"FAT TUESDAY" GENERALLY REFERS TO some aspect of the Mardi Gras or similar festival. Next week, the first Tuesday in November, is a rather special occasion on each side of the Pacific.
In the US, it will be election day for a lot of senators, congress men, governors, and other officials. It could make for quite a change in the political scene with a possible swing back towards conservative sentiment in the offing. On the surface, there are some differences across the Pacific. Voting is compulsory in Australia and takes place on a Saturday, when it is much easier to attend a polling place. One has to be a little more committed in the US to cast one's vote. This aside, politics looks much the same. There is the party of the left and the party of the right, with some tendency for the political centre to shift towards the right. On either shore, it does sometimes appear that the main business of politics is to get elected or re-elected.
A major difference is that minority politicians can have extraordinary influence here in Oz. At the last election, the major parties each got 72 seats in the lower house. Since the Senate is only a chamber of review and does not originate bills, it follows that the work of government mainly takes place in the lower house, where the leader of the ruling party has much the same role as a US President. So, to gain power, the current government had to court the favour of the independent members and those elected from the Green Party. The independents therefore have a lot of influence on the fate of proposed legislation.
In both countries, the urgent need is for politicians to relearn the art of government, for example considering the long term good of the people (sometimes referred to as the commonwealth) rather than merely playing the game of politics. In both countries, the role of conservatives seems to be focused on countering the need to attend to environmental issues.
In Australia, Fat Tuesday undoubtedly is the Melbourne Cup Day. Not all Aussies are punters though it must be admitted that racing is much more to the fore Down Under. On the first Tuesday in November, the whole nation pauses to watch, listen to, and celebrate The Cup. It is just one of the races on the day culminating the Spring Racing Carnival but it eclipses the other races in terms of attracting the nation's interest. At the time of the running of the Cup, in shops, offices, industries, and in almost every place, Aussies stop to watch or hear the running of this race. Horses from many parts of the world will have come for a chance to win the coveted Cup. If you live in Melbourne, it is a public holiday. Outside of Melbourne, across the State of Victoria, workers can get a day off at some other time of the year in lieu of this great occasion. It is a day of high fashion, of cruises up the river to the 'sacred' scene, of amazing interest in the running of this one race. The cup itself is gold and valued at some $125,000.
So there you have it...Two Tuesdays of very different sorts, the outcome of which can be of the greatest interest.
Yes, I did say that I would write more about passing through the eye of the needle. Sorry, next time...just could not resist Fat Tuesdays.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
A ROBERTO POT-PURRI
SOMEWHAT OF A MIXTURE, THIS POST:
Drawing together some catchup threads...first of all, Glenn has requested a photo of the new 'old' car. It is a 1997 Volvo 850 SE, purchased from the second owner of 12 years at 168,000 kilometres or 104,000 miles. It is very comfortable to drive and extremely quiet on the road.
I will attempt two shots, one of me and the car in my great nephew's front yard in Canberra and the other taken on the way to Jugiong (to give you as sense of the countryside along the Hume Highway). However, this might have to wait until I have access to more download capacity at the end of this week. Here is one at least. The only problem with the Volvo is that the 'Check Engine' light comes on, indicating a fault with the oxygen sensor system. I am studying up on this and will get a scanner to ascertain the problem's nature. It costs $45 to have this service done and I can get the scanner for about $60 and access diagnostics via the Internet. 
Mechanics seem not to have much of a clue about this so I may as well get all boned up. My other car, with my daughter in Colorado, has a similar problem, but with the knock sensor, so a scanner will be a handy tool. Oh...the scanner can turn off the light!
Knees: Today is Monday, October 25, so my right partial knee has now been in place for three months and the left for six months. I am pleased to report a very high level of satisfaction with progress. On Friday, one way or another, I walked about seven miles without so much as a thought about whether I could do it! Compare this with my situation in April when I had to plan carefully just where I would park in the supermarket parking lot so as to be able to walk to the store, go around doing my shopping, and make it back to the car. The second knee was slower in recovery and the rehabilitation has been conflicted by so much travelling. Nonetheless, I am riding Man Friday and managing the hilly terrain amazingly well. Also, I have enrolled in a local gym and did my first work out this morning.
