There is no place like home. We are very happy to be in familiar surroundings and not relying on the good grace of friends. Those friends were wonderful when we disembarked from the ship. Graham had timed his arrival well and we were soon on the way to his house in Sutherland. The following evening Graham had organised a get-together of friends who were all expatriate Australians stationed in Maprik in the Sepik District of Papua New Guinea in the 1970s. Plenty of memories there.
On Sunday as we recovered from the party, we were collected by Albert, a mate from the Gulf of Papua in the early 1960s. He showed off his very nice apartment on Sydney Harbour and Kathy, his wife, served us a nice lunch before we visited the Australian Museum to see an exhibition of photographs by the famous Australian photographer, Frank Hurley. There were many photos taken by Hurley in this 1920s expedition in places that I had worked near or visited. The expedition took two float planes to Papua...the first aircraft to be seen by the local population. One can only imagine what they made of these amazing, noisy, beings. Hurley was a bit of a villain at times, stealing artifacts from village long houses. I'm sure he gave out some beads to the locals.
Albert kindly dropped us off to Syney Airport and we departed Sydney at approximately 7.15pm.
I am 'down' with a very bad cold. Thinking back I seem to recall that I always return from a trip with a cold or flu. The ship was very aware of the possibility of spreading nasties to the passengers and we were all asked to use a disinfectant gel provided before going to food serveries.
Tomorrow I will drive up to Quinns Rocks to replace a tap washer at the rear of one of the units we are renting out. Even with the fuel involved in the 100km round trip it is far cheaper than getting a tap doctor in. Just have to take care not to break anything necessitating a major repair job.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Last day at sea
Yesterday (Thursday) Dorothy and Joan went along to the Art Auction again. Free bubbles were the major attraction – neither intended to bid on anything. They were hopeful there might be bottles up for grabs again. There weren’t, just glasses offered to the audience. I watched from the gallery above.
As most of our friends know, I am not an art aficionado. If it can’t be photographed it ain’t real.
The auction was selling originals and prints of sort of known artists for enormous prices. There weren’t a lot of buyers from the Aus. Yobbos. We know what is likely to be an investment and it isn’t some European sounding name who is flogging off prints of his/her mediocre ‘art’ at an inflated price.
Both of the girls know a bit about art and weren’t impressed either. Of the hundreds of pieces that were being flogged they identified about five that they liked – except for the prices, which they felt were far too high. But several pieces were sold to young couples.
There is a final auction today – the last day of the cruise. The only reason to attend will again be the free bubbles. Not much is free on this cruise.
We arrive in Sydney at 7 am tomorrow and start disembarkation at 8.30. They reckon they will have everyone off the ship by 10 am.
As most of our friends know, I am not an art aficionado. If it can’t be photographed it ain’t real.
The auction was selling originals and prints of sort of known artists for enormous prices. There weren’t a lot of buyers from the Aus. Yobbos. We know what is likely to be an investment and it isn’t some European sounding name who is flogging off prints of his/her mediocre ‘art’ at an inflated price.
Both of the girls know a bit about art and weren’t impressed either. Of the hundreds of pieces that were being flogged they identified about five that they liked – except for the prices, which they felt were far too high. But several pieces were sold to young couples.
There is a final auction today – the last day of the cruise. The only reason to attend will again be the free bubbles. Not much is free on this cruise.
We arrive in Sydney at 7 am tomorrow and start disembarkation at 8.30. They reckon they will have everyone off the ship by 10 am.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
en route to Sydney
Rigelio our cabin stewardAt breakfast this morning we were greeted by the usual ‘Hello Ma’am; hello Sir’ from every passing waiter. One pleasant waiter made the mistake of greeting a sad sack of a passenger close to our table and had to endure a 15 minute expose of the passenger’s life, his medical condition, dangerous foods and super-foods (Yoghurt is one if you want to write it down) and the main reasons why at the age of (possibly) 60 he has never married. The waiter was a very diplomatic young man. I bet there are a few laughs to be had back in the crew’s quarters.
The breakfast waiters are the same ones as in the main formal dining room which wound down at around 10.30pm last night. They would have had another 15-30 minutes final clean-up before they were able to hit the sack then on deck as it were for breakfast. After breakfast there is just half an hour before lunch starts then afternoon tea and the evening meal starting at 5.30pm. Not much time for the crew to relax.
Food service is almost continuous from 5.30am until 10pm and then if you aren’t full to the regurga-tube you can order room service 24 hours a day.
Last night I asked several waiters if they were going to re-sign after their contract ended. All three said they are going to….one having completed 14 X 10 month contracts with P&O.
When U.S. navy ships dock at Fremantle on R&R the local newspaper often tells us that supplies taken on board include ‘4 miles of sausages; sixty tonnes of ice cream’ etc etc. The Pacific Dawn has a small brochure about such statistics. For example the ship has two water production plants. One is an evaporative system producing 92,000 gallons a day and the other is a reverse osmosis plant producing 480 tons per day.
There are other statistics about disposal of poo etc, but I won’t go into that here. On food and beverage consumption daily a couple of figures show that on average 3.125 eggs are consumed; 487 bottles of wine and 1.284 cans/bottles of beer. Vegetables weigh in at 1,798kgs. The gross weight of the ship is not diminished by this consumption as it stays on board as adipose tissue and sewage.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Tuesday morning
We are sitting at anchor off the island Ouvea in New Caledonia. It apparently has the nicest beaches in the Loyalty Islands. It is approximately 35 kilometres long and has three villages on it.
The Captain made an announcement about an hour ago that the initial team (the ubiquitous photographers and others) went ashore and found the landing pontoon damaged by big seas. He said that he was dispatching an Executive Officer and a carpentry crew to see if repairs could be made for passengers to safely land on the island. The news came back that they deemed it unsafe for passengers and we are soon to up-anchor, drop off the pilot somewhere close to Noumea and head back; slowly to Sydney to use up the extra day.
Another bit of not-so-good news from the Captain was the fact that a cyclone is rapidly bearing down on us. We expect some rock-n-roll soon.
The Captain seemed very sorry that we couldn’t get ashore. I reckon that is probably because of the lost revenue in the obligatory photo session we endure at each landing.
Last night after the usual sumptuous meal in the Palm Court dining room we decided to take a look at the floor show. It was a stand-up comedian and he did a very good job. There were two exits from the International Show Room and we took the one that did not have the comedian and his DVD sales stand.
Tuesday PM
I went to the service desk to find out how the obligatory tipping toll of $7.50 per day, per passenger, is distributed as we want to give our cabin steward adequate reward for his good work. I was told that all the collected tips are allocated to the catering, cleaning and laundry staff. The administration and clerical crew don’t get a divvy of that amount.
The fellow on the desk then told me that 90% of passengers opt out of the tipping collection…..great; 10% of the mob are left to carry the burden and the staff get virtually B all! I think I will drop back our levy to the original $5. per day.
I asked our cabin steward about his working conditions and it seems that they all work 13 hours per day with no days off for 10 months straight. It is not a great deal for them, but must be a reasonable earner compared to wages in their own country. Most of the catering service crew are from the Philippines. Many of the cabin crew are Filipinas. They are largely handsome and pleasant people. I believe that Filipino overseas labour is the main Philippines export. I wish I could write music here to show you how their ‘Hello Ma’am’ goes.
I asked one of the bar staff if he was going to take a new contract when his finished. It seems that he/they can’t just sign up on the ship, they have to return to the Philippines and sign up again through a recruitment agent who takes a percentage of their contractual earnings. I guess it would be easier to earn some money on the side with a land-based job. On the ship, the only chance for extra income not being taxed by their agent would be to work hard for tips.
The Captain made an announcement about an hour ago that the initial team (the ubiquitous photographers and others) went ashore and found the landing pontoon damaged by big seas. He said that he was dispatching an Executive Officer and a carpentry crew to see if repairs could be made for passengers to safely land on the island. The news came back that they deemed it unsafe for passengers and we are soon to up-anchor, drop off the pilot somewhere close to Noumea and head back; slowly to Sydney to use up the extra day.
Another bit of not-so-good news from the Captain was the fact that a cyclone is rapidly bearing down on us. We expect some rock-n-roll soon.
The Captain seemed very sorry that we couldn’t get ashore. I reckon that is probably because of the lost revenue in the obligatory photo session we endure at each landing.
Last night after the usual sumptuous meal in the Palm Court dining room we decided to take a look at the floor show. It was a stand-up comedian and he did a very good job. There were two exits from the International Show Room and we took the one that did not have the comedian and his DVD sales stand.
Tuesday PM
I went to the service desk to find out how the obligatory tipping toll of $7.50 per day, per passenger, is distributed as we want to give our cabin steward adequate reward for his good work. I was told that all the collected tips are allocated to the catering, cleaning and laundry staff. The administration and clerical crew don’t get a divvy of that amount.
The fellow on the desk then told me that 90% of passengers opt out of the tipping collection…..great; 10% of the mob are left to carry the burden and the staff get virtually B all! I think I will drop back our levy to the original $5. per day.
I asked our cabin steward about his working conditions and it seems that they all work 13 hours per day with no days off for 10 months straight. It is not a great deal for them, but must be a reasonable earner compared to wages in their own country. Most of the catering service crew are from the Philippines. Many of the cabin crew are Filipinas. They are largely handsome and pleasant people. I believe that Filipino overseas labour is the main Philippines export. I wish I could write music here to show you how their ‘Hello Ma’am’ goes.
I asked one of the bar staff if he was going to take a new contract when his finished. It seems that he/they can’t just sign up on the ship, they have to return to the Philippines and sign up again through a recruitment agent who takes a percentage of their contractual earnings. I guess it would be easier to earn some money on the side with a land-based job. On the ship, the only chance for extra income not being taxed by their agent would be to work hard for tips.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Vila, Vanuatu
This morning, Monday, we docked in Vila, Vanuatu. The harbour is very picturesque with a few islands in the entrance and small early morning ferries transporting people to the mainland. The passenger dock is very grotty compared to Noumea.
We were herded toward our tour departure point around 9am. The area was very hot with no shelter, mud and large potholes in the bus area. Everyone was pretty happy about boarding the airconditioned bus. First stop was a “cultural/art’ centre with a mismatch of fake and poorly made local artifacts. In the display were Easter Island repros, Sepik Totem poles from Papua New Guinea and some Balinese stone carvings. It impressed most of the tourists who had no idea of the origins of each piece.
