one of the destinations was Wollomombi Falls, where these pictures were taken. Alas the volume of water was small because of our recent drought - now abating.

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Wicked Deals

The Armidale Bridge Club's Christmas Party was held last Saturday and we had, as usual a big turnout. The attractions were many. Lovely food, club awards, and ... my devilish deals. It is now a club tradition that I select a stack of deals that are, for various reasons, difficult to bid and play. This year was no different, except that this time I got the computer to deal 99 hands from which I selected the 28 most interesting / difficult ones on offer. My selection criteria will remain a secret, but the players generally love the outcome. One example of a difficult deal was a slam hand for E-W. The contract will make 12 tricks against any defence, but interference bidding by their opponents made it difficult to detect that outcome. Only one out of 13 tables managed to get there.

Each year I dress up as the devil - supplemented on this occasion by my Dracula T-shirt. So I directed the event walking around with a red tail, two red horns, and a black cloak. The players found it a hoot and, at the end of the session, I delivered my awards for:

• The most disastrous score
• The contract with the biggest plus
• The wimpiest contract (generally the one with most over-tricks), and
• The player whose attitude at the table most attracted my attention

The last-named went to Olive Tilley, who is well into her 90s. She was the card table equivalent of Usain Bolt in the 100 m event, mostly finishing  her three deals in each round ahead of anyone else! She won a pack of cards I bought in Translyvania. I hadn't opened the pack so I hope they didn't spill blood!

Some pictures of the event:

Each one pictures me as the Devil.

AS

An Unusual Concert

I'm getting a little behind in my posts and reporting a concert Dot and I attended a week ago. It was the last in the prestigious Musica Viva concerts for 2014 and involved a group called The Australian Voices. They are a choral ensemble of 19 singers, roughly balanced between Sopranos, Altos, Tenors and Basses, and a live-wire conductor / composer. The individual performers were all young - in their 20s and 30s - and all were excellent in timbre and timing. No wonder the New York Times described them "as if the gates of heaven had opened". Moreover, a professor of choral conducting in Munich said "this ensemble is captivating: breathtaking homogeny, perfect intonation, spectacular virtuosity". And they're performing in little old Armidale? They've performed in many different countries and won awards for their skills.

So what did they sing? Well, the programme was amazing and very modern for the most-part. Over half the works dated from the 20th and 21st centuries and rejoiced in some bizarre names: Unrepresentative Swill (sayings by Australian parliamentarians - including two Prime Ministers!); Love is Space and Time; Underwater Bask-Weaving; Who are We?; Bookmoth; Dark Doves; and so on. And one work, "Heyr, himna smithur" was written in the 21st century by the well-known Icelandic composer Thorkell Sigurbjornsson. However, his words were penned in 1208 - i.e. 8 centuries ago! That was beaten in time by Heldegarde von Bingen's "O ignee Spiritus" written in 1179. See what I mean? The program was excitingly original to match an excitingly original ensemble. I salute the organisers!

And here they are:

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Segway Trip

I've spent a couple of days in Canberra visiting Bec and Max and staying with them out in Dunlop, but the main purpose of the trip was to attend today's launch of a database, produced by the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) of which I am a Fellow, at a breakfast in of all places Parliament House. It took quite an effort - and borrowing Bec's car for the day - to get to Parliament House for the 7.15 am start. I actually sat next to some interesting people at my table. Next to me, for example, was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Finance Minister, Senator McCormack, and I also talked extensively with a Treasury official, Anne Scott, and a senior staff member (deputy secretary no less) in the Industry ministry.

After that successful, but tiring, launch I spent the next couple of hours at the RAI's HQ discussing research strategies / needs before heading to the National Portrait Gallery nearby. They had a special exhibition called in the flesh, where most of the exhibits dealt with peoples' psychologies and behaviours: reflection, acceptance, alienation, restlessness, transience, intimacy, empathy, vulnerability and transition. Moreover, many of the pictures & sculptures depicted people starkers often several times human size. One pregnant women stood tall next to an equally challenging hairy bloke who seemed to ahve some primeval presence.

That done I met up with Bec, whose office is situated nearby in the Treasury building. We had pre-booked something I'd long wanted to do: take a Segway ride. Well, he we are close to the start of our adventure. I'd really like to buy one of these for roaming around Armidale, but they're expensive and cannot be used in many situations. So, perhaps an electric bike might come first. Anyway, we had a great ride for about half an hour around the shores of Lake Burley Griffin.

