Haven't really felt like hitting the keyboards for a week, so here's the catch up on everything from this end. Firstly, as I type this, it is cold, very cold. We had a whole day and night of rain this week, the first time in two years. The runoff into the dams hasn't been great, but it actually rained instead of showering, so there's some hope. The areas immediately to Brisbane's north and south have been deluged frequently over the past few days and weeks, but not so here. It was good rain, but nowhere near the amount we need. Still, it is terrific. There's a very lazy cold wind blowing here today, our first real taste of winter this year. We're supposed to go down to 8 tonight, freezing for Brisbane.
On the news today is the story of a ship, a coal carrier, blown onto the beach at Newcastle, north of Sydney. You no doubt will have seen this on the television news services, they love the visuals. 21 crew rescued in very dangerous conditions.
Last night Rene and I went to a concert by Dallas Crane plus a couple of support bands. It was a great night, with beer, the pokies, terrific Chinese food at our favourite restaurant in The Valley (Super Bowl) and a really wonderful bottle of shiraz.
Work is going well, along with the end of semester reports which are a bit of a necessary pain. I am taking on two new students which increases my hours, but I'm trying to maintain four days per week.
I just this moment had a phone call to say my planned trip to Korea next month to work with home stay students is not going to happen. I sort of was expecting it because they had left things very late to be organised, but I went along until the end. Anyway, I'm sort of over it all, but still quite disappointed. Enough said!
If you folk overseas would like to see some of the streetscapes in Brisbane, this link http://www.subaru.jp/impreza/impreza_sp/index.swf will take you to the new Subaru Impreza ad campaign from Japan which was filmed in the city recently. It was too difficult to close Tokyo streets for filming, much easier in Brisbane. It looks very nice, in fact it is very nice.
Last Friday I went up to Toowoomba to visit for the day and met up with some former colleagues at my old school plus some friends at an afternoon tea and included dropping in on my sister in law's parents. That night an Australian teacher and her Swiss partner came around for a curry night. As usual Rene excelled himself in the culinary department. The next night I made a mushroom cheese risotto to die for; four types of mushrooms, onions, garlic, really very good. Rene even said it was the best risotto he'd ever had. I can cook, I just prefer not to.
We're going to a Queensland Day community event in a local park tomorrow. I like our part of Brisbane, it is very close to the city centre yet just far enough away to avoid the feeling of being pressed and pressured by people. Afterwards we're off to pick up a couple of chairs Rene has bought in Cleveland, so I guess we'll have lunch there too. It is a long weekend for the Queen's birthday, so still three more days left before work on Tuesday. (Strange that everywhere in the Commonwealth, except Britain, has a special public holiday for the Queen's birthday).
This week we're off to see a financial planner to see how things are going. I'm quite pleased with how my superannuation is growing, especially since the dollar is at the highest it's been in 20+ years and the economy is booming. Oh, I think our house has increased significantly in its value since we bought it 18 months ago. I'm guessing around 20%, but of course the test would be to sell it, and we're not ready to do that just quite yet. After the meeting with the planner we have the two Kays staying for the night after we go to see Bangara, an Aboriginal dance company, perform at the Playhouse in the city.
Our new Queensland Tennis Centre is taking shape and should start to be used by the end of the year. It'll be the first in Australia with three types of surface to play on, and of course it'll have a lot of apartments and villas built along with it to make the most of the riverside location. Access is to be via an existing railway line with an upgraded station and of course major roads. The main stadium will have a capacity of over 5000 and will have a retractable roof.
Finally for now, an always fascinating look at how reality is interpreted, ergo the map of the world. If you look at the map on the right, it is as we usually see it, and of course we all know Greenland isn't THAT large. With the corrected interpretation acknowledging the real areas of the countries and continents one can really visualise the planet as seen from outer space, one curve at a time. Incidentally, Australia jumps up in size compared to the standard map view of the world, we are after all the sixth largest country on the planet. You of course know the top five (don't you?). Maybe next week I'll post the answer. Until then...
PS I nearly forgot. You may know I own a somewhat boring white Mazda2, a totally terrific city car, but very boxy in appearance. Well, the new Mazda2 has been released in Japan (late this year here) and it's a stunner. I'm planning on which colour to get it in - just dreaming, but you never know...
