A Long Bike Ride

I regularly ride my bike around town for recreation, fitness improvement, and simply out of interest to know about where I live and how it works. My trips often are around 10 to 15  km in length and last up to about 50 minutes time-wise. However, they rarely venture far into the countryside as I'm worried about travelling into places where traffic is thin and, if anything happened to me - like another cardiac arrest, I'd not be rescued in time to survive!

Sometimes major accidents can also happen unexpectedly, like last Thursday. I was riding my bike along our city's E-W bike path, which links town to the university, at about 5.30 pm. I came across a young couple walking their dogs, as many locals do along the creeklands at that time of day. And like many wog dalkers, their animals were off leash. Anything wrong? Well, yes. Armidale Regional Council has a rule that dogs should be on-leash the whole time and about 50% of dog-owners observe that rule. Council also has fenced-off reserves where residents can meet up and let lose their dogs  to play together.

Well on this occasion the two dogs were off-leash, but just on nearby grass as I approached. Alas, as I reached them one wretched dog suddenly leaped off the grass right in front  me giving me no time to stop. I collided with the animal and crashed to the ground. Dazed, I slowly found I had a heap of minor cuts and scratches on arms, legs, shoulder and even above one eye, together with bruises on both hands. Some of the tares to my skin were oozing blood and others were 'weeping'. Fortunately, as I was wondering what to do, a police car came tearing up the path (which is not built for cars). It was on a patrol because of some other issue, but one officer called for an ambulance and phoned Dot for her to come and collect the bike in our RAV4, which they helped her to load into the car. I was whisked to the nearby hospital and told by the helpful ambulance staff I'd be seen immediately and would be home shortly. 'Shortly' turned out to be 4 hours later because of a huge range of emergency cases that evening, but I was patched up quickly, given a tetanus injection, and put on a course of antibiotics. Nothing was broken and I had no concussion. Today, 4 days later, I had the band-aids removed, and my local GP, Dr Marcia Whelan, pronounced me to be in good shape. Lucky, eh? She, by the way, is an American from Los Angeles. I asked her if she approved of Donald Drumpf and she groaned. I mention Drumpf because that was apparently the name of his forebears when they arrived in the USA. Pity it wasn't Dump. If they'd kept that, it would have been entirely appropriate.

Well, as a member of Armidale Rotary North, I attended the usual dinner at the Bowling Club a week ago and our guest speaker, Jeremy Scott, was hot on cycling. As baby, he was dangerously ill with a hole in his heart and he underwent revolutionary surgery at the age of 4, which he survived. Later in life, at age 28, he moved to London and stayed / worked there for 10 years. And then, (a) he wanted to something more exceptional and (b) he wanted to repay the medicos who had saved him. Instead of flying home to Auckland - yes, he's a New Zealander - he decided to something grander. He decided to ride a bike home though Europe, Asia and Australia, a distance of 52,000 km!

He spent an amazing 30 months, day 1 being the first time he had ever sat on a fully laden touring bike. Early on, Jeremy confessed to be terrified at the prospect of his journey but decided to break it down into one day at a time, then one country at a time until his confidence grew, knowing that the challenges could be faced and overcome. What followed were some of the most amazing experiences – both terrifying and exhilarating – too numerous to recount here. Just some of the extremes were temperatures from 40 degrees below to over 50 degrees; iced in and facing 300 metre sandstorms; dealing with heavily armed drug dealers and encountering amazing hospitality on the road. Crossing national borders was a unique experience on each different occasion.

On his final ride from Darwin to Melbourne, Jeremy was accompanied through to Cairns by his 70 year-old uncle and 63 year-old aunt. He said this experience again showed him that each day is just about starting out, taking the first step. As he said several times “you just need the courage to walk
out your front door”. He actually traveled through Northern Iran ... through territory I know quite well! He was following part of the old Silk Road which connects Istanbul with China. Here he is making his presentation. Alas, I'm probably too old to spend 30 months on a bike ride!!

I wonder how I would go dodging wandering camels, preying big cats, elephants, and so on. They might do more damage than a dog!

AS

Dawn Breaking

I'm in the habit of going for early morning walks and today was no exception. Why not when the minimum overnight temperature was a high 21 C? And another reason for going today was the brilliant effect of of sunrise on the clouds scattering the sky, as my pictures will show.

The walk only lasted about 40 minutes during which I covered 3.4 km (2.1 miles) - one of my slower paced adventures because I kept on stopping to take these pictures with my new Google Pixel 3 Mobile phone. The pictures are in time sequence and were taken mainly on footpaths along my route, which covered residential areas near home. And, of course, the sky becomes lighter over time and the sun finally rises above the horizon. The first picture would be timed at about 6.30 am (NSW Summer Time) and the last one was taken at about 7.05 am.

The last of these pictures was taken only about 100 m from home.

AS

Autumn Festival 2019

Every year we look forward eagerly to attend our local Autumn Festival, which took place last weekend - Saturday 16th March. It's an event with something for everyone - a fun-fair for the young one's; breakfast in the park; sporting fixtures like the foot-race from the University of New England to a park on the creeklands and a bike race; lots of musical performances; a lengthy parade that primarily showcases Armidale's rich ethnic diversity and social institutions; and a foodies' paradise - little stalls run by different ethnic foods. In the case of the latter, one could sample foods from such places as Turkey, Iraq, Bhutan, Thailand and Vietnam, among others.

