Monday, February 25th .....

Wow!  I have found a terrific app for my iPad called ebuzzing.  It appears to be just another site showing youtube videos and so on but, when you dig a little deeper, it has great stuff.  I looked at a UK magazine site and found a series of articles on ephinenon (the science of religion and non-belief).  In it, there is a report on why religious people have a problem with outsiders (apparently Christians are more likely to be hostile to others whom they perceive as being outside their group).

The article that I found most interesting was a report on a study which investigated the claim that people on the autism spectrum were more likely to be atheists than neuro-typicals.  The base results were clear – people with ASD are less likely to believe in God than the rest of us.  But the analyses went further. The researchers also asked about empathy, using questions like “I often find it difficult to judge if someone is rude or polite” and “I am good at predicting how someone will feel.”

And, they found that empathy correlated with belief and that a lack of empathy correlated with a lack of belief.  So how does having empathy encourage belief?  Well, brain imaging studies find that when highly religious people engage in personal prayer, they use the same parts of the brain as they would when talking to a personal friend. 

“So it seems that an essential part of a belief in a personal God is the ability to relate to it as a personal friend.  It perhaps then isn’t surprising that people whose minds don’t work that way are less likely to believe.”

Ebuzzing also has a high tech section but one of the articles here was called “10 things Apple totally messed up.”  What a waste of energy.  Everyone knows that Apple is perfect and only those of limited intellect would try to dig out information on their so-called mistakes.

Saturday, February 23rd .....

I had thought that our sleeping patterns would get back to something like normality when we came home but we're still sleeping in until 9 o'clock most mornings and then taking another hour to have breakfast. Still, if there is something pressing to be done, we wake earlier. Clearly our body clocks can adjust themselves to suit our changing lifestyles.

It's been a busy week overall. I had meetings on three evenings and each one took some preparation. I'm getting my head around the Craft Fair organisation again and starting to tick off what needs to be done at this stage. Entries have started to roll in already.

It's only six weeks until I leave for the UK and I suppose I should be tying up all the loose ends. Flights are booked, travel insurance is in place and I'm now looking at the logistics of getting from one place to another. Train seems to be the most interesting option from Heathrow to Glasgow when I arrive - tube from Terminal 4 to Kings Cross, short walk to Euston and Virgin Express to Glasgow. I know I'll be tired but I love trains and it will give me a chance to see some of the countryside on the way.

I'll hire a car for the trip up to the East Coast and I'll continue on from there for few days in the highlands. Somebody has put me on to the Travelodge chain of cheap hotels. They're not like our Travelodge; they're more like Formule 1, but only about $30 per night. Sounds good to me.

I'm getting quite excited about the trip. It will be funny travelling without Marilyn but I know she would find the long flight difficult and that would spoil it for her. Maybe another time we will find a ship which will take us to Europe in comfort. The Dawn Princess, leaving on July 13th, will take us to Venice for $5000, but we can't afford the time this year. If there's something similar in 2014, who knows.

Today's program includes blackberry picking. It's very windy but warm; couldn't be better.

Tuesday, February 19th .....

I’m home alone today: Marilyn is baby-sitting Freya and Jamie is in hospital having several hernias repaired.  I’m not particularly motivated to work and there’s not really very much I can do anyway.  I’ve spent the morning researching details for my trip to Scotland – trains, accommodation etc – but, again, there’s not much I can do at this stage.  I leave on April 7^th and will arrive back in Australia on May 9^th.  So much to do and so little time!

The birds outside the window are fighting over the seeds which Jamie throws out each day.  We had an encounter with some wildlife last night.  Occasionally, we see a wallaby feeding  on the grass around the house.  It’s been very dry lately but we try to keep a little bit of green and have had the sprinklers on.  I think the animals are attracted to the green grass.

I was outside after dark, trying to catch sight of the Lunar Occlusion of Jupiter when I became aware of a wallaby grazing just a few feet away.  I gently opened the door of the caravan to get Marilyn to have a look.  By the time she popped her head out the creature was snuffling my leg and then made a bound into the caravan.  Marilyn let out a shriek, I bounded in after it to shoo it out but it shot down the side of the bed.  It looked just like a giant rat, which is why Marilyn had the vapours.

Eventually, I herded it out but it hung around the door looking for a handout.  It took a biscuit from my fingers, ate it, and then wandered off to find some more grass.  I’ll bet it comes back tonight so It looks like I’ve got another scrounger to feed!

