The Social Network

I forgot to mention in the last post seeing 'The Social Network' with Rene at the Dendy, Portside. It was some ten days ago, but it still sticks clearly in my mind. A very interesting film full of people I'd rather not meet in real life. The lead character (all are real people portrayed in this movie) is autistic, and although never mentioned by name, this characteristic pervades his reaction to what's happening around him and the way he interacts with others. I'm assuming the events and characters are portrayed quite realistically, and if so it must have been surreal seeing oneself played in a film that starts around 2003. Please see it, you won't be disappointed.

One week until the summer vacation!

Here in Australia summer is upon us, whereas in Europe winter is very evident indeed. The picture below is from the south of The Netherlands, Son, and is of the back garden of Rene's sister. We were there nearly a year ago in the snow. I suspect snow might be somewhat warmer than just frost and ice. This was Saturday afternoon.

Here in Brisbane we have had the most unusual weather, with persistent showers for days and days. In recent years it would have been very hot, but like today, a minimum of 19 and a max of 26/27 is quite typical of the past couple of months. We've already clocked up the wettest September/October in 38 years. I still prefer our weather to Europe's.

The once every two years Ashes Test series is on again, and Brisbane is hosting the first test match. If you don't know, it's cricket, and the Holy Grail of cricket is contested every two years with the two countries taking turns. Each match lasts five days, there are five 5 day Tests, and fans queue from before 7am to enter the grounds and prepare for the 10am start. Rene drove past 'The Gabba' last Thursday at 6:30am and the first fans of 40 000 were lining up to enter the grounds nicknamed 'The Gabbatoir'.

The airport has handled thousands of fans for The Ashes plus this weekend 5000 Schoolies (students who have finished Year 12 high school) flying into Queensland for the annual rite of passage. Most head towards the Gold Coast. Yesterday they were like lambs, probably because they'd got up really early to get to the airport in Sydney or Melbourne before jetting north to us. Needless to say Brisbane Airport is increasing passenger numbers every month - great for Brisbane, even greater for the Queensland economy.

Catholic schools finish the year a week earlier than state schools. I finish on Thursday for around seven weeks. I'll continue doing volunteer shifts at the airport because that is enjoyable, but I want to get stuck into a very overgrown and weedy garden. The incredible amounts of regular rain have ensured that much of what was planted less than two years ago needs a very, very heavy pruning and shaping.

To break up the vacation Rene and I are heading to the South Island of New Zealand for our first anniversary. We fly into Christchurch, the centre of a 7.1 earthquake last September, for two nights at a B&B just west of Christchurch, located in the middle of a vineyard. Nearby is the Langdale Winery where we are to have lunch on our anniversary day (30th). That evening we dine with the hosts. On New Year's Eve we move back into Christchurch for the evening's big concert in Cathedral Square followed by fireworks. We are staying at the Crowne Plaza, the largest hotel in the city and easily escaped damage in the earthquake. New Zealand builds to take into consideration its nickname of 'the shaky isles'.

We have a further eight nights to fill in, but we have a hire car from Day 1 and can go anywhere. I know that we'd like to go to Milford Sound, the Franz Josef Glacier plus the cities of Dunedin and Invercargill.
Rene is planning the last nights, so it should be exciting since he's been there before, but I never have. I've been twice to the North Island, but everyone says the South Island (or Middle Earth as it has become known) is like the whole of the world's seriously impressive scenery rolled into one place. Can't wait!

This final week is crazy - Tuesday night is trivia and dinner (as usual), Wednesday is the Dutch Alumni Christmas Dinner at Portside, Thursday night we're at the Greek Club for a 3 course dinner, Greek cooking lessons, dancing lessons plus ouzo. Friday I dine with one of my schools at a favourite restaurant of mine for lunch, and Friday evening cake and coffee at a friends home. No doubt next weekend will be busy, like this one, where I did a long shift at the airport and today we had lunch out at Sandgate and drinks at a new watering hole there - the old Sandgate post office, now a lovely bar and grille.