The breakfast, as usual, started at 7 am and ran through to about 10 am. During this time the Armidale City Band entertains people with lots of well-known numbers from film, or traditional national themes. We arrived at about 7.30 am to find the band in full flight, but with a very small audience!

The breakfast cost us $10 each and was provided by cooks sourced from organisations like Rotary and Lions. It consisted of pancakes topped with fried eggs, ham and sauces and a drink - coffee, tea, and orange juice. The cooks did a great job and the meal was delicious.

Fortunately the numbers at the tables soon soared as people dragged themselves out of bed or arrived running from the university. We met up with many friends and acquaintances and had some good conversations - enlivened by great playing from the brass band.

After finishing our meal and discussions, we - me, Dot and her friend, Jane - headed off for a walk around the CBD looking at various shops, many with Autumn sales. We were filling in time until the Highland Bands started performing in the city's pedestrian Mall. Here they are preparing for their session and being rounded up by the guys in bearskins and spectacular uniforms. The podium at he far end of the mall with the blue canvas roof is where I sat for the performance - with the city's post office on the right. By the way, I made video and sound recordings of some of the music and I'll send out some of those clips to family and friends later on.

Here we are assembled and ready to go.

And here the band-leaders are about to commence the show. There were two leaders because the Armidale Pipe Band was on the left and another was on the right. The latter was based around players from Coffs Harbour - about 2.5 hours away on the coast. However, they also took on board several pipers from such places as Glen Innes and Inverell. That's hardly surprising given their Scottish names! I've just had an interesting thought. Armidale is also a Scottish name - the village on the Isle of Skye that is the HQ of the clan McDonald. And other little places include Dundee and Glencoe! So perhaps our regions should be called New Scotland rather than its official 'New England'.

Here they are performing. Alas, I provide no sound. The works would be familiar to most of my readers - typical Scottish fayre. They brought home to me many memories of my numerous Scottish visits. Some of the works played I'd first heard at a Highland Games at Portree - the main town on the Isle of Skye. But over the years I've also visited the Isle of Mull in the inner Hebrides, the Outer Hebrides, the Trossachs, Inverness and all the way up to Cape Wrath, the East coast around Aberdeen, Balmoral and the Cairngorms, and even - when at university - climbed Ben Nevis, Britain's highest peak. En route I visited many distilleries and tasted the various Whiskies. On other occasions I've visited Edinburgh and Glasgow many times, with attending the famous Military Tattoo in the former standing out as the most exciting. And in Glasgow the thing that remains in my memory as another exciting occasion was attending the launch of the Queen Elizabeth the Second on Clydebank. I stood mid-way along the hull of the vessel and could see under the ship's hull as it towered above me on the stocks. While my memories flood back, I might mention two other events that surprised me. When walking across the Isle of Ulva I came across a ruined crofting village and a memorial - constructed by the Australian Government - noted that this was the birthplace of one Lachlan Macquarie. Anyone recall this guy? And, in the middle of the nearby Isle of Mull I came across a mausoleum that hosted his remains - also maintained by our government. I wonder how many Australians know of these memorials to one of the nation's most famous pioneers. I recommend a visit to Mull, which is also a departure point to two other very famous nearby sites: the monastery of Ioana and the Isle of Staffa with its famous Fingal's Cave. In part the latter's fame relates to visits by Queen Victoria and Albert who came to view its columnar basalt, and to Felix Mendelssohn who wrote his famous Hebrides overture after his own experience there. Staffa was, in the 19th century, a focus of the Romantic movement. And Iona's monastery is the resting place of nearly 50 Scottish kings including - if I recall correctly - one Macbeth.

 

When the pipe bands finished their main performance we walked around around the Mall looking at ethnic food-stalls, various other vendors, and people campaigning for our up-coming State election. Then various pipers showed up in little clusters to perform various other works.

In the evening we went to a remarkable performance by an Australian Army Band based in Newcastle - c. 100 km or so north of Sydney. Like the Armidale City Band mentioned earlier, this was mainly a brass band and we expected mostly military style music. The event was staged to raise money for farmers struggling to stay afloat financially in one of the worst droughts in a century.

Instead of military music, we were entertained with lots of Hollywood music and famous Jazz numbers aided by a great female singer ... wearing a military uniform. In addition, more pipers joined in the performance from time to time.

At one point, we had a break to buy drinks and the show restarted with individual musicians moving around the auditorium playing their instruments - but all in sync. 

 

Finally, they all came together on stage and finished the performance with great zest. It was an exciting occasion from excellent performers. A great night out and something quite different to usual.

AS

Bridge Triumph

Some of my readers will have already received an email message covering much of what I say here, but using this blog will extend readership.

Today I finished playing 100 boards of bridge over 2 lengthy days and guess what! My partner, Ed Hahn, and I came in first in the New England Open Swiss Pairs and we won $400 between us in prize-money. That was some achievement since 36 pairs over 18 tables contested the event and many of the competitors came to Armidale from over much of northern NSW. One pair even traveled 700 km for the event.