I managed to catch Q&A today but I’m getting more irritated by it.  It was another Christian v Atheist debate, and more sophistry from the token liberal talking about the Carbon Tax.  I really get annoyed when the Christian spokesperson talks about Christian ethics as if they have a monopoly on morality.  How can they overlook the dreadful damage that’s been done in the name of Christianity for the past 2000 years and we’re still hearing more and more incidences of abuse of children by Christian priests.  And, surely, the Carbon Tax debate has run its course. Move on!  We want to know what the Liberals will do about the crisis in our state schools, and supporting our local farmers and so on.  One comment which did disturb me was that at least one state school in Queensland is apparently teaching Creation Science as an alternative to evolution.  You’d better get on top of that, Mr Newman, if it’s true.

Sunday, February 17th .....

One of the highlights of my birthday was the reading of my birthday poem.  Jeff – ‘poetry on demand’ – has the wonderful gift of being able to write pertinent verse with a delightful touch of humour.  My poem has 19 verses so I won’t reproduce all of it here but I can’t resist sharing the first and last verses and a couple of the more complimentary from the middle.

There is a blogologist of some renown

Who hails from Tasmania, in Dilston Town.
Or, at least, that’s where we got to know him.
His life is so full, some would say to the brim.

He was born long ago, some three score years and ten
In the land of the kilt, in a time back when
Many families were uprooting their past
Migrating to Australia, a land so vast.

On to Wollongong High, where the smart kids went.
He knuckled down there, his time was well-spent.
He played some sport, the usual things,
A good high jumper, in his legs he had springs.

John took to teaching like a man possessed
Teaching in many states to follow this quest
From Hobart to Townsville and some in-between
As a teacher and headmaster, he was keen.

John  has an information obsession
Adding an iPad to his growing collection
He confesses to being an iPad nerd
At seventy, some might say that’s absurd.

John is a man of many talents, for sure
A gentleman, good husband and father and more
If you can say John calls you his good mate
You can consider yourself lucky, but wait …

There is one thing that I’d like you all to do
Please charge your glasses and stand up from your pew
Happy Birthday, John, may your future be bright
We all admire you greatly, we think you’re all right.

© Jeff 10-2-2013

The last poem I had written about me was at our High School graduation in 1959.  Everybody’s place card had a couple of lines of doggerel written by somebody on the organising committee.  At that time I affected the latest fashion of desert boots with ripple soles.  (What was I thinking?)  The poem went thus:

He rides the waves of rubber, around the school he scoots

If John Christie had a family crest, ‘twould be of desert boots.

Of course, I much prefer Jeff’s and will treasure it.

Saturday, February 16th .....

We came home to a mass of emails, most of them rubbish but a few that needed attention.  One, in particular, made me think. 

Hello ,

To help raise awareness and build relationships across cultures, you have been enrolled in the Cultural Awareness course …..

 What?  Have I been transported back to 1984?  Is Big Brother watching me?  Have I been dobbed in for slagging off pommies and making fun of the kiwi accent?  To make matters worse, it came from some group called People Development and Strategy/People Services Branch.  If that doesn’t make you think of George Orwell, what would.

 However, it turned out to be a mistake.  Yesterday, I received an apology from the Australian Electoral Commission that I had been enrolled by mistake.  What a relief: I’m not good at playing Politically Correct games.

We’ve hardly heard any news for weeks and I confess my blood ran cold when I read the report on the Man Who Shot Osama bin Laden .  I might be an old lefty school teacher, but I can’t help but feel despair when I think of the sort of society we have developed where young men are trained to shoot on sight.  The language used frightens me. ‘That’s him, boom – done! I shot him two times in the forehead.  Bap! Bap!’  That’s the way that Batman comics are written.  It’s horrifying.  The report says that the young man has resigned from the navy, missing out on his pension, because he doesn’t want to carry a gun anymore.  I wonder what the bloodthirsty rednecks in America think of that.

I should say a quick word on my birthday party.  As I’ve said, I would prefer to let my birthday pass un-noticed, but this one was great.  Our friends Sandra and Jeff had gone to no end of trouble.  I had particularly asked for no gifts but will enjoy the bottle of red from Mudgee that Anne and Alan gave me and was touched by the reproduction, hand-made by Jim, of an illustration from Voices, a book of poems we used at Chakola in Kangaroo Valley in the late-1960s and 70s.  The particular poem illustrated was My Father by Ted Hughes.

Some fathers work at the office, others work at the store,
Some operate great cranes and build skyscrapers galore,
Some work in canning factories counting green peas into cans,
Some drive all night in huge and thundering removal vans.

But mine has the strangest job of the lot,
My father's the Chief Inspector of - What?
O don't tell the mice, don't tell the moles,
My father's the Chief Inspector of HOLES.

 

Sunday, February 10th .....

