On the other hand there are some events that make one feel good. On Friday, I visited my specialist cardiologist in Newcastle and he thought I would make a full recovery. I presume that means returning to what I was doing before my cardiac problems. He said I could go to the US in June, though pointed out that there may be risks in a long flight.
As you can imagine, welcome news is most refreshing, and I've just spent a weekend with a spring in my step. In fact, I have a busy day at work tomorrow, with at least three four mainly research meetings! And, today, numerous people we met at the monthly Armidale markets commented on how well I looked.
AS
Sunday, 24 February 2008
Old and Decrepit
If there's one thing to age a person more than anything else, it is to mark a long-standing anniversary. Today sees one such event. It is over 40 years since I was at John Brown's shipyard at Clydebank to see the launch of the QE II. By good fortune, I was able to secure a ticket for the launch and was standing close to the drag-chains about mid-way along the length of the ship and more or less 'under' the hull. If you haven't been to a launch, it's an exciting spot to be, especially with a vessel the size of the QE II.
I won't dwell further on that experience, but rather fast forward to 2008. This marks two events, the 30th anniversary of the ship's first visit to Australia and the last visit she'll make exactly now. And, at this precise moment, the Queen Victoria will pass the QE II at Fort Dennison in Sydney Harbour outward bound aftter her first visit to Australia. The timing is, of course, not accidental, but rather is a great advertisement for Cunard and an occasion for Sydney-siders to take to the water in a flotilla of small craft to celebrate both ships.
AS
I won't dwell further on that experience, but rather fast forward to 2008. This marks two events, the 30th anniversary of the ship's first visit to Australia and the last visit she'll make exactly now. And, at this precise moment, the Queen Victoria will pass the QE II at Fort Dennison in Sydney Harbour outward bound aftter her first visit to Australia. The timing is, of course, not accidental, but rather is a great advertisement for Cunard and an occasion for Sydney-siders to take to the water in a flotilla of small craft to celebrate both ships.
AS
Saturday, 16 February 2008
Ark Building
Australia is the dry continent? Wrong! Sometimes it gets very wet - like 2007/08. A day ago, the Central Queensland city of Mackay had a quick shower - well, it only lasted 6 hours. It also dumped 600mm of rain, or 24 inches, during that time and the town went under. Dot's cousin Stan lives there and we received an email message from him two days ago before the event. We don't know if he has lost his home or not.
We also own a coal loader at Dalrymple Bay just north of Mackay, but have yet to hear if it was damaged! Maybe Australia should start some programs in Ark building. It could even come in useful in Armidale, despite our being 3200 feet asl. Three days ago it poured here and the town was cut in two.
AS
We also own a coal loader at Dalrymple Bay just north of Mackay, but have yet to hear if it was damaged! Maybe Australia should start some programs in Ark building. It could even come in useful in Armidale, despite our being 3200 feet asl. Three days ago it poured here and the town was cut in two.
AS
Saturday, 9 February 2008
Airborne Again
With the permission of a couple of doctors I've returned to flying without any ill-effects. Over the last 5 days, Dot and I have been to Brisbane via Sydney, she for recreation and seeing friends and relatives, and me for 'work'. Dot thinks the work is forbidden by one of my specialists because it causes stress. However, doing nothing or very little is lot more stressful!
Well, I'm now less than 2 weeks away from a visit to my main specialist at John Hunter base hospital in Newcastle, a pleasant 4 hour drive away. I am quietly hopeful that restrictions on my driving and cycling will be finally lifted and I'll be spared taking a lot of pills. They're an annoying bind.
By the way, we cannot fly direct to Brisbane (450km away). So we travel via Sydney (500 + 800 = 1300 km). If you think this is stupid, it is.
AS
Well, I'm now less than 2 weeks away from a visit to my main specialist at John Hunter base hospital in Newcastle, a pleasant 4 hour drive away. I am quietly hopeful that restrictions on my driving and cycling will be finally lifted and I'll be spared taking a lot of pills. They're an annoying bind.
