Autumn starts tomorrow

WANKERS

"God Hates Fags!" So say the members of a cult (they think it's a Christian church) who have promised to picket the funerals of the folk who died in the Turkish airliner crash at Schiphol Amsterdam this week. I have waded through six sets of threads on 'Airliners.Net' about the accident and just came across the reference to this weird American cult. Westboro Baptist Church has an extremely chequered reputation from my very speedy net research, even having the cult's leader Fred Phelps and his daughter banned from Britain because they planned protesting outside a theatre performing a play about Matthew Shepard, the young gay teenager murdered in 1998 in a most horrific and brutal way. Why are they planning to disrupt and annoy the funerals? Because the gay-loving Dutch brought it upon themselves, presumably because their God isn't my forgiving and all loving God. My sympathy is extended to the families of the five Turks and four Americans who died in the crash. How miraculous that so many survived! I think Someone was on their side at that moment in time.




Mmm - FEELING BETTER NOW!

Hello! I just had to get that off my plate! Arseholes! Speaking of gays and society, it's fascinating to see how Sean Penn on Monday (our time) spoke well about gays and gay rights, including marriage, and the Kodak Theatre erupted in applause; yet Hollywood and the US in general still treads on eggshells whenever the issue comes up. I think NBC had the Beijing Olympics, and when Australian diver Matthew Mitcham was featured, never once did they show his partner in any shots or allude to his being gay or having a male partner, in fact they studiously avoided any reference to his being the first openly gay Olympian competing openly at an international meet. It was newsworthy everywhere except Main Street USA television. Strange! And enough said about mainstream Hollywood, it still has a long way to go.



OSCARS

Wasn't Hugh Jackman brilliant at the Oscars? Yes, he's an Aussie, yes, he appeared in that questionable film "Australia'; but wow, he certainly did a great job in front of one of the most challenging audiences you can come across - your peers. I didn't realise it was broadcast live from around noon on Channel 9, so next year I had better get ready for them during the day. Better still, record and fast forward during the bits that don't seem interesting to me. I couldn't believe that some conservative US TV critics objected to him using words referring to pubes and excrement. Good grief, someone get me the smelling salts! And to think Hugh's wife Debora-Lee Furness gets to wake up next to him every day? At the beginning on the Red Carpet she said as much to the interviewer, and she knew many in the audience just hated her something awful - envy is a terrible thing haha!


SECOND (2nd)

Yes, after 6th last week, quite a few 4ths, one 3rd, our trivia team finally made 2nd place last Tuesday! A whole $30 to spend at the bottle shop next door to the pub where we play. We actually had a lot of fun and many laughs, and above all met together to enjoy each others company. I met Rene at the pub because he was already in the City at GoMA (Gallery of Modern Art) checking out the latest exhibition. It's something we look forward to each week.



CITIZENSHIP

Rene is going for his citizenship interview on April 21 at the Department of Immigration. He'll have a silly test - you know, 20 bleeding obvious questions about Australia from a list of several dozen possible questions - and following that he registers for the ceremony, has a personal interview, after May.


STATE ELECTION

We have an early state election called for March 21. The current state government is Labor and has been in office for around 11 years, and by all reckoning is overdue for replacement (same for Britain) but here the state opposition main party (the LNP's) look totally useless too! Our local member moved twice to destabilise his party by running for the leadership, and the neighbouring electorate's Opposition candidate is 18, barely out of school, and has a billionaire father who smacks of Joh Bjelke-Petersen in the way he uses his fortune to curry influence in conservative politics. A pox on all their houses is my initial reaction, but reality requires me to choose one way or another in a democracy where one is compelled by force of a fine to vote. Once I voted but spoilt my ballot paper (in a state election) but so far I think better the idiots we know than those we don't. My mind is up for swinging, I'll let you know if I does.


DINNERS and FRIENDS

Several lovely meals have been enjoyed with friends over the past few days and none better than last night with my god daughter and her Welsh partner. We dined at 'Hello India', a local Nundah restaurant worth crossing suburbs to reach (near to Nundah station for those wanting a reference). We ate there last week for the first time with close friends and it's just delicious, inexpensive and worth every effort to get there. Last week after 8:15 it was reasonably quiet on the Friday evening, but last night it was packed, even overflowing onto the footpath. The evening before we ventured across the park to friends for a drink after 5 and ended up staying for dinner where we enjoyed the very best grass fed steaks off the BBQ with a chili chocolate ice cream for dessert. Add to that wine, beer and chatter, all in all Rene and I had a wonderful evening, and the walk back home was of great benefit to our digestion.

