Dear Al, A couple of days of silence, not meaning that I have been sleeping for 3 days.... I have just switched to Koala speed.
On Friday I went to the AWM to do some research on aerial pictures of the Battle of Passchendaele. I can assure you that it felt strange to look at pictures with place names indicated, which I know so well. I was probably the only person in the AWM, who could guide you directly to those places. Fact is, that anyone looking at this pictures, would need a guide as the landscape has changed significantly compared to 1917! More research is waiting for me since I have been asked to have a look at the intelligence rapports. Fascinating stuff that is!
Friday proved to be relaxed : e-mails , a bit of laundry and ironing (I finally worked out how to refill that steam iron: by the time I will be leaving Oz, I should be able to run an Aussie household with all it's different buttons and equipment smooth less.), and a lot of chatting with Stacey and Chuck. I still bless the day they walked through the door of Varlet Farm. Less than a year ago, I was in Belgium, telling them that one day, I was going to come down under. Stacey, sparkling as she is, immediately responded by saying: No, no, not "one day", Anzac Day next year, Canberra.... that is when you will be visiting Australia! What a influence this lady has had on my life, but ... no regrets, surely not!
And what a start of the day yesterday! A friendly "good morning" as every day but ... a red rose? I am surely not used to that. Joseph so kindly offered me a red rose at the occasion of mother's day. I honestly can not remember the last time that this happened to me. I felt so touched by this gentle 16 year old boy. And when Aussies say "mother's day" they mean it! Breakfast was being prepared by Chuck (waw... I could get used to that!). Anyone who knows me, also knows how attached I am to my daily bread. Well none of that yesterday morning : pancakes were being served to me. Have to be honest that in size they don't match the Belgian ones. Whatever they are lacking in size though, is more than being compensated by the taste! I soon found out that mother's day comes with rules included: when I planned on doing the dishes, I was kindly, but firmly, being removed out of the kitchen. A lovely way of the males in this family to bring across that they do appreciate the work done by the females. Am I stepping on long toes when saying that some men could take lessons from this????
The next stage of a nicely organised day: a meal in a village in the countryside with the most lovely name: Captains Flat. It proved to be a kind of country pub, which at some stage, worked as a hotel as well. With as many as 24 rooms, I have to admit, I wondered where the guests would be coming from in such a remote (at least to my standards) village. Till I heard that, way back in time, this was a huge mining community. The new owners have already invested a lot although, I was surprised to hear that there is no intention to make the rooms en-suite. I guess that is where both continents differ as well : these rooms would not go down well with European visitors. We have a lovely meal, not to the Michelin level, but charming and plentiful. All in all it proved to be a wonderful day, with lots of chatting, food and wine.
Time to get back to my e-mails. I wonder how travelling without a laptop and WIFI would be like? Although I am sometimes lacking time to keep up with everyone, I can only say that it is wonderful to stay in touch with that many people. All in all, sunny skies in Australia have brought sun in my life as well..
Dear All, This title allows me to walk in any direction. Yesterday evening the largest amount ever in Oz was to be won on the lottery but since this is only for the happy few, and considering that I wasn't born under a lucky star, I decided most wisely not to put in a bet. One of the things that differs me from the Aussies, as endless rows of patiently waiting people were queuing up in front of the shop. One thing is for sure : they can not deny their British backgrounds: when it comes to queuing up, it is an art well mastered.
Time to push my boundaries yesterday, in the literally meaning of the word. So far I had been exploring the Northern part of the city , but that has changed now. The goal was to get to the Royal Australian Mint in the Southern part. In Australian terms: it would be listed as just around the corner, to a Belgian that reads as a bus ride of about one hour (and by know I am ready to swear on the bible that bus drivers have been given a safeguard or at least some of them must have had a career as rally drivers). First part of the ride has become " a piece of cake" by now; as to the remaining part, I was sure that I was going to find that out just as well. I strongly believe there must be some German influence in the society, or does Aussie Gründlichkeit exist too? Fact is that it is quite simple to find your way, as al the information is very well listed. So on the bus, direction of the wedding cake, the pet name for the new Parliament, a very good one I dare say. I assume that the architect was fed up with domes to give a building a certain status. Instead of that, four huge iron beams are reaching for the sky, finding each other high above the roof to form the base of the flagpole. That flag surely beats the stars and stripes, if not with the number of stars, then surely in the amount of square meters.