Next stop the National Museum where we were given a talk on the Vanuatu numbering system and a demonstration of it in a sand tray. The rest of the exhibits were good, but lacked the artistic finish of Papua New Guinea’s art.
Outside the museum I tried my Tok Pisin (pidgin English) on our bus driver. We were both surprised that apart from a few words we understood each other well. We had previously been told by the tour guide that Missionaries did away with sorcery. The bus driver told me that that was not so, that in his village people could turn themselves into sharks to take another villager. Christianity 1; sorcery 1!
Vanuatu had a joint French/English administration up until 1980 when Vanuatu gained Independence . French and English is taught in school, but we heard nobody actually speaking French except our fellow tourists. Traffic drives on the right hand side of the road in Vanuatu. The issue of road rules was eventually settled in favour of the French because the first car in the Co-Dominium was owned by a French Priest.
Vila town is not too clean but there seems to be no graffiti or Raskol Gangs as in PNG. The people seem reasonably happy and surprisingly there is no betel nuts growing or chewed in Vanuatu. Big bonus there, as in PNG, red betel nut spit stains roads, footpaths and markets. Most of the roads in Vila have huge potholes. This may be because they have just had 5 weeks of heavy rain and no chance to do repairs. The heat and humidity is almost unbearable and we both wondered how we ever lived in coastal PNG. It was wonderful to get back to the ship with its excellent airconditioning.
We are departing Vila sometime after 6pm tonight and tomorrow we visit another sparsely populated island back in New Caledonia. After that visit, it is down hill to Sydney harbour.
We were herded toward our tour departure point around 9am. The area was very hot with no shelter, mud and large potholes in the bus area. Everyone was pretty happy about boarding the airconditioned bus. First stop was a “cultural/art’ centre with a mismatch of fake and poorly made local artifacts. In the display were Easter Island repros, Sepik Totem poles from Papua New Guinea and some Balinese stone carvings. It impressed most of the tourists who had no idea of the origins of each piece.
Next stop the National Museum where we were given a talk on the Vanuatu numbering system and a demonstration of it in a sand tray. The rest of the exhibits were good, but lacked the artistic finish of Papua New Guinea’s art.
Outside the museum I tried my Tok Pisin (pidgin English) on our bus driver. We were both surprised that apart from a few words we understood each other well. We had previously been told by the tour guide that Missionaries did away with sorcery. The bus driver told me that that was not so, that in his village people could turn themselves into sharks to take another villager. Christianity 1; sorcery 1!
Vanuatu had a joint French/English administration up until 1980 when Vanuatu gained Independence . French and English is taught in school, but we heard nobody actually speaking French except our fellow tourists. Traffic drives on the right hand side of the road in Vanuatu. The issue of road rules was eventually settled in favour of the French because the first car in the Co-Dominium was owned by a French Priest.
Vila town is not too clean but there seems to be no graffiti or Raskol Gangs as in PNG. The people seem reasonably happy and surprisingly there is no betel nuts growing or chewed in Vanuatu. Big bonus there, as in PNG, red betel nut spit stains roads, footpaths and markets. Most of the roads in Vila have huge potholes. This may be because they have just had 5 weeks of heavy rain and no chance to do repairs. The heat and humidity is almost unbearable and we both wondered how we ever lived in coastal PNG. It was wonderful to get back to the ship with its excellent airconditioning.
We are departing Vila sometime after 6pm tonight and tomorrow we visit another sparsely populated island back in New Caledonia. After that visit, it is down hill to Sydney harbour.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Mystery Island, Vanuatu
Sunday. We are anchored near Mystery Island, a deserted island about 1.5 kilometres offshore from Anatom Island, a mountainous timbered island about 200 miles from Vila, Vanuatu.
The ship has lowered four tenders (lifeboats) and passengers can go ashore to swim, get melanomas and buy tacky trinkets from stalls set up by locals from the main island. A walk around the entire island takes 45 minutes and there is a reasonable airstrip still in use after U.S. forces left in 1945. Locals do not live on Mystery Island because ‘spirits’ turn up at night time. More likely because it looks like it is only a metre above sea level, so doesn’t have much in the way of arable land or fresh water.
In Noumea there are still long huts in use as accommodation which were part of a U.S. military hospital for casualties of the many South Pacific battles from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima. They must have had good termite control to last this long. From 1942-45 there were over a million Yanks stationed or hospitalised in Noumea. On a hill overlooking the city are two large coastal guns installed by a contingent of Australian troops (Robin Force) as pre-war aid to the French. Say what?! I photographed the serial numbers of one of the guns in case I find someone interested in such artillery.
Coastal gun with graffiti and a mother trying to console a cranky kid.
Late news from cruise ship Pacific Dawn.
P&O has cleaned up its act after some very damaging publicity following the death of a female passenger in very grubby circumstances some 5 years ago. Yesterday the word getting around is that two passengers were kicked off the ship at Noumea and had to find their own way back to Sydney. Harsh treatment! The story is that they were busted taking a leak over the rail of the ship; probably into the wind and wetting a deck officer. ‘Keel-haul those men’!
Back to Sunday and Mystery Island: We went ashore and had a walk around part of the island. There was a small market of about 30 stalls all selling much the same stuff. Pandanus leaf baskets, fans, a bit of shell jewellery and some drinking coconuts. The water was beautiful and quite cool for the tropics. Snorkelling gear was for hire @ $40 for flippers, snorkel and mask. Thanks but no thanks!
We took a photo of the airstrip terminal building which is “under construction” and obviously has been for some time.
Back to the ship for lunch, we had to go through metal detectors and our hand gear was run through an X-ray machine. Mike has a device in his chest to adjust the electrodes into his brain. He had to go around the metal detector and undergo a very thorough body search with a hand held device. What they could possibly think anyone could bring on board from a small island way out in the Pacific I don’t know. Maybe some WW2 armaments?
The ship has lowered four tenders (lifeboats) and passengers can go ashore to swim, get melanomas and buy tacky trinkets from stalls set up by locals from the main island. A walk around the entire island takes 45 minutes and there is a reasonable airstrip still in use after U.S. forces left in 1945. Locals do not live on Mystery Island because ‘spirits’ turn up at night time. More likely because it looks like it is only a metre above sea level, so doesn’t have much in the way of arable land or fresh water.
In Noumea there are still long huts in use as accommodation which were part of a U.S. military hospital for casualties of the many South Pacific battles from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima. They must have had good termite control to last this long. From 1942-45 there were over a million Yanks stationed or hospitalised in Noumea. On a hill overlooking the city are two large coastal guns installed by a contingent of Australian troops (Robin Force) as pre-war aid to the French. Say what?! I photographed the serial numbers of one of the guns in case I find someone interested in such artillery.
Coastal gun with graffiti and a mother trying to console a cranky kid.Late news from cruise ship Pacific Dawn.
P&O has cleaned up its act after some very damaging publicity following the death of a female passenger in very grubby circumstances some 5 years ago. Yesterday the word getting around is that two passengers were kicked off the ship at Noumea and had to find their own way back to Sydney. Harsh treatment! The story is that they were busted taking a leak over the rail of the ship; probably into the wind and wetting a deck officer. ‘Keel-haul those men’!
Back to Sunday and Mystery Island: We went ashore and had a walk around part of the island. There was a small market of about 30 stalls all selling much the same stuff. Pandanus leaf baskets, fans, a bit of shell jewellery and some drinking coconuts. The water was beautiful and quite cool for the tropics. Snorkelling gear was for hire @ $40 for flippers, snorkel and mask. Thanks but no thanks!
We took a photo of the airstrip terminal building which is “under construction” and obviously has been for some time.
Back to the ship for lunch, we had to go through metal detectors and our hand gear was run through an X-ray machine. Mike has a device in his chest to adjust the electrodes into his brain. He had to go around the metal detector and undergo a very thorough body search with a hand held device. What they could possibly think anyone could bring on board from a small island way out in the Pacific I don’t know. Maybe some WW2 armaments?
Saturday, January 31, 2009
The Hard Sell
The good ship Pacific Dawn is a very commercial enterprise. Just about everything is for sale. Joan and Dorothy went to an auction of artworks yesterday. The idea is that artists give their work to P&O ships. P&O is also in an alliance with Cunard and Star ships selling art works on 34 ships worldwide. The auctioneer told us that the artists get a better deal and the buyers get a better deal than on land based auctions. Not many pieces presented yesterday interested me much.
Before the auction the auctioneer ran a little art quiz with prizes of bottles of Champagne. Joan and Dorothy won all three bottles answering pretty standard questions such as ‘Who painted waterlilies?’ Another was ‘Who was famous for dropping paint on the floor?’, and “who was famous for being the artist for the Saturday Evening Post?’ If you don’t know those; Google is your friend!
D&J went back for today’s auction and although they yelled out the correct answer to “Who was famous for painting melted watches?’ They were ignored and another person won the bottle. Only fair I guess, as most people would have thought it was a set-up if our team won for a second day running.
Saturday:
Noumea: We have been ashore and done the city and surrounding hills tour. It is definitely a French colony. As we toured many people waved to us I guess we must be a bit of a novelty, as I doubt many Australians wave to tourists in Aus.
On one of the hills, Notre Dame de Pacifique, there is a statue of Our Lady of Fatima. It does seem a bit tacky with a circular fluorescent tube for a halo. I’m sure the Anglicans wouldn’t do that!
The architecture is like other South Pacific/S.E. Asian towns and cities. Unfortunately there is a lot of graffiti on walls and buildings and quite a few windows on shops have been broken. I am not sure whether the locals (kanaks) are disaffected with the colonial masters or if it is just bored youth.
Our cabin steward is going all out for a gratuity at the end of the trip. Here is a towel left out on our bed.
Here is a pic of the ship. 70,285 tonne; 245 metres.
Before the auction the auctioneer ran a little art quiz with prizes of bottles of Champagne. Joan and Dorothy won all three bottles answering pretty standard questions such as ‘Who painted waterlilies?’ Another was ‘Who was famous for dropping paint on the floor?’, and “who was famous for being the artist for the Saturday Evening Post?’ If you don’t know those; Google is your friend!
