WalesOnline - Bear In Oz

What i's it with apostrophe's

2009-11-06T07:01:16Z

"Why doe's everyone these day's seem to use apostrophe's everywhere they see an 's at the end of word's, _except_ when there is a possessive and they ought to ??
70's, avocado's, tomato's and plural's in general...."
How often have I wet a finger & wiped the chalk ' away from signs outside the greengrocer's - oops! I used one correctly there.
My wife refused to read the "Principals Letter", returning it to the admin. people until all the grammar, particularly in the large lettering of the title, had been corrected. They actually didn't spot it, until someone with a more educated brain pointed it out.
You (well _I_) would expect more from "school's". I actually expect it from "journo's" (actually I suppose you could argue that the ozzie abbrev. journo used there might warrant it) or the Armani-suited ad. agency & t.v. "type's" responsible for putting text in front of us - and earning heap$$ for doing so - would at least make an effort. I would be incredibly embarassed to know I'd been the highly paid clown responsible for grammatical errors appearing on something that was going to be seen by thousands, even millions, of people. Yet this occurs on a regular basis with all sorts of poor grammar.
Maybe there's an opening for an ageing pedant somewhere as a proof-reader. I'd happily go back to work part-time (that would be enough) if I could effect a change.
B-)