By the way, we cannot fly direct to Brisbane (450km away). So we travel via Sydney (500 + 800 = 1300 km). If you think this is stupid, it is.
AS
Rain
Well, the weather has been exceptionally soggy. It's rained and rained, which reminds me of the following poem:
It rained and rained and rained
The average fall was well maintained
And when the tracks were simply bogs
It started raining cats and dogs
After a drought of half and hour
We had a most refreshing shower
And then the most curious thing
of all – a gentle rain began to fall
Next day but one was fairly dry
Save for one deluge from the sky
Which wetted the party to the skin
And then at last the rain set in.
This summer has been disastrous for those looking for sun and warmth! After many parts of Australia had been in drought for as much as 5-10 years, an El Nina has arrived with its constellation of storms. Empty dams are filling fast and long-standing water restrictions are being lifted. Armidale was hardly affected by the drought and we have a succession of fairly normal seasons, but we haven't been spared a soggy summer. With the best part of February to go we've had about 260 mm (over 10 inches) since the official start of summer on the 1st December.
AS
It rained and rained and rained
The average fall was well maintained
And when the tracks were simply bogs
It started raining cats and dogs
After a drought of half and hour
We had a most refreshing shower
And then the most curious thing
of all – a gentle rain began to fall
Next day but one was fairly dry
Save for one deluge from the sky
Which wetted the party to the skin
And then at last the rain set in.
This summer has been disastrous for those looking for sun and warmth! After many parts of Australia had been in drought for as much as 5-10 years, an El Nina has arrived with its constellation of storms. Empty dams are filling fast and long-standing water restrictions are being lifted. Armidale was hardly affected by the drought and we have a succession of fairly normal seasons, but we haven't been spared a soggy summer. With the best part of February to go we've had about 260 mm (over 10 inches) since the official start of summer on the 1st December.
AS
Friday, 1 February 2008
The Ides of March
Last week, I equated country music and purgatory. We'll, things are looking up.
Yesterday we booked for an event that is fast becoming a cultural highlight of the year: Opera in the Paddock. Imagine some of Australia's best opera singers and an orchestra assembled in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere! Imagine, too, them singing a selection of some of the best known arias and passages in the opera repertoire.
This unlikely scenario unfolds on the Ides of March on a cattle property about 160 km from Armidale which is the ancestral seat of one of the principal singers in the Australian Opera Company. The little nearby town, Delungra, has a population of 320, so it's not quite in the same league as Bayreuth.
It takes place at dusk and I can imagine that it will be quite magical listening to opera in the dark under the stars. The main band of Milky Way - best seen from the southern hemisphere - will be overhead. Facilities are not up to even Bayreuth's creaky standards and the audience has to take along its own seating. I'm not sure about the acoustics either given that the concert hall is, well, open to the skies and the floor consists of grass. I wonder also what the back-up is in the case of rain!
The program includes works by Handel, duets from Bellini's I Puritiani and Norma, O Star of Eve from Wagner's Tannhauser, Puccini's Che Gelida Manina (La Boheme), Verdi's Ah Forse lui (La Traviata), and selections from Gershwin's Porgy & Bess.
AS
Yesterday we booked for an event that is fast becoming a cultural highlight of the year: Opera in the Paddock. Imagine some of Australia's best opera singers and an orchestra assembled in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere! Imagine, too, them singing a selection of some of the best known arias and passages in the opera repertoire.
This unlikely scenario unfolds on the Ides of March on a cattle property about 160 km from Armidale which is the ancestral seat of one of the principal singers in the Australian Opera Company. The little nearby town, Delungra, has a population of 320, so it's not quite in the same league as Bayreuth.
It takes place at dusk and I can imagine that it will be quite magical listening to opera in the dark under the stars. The main band of Milky Way - best seen from the southern hemisphere - will be overhead. Facilities are not up to even Bayreuth's creaky standards and the audience has to take along its own seating. I'm not sure about the acoustics either given that the concert hall is, well, open to the skies and the floor consists of grass. I wonder also what the back-up is in the case of rain!
