SMALL WORLD

On Thursday a relief teacher at one of my schools recognised me (couldn't remember my name) from teacher's college 37 years ago. Said I didn't look very different at all (I was bald and chubby in 1970?). Today I bumped into a teacher and her husband from my old school in Toowoomba whilst Rene and I were looking at the QE2 at the Port of Brisbane. They detoured on their way to the Gold Coast for the weekend to see the ship. They saw the ship PLUS me, what a bargain! Yes, I know, the two queens reference (haha Mark).

Don't fly low cost carriers in Indonesia.

People sling off at Easy Jet and Ryanair in Europe (funnily, not Virgin Blue or Jetstar in Australia) but the cake has to go to Adam Air. This airline was the one that lost an aircraft into the sea on January 31 - so far no bodies recovered. Well, last Wednesday, while landing at an Indonesian airport, this 737 of Adam Air landed rather 'heavily' and broke its back. Nobody died, but the fleet of 6 remaining aircraft have been grounded. I won't mention the political corruption and so on associated with the airline, but suffice to say YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

QE2

Rene and I went to the port to see the QE2 which has included Brisbane as part of her Round the World itinerary. It arrived at 7am and left at 6pm, but it caused quite a flurry of activity with sightseers. In Sydney last week it's arrival plus the new Queen Mary 2 in Sydney harbour at the same time brought the city to a standstill. I last saw the QE2 from the window of a plane coming back from Barcelona in 2004. We were coming into land at Amsterdam and the ship was coming up the river near Rotterdam. Memories also came back of going over the Queen Mary moored in Long Beach, California, in 1986. The cruise ship I went on in 1999 called the Superstar Virgo was 77 000 tons and 13 decks high. This new QM2 is 23 decks high, so it must be literally enormous. I'll have to wait to tick that one off my list.

New ABN

I applied for an Australian Business Number (ABN) on-line on Monday night at 9pm, there was an immediate email confirmation of my number, and on Wednesday a letter arrived by snail mail with the official certificate and information booklet, less than 48 hours later. How's that for efficiency! I need the number for issuing invoices for payment as a tutor.

Another week's flown by...

Where does the time go? Now I have 5 schools and 18.5 hours per week with Catholic Education doing ESL plus 4 hours doing home tutoring for some Korean students. My final unit of study commences this coming week, so for the next three months I'm going to be somewhat busy.

Last weekend Rene and I joined our friends the MacDonalds in helping their daughter Amy (my lovely god daughter) celebrate her 25th birthday on North Stradbroke Island, just in Moreton Bay off Brisbane. We went midday Friday and returned lunchtime Sunday, so it was a lovely break. Our beach house overlooked Cylinder Beach and Flinders Beach. Just beautiful. Lots of laughing, drinking, eating (oh the local seafood!) and of course talking. Three friends of Amy's also came over, so we had a full house, but loads of room. The distance view is from the deck. Sunset on the second evening...beautiful. Breakfast at a cafe and of course the birthday girl and her chocolate cake.

Toowoomba Goes Digital News

My Australian hometown, Toowoomba, a provincial city of some 100 000 citizens perched atop the Great Dividing Range at an altitude of 670m (2000') has launched its own 'paper-free free paper' on line. http://www.toowoombadigitalnews.com/ My lovely friend Debbie sent me the link and I've already checked it out. It's early days, needs more features to make it more user-friendly but they know that and are working on it. I wish them every success with their venture.

More information on Toowoomba, 130km west of Brisbane, can be found here http://www.toowoombaholidays.info/ and http://www.toowoombanow.com.au/. It is a beautiful city currently in the grip of the worst drought ever, but still very attractive. The lush red volcanic soil (it's atop an extinct volcano) allows it rightly to be called The Garden City. Every September it hosts the Carnival of Flowers to herald Spring, and even over the past few dry years the Carnival has featured the most beautiful parks and gardens.

Although I have left Toowoomba after many decades to live elsewhere it still holds a special place in my heart. Anyway, enough advertising for the city. Back to timetabling my students, now spread across five schools with an extra five hours a week.

Sunshine Coast Hospital Starts

At lunch in Toowoomba today I read in the "Courier Mail" that the signing of the contract for the purchase of the land for the new $1b Sunshine Coast Public Hospital is ready to be signed. That's great news, seeing as though it is at Kawana Lakes, just next door to where we just bought an apartment as an investment at Kawana Island. Coincidentally, we're off to have lunch with friends at Mooloolaba tomorrow so we'll drop by the site and see how much progress has been made on the apartment complex - it's not ready until December. I'll be happy to see at least a hole in the ground, or the start of one.

Toowoomba Trip

We're just back from a hastily organised last-minute trip to Toowoomba to visit my accountant. Our tax is done from last year (at last) and there was time for a quick look at the Regional Art Gallery (great Lionel Lindsey exhibition on at present), some quick shopping (Myer did well out of me today) and then lunch, returning home mid afternoon. In spite of the appalling drought, Toowoomba managed still to look very pretty. The centre of town had a buzz about it and of course Grand Central was very busy. After the gallery visit we had a coffee at Oxygen in Ruthven St close to the City Hall and it was delicious, made from organic Ethiopian coffee - Fair Trade of course. I enjoy visiting the place, but I don't miss it at all. I've moved on and feel at home in Brisbane now.

