Slumdog Millionaire

Rene and I are off to the movies again this evening to see Slumdog Millionaire. I'll post a review tomorrow. What a great season it is for movies with Frost/Nixon still on my list to see, as well as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Two Greats Exit Stage Left...

Harold Pinter and Eartha Kitt have both died on the same day. Pinter and Kitt entertained the world in their different ways.

Both confronted war mongers, and it earned Pinter the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 and Eartha Kitt exile from the USA for 11 years - she had condemned the Vietnam War at a White House dinner.

Both won't be easily forgotten; Ms Kitt for her gravely voice, Mr Pinter for his brooding books and plays featuring those long pauses heightening tension, a style now known as 'Pinteresque'.

Both are hard acts to follow.

The Dutch Schools Prepare For New Year's Eve

From this week's Expatica website for English speakers in The Netherlands:

Dutch schools to prevent New Year arson
Measures include removing valuable equipment from schools and hiring security guards.
Dutch celebrate New Year with fireworks, riots
THE NETHERLANDS – Many primary schools are taking extra precautions to prevent vandalism and arson round the New Year. Last year, 25 primary schools suffered damage as a result of fireworks, vandals or arson. Five schools were burnt down, bringing the total damage to around EUR 25 million. The Association of School Managers is calling for precautions to be taken this year. Measures include removing valuable equipment from schools and leaving lights on over the holidays. People living near schools are being asked to keep an eye on the premises, while some schools are hiring security guards.[Radio Netherlands / Expatica]

It happens every year, and to me it seems crazy since normally The Netherlands is a very ordered society, like most countries. Why schools? Primary schools especially.

We'll have controlled fireworks displays (fireworks are banned here for private sale) across Australia, parties and fun. It's highly unlikely one car or building will be burned across our entire country.

Snow? I mean, I like snow, but this much???

Christmas morning saw an email arrive from my friend Merle in Oregon. She sent pictures of the snow, also told us they had lost power, along with many thousands of others.

She stated: We have been snowed over since the 12th. This will be the snowiest Christmas in Portland's history and the most severe snowstorm in 40 years (so far!) We have 16 inches in the road and in areas without snowdrifts but we've removed 46 inches from the upper deck. Yes, nearly 4 feet! At least we haven't lost electricity as thousands have. That was before she sent the second email saying it had gone off.

I also read that Canada was the most covered in snow in nearly 40 years, with just one province not on emergency alert.

A friend in Canada said it had been -42 (before the wind chill) and that the ski resorts had been closed for several days. I know I said that I like a cold Christmas. but frankly not that much. To my Northern Hemisphere friends I say; keep warm, keep dry and stay safe - too late for my Canadian-based Aussie friend who is laid up for 6 weeks with a broken leg from a skiing mishap.

Boxing Day

Happy St Stephan's Day! It means Christmas is finished and life can return to some sort of normality (well, sort of).

Rene and I spent Christmas Day relatively quietly. We got home from this unexpected drink and chat party at our neighbours across the road at 1:45am. We had walked across with nibbles and beer and wine at 5:30pm Christmas Eve. Other neighbours joined us and to top off a terrific evening, four newly arrived Finns joined our group. They are staying in a flat upstairs for a while, and they were totally fascinating to talk to.

They ranged in age from late 20's to mid 30's, and all had interesting tales to tell, so we all had a very agreeable night of chatting, laughing and drinking. Mind you, at 10pm I sort of felt hungry so I dashed across the road and got some left overs, added this and that, and finally walked back with supper for seven.

Our host was Claire, a lovely lady, who held the group together. Some folk left early (well, after the normal interval of time) and as I said, we stayed on, and on. Mind you, it made it harder to get up in time to catch a train into the city for Christmas lunch at our favourite hotel.

We met some interesting folk at lunch, and got home just after 4. The remainder of the day was spent lounging and keeping cool. We even caught, quite by chance, the Queen's Christmas message. I haven't seen one of those in years. I hope your Christmas was very pleasant and happy.

Australia - The Movie

I have to write this or I'll just put it in the too hard basket if left too long. Rene, a friend Steven and myself saw this last evening at the new Barracks Palace cinema complex (very nice indeed). We left the theatre 3 hours later not sure whether or not to cry, laugh, look sheepishly embarrassed at each or, or what...