I am now enrolled in Medicare Australia (my US plan only covers emergency treatment while out of the US) and have applied for a Seniors Card to get transport concessions and the like. Once I have the latter, I will be able to make greater use of public transport as this is free for card holders for a good part of weekdays and entirely so over the weekends.
Just a block or so away from my daughter's home (where I am Fridays and over the weekend) is the local Alliance Francaise, so I plan to enroll in a conversation class there. I have a written test to do and also, on Friday next, an oral test. This will crank the old brain up a tad or so, as will getting to know engine management fault codes and how to fix them.
As part of the celebration of my son-in-law's birthday last week, on Friday night I went with family to the Soccer game between the Adelaide and Wellington (NZ) teams. That day's sporting section in the local paper (Adelaide Advertiser) assured us that the local team had a game plan. This must have been to convince the other side they were inferior in the first half, when the teams were tied at 0:0) and then to fire off three goals in quick succession the in the second! This completely rattled the 'Kiwis' (as Aussies call folk from New Zealand) who failed to make a score.
A more serious take on the continuing story of passing through the eye the needle next time.
Drawing together some catchup threads...first of all, Glenn has requested a photo of the new 'old' car. It is a 1997 Volvo 850 SE, purchased from the second owner of 12 years at 168,000 kilometres or 104,000 miles. It is very comfortable to drive and extremely quiet on the road.
I will attempt two shots, one of me and the car in my great nephew's front yard in Canberra and the other taken on the way to Jugiong (to give you as sense of the countryside along the Hume Highway). However, this might have to wait until I have access to more download capacity at the end of this week. Here is one at least. The only problem with the Volvo is that the 'Check Engine' light comes on, indicating a fault with the oxygen sensor system. I am studying up on this and will get a scanner to ascertain the problem's nature. It costs $45 to have this service done and I can get the scanner for about $60 and access diagnostics via the Internet. 
Mechanics seem not to have much of a clue about this so I may as well get all boned up. My other car, with my daughter in Colorado, has a similar problem, but with the knock sensor, so a scanner will be a handy tool. Oh...the scanner can turn off the light!Knees: Today is Monday, October 25, so my right partial knee has now been in place for three months and the left for six months. I am pleased to report a very high level of satisfaction with progress. On Friday, one way or another, I walked about seven miles without so much as a thought about whether I could do it! Compare this with my situation in April when I had to plan carefully just where I would park in the supermarket parking lot so as to be able to walk to the store, go around doing my shopping, and make it back to the car. The second knee was slower in recovery and the rehabilitation has been conflicted by so much travelling. Nonetheless, I am riding Man Friday and managing the hilly terrain amazingly well. Also, I have enrolled in a local gym and did my first work out this morning.
I am now enrolled in Medicare Australia (my US plan only covers emergency treatment while out of the US) and have applied for a Seniors Card to get transport concessions and the like. Once I have the latter, I will be able to make greater use of public transport as this is free for card holders for a good part of weekdays and entirely so over the weekends.
Just a block or so away from my daughter's home (where I am Fridays and over the weekend) is the local Alliance Francaise, so I plan to enroll in a conversation class there. I have a written test to do and also, on Friday next, an oral test. This will crank the old brain up a tad or so, as will getting to know engine management fault codes and how to fix them.
As part of the celebration of my son-in-law's birthday last week, on Friday night I went with family to the Soccer game between the Adelaide and Wellington (NZ) teams. That day's sporting section in the local paper (Adelaide Advertiser) assured us that the local team had a game plan. This must have been to convince the other side they were inferior in the first half, when the teams were tied at 0:0) and then to fire off three goals in quick succession the in the second! This completely rattled the 'Kiwis' (as Aussies call folk from New Zealand) who failed to make a score.
