Gentlefolk,
This Post describes some of our activities during the month of February 2022.
The contents of this post are in the following sequence:
Photos of our activities during February 2022.
Books.
Some news items which caught my eye in February.
International Trade.
Puns (from friend John Milne).
The Beijing Winter Olympics were engrossing - so many fine athletes and frequent winning margins of less than a second. An unusual case was 18 year old freestyle skier Eileen (Ailing) Gu, who won Gold Medals in Big Air and Halfpipe and a Silver Medal in Slopestyple. She was born and raised in the USA but chose to represent China at these Olympics. She will study at California's Stanford University later this year.
The most dramatic event during February was the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There was a buildup of Russian troops along the Ukraine border, but President Putin always denied that he would invade. Then he did. Stockmarkets crashed, energy prices soared. The US and EU reacted by imposing harsh sanctions on Russia and providing material aid to Ukraine. But Russia is a nuclear power so everyone is, understandably, treading carefully.
Personally, I thought Putin was bluffing; it just didn't make sense for him to invade (negatives outweigh the positives). If he tries to occupy Ukraine it will be a "running sore" (as Afghanistan proved to be for the Soviet Union in the 1980s). Does he want to demonstrate his strength and then withdraw (but he is getting into a fix)? Only time will tell.
In the meantime, the poor Ukrainians are suffering. I feel for them.
Big change in this month's post - no update on the Coronavirus pandemic. We are all over it and just wish it would go away!!!
Photos of our main activities during February 2022.
In CANBERRA:
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| ACFS Dinner to celebrate Chinese New Year, Year of the Tiger, on 1 February 2022. President Carol Keil welcoming members and friends. |
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| Womens Soccer: Canberra United played Perth Glory at Viking Park, Canberra on 5 February. |
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| Final score was 3 each. It was one-all at Half time, then Perth scored two goals to make it 3-1. Canberra got one back to make it 3-2. The final 10 minutes were very exciting, with Canberra attacking and finally scored the equaliser. |
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| The Southern Cross Club Golf Group played at Fairbairn Golf Club on 6 February. The course is looking great after all the rain we have had. It was a stroke event: I got 47 on the first nine and 53 on the second nine for a total of 100. My handicap of 28 gave me a net 72, which was reasonable. |
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| We bought a pack of Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) so that we can test ourselves for Covid. All negative results so far. |
In SYDNEY:
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| We looked after Eddie and Jay while Caroline and Andrew exhibited in the DENFAIR Furniture Fair in Melbourne. |
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| The kids attend Waverley Public School on Bronte Road, which was founded in 1879. Eddie is in 2nd Grade while Jay is in Kindergarten. We dropped them off at school in the mornings and picked them up in the afternoons. It's a busy area and parking is difficult. |
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| The school backpacks look huge on these little kids, especially Jay. |
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| Dropping kids off at Waverley Public School. They look like little Ninja Turtles with those big back-packs. |
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| Caroline and Andrew's new house in Queens Park is taking shape. Caroline has done a great job as project manager - there is much more to building a house than meets the eye. They hope to move in a couple of months. |
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| The garage off the back lane has a self-contained flat on top. |
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| Andrew has joined a soccer team; they play in a local competition on Sunday mornings. |
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| The family played tennis at Alexandria Park and we had lunch afterwards in a local pub. |
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| Andrew and Eddie plaing basketball in the pub beer-garden (with the occasional soccer kick like here). |
In CANBERRA:
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| Back in Canberra, we had afternoon tea with Kaye and Patrick O'Hara before our trip to Queensland. |
In SYDNEY (driving up to Queensland):
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| Our first stop was Sydney, first lunch with Maureen and Les Torok. We stayed with Niniek and Paul Milton who had a dinner for friends. They have a very nice house and garden. ots of delicious Indonesian dishes on offer. |
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| The next morning Andrew played tennis with Eddie on the complex court. |
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| We stayed with good friends Geoff and Albert. They have just moved into their new home in the Palm Lakes over 55s Resort at Forster NSW. |
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| Albert is a great cook! |
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| A view of their living area. They only moved in 10 days agao, but the house is looking very nice already. |
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| Photo taken from their kitchen across to the living area. |
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| Their little garden is taking shape; these guys move quickly. |
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| The next stage of the Resort is under construction across from Geoff & Albert's place. The Resort will eventually have 350 residences, with a big club house and many sporting and leisure facilities.. |
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| With friends Siri and Bob in Nambucca. They got the "Trifecta": attended our wedding in Jakarta in 1973, Jen & tom's wedding in Bungendore in 2002, and Caroline & Andrew's wedding in Bali in 2011. |
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| Nate is now much taller than Vera. Kurt is 192cm, Nate 170 cm, and Sid 162 cm. |
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Dinner at home. From left: Vera, Jen, Kurt, Sid, Tom, and Nate.