An elderly gentleman being lead out from the previous screening commented on how fast the three hours went, and I'd have to agree. It is at most times a rollicking good yarn, but please suspend reality at the cinema door - it is SO full of factual and incidental faults that it is both jarring and conversation inducing.

No, Nicole Kidman isn't awful, just unsure as to play the part for laughs or for real. Baz Luhrmann (director) went all out in his usual style to parody a romance of the fifties with Hugh Jackman playing the archetypal rough leading man with a heart of gold. His appearance at the ball all shaved and gorgeous in a white dinner jacket is sent up by the casual fall of a lock of hair across his brow. Now that is corny. Mind you Jackman has an outdoor shower scene almost worth the price of admission, but I'm being shallow (and more...).

Did the Japanese land troops on an island just offshore of Darwin? Baz and his poetic licence. Next thing the foreign viewer might think is that the Stolen Generation is just that too, poetic licence, except it isn't. I would also recommend the building materials from the burning church to be used in all Australian timber homes. Long after it has been bombed and burning, it still just gently flames in the background, all sort of neat and controlled, with hardly any of the main structure burned and collapsed. I've seen a timber home go up in flames from the time it was lit by a grass fire until the roof collapsed with radiated heat I've not experienced except in a bush fire. It happens in just minutes, not hours. More poetic licence?

Look, the production values at times are epic, the scenery impressive, the accents grating, the dialogue predictable, but having said all that I'd heartily recommend any Australian to go and see it on the big screen. For overseas viewers, I'd take much of it with a grain of salt. The baddies are SO bad that they do all but wear black.

The scenery is impressive, and the dry country a mob of kangaroos can live on is astounding to watch; not a blade of grass to be seen but all fit, healthy and bounding along beside the truck. Shame it is all total rubbish, but then again many cowboy and Indian films and westerns were similarly so. But you know, I sort of believed Gone With The Wind, but then again I was about 12 when I saw it, and that was around 1962 and it was already over 20 years old then. I somehow don't see this film having a shelf life beyond 2009's DVD release. A shame; still go and see it, it is bold and ambitious, but sadly less than it could have been.

'Tis that time of the year...

Two weeks of my vacation have already gone - really quickly. This year Rene and I are going away for just a couple of days, up to Mt Tambourine in the Gold Coast hinterland for a romantic get away to celebrate six years together (plus four years back here in Australia). We come back in time to go to a beautiful Japanese restaurant at Portside for the anniversary dinner on the 30th. The next day we are hosting a New Year's Eve party for around 25 friends.





This Tuesday we are going with some mates to see the new Baz Luhrmann film 'Australia' at the brand new Palace cinema at the Barracks in Paddington. Looking forward to both seeing the film and visiting the converted police barracks transformed into a new dining, shopping and residential precinct.

I can tell you that I quite liked Woody Allen's latest film but I'm getting a bit over his style. Hardly innovative, well acted (adored Penelope Cruz) and of course glimpses of Barcelona - one of my all time favourite cities - and the city of Oviedo, which is the birthplace of a Spanish Dutch neighbour of ours back in Utrecht (hi Aurea). The preview for Dendy Movie Club members included complimentary Christmas cake and wine - a very enjoyable night out.

Out of the blue last week came an email from my lovely Uncle Edwin in Coventry with an attached picture proving 1. he's still active, and 2. he's a very good golfer. Did I mention tall?

My closest friends know that both Rene and I positively loathe the current season. Lots of reasons, quite valid, and the attitude is not about to change. The last one I really enjoyed was in Copenhagen five years ago, and I was quite inebriated for all three days of Christmas in Denmark - they have First Christmas on the 24th, then Second and Third Christmases follow (and it was cold, it has to be freezing). Hi Pete (and your lovely mum).

I received this one below attached to an email from a very wicked friend of mine. Laughed my head off. I don't care if it is genuine or not, I just chuckled.

NB Mummy works in Bunnings (a hardware store) and she's selling a shovel.

The new Meriton Tower was announced last week and is part of my concerted campaign to be more positive this season of goodwill. Mind you, the amount of construction in the city is mind boggling. I'm sure I've never seen so many cranes on the skyline. Oh, I also filled my car up at 87.9c/L last week - a far cry from nearly 165.9c just five months ago. I truly never thought I'd ever see petrol below $1 a litre ever again.

