Sunday - Thursday, December 11 - 15 2011 (diary)

Saturday, December 10, we had the Palmerston Bridge Club Christmas dinner at The Hub - Sports & Social Club, the venue for our weekly bridge sessions. Some 30 players and guests attended and we had a splendid evening together. At the end I was awarded this year's "Player of the Year" award, which got me a nice bottle or red.

From January 2 next year onwards we will, at the request of enthusiastic club members, add a weekly afternoon bridge session on Tuesdays, also at The Hub. Players can have lunch there beforehand, then start play at 1pm. I will be running the afternoons and look forward to that.

Hours after I made my previous Blog entry, 9 of the 10 EU countries outside the Euro zone joined the 17 Euro zone countries in agreed to a new Euro zone treaty increasing fiscal unity. Although it will be long haul (perhaps 10 years) before all the debt will have been repaid, the new treaty will provide the foundation for a stronger and better integrated Europe.
Poor David Cameron on his return to England was highly criticized from all sides (including by his own party) for not negotiating a deal, as now England remains totally isolated from Europe.
Economic commentators have warned that England must join Europe to prevent it from becoming increasingly economically isolated and politically irrelevant.

The French President Nicolas Sarkozy however was smiling ear to ear. He much prefers the UK to be out rather than in the Euro zone, as it increases France's political status within the group.

Friday - Tuesday, December 16 - 20 2011 (diary)

Way back in the 1950s and 60s, Cafe Beuse was the place you would find me most evenings this time of the year. All other times of the year too mind you when not at University in Leiden.
But during the festive season these pub nights were perhaps especially memorable because their intimate cosy warm atmosphere inside formed such a wonderful contrast with the cold inhospitable world outside. I shall never forget them.

These days in tropical Darwin the festive season is very different indeed, but it too has its own charm and I love it. The Bridge evenings have their own intimate friendly atmosphere of content companionship.
And I much enjoy the (Southern hemisphere) summer's wet season here, where the usually friendly sunny mornings gradually evolve into brooding dark cloudy afternoons followed by heavy thunder, lightning and massive refreshing downpours of rain, creating their own magic atmosphere.

This is rain everybody truly loves and enjoys. And, although reflecting upon a very different climate to the one of Ivan Goncharov, the words of this Russian novelist resonate with me, when he writes :

I usually sit outside on my veranda, watching the rain and spectacular lightning, accompanied by our two dogs which have their doubts about all that noise. Young Chase is quite indifferent to it all, but Roxy always lies next to me tucked away under the table or my chair.

It is rather quiet now here on our mango farm. Rick and Renee and Kim and Andrew with their three boys have all flown "south" to celebrate Christmas with their respective families. So only Rod and Mary (who live in the large converted shed next to me) and myself and the two dogs are left behind.