This was the healine in Saturday's paper. It was raining heavily when we arrived in Brisbane on Friday afternoon 25 February, and continued until Monday morning (today). We've never seen such heavy and continuous rain - think almost 2 metres of rain in just 4 days??? There was widespread flooding in Brisbane, with over 1,000 roads closed and an estimated 15,000 homes and shops affected.  Grantham is about 100 km west of Brisbane. These dramatic photos show how the river rose in just one hour on Friday. The bridge is clearly visible in the top photo, yet one hour later it is about to be submerged. |
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| Tom & Jen's pool was overflowing and brown. It's a bit hard to tell from this photo, but the rain was really bucketing down. |
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| A view of the driveway from their balcony. Heavy rain. Fortunately their house is up high on a slope, and the water runs off. |
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| Enoggera Dam, about 4 km from their house was overflowing the spillway, a dramatic sight and sound. Tom (in red raincoat taking photos), and Sid with the blue umbrella. |
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| 'Tom the baker' enjoys making sour-dough bread - delicious! |
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| Jen working on a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. All schools are closed today (28 Feb) because of the flooding, so Jen and boys are at home. Tom is also here, as he works from home 2 or 3 days a week. Now that the rain has (hopefully) stopped we did two big loads of washing this morning. |
Books
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In 1858, 14-year-old Narcisse Pelletier sailed from
Marseilles in the French trader Saint-Paul. In Hong Kong they loaded 300 Chinese hopefuls bound for the goldfields of Australia. The ship struck a reef; eventually y For seventeen years he lived with them, growing to manhood - until in 1875 he was discovered by a passing ship which 'rescued' him. The author implies that, had he been given a choice, Narcisse may well have opted to stay with his adopted family. Suffering reverse culture shock, Narcisse made his way back to France. Despite minor-celebrity status he was reclusive; eventually got a job as a lighthouse keeper on the coast of Brtitany. Narcisse died in 1894 aged 50. Author Robert Macklin weaves a tale of a young man caught between two cultures in a time when European settlement spread in Queensland and the brutal 'frontier wars' with the Aborigines. |
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| This book was published in 2010; it featured short stories (all fictional) by 20 rising authors under 40 years of age. Marvellous talent - I admire people who write so well. |
News items which caught my eye during February
2022.
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Global and others |
Winter Olympics were held in
Beijing 4 – 20 February 2022. 2,871 athletes participated from 91 countries.
Norway topped the total medal count with 37, followed by Russian Olympic
Committee 32, and Germany 27. Australia was in 18th place with 4
medals. “Freedom Convoys” demanding an end
to Covid restrictions disrupted Ottawa and transport links to USA. Similar small
demonstrations took place in Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere. Anti-hijab demonstrations in parts
of India. Quad (US, India, Japan, Australia)
meeting in Australia. US Secretary of State Blinken attended. 22 Feb Russia formally recognized Donetsk
and Lugansk, two areas in Ukraine held by rebels since 2014. Sent in ‘peace
keepers”. 24 Feb Russia invaded Ukraine from
North, South and East after weeks of preparation (and denying such
intentions); called it a “Special Military Operation”. The West imposed severe
economic sanctions on Russia and leaders. Germany halted authorization of the
Nord Stream gas pipeline, EU and NATO providing arms. An estimated 400,000
Ukrainians have fled to neighbouring countries. Prince Andrew agreed to an
out-of-court settlement in the sexual assault case brought against him by
Virginia Giuffre. Medvedev replaced Djokovic as
World #1 Tennis player on ATP ranking. Djokovic has held the #1 ATP ranking
for 361 weeks (next is Federer with 310 weeks). He has now admitted that he
is anti-vax, which will limit his opportunities to play. European Court ruled that Poland
and Hungary should lose EU funding as some new laws were contrary to EU legislation. Queen Elizabeth celebrated 70
years on throne; later tested positive for Covid.
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USA
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US inflation rose 0.6% in January
for a 12 months total of 7.5%. US goods (merchandise) trade
deficit in 2021 estimated at $1.1 Trillion of which bilateral goods deficit
with China represented $355 Billion. LA Rams beat Bengals 23-20 to win
the NFL Super Bowl. Remington Arms, which made the gun
used in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre (20 kids & 6 adults killed), settled legal
case for $73 million. President Biden nominated Ketanj
Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court, first African-American female nominee.
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Australia |
Govt considering changing
definition of “fully vaxxed” to 3 jabs (ie including booster). Prime Minister Morrison and
Defence Minister Dutton accused Labor of being “weak on China” (general
election is due soon). Govt shelved its Religious
Discrimination Bill due to dissent in its ranks. Rugby League great Johnny Raper
died aged 82. He won 8 Grand Finals with St George and represented Australia
in 39 tests. Fatal shark attack in Little Bay, Sydney
(first since 1963). Australian border restrictions lifted
for foreign visitors; no quarantine requirement for double-vaxxed.
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INTERNATIONAL TRADE
My 30 year career as an Australian Trade Commissioner gave me an interest in matters related to international trade. I subscribe to Bloomberg's excellent daily newsletter "Supply Lines - tracking Covid-19's impact on trade" (former title 'Trade Matters').
Puns #2 (courtesy of our friend John Milne)
I tried to
sue the airline for losing my luggage. I lost my case.
When
everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
She had a
photographic memory but never developed it.
Is it
ignorance or apathy that's destroying the world today? I don't know and don't
really care.
I wasn’t
originally going to get a brain transplant, but then I changed my mind.
Which
country’s capital has the fastest-growing population? Ireland. Every day it’s
Dublin.
My ex-wife
still misses me. But her aim is starting to improve.
The guy who
invented the door knocker got a no-bell prize.
I used to
think I was indecisive; now I'm not so sure.
Sleeping
comes so naturally to me, I do it with my eyes closed.
What did
the grape say when it got stepped on? Nothing - but it let out a little whine.