The program includes works by Handel, duets from Bellini's I Puritiani and Norma, O Star of Eve from Wagner's Tannhauser, Puccini's Che Gelida Manina (La Boheme), Verdi's Ah Forse lui (La Traviata), and selections from Gershwin's Porgy & Bess.
AS
Rebecca and Max
I'm only two weeks late, but I should report a flying visit by Beck and Max. They spent four days with us ... and Emily and it was great to have the family back together in the house where they spent their early years. We shouldn't forget that Max spent the first 18 months of his life here, and when he comes back he immediately slots back into the groove.
The weather wasn't good for this time year - cool and wet - but Max happily rotated from one park and its play equipment to another, visited cafes and shopping centres, and 'helped' in the garden with watering and digging.
I hope we can visit Canberra for Easter because we cannot bear to be separated from Max (and Beck) for too long.
AS
The weather wasn't good for this time year - cool and wet - but Max happily rotated from one park and its play equipment to another, visited cafes and shopping centres, and 'helped' in the garden with watering and digging.
I hope we can visit Canberra for Easter because we cannot bear to be separated from Max (and Beck) for too long.
AS
Monday, 28 January 2008
Departure
It's a sad day. Emily has just returned to the US after an extended stay with us and it was lovely having her around. She faces an arduous 30 hour trip on four flights, with changes of aircraft in Sydney, San Francisco and St Louis. Let's hope her luggage travels with her unlike the trip here where it arrived three days late and the airlines incurred a $350 penalty.
Remember this. If you are arriving at a destination that is not your home address airlines are supposed to pay compensation reflecting the length of delay experienced.
AS
Remember this. If you are arriving at a destination that is not your home address airlines are supposed to pay compensation reflecting the length of delay experienced.
AS
Sunday, 27 January 2008
Country Music Festival
Given a choice between listening to country music and purgatory, I would normally choose the latter! I know 
like-minded people in Tamworth, a nearby city, who happily leave town for two weeks in January and let their homes to country music fan
atics from all over Australia and overseas. However, Emily has been visiting for the last two weeks or so and yesterday she expressed a wish to visit Tamworth for the event. My arguments in favour of walking in a National Park were over-ruled and I reluctantly joined the party of four for the 110 km trip south.
Well, Tamworth had several things in its favour. At least it was warm: Armidale has a cool and wet summer and has rarely exceeded about 25 degrees (C). Secondly, it turned out to be an interesting sociological investigationn - I was asking myself who might be tempted to like twangy guitars, lyrics (if that is the right word) about the dreadfully commonplace,
and mournful sounds that would not be out of place at a funeral. Well, I adopted participant observation as my research methodology and was also encouraged by the pleasant rythms and sounds of two Andean flute groups and a group of gyrating belly dancers with music that seemed to be a cross from Lebanon and Morocco. We heard something similar last 
year at an Andalusian Festival in Chefchouen in Morocco's Rif Mountains.
Better still we spent an hour opposite the belly dancers at a pavement cafe having lunch. This was an ideal vantage point for the start of my investigations because we (I) could size up the passing traffic at leisure. Later on we promenaded the main street paying close attention to the other visitors and who, among the many busking individuals and groups, attracted their attention.
Well, it was a snap-shot of middle Australia: elderly farmers and their portly and/or matronly wives in tow; young families with strollers; bikies and heavily tattooed men or women; teenagers of both sexes generally wearing very little; but very few from an immigrant background. It's possible to make a lot of money from performing country music and 
several sub-15 performers were being pushed by their parents into performing on the foot-paths and I had to admit that one 12 yo girl was particularly good.
Yesterday was also Australia Day, so many of the crowd were adorned with flags of all sizes and materials. They were also bouyed by yet further evidence of the centrality of country music in the national landscape by the selection of Lee Kernaghan (OAM) as Australian of the Year,
not my first choice. OA, by the way, stands for Order of Australia - our system of gongs.