D&J went back for today’s auction and although they yelled out the correct answer to “Who was famous for painting melted watches?’ They were ignored and another person won the bottle. Only fair I guess, as most people would have thought it was a set-up if our team won for a second day running.
Saturday:
Noumea: We have been ashore and done the city and surrounding hills tour. It is definitely a French colony. As we toured many people waved to us I guess we must be a bit of a novelty, as I doubt many Australians wave to tourists in Aus.
On one of the hills, Notre Dame de Pacifique, there is a statue of Our Lady of Fatima. It does seem a bit tacky with a circular fluorescent tube for a halo. I’m sure the Anglicans wouldn’t do that!
The architecture is like other South Pacific/S.E. Asian towns and cities. Unfortunately there is a lot of graffiti on walls and buildings and quite a few windows on shops have been broken. I am not sure whether the locals (kanaks) are disaffected with the colonial masters or if it is just bored youth.
Our cabin steward is going all out for a gratuity at the end of the trip. Here is a towel left out on our bed.
Here is a pic of the ship. 70,285 tonne; 245 metres.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Fine Dining
Last night we all dined in the Palm Court dining room and very swish it is too. Five star service and great food. We were sat at a large table and were joined by another five diners. Katherine introduced us to them and we were told that they were on an organised trip done through RSPV an on-line dating/matchmaking .org.
There were in total around 20 RSVPers but it seemed that the majority were under 25 years of age and these five grouped together to commiserate at the lack of potential partners. Of course the introductions around the table turned to ‘where do you come from?’ One of the RSPVers wearing a distinctive red blouse, told us that she came from W.A. and Dorothy announced that they also came from W.A. Then they matched suburbs and to top it off Dorothy had thought of buying the red blouse that the woman had bought from a boutique at Hillary’s Boat Harbour. Small world!
This morning it is windy and overcast. The ocean looks like it is running about a three metre swell. It would be rough going with a small boat, but our ship is managing well with a slight roll. This weather should keep all those body beautiful show-offs indoors or at the gym.
There were in total around 20 RSVPers but it seemed that the majority were under 25 years of age and these five grouped together to commiserate at the lack of potential partners. Of course the introductions around the table turned to ‘where do you come from?’ One of the RSPVers wearing a distinctive red blouse, told us that she came from W.A. and Dorothy announced that they also came from W.A. Then they matched suburbs and to top it off Dorothy had thought of buying the red blouse that the woman had bought from a boutique at Hillary’s Boat Harbour. Small world!
This morning it is windy and overcast. The ocean looks like it is running about a three metre swell. It would be rough going with a small boat, but our ship is managing well with a slight roll. This weather should keep all those body beautiful show-offs indoors or at the gym.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Second day
Day two of the cruise sees us somewhere north-east of Stradbroke. There is absolutely nothing to see from our balcony except water and flying fish. On a previous cruise in South East Asia there was always another ship, a reef or islands to see. It is a pity that the TV doesn’t show our progress as can been seen on most aircraft flights.
The Ship: The Pacific Dawn was launched in 1991 and it shows in a few areas. The only other cruise we have been on was on a more modern ship from Singapore through South-East Asia.
The Pacific Dawn has lots of creaking noises even in relatively calm weather. Lots of rust has been painted over and external woodwork needs sanding back and revarnishing.
The food is great and there is plenty of entertainment at various locations. The ship has a full complement of passengers (around 2,000) with lots of young people showing off their tattoos and midriffs. On tattoos: many young Australian blokes have just their right arm tattooed. I guess this may be because it costs so much, but I reckon it is because the right arm is the one that hangs outside the driver’s door on the ute. We have urged Katherine to check out the guys in the U.S. when she returns after the cruise and let us know if Yanks have most tattoos on their left arms.
Katherine is our niece and she paid for her parents Dorothy and Mike to go on this cruise. The cruise was booked months ahead and specific requirements were given for cabins and location. Mike has Parkinson’s disease and requires a separate bed and Katherine asked for her cabin to be close to her parents’ cabin to help them. Upon getting to their cabin they found just one double bed and Katherine’s cabin was a long way from Mike and Dorothy. Katherine was/is very upset and harangued the Purser to no avail; probably because the ship is full and once unpacked it would be difficult to get someone to move cabins.
We are a little embarrassed by all this because a couple of weeks ago, we were offered an upgrade to a mini suite for $100 each and took the offer. The difference is well worth the $200. At the time Joan rang Dorothy and told her about the offer, but unfortunately these offers are given to travel agents at random and most likely offered to our travel agent because of volume sales or something similar.
Another full day at sea tomorrow before we dock at Noumea the following morning.
STOP PRESS: Katherine has been given a cabin change adjacent to her parents’ cabin and the bedding arrangements have been sorted in Dorothy and Mike’s cabin. We think that a cabin upgrade has been the key to get people to change cabins for Katherine.
The Ship: The Pacific Dawn was launched in 1991 and it shows in a few areas. The only other cruise we have been on was on a more modern ship from Singapore through South-East Asia.
The Pacific Dawn has lots of creaking noises even in relatively calm weather. Lots of rust has been painted over and external woodwork needs sanding back and revarnishing.
The food is great and there is plenty of entertainment at various locations. The ship has a full complement of passengers (around 2,000) with lots of young people showing off their tattoos and midriffs. On tattoos: many young Australian blokes have just their right arm tattooed. I guess this may be because it costs so much, but I reckon it is because the right arm is the one that hangs outside the driver’s door on the ute. We have urged Katherine to check out the guys in the U.S. when she returns after the cruise and let us know if Yanks have most tattoos on their left arms.
Katherine is our niece and she paid for her parents Dorothy and Mike to go on this cruise. The cruise was booked months ahead and specific requirements were given for cabins and location. Mike has Parkinson’s disease and requires a separate bed and Katherine asked for her cabin to be close to her parents’ cabin to help them. Upon getting to their cabin they found just one double bed and Katherine’s cabin was a long way from Mike and Dorothy. Katherine was/is very upset and harangued the Purser to no avail; probably because the ship is full and once unpacked it would be difficult to get someone to move cabins.
We are a little embarrassed by all this because a couple of weeks ago, we were offered an upgrade to a mini suite for $100 each and took the offer. The difference is well worth the $200. At the time Joan rang Dorothy and told her about the offer, but unfortunately these offers are given to travel agents at random and most likely offered to our travel agent because of volume sales or something similar.
Another full day at sea tomorrow before we dock at Noumea the following morning.
STOP PRESS: Katherine has been given a cabin change adjacent to her parents’ cabin and the bedding arrangements have been sorted in Dorothy and Mike’s cabin. We think that a cabin upgrade has been the key to get people to change cabins for Katherine.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Starting Out
We are about halfway to Sydney, had a reasonable lunch and a couple of mini bottles of white wine. We are travelling cattle and it shows when the person in front of me puts the seat back. There isn’t enough room to read a newspaper. I guess if we were Sydney-siders we would know how to fold a broadsheet newspaper down to paper- back book size.
We arrived a Perth domestic airport well ahead of departure time and got a coffee at one of the coffee shops. All of a sudden about 6 armed police started questioning a man and took him away. He looked perfectly normal to me and it wasn’t until sometime later that we overheard what had transpired. The police produced an X-Ray photo of the bloke’s baggage showing what looked like a hand grenade concealed in his case. They took him down into the bowels of the airport and he had to open the case in front of the boys in blue. It turned out that his wife had tucked a belt with a large buckle into one of her slippers. I have often wondered what happens to baggage deemed to be suspicious at the X-Ray machine.
Just before we boarded our flight to Sydney a flight from Karratha arrived and the ‘fly-in,fly-out’ miners disembarked. A motley lot of passengers they were too! Scraggly, bearded, thong wearing tattoo pallets. We Sydney passengers were a much more civilised lot.
Just another one hour and a bit to landing and our Qantas Boeing 767 hasn’t had a major drop in altitude and no panels have fallen off, in fact it has been quite a pleasant experience. There were a few minutes minor turbulence, but overall a smooth flight.
Later:
We are in the hotel at the moment. The room is modern but about the same size as our bathroom at home.
Just had a bit of a drama…..Martin sent a text message saying he needed to talk to us. It seems that when Joan wrote the cheque for his TAFE fees, she wrote it for more than the actual fee and TAFE could not accept the cheque and give change. Think,think,think?? We rang Helen and she is happy to pay Martin’s fees in cash and text her bank details to us so that we can do an electronic transfer into her account.
Later still:
We have just returned from a pleasant meal and a walk along Darling Harbour. I spied the National Maritime Museum and I will visit it tomorrow while Joan visits the Museum of Contemporary Art. We will board the ship after lunch. Our hotel is just 5 minutes walk from the ship.
Next door to our hotel is KPMG, a big accounting firm. One of my ex-students is a partner in the firm and in the morning I will see if it is possible to see her.
We arrived a Perth domestic airport well ahead of departure time and got a coffee at one of the coffee shops. All of a sudden about 6 armed police started questioning a man and took him away. He looked perfectly normal to me and it wasn’t until sometime later that we overheard what had transpired. The police produced an X-Ray photo of the bloke’s baggage showing what looked like a hand grenade concealed in his case. They took him down into the bowels of the airport and he had to open the case in front of the boys in blue. It turned out that his wife had tucked a belt with a large buckle into one of her slippers. I have often wondered what happens to baggage deemed to be suspicious at the X-Ray machine.
Just before we boarded our flight to Sydney a flight from Karratha arrived and the ‘fly-in,fly-out’ miners disembarked. A motley lot of passengers they were too! Scraggly, bearded, thong wearing tattoo pallets. We Sydney passengers were a much more civilised lot.
Just another one hour and a bit to landing and our Qantas Boeing 767 hasn’t had a major drop in altitude and no panels have fallen off, in fact it has been quite a pleasant experience. There were a few minutes minor turbulence, but overall a smooth flight.
Later:
We are in the hotel at the moment. The room is modern but about the same size as our bathroom at home.
Just had a bit of a drama…..Martin sent a text message saying he needed to talk to us. It seems that when Joan wrote the cheque for his TAFE fees, she wrote it for more than the actual fee and TAFE could not accept the cheque and give change. Think,think,think?? We rang Helen and she is happy to pay Martin’s fees in cash and text her bank details to us so that we can do an electronic transfer into her account.