AS

Flowering Cactus

On the last Sunday in each month, Armidale's mall is turned into a market-place with lots of stalls. One of favourite places to visit is the cactus man from whom I've purchase dozens of different specimens, most of which survive in my office at UNE. At the end of October I bought a Gymnocalycium Mihanovchii (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnocalycium_mihanovichii)  because it had little flower buds on it.

Nothing much happened for a while, but suddenly the buds enlarged and slowly took the form of flowers. Using a version of time-lapse photography, I took five images on successive days as shown here. It really is a pretty cactus and one that I'll re-pot from its cramped bowl shortly after flowering ceases. All the photos were taken on our kitchen bench so that I have a neutral background of white tiles.

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Heatwave

This has been the warmest November in Armidale that I can recall. Have a look at BOM's 7 day forecast for us and gasp!

In a normal summer we might reach 33 C on a few occasions and 36 C is about the maximum. Well, it's not yet summer, which arrives formally on December 1 - a couple of weeks away. It's still spring - the equivalent of the northern May. When was the last time Bournemouth or Plymouth reached 35 C  (95) in May? Even in mid-summer (January), the average daily maximum is 26 C. so these forescasts are stratospheric.

Despite the forecast of showers, 2014 has been close to the driest year recorded here.

AS

We Lost Our Crown

After playing something like 14 hours of bridge last weekend in the Armidale Swiss Teams Congress I have mixed feelings in reporting that we came in second out of 18 teams and the four of us, whose official picture is below, won about $75 each in prize-money recouping most of our entry fees ($80). Most teams would be over the moon at that outcome, but I reported last year that we won the event albeit with me having a different partner.

This year we had a flying start and were leading earlier on. However a poor fourth session brought us down to earth with a thud and it took all our efforts the following day to regain second spot in the last round. The team members from left to right are: Nick Wall (retired investor), me, my partner Imre (Imi) Bokor a professional mathematician, and Ed Hahn (manager of a hostelry). Imi was, I think, born in Hungary, but came to Australia young. Presumably Ed's ancestors were German and some settlers from that nation founded Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills. I don't know if there's any link ther!

Both pairs played complex systems based on Precision ... and some of the problems came from me forgetting what some artificial bids meant. Anyway, it was fun, albeit tiring. Now I have to plt my revenge because in less than a month it is my turn to dress up as the Devil and organise some wicked deals that form part of our Christmas celebrations. Or, and this is an interesting thought, should I wear my Vlad Tepes t-shirt (aka Dracula) and extract blood from my victims? Hmmm!

AS

Book Launch

After playing Bridge all day yesterday in the New England Swiss Teams ... something like 56 boards over 7 hours including a delicious lunch ... I attended a book launch at the Armidale Art Gallery in the Beardy Street Mall. Yes, Armidale has two art galleries, one of national importance exhibiting a large collection of major art-works on more or less permanent display, and the other where the book launch was held selling art works.

The book in question is an exquisite collection of photographs taken by my friend, Terry Cooke. It's entitled New England High Country: contrast and colour, and the one hundred photos were mainly taken around Armidale and district. He's a great photographer as many friends and relatives will attest when they receive one of the 10 copies I acquired.

The book's genesis occurred earlier this year when Terry sought crowd-funding through the Pozible platform and approached  me and many others I know to pre-order copies of his work. The money was used to select and edit the photos, and kick-start the printing process. The outcome is beautiful and will no doubt sell rapidly through the region's tourist agencies.

This post is more about the launch itself than the contents. Basically, subscribers to the crowd-funding exercise were invited to the gallery to meet each other over wine and nibbles and to the simultaneous launch of an exhibition by a talented local artist Antoinette Andersen (see: http://www.armidaleartgallery.com/artist_profile.php?id=53) and Terry's book-launch. I knew most of the audience attending who were colleagues during my working days at the University of New England or professional people such as local doctors or people I meet at the bridge table.

Here's the manager of the gallery launching Antoinette's exhibition with some of her pictures in the background. I like them and will go back to see if I can obtain some smaller items - w're running out of space to hang things in this house.

Terry just before the launch. Most of us who had crowd-funded the exercise had envelopes containing a single copy of the book, but were under strict instructions to keep the envelopes sealed until after the official launch. Well, Emily was an exception as Dot kindly took a copy with her to see Emily and her family in Mountain View, California.

And Terry addressing us about the book's production.

While Bruce Menzies, my some time doctor and local orchestral conductor gave his take on the book's development.

