ABC local radio has become a regular part of our daily routine. We listen to Tim Cox’s talkback show in the morning to get an interesting slant on politics and other issues. His regular callers are a motley crew: Gordon from New Norfolk with a plummy English accent and a sense of always being right, Don from Elizabethtown with his extraordinary Australian slang (jumpin’ kangaroos is a favourite) and Pat from Deloraine who is famous for her collection of garden gnomes.
Tim also has various guests and once a month he has Martin George from the Launceston Planetarium. Martin could talk under wet cement and is very knowledgeable about his subject. Tim always asks him what is worth looking at in the evening sky and this week Martin got very enthusiastic about a particular combination which would be best viewed on Thursday or Friday nights.
At this time of the year, we get a lot of overnight rain so we thought a lot of people were going to be disappointed. Not so! Thursday night was sparkling and, there in the western sky, was what Martin had been raving about.
There was Venus – unmistakeable - above and to the right was Mars, with its rusty tinge, below and to the right was Mercury, insignificant. Below and to the left was the beautiful new moon, with the shadowy full shape visible. Martin was right – it was a spectacular sight and well worth standing out in the cold to see.
Perhaps we were lucky. Within 30 minutes of gazing at the spectacle, the skies clouded over and nothing else in the sky could be seen.
I had a call from Anne, the principal of Giant Steps on Tuesday evening to say that Bill Shorten, Parliamentary Secretary responsible for disabilities, was visiting Giant Steps and would I like to come. I had been trying for some years to attract a significant politician to the school, so I jumped at the chance. With the election coming up in just over a week, politicians take every opportunity to be seen, and might be tempted into making a promise they may not make at any other time. Anne got a commitment from him that he would talk to the Tasmanian Minister for Education about increasing funding for Giant Steps. It may not come to anything but this is a man with some influence and who knows what might come of it.
The talk is that he was one of the prime movers in the plot to replace Kevin Rudd with Julia Gillard. We couldn’t resist asking him about it and he was quite candid in saying that he and others came to the belief that Australian voters were no longer listening to Kevin Rudd and there had to be a change.
Talking about the election, I had applied to work on polling day and received a call this afternoon offering me a day’s work at Deloraine. It’s a long day but I think it is worth about $339. With our big plans for travel, every dollar is worthwhile. When I worked at the polling booths in Wollongong in the 1960’s, I think I earned about $12.
I had an email this week from Kit Reventar in the Philippines setting our some ideas for our trip. On one weekend, she is hosting a reunion for people who worked with her during her year as District Governor. It will be held at her resort on San Miguel Bay and we have been invited to take part. After that, we will travel down to Legaspi to visit the Mayon Volcano. Kit suggests we might go further south to Sorsogon hoping to see whale sharks which frequent the area. It will be a long drive back to Calamba from there so, instead, we will fly back to Manila. We are becoming quite excited about the trip and are counting down the days – only18 more sleeps until we fly to Melbourne to join the big jet to Singapore and on to Manila.
Marilyn spoke to our friend Tony today and heard about big changes in their lives. Their beautiful house in Baranduda, near Albury, is for sale and they will be spending more time at their house at Spencer on the Hawkesbury River. Karen has already given up her job and Tony will finish at the end of the school year. We can’t wait to sit down with them to flesh out the details.
We had sad news this week. A friend of Jamie’s from his time in the Southern Highlands took his own life. He moved to Launceston a few years ago and he and his partner have a young child. We’re told that suicide is on the increase in Tasmania and, in fact, all over Australia but it really means something when it’s so close to home.
This weekend, we are in Deloraine sorting out the clothes we will need for our trips and tidying up the storage and getting rid of a few more unneeded items. We will leave Hadspen caravan park next Friday, after 11 weeks. While we are overseas, the van will be in storage and we will leave it stocked up with what we will need when we get back, especially with clothes for warmer weather. Of course, you can’t guarantee that November will be any warmer than August but we live in hope.
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