CRUISING

We had my brother from Toowoomba (Mark) and his lovely wife Kathy visit last weekend, along with niece Emmy and her friend Chelsea. We saw the film Gran Torino directed by Clint Eastwood. Terrific film, enjoyed by all in our group. The cinema is in the cruise terminal at Portside, and while we were there a P&O ship was leaving, complete with streamers and loud horns sounding. Anyway, the upshot is that they are all going on a weekend cruise from Brisbane to Sydney in June (you fly home on the Monday morning). Mark's other daughter Katelyn and her fiance Dan are going too. This is called a sampler cruise, to see if you'd like cruising. The ship is the 78 000 ton Dawn Princess, and everything short of drinks is included for a ridiculously small price. Rene doesn't want to go, not even for two short nights. I'm looking for someone to go with me. I think I've found someone. My other brother (Stephen) and his wife (Adele) are thinking about it too, but already three cabins have been booked, hopefully a fourth will be too.

WORK

It is there, it is interesting, nothing more. I did attend a fascinating and useful seminar on refugees this week.

CRISIS

Woolworths in Australia yesterday posted a second half year profit of nearly A$1 b. It also announced that in the next six months it will create an extra 7000 jobs. Suzuki and Kia sold more cars in Australia during 2008 than ever before, and the prospect is for more of the same in '09. Every Australian is getting $900 to spend, spend, spend; plus 'shovel ready' government projects worth billions are to be up and away before April - all federally funded. No Australian bank is in difficulty, not one! Yes, the crisis is biting here, but less than elsewhere in the world. There's no Royal Bank of Scotland, Fortess (Belgium) and ING (Dutch) type of issue at all here in Australia, and that's purely because the regulations here are tough and sensible.

WHO IS THIS GUY?

Finally, my friend Kit sent me this picture during the week of his son Chris pointing to me during a farewell dinner before he (Chris) returned to the US to work. It was late, I was tired, I didn't have my glasses on; but heck, I look a lot like my father. He's been gone some 20 years now. Miss you still Dad!

I've met all seven of them, sometimes all at once!

Everything is fine here...

I've sat down more than four times to get this blog update done, but each time I've been distracted or underwhelmed at the prospect of devoting a couple of hours to it, so it just hasn't happened for ages. Thanks to those of you who wrote concerned that it hadn't happened up to now, but as of this moment - all systems GO.

(The very full Kedron Brook flowing past our house. In the background is the new replacement pathway for pedestrians and cyclists built because of the new tunnels going under our neighbouring park.)

It has been pouring down here all night and day. Figures vary across the city but in general we've all received good solid, gentle rain. We once again have water views, with Kedron Brook being visible from the deck. It has been lovely not having to work today and just enjoying the rain.

(Rene looking at a water dragon - sort of lizard - playing in the storm drain puddles during recent rain. Our house in the background.)

This situation here in Brisbane is so very different from the folk in Far North Queensland who have been enduring floods for weeks now. Ingham has actually cleaned up several times from flood peaks only to have another come through yet again. Now Longreach, many hundreds of kilometres away, awaits medium level flooding as the water runs slowly south west. The communities of the North have been seriously affected by these floods, the worst for several years, but their plight is not able to be compared with that of the victims of the worst bush fires in Australia's recorded history.

It's not a competition to see which rates the worst, but whilst loss of life up north has been minimal, at least 181 (expected to rise to over 200)Australians perished in a most horrendous way due to the enormous ferocity of the firestorms that swept across Victoria. Over a thousand homes lost, over 7000 homeless, 400 000ha of land burnt, the statistics are sickening - and I didn't even mention the loss of animal life and habitats.
Late edit: Authorities say 1,834 homes were destroyed in the Feb. 7 blazes. At least 181 people were killed, and officials expect that total eventually to exceed 200. Some 7,500 people are homeless or fled their homes and have not returned.

You would have heard about it in your media wherever you live, but somehow the enormity still hasn't got through to me. Properties can be rebuilt and possessions replaced, but the loss of a loved one - especially in such tragic and terrifying circumstances - is probably never going to be healed.

As usual, Australians have rallied around to support each other, either by direct assistance to the survivors or by donations of money, feed for livestock, clothing and services. International assistance has been accepted in the form of money and forensic analysis teams, who have the grim task of seeking out the bodies and then trying to identify them.