The group below is part of the extended Langdale family assembled for a Christmas BBQ here at our home last Sunday. We only had one absentee, and he had a very good excuse. No, he didn't have a note from his mother, but we see him every week at trivia so he was missed but not forgotten.

Our deck just managed to cope with fourteen seated, including a small table hidden to the right. It was a very hot afternoon but i think the setting looks wonderful. I love our location overlooking the park and Kedron Brook.

Below are a couple of pictures from a birthday dinner we hosted for long time friend Di MacDonald on the 3rd. Some of you may remember we house sat for them when she and her husband Torquil went to teach in the UK for a year. I've known them for 34 years, my oldest best friends. Rene and I love entertaining in our house, and the deck is the favourite spot.

The Diamond Princess (116 000 tonnes) visited Brisbane week before last and I wanted to see it depart but unfortunately a horrible tropical storm blew up late in the afternoon and it was more prudent to stay home. It was on its way from China to Sydney. The largest cruise ship ever to berth in Brisbane.

My mother would have been 85 on December 10. Strange that I remembered the date for days leading up to the 10th, but on the actual day I forgot. Only the following day when I wrote the 11th on an email did I remember. I regret she never got to meet Rene. Six years on I'm happy she's with Dad and free of discomfort. You can't always have everything.

Anyway, on the 10th my friend Torquil and I visited Newstead House (1846) for Proclamation Day, the 149th anniversary of the arrival of the first governor of the colony of Queensland. It is a very grand homestead in the style of the mid 19th Century.

Q150 was launched in the evening at Newstead House. The sesquicentennial of Queensland as a colony will be celebrated all through 2009. B150 (Brisbane's 150th) and RC 150 (the Roman Catholic's 150th year in Queensland) will also be commemorated.

Whilst visiting Newstead House we also looked at the nearby Polish Roman Catholic church at Bowen Hills. Our Lady of Victories was built in 1927 as a memorial to fallen soldiers in WW1. It was in the Spanish style. After WW2 it was run by Polish Catholic nuns brought out to Australia by Archbishop (Sir James) Duhig.

And now for something completely different...

Had to admire an ad for condoms from I think Central America. Anyway, the message doesn't need words. World AIDS Day has been and gone, the problem remains.

Last Saturday I attended the 40th reunion of the Class of '68 from Harristown State High School in Toowoomba. I was dreading it, but it was actually quite OK. The venue was adequate (soulless trendy schmick restaurant/bar), the food was ordinary (for the price) and the old classmates were in varying degrees of preservation. A couple looked disgustingly wonderful after four decades, a few well worn, the remainder as one would expect. I wasn't the only bald one there, but I'm gobsmacked at the number of blokes who still had most of their hair. The bastards! (just jealous). A pleasant enough night never to be repeated in my lifetime.

OK, here's the scene. Rene and I plus our dinner hosts are sitting beside the pool at Lota on the bay last Monday evening waiting for two extra guests to arrive. Bernadette explains that one extra guest is coming, a last minute fly in from Qatar (where her husband is with Education Queensland in the UAE school system). She has flown over for her daughter's sudden wedding after several years with her partner - no, not shotgun (they wish) - they need to be married so they can start the adoption process, the sooner the better. I reckoned I'd heard this story a day or so before from someone else. Sure enough, my brother and sister in law had been to the wedding the day before the family Christmas BBQ at my house. My sister in law is deputy principal with this lady's daughter (also DP) at Redcliffe. What a small world Brisbane is - still over 1.5m population.

Finally, if you made it to the end you are an avid reader or a very good friend. Either way, I hope your holiday season is joyous and safe. Rene and I will spend Christmas Day at lunch in our favourite hotel in the city. We'll come home in the late afternoon and continue toasting our good fortune at being healthy and happy and having survived a busy year. Finally, thanks to all of you for the emails and cards. Keep safe.

School's over for another year.

Today was the first day of the summer holidays and it has been delightfully cool and pleasant. Lately we've had stinking hot days with regular storms, but today it is just lovely. Rene and I even had a walk around the park late this afternoon without hats and sunglasses. The early progress on the airport tunnel is continuing with an alternate pathway being built and diversion channels for the creek being readied for construction.