The results are provided at: http://www.armidale.bridgeaustralia.org/teamresults.asp?id=8422 . There you will see that we earned 6.81 Red Points. Winning ordinary club events only earns one about 0.25 inferior green points, so we 27 times better in the points tally over the last two days.

This is the sixth time I’ve won the shield and it is also the 25^th anniversary of my winning it for the first time. Watch for a blog posting about the event  coming in the next few days. I took these photos if activity inside our well-appointed club-house which members own rather than rent. I started a sinking fund maybe 20 years ago, when President, that led to the purchase of our own accommodation and this has led to a great increase in membership and income to sustain our activities.

The club-house can handle as many as 20 tables - or 80 players. It has an office and a kitchen where meals can be served. Air-conditioning keeps playing conditions comfortable, and power bills are greatly reduced by extensive solar panels on our roof. Access is provided for handicapped players by a ramp.



The following pictures shows me and Ed. receiving our award for winning the event. Ed is on the left, me in the middle and our President, Ian Price, a UNE psychologist, is on the right.

The award ceremony went on for a long time as the first three place-getting pairs collected their money and a special award was given to the best performing 'novice' pair - who had below a certain threshold of master points. On top of this a range of other awards were provided in the form of  bottles of wine.










As you can see from the players' expressions many of us were having a great time. It's also good that our competitions at this level are well organised. The professional director of the event was excellent. The catering was brilliant - endless nibbles and drinks, lovely lunches. The entire event had a vibrant hum about it.

We have several big club events in the course of a year. Today's was for individual pairs. In November we run a team of 4 game. There's a competition for novice pairs and, in June, the frost-bight pairs in the depth of winter. I run myself two other events. One is my wicked deals session at the Christmas Party. The other is an individual congress at the start of the year. In this players have many different partners through session, all playing a standard prescribed bidding system.

I think we've a great club. And winning today's competition was a great outcome!

AS

Visions of a Snow-Storm

This has been the hottest summer I ever recall in Armidale and, even though we are now technically in Autumn, our daily maximum temperatures frequently exceed 30 C. Imagine, then, my reaction as I walked down the hill to our creeklands and saw many of the trees there covered in white.

I couldn't envisage how it snowed on such a warm day and, as I approached Dumaresq Creek, I saw that the snow was indeed a massive flock of pure white Corellas - parrots that have in recent years taken up residence in our city and multiplied massively in numbers. On many days hundreds of these birds flock together in a white carpet covering the ground, but on the day in question they had been frightened into covering the tops of trees instead. They also chatter noisily to each other creating quite a din.

These are three of the images I saw:




Look at the hundreds of white blobs on the trees.















And this impression grew as I descended to Dumaresq Creek.















And even the willow trees hosted some of the birds.

 AS

Some Lovely Armidale Concerts

Last month, February, I was privileged to attend two magnificent orchestral concerts held at Armidale's Conservatorium where young people and older students receive tuition from some great local musical performers. As I've said before this town has an amazingly rich musical life and I'd estimate that 2019 will receive something like 15 separate concerts from both our local musicians and visitors of international renown.

The first event, on Sunday 17 February, was delivered by the staff of the New England Conservatorium of Music (NECOM). There were 9 performers altogether whose instruments included violins, violas, cellos, and just one piano, flute, clarinet, or saxophone. Several of the performers played different instruments according to composers' requirements. I was astounded at how accomplished the performers were and by the exotic range of works performed spanning three centuries. The six items in the order played were composed by J S Bach, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Mozart, Brahms, Muczynski, and ... believe it or not ... the Turtle Island String Quartet, which was only established in 1985. Here are the performers and their program

 

This concert was performed in front of a sell-out crowd of locals and was rapturously acclaimed. It was a great occasion of the highest standard and, moreover, the performers were locals. That's a great advert for our city and, if we enjoy both classical and modern music of many different kinds, we offer a lot.

The second event was just 10 days later on Wednesday 27 February and involved the Australian Haydn Ensemble. Here's the cover of the program.


Unlike the previous concert whose works spanned centuries and various genres, this ensemble comprised just 4 performers - but all with considerable international experience - and their works were restricted to the late baroque and early classical periods. There were three works, all well-known, comprising a Boccherini String Quartet, Mozart's Quartet No. 15, and unsurprisingly Haydn's 'Sunrise' Quartet (Op. 76 / #4). All the performers had overseas experience in places such as the UK, Continental Europe and North America. They were great! And, interestingly, they not only play music in a certain narrow period, but their instruments all belonged to the same epoch. The 1st violin dated around 1800 (London); the second was made in Paris in 1726;  the cello  was made in London in 1743; but oops(!)  the viola saw the light of day in Philadelphia in 1992. The old instruments had beautiful tones which the performers demonstrated to us.


Here's the Haydn Quartet tuning their instruments to start the concert. I daren't take photos during the performance!

 And here we get a lecture on the history of the instruments being played given by the 1st violin player, Skye McIntosh.

AS