Wednesday and Thursday March 11 & 12, 2009 (diary)

Wednesday another beautiful day here in Adelaide. In the morning I visit Biddy and Peter Tilbrook for coffee. Biddy is Shirley's oldest friend, from way back when they both lived in Cambridge.
Later I drive past the magnificent Marion Shopping Centre and can not help myself buying another 4 T-shirts. The afternoon I spend again chatting with Irene before heading "home". Home for me here is Toni Putnam's place who has a spare bedroom I may use. I take him out to dinner at a nice Greek Cafe in Jetty Road, Brighton.

Thursday I take Irene out for a drive. She has not been out off her unit for a long time. It is again beautiful weather and we have a lovely drive to the old German settlement of Hahndorf, about 30 km SE of Adelaide.
We have a great lunch at the Hahndorf Inn, where I can satisfy my taste for German sausages (bratwurst, knakwurst and weisswurst) with German potato salad and sauerkraut. Well satisfied we return home in the afternoon. We both have enjoyed our trip enormously.

In the evening Toni and I drive into town. First some Oysters Kilpatrick at "The Oyster Bar", then on to the Adelaide Festival Theatre where we have tickets for a performance of the Complexions dance group from New York. A magnificent performance. It is wonderful how this group expands the vocabulary of both physical movements and music, stretching boundaries, moving ahead towards new areas of expression and discovery.

For me this represents a great message. Let us go forward and not lag behind, imprisoned by the past in all aspects of our lives. Especially how we see ourselves as human beings in the world and universe we live in. The old religions and beliefs are holding us back. Our prison guards are dominant backward looking men, afraid to look ahead, blind to the future, desperately trying to hold on cultures and beliefs which do no longer belong to this new era of enlightened search for truth and deeper meaning.

Glancing over the audience in the theatre is quite an eye opener too. It consists for at least 85% of women !! Only a sprinkling of man are scattered through the audience. Partly of course this is a reflection of the old Aussie "Okker culture" which still appears to be alive and well in this country ("ballet is for sissies"), but it reflects something else as well I strongly believe :

It are always the women rather than the men, who are eager to learn and embrace new ways, new ideas. But paradoxically it still are predominantly the lone male individual visionaries who lead the way. I can even see this in the dancing tonight. The female dancers are as brilliant, as expressive as the males. But it are the male dancers which bring true conviction and forward energy to the performance. This is not a result of the choreography. It is their very confident aggressive driving nature.

So what does this mean in the larger context of human progress ?
For every lone enlightened man trying to move the world forward there are a hundred men who are trying to hold him back. History shows this every step of the way. The true visionary always succeed in the long run, but rarely during his own lifetime.

Friday & Saturday March 13 & 14, 2009 (diary)

Friday again a wonderful day here in Adelaide, quite warm in fact. On my way to Brighton I stop at the Cherry Blossom Sushi Bar (next to Foodland in Somerton Park) I remember from last year when I was here. I find my sushi lunch once again very good here. I drive on to say goodbye to Irene, then another visit to Biddy and Peter Tilbrook I promised to demonstrate my laptop to them. They are unfamiliar with computers but on the point of finally buying one.
In the evening we have a dinner get together with the Bridge Club. Very nice. They do this every time I am in town.

Saturday morning I drop off my car at the rental place and Toni drives me to the Airport. He has been a most generous host these past 4 days. It has rained overnight and the morning temperature is cool, but there is a fair bit of blue sky in between the clouds.
I have a smooth flight back to Brisbane (takes just over 2 hours), pick up my car and drive straight back to the Mooloolaba Surf Club. I want to see if Cyclone Hamish has done some damage there. An oil tanker which got in trouble during the storm spilled oil over some of the beaches I heard. In fact there is oil slick on the beaches on either side of Mooloolaba, but its beach has been spared. There is however some erosion damage as result of the heavy seas, right at the spot where I usually swim.

Back at ThreePonds everything is back to normal. Doug has returned from India, but Babette will fly to Sydney tomorrow nigh for a few days. We have a delicious sashimi dinner with some good quality sake. I am early in bed after that.

Sunday March 15, 2009 (diary)

A very quiet day today. It is sunny and warm with a bright blue sky. Cleanup of the oil slick on several beaches is continuing, but at Mooloolaba beach the surfies and swimmers are having a great time. I envie them as I have not been in the surf for almost two weeks now.
My chest cold was still quite bad in Adelaide, but has now almost disappeared, naturally and without the need for antibiotics, which is pleasing. But I will wait another day or so before going into the water again.

There has been a big power failure at the Mooloolaba Surf Club this morning and the kitchen is still closed as a result when I arrive. So no lunch but a glass of beer instead with a cookie. Back home I do my finances and in the evening watch the final episode of Mad Men Series 2 with Doug. Babette has left for Sydney, but will be back Wednesday evening.