If you come and visit us we'll take you to this gallery, which is also exhibiting numerous photographs produced by Terry.

AS

Sunset at Mindil Beach

Last night after the main part of the congress ended, our party descended on Mindil beach to see the markets, watch the sunset and experience a nice firework display. That marked the end of the season when the markets are held regularly because, from now on, the wet season starts and the visitors to the top end fall away. In the high summer months the temperatures are high and uncomfortable and the humidity is extremely high. In short it's bit like living in a sauna. For example, yesterday evening the temperatures were still 30+ C after the sun went down and many of the participants were just wearing shorts and singlets, me included.

The markets sell art-works, crafts, lots of delicious ethnic foods from all over the world, drinks of various kinds, and there were bands playing and some more exotic pastimes like whip cracking. Our reserved enclosure had freely flowing champagne wines and beers. And the crowds were thick on the ground for the fireworks and to see the sun set. Most of the participants were, however, local

The sun sets over the Arafura sea

The crowds watching on the beach.

Almost gone. As the sun went down the sky reddened.

At dusk the crowds near our enclsoure thckened.

Afterglow.

Crash bang of exploding fireworks lighting the sky.

A lovely evening.

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Eaten by a Crocodile?

I've just been attending the annual Economic Development Australia meeting, which was this year in Darwin, and as a guest of that Association. I've had a wonderful time meeting people and exchanging ideas, but some of the side events were equally entertaining. On the first night we went to Crocosaurus Cove for the formal opening of the conference and, as part of the entertainment, the EDA's president was forced to enter the cage of death which was then lowered into a tank with an 80 year old and rather large crocodile. For the record, he survived, but the croc gave him a good looking over. I also had fun as I was handed a fishing rod to which pieces of chicken were attached and I then lowered my catch into a pit full of younger crocodiles. This was repeated 10 times after each meal was grabbed by the voracious beasts whose jaws are lightning fast! It was easily the most interesting conference opening I've ever attended.

Meet a friendly local.

Who has some barramundi pals. These fish are highly prized for eating ... a bit like salmon in Britain.

El Presidente opens the meeting before being hauled away for his ordeal.

Being lowered into the croc's pond.

Croc meets El Presidente

After all this we headed off to eat in a posh restaurant nearby. Croc steaks were not on the menu.

AS

3200 KM From Home

I am now in Darwin in north Australia after a long and tiring flight ... about 3000 km from home, although the air distance travelled was closer to 3600 km because I had to fly south Sydney first before tracking back north. This meant leaving home at 5.45 am and I eventually arrived in Darwin at 1.00 pm (or 2.30 pm Armidale time because home is 1.5 hours in front of us here mid-way across the continent). That's a journey of over 8 hours.

I'm here to deliver presentations to the Economic Development Australia group and they're fortunately paying the bill for travel accommodation and meals! Moreover I'm housed on the top floor of the local Hilton Hotel, which is very nice. I haven't seen much of the city - conferences like this are hard work - but was here several years ago and made a post to this BLOG. The flight was quite boring, so I turned my hand to taking pictures out of the window, several attached below.

Basically much of the flight was over desert and, in fact, I saw no housing for over 2000 km. However, the sights weren't entirely boring - the desert has some charm of its own as you'll see. Here are some dry salt pans surrounded by scrubby vegetation.

And here's a little billabong filled with muddy water - remnant from the last wet season.

Here's a much larger salt pan in the middle distance.

While here two roads diverge, one heading west and the other north-west. I wonder how many vehicles travel these roads during the course of a year?

This mottled landscape might be a scene from Mars, the red planet!

And this last view was taken of the screen in front of me showing the location of the aircraft.

Here's Katherine from the air. A friend of mine was economic development officer here until recently before deciding to return to Napier in NZ. I'll be meeting James in Christchurch in just over a month - yes, another long trip.

Now we've arrived at hobby farms on the southern outskirts of Darwin.

And here's Palmerston, a new town on the edge of the main city, followed by an industrial estate.

And, to end with, views from 8th floor hotel room. Nice, eh! The temperature was a pleasant 34 C (93 F). In fact Darwin's winter average maximum is about 30 C and the summer average is c. 35 C - not much range. However, it is now building up for the wet season and getting a bit muggy.

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Rainbow

Armidale has had an extended drought for much of 2014, with rainfall a long way below average. So it was pleasing yesterday to record a rare event ... a rainbow. In other words, it was raining nearby when I took this photo of a lovely rainbow. Let's hope for many more such images.

AS