Post #183 31 October 2018

Gentlefolk,

This post describes some of our activities during October 2018 (following our return from Bali).

After 3 weeks in beautiful Bali, it was back to reality: rain, wind and cold on arrival in Sydney on Saturday morning 6 October.  Bus to Canberra where the weather was, surprisingly, better than Sydney.

As always, many international events during October - the following caught my eye:

• October was a very volatile month on Wall Street and other stock exchanges around the world;
• The legalisation by Canada of the recreational use of marijuana;
• Venerable old US retailer Sears filed for bankruptcy;
• The opening of the Hong Kong - Zuhai - Macao bridge, 55 km long (including a 6.7km tunnel), cost $28 billion, an engineering marvel;
• Coming 4th in the Mexican Grand Prix was enough for Lewis Hamilton to win his Fifth Formula 1 driver's championship - a remarkable record - only Michael Schumacker has won more (7).

On 20 October a by-election was held for the seat of Wentworth in Sydney; the winner was Dr Kerryn Phelps, an Independent, with an extraordinary swing of 19% against the Liberal (conservative) Party.  The Morrison Government has now lost its majority in the House of Representatives and governs with the support of the 'cross benches' which will make the next few months interesting.

Here are photos of activities in which we were involved in October:

On 9 October I attended a panel discussion on "Update Iran" held at the ANU.  The economic situation in Iran has deteriorated since our visit in April and I feel for the ordinary people. Afterwards we had dinner with Rawee who was also on the tour of Iran and is doing a PhD at the ANU.

Coffee art!!! Don't you love it when the waiters make a special effort?

We caught the end of Floriade, Canberra's annual Spring Flower Show (usually held mid-Set to mid-Oct).  Another wonderful display of flowers, mainly beautiful tulips - see also photos below.

There was entertainment at Floriade too, like this "giant" with his monster-camera. A crowd favorite.

Singer Kim Yang, one of the musicians who entertained the crowd at Florida.

Don't you love to see a family band?  This was the String Family (www.stringfamily.com.au); two cellos and two violins. Father Joel, mother Sarah, son Heath (16) and daughter Ashleigh (14).  They played mainly Irish music - lively and entertaining.

Vera and others watching the band performance. It was actually a fairly cool day, hence the jacket.

A fun activity for kids.

We belong to the Canberra Old Time Dance Club; New Vogue or Sequence dancing.  Good fun.

An interesting lecture at the Australian Institute of International Affairs on the current situation in Thailand.

Lunch on 18 October with friends, from left: Yvonne O'Callaghan, Kerry Dyson, me, Vera, Jim O'Callaghan, and Brendan Dyson.  It happened to be our 45th wedding anniversary. I am holding a photo of Vera & me taken in 1973.

I'm hopeless in the kitchen (blessed with so many wonderful cooks in my life), but it's time I learnt a few basic dishes - the photo is evidence of my new endeavor, serious business. But can an old dog learn new tricks ...?

Paul and Niniek Milton came up from Sydney for a weekend, to see Vera before her operation.  Paul and I had a game of golf at Capital Golf Club, my first game in 6 months because of my knee. Great to get on a course again.

Later Paul and I visited the Australian War Memorial which had a special display of 62,000 hand-made poppies to commemorate Aussie casualties in World War One (to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of WW1).

Paul and I witnessed the "Last Post" ceremony which is held at the closing of the War Memorial every evening at 5pm.

We had breakfast at the Fyshwick Markets; from left: Paul Milton, Heath McMichael, Niniek Milton, Vera, Reno McMichael, me.  We are all Old Indonesia Hands (with the emphasis on Old).

Paul Milton and Heath McMichael at Fyshwick Markets.  Heath works for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; he is fluent in Bahasa Indonesia  and has spent many years in Indonesia.

Met old friends at Fyshwick Markets: Antony and Kham with their two kids Thalia and Ashton. Kham and Vera worked together at People Bank and Kham now runs her own IT recruitment company. We attended their wedding in Sydney (in St Mary's Cathedral) many moons ago.

The Australia Indonesia Families Association (AIFA) invited a speaker from Beyond Blue to give a talk during Mental Health week; the speaker was Andrew Geraghty who kept us all spell-bound; followed by lunch of Indonesian food - delicious!

A photo of some of the attendees at the AIFA lunch.

On 21 October together with Sharon and Ian Loiterton I attended the launch of Fiona Patten's book "Sex, drugs and the Electoral Roll". She has had a most unusual life. Grew up in Canberra, got involved looking after the welfare of sex workers (later worked in that profession for two years), then 4 years ago as a candidate for The Sex Party was elected to the Legislative Council of Victoria (The Sex Party recently changed its name to The Reason Party).

Fiona Patten was interviewed by local personality Michael Moore. She came across as a thoughtful and grounded person ("I am serious, but don't take myself too seriously"). A most entertaining hour spent listening to these two clever individuals express their views on Australian society and politics. When you first hear of Fiona you think she must be a bit of a dodo, but she is actually very sensible. The next Victorian State elections are in 3 weeks - hope she is returned.

Fiona Patten with Ian Loiterton after the launch.  Ian was her Science Master at Canberra High School back in 1979.

The nursing staff of Canberra Private Hospital discussing Vera's recovery after her operation. They looked after her very well - must say, we are lucky to have such good post-op care in Australia.

Our son and his family were visiting friends at the South Coast and popped in for a night to see how Vera is recovering.  Jay-Jay was in Bali with us just 3 weeks ago, but I swear she has changed even in that short time. So cute. 

Jen, Caz, Andrew, Little Eddie and Jay-Jay (obscured) looking at an old photo-album. The kids were intrigued to see images of their father as a young boy.

The ACT Government sponsored a number of "sculptures" along the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. Some interesting works of art.
Spring has sprung - we've had gorgeous weather for the past week or two; warm days, cool nights.

A close-up of this 'man' figure, made completely of rubbish.

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The main event in our personal lives during October was Vera's operation on 24 October; she was in hospital for 3 nights and is making a good recovery. Jennifer flew down from Brisbane and provided great support.

On 9 October we got what turned out to be a scam call.  The lady said she was from Telstra (our internet provider) and that our computer had been hacked; she then passed us to the technical department for rectification.  They were very plausible and it took us some time to terminate the call. We called Telstra and they confirmed that it was a scam; then we had to clean up our computer.  Annoying, but also a good lesson to be super-careful with unsolicited offers of help!

Another highlight was seeing (twice!) the movie "Ladies in Black", set in Sydney in 1959. A fine film; brought back many memories of growing up.

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All eyes will be on the USA mid-term elections on Tuesday 6 November (Wednesday in Australia).  Can the Democratic Party take the House of Representatives? What will happen in the Senate? On the back of a strong economy, the world's greatest showman, Donald Trump, is conducting a very effective fear campaign based on Immigration which, if recent experience in Australia is any indication, will resonate with many people. Tuesday will be fascinating.

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That's it, until we meet again.

Best wishes, stay well and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
Wednesday 31 October 2018