This post describes some of our activities in February 2019.
First, international events:
NFL Super Bowl #53 was played in Atlanta. The NE Patriots 13 beat the LA Rams 3, the lowest score ever. It was the Patriots 6th Championship win (equalling the Steelers). Evergreen 41 year old Tom Brady prevailed over 23 year old Jared Goff.
On 15 February President Trump declared a "national emergency" to be able to access military funds to build his wall. Courts will determine constitutionality.
As I write this post, President Trump is meeting Chairman Kim Jong Un in Hanoi. Let's hope this Summit has more concrete outcomes than the first one last year ...
Here are photos of some of our activities in February 2019:
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| The annual "winter wonderland" card from Isabel and Roger Banville in Gatineau, Ottawa. We always enjoy Roger's creativity with his camera. We first met the Banvilles in Jakarta in 1972-3 where Roger worked at the Canadian Embassy and I was at the Australian Embassy. Ten years later we met up again, this time in Beijing. Ah, those were the days! |
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| I attended the launch of Tim Fischer's book "Steam Australia - locomotives that galvanised the nation" at the National Library.Did you know that at one stage there were 22 different rail gauges in Australia? Crazy! The first "standard gauge" line connecting Sydney and Melbourne started operating only in April 1962. Mr Fischer ended his talk with a plea for a Very Fast Train between Brisbane - Sydney - Canberra - Melbourne (wishful thinking - our population is just too small). |
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| Me with the author, Tim Fischer AC. He contributed greatly to Australia's public life. We are the same age, born in 1946. He is a farmer and went into politics; was Leader of the National Party (formerly known as the Country Party) from 1990 - 99. He was part of the Coalition which won the 1996 federal election, and served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade 1996 - 99. I had some dealings with Mr Fischer when I managed the Americas Section of AUSTRADE - he was very approachable and knowledgeable, a very good Minister for Trade. He resigned in 1999 to devote more time to his family, but remained active in many areas. Sadly, in October 2018 he was diagnosed with acute mycloid leukemia. A remarkable man, and one of the nicest people around. |
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| We went to a "Summer Sounds" concert at the National Botanical Garden; the band was from the Australian Military College Duntroon. |
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| The lesson provided by Swing Dance Academy was fun (Vera & I can't sit still when good music is on offer!). |
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| I attended the banquet to celebrate Chinese New Year, organised by the Australia China Friendship Society (www.acfs.org.au); start of Year of the Pig. |
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| The President of the ACFS, Carol Keil, welcomed members and guests to the banquet. It was held at the China Tea Club restaurant in North Lyneham. Delicious food, good company. |
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| A poster welcoming the Year of the Pig. |
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| At the CNY banquet one of the ACFS members gave me an old program from Canberra Repertory, of a play staged in November 1971. The main sponsor (advertiser) was Roberts Chemist of Civic - later we got to know his son, Richard Roberts, whose son Tom married our daughter Jennifer. Small world! |
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| The program shows that I was an actor in this play, one of four soldiers. The problem is that I can't recall this play at all. Strange. An explanation may be that, about two months later, in February 1972, I went to Jakarta on my first posting as a Trade Commissioner; and past events were quickly subsumed by the busy and eventful life which followed. |
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| Two big events organised each year by the Australia China Friendship Society (www.acfs.org.au) are the Lantern-making Workshop (basically for children) and the Lantern Festival. The Lantern Festival marks the formal end of the Chinese New Year celebrations, and is usually held 2 weeks after CNY. This year we held it on 23 February, a week later than usual, because Canberra's big Multicultural Festival was held last weekend. Although the Workshop and Festival were two weeks apart I have shown the photos together (below). |
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| About 30 children & parents participated in the Lantern Making Workshop on 10 February. Here Jean Norman is handing out pre-cut kits to kids. |
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| Two of the ACFS Committee members, John Wong and Neil Birch showing lanterns to two participants. |
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Making lanterns, a fun, easy, craft activity. We arranged a full program for the Lantern Festival.  The Lantern Festival is held in the lovely Beijing Garden. We were so lucky, it was a perfect autumn evening.  One of the dance groups rehearsing before their performance. Cute kids.  Part of the crowd watching the performances at the Lantern Festival; we estimated around 900 people attended, mainly families with young children. It was a fun, relaxed evening enjoying displays of Chinese culture.  These were some of the competitors in the "best hand-made lantern" competition.  ACFS members decorated the Pavilion and the Performance Area with lanterns and lights - they looked gorgeous when the sun went down. The final event was a lantern parade around Beijing Garden, led by Lion Dancers and followed by children and parents carrying lit lanterns - a memorable night, especially for kids.  |
I attended the book launch of "Troll Hunting" at the National Library.
