Post #163 20 January 2018

Gentlefolk,

This post covers the period 1 - 20 January 2018.

Vera and I will shortly be heading up to Brisbane to see Jen, Tom and the boys.  My next post will describe that trip.

Here are some photos of activities/events in the last 3 weeks:

Reno and Heath McMichael organised a picnic on the evening of New Years Day.  We all brought food and drinks, and spent an enjoyable couple of hours in the Chinese Garden on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin (named after the American architect who drew up the original design of Canberra).  It was a beautiful evening, mild and clear. A nice way to start 2018.

From left: Fiona, Reno, Tieke and Vera.

A Chinese Gate is the focal point of the Chinese Garden.

Vera and I in front of a bronze "Flying Horse", a common statue in China.

This man was feeding sea gulls by Lake Burley Griffin - he had a large and attentive audience!

I attended the funeral of Jack Smith, who died aged just over 100 years.  I met him when I joined the old Department of Trade way back in 1971; Jack was a bit of a legend - a trade policy expert who had served in a number of overseas posts. Actually, I only met Jack a couple of times, but knew his son John Smith.

. Inside Saint Christopher's Cathedral, Manuka, where the funeral service took place; photo shows Jack Smith's coffin and an award he received from the Vatican.  His son, John Smith, was also in the Department of Trade and we became friends; while I knew Jack mainly through his reputation, I attended the funeral to show support for John..

The Roberts family spent two days with us.  They had Xmas with Tom's relatives in Melbourne, and were heading back up to Brisbane.  We had dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant, Sammys.  From left: Nate, Sid, Tom, Kurt, me, Vera, and Jennifer.

Breakfast on our balcony. 

Watching TV in our living room. We checked out the blog they kept when they spent 5 months travelling around Australia (robertstour2014.wordpress.com) - it was fun re-living that amazing adventure with them. The weather was very hot during their visit - max 35C on the first day, and 37C on the second - so we didn't do too much.

Vera saying goodbye to the Roberts family when they left Canberra; they have a big 4 wheel drive and a camper-trailer.  Love camping.  They made good time through Sydney and decided to drive straight through to Brisbane - took them 14 hours to do the 1,300km. Tom did most of the driving, while Jen did some; a big big day.

Birthday celebration for my sister Aniko and my niece Britt. From left: Aniko, me, Davide, Sasha, Britt, Adrienne, Vera, and Peter.  The kids were in the playground.

The group, with kids.

Vera and I went to an exhibition of fashions during World War 1 (1914-8).  It was a horrible horrible war - Gallipoli was bad enough, but a picnic compared to the trench warfare in France and Belgium (freezing winters, mud and slush, dead bodies, continuous bombardment, gas, machine guns decimated frontal assaults).  I've just read a book "Hell's Bells and Mademoiselles" by Joe Maxwell VC, DCM, one of Australia's most decorated soldiers.  He wrote in  1932 "with hindsight it was such a futile, awful war ; so much suffering, for what?"

A nurse's uniform during WW1, one of the many uniforms and dresses on display. One doesn't usually think of women in relation to war, but their service (in many fields) was absolutely essential to the war effort. 

The exhibition featured many panels commemorating daring and resourceful Australian and New Zealand women who contributed to the war effort in WW1.  This panel described the life of Ettie Rout. She introduced sex education for the troops who were in great danger of venereal disease which was rampant; her efforts were finally appreciated by the military, but she was condemned as immoral when she returned to conservative New Zealand. She ended up taking her own life during a visit to the Cook Islands. A remarkable woman, ahead of her time.

A tennis tournament was held in Canberra from 8 - 13 January 2018; men's singles and doubles; a lead-in to the Aussie Open in Melbourne which starts next Monday. We watched a singles game on Wednesday, and the final of the doubles on Friday evening. 

The final of the Men's Singles was played on Saturday morning; Andreas Seppi (Italian) beat Marton Fucsovics (Hungarian) in two hours and 16 minutes. Good game, high standard. Seppi was just a bit more composed and handled the blustery conditions better.  Both players are in the Australian Open and flew down to Melbourne after the game.

