Monday, April 27

I came across a very odd series of connections today.  Researching for a trip to a Japan next year, I found an odd little village in Kyushu called Yufuin which has been built in the style of a village in the Cotswolds.  Why? Who knows!

In the village is a bakery called Kiki's which refers to a 1989 anime film called Kiki's Delivery Service, about a young witch who moves to a small town to start a new business.  Apparently, some Japanese visitors to Tasmania noticed an uncanny resemblance between Kiki's bakery in the movie and the Ross Village Bakery.  Thanks to Facebook, etc, the Ross Bakery now has about 100 visitors every week, making a pilgrimage to see the shop.  The owners have turned an upstairs bedroom into a replica of a bedroom in the movie, and are having trouble coping with the influx of new customers.  I'm sure they can't believe their luck.

Dr Craig Norris at Tasmanian Uni has written a thesis on the phenomenon of people making pilgrimages to sites connected with favourite movies, books, celebrities, etc.  He says, "When we go to these locations we get to live and be excited by a space through the fantasy of them. ". My instinct is to be cynical about the people who indulge in these pilgrimages but Marilyn and I will certainly be in Yufuin next year.

Thursday, April 16

It's my mother's birthday today.  She would have been 94, if she had lived.  It's not a sad day as she had a long life, lived well.

We've just come back from a few days in Hobart where we always feel at home.  We took a drive down through the Huon Valley, where we stopped for lunch at Franklin.  It's been a few years since we were in that area and we're amazed at how much it has grown.  It's the home of the Wooden Boat workshop, of course, and there's still a number of apple orchards doing reasonably well.  We had lunch at a fantastic restaurant called Petty Sessions which is set up in the old courthouse.  The Seafood Linguini was fantastic.

On the way back to Huonville we stopped at an orchard to buy a bag of apples.  They were selling Rubigold, a newly-developed apple with a great flavour.  I looked it up on Wikipedia and discovered it was the result of an accidental mutation which the orchardist cultivated and grafted until they now have a commercial orchard devoted to this fruit.  I've not seen it in the supermarkets yet but it's worth looking for.

Just finished watching a movie called What we Did on Our Holiday with David Tennant and Billy Connolly.  I wasn't sure what to expect but it's a very nice movie with a happy ending.  The stars of the show are three children who are brilliant.

Friday, April 10

Great news this morning: the Doug Anthony Allstars is re-forming after a 30 year break.  Unfortunately, Richard Fidler is too busy with his 'Conversations' program so Flacco will take his place.  My jaw dropped when I first saw them back in the day and I can't wait to see what they come up with this time around.  They say they've made a comeback because our Federal Government gives them such a wealth of opportunities for comedy.