Later still:
We have just returned from a pleasant meal and a walk along Darling Harbour. I spied the National Maritime Museum and I will visit it tomorrow while Joan visits the Museum of Contemporary Art. We will board the ship after lunch. Our hotel is just 5 minutes walk from the ship.
Next door to our hotel is KPMG, a big accounting firm. One of my ex-students is a partner in the firm and in the morning I will see if it is possible to see her.
short post
7am and we are soon to head off to the airport to fly east to Sydney town. In this morning's newspaper there is yet another article about the Education Department having difficulty finding teachers for the start of the school year.
I am unsure of the difficulties involved, but our daughter Helen and quite a few of her fellow teachers still haven't received any notification of a placement at this stage. Methinks the Dept couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.
I am unsure of the difficulties involved, but our daughter Helen and quite a few of her fellow teachers still haven't received any notification of a placement at this stage. Methinks the Dept couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Cruise the Pacific
Joan is busy preparing our luggage for the South Pacific cruise. We leave Perth on Tuesday morning and board the ship in Sydney the following day. Daughter Helen is going to baby-sit our place for a few days at a time. She is hoping for a teaching placement before school starts on 2nd of February.
The reporter from the local newspaper who wrote a story on my efforts to distribute free computers did not include a contact number, but agreed that if I wrote a letter to the editor including my contact details they would print it. I wrote the letter, but they didn't print it. I'm sure they want me to take out a paid advertisement. The paper is one of the Community Group .........they don't seem too community minded to me!
I managed to place four computers with one family yesterday. The mother firstly took two for her kids and when the rest of the family visited they wanted one as well. I think this will be the best way of getting the word around and placing the other 25 machines in my workshop. One of her sons looked a bit dodgy and seemed to be looking around whilst inside our place. We will use the alarm system for the period we are away in case he visits to get more than a computer. Might also park a car out the front on the drive to give the impression that someone is home.
We will post from the cruise liner. They have WiFi on board but it costs. They (P&O) also x-ray baggage for alcohol and have sniffer dogs searching for drugs. P&O bans passengers from taking any drinks on board to protect their monopoly. They also charge A$5 per passenger per day for tips to be distributed amongst the crew at the end of the cruise. Let's see....say 600 passengers X $5 X 8 days= $24,000. The ship is the Pacific Dawn which can carry 2000+ passengers with a crew of 700. With a full complement of 2000 passengers the tips would amount to $80,000 for the 8 day trip. That would work out at $114 each crew member. I wonder whether the toilet cleaner gets the same as a Deck Officer?
The reporter from the local newspaper who wrote a story on my efforts to distribute free computers did not include a contact number, but agreed that if I wrote a letter to the editor including my contact details they would print it. I wrote the letter, but they didn't print it. I'm sure they want me to take out a paid advertisement. The paper is one of the Community Group .........they don't seem too community minded to me!
I managed to place four computers with one family yesterday. The mother firstly took two for her kids and when the rest of the family visited they wanted one as well. I think this will be the best way of getting the word around and placing the other 25 machines in my workshop. One of her sons looked a bit dodgy and seemed to be looking around whilst inside our place. We will use the alarm system for the period we are away in case he visits to get more than a computer. Might also park a car out the front on the drive to give the impression that someone is home.
We will post from the cruise liner. They have WiFi on board but it costs. They (P&O) also x-ray baggage for alcohol and have sniffer dogs searching for drugs. P&O bans passengers from taking any drinks on board to protect their monopoly. They also charge A$5 per passenger per day for tips to be distributed amongst the crew at the end of the cruise. Let's see....say 600 passengers X $5 X 8 days= $24,000. The ship is the Pacific Dawn which can carry 2000+ passengers with a crew of 700. With a full complement of 2000 passengers the tips would amount to $80,000 for the 8 day trip. That would work out at $114 each crew member. I wonder whether the toilet cleaner gets the same as a Deck Officer?
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Australia Day
Australia Day is looming and along with that is the flag business. Each year the flag is promoted and cars and trucks are flying Australian flags (all made in China). I get a bad feeling about mass flags. In military parades different flags representing different units seems OK to me, but masses of a nation's flag sends Nuremberg shivers up my spine.
Joan bought some doughnut peaches and I tried a couple....brilliant! They are easy to eat, freestone and taste good. If that is an example of genetic manipulation, bring it on!
I have spent a couple of days servicing, cleaning and polishing our son's car. He has given it to me to sell. He was supposedly paying off traffic fines to keep his drivers licence, but has not made a payment for months and the boys in blue came and took his licence away. They are also issuing a summons for driving without a licence so he figures he wont be needing a car for at least a year. There is sure to be a substantial fine as well. I wonder who will pay that?
Martin has decided to do a draughting course at TAFE. If he is accepted he will train and bus to Leederville TAFE from Kwinana. Would have been easier with a car.
We are thankful that Australia has a good medical benefits scheme. Joan filled our current scripts yesterday and the total for a month's pharmaceuticals for the two of us was $42.40. The real cost was $334.51. Additionally, once we reach the safety net of $318.00, all scripts are free. We usually reach that amount by October. In the pic below you can see the real cost of my 80mg Lipitor.
Joan bought some doughnut peaches and I tried a couple....brilliant! They are easy to eat, freestone and taste good. If that is an example of genetic manipulation, bring it on!
I have spent a couple of days servicing, cleaning and polishing our son's car. He has given it to me to sell. He was supposedly paying off traffic fines to keep his drivers licence, but has not made a payment for months and the boys in blue came and took his licence away. They are also issuing a summons for driving without a licence so he figures he wont be needing a car for at least a year. There is sure to be a substantial fine as well. I wonder who will pay that?
Martin has decided to do a draughting course at TAFE. If he is accepted he will train and bus to Leederville TAFE from Kwinana. Would have been easier with a car.
We are thankful that Australia has a good medical benefits scheme. Joan filled our current scripts yesterday and the total for a month's pharmaceuticals for the two of us was $42.40. The real cost was $334.51. Additionally, once we reach the safety net of $318.00, all scripts are free. We usually reach that amount by October. In the pic below you can see the real cost of my 80mg Lipitor.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
NavMan GPS
Sister Shirley flew back to Esperance this morning. I always panic a little getting her to the airport on time. Even though it is only about a twenty minute drive most times; at 8am, peak traffic makes it a bit dodgy on the freeway. I decided to travel on the highway rather than the freeway and we made it in plenty of time. As we passed over the freeway at Canning Bridge we could see that it was a parking lot.
Shirl used one of our cars with a NavMan GPS device and she loved it and has asked me to get one for her down at Esperance. Esperance is quite a big place and if one is a bit dithery, NavMan is well worth having. But I reckon she just wants to show off to the grandkids.
Helen, our daughter is starting to panic about a teaching position for the 2009 year. She rang this morning asking me to contact a friend in staffing at the Dept. I am a little hesitant to put on him as we rarely talk and I haven't actually met up with him in about 15 years. Might put it off until tomorrow in the hope that she receives a posting in today's mail.
Joan and I never argue and for the 43 years of our marriage have had very few bad words. There is just one thing that is a little competition between us and that is the placement of the paper towel roll on the stand. The stand was given to me by an ex-student who was brain damaged in a car accident. Anyway, when I see that the paper towel has finished I get to place it on the holder with the leader on the right hand side.....makes sense, both of us are right handed! Joan on the other hand prefers to tear the towel from the left?? I haven't dared flip the roll over when she has put the new roll on.
This morning we received a call from the travel agent who booked our South Pacific cruise leaving Sydney on the 28th January. She rang to offer us an upgrade of a much better cabin at a cost of $100 each. We took the offer. I reckon there are people a lot smarter than us who realised that January is the South Pacific cyclone season and decided not to book a cruise at this time and thus the availability of more cabins?
Shirl used one of our cars with a NavMan GPS device and she loved it and has asked me to get one for her down at Esperance. Esperance is quite a big place and if one is a bit dithery, NavMan is well worth having. But I reckon she just wants to show off to the grandkids.
Helen, our daughter is starting to panic about a teaching position for the 2009 year. She rang this morning asking me to contact a friend in staffing at the Dept. I am a little hesitant to put on him as we rarely talk and I haven't actually met up with him in about 15 years. Might put it off until tomorrow in the hope that she receives a posting in today's mail.
Joan and I never argue and for the 43 years of our marriage have had very few bad words. There is just one thing that is a little competition between us and that is the placement of the paper towel roll on the stand. The stand was given to me by an ex-student who was brain damaged in a car accident. Anyway, when I see that the paper towel has finished I get to place it on the holder with the leader on the right hand side.....makes sense, both of us are right handed! Joan on the other hand prefers to tear the towel from the left?? I haven't dared flip the roll over when she has put the new roll on.
This morning we received a call from the travel agent who booked our South Pacific cruise leaving Sydney on the 28th January. She rang to offer us an upgrade of a much better cabin at a cost of $100 each. We took the offer. I reckon there are people a lot smarter than us who realised that January is the South Pacific cyclone season and decided not to book a cruise at this time and thus the availability of more cabins?
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Sandgropers
We have my sister Shirley staying with us for a few days. She is up in Perth from Esperance. Esperance is a nice seaside town (is it a city?) which is a day's drive south. The airfare is $400+ return. She is up here for a 70th birthday celebration of a long time neighbour from when she and her family lived in Wattle Grove. She is also here to buy lots of clothes, shoes and bling.
We loaned her one of our cars and a SatNav to get to the party house which was a further 37 kilometres north of here. I gave careful instructions on how to press the Home button to get instructions to return home today. I guess we will get a phone call if she can't work that out.
This morning I removed a passionfruit vine from a large terracotta pot. It hasn't had one flower and there were many root stock shoots crowding the pot. As I was pulling it out I found a gopher cricket, or as we call them here, a Sandgroper. They are an amazing little animal and their tunnelling is done with two very strong 'paddles' each side of the face. Read about these beauties here. We have another two Passionfruit in large pots and although they are both healthy, only one of them is setting fruit. One of the vines has flowers but very little pollen and unfortunately both vines flower at different times.
Residents of Western Australia are colloqially called 'Sandgropers'. I guess each state has similar, but I can only think of another two at the moment......Crow Eaters are South Australians and Banana Benders are Queenslanders.