Today is my 70th birthday. It’s extraordinary to think of all that has transpired in those three score years and ten, especially when we are currently in Wollongong where I spent so much of my childhood. I made my bookings yesterday for my trip to Scotland and I know I’m going to be bombarded by more memories when I arrive there more than 60 years after I left.

I’m not one for parties and always feel uncomfortable when I’m the ‘birthday boy’ but there will be a little get-together around lunchtime to mark the occasion. Marilyn made it clear that there were to be no gifts when she invited people because I am just going to enjoy the food and the company. We met a couple of the train down from Sydney on Friday and he was telling us about his surprise birthday party. There were 200 there and he said he had received 39 bottles of Scotch, Bunnings vouchers and so on. When I heard that I wondered whether we had been a bit hasty in insisting on no gifts. 39 bottles of scotch?

The last couple of days on the ship were great. The highlight of Thursday was the first, and only, performance of the Princess Pop Choir. Somehow a crowd had gathered in the Atrium to hear us and we seemed to go over very well. The Eye of the Tiger brought the house down and the Bee Gees medley was a triumph.

This cruise was probably the most enjoyable we have had. We certainly had nothing to complain about. The crew were delightful, the passengers behaved themselves and the whole experience was positive. We’ve now been upgraded to Platinum status with Princess which will give us some extra benefits on future cruises, including free internet access.

We had no problem in getting off the ship at Circular Quay. By 9.30 we had disembarked, got the train to Central and were on the train to Wollongong. There’s nothing worse than hanging around at the end of a voyage when you’re keen to get on to the next stage. We’ll be back in Launceston mid-week and into the familiar routine.

Thursday, February 7th .....

Melbourne, yesterday, turned on the hottest day of our holiday: they predicted 37o and I think it reached that by 10am. The Princess Patter which is delivered to our cabin each night gives us predicted temperatures for the next day but they are a joke. For Melbourne, they suggested it might be 19o ; if we had believed that, we would have carried a jacket each. As it was, we were caught a bit unawares and started a walk along the beachfront at Port Melbourne before the intensity of the heat and sun dawned on us (a bit of a pun there, I’m sorry).

We didn’t bother to head in to the city and retreated to the ship’s air-conditioning to spend a relaxed afternoon before the hordes arrived back from there excursions. There was a bit of activity during the afternoon. All the tables and chairs on the Pool Deck were being replaced. It took many hands to carry off the glass-topped tables and metal chairs and replace them with brand-new ones. While this was going on, another gang was setting up for the ‘Ultimate Deck Party’ which would kick off at 9.30, after everyone had eaten.

We usually avoid Deck Parties but everybody on board is older than we are and we couldn’t imagine they would have the energy to get up to too much mischief. In fact, it was a terrific party. The resident band is called Evolution and have two terrific singers. The girl, Sandra, has the voice of a diva and the DJ played a video of Whitney Houston with the sound off while Sandra sang the vocals – better than the original. There was dancing – Nutbush City Limits, Gangnam-Style and traditional Rock ‘n’ Roll. The entertainment crew is fantastic and kept bopping until the early hours.

We left by 11.30; we need our sleep.

This afternoon is the long-awaited performance of the Princess Pop Choir. We’re a bit worried about the Bee Gee’s medley but no doubt it will be OK once we’re on stage. Thankfully there are about 35 in the choir so we can hide if we need to.

Tuesday, February 5th .....

I’ve mentioned before that the food is one of the highlights of a cruise on the Diamond Princess. The buffet is open from 5am till 11pm and there’s always something interesting on the menu. Some days, there will be a carvery or Asian soup on the pool deck and you can always get a pizza or a hot dog. Occasionally, there will be a Pub Lunch in one of the dining rooms.

The four dining rooms serve the same menu at dinner but they each have an individual theme. We’ve been going to the Vivaldi and feel comfortable there. Tonight was Formal Night and our waiter had hinted there would be something special on the menu. And there was. I started with Tian of Crab, Scallop and Shrimp with caviar and papaya dressing. Fantastic! There were two kinds of caviar: the large one like salmon roe and a fine, orange one. The waiter said it was Goldfish Roe. Huh! Could this be true? How would they collect it? It must have taken a dozen goldfish to produce the serving that I had. I had visions of sweatshops in China where they employ children to squeeze thousands of goldfish, all in individual bowls, to collect the tiny dribbles of eggs to send to wealthy Americans looking for a new taste experience. Or the waiter (from Thailand) might have got the name wrong and meant to say Golden Caviar. I prefer the first idea.