Anyway, Emily, Dot - and her friend Jane, who was in our party had a great time and my research confirmed my suspicions! I attach a few pictures giving some of the local atmosphere.
AS
like-minded people in Tamworth, a nearby city, who happily leave town for two weeks in January and let their homes to country music fan
atics from all over Australia and overseas. However, Emily has been visiting for the last two weeks or so and yesterday she expressed a wish to visit Tamworth for the event. My arguments in favour of walking in a National Park were over-ruled and I reluctantly joined the party of four for the 110 km trip south.Well, Tamworth had several things in its favour. At least it was warm: Armidale has a cool and wet summer and has rarely exceeded about 25 degrees (C). Secondly, it turned out to be an interesting sociological investigationn - I was asking myself who might be tempted to like twangy guitars, lyrics (if that is the right word) about the dreadfully commonplace,
and mournful sounds that would not be out of place at a funeral. Well, I adopted participant observation as my research methodology and was also encouraged by the pleasant rythms and sounds of two Andean flute groups and a group of gyrating belly dancers with music that seemed to be a cross from Lebanon and Morocco. We heard something similar last 
year at an Andalusian Festival in Chefchouen in Morocco's Rif Mountains.Better still we spent an hour opposite the belly dancers at a pavement cafe having lunch. This was an ideal vantage point for the start of my investigations because we (I) could size up the passing traffic at leisure. Later on we promenaded the main street paying close attention to the other visitors and who, among the many busking individuals and groups, attracted their attention.
Well, it was a snap-shot of middle Australia: elderly farmers and their portly and/or matronly wives in tow; young families with strollers; bikies and heavily tattooed men or women; teenagers of both sexes generally wearing very little; but very few from an immigrant background. It's possible to make a lot of money from performing country music and 
several sub-15 performers were being pushed by their parents into performing on the foot-paths and I had to admit that one 12 yo girl was particularly good.Yesterday was also Australia Day, so many of the crowd were adorned with flags of all sizes and materials. They were also bouyed by yet further evidence of the centrality of country music in the national landscape by the selection of Lee Kernaghan (OAM) as Australian of the Year,
not my first choice. OA, by the way, stands for Order of Australia - our system of gongs.Anyway, Emily, Dot - and her friend Jane, who was in our party had a great time and my research confirmed my suspicions! I attach a few pictures giving some of the local atmosphere.
AS
Monday, 7 January 2008
Barbecue
We made an increasingly rare social foray out the other night to a neighbour's barbecue, rare because Dot keeps a tight rein on anything that might over-excite me. The occasion was the chance arrival back in Armidale of Christine's two children, Kassandra and Michelle who are roughly the same age as Emily and Rebecca and played together. The former now runs a design business in Sydney and the latter lives and works in London. Completing th guest list were Anne Pine and her son Matt who is Kassandra's partner.
It's a pity that neither Emily nor Rebecca were close but that's life. However, the coming weekend will at least bring Emily and Michelle together - Baltimore joins London in Armidale. Em is coming back for a couple of weeks to check on me and make sure that stories circulating of my survival are accurate. We are looking forward excitedly (sorry, wrong word: passively) for her arrival. Dot is off to visit the Australian Open tennis in Melbourne for four days during Em's visit, so the latter will keep watch over my rebellious tendencies!
Our March visit to Baltimore has been cancelled because Dr Omari (of St Vincent's Hospital) grounded me until the thrombosis in my arm disappears.
AS
It's a pity that neither Emily nor Rebecca were close but that's life. However, the coming weekend will at least bring Emily and Michelle together - Baltimore joins London in Armidale. Em is coming back for a couple of weeks to check on me and make sure that stories circulating of my survival are accurate. We are looking forward excitedly (sorry, wrong word: passively) for her arrival. Dot is off to visit the Australian Open tennis in Melbourne for four days during Em's visit, so the latter will keep watch over my rebellious tendencies!
Our March visit to Baltimore has been cancelled because Dr Omari (of St Vincent's Hospital) grounded me until the thrombosis in my arm disappears.
AS
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