We loaned her one of our cars and a SatNav to get to the party house which was a further 37 kilometres north of here. I gave careful instructions on how to press the Home button to get instructions to return home today. I guess we will get a phone call if she can't work that out.
This morning I removed a passionfruit vine from a large terracotta pot. It hasn't had one flower and there were many root stock shoots crowding the pot. As I was pulling it out I found a gopher cricket, or as we call them here, a Sandgroper. They are an amazing little animal and their tunnelling is done with two very strong 'paddles' each side of the face. Read about these beauties here. We have another two Passionfruit in large pots and although they are both healthy, only one of them is setting fruit. One of the vines has flowers but very little pollen and unfortunately both vines flower at different times.
Residents of Western Australia are colloqially called 'Sandgropers'. I guess each state has similar, but I can only think of another two at the moment......Crow Eaters are South Australians and Banana Benders are Queenslanders.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
W.A. Teacher shortage
In today's daily newspaper there is an article telling of the teacher shortage in Western Australian government schools. The Education Dept is down around 170 teachers as the start of the school year approaches. This is very hard to understand as our daughter Helen and no doubt hundreds of other teachers still do not have notice of their 2009 placement and indeed if they even have a job this year.
There are permanent teachers and temporary teachers. Helen is a 'temp'. It is quite difficult to become a permanent teacher. There are three avenues to permanency as I see it. 1. You select a country school with the flies and the heat and cold with often poor accommodation and stay there for a few years. 2. You can ask to be sent to a school which is difficult to staff. In other words a school in a poor area with difficult students and parents. The third way to gain permanency is to apply for a position in a school offering Merit Selection. Not many schools offer Merit Selection and quite often the position offered is already marked for someone. There are many female teachers who remain temporary because of family or other commitments.
So, are these teachers, the temps, counted in that 170? Many teaching positions are notified within days of the start of the school year. Thank goodness Joan and Kev were always permanent and didn't have that hanging over us up until the day before the start of the school year.
Helen has been looking at other jobs and one I pointed out to her was at the U.S. Consulate in Perth. The job was an Executive Officer and the salary started at $87,000 per year with nice working conditions etc. The job was well within Helen's experience, having worked in a similar position at BHP for a number of years. When we came to read the Selection Criteria it was obvious that the job was written for someone already in the job. The education level was High School! This high-flight job should demand at least a degree, with some business quals. Damn!
There are permanent teachers and temporary teachers. Helen is a 'temp'. It is quite difficult to become a permanent teacher. There are three avenues to permanency as I see it. 1. You select a country school with the flies and the heat and cold with often poor accommodation and stay there for a few years. 2. You can ask to be sent to a school which is difficult to staff. In other words a school in a poor area with difficult students and parents. The third way to gain permanency is to apply for a position in a school offering Merit Selection. Not many schools offer Merit Selection and quite often the position offered is already marked for someone. There are many female teachers who remain temporary because of family or other commitments.
So, are these teachers, the temps, counted in that 170? Many teaching positions are notified within days of the start of the school year. Thank goodness Joan and Kev were always permanent and didn't have that hanging over us up until the day before the start of the school year.
Helen has been looking at other jobs and one I pointed out to her was at the U.S. Consulate in Perth. The job was an Executive Officer and the salary started at $87,000 per year with nice working conditions etc. The job was well within Helen's experience, having worked in a similar position at BHP for a number of years. When we came to read the Selection Criteria it was obvious that the job was written for someone already in the job. The education level was High School! This high-flight job should demand at least a degree, with some business quals. Damn!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The perfect tourist
must have a camera around his neck.
I saw this Tshirt today and bought it for Kevin to wear on the cruise. I am not sure if he actually will - but he at least tried it on.
I saw this Tshirt today and bought it for Kevin to wear on the cruise. I am not sure if he actually will - but he at least tried it on.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Beware of Dutchmen bearing gifts
Way back in 1974 we were teaching in Popondetta in Papua New Guinea. I was manager of Popondetta Vocational Centre and Joan was head of the Girls Voc. Section. We went on leave to Australia at the end of '74 and returned to Popondetta to find that one of my staff, 'Dutchy' had damaged our car. A front mudguard was ironed out flat by a steel power pole. Dutchy was contrite and gave me a Black and Decker bench grinder. I accepted the bribe as I was restoring a WW2 Jeep left in the area by departing military. That grinder, with wire wheel on one side, did stirling work on old Jeep parts found around the place. When we left PNG in late 1975 we packed it and it has seen much more work up until yesterday.
You will note the the sturdy metal construction and the bakelite on/off switch (non standard).
Yesterday I noticed that the switch had cracked and would no longer work. Easy, I'll just replace it with another.
WorkSafe safety covers.
When I removed the switch I pulled the wires further out of the hole to attach a new switch and that's when I found the bare wires. In all those 34 years the bare wires had not come into contact with the metal body of the grinder. Now that deserves a Lotto ticket!
I will rewire it and install a suitable, safe switch.
Just recently I have noticed a number of burned cars at various roadside locations. Abandoned cars usually have their plates removed and after a few days get a notice stuck to the body saying that this 'vehicle has been reported'. That is also the death notice for the car...windows smashed, parts taken and just recently arson attacks. I guess it's fair game if the car is really abandoned. I'd be pretty unhappy if my car was left on the roadside after it was stolen and nobody checked who it belonged to.
Even when the plates are removed a vehicle is easily traced from the chassis and engine numbers. Begs the question; why don't the authorities trace the owners and charge them for the disposal? Up until a couple of months ago a car body could be collected by a scrap merchant and $100 cash given to the owner. Maybe somebody in authority was pocketing the scrap metal money?
You will note the the sturdy metal construction and the bakelite on/off switch (non standard).
Yesterday I noticed that the switch had cracked and would no longer work. Easy, I'll just replace it with another.
WorkSafe safety covers.When I removed the switch I pulled the wires further out of the hole to attach a new switch and that's when I found the bare wires. In all those 34 years the bare wires had not come into contact with the metal body of the grinder. Now that deserves a Lotto ticket!
I will rewire it and install a suitable, safe switch.
Just recently I have noticed a number of burned cars at various roadside locations. Abandoned cars usually have their plates removed and after a few days get a notice stuck to the body saying that this 'vehicle has been reported'. That is also the death notice for the car...windows smashed, parts taken and just recently arson attacks. I guess it's fair game if the car is really abandoned. I'd be pretty unhappy if my car was left on the roadside after it was stolen and nobody checked who it belonged to.
Even when the plates are removed a vehicle is easily traced from the chassis and engine numbers. Begs the question; why don't the authorities trace the owners and charge them for the disposal? Up until a couple of months ago a car body could be collected by a scrap merchant and $100 cash given to the owner. Maybe somebody in authority was pocketing the scrap metal money?
Friday, January 9, 2009
IT stuff
One of our local free newspapers did a story on my efforts to distribute free computers to locals. The reporter talked with me at length and I gave him my contact details and sat back waiting for the phone calls to come....nothing! I went and picked up a paper at the local shopping centre and the article was pretty accurate, but no contact details. When I rang them they apologised and muttered something about their policy of not giving out phone numbers to all and sundry. They seemed reluctant to do another short follow-up, so I asked if they would print a letter to the editor which included my contact details and it seems that that will be OK. So I wrote to the editor thanking him for the article and mentioning that I still have lots of free computers and people interested could call me on our phone number. We'll see if it works.
I did get two phone calls about the computers; one from the office of the Federal Member for Fremantle. She is supposedly interested in local efforts like this and will write me a letter of thanks. I'd like her to take a couple of computers. The other phone call was from a lady who wanted me to collect an old PC. I agreed to collect it and although the PC is rather old and slow the monitor and attached speakers are very nice.
Today I received the two black ink cartridges I ordered from Hong Kong. They work well and are just a fraction of the price of originals here in Aus. Total cost including postage was $11.59. Best price I could find in Aus. was $29 each plus postage.
Now something quite different.....find the Nude Dude
I did get two phone calls about the computers; one from the office of the Federal Member for Fremantle. She is supposedly interested in local efforts like this and will write me a letter of thanks. I'd like her to take a couple of computers. The other phone call was from a lady who wanted me to collect an old PC. I agreed to collect it and although the PC is rather old and slow the monitor and attached speakers are very nice.
Today I received the two black ink cartridges I ordered from Hong Kong. They work well and are just a fraction of the price of originals here in Aus. Total cost including postage was $11.59. Best price I could find in Aus. was $29 each plus postage.
Now something quite different.....find the Nude Dude
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
43 years
Kevin Arthur Lock and Joan Lilian McHugh were married at Wesley Church, Perth at 4 pm Friday January 7, 1966.
Check Joan's blog for further information
Check Joan's blog for further information
Monday, January 5, 2009
Big Brother
Today I was trolling through blogs through the 'next blog' tab on Blogger and came across an American family who are into shooting the watsaname out of deer. At the top of their blog is a sort of counter which shows who has been looking at their blog and all the details of their ISP and indeed the computer system and browser used. Ours showed up.
If that information is easily seen, then all those people who are accessing naughty stuff should be worried. So if you are into devious stuff on the internet, open your computer case, take out the hard drive, find out where Main Roads is doing highway repairs and surreptitiously toss the HD under a road roller, go to a computer shop and buy a new one and install your Operating System again. If you don't know how to do that, then start worrying.
*******************************************************************************************
Our daughter Helen has not yet been offered a school for next year. She has been in the system for a few years now and is a bit jacked off that she doesn't know what school she will be offered for the 2009 school year. It could be a bogan school with lots of anti-establishment parents and kids that usually appear on 'The Nanny' on TV. The appointments are as late as a couple of days before the school year. So she is applying for an executive type job with one of Australia's big players; Kerry Stokes. Her resume reads very well and she has a shoe-in having met Stoke's Employment Officer socially a few days ago. Go Hel!
*******************************************************************************************
I have recently ordered a couple of black cartridges to suit my HP Photosmart D5360 printer from Hong Kong. The best price I could find in Australia was $29.95 plus postage.
The HK price was $1.25 each and $9.00 postage for two carts. I shall report on the quality of the print. Our HP photosmart printer has a warning message when I refill the cartridges with bulk ink...'It appears that you have used a fake cartridge' or something similar.