My thoughts are also directed to the hundreds and hundreds of people who have assisted in fighting the fires, searching the debris for corpses, and supporting the survivors. I sincerely hope that they themselves survive helping others in distress - these men and women are simply magnificent, yet they are human too.

Finally for now we also shouldn't forget the thousands of people in the floods up north. How lovely this week to hear that students from (flooded) Ingham State High School returned to school finally and immediately started raising money to help the fire victims down south. Now that's generosity of spirit!

School has been back three weeks now, and everything is going well. It always takes a while to sort schedules out, and also find out about new students and new routines. I have two schools this year, 17 hours across the two of them. I'm enjoying having Fridays off. My children come from the usual backgrounds (Sudan, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, India, Denmark) but this year I have one child who has a Chilean father and a Hungarian mother, another has a Nigerian mother and American (Peace Corps) father. They are all totally delightful children, some more challenging than others, but all real assets to this fabulous country.

(Our American/Aussie friends invited us to a Bon Voyage dinner for their son heading back to the US to study and work.)

The tunnel near our home is well on its way with lots of dull background noise being generated all day long, but so far not too bad. The A$3b project will be such a benefit to the city when completed in 2012, and our park will be restored and improved way beyond its former level to be even better - it'll just have the first part of an 11km tunnel running under it.

(January 26, Australia Day, was celebrated the day before with a BBQ at a friend's apartment complete with a swim in his pool. On the day itself Rene and I worked in our garden most of the day then a surprise visit from friends - the Cronks - complete with a bottle of wine and nibblies - made for a perfect day. Rene is applying for Australian citizenship in May.)

V Australia took late delivery of its first Boeing 777 aircraft this week and it marks a new cheaper deal across the Pacific to the US. With Delta launching services to Oz in June plus V Australia (a division of Virgin Blue, the Brisbane-based airline), United and of course Qantas have had to look at their fares and the average cost of a seat across the Pacific has already dropped 40%. The tunnel near us is to allow smoother access to Brisbane Airport, voted recently the best airport of its size in the world. Massive roadworks on the surface plus the duplication of the enormous Gateway Bridge means that we are just a couple of years away from having the best transport system in this country.

(The preliminary earthworks for the tunnels underway on a very wet Friday last week. The borers arriving soon are 200m long and once assembled need around 500m of initial channel cut away to allow assembly and eventual launch underground. Better pictures will follow soon.)


Last weekend we went to Coochiemudlo Island in Moreton Bay. What a delightful spot, very compact and easy to walk around, with possibly the least expensive top quality lunch menu in Australia. Nine of us had two courses each and everyone was impressed with the freshness, presentation and the price of each dish. The restaurant is located at the resort, and it has a lovely salt water swimming pool for between courses. A $6.80 return ticket gets you a short ferry ride across from Victoria Point. If you've never done it and you're local, I highly recommend it. I don't recommend parking in the trailer section of the car park on the mainland. An extremely poorly signposted parking spot caused me (ME! Mr Careful Motorist) a $50 parking fine for parking where trailers go (only on weekends though). It didn't spoil my visit to Coochiemudlo, I'll be back.
(Rene standing in the water chatting with a new friend whilst an old friend Bernadette walks past on the beach at Coochiemudlo.)

I saw 'Milk', the story of Harvey Milk, the San Francisco local politician assassinated along with the SF mayor back in 1978. Sean Penn played the title role well; but the rest of the cast was great too, including the director Gus van Sant (from Portland OR), all did terrific work to make a movie that drove me to sob my heart out. No, not in the theatre - in the car as we left the cinema car park. Yes, a combination of the film, the memories from my past, the fact that gays were vilified in much of Australia (especially the era of Joh Bjelke-Petersen, the then Premier of Queensland). The use of archival footage from the period along with the vitriol poured onto people like me by the Anita Bryants of the then world, made me squirm in my seat. To cut a long story short, we were in our friend Stephen's beautiful new BMW leaving the car park and I just joined in the talk about the film and I suddenly began sobbing from my very toes up through my whole body. I was in the back seat, and Rene touched my knee, Steve pulled over, thought we should continue on, I sort of regained composure and then felt acute embarrassment over the whole incident. The memories and feelings of hatred plus suppression of emotions - in fact a whole raft of things - all swelled up in me and I had to let it out. I am so very over it all right now. It was wonderful to have that film release something that needed to get out. Cathartic? I guess so. I certainly recommend the film to anyone who has yet to see it. What a great year for the Oscars!

