One Man Lost A$98 Billion.

How is this possible? Bernard L Madoff (notice the use of the middle initial - usually used when describing serial murderers) pleaded guilty this week of losing and defrauding folk of US$65 billion over decades. He admitted remorse over his actions, but I'd have preferred his jumping off a very tall building - so much more sincere. His pleading guilty removes any necessity to admit that others aided him in this gross act of deception, but hopefully those others will be brought to some sort of justice. He says he acted alone but I'm far from convinced. And to think he'd still be dealing this way had the crisis not loomed large. His only remorse is being caught out. Scum!

Cheap flights to the US

V Australia are advertising return flights to Los Angeles from A$971. That's a massive saving. You can only stay 30 days, but that's enough for most travellers. New aircraft, attention to detail, inexpensive fares - I just wish I could fly outside sch0ool vacations.

...quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

At last, we have the basic garden finished. The lot is a mere 407 sq m so there's not a lot of garden to establish. The land was compacted to build it above the Q100 (once in a hundred years flood) level. Our slab is on top of that level, therefore short of Armageddon we should be safe from any chance of inundation from the neighbouring brook. There has had to be a lot of work done on the compacted clay soil to enable plants to grow well. So far all seems good - we've only had two deaths amongst the plants, so that's good for my usual record.We have lots of dry tolerant plants and also stored water for the gardens. The stones (lower right) are surrounding a storm water drain (we have two along this side). The smaller grey tank holds 3000L.

The small backyard has a Patio Lemon tree (dwarf), a Tahitian Lime (also dwarf) and an olive tree. The other plants are for screening and adding some colour - eventually.On the left you can just see the edge of the 5000L main water tank supplying water to the three toilets as well as the washing machine. Rene gets to look out from the downstairs gallery on a lovely vista of palms and other plants.
Our southern side is very rarely used and goes from the laundry to the folding line. Notice how close we are to the other house? This is happening more and more as people build more densely closer in to the city centre.

You have to have your utilities somewhere. Ours are along the northern side. Behind the grey screen is our hot water system, solar panels are on the roof above - the northern side gets the most sun here in Australia. The air conditioner unit looks very industrial. It works remarkably well after its initial teething problems.

Busy weekend

I certainly hope your weekend was as interesting as ours. Friday saw dinner over at friends who were jointly celebrating birthdays and the departure of another to the States.

Three friends came over for lunch Saturday and then in the evening we ventured across the river to Lota and had a superb dinner put together by our friends Peter and Bernadette. He had prepared Persian lamb meatballs on couscous drizzled with sour cherry sauce - stunning. Dessert was grapes marinated in rose water with ice cream and Persian fairy floss on top (tasted almondy). Very adult flavours, quite delicious. I should say Peter cooked but Bernadette also did the serving and tables. One guest at dinner was just back again from Qatar, and with various guests about to jet off hither and yon I felt quite the one left out (with Rene) because we're not heading off anywhere in the foreseeable future.



Sunday was friends around for coffee and cake, then I went in the evening to the airport to pick up a friend from Canberra who has a meeting in Brisbane today. Rene and I joined him in walking to dinner at a very nice Thai restaurant, and then when we returned we found this Tawny Frogmouthed owl (see above) sitting on our deck railing. Must dash, off to work for a rest.
Rene's photograph is below, mine above. He has a much better camera.

Refugees, Migrants and being Australian.

Work has been very interesting lately, and as usual as the term advances you get to know more and more about the children's stories. One child I take each week for a couple of sessions just casually mentioned this week his step father (an uncle) that he doesn't care much for and how his father shot himself with a gun hidden under his pillow - events happened back in India. Another has a father (presumed kidnapped and dead) returning after being away for 4 years (he was imprisoned and discovered accidentally by the American troops in northern Iraq) - she is living with a virtual stranger at home, a changed man. Then this week from Lahore in Pakistan we saw the Sri Lankan cricketers attacked and the terrorists just sauntering off unhindered, unafraid and unchallenged. My Sri Lankan students were deeply alarmed at this attack, even from thousands of kilometres away.

We take so much for granted here in the relative safety of Australia. We are safe, the economy teeters on the edge of a recession but so far is just on the positive side, we are undoubtedly the Lucky Country. I for one don't take this for granted. I will be so proud when Rene obtains his Australian Citizenship in the near future. It will be some time after his initial citizenship test on April 21.

Look Ma! No cooking...

We are out to dinner for the next three nights. What a tough life! Tonight we are out visiting friends in Mt Gravatt, tomorrow night at Lota on the Bay we are guinea pigs when a new dish is prepared for the first time (more on that after the event) and Sunday night a friend from Canberra is visiting and taking us to dinner. That leaves Monday to cook at home, then Tuesday we're out again at the pub for dinner and trivia (we finished 5th this week - ouch!).

V Australia takes off

Brisbane-based V Australia has commenced flights to the US at last! Held up by delivery issues at Boeing, the first B777 flight flew SYD/LAX this week. I saw this aircraft parked near the perimeter of Brisbane Airport a couple of weeks ago and it looks lovely. Brisbane services to LAX commence in June when there are more aircraft delivered. Backed by Virgin Blue, it is sure to set the cat amongst the pigeons on the Pacific route to the States.

This is the Business Class bar on V Australia. There's a Premium Economy bar too!