If that information is easily seen, then all those people who are accessing naughty stuff should be worried. So if you are into devious stuff on the internet, open your computer case, take out the hard drive, find out where Main Roads is doing highway repairs and surreptitiously toss the HD under a road roller, go to a computer shop and buy a new one and install your Operating System again. If you don't know how to do that, then start worrying.
*******************************************************************************************
Our daughter Helen has not yet been offered a school for next year. She has been in the system for a few years now and is a bit jacked off that she doesn't know what school she will be offered for the 2009 school year. It could be a bogan school with lots of anti-establishment parents and kids that usually appear on 'The Nanny' on TV. The appointments are as late as a couple of days before the school year. So she is applying for an executive type job with one of Australia's big players; Kerry Stokes. Her resume reads very well and she has a shoe-in having met Stoke's Employment Officer socially a few days ago. Go Hel!
*******************************************************************************************
I have recently ordered a couple of black cartridges to suit my HP Photosmart D5360 printer from Hong Kong. The best price I could find in Australia was $29.95 plus postage.
The HK price was $1.25 each and $9.00 postage for two carts. I shall report on the quality of the print. Our HP photosmart printer has a warning message when I refill the cartridges with bulk ink...'It appears that you have used a fake cartridge' or something similar.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Kilroy and Foo were both there!
During WW2 Kilroy appeared everywhere U.S. troops were stationed; even in battlefields. His Australian cousin was Foo. They looked identical and were usually depicted peering over a wall.
Kilroy is even engraved into the wall at the WW2 Memorial in Washington DC.
There is a movement in the U.S. to have the U.S. Postal service strike a ‘Kilroy was here’ stamp. Patrick Tillery is pushing for the postage stamp, but has not yet been successful. Maybe next year we will see something like this on letters from the U.S.?
Wikipedia has a story on Kilroy and his cousins here.
We have Magpies back again. There is one young fella who makes a very loud noise when he wants to be fed. He can fly well and is bigger that his mother and can eat himself, but it seems that mum won’t let him and she still feeds him. Maybe this is some precaution against him eating something potentially bad until he knows what’s what?
How do I know it is a He? Because he reminds me of our son who still gets sustenance from us at the age of 37.
Kilroy is even engraved into the wall at the WW2 Memorial in Washington DC.
There is a movement in the U.S. to have the U.S. Postal service strike a ‘Kilroy was here’ stamp. Patrick Tillery is pushing for the postage stamp, but has not yet been successful. Maybe next year we will see something like this on letters from the U.S.?
Wikipedia has a story on Kilroy and his cousins here.We have Magpies back again. There is one young fella who makes a very loud noise when he wants to be fed. He can fly well and is bigger that his mother and can eat himself, but it seems that mum won’t let him and she still feeds him. Maybe this is some precaution against him eating something potentially bad until he knows what’s what?
How do I know it is a He? Because he reminds me of our son who still gets sustenance from us at the age of 37.Thursday, January 1, 2009
New Year's Eve
New Years Eve went quietly at our place. Our guests have been celebrating the New Year at our place for the last few years. This year John was absent. I usually take a group photo, but last night I didn't. At our age, any future photos of NY celebration could start to look like the photos from Back to the Future with fading images of individuals.
I would hope that this year brings peace and goodwill to all, however peace is not on the agenda for about 10 war torn countries and when they settle down, other countries will no doubt be involved in new wars.
Yesterday I received, along with 25 others in a group mailing, an email titled 'It's Our Country' which tells refugees and other immigrants to go away if they don't like Australia and the way we run it. Unfortunately one of the paragraphs is lifted from a similar rant about immigrants in the U.S.. See here:
In God We Trust' is our National Motto. This is not some Christian, right wing, political slogan. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you
consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.
I can't think what our National Motto could be but it certainly isn't 'In God We Trust'.
I would hope that this year brings peace and goodwill to all, however peace is not on the agenda for about 10 war torn countries and when they settle down, other countries will no doubt be involved in new wars.
Yesterday I received, along with 25 others in a group mailing, an email titled 'It's Our Country' which tells refugees and other immigrants to go away if they don't like Australia and the way we run it. Unfortunately one of the paragraphs is lifted from a similar rant about immigrants in the U.S.. See here:
In God We Trust' is our National Motto. This is not some Christian, right wing, political slogan. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you
consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.
I can't think what our National Motto could be but it certainly isn't 'In God We Trust'.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Coal versus Hydro
In today's local paper there is a news story about a decommissioned hydro-electricity power plant at the south west town of Collie. The power station was decommissioned after it was flooded in 2000. The government gifted it to the National trust as a heritage site.
They never thought that would come back and bite them.
The Trust chief executive, Tom Perrigo is a go-getter and has asked the Heritage Minister for $4.8 million to get it running again to feed power into the grid. Collie is a big producer of coal; that nasty stuff we should stop using, but will continue to use at the Collie power station at a rate of 1 million tonnes a year. Griffin Coal, the Collie miner, is also building another two coal-fired power stations at Collie. Is this what is meant by carbon trading???
Over the weekend a man was taken by a white pointer shark. Only some scraps of his wetsuit have been found. His family don't want authorites to do away with the shark as the man was in the shark's environment. Fair enough, but what of other swimmers and divers. I am sure that sharks are no different to other fish, birds, insects and animals. They will return to a known source of food. I wont be going diving at Port Kennedy.
I have at last replicated the 1950/60s recipe for chilli Beef eaten by many hundreds of customers at Pals hamburger bar at Canning Bridge. Pals was an instituion and people travelled from all over the metro area to eat at their Canning Bridge site. Unfortunately when the Kwinana Freeway was extended, Pals had to close down. My friend Dennis pleaded with the owners to get their recipe, but unfortunately they decided to take it to the grave.
Here is my version:
Canning Bridge Chilli
Ingredients:
1kg casserole beef
1 large onion
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
3 tablespoons of oil or (authentically use beef dripping)
fresh chillies or chilli powder (you decide your own fire)
1 each teaspoon of cumin and oregano
tomato sauce
500ml beef stock
1kg of casserole steak diced; floured with salt/pepper seasoning.
Fry steak in oil until rich brown
add onions and garlic and saute
add 1 teaspoon of cumin and 1 teaspoon of oregano
cover with beef stock
add chillies or chilli powder to suit heat
simmer until meat is falling apart.
add a small amount of tomato sauce to taste
They never thought that would come back and bite them.
The Trust chief executive, Tom Perrigo is a go-getter and has asked the Heritage Minister for $4.8 million to get it running again to feed power into the grid. Collie is a big producer of coal; that nasty stuff we should stop using, but will continue to use at the Collie power station at a rate of 1 million tonnes a year. Griffin Coal, the Collie miner, is also building another two coal-fired power stations at Collie. Is this what is meant by carbon trading???
Over the weekend a man was taken by a white pointer shark. Only some scraps of his wetsuit have been found. His family don't want authorites to do away with the shark as the man was in the shark's environment. Fair enough, but what of other swimmers and divers. I am sure that sharks are no different to other fish, birds, insects and animals. They will return to a known source of food. I wont be going diving at Port Kennedy.
I have at last replicated the 1950/60s recipe for chilli Beef eaten by many hundreds of customers at Pals hamburger bar at Canning Bridge. Pals was an instituion and people travelled from all over the metro area to eat at their Canning Bridge site. Unfortunately when the Kwinana Freeway was extended, Pals had to close down. My friend Dennis pleaded with the owners to get their recipe, but unfortunately they decided to take it to the grave.
Here is my version:
Canning Bridge Chilli
Ingredients:
1kg casserole beef
1 large onion
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
3 tablespoons of oil or (authentically use beef dripping)
fresh chillies or chilli powder (you decide your own fire)
1 each teaspoon of cumin and oregano
tomato sauce
500ml beef stock
1kg of casserole steak diced; floured with salt/pepper seasoning.
Fry steak in oil until rich brown
add onions and garlic and saute
add 1 teaspoon of cumin and 1 teaspoon of oregano
cover with beef stock
add chillies or chilli powder to suit heat
simmer until meat is falling apart.
add a small amount of tomato sauce to taste
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Euthanasia
Euthanasia is an emotional word. Right-to-lifers spring out of the woodwork at the casual mention of the word. I am unsure if I would have the courage to top myself when the time comes.
It is argued that we would not keep a pet animal in the state we keep our loved ones.
Today I made the decision to stop the continual suffering; the daily stress of extreme heat and cooling nights. At the morning a rejuvenated one wilts almost to death at the rising of the sun.
So it was time to let my potted silverbeet go. I gave it every chance of survival; plenty of water, a shift under shade, but in the end I gave in and did the deed.
Christmas Day was a good time to catch up with rellies and consume enough seafood, ham and Christmas pud to feed a large village in Zimbabwe. Brother Graham did us proud with his pièce de résistance, a large dish of seviche; Mackerel pickled in lemon juice with garlic, spring onions and chilli. Yum!
Graham works for a large seafood wholesaler and as a bonus the boss gave him a large ham, a few kilograms of freshly cooked prawns and some good folding money. He had already bought a large ham and that was gifted to us as leftovers. I am rapidly getting over ham and there is still a heap of it left.
We were last to leave at around 5pm.
The mob. Our son Martin had already left to go on to another show.
It is argued that we would not keep a pet animal in the state we keep our loved ones.
Today I made the decision to stop the continual suffering; the daily stress of extreme heat and cooling nights. At the morning a rejuvenated one wilts almost to death at the rising of the sun.
So it was time to let my potted silverbeet go. I gave it every chance of survival; plenty of water, a shift under shade, but in the end I gave in and did the deed.
Christmas Day was a good time to catch up with rellies and consume enough seafood, ham and Christmas pud to feed a large village in Zimbabwe. Brother Graham did us proud with his pièce de résistance, a large dish of seviche; Mackerel pickled in lemon juice with garlic, spring onions and chilli. Yum!
Graham works for a large seafood wholesaler and as a bonus the boss gave him a large ham, a few kilograms of freshly cooked prawns and some good folding money. He had already bought a large ham and that was gifted to us as leftovers. I am rapidly getting over ham and there is still a heap of it left.
We were last to leave at around 5pm.