A more serious take on the continuing story of passing through the eye the needle next time.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
AUSTRALIA’S FIRST SAINT
I ARRIVED IN ADELAIDE in time to witness the celebration around the canonization of Australia’s first saint. By the time I write this, she will have become St. Mary of the Cross. This is a great day for local Christians of the Roman persuasion, ever a minority in a state that was founded by religious dissenters, mainly Baptists and Lutherans. Born in 1842, Mary MacKillop began founding schools and working amongst the poor during very hard times, she has become more familiar to the world and Australians than the bishop who famously excommunicated her for her independence from the clergy of the day and her uppity attitude to authority. I can claim a tenuous connection to her since the first school I attended was a convent school run by the Order of St. Joseph, founded by Mary MacKillop, in the town of my birth (Clare, South Australia).
It appears we Australians have a second saint in the pipeline, perhaps remarkable for a country so irreligious. I doubt I will harangue you anymore of Aussie hagiographies, since I know nothing about this second in line, other than she was shot in the course of her missionary endeavours. It is hard getting to be a saint, it being essentially a post-humus award. Apart from splendid achievements that any reasonable human would admire, one must live a holy life, be credited with at least two miracles, and have one’s life well attested long after death. Of course, if you have not truck with the notion of an afterlife, it is hard to make sense of the veneration accorded saints after death. Notwithstanding, it would be churlish in the extreme not to acknowledge a life well-lived. Good on you, Mary MacKillop.
So here I am in Adelaide, made all the more congenial by the very good recent rains. Mark my journey: by car from Painted Post (NY) to Basalt (CO) and then by air from Aspen to San Francisco. United Airlines took me from there to Sydney where I regained the skills of driving on the left hand side of the road and of driving in the mad traffic through Sydney’s narrow, winding
streets. Having acquired my car, I have driven to Canberra, then Wodonga, and then Melbourne. After a week I set out for Warracknabeal, abut half way to Adelaide, in the grain growing district called the Wimmera. After two days, I was once more on the way to Adelaide. Somehow, I have arranged for it to be raining when I travel and fine when visiting, The rains have been glorious, coming just when the farmers wanted, filling the reservoirs, and greening the entire country after almost five years of drought (and longer in some areas).
I introduced you to the Dog on the Tucker Box. In Warracknabeal I discovered a Dog on the Wheat Bags but could find no one to tell me if there was a story to explain this memorial at one of the three roundabouts in the main street. I stayed with a old friend who is the Baptist minister
to three congregations in the Wimmera. He had undertaken to organize to smarten up the front of the local church building, so I fell to wielding a paint brush, so making my mark on the place as one might say. I hope you like the scenes I photographed (Tom, my pastor friend, is the one on the ladder).
I have so enjoyed this long journey, meeting old friends, seeing my family, and being alone as I drove through the rural country side, often the only car along the road for an hour or so. To the visitor travelling my course, the Australian rural landscape would impress as empty and very flat, contrasting with the bustling, crowded cities with their car packed streets…streets that seem to change their names every mile or so. I know which I prefer; I seem to be a country man at heart.
Despite this being my home land, I confess that it seems far from the rest of the world, truly a place ‘down under’, and the cities seem very far apart. No wonder Aussies travel so much!
It appears we Australians have a second saint in the pipeline, perhaps remarkable for a country so irreligious. I doubt I will harangue you anymore of Aussie hagiographies, since I know nothing about this second in line, other than she was shot in the course of her missionary endeavours. It is hard getting to be a saint, it being essentially a post-humus award. Apart from splendid achievements that any reasonable human would admire, one must live a holy life, be credited with at least two miracles, and have one’s life well attested long after death. Of course, if you have not truck with the notion of an afterlife, it is hard to make sense of the veneration accorded saints after death. Notwithstanding, it would be churlish in the extreme not to acknowledge a life well-lived. Good on you, Mary MacKillop.