Then I had Goat Cheese and Apple Soup with Grape Tempura. It was described as chilled goat cheese, honey and yogurt cream with crispy grapes. It was the winning dish at the 3rd annual Bacardi bartender and chef cruise competition, and it certainly deserved to win.

For the main course, we had Lobster Tail and King Prawn. Each night we have a choice of 4 appetizers, 5 soups and salads, 2 pastas, 10 main courses and 8 desserts. And it’s all included in the fare. For an extra $25 you can go to the Sterling Steakhouse or Sabatini’s, but why bother.

We’ve given the entertainment the flick tonight and going to bed early. It’s Melbourne tomorrow and we’ll get off to walk around the town. Then it’s a leisurely cruise up the coast for a crack-of-dawn arrival in Sydney on Friday.

The Akaroa Story

This morning we had breakfast with an Australian couple who told us what had happened to them on a previous cruise. They had decided to fly to Los Angeles to sail on the relocation cruise of the Diamond Princess to Australia. On the voyage, the ship called in to Akaroa in New Zealand which is just a little town of about 400 people. There’s no appropriate berth so the ship anchors out in the deep water and it’s about a 25 minute tender ride to the jetty. The weather wasn’t too good but the captain decided he wouldn’t disappoint the passengers who wanted to go ashore.

Unfortunately, the weather turned nasty and the tenders weren’t able to pick up the passengers to bring them back to the ship. The Princess crew on shore organized the passengers to gather in the local school gymnasium and allocated whatever space was available in local inns, etc. When these ran out, local people turned up and offered overnight accommodation in their homes. The couple we spoke to had a nice room with an ensuite and were delighted. Two ladies also came to the same house. Their husbands had gone back on an early boat which beat the bad weather.

The sad thing was that many Americans refused to go with the locals and demanded ‘proper’ hotel accommodation so Princess organized buses to collect them and take them to Christchurch, almost 2 hours away. The buses didn’t arrive until 10.30pm and the captain decreed that everybody had to be ready to leave at 7am, in case the weather improved. So the precious group only had about 4 hours sleep and had to get back in the buses at 5am. As it happened, the weather didn’t improve until mid-afternoon.

Those who had stayed with locals had a comfortable home to relax in, and many residents took their guests on tours of the area while they were waiting. The ones who had insisted on going to Christchurch had a very boring time.

It seems to me to be an excellent example of the Anzac spirit. I’m sure Australians would have responded in the same way if the tables were turned.

Monday, February 4th .....

Entertainment was a bit of a mixed bag last night. In the theatre they had advertised a musician and comedian called Bayne Bacon. It’s my real name, he said, you couldn’t make up a name like that. He was a big man, from Texas, bald but with a luxuriant pony tail at the back. He told a couple of mildly-amusing jokes (George W Bush was stopped for speeding. Do you have any ID? asked the policeman. What about? asked George. Apparently a play on the way Texans pronounce idea.)

He then pounded the piano through a ten-minute medley of Andrew Lloyd Weber, told a couple more weak jokes, played a ferocious Beatles medley, gave us some words of wisdom (No matter how much money you have, the size of your funeral is mostly dependant on the weather.) The audience loved him, standing ovation and all. Ho hum!

There was another tired Aussie in the Lounge, doing impressions of Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Forrest Gump, etc. Again, the Americans thought he was brilliant. An impression of somebody who’s alive might have been worthwhile. By this time, we were just about ready for bed but hung on for the Evening Quiz – Lyrical Trivia. They played part of a song, showed three options for the next line, and scored accordingly. Harder than it looks; the winner got 26 out of 30, we weren’t close. Still, the most entertaining thing all evening.

The sea had been rough all day so we anticipated it would not get better overnight – and it didn’t! At one stage, I thought we had run over a submarine, but it was probably one of those free-floating containers you hear about. It wasn’t helped by a little incident at about midnight. We heard something fall, and then running footsteps. Our imagination filled in the gaps. However, we survived the night and are now docked in Hobart.

We went off to send home a parcel, have lunch at Mures and get a couple of bottles of Sauvignon Blanc. The ship only carries one NZ sav blanc, and they’ve run out. They won’t get the next shipment until Melbourne so we have obtained some emergency supplies to keep us going. It’s Italian Night in the Vivaldi Dining Room tonight and the menu looks terrific.

Saturday, February 2nd ,,,,,

Friday - It was another glorious day for our cruise through Fjordland. It’s amazing how New Zealand has turned on terrific weather for us but we always seem to encounter bright clear days, especially when we sail into Milford Sound. We sailed into Dusky and Doubtful Sounds first but Milford dragged all the passengers to the upper decks to experience the highlight of the trip.

