Wednesday in Sydney

In the 'Big Smoke' which is Sydney — In the ‘Big Smoke’ which is Sydney

For the past six weeks we’ve been travelling to Sydney every Wednesday for my appointments to get my new dentures constructed. As you can guess, to get me proper dentures made is not exactly easy. I seem to have a very difficult mouth! Anyhow, I am hopeful now that all the effort is not in vain and in due time my mouth is going to be all right. 🙂 🙂 🙂

So last Wednesday was the day when we met Matthew and Caroline for lunch. Before we met up with them I had seen my dental technician. After our delicious ice-cream treat we took a bus for a few stops and then we had to walk a bit to reach China-Town. This was where we were about to have our lunch. On the way to China-Town and around China-Town Peter took the following pictures.

Near Market City Peter and I were waiting to catch a tram to go to Central Station.

From Central Station we caught our train back home to Dapto while Caroline and Matthew were going back to their place in the Eastern suburbs. We were very happy that we had been able to see them on that Wednesday.

A port city in northeastern Sicily on the Strait of Messina

This is where Matthew and Caroline took us yesterday: Gelato de Messina! Homemade on the premises.

This shop was in Victoria Street in Sydney. Darlinghurst Road was right next to it.

Matthew and Caroline discuss where to go to next.

It was Matthew’s birthday. We had given him a large chopping board as a birthday gift. This is why Matthew is carrying this large bag.

Chance Meeting across Time and History

Berlioz1935's Blog

The 9:27am Intercity Express from Central to Kiama was due to depart.

At the last moment a young Corporal from the Australian Army jumped on the train. The carriage door closed shut behind him, almost catching his gear.

“Saved again,” he thought. He walked up a couple of steps to the upper level of the double decker carriage, threw his pack on a single seat and slumped down with a sigh on the other single seat in front of it. The “Oscar” train slowly moved out of the platform.

At first he sat with the back to the front of the train but after a moment of deliberation, he got up, turned the back of the seat around and and sat down, facing the front of the carriage.

Across the aisle was an old couple sitting on a three seater bench and as the old…

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Mike Carlton writes

This is a Reblog from a column by Mike Carlton:

. . . . . A great Australian died last Sunday. I want to finish this column by telling you about him.

Arthur “Blood” Bancroft was a strapping 19-year-old when he joined the navy in 1940. He left a good job with a bank in Perth, farewelled his girlfriend Mirla Wilkinson and went off to war because it was the right thing to do. His shipmates gave him the nickname for his shock of flaming red hair.

Blood was an ammunition loader in the cruiser HMAS Perth when it was sunk by the Japanese off West Java in March 1942. Half the crew were lost but he survived, to endure the atrocities of the Burma-Siam Railway.

In 1944 he and hundreds of Australian prisoners were packed off to Japan in a hell ship named the Rakuyo Maru, only to be torpedoed by an American submarine in the South China Sea. For six days Blood and a handful of mates floated on a makeshift raft in a sea strewn with corpses and wreckage.

Then came the miracle. Another US submarine appeared out of a rain squall and they were rescued. Burnt by the sun, near naked and starving, covered in stinking fuel oil, weighing perhaps 50 kilograms, Blood struggled to attention on the sub’s foredeck and saluted her captain with proper naval courtesy.

“Ordinary Seaman Arthur Bancroft, Royal Australian Navy. Request permission to come aboard, sir!” he said.

With his war over, Blood returned to Perth, married Mirla and raised a happy family. Every year on the anniversary of his rescue, he would phone the sub’s executive officer in the States, John Bennett, to chat over old times.

He was 91 when he died peacefully in his sleep. Deeply mourned by all who knew him.

smhcarlton@gmail.com

Twitter: @MikeCarlton01

Clarification: The original version of this story said John McGuigan and John Atkinson were from the global law firm Baker and McKenzie. In fact they left in 1998.

Have you fed your household spirits? Word of warning…you might want to think about that!

breathelighter

For more than a week I have certainly been preoccupied. It’s been almost impossible to find even small snippets of available time to post personal updates or spend any significant time visiting others.

Looking back, I think my troubles started while we were still at the beach. I just didn’t acknowledge him.

I’ll explain.

Last week Kate Shrewsday introduced me to the Domovoi. This little house spirit, according to Slavic folklore, serves, among his many roles, as the keeper of peace and order in a home. He typically lives under the threshold, or maybe under the stove, but we didn’t know. Apparently he’s sensitive, and sadly we’ve been ignoring him.

Had we been more aware, we might have benefitted from his potential good will. He rewards a well-maintained household. He likes peace and order, you see. Lately I’ve felt we could work a little harder at that.

Some families…

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Last Wednesday and last Saturday to Sydney by Train

Last Wednesday we were in Sydney. It was a very enjoyable, sunny winter day. We went to Hyde-Park to eat our lunch which we had brought from home. Lots of people were enjoying themselves in the sunshine. How wonderful for office workers to be able to spend their lunch break in beautiful Hyde-Park right in the midst of the city! Heaps of tourists were around too, of course. People took photos of the sculptures around the fountain with St Mary’s Cathedral in the background. Peter and I we took quite a few photos as well. It was a lovely atmosphere with a bit of rather pleasant music provided by someone who had brought along some recordings.

With the recordings he practiced some flute playing.

All the sculptures looked just wonderful in the brilliant sunshine.

Yesterday, on Saturday, we went to Sydney again. The ASSOCIATION FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT had sent us an invitation for a free conference “Henry George: Social Philosopher or Tax Reformer?” at the Sydney Mechanics – School of Arts in Pitt Street. The conference lasted from 10am to 4pm.The speakers were Terry Dwyer, Professor Frank Stillwell, Richard Giles and Ronald Johnston.