So here I am in Adelaide, made all the more congenial by the very good recent rains. Mark my journey: by car from Painted Post (NY) to Basalt (CO) and then by air from Aspen to San Francisco. United Airlines took me from there to Sydney where I regained the skills of driving on the left hand side of the road and of driving in the mad traffic through Sydney’s narrow, winding
streets. Having acquired my car, I have driven to Canberra, then Wodonga, and then Melbourne. After a week I set out for Warracknabeal, abut half way to Adelaide, in the grain growing district called the Wimmera. After two days, I was once more on the way to Adelaide. Somehow, I have arranged for it to be raining when I travel and fine when visiting, The rains have been glorious, coming just when the farmers wanted, filling the reservoirs, and greening the entire country after almost five years of drought (and longer in some areas).I introduced you to the Dog on the Tucker Box. In Warracknabeal I discovered a Dog on the Wheat Bags but could find no one to tell me if there was a story to explain this memorial at one of the three roundabouts in the main street. I stayed with a old friend who is the Baptist minister
to three congregations in the Wimmera. He had undertaken to organize to smarten up the front of the local church building, so I fell to wielding a paint brush, so making my mark on the place as one might say. I hope you like the scenes I photographed (Tom, my pastor friend, is the one on the ladder).I have so enjoyed this long journey, meeting old friends, seeing my family, and being alone as I drove through the rural country side, often the only car along the road for an hour or so. To the visitor travelling my course, the Australian rural landscape would impress as empty and very flat, contrasting with the bustling, crowded cities with their car packed streets…streets that seem to change their names every mile or so. I know which I prefer; I seem to be a country man at heart.
Despite this being my home land, I confess that it seems far from the rest of the world, truly a place ‘down under’, and the cities seem very far apart. No wonder Aussies travel so much!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
WEDNESDAY WAS QUITE A DAY
TRAVELLING ALONG THE HUME HIGHWAY
(Now that I am in Oz, I observe the the non-American spelling)
I departed Canberra early (7:30 AM) for Albury-Wodonga, the Twin Cites straddling the Murray River, the one in New South Wales and the other in Victoria, heading back to the Hume Highway. First stop was a small town called Jugiong (Aboriginal name meaning, ‘valley of the crows’), set in a beautiful valley and the location of The Long Track Café and Bakery where I hoped for coffee and small pastry. Alas, I arrived before the opening time of 10 AM and contented myself with a Pink Lady apple from the small fresh fruit and vegetables/wine shop next door. Mmmm…quite the most delicious apple I have eaten for many a day.
Here is a photo of a typical Oz homestead overlooking the valley
All this meant that I had to stop by the café five miles from Gundagai (where the Dog sits on the Tucker Box). Here, at the Bill the Bullocky's Roadhouse, I indulged in a Devonshire Tea. Rather than take tea, I elected a café late to have with the two fresh scones, strawberry jam, and cream. Australia is a land where one can buy an excellent version of espresso just about anywhere. For Americans reading this, an Aussie scone (pronounced ‘skon’) is rather like a biscuit (English readers will know that I am not referring to what in America is called a 'cookie'), but lighter and somewhat sweeter. The way to eat Devonshire tea scones is to split them in two, spread first with strawberry jam, and then with the whipped cream…absolutely delicious, as many things invented in Devon are.
A song from the wartime has an Aussie soldier (a ‘Digger’) dreaming of his girlfriend,
'Oh, my Mabel waits for me,
Underneath the clear blue sky,
Where the dog sits on the tucker box,
Five miles from Gundagai…’
The story originates from the days when bullock teams hauled heavy loads through The Bush. Nowadays the dog is still there though his master, a bullocky, is long dead, immortalized as a statue still on a tucker box. Since the last time I stopped by to visit The Dog, he has been placed at the centre of a small fountain, so if he wants to leave, he will first have to swim a little.
Then it was on to Wodonga to meet up with Karl, my eldest grandchild’s father. We had lunch and then went out to visit with his father, Wal, who has to be close to the most remarkable man I have ever met. At the end of the day, a heavy storm arrived and we ate steaks while the deluge thundered on the roof and the sky performed its terrifying dance.