Nobody was disappointed. Perhaps there could have been more waterfalls but that wasn’t to be. We had to drag ourselves away for Choir Practice and by the time that had finished, we were back on our way to the ocean for the crossing to Hobart. We didn’t bother with dinner and just grabbed some roast chicken and soft rolls to eat on the deck.

Lunch had been particularly nice. They had an Asian Soup Station (which I had expected days before); we lined up, took the doings: various shredded vegetables, noodles, rice, pickled ginger and so on; the chef dropped them in a pot of miso or chicken soup, cooked it for a couple of minutes and then sloshed it in to a bowl for us. Fantastic! It’s these little touches which make Diamond Princess such an enjoyable ship.

The evening entertainment was not to our taste. Scott Davies claims to be an illusionist: a few card tricks and escape from a strait jacket. Pretty ordinary stuff. We then joined Sammy Goldstein, playing the piano, with a Tribute to Broadway Showstoppers. It was pretty standard stuff until he threw in a song called My Dad from a show which Sammy reckons will be on Broadway very soon. If My Dad is any indication of the quality of the show, it will sink without a trace. Sammy accompanied the song with slides of his father, wedding photo, off to the army, playing football with the kids – totally vomit-making.

We were pleased to head off to bed a bit earlier than usual.

Saturday - We created a new record this morning and didn’t get out of bed until 10.15 (am, that is). By the time we showered, it was pointless having breakfast so we just had coffee and went straight into a Pub Lunch – breaded prawns and chips with Wine Trifle to follow. We fiddled around for the afternoon, which included a trip to one of the restaurants to go through immigration. When we were pointed to one of the immigration officers, she said, I know you. You’ve got something to do with autism. It’s just as well I was travelling on my own passport and was with my own wife. Things could have got sticky.

The highlight of today was the iPad Lovers Get-together. I was too timid to go on my own so we both went and it was a terrific forty minutes. The Assistant Cruise Director, Dan, had lots of tips and tricks to pass on (too fast for me in some parts) and there wasn’t a nerd in sight. I know I shouldn’t be surprised but the Tweeners and Baby Boomers have taken to technology in a big way. Tweeners, by the way, are those of us born between 1935 and 1945. Baby Boomers were all born after WW2.

Another average show in the Theatre tonight but followed by a cracker in the Explorer Lounge. One of the entertainment staff, Jamie Clarke, had his own show singing songs by Sinatra, Buble and Diamond, though the best for me was his version of Adele’s Someone Like You. This fellow is a star! We’ve come across him a bit because he leads our choir and has taken some of the trivia sessions.

The late-night quiz was about Geography. We were shown pictures of world cities and had to identify them. The winner got 19 out of 25, and we scored 13 (which is more than half!) There were five in our team, not including the Trivia Queen and her long-suffering husband, who haven’t been around for a couple of days.

We put our clocks back tonight so we get an extra hour’s sleep. I’m sure we’ll put it to good use. Another day at sea tomorrow, and Hobart on Monday.

Thursday, January 31st .....

We were looking forward to arriving in Port Chalmers because we had arranged to visit an old friend from our time at Chakola, the Outdoor Education in Kangaroo Valley. In fact, we worked out that we had last seen Carolyne when she visited us in Hobart around 1977. Since then, she had moved to Scotland, re-married and finally moved back to New Zealand a few years ago.

It is always good to talk over old times and we were pleased to see her again and to meet her husband, Duncan.

We were back on board in time for Afternoon Trivia, which our team won, again. Earlier, we had been talking to one of the crew and commented that we hoped to win the trivia; he said, Oh, you won’t win. Mr and Mrs King always win. Hmmm! We went anyway but have decided that will be the last time. We found out that the Trivia Queen keeps copies of all the questions and studies them. For goodness sake, it’s called trivia for a reason.

Sailing out this evening we passed the famous Royal Albatross rookery. There were several birds nesting and lots more hovering about the foot of the cliff and diving for fish. We noticed a couple of black and white birds around the wake of the ship and identified them as Cape Petrels, our first sighting of this species.

The evening’s entertainment in the Princess Theatre was Piano Man. We’ve seen the show before but the troupe on the Diamond Princess seems to lack the spark we’ve noted on other ships. The two female singers are ‘belters’ and have an unpleasant edge to their voices. The men are better but have to stretch to keep a balance with the women. The late-night game show was much better fun. It was called The Liar Club. Three panelists were given a word to define; one was correct, the other two were lying, but very effectively.

One of the crew members taking part is called Melvin, from the Philippines. He’s as camp as a row of tents, and everyone loves him. The assistant cruise director is called the King of One-Liners and peppers everything he says with ‘witty comments’. It’s great to have a hearty laugh before bed-time.