Can you believe this economic crisis we are all in? People I work with have returned from Britain, Europe, America and Asia where they holidayed over the Christmas vacation and they all report incredibly quiet shops, deep discounts and generally dismayed people (no, not so much in Asia). The planes were not full, quite a few shops in England seemed empty, generally speaking the mood of the locals was described as being down. When I saw the RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) executives being questioned the other day I was dismayed to see four gentlemen describing their takeover of ABN Amro (Dutch bank) as a 'mistake' - some mistake! I hope this expensive wake up call to Big Business actually takes root and blooms into a new socially conscious free market view of economics. I might add that Australia's banks have done quite well, even though they have been burned by the current global situation. The Commonwealth Bank this week announced a reduced profit, but it was still A$2b.

I ventured four weeks ago to the new tennis centre in Tennyson and saw three matches sitting at court side. The stadium is excellent, and the seats very comfortable. Although a hot day, the outside air moved through the covered complex with enough natural chill in it to make it a very pleasant experience. I saw Amelie Mauresmo survive an enormous scare in the Rafter Arena to sneak through to the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International. Down 2-5 in the third set to compatriot Julie Coin, an exhausted Mauresmo fought back to take the three hour 14 minute marathon into a tiebreak before winning 5-7 6-2 7-6 (13-11). The following two matches were nothing compared to this match, yet the men's matches received the bulk of the coverage in that day's media. Go figure!

(Did I mention we had terrific court side seats?)



(The above picture was on the net whilst The Australian Open tennis matches were being played in above 40C temperatures two weeks ago. This was captioned 'Melbourne Ice Cream vendor'. It was amusing until the tragic bushfires just days later.)

I chuckled at this. I love Italian ingenuity...

Italian officials caught up in traffic fine scandal
Posted 23 minutes ago Updated 24 minutes ago
More than 100 people across Italy are being investigated over allegations that they rigged traffic lights and speed cameras to collect illegal fines.
Those under investigation include police officers and municipal officials.
Thousands of drivers are now expected to seek compensation.
- BBC
...and to think I didn't think of it first?



2009 Dutch New Year celebrations quieter than last year
Whilst the damage caused by New Year celebrations was less this time around, there is still justified consternation from different parts of Dutch society following incidents across the country.
From 10am New Year’s Eve until 2am on New Year’s Day, the Dutch streets could be mistaken for a military zone. This is the only time of the year that Dutch law allows the public to use fireworks.
According to figures from the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK), reported in Elsevier Nieuws on 2 January 2009, there were 7,641 reported firework related ‘incidents’ across the Netherlands over New Year.
The celebrations to see 2009 in resulted in: 2,753 reported crimes relating to violence, mishandling, arson and vandalism, 1,370 cases of arson, 800 arrests, more than 325 people admitted to hospitals with firework injuries, 216 vehicles set alight, 97 incidences of violent behaviour against emergency services personnel, four schools burning, two people losing an eye, one fatality.
The consensus seems to be that the celebrations this time around were quieter than last.
Arsonists set fire to ‘only’ four schools this year, compared to 23 last year. In Zuid-Holland, there were ten percent fewer calls to the emergency services this year than last, and in The Hague vandals set fire to 50 cars, half of the damage done in 2007/8.
However, whilst the damage is less, there is still justified consternation from different parts of Dutch society following incidents across the country. It was necessary to deploy riot police (ME) in Haarlem to protect fire officers, 150 people threw bottles and stones at police in Rotterdam and in Nijmegen a group bombarded police and fire officers with Molotov cocktails.
In Wijchen, a police station was the target of a firebomb and in Uddel emergency service crews had bottles thrown at them. Police made 52 arrests in Friesland for obstructing the emergency services.
More fun with fewer fireworksGroen-Links councillors, Arno Bonte (Rotterdam) and David Rietveld (The Hague), have called for a ban on the public sale of fireworks through the petition “Meer Plezier met Minder Vuurwerk”. As an alternative, they want local authorities to organise professional displays like the annual event in Rotterdam.“The Netherlands is one of the few countries where fireworks can be lit by non-professionals,” explains the petition.
The petition highlights the air pollution and smog caused by the sheer mass of fireworks, the risks for those with respiratory problems, the stress felt by older people, children and animals, as well as the financial costs.
A survey revealed that 30 percent of people do not leave home on New Year’s Eve because of the perceived danger of fireworks. David Rietveld sees this as a serious problem, adding, “The streets are for everyone, not just the 15 percent of the population who like to set off fireworks”.
Amanda van Mulligan/ Expatica
It does make me wonder just how boring Aussies are on New Year's Eve. I like boring I think after reading this article on a Dutch website.