The mob. Our son Martin had already left to go on to another show.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas Day
Monday's dinner party went very well....good food, good company and conversation.
Today, Christmas Day, is the big one. Brother Graham has gone all out with preparations and food. Should be a great day. I believe there are around 20 guests and I will take a group photo when everyone has eaten.
We gave each other our gifts after breakfast. As usual Joan is the one with the creative ideas and she gave me a book, another of the series by local chap, John Dowson called 'Old Fremantle Children'. I taught with John at Willeton SHS and had contributed some old photographs to a major project he completed a few years ago titled "Old Fremantle'. Thanks Joan.
The other present was a solid silver chain for a coin that I wear around my neck. I noticed it went missing a couple of days ago after I had left it on the basin after showering. She had whisked it off to a jeweller to have the chain fitted. That coin is a South African 2/- piece my grandfather Maurice Lee brought back from the Boer war. He wore it as a watch fob and promised to leave it to me when he 'coughed it'. Thanks Joan.
I 'gave' Joan a new handbag and wallet. Naturally she selected both as I have no clue about these things. When she opened her present I was pleasantly surprised that I had selected well.
Christmas Day morning is a bit stressful for Joan as there is no newspaper delivery. She purposely set aside a portion of yesterday's paper to read today. Joan devours the paper and books at a great rate. I reckon she even reads the page numbers. She is a good reference to refer to if I have occasion to remember some detail that I skimmed over in the daily.
Today, Christmas Day, is the big one. Brother Graham has gone all out with preparations and food. Should be a great day. I believe there are around 20 guests and I will take a group photo when everyone has eaten.
We gave each other our gifts after breakfast. As usual Joan is the one with the creative ideas and she gave me a book, another of the series by local chap, John Dowson called 'Old Fremantle Children'. I taught with John at Willeton SHS and had contributed some old photographs to a major project he completed a few years ago titled "Old Fremantle'. Thanks Joan.
The other present was a solid silver chain for a coin that I wear around my neck. I noticed it went missing a couple of days ago after I had left it on the basin after showering. She had whisked it off to a jeweller to have the chain fitted. That coin is a South African 2/- piece my grandfather Maurice Lee brought back from the Boer war. He wore it as a watch fob and promised to leave it to me when he 'coughed it'. Thanks Joan.
I 'gave' Joan a new handbag and wallet. Naturally she selected both as I have no clue about these things. When she opened her present I was pleasantly surprised that I had selected well.
Christmas Day morning is a bit stressful for Joan as there is no newspaper delivery. She purposely set aside a portion of yesterday's paper to read today. Joan devours the paper and books at a great rate. I reckon she even reads the page numbers. She is a good reference to refer to if I have occasion to remember some detail that I skimmed over in the daily.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Dinner Party
We are hosting a curry night tonight for our next door neighbours and another couple we know through Joan's fabric endeavours. Joan knows Juliet through the group Designing Women.
Joan is also in another four groups: Innovative Stitches, Contemporary Quilt Group, Husqvarna Sewing Club and Secret Drawer. She has been a member of the latter for over 20 years.
Joan has cooked three curries which are not from canned pastes and a sample of each shows the difference in flavours to the commercial curry pastes. Wonderful. There is a Beef Vindaloo, a chicken curry and a vegetable curry.
The male guests have not met before and it will be interesting to see where the conversation goes. Dave, our neighbour, runs a very successful environmental composting business near a massive piggery. Juliet's husband Chris is a 'Mud Engineer'. There is probably a more formal title than that, but he 'builds' the mud that goes down the bore hole on oil rigs. This work has taken their family all over the world for a couple of years at a time.
A party like this gives the house a good clean up. We found much dust and grease which we wouldn't have noticed without the clean-up. Brother is going through the same preparations for the family Christmas Day show at his place.
On brother Graham; he recently took delivery of a surround sound system for his plasma TV. Very nice too. We set it up and had trouble getting all speakers to work. Solution; call in the kids! In this case Graham called in his 16 year old grandson and it was all done in about an hour. Sounds great. Maybe I'll get one too.....not the grandson...the surround sound system.
Joan is also in another four groups: Innovative Stitches, Contemporary Quilt Group, Husqvarna Sewing Club and Secret Drawer. She has been a member of the latter for over 20 years.
Joan has cooked three curries which are not from canned pastes and a sample of each shows the difference in flavours to the commercial curry pastes. Wonderful. There is a Beef Vindaloo, a chicken curry and a vegetable curry.
The male guests have not met before and it will be interesting to see where the conversation goes. Dave, our neighbour, runs a very successful environmental composting business near a massive piggery. Juliet's husband Chris is a 'Mud Engineer'. There is probably a more formal title than that, but he 'builds' the mud that goes down the bore hole on oil rigs. This work has taken their family all over the world for a couple of years at a time.
A party like this gives the house a good clean up. We found much dust and grease which we wouldn't have noticed without the clean-up. Brother is going through the same preparations for the family Christmas Day show at his place.
On brother Graham; he recently took delivery of a surround sound system for his plasma TV. Very nice too. We set it up and had trouble getting all speakers to work. Solution; call in the kids! In this case Graham called in his 16 year old grandson and it was all done in about an hour. Sounds great. Maybe I'll get one too.....not the grandson...the surround sound system.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
New storage shelving
After selling a couple of pieces at an art show, Joan spent some of the money buying a shelving system for her workshop. The system is made in Switzerland and very well designed. There is a top rail which is anchored to the wall directly below the ceiling cornice. That rail has a hooked edge on which the vertical shelf supports lock into. The actual shelf arms clip into the verticals and the wire shelving clips into the supports. It is similar to a 1980s shelving called Ladderax.
The top rail is the only piece which is attached to the wall. All the rest remains in place helped by the weight of the shelves and the bits on them. Simple, but good.
I don't know how well this would support the weight if it was used on wallboard or plasterboard.
The top rail is the only piece which is attached to the wall. All the rest remains in place helped by the weight of the shelves and the bits on them. Simple, but good.
I don't know how well this would support the weight if it was used on wallboard or plasterboard.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The Bridal Train
A local group, The Waifs, hail from Albany. Two sisters and a very talented guitarist make up the group. They have been very successful on the world and Australian stage.
One of their pieces is the Bridal Train telling the story of the girls' grandmother who as a WW2 bride made the trip on the Bridal Train from Perth to Sydney to join others to travel on the Monterey to meet their 'Yankee Sailors' and their families.
It is a moving piece even if the Australian accent is a little overdone. The story of the Bridal Train can be found here.
A video on You Tube lets you hear The Bridal Train. The video images hardly relate to the song, but it is a good listen.
We knew another couple; Homer White, a USN submariner and his Australian wife who resettled in Darwin and then Albany. Homer and his wife were well-known in Albany and almost certainly knew the girls' grandmother and husband after they returned to Australia two and a half years after settling in the U.S.
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In Western Australia there is only one oil refinery, owned by BP. Tomorrow BP service stations are jacking up the price of Petrol by around ten cents a litre. Other oil companies have to buy their fuel from BP, but manage to keep fuel at the lower price. BP are always dearer and have no shopper- docket loyalty schemes. Price gouging?
One of their pieces is the Bridal Train telling the story of the girls' grandmother who as a WW2 bride made the trip on the Bridal Train from Perth to Sydney to join others to travel on the Monterey to meet their 'Yankee Sailors' and their families.
It is a moving piece even if the Australian accent is a little overdone. The story of the Bridal Train can be found here.
A video on You Tube lets you hear The Bridal Train. The video images hardly relate to the song, but it is a good listen.
We knew another couple; Homer White, a USN submariner and his Australian wife who resettled in Darwin and then Albany. Homer and his wife were well-known in Albany and almost certainly knew the girls' grandmother and husband after they returned to Australia two and a half years after settling in the U.S.
******************************************************************************************
In Western Australia there is only one oil refinery, owned by BP. Tomorrow BP service stations are jacking up the price of Petrol by around ten cents a litre. Other oil companies have to buy their fuel from BP, but manage to keep fuel at the lower price. BP are always dearer and have no shopper- docket loyalty schemes. Price gouging?
Monday, December 15, 2008
Australia the movie
Last evening we went to the movies to see Australia. It was a charity screening and I wasn't keen on sitting still for 2.5 hours. I haven't been to the movies for a couple of years and it would have to be a better show than this to get me back again.
The theatre air conditioning was not working and it was stiflingly hot. I had forgotten that the main feature is preceded by about 15 adverts....just like commercial TV, but thankfully all at once.
I had read reviews about the film. None praised it. I gave it a 5/10.
I am a bit of a recent-history buff and to see Japanese ground troops on an island just off Darwin left me bewildered. No Japanese troops landed on Australian soil. The movie was pure formula with romance, fist fights, villains, lovable drunks and a bit of aboriginal magic thrown in. The young mixed-race ('creamy') lad manages to stop a stampede of cattle as they rush to the edge of a cliff simply by staring them down.
There were some very good bits to this epic, but it should not have been named Australia suggesting that it was somehow a historic portrayal. Faraway Downs, the fictional station of the story would have been an adequate name.
The theatre air conditioning was not working and it was stiflingly hot. I had forgotten that the main feature is preceded by about 15 adverts....just like commercial TV, but thankfully all at once.
I had read reviews about the film. None praised it. I gave it a 5/10.
I am a bit of a recent-history buff and to see Japanese ground troops on an island just off Darwin left me bewildered. No Japanese troops landed on Australian soil. The movie was pure formula with romance, fist fights, villains, lovable drunks and a bit of aboriginal magic thrown in. The young mixed-race ('creamy') lad manages to stop a stampede of cattle as they rush to the edge of a cliff simply by staring them down.
There were some very good bits to this epic, but it should not have been named Australia suggesting that it was somehow a historic portrayal. Faraway Downs, the fictional station of the story would have been an adequate name.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Fuel Vouchers
Coles and Woolworths, the main supermarket chains in Aus give fuel discount vouchers of $0.04 off a litre of fuel for shopping bills of over $30. Joan spies out other deals such as the Coles' liquor stores where purchases of a half dozen bottles of wine give a 20c discount per litre on fuel at Coles Express service stations. Fuel has dropped dramatically over the past few weeks and the 20c per litre discount really makes this deal worthwhile.
