People refer to it as the river. I could see the river on the map. I’ve always found it an exciting challenge arriving in a new city getting your bearings. I kept looking for this river. The map indicated a sizable river circumventing half the old city. I found what possibly could be a river. But there was no water. Turns out there is no river. But they call it a river. And so I ...…[read more]
Blog Posts
I have a lot to thank Manuel from the popular British TV series, Faulty Towers. He equipped me with at least two survival words for living in Spain. “Que” (what?) and “Si si” (yes…). I’m convinced you can travel anywhere in the world with not much more than a very limited vocabulary. When it comes to food, a chook is a chook (chicken for those north of down under) and a pig is a pig. Whether ...…[read more]
The flight had landed in Madrid a couple hours earlier. I was now moving across the country on Spain’s impressive 300km per hour train network. I had decided to make Valencia, 360km away on Spain’s east coast, home for the next three months. For flying such a short distance, the contrast couldn’t have been greater. Leaving Austria, it’s what you could only describe as God’s Garden. Its movie set like graceful landscape of lush green ...…[read more]
My neighbour used to call me Le Peleton. Not that he was suggesting I had any special ability. It’s just that I’ve always enjoyed cycling as a great way to get around. So when I discovered I was on the doorstep to one of Europe’s most popular bicycle routes, it was a must do. The ride goes around the entire edge of Lake Bodensee. I’d only left Bregenz at midday but by the end of ...…[read more]
It took a couple attempts to get the fire going as each piece of kindling wood was delicately placed inside the small fire hatch. It was how I remember the way my grandmother always used to cook. Old Grandma Selma could churn out her famous Christmas feasts on her wood stove just about with her eyes closed. This was my first experience cooking a meal on one of these bygone eras. I was preparing a ...…[read more]
I was always a bit disappointed my Dad never passed on this skill. At least to just one of his grand kids. I’m surrounded by mountains in this small rural community in Austria. It looks more like a small village with its loose collection of houses rather than a farming region. The houses are large. They need to be. I first learnt this some years ago when skiing in neighbouring Switzerland. We were making our way ...…[read more]
We exchanged polite pleasantries as we settled in for the eight hour flight ahead. We are by nature a territorial creature. Defining our space, and our rights to it are as ancient as human existence. From children’s play areas, to neighbourhood fences, through to national borders. We defend the entitlement to our “space”. From peaceful coexistence, the threat of border skirmishes to outright war is ever present. A simple armrest defined the boundary between our ...…[read more]
I’ve relived it all. Teething. The terrible Twos. Meltdowns. Witching hours. Sad faces. Cross faces. Happy faces. Smiley, laughing, cute, joyful, adorable, embracing and beautiful loving faces. You forget the patience required living in the land of little people. The wheeling and dealing that starts with the first pitter patter of feet down the passage before the sun’s even had a chance to rise. From stars earnt to stay in bed all night, to kamikaze ...…[read more]
It’s been 30 years since we were last here. Yet there’s one thing I like about Darwin. It hasn’t changed! Sure the population has near doubled to over hundred and thirty thousand. There’s new roads. More houses. More industry. More businesses. More shops. More trees. I had to use Google maps on my mobile to find the place we lived for three years. Thirty years ago here, I brought home the very first mobile phone. ...…[read more]
Holy Sheet! That was the headline in today’s Fairfax’s news story. Earlier in this blog I posted a story how some charities had benefited from surplus mining camp linen. That turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg. Fifty six pallets later. Last count was over ten thousand items. This included bed sheets, doonas, towels, etc, with a replacement value of over $100,000. These have now been distributed to around twenty five charities in ...…[read more]