Wal lives 0n 100 acres just outside Wodonga, off the road that leads to the snowfields. Earlier in the afternoon, sipping an occasional beer, we drove in his 4-wheel drive up along the fire track he had cut along the ridge bordering his land to look out along the valley, across to the Hume
Weir (one of the great dams in the Snowy River Scheme, Australia' version of the TVA). I was impressed by an old tree, much abused by the weather, that continually oversees this beautiful landscape.
More later from Oz.
(Now that I am in Oz, I observe the the non-American spelling)
I departed Canberra early (7:30 AM) for Albury-Wodonga, the Twin Cites straddling the Murray River, the one in New South Wales and the other in Victoria, heading back to the Hume Highway. First stop was a small town called Jugiong (Aboriginal name meaning, ‘valley of the crows’), set in a beautiful valley and the location of The Long Track Café and Bakery where I hoped for coffee and small pastry. Alas, I arrived before the opening time of 10 AM and contented myself with a Pink Lady apple from the small fresh fruit and vegetables/wine shop next door. Mmmm…quite the most delicious apple I have eaten for many a day.
Here is a photo of a typical Oz homestead overlooking the valleyAll this meant that I had to stop by the café five miles from Gundagai (where the Dog sits on the Tucker Box). Here, at the Bill the Bullocky's Roadhouse, I indulged in a Devonshire Tea. Rather than take tea, I elected a café late to have with the two fresh scones, strawberry jam, and cream. Australia is a land where one can buy an excellent version of espresso just about anywhere. For Americans reading this, an Aussie scone (pronounced ‘skon’) is rather like a biscuit (English readers will know that I am not referring to what in America is called a 'cookie'), but lighter and somewhat sweeter. The way to eat Devonshire tea scones is to split them in two, spread first with strawberry jam, and then with the whipped cream…absolutely delicious, as many things invented in Devon are.
A song from the wartime has an Aussie soldier (a ‘Digger’) dreaming of his girlfriend,
'Oh, my Mabel waits for me,
Underneath the clear blue sky,
Where the dog sits on the tucker box,
Five miles from Gundagai…’
The story originates from the days when bullock teams hauled heavy loads through The Bush. Nowadays the dog is still there though his master, a bullocky, is long dead, immortalized as a statue still on a tucker box. Since the last time I stopped by to visit The Dog, he has been placed at the centre of a small fountain, so if he wants to leave, he will first have to swim a little.
Then it was on to Wodonga to meet up with Karl, my eldest grandchild’s father. We had lunch and then went out to visit with his father, Wal, who has to be close to the most remarkable man I have ever met. At the end of the day, a heavy storm arrived and we ate steaks while the deluge thundered on the roof and the sky performed its terrifying dance.
Wal lives 0n 100 acres just outside Wodonga, off the road that leads to the snowfields. Earlier in the afternoon, sipping an occasional beer, we drove in his 4-wheel drive up along the fire track he had cut along the ridge bordering his land to look out along the valley, across to the Hume
Weir (one of the great dams in the Snowy River Scheme, Australia' version of the TVA). I was impressed by an old tree, much abused by the weather, that continually oversees this beautiful landscape.More later from Oz.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
BACK IN OZ II
I HAVE BEEN BACK in the land of my birth just over two weeks now. There is not a lot to report. The time has been filled with renewing ties with family and friends. I had a great time meeting up with two friends from graduate school days. The one, Lorraine, I have kept in touch with over the years but the other, Janice, I had not seen for over 25 years. The last time in Melbourne when I visited with her while her son, Daniel, barely three years of age, was raking up autumn leaves. "Mummy," he kept complaining, "the leaves keep on falling." Now he is a grown man and she has raised two daughters since! We lunched while looking across Darling Harbour.
Unfortunately, by the end of the first week, I had come down with what Aussies call a "wog". A bad cold that peaked with a feverish Friday night followed by a Saturday filled with aches and pains. However, I continued the hunt for a second hand car, ably assisted by my nephew. Besides being over six feet and a qualified auto mechanic, his deliberate and careful examination, with lots of note taking and use of lifting devices and stands, certainly impressed the owners of the two cars we had selected. I bought the second, a Volvo 850 of 1997 vintage and some 169,000 kilometers and in very good order. So now I have a car although the transfer of registration had a few kinks to it, due to me not being a resident of New South Wales.
Yes, I proven that I can drive on the left hand side. Driving in Sydney can be a challenge as the streets are narrow, the lanes just wide enough for a car, and the traffic always very dense. On the other hand, the drivers are amazingly tolerant and considerate, accommodating sudden lane changes without signals with out so much as a turn of a hair. Sydney is full of traffic lights and long delays waiting for the green light. A fortune burnt at intersections as cars idle patiently. Also, the growth of the city has been dominated both by history and by the invaginations of the sea as the coast intrudes into the land. Hence you need a map book of the suburbs to fin.d your way around. The book I have has some 480 maps! It pays to study your intended route carefully before setting out and to mark the maps you will need to refer to as you wind your way across the city and suburbs. Tolerant as they may be in most respects, Sydney drivers have little patience with those who seem not to know their way.
Anther week on and I am just about over my cold (seems it is going around and mostly affecting folk who have recently been on planes). Tomorrow, I set out for Canberra and yes, I have been carefully studying how to get out of Sydney, from Bondi Beach where I am staying with my son and his family, to the main highway south to the Australian Capital Territory. I now have a GPS so should not loose my way or, if I do, find it again easily. I will be avoiding the network of tollways as it is difficult to pay electronically or in cash and they are very expensive.
From Canberra I will wend my way around Northeastern Victoria, visiting friends and looking at property and plan to arrive in Melbourne by next weekend. From there I will travel to Adelaide via the Wimmera area in Western Victoria to visit with an old friend I have not seen for many, many years, now a Baptist pastor serving three country congregations in that area.
In two weeks, I shall be in Adelaide.
Nothing else of interest, so...so long
Unfortunately, by the end of the first week, I had come down with what Aussies call a "wog". A bad cold that peaked with a feverish Friday night followed by a Saturday filled with aches and pains. However, I continued the hunt for a second hand car, ably assisted by my nephew. Besides being over six feet and a qualified auto mechanic, his deliberate and careful examination, with lots of note taking and use of lifting devices and stands, certainly impressed the owners of the two cars we had selected. I bought the second, a Volvo 850 of 1997 vintage and some 169,000 kilometers and in very good order. So now I have a car although the transfer of registration had a few kinks to it, due to me not being a resident of New South Wales.
Yes, I proven that I can drive on the left hand side. Driving in Sydney can be a challenge as the streets are narrow, the lanes just wide enough for a car, and the traffic always very dense. On the other hand, the drivers are amazingly tolerant and considerate, accommodating sudden lane changes without signals with out so much as a turn of a hair. Sydney is full of traffic lights and long delays waiting for the green light. A fortune burnt at intersections as cars idle patiently. Also, the growth of the city has been dominated both by history and by the invaginations of the sea as the coast intrudes into the land. Hence you need a map book of the suburbs to fin.d your way around. The book I have has some 480 maps! It pays to study your intended route carefully before setting out and to mark the maps you will need to refer to as you wind your way across the city and suburbs. Tolerant as they may be in most respects, Sydney drivers have little patience with those who seem not to know their way.
Anther week on and I am just about over my cold (seems it is going around and mostly affecting folk who have recently been on planes). Tomorrow, I set out for Canberra and yes, I have been carefully studying how to get out of Sydney, from Bondi Beach where I am staying with my son and his family, to the main highway south to the Australian Capital Territory. I now have a GPS so should not loose my way or, if I do, find it again easily. I will be avoiding the network of tollways as it is difficult to pay electronically or in cash and they are very expensive.
From Canberra I will wend my way around Northeastern Victoria, visiting friends and looking at property and plan to arrive in Melbourne by next weekend. From there I will travel to Adelaide via the Wimmera area in Western Victoria to visit with an old friend I have not seen for many, many years, now a Baptist pastor serving three country congregations in that area.
In two weeks, I shall be in Adelaide.
Nothing else of interest, so...so long
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
