Wednesday - Friday, February 16 - 18 2011 (diary)

Wednesday another very pleasant evening of bridge playing with Kim Schlecht (we came first this time and are improving) at the Sunshine Coast Bridge Club. I must confess, after many years of chastising ABF (Australian Bridge Federation) associated bridge clubs for their unpleasant ("knives on the table") attitude, I found bridge at the Sunshine Coast and at several clubs in Adelaide most pleasant environments to play bridge in. So I will be more positive in my future recommendations about them.

I also met Wednesday evening (after 32 years) old friends, David and Shelagh Graham, at the bridge table, who were bridge students of mine way back around 1977 on Bougainville Island (NE of Australia in the Pacific ocean).

Thursday, an evening I had been looking forward to, dinner with my friend Malveen White at (where else?) Restaurant Chez Claude. No matter what you say, in my experience this got to be the best French restaurant at the Sunshine Coast. Good value (a 3-course dinner for $38.50) of supremely good food. The wine too is a delight, and I am getting hooked on his Kir au Cremant d’alsace (with a dash of Raspberry liqueur). It is pure Heaven (certainly for an atheist like me!).
Beside the escargots (I believe are some of the best you can get anywhere), Claude has a great Duck liver "parfait" (paté, didn't I mention that before?) and his fish dishes are something else altogether!!

Malveen is going to Tuscany this year on a painting course just NE of Pisa (Italy) and afterwards will spend some timer in the ancient city of Lucca. Checking out the hotels there, there is one (Hotel Universo) where the great Jazz trumpeter Chet Baker used to stay frequently on his trips to Europe. So I am quite sure Malveen is going to stay there while in Lucca.

Saturday & Sunday, February 19 & 20 2011 (diary)

They had a cyclone and a massive amount of rain in the Northern Territory on Wednesday and Thursday. Bridge competition in Darwin was cancelled for both those two evenings. A radio announcement (emailed on to me by Anne-Marie) typical of the NT environment said :

The Stuart Highway (my 1000 km road of access from Three Ways to Darwin) was also flooded at several places south of Katherine and between Katherine and Darwin. But I keep my eye on the online road reports and most of the flooded areas are becoming clear for careful traffic again. If no more big rainstorms eventuate in the next 2 weeks I should be able to get through alright.

I picked up a cold this Friday after my swim in the Surf and coughing my lungs out at present. I stayed in bed for most of the last two days. I hope it will clear soon, so I can play bridge with my friends again on Tuesday and Wednesday.