Wednesday - Sunday, November 21 - 25 2012 (diary)

I copied this photo from the website of Hotel Geertien last week for inclusion in my new Travel section.
It is a lovely place. I visited it in 2010 when I cruised through the Weerribben in a couple of "whisper boats" with my University Year Club 'Pimpernel'.
We had drinks out here on the lawn, then dinner in one of their lovely decorated dining rooms and a night cap in the Hotel's bar.
I will endeavour to stay there again, perhaps in 2014 after our planned Dolmen bicycle tour.

We had another solid downpour of rain this week : 52 mm, bringing the total for November to 125 mm (5").
This will increase substantially when the wet/cyclone season sets in the next few months.

In the present novel I am reading I came across an old Polish proverb : In a house of gold, the hours are lead.
Very curious, but I understand what it means and tries to verbalise.

Knowing me it won't surprise you that I immediately turned it around to : In a house of lead, the hours are gold.

For that is how it feels to me these day living in a (well insulated) corrugated iron cabin here in the NT bush.
I absolutely love it here. I have no material possessions tying me down, only a car, a few laptops, keyboard and maybe a dozen books that go with me wherever I am, that is all. All this in a warm tropical climate and lovely nature environment. It is the dream I had as a little boy and it has become reality these past few years.

Mondday - Friday, November 26 - 30 2012 (diary)

We had a dozen or so refreshing rains this month for a total of 158 mm, slightly more than previous month (136 mm). As a result everything looks fresh and green around here. The rain also has helped to keep temperatures down and the nights have been very pleasant.

Some of the days have been very humid and I have changed my daily exercise program by doing laps in the Palmerston Public swimming pool half the time now instead of the walks. The pool water is very nice too : 28-29° C, most pleasant to swim in.

Within the past three months four members of our local Bridge Clubs have died, a stark reminder that we all are only temporary on this earth. This week Ian Miller passed away after several years of battling with various illnesses. I went to his funeral service at one of Darwin's Cemeteries and found it a most refreshing experience.

The words God, Heaven, Jesus or Amen were not heard once and there was non of the usual impersonal and meaningless Religious prattle, no doubt a great relief for most of the large audience present.
Instead his four children, other members of the family and half a dozen friends in the audience stood up and recalled events they had shared with Ian, and the lasting impression this rather shy and very gentle gentleman had made on their lives.   It was both a moving and meaningful event which left me with a better understanding and appreciation of the man I had met only half a dozen of times at the bridge table.