I've felt a bit sluggish today after yet another birthday dinner party - the second in a week. We had a delightful evening with four friends at a nearby suburb, and because I enjoyed the night SOOO much, we left the car and got a cab home.

Of course I had to do grocery shopping, so I popped into a nearby neighbouring shopping centre where I had left the car. Big mistake! I spent more than twice the time trying to find where things were, that was after finding a parking spot (I know all the spots in my own two usual shopping centres). Anyway, we are ready for dinner tonight and guests tomorrow who are just here for lunch. Kay Galton from Toowoomba is dropping off her Kiwi friend who is returning to New Zealand after a short visit. Rene has that organised because tomorrow morning I have to duck up to the Sunshine Coast for the AGM of our apartment block's Body Corporate. I'll be back for lunch. Then tomorrow evening we have our second last trivia night of the year.

Wednesday night Rene and I plus two friends are attending the preview of Vicky Christina Barcelona at the Dendy, Portside. I have a love/hate relationship with Woody Allen, but I'm holding great hopes for this film. A review next time.

We hosted our long time friend Di MacDonald to a birthday dinner on our deck; well, first course was back inside - it poured down with a spectacular light show to match - but the other two courses returned to the deck. She finally got Posh Fish Pie (a Gordon Ramsay recipe). It was good, very good in fact - mind you, it has 250mL of vermouth and 250mL of dry white wine in it, plus 500mL of cream (all reduced). Hubby Torquil brought in an Italian almond cake from Dolce Sapori in Clayfield (highly recommended for biscuits and cakes, coffee and ice cream). If you like salivating, go to http://italianweek.blogspot.com/2008/04/dolci-sapori.html

With the holidays here I know very many staff travelling overseas. One is off to India, one to Thailand, four to Ireland, one to America. Me? Nowhere, except Mt Tambourine for a couple of days after Christmas. The gallery must remain open (thinks...a good time to garden instead). With strife in India and Thailand one just has to bite the bullet and go - perhaps an unfortunate phrase to use? Reality is that one is better off travelling after major events have occurred because great security is always preferable to lax security. The Thai flights out are clearing the backlog, but it'll be many days yet before the passengers are safely home.

Aircraft stockpiled in Bangkok waiting an end to the siege.

Incidentally I found this picture on the net of the smallest passenger aircraft made (Swiss I think) beside the engine of a B747 - it is a real aircraft, not a remote controlled one.

The Irish have claimed him, obviously Kenya has too, now the Dutch also claim connections with the President-elect.

Historical research shows that US President-elect Barack Obama is descended from the Pilgrim Fathers who left the Dutch town of Leiden in 1620 to found the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts.
LEIDEN - Leiden's culture alderman revealed that Mr Obama's ancestors were among those who arrived there from Britain in 1609 seeking religious freedom.

The nonconformist Puritans lived and worked for eleven years in Amsterdam and Leiden before sailing to America, some of them on the Mayflower.

Mr Obama is the seventh American president directly descended from Leiden's Pilgrim Fathers.

[Radio Netherlands / Expatica]

Rene and I received an invitation last weekend to a 50th birthday for a Dutch friend of ours back in Utrecht. It is to be held in Ibiza, at this villa, in October. It's unlikely we'll attend, but perhaps a small chance may emerge. Three free nights in Spain with around 30 folk from the cafe and the street where we lived...what a blissful thought.

This weekend will be busy with a 40th reunion of the Class of '68 from Harristown State High School in Toowoomba. Rene is going to the Christmas dinner for the card group at the Sunshine Coast and is taking one of our friends with him. I have to return early Sunday to host a family get together in the neighbouring park - a BBQ for the Langdale clan, from both Toowoomba and Brisbane. I'm looking forward to that a lot, not sure about the reunion - I might enjoy it, not sure. We had a delightful evening with the Dutch Alumni group at Customs House last Tuesday, an event I was uncertain about, but I ended up enjoying the meal and company enormously, and it also helped dining beside the river with spectacular views. Customs House is a stunning venue.

Customs House 1886

I'm going to sign off and get dinner - simple Caesar Salad after all of our indulging lately. If you want the Posh Fish Pie recipe, Google it or ask me for it, I've got it saved.