Also in Holland, a Moroccan born politician has been sworn in as Rotterdam's new mayor. He is the first immigrant to achieve such high office, and recognises the large immigrant population living in The Netherlands. He has dual citizenship since one cannot renounce Maroccan citizenship. A positive sign for the country, where 350 000 Maroccans live.

Ice skating returned last month to Holland in a big way with temperatures cold enough on sufficient days to provide around 12cm of natural ice. The whole country went ice skating crazy. Marvellous!

Again more Dutch news you know you can't live without knowing...
Most popular baby names
THE NETHERLANDS –Sophie was the most popular girl's name in the Netherlands in 2008, according to figures released by the Dutch national insurance agency, the SVB. The agency, which administers child benefits, has a record of every new baby registered. Sophie took the lead from Sanne, which headed the list for years, but now dropped to fifth place. Julia and Lieke were ranked second and third most popular name. For boys the most popular name was Daan. The previous favourite, Sem, has dropped to number three, below Tim at number two. Jayden had a surge in popularity, jumping from rank 13 to number four. Why would such an unusual and un-Dutch name be so much in vogue in the Netherlands? It's the name of Britney Spears' son, Jayden James.[Radio Netherlands / Expatica]

Now you know Holland and bicycles just have to go together. Well, here in huge Australia bicycles are also popular:

Bike sales
The Australian cycling industry says bicycle sales outstripped car sales in 2008 by 38 per cent.
The industry's cycling promotion fund says 1.4 million bicycles were sold in Australia last year, which was slightly down on the year before.
But spokesman Elliot Fishman says the number of bikes sold compared to cars shows the growing popularity of cycling.
"Australians did buy about 400,000 more bicycles than they did cars for the last few years, and I think what they do show is that there is a strong underlying interest that Australians have in cycling," he said.
"But what we're also noticing is not only are they buying more bikes than they did before, they're also using them in increasing numbers."

My friend Merle in Portland Oregon entertained a whole houseful of guests for the Super Bowl last week. I gave her a surprise phone call after arriving at work Monday last week and hearing the beginning on the radio. She emailed me the next day to say the 19 guests all dined well, enjoyed the fun of the surprise birthday party for a neighbour and had an exciting game to watch (the first with an Australian playing in it).

Rene and I are off to the theatre tomorrow night for Valentine's Day (no, a complete coincidence actually) to watch a production of 'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Ridiculusmus, a two-member English company who present every character themselves. It was here a couple of year's ago, and has returned after touring America and Britain. It should be lots of fun. Velentine's Day 2009, tickets to the theatre. February 14 2004, first class rail tickets on the Thalys to Paris. Times have changed. I miss Europe.


It is just about time to finish. We have a guest for dinner tonight and another arriving later to play cards. Between the two of us we manage to keep ourselves quite busy, both work wise and socially. Last week I took out five DVDs on 'Cheap Tuesday' ($1 each for the week) and we never got to see any of them. We have trivia nights again on Tuesdays, and various film and theatre evenings that keep us occupied. Throw in dinners at other friends homes and entertaining here on a regular basis, we don't have all that much time to watch TV, but that is what makes life interesting and fun. Next weekend my brother and his wife from Toowoomba will stay over for the night and it'll be the first time Mark and Kathy have done so here in Brisbane. My neice Emmi is going to a 12 hour concert all day on the Saturday, so we'll pick her and her friend up after the concert (11pm) and they will all sleep over here. I'm looking forward to it a lot.

Oh, the garden is finished this Thursday with mulching. Pictures next time I blog. We have put in around fifty plants. It is looking very good (but immature). It will soon grow though, it's that sort of climate. I forgot that the curtains are up and looking terrific. Now we are having a friend make a throw for the bed in the main room and then we can sit back and consider the essentials completed. Beautiful house, lovely home!
(The above figures for per capita car ownership didn't exactly ring true for me, but there you go, many misconceptions can be sorted by some good old fashioned statistics. And to think I reckoned that the US would have topped the list. Mind you, Luxembourg and iceland were complete outsiders, and as for NZ? I wonder how many of theirs actually can run properly - it's quite a country for seeing very old frequently British cars still running well on the roads every day.)

Finally, great news from my god daughter Amy: she's expecting a child in August. Both she and her Welsh partner are thrilled at the news and we all look forward to spoiling rotten the addition to the family.