I was just in time to join in for a guided tour when arriving that the Mint. That is how one learns that the eldest coins were found in a Dutch shipwreck of the 17th century of the West coast. An enthusiastic guide explained the process from the design to the actual production of a coin. However the star of the show proves to be a gigantic robot, whose task it is to empty the drums with blank coins into a counting machine. Until recently this robot proved to be the largest in the world although the most impressive part of the Kuka Titan is the precision and "elegance" (even if this doesn't seem to be the right word to describe a robot). The whole process is highly automated, to that extend that the forklift is driving on it's own as well. The part of the human beings here has been reduced to supervising and... cleaning.
The Mint produces coins that's clear, although in the past they have produced some WW I medals and even some Olympic medals too. Interesting to watch are the "bloopers"... A coin with 2 identical sides? Or what about a coin with the size of 1 dollar but the value of 10 cents. It's human nature : making mistakes...
In the meantime I becomes clear that news is travelling around : a Belgian is visiting our country, giving lectures on WWI . This results in the fact that I am getting phone calls and mails from people I don't even know. I guess word of mouth of previous lectures starts to pay off? Every now and then I pinch myself: is this really happening? Am I dreaming? Even not knowing where this will eventually lead me to ; one thing, I know : no one is going to steal this away from me ever.
I'll stick to relaxing for the rest of the day as I have a lecture for a "demanding " audience tomorrow. Being female (and a bit stubborn, I do claim guilty) I don't want to perform any less that the excellent lecturer of last week. So time to sharpen my knives, getting ready for tomorrows battle.
But before that I will polish up my level of culture as we will attend the presentation of a school play tonight. Joseph, Chuck and Stacey's son, has written and directed one of the plays. I am really anxious to find out what a 16 years old boy can achieve as this young man is dreaming of a professional career as an author of plays. To be continued!
and that is enough chatting for today: I really want to keep the Flemish colours up tomorrow. good night, Charlotte
Dear all, Frustration, frustration.... steam coming out of my ears by now. What I am doing wrong, I wish someone could tell me, but I don't seem to be able to get rid of those funny signs in my blog. None of that to be seen when I am writing my blog, oh no: the technology devil only shows his face when I am uploading my work! Until now, I have always considered myself lucky to have a language orientated set of brain. Today however, I would gladly swap it for a logical thinking one (you might have to live with the language errors instead )
Anyway, those reading my yesterday posting will already have seen that I have given up. Instead of re-writing what I had already written 3 times over, I am moving on to the news of today.
An interesting morning it has been. My first lecture in an Australian school. The first thing that draws the intention is the uniform. Would you believe that youngsters have to wear a tie on daily basis? If that would be a rule in our country, I guess the young boys would trigger off the next revolution. Another most remarkable fact was the fact that the youngsters were wearing a hat while being on the playground. It kind of creates a 1920 atmosphere. When asking why on earth those children were having to wear a hat (that would surely raise opposition in Belgium), I was told that it was to protect them against the sun. I have to add that this is the first day I even haven't seen the sun! Apparently some parents have sued a school because of the fact that their child suffered from sunburn (makes me think of that time that one of my children returned from school suffering from sunstroke as the bus was steaming hot... We simply don't have that set of mind to sue someone straight away).
The school I had to get to was about 5km away but since I had no detailed map of the area, the teacher had given me the advice to book a cab. It wasn't going to cost all that much... Well, I don't quite agree : 14 dollar for 5 km is fairly expensive to me. When chatting with the Irish teacher he claimed that Australian prices are high. Strange, as I am tempted to say the opposite: in relation to Belgium I find the cost of life to be very reasonable. It makes me wonder whether Ireland is that cheap a country to life in?
I had a group of a 100 youngsters to address to... and about one hour time. Where as the first does not present any problem, the second sure does. There is just so much to share and those children were really interested. Anyway, cutting out about half of my presentation, I managed to stick to the set timing (should make a note of that as it must be one of the very first times!). In the meantime I have several more schools to lecture to. Why can't I do this professionally?
Once back home, I considered it to be too late to venture into Canberra, so I have checked my housekeeping skills by doing some cleaning. Never thought that a day would come on which I considerd cleaning to be fun. With Billy Fury songs in the background, I have attacked the carpet and the floor. And no, I haven't forgotten yet how to mop a floor. A reassuring thought as life is more than giving lectures.
Daylight is slowly fading away again: time just slips through my fingers...
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