Chris Ulhmann interviewed journalist Ginger Gorman for the launch of her new book "Troll Hunting". She was the subject of unsolicited Cyber hate attacks so decided to examine this phenomenon. She claims about 40% of Australian adults have experienced cyber hate on social media.
It's Super Rugby footy time again - yipee - here the Canberra Brumbies played the Melbourne Rebels. We had a narrow lead at half-time, but then the Rebels ran away with the game in the second half (34 - 27). Not the start we wanted. But the following week we thrashed the Chiefs from New Zealand (54 - 17). Go figure???
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| We had a weekend at Broulee, from left: me, Vera, Christine Evans, Paul Flint, David Evans, Neale Emanuel. Walked on the beach, swan in the sea, played some golf, it was a lovely relaxing few days. Our first outing since Vera's diagnosis back in July 2018. |
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| A view of the Moruya Golf Course, green and lush. |
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| Paul and David on the 18th green. For me it was great to be back on a golf course again after not playing for several months. |
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| We caught up with Barbara and Richard Roberts who live at Broulee - lucky sods! |
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| Another book launch, this time at the Asia Bookroom. |
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| Professor James Fox (right) interviewed the author, Prof George Quinn (right). A most entertaining exchange, these two guys are real Indonesian experts. In the last 25 years 'pilgrimages' have become very popular in Java, and big business! |
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| A model of Parliament House made of Lego. I spent a couple of hours there - attended Question Time (it should be renamed "No Answer Time" - just theatre!) and then sat in on a couple of Senate Committees examining Departmental estimates. Brought back memories when I was in the 'hot seat' during my AUSTRADE days. |
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| I had 9 holes of golf at Murrumbidgee Golf Club. From left: Beverley and Tony Butterfield, me, David Evans, Peter Joyce, and Jim Larkey. We used to have a weekly game (at Federal GC) before Vera & I went off to China - we had more hair in those days! It was good to catch up with them again (although my golf was awful!). |
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| Interesting talk last night by Dr Peter McCawley. He described the 7 Presidents of Indonesia: Sukarno 1945-66 ; Suharto 1966 - 98; Habibie 1998 - 99; Gus Dur 1999 - 2001; Megawati 2001 - 04 ; SBY 2004 - 2014; Jokowi 2014 - present . All very different, but all made positive contributions. The next Presidential election will be in April, only a few weeks away; Jokowi, the incumbent, is the favourite but Prabowo is closing the gap. |
Vera got the "all clear" from her Oncologist last week, so life is getting back to normal. It has been quite a journey since the first diagnosis back in July 2018.
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I arrived in Jakarta on my first posting as a Trade Commissioner on 23 February 1972 - 47 years ago this month!
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Read "The Ladies in Black" written by Madeleine St John in 1993. We saw the film recently, which we loved, and I was keen to read the book. Not bad, but the characters lacked development.
The setting was David Jones Department Store (called Goodes in the book) in Sydney in 1959; the main characters were: Lisa Miles (summer job after finishing High School); Fay Baines a shop assistant who falls in love with Hungarian immigrant Rudi; Patty Williams, a shop assistant with a recalcitrant husband Frank; and Magda (from Slovenia) who runs Ladies Gowns and is married to hungarian Stefan.
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Canberra Capitals beat Adelaide Lightning to win the WNBL championship. MVP was Kelsey Griffin, Caps captain.
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Lots of news coverage of the conviction of Catholic Cardinal George Pell for child sex abuse. A jury found him guilty, although apparently it was just the victim's word against his. Appeal pending.
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We discovered a Belgian crime series called "Professor T" - excellent scripting and acting - highly recommended!
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That's it for this post.
Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.
Vera & Alex Olah
Canberra, Australia
28 February 2019
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