September 19 is International Talk like a Pirate Day, so in anticipation I have been doing some research:

My pirate name is:

Mad Tom Rackham

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

However, in order to post this entry I had to reset the account password. If someone can remember the old password and email me denuto1atfastmaildotfm I will reset i back to the original. (If anyone still reads it!)

Japan

Ella, Alesh (aka Seikan) and I went for a fantastic trip to Japan. We flew the glorious jetstar to gold coast then Tokyo. We spent three nights in Tokyo. I went to Dentsu, the biggest advertising agency in the world (5000 employees)and had a very convoluted translated meeting where they asked me how the heck to get kids to do as you wish on a shoot."Hire me" was my reply.Things are quiet over there too.The economic melt down is creeping up on them all , even Dentsu.
We caught the train across the country to Nosawa Onsen.On my birthday we skied on 10km runs, it was beautiful and strange, highly recommended!. As predicted by, 11am Ella was crying"I wish we'd never come to this place" and by 3pm it was "more more more, again, another one! ".
She was very brave.
The natural spring waters in the onsen were 42 degrees, glory after a day in the snow.

More long train journeys to Osaka where we spent four days walking the streets. We did nothing touristic, just wandered around the streets.During the day it was about 9 degrees, perfect weather for travelling.

It was interesting as we were staying in the part of town where many people live on the street. In the mornings they put out bits and pieces to sell.
On our last day we went to an enormous flea market in Kyoto with an abundance of treasures.We managed to spend every last yen before heading back to Osaka, to the airport and home.
Ella wrote in her book every day, took photos, spoke and wrote some japanese, glared at those who stared and was generally a courageous and adaptable traveller.

More pics to follow

chip

party pics

If anyone has pictures from the weekend in August could you please email them to me. I didin't have a camera that weekend and I am trying to put an album together, muchos gracias.Gobx

A night of Wonder!

Just to let you know...

STEVIE WONDER WAS UNREAL.

Mum & I saw Stevie last weekend. Bit of a slow start (> 30 mins late starting) but he undoubtedly compensated for it with a fantastic set. Lots of fun, he got the crowd chanting bits and pieces a lot. As soon as we were immersed in whatever round he had started, he would launch(with gusto) into some absolute classic and everyone went bezerk. I can't remember the set list, but he covered a lot of ground with all the classics(superstition, higher ground, master blaster, living for the city, sir duke, isn't she lovely, you get the idea) a cover of Marvin Gaye and another artist I didn't know. Chopping and changing was no problem, even when he stopped midway in a song, the energy in the crowd simply propelled the tune along.

I don't think the acoustics of the Brisbane entertainment centre did him justice, but it was still an unbelievable experience! I didn't quite realise the superhuman extent of his vocal ability before the concert either! He readily jumped from one tune to the next, spontaneously added little rhythms here and there and generally surprised the crowd. I don't know if he expended more energy on the songs, or on keeping control of himself. Otherwise I'm sure the phrase "out of his skin" was written specifically about the guy.




Check out the video so you know what you missed out on!

Thanks Nicola!

Ps: You've converted mum.








(Of course dodgy little videos are nothing exiting but it's nice proof that it wasn't just a dream...)

Life In sunny St kilda

Ella is rehearsing to be in The Nutcracker at The National Theatre on December 6, 7, 8. She is going to be a soldier.
She is going well at piano, tonight having her first go at Cockles and Mussels. She can read music for simple compositions such as this (and she didn't already know the tune which makes it way too easy).
Her guitar playing has pretty much stalled, no teacher.

The two spare rooms are occupied with 25 year old girls until December, one a Columbian Christian (who reads the Bible in bed and wouldn't dream of stealing my beer) and the other a pole dancer from Daylesford who seems to have equally pristine habits.
I don't think they have revealed their personal policies to one another as yet, I hope Im around when they do.

Ella and I went to the Royal Melbourne Show. What a disappointment! No more grand parade, no stables to wander through and pat the beauteous beasts, show bags are $25 and it is a total trap of amusements and boguns.There is a little Art and Craft area, a remnant of days gone by, but in a new awful building, and a fairly low standard. Now I know Im really old.......

Car now running on LPG is a joy. I can drive anywhere and everywhere for zip.A relief as petrol is now about $1.55 a litre!
In the school holidays we saw High School Musical at the cinema, went to the Deco show at the NGV, had a few days at Daylesford and a few days at the farm.

These pics I am going to frame for Patch and Dave to try and compete with the incredible photo of Didi and Marly Martin presented to them.

Nothing ever happens, or at least not that we know of!

I can't wait until Anzac Day, so I'll point out to those who might read this blog (anyone out there) that the last post was over two months ago. Since then there've been many many kilometrs travelled, quite a few meals shared, several thousand photos taken, a number of very significant birthdays celebrated, and nothing written.

I don't claim to have any creative ability, my role is as facilitator rather than entertainer. But if no-one else will post then you'll have to suffer my banal prose and pedestrian observations!

Nicola's birthday party was in Melbourne on the 1st August. Fifty bloody years old (or young). I have no photos to post, but someone else might have. My camera is buggered! (and its way younger than Nick) but that's another story that I'll bore you with another time.

Gabrielle kindly provided the venue for Nick to host her friends and family. She declined to give a speech when she had the perfect opportunity. A captive appreciative audience - a missed opportunity she may well come to regret!

3rd August was David (and Pat)'s 75th birthday party. David's actual birthday and less officially a celebration of Pat's birthday given that they would be overseas on the 25th (her actual birthday) I'm just quoting dates to demonstrate that I actually know and remember their birthdays - not like some people who shall remain nameless.

In order of seniority (importance is a matter I will not comment on) Christophe, Julie, Nicola, Martin, Nico, Alex, Leo, Phoebe and Raph graced us Melbournians with their presence and made life more exciting for a week or so. My mundane command of the written word doesn't really allow me to convey all the complex reactions to having all these people and all these events crammed into a short period - but I liked it. It reminds me that I'm lucky to come from a big family, that humanity is wonderfully diverse species and that, try as I might, I can never fully understand how everybody thinks and that the best way to treat them is to respect them for their individuality and love them for what they are. And never, ever try to change them because that is an utterly hopeless quest!

So life has returned ptretty much to normal and all the travellers have returned whence they came. Who knows when we'll all be together again? Someting to look forward to, without investing too much expectation. It will happen sometime.

Melbourne is showing signs of spring (bliss!) and the bitterly cold weather seems to be slipping away. It will get cold again before it gets warmer but it has been an especially cold winter. I blame global warming.

If you like my inane ramblings, continue to not post! If not, get off your arses!

Fun on Halong Bay

Last weekend we went to Halong bay and spent one night on a junk with all the Tonkin staffs and our families.
It was lots and lots of fun!!

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