Joan gave me a Coles' docket a couple of days ago and I have been holding out on filling up until I am almost empty. Today was the day and I cruised into the service station and squeezed as many litres in as I could and fronted the cash register to proudly present my 20c off discount voucher. This was the first time about about a year that the bowser meter clicked over with litres and dollars in unison.
'This is a Coles voucher' said the lass behind the counter at the Woolworths' service station. 'Oh OK' I said trying not to look like I wasn't the 69 year old dimwit that I am. I paid by card the full amount and now will have to use up that tank full on a trip to Kalgoorlie to take advantage of the discount before the voucher expires on December 17th.
Joan gave me a Coles' docket a couple of days ago and I have been holding out on filling up until I am almost empty. Today was the day and I cruised into the service station and squeezed as many litres in as I could and fronted the cash register to proudly present my 20c off discount voucher. This was the first time about about a year that the bowser meter clicked over with litres and dollars in unison.
'This is a Coles voucher' said the lass behind the counter at the Woolworths' service station. 'Oh OK' I said trying not to look like I wasn't the 69 year old dimwit that I am. I paid by card the full amount and now will have to use up that tank full on a trip to Kalgoorlie to take advantage of the discount before the voucher expires on December 17th.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Beef Chilli
Our Australian Prime Minister is riding the highs in the popularity stakes.
Just today he announced, at a meeting in Indonesia, that Australia is to give Indonesian a billion dollars Aus to promote democracy. I confess to not knowing excreta from clay, but Indonesia recently ordered Russian submarines and helicopters etc. See here. Democracy does come at a high price!
My friend Dennis and I have been on a long-time project to replicate a chilli beef dish which was very popular at a hamburger bar at Canning Bridge in the 1950s. He has claimed to have cracked the recipe and I have tried many times to do so too. Memories are funny things....we remember the same things about what was served and even the deposits on the white china bowls, but even though we have come close we have not been succesful. Today we discussed it at length and decided that the cuisine of the day didn't include fancy sauces and the chilli was probably made from skirt steak with plenty of fat and some raw chillies. To that end I bought some gravy beef and some chillies and did a long, slow cook with beef, chillies, onions and a little gravy powder.
The result is as close as poo is to swearing! I reckon I have cracked it and will take a sample of my CB Chilli for Dennis to try. In such a competitive atmosphere I am not sure he will admit to my success.
Just today he announced, at a meeting in Indonesia, that Australia is to give Indonesian a billion dollars Aus to promote democracy. I confess to not knowing excreta from clay, but Indonesia recently ordered Russian submarines and helicopters etc. See here. Democracy does come at a high price!
My friend Dennis and I have been on a long-time project to replicate a chilli beef dish which was very popular at a hamburger bar at Canning Bridge in the 1950s. He has claimed to have cracked the recipe and I have tried many times to do so too. Memories are funny things....we remember the same things about what was served and even the deposits on the white china bowls, but even though we have come close we have not been succesful. Today we discussed it at length and decided that the cuisine of the day didn't include fancy sauces and the chilli was probably made from skirt steak with plenty of fat and some raw chillies. To that end I bought some gravy beef and some chillies and did a long, slow cook with beef, chillies, onions and a little gravy powder.
The result is as close as poo is to swearing! I reckon I have cracked it and will take a sample of my CB Chilli for Dennis to try. In such a competitive atmosphere I am not sure he will admit to my success.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Xmas Day
Brother Graham has claimed the right to hosting families on Christmas Day. A bit of bidding was done to determine who makes what for the feeding frenzy. Bro wanted a Christmas Pudding and Joan decided that she would make it and another fruit salad for our contribution; I will do my share and bring the wine. We have not had a Xmas pud for years; in fact the last time we had one it contained 'zacs' (three-penny pieces) pronounced 'thruppences'. The spell checker didn't like those words!
Joan made the pudding yesterday and it took most of the day to mix up and cook. After mixing up loads of fruit and cake ingredients it was ladled into a pudding bowl, the lid tied down and boiled in water for 8 hours. It looks great. Once cooled down it was wrapped in cling-wrap and put in the fridge until the day. The instructions say to give it another two hours of boiling before serving.
The pudding bowl reminds me of Norman Lindsay's Magic Puddin, a devious little pud who replenished itself after every serving. Need a few of them for starving Africans.
Read about Lindsay and the Puddin here.
Joan made the pudding yesterday and it took most of the day to mix up and cook. After mixing up loads of fruit and cake ingredients it was ladled into a pudding bowl, the lid tied down and boiled in water for 8 hours. It looks great. Once cooled down it was wrapped in cling-wrap and put in the fridge until the day. The instructions say to give it another two hours of boiling before serving.
The pudding bowl reminds me of Norman Lindsay's Magic Puddin, a devious little pud who replenished itself after every serving. Need a few of them for starving Africans.
Read about Lindsay and the Puddin here.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Making Sushi
We bought a rice maker last weekend because it was on sale and really cheap . We had one years ago, but rarely used it because it was so large. You had to cook a minimum of 3 cups of raw rice. It went to the Good Sammies, and I hope a larger family got good use from it.This one will cook a minimum of 160g raw rice. We eat a lot of rice, but there is only the two of us, so this seemed a good deal. We have used it twice this week, so it is earning its keep.
Kev decided he wanted to make sushi (inspired by Paul a couple of days ago). I had made some in the past, so we might have some of the ingredients.
I looked in the pantry. I had short grain rice. I had sugar and rice vinegar. I had a package of nori (seaweed) sheets - but what was this use by date? Had I really kept this for nearly 20 years?!!
Into the bin it went and the shopping list was amended.We had sushi for dinner tonight. The filling was prawns, cucumber and carrot, with a squirt of QT mayonnaise, and wasabi, ginger and soy on the side. Two sheets of nori and a cup of rice is more than enough for the two of us.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
people I would like to meet before I go
I have just watched an interview between Kerry O'Brien and Woody Allen on the 7.30 report (ABC Australia). I have always loved Allen's movies and his sense of humour. He came over very well in the interview, self depreciating and warm. I thought I had most of his movies on tape and was surprised to hear that he has made 44 movies. He doesn't believe that he is an artist just a lucky film maker. Yeah!
Love The Purple Rose of Cairo starring his last wife Mia Farrow.
The other filmaker I would like to sit down with and share a drink with is Mel Brooks. He is quite a different character ... more along the lines of the three stooges. Mel manages to slot in some German soldiers into most of his comedies.
Both these blokes are Jewish and that shines through in their comedies. Sometimes I feel that there might be some Jewishness in my background. My cousin thinks he has traced it way back to our roots.
I recall an interview with an old Jew who was a farmer in the W.A. wheatbelt. He was asked about his plans for the future and he replied...'At my age I don't even buy green bananas'.
Love The Purple Rose of Cairo starring his last wife Mia Farrow.
The other filmaker I would like to sit down with and share a drink with is Mel Brooks. He is quite a different character ... more along the lines of the three stooges. Mel manages to slot in some German soldiers into most of his comedies.
Both these blokes are Jewish and that shines through in their comedies. Sometimes I feel that there might be some Jewishness in my background. My cousin thinks he has traced it way back to our roots.
I recall an interview with an old Jew who was a farmer in the W.A. wheatbelt. He was asked about his plans for the future and he replied...'At my age I don't even buy green bananas'.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Infanticide in NG Highlands
In today's West Australian newspaper there is a report about infanticide in the New Guinea Highlands. It seems that women from opposing warring clans have been killing their newborn sons to stop another generation of fighters disrupting everyday life in the villages. They figure that if there are fewer men, there will be far less fighting. Seems perfectly reasonable to me. There aren't a lot of women out there starting wars.
The report quoted two women from opposing clans, Rona Luke and Kipyona Belas who said...'Male infanticide reduced the cyclical payback violence infamous in Highlands' tribal fights'. Not bad for unsophisticated villagers.
That 'quote' was almost certainly a westernised version of 'If they die they don't fight'.
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My brother works for a seafood wholesaler/distributor. On deliveries to restaurants he has seen some grotty kitchens. The business deals in a lot of cash transactions (?). Other restaurant owners give their cheque book to bro and he writes out the amount and they sign it. Illiterate?
When he delivers the seafood and puts it in their freezer he is obliged to eat a sample of their food...fish and chips; Chinese , Vietnamese etc.
Recently his employer has dumped his W.A. distributor of local frozen chips and imported two containers of chips from Germany. Can they be much cheaper than the local product?
The report quoted two women from opposing clans, Rona Luke and Kipyona Belas who said...'Male infanticide reduced the cyclical payback violence infamous in Highlands' tribal fights'. Not bad for unsophisticated villagers.
That 'quote' was almost certainly a westernised version of 'If they die they don't fight'.
********************************************************************************************
My brother works for a seafood wholesaler/distributor. On deliveries to restaurants he has seen some grotty kitchens. The business deals in a lot of cash transactions (?). Other restaurant owners give their cheque book to bro and he writes out the amount and they sign it. Illiterate?
When he delivers the seafood and puts it in their freezer he is obliged to eat a sample of their food...fish and chips; Chinese , Vietnamese etc.
Recently his employer has dumped his W.A. distributor of local frozen chips and imported two containers of chips from Germany. Can they be much cheaper than the local product?
Monday, December 1, 2008
Lotto
After the hassles I had on Saturday losing my wallet with all my credit cards, a lotto ticket and some cash, I was very relieved to get it back courtesy of an honest K Mart staffer.
Saturday was also my birthday so I figured it was looking good for the Saturday night Lotto draw. How many times have I thought that?
Sunday morning I checked the ticket against the winning numbers and I found that I had won a minor division 3 prize of $1650.05
Joan is suggesting that I buy an iPhone. I like them, but I don't often use my current mobile. The various iPhone contracts are quite confusing, but the lowest seem to be around $70 a month for a reasonable amount of data.
Have to have a think about that.
Saturday was also my birthday so I figured it was looking good for the Saturday night Lotto draw. How many times have I thought that?
Sunday morning I checked the ticket against the winning numbers and I found that I had won a minor division 3 prize of $1650.05
Joan is suggesting that I buy an iPhone. I like them, but I don't often use my current mobile. The various iPhone contracts are quite confusing, but the lowest seem to be around $70 a month for a reasonable amount of data.
Have to have a think about that.
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