My 2019
Like last year, 2019 began with home renovations well underway. The kitchen is now more spacious and functional and the wooden benchtop is gorgeous. Further details on the website below.On the 1st of March , we picked up Phil and Janice and dad, and drove up to Kalamunda for dinner with Chris and Margaret before going to the Perth Observatory for an open air lecture by Prof Fred Watson on other world volcanoes. We had had minimums of 25 degrees the week before but that night it was very cold, 15 degrees. We took dad to another cold summer night event by taking him to see Robert Redford's Old Man with a Gun at the open air cinema at Camelot in Mosman Park a few weeks later.
The kitchen was more or less finished by the time Anna and Christian turned up mid March for 3 weeks in Perth. I drove them to Cottesloe for a swim and to see Sculpture by the Sea while Suz and Deirdre rode in. On equinox (21st March) I flew off to Melbourne for the annual Wind Energy Forum - with the mountain bike. Details below. I return the day before Anna and Christian come back from a tour of the south west.
Cycling
We continue with the round the river road rides most weeks with the odd extension of lunch at the Kinky Lizard in East Perth. Of note, was a ride up to Burns Beach (85km return) for a meeting in April. This included a nice, new 15km section through coastal dune country. I rode the road bike in the hills a couple of times in February when Suz was away in Vienna. I also manage a mountain bike ride down in Dwellingup with Graham and one Saturday morning I survived a spin with Tim the Merciless out the back of Kalamunda. In June, we managed a ride out to Toc and Tamatha's and back
Easter was mid April and we celebrated with the 40th anniversary of the Life of Brian by watching it at the Open air Luna cinema in Leederville with Deirdre, Phil and Jacinta.
In late April, I rode the Karri Cup again, more uphill than expected, 1500 metre's worth! Not quite as ready, not quite so fit this time. Again, I drove down with Tim and we stayed with other mountain bikers at Quinninup. We stayed a second night in Bridgetown to watch Enduro racing nearby on the Sunday.
Idako and Jim stayed overnight a few times, providing an opportunity to catchup.
In May, we had the Federal election where, unexpectedly, the government was returned with an increased majority. Who votes for these morons? It was a shock win to the conservatives. We just stayed in and watched any TV channel not showing news. The man elected Prime Minister is ScoMo who had actually brought a lump of coal into Parliament to show how harmless it is. With too much of the eastern seaboard on fire because of extreme heatwave conditions after 3 very dry years . . . maybe Australians are now willing to get serious?
In May and in December, we extract honey from the beehive, it now seems to have settled into a 6 monthly routine.
Europe
In order to maximise my German laugage learning, we flew over together for a good 10 weeks. Graham housesat with Maureen joining him from Cambodia at number 7 before he left for other committments. She stayed almost a week after we got back as she had just scored a job in Adelaide, congradulations! Details about Europe below.
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On the first of December, the Berliners came out. The next night, we had dinner with them at Robert and Catherine's place around the back. We had not seen them in years. Both are looking well and appear to be going well. Robert is why Volker came to Perth to study for a year, now 10 years ago? Volker, Anke and Mitja stayed for a week before hiring a camper van to go down the south west. Christmas morning was the beach where I met Bridge, the rest of her family and dad. Later, I caught up with Suz, Toc, Tamathan, Matilda and the au pair for another swim and a late breakfast. Dinner was at Peter and Martina's. Boxing day saw me picking up dad to meet Bridge and her gang to see The Rise of SkyWalker. The Berliners returned on the following Sunday to leave on the 1st of the new year. On the last day of the year, Peter, Martina and Jancinta joined the five of us for a sail on the Leeuwin, followed by a dinner of Marillen Knodel afterwards. |
Book of the year for me was Wilding, a very well written 20 year report on a wilding of a medievel farm on marginal land south west of London. A warts and all account of what was done, why it was done, how it was funded and what the results were over a period long enough to observe even subtle changes. A brave, inspiring and, above all, encouraging read by Isabel Tree. The land had been in her husbands' family for centuries. There is a reference mid way to a 2012 European wide project, Rewilding Europe, of allowing and encouraging large areas of Europe to revert back to wilderness, building on the naturally occuring depopulating of marginal rural areas. So much we read in the news about wildlife is negative and seemingly, all trends are downwards. This is not entirely the case. In Australia we have the excellent work of Australian Wildlife Conservancy (out of Perth) and Bush Heritage Australia (out of Tasmania). Of the latter, Sarah Martin wrote an excellent book of the same name in 2016.
All the best for 2020
Andrew