ianbee: this is instead of getting a dog

Curl Curl beach, earlier today, a bit stormy.

Sydney Harbour Regatta

 

Lily's Cottage

In February I made a short trip to Tasmania to visit a Scottish friend who was moving back to the UK. We went and stayed in a place called Lily's Cottage which is up the East coast. It was a stunning location and I particularly enjoyed being able to sit with my breakfast on the veranda watching a pod of dolphins swimming off shore. It was an eco-cottage; all wood burning stoves, outdoor sinks and compost toilets. It seemed to be built out of the left over bits of other cottages, held together by children's drawings, interesting shells and candle wax. The bath was in the garden, literally sunken into the flower bed. You had to feed the fire with logs for a few hours to heat enough water for a star-lit soak. I would go back in an instant, it was great.

 

Unfortunately I'm not sure they'd have me back as the car-hire company gave me a double-upgrade so rather embarrassingly I arrived at the hippy retreat in the biggest gas-guzzling 4x4 I have ever driven.

Shakespeare in the Park

I've got a bit of catching up to do, some things to tell you about from earlier in the year that I didn't get around to posting before I went back to Britain. In the meantime you'll be pleased to hear I have got rid of the moths.

There's a bandstand a few minutes from my flat, and every weekend in the summer they have Shakespeare productions. You take a rug, and a picnic and sit underneath the stars with the bats from the trees flying over your head.

It's so close to my house that if I left the window open on a still and humid Saturday night the last thing I heard before I drifted off to sleep was a blood-curdling scream followed by the exclamation; "A plague, on both your houses!".

I went twice, both times with my friend who used to be a vegan but isn't any more (yay!). There was another time I tried to go but it was raining and it hadn't occurred to me it would be cancelled. In Britain we don't mind sitting in the rain for a bit whereas Australians run and hide at the slightest drop. I turned up in full waterproofs only to find the bandstand deserted apart from the obligatory stray dog.

Reclaimed by nature

If you left your house in Britain for a few weeks you'd get back to a slightly musty carpet smell. If you leave your house in Australia for any length of time, it gets reclaimed by nature. Spiders, ants and moths have all moved in. If I had stayed away any longer I think the walls would have crumbled and I would be standing in an overgrown ruin, no doubt having just startled a deer.

My Britain, for the benefit of Australians

   

Time Lord

So I'm just beginning the long journey from Edinburgh to Sydney. Something strange has happened that I can't get my head round. When I came back to the UK there was an eleven hour time difference. Then Britain put it's clocks forward an hour, and New South Wales put it's clocks back an hour. So when I arrive back it Sydney on Sunday, the time difference will only be nine hours.

I know I lost an hour when the British clocks went forward, but what happened to the other hour? It's like I've been taken out of time, maybe to commit some great untraceable act of historical significance. Am I an hour older than the equivalent control-group Ian who stayed in Australia? Does international travel around the British Summer Time changeover disrupt the fabric of space-time thingy? It's all a bit wibbly wobbly timey wimey ...