The two finalists with the officials and ball boys & girls. They are all volunteers - the tournament couldn't run without them.

The winner, Andreas Seppi on the left with runner-up Marton Fucsovics on the right. I heard from my friend (and keen tennis player) Denes Hunkar that Marton is #1 in Hungary. He is a tall, strongly-built, handsome lad (I kept thinking he would have made a great Hussar, with flowing moustache and fancy uniform and sword!).

The ACT Government has 3 houses to show Canberra's early development; one is Calthorpe's House on Mugga Way, Red Hill (built 1927).  We've been meaning to visit, and finally did so on Sunday 14 January. Very interesting to see furniture and fittings which were in vogue almost 100 years ago.

The National Library of Australia has an extensive Chinese collection, including many propaganda posters from the Mao era 15 of which are currently on special display.  On 16 January the Australia China Friendship Society arranged a special tour of the poster exhibition.  

Our tour guide was Zheng Bing who works for the NLA. She explained that posters were a common way for the PRC government (Communist Party of China) to motivate the masses.  Socialist realism - happy, strong workers and peasants leading the way to the utopian socialism.  Mao was such a dominant figure in China, especially during the Cultural Revolution period (1966-76); no one was willing to question his ideas for fear of retribution.

Children writing criticisms of Lin Biao and Confucius. Lin Biao had been Mao's right hand man but they fell out and he died in a plane crash. He was then regarded as an enemy of the people.  Apparently Lin Biao admired Confucius so Confucian ideas were also criticised (which was in line with Mao's anti-traditionalism). The kids all look healthy and happy, but reality was probably very different.

A poster of Mao in a wheat field, exhorting farmers to work harder and expand production.  Mao collectivised agriculture in the mid-1950s but his policies had the opposite effect resulting in a disastrous famine (some commentators say 30 million or more died from hunger in 1960-61).

A poster to encourage raising of pigs.  Mao loved pork, and pork is still the most popular meat in China. The village and market depicted in the poster look rather ideal, don't they?

A girl inspired by writer Lu Xun (in background).  Lu Xun was a strong critic of feudalism and traditionalism, and one of Mao's favorite authors.

Dinner with friends at our favorite restaurant, Sammys Chinese Kitchen. From left: Greg Mills, me, Vera, Shana, Mariati, and Marco.

Music at the National Portrait Gallery last night.  

I want to show the Xmas card sent by Isabel and Roger Banville of Gatineau/Ottawa, Canada.   Every year Roger takes a "winter scene" and makes it into their Xmas card.  He is a talented photographer - this reproduction doesn't really do it justice.

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That's it for this post.

My next post will describe our trip up to Brisbane, and back.

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In early January the Dow Jones Index broke through 25,000.  Incredible - can it last?  In mid-January Apple announced that it would repatriate about a quarter of a trillion dollars to the States, giving the stock market another boost.

The recreational use of marijuana was legalised in California, America's largest State (by population).

Tomorrow will be the first anniversary of President Trump's inauguration.  What a roller-coaster year it has been.  He is an enigma.  The Washington Post calculated that President Trump made 2,000 false or misleading statements during his first year in office - incredible - the media calls him out but he doesn't seem to care - calls his views 'alternative facts' - and just continues on his merry way.

China's GDP/economy grew a strong 6.9% in 2017. China released its foreign trade statistics for 2017, showing a goods surplus of US$275 billion with the USA; Trump didn't react - he still needs China to handle North Korea - but I don't think we've heard the last of this.

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Some notable Aussies who passed away in 2017 included:

Les Murray (71). His family came from Hungary in 1956; Les became the face/voice of football/soccer in Australia.
Betty Cuthbert (79). She won 4 Olympic gold medals in sprinting.
Mark Colvin (65). TV and radio journalist with distinct voice; he got sick covering events in Africa.
John Clarke (68). Wonderful satirist and humorist; took the mickey out of everyone!

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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Vera and Alex Olah
Canberra, Australia
Saturday, 20 January 2018