I have not mentioned the tragedy of the lost miners of New Zealand, the Royal nuptials announced this week, same sex marriage law crawling towards some positive resolution hopefully soon or the delightful opportunity to meet up with a friend who has gone to San Francisco to marry and set up home with her new husband. I haven't even mentioned that a family of dear friends who go to Europe every year for three months in their motor home kept in England have returned with joyous tales of their travels.

Finally, dear Rene joins me in loathing the season of joy soon to be upon us. As a counter to this, I purchased two spare tickets from friends to join them at the Concert Hall on December 11 to enjoy 'The Spirit of Christmas'. Rene was playing the poker machines when I was offered the seats, so he wasn't consulted. He was somewhat surprised when I told him upon his return. The Queensland Symphony Orchestra, choirs and singers will force feed us both for a couple of hours. I intend to ply the Dutchman with plenty of spirit before the event. He'll be 'ho, ho, hoing' throughout the night - and so will I.

2011 visitors

NEWSFLASH Rene and I have been invited to join his Dutch sister Claartje and her husband Jan on Straddie in October next year to celebrate their third anniversary at the restaurant, Amis, where they had their reception in 2008. Seriously exciting news! That bouquet was thrown into the sea as they left Straddie last time as a gesture to encourage their return to the island. We look forward to it happening.

School wins $30 000!

One of my schools, Mary Immaculate at Annerley, won a state wide competition for staffroom improvements run by the Queensland Teachers Credit Union. There were over 1170 schools entered, and 60 000 votes cast. It was done on line. We got not only our small community (only 127 children) of parents to vote, but by the driving force of one tenacious staff member (bless you Sharon!) we garnered help from many other sources too, including a Face book campaign. One person got her sister, a uni lecturer, to have each member of her class vote on their laptops prior to the lecture beginning, and I requested help from all 95 Airport Ambassadors. You could vote as often as you liked, but only from the one address, and I have three email addresses, so I voted three times. Anyway, last Friday we were announced as winners on World Teachers Day and have been excitedly suggesting just what we can do with the money. http://www.srfi.com.au

Ollie from Hong Kong

I recently had Ollie, from HK, join me for a shift on Arrivals at International. She is finishing a Masters here in Brisbane involving tourism and administration, and was the most lovely person to work with. It was terrific having her on hand to help with Cantonese speaking passengers - I usually have to seek assistance from other Ambassadors when I strike a completely non English speaking passenger with a problem.

This morning I had a breakfast at the airport as part of the annual 'Passion Days' run by BAC (Brisbane Airport Corporation). These days are designed to connect the very many people and divisions working at Airport who almost never meet. Today was the second of four breakfast meetings. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to be exposed to a large cross section of Airport. The six Ambassadors this morning left with a gift bag containing, amongst other items, a cloth cap (with BNE Airport on it of course) and a very cute kangaroo dressed in old pilot's clothing, manufactured for the RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service). I continue to average two four hour shifts a week and enjoy it very much. This week one of our Ambassadors flew out on the inaugural service of China Southern from Brisbane direct to Guangzhou (old Canton). It is Asia's largest airline and third largest in the world - a member of Star Alliance. Its three flights a week will expand next March to seven and bring in a much welcomed boost to our tourism.

This week I caught up with Kay back from Greece and England and plan on catching up with Peter and Bernadette, back from their annual three months in Europe. Karen, our friend who has moved to California, is back and we get to see her around the 8th. Our other Kay, the one I went to Shanghai with last month, is staying tomorrow night before heading off to NZ - so it's all been go around here with friends coming and going. Last weekend we entertained a chap from North Queensland we met some time ago, and with him were two guys from Vancouver here at a conference. It's a never dull around here.

says it all!

The US Mid Term elections have been and gone. $4b later, the nation has decided they want change faster than 21 months of Democrat control could produce. I guess I can understand that from the nearly 10% unemployed, but the rest? Sanity has eluded Capitol Hill for a while, and blame belongs at the feet of both parties. The mess cooked up by the Republican Administration over 96 months yet not sorted by 21 months of Democrats, therefore the great American public in its wisdom decides to put back control to the folk who

presided over the initial debacle...weird logic to me. Welcome to Gridlock Central aka Washington DC. God help us all!