Snow for England and Holland

It had to happen, and the forecasters were spot on. Heavy snow has hit England and Wales, a little lighter in Holland, freezing ice in Scotland - oh the joys of a Northern European winter. The poor rose, from a BBC Hampshire site, doesn't know whether it is coming or going. I was in England in January 1975 when my uncle's roses bloomed in extraordinarily mild temperatures, only to be hit by snow a few days later. Anyway, no surprise, wish we had some of it (well, perhaps in the form of rain). Our North and West of the state have received excellent falls this past week or two, but they've eluded us in the South East of Queensland. A well known long term forecaster here predicted before Christmas the South East would get great rain around March 23. I hope he is spot on this time.

Rebecca SMS'd tonight...

Our friend and former colleague Rebecca, from the Garden City of Toowoomba, texted me tonight to turn on Getaway, a travel program on Channel 9. Lo and behold, The Hague in Holland was featured. By the time I got around to tuning in, the presenter and a driver were in a carriage coming up outside Queen Beatrix's work palace, Noordeinde, just two blocks from my school. They then went to the beach at Scheveningen and the beautiful Kurhaus Hotel was featured, looking absolutely stunning. Lovely memories. Interestingly at the end of the segment the distance from Amsterdam to Den Haag was mentioned as 45 minutes by car (no train travel was mentioned - the only way to do it in my opinion). Just where one left the car at either end wasn't featured. Now that in itself can be interesting. Anyway, the place looked beautiful, and mention was made of the fact that only about 1% of tourists ever visit The Hague. The presenter was even asked by local Dutch people why she was even bothering going to the city. Well, for my money, it has lots to offer the visitor, being home to so many cultural and political institutions. It's attractive, vibrant and above all very much on a human scale. Not a huge city, but a significant one. This link will show you, especially my Dutch friends, what was featured (they missed Vermeer and The Girl With a Pearl Earring just next door to the Prime Minister's office). http://getaway.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=225959

Brisbane Motor Show

Rene and I are downsizing from two cars and a motor bike to one car and a bike. It means selling both and getting a compromise car - we have a 2 door Astra SRi hatch and a 4 door Mazda2 - both reasonably new, but we need one car that has 4 doors and more power than the Mazda's 1.5 engine (great city car, tough on very long drives). Anyway, at the motor show today I saw what I'd like to buy, a Citroen C4. Mmmm, very nice. Glass sunroof, a/c, easy to park, good enough for long trips. Anyway, we have to sell both cars first, or sell one and trade in the other.

Useful Teacher Websites

Now some of you reading this are teachers, some of you are using English as an additional langauge. If you have any questions regarding maths questions/definitions and also the structure for writing in English, these two sites should be on your favourites list from now on. Highly recommended.

www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com/

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jeather/writingfun/writingfun.html

TGIF

We had a huge downpour this morning, over an hour of good solid rain. Lovely! It has also been cooler, a relief from the mid 30's and high humidity dominating Brisbane's weather this week. I don't work Fridays, so today Rene and I went to my doctor and we got our health declarations signed by her. This allows either of us to act for the other if they're incapable of doing so, with regards to traumatic health situations (car accidents, turning off life support, that unfortunate side of life we hope to never encounter).

I had an appointment then with a physiotherapist for my back and leg, and I'm improving impressively. Very happy about that. Rene joined me for coffee across the road with our friend Torquil, it was his home we were house sitting last year. He was at home doing 'stuff', his wife Di was at school being a frazzled principal. Next Friday Torq and I (Rene is staying home) are going to the Brisbane Motor Show to gawk at all the new cars, including the exotica and concept cars. I love being semi retired, I love three-day weekends. but I also love my work that I do on the other four days a week.

I have nearly got all my programs ready, almost met all the staff (not all the students) and will hit the road running on Monday morning. The beauty is that at present I may start at 8:30 each day but I finish around 12:30. I know it's going to increase, but for now that's enough.

The Chronicle in Toowoomba rang me yesterday to confirm my identity regarding an email I sent in to them this week. I'm hoping to be published tomorrow, but you never know with them. We'll see. I'm moaning about this water issue - again (yes, I know).

Tonight Rene and I dine with a former lecturer of mine, the lady who conducted the Technology and Second Language Learning unit. I'm also enrolled in the fourth and final unit for my Graduate Certificate in TESOL - Language and Culture. I think that'll be an interesting subject.

Finally, today Rene received in the post his latest Aboriginal painting and it's a stunner. Predominantly purple, it's awesome. I think this makes around 30 acquisitions in a few months. Me? I've bought one, but Rene is into this Central Desert art in a BIG way. Good on him!

That's all. Have a wonderful weekend. Lovely to hear from people with little comments etc. Had a lovely email yesterday from a former Toowoomba teaching colleague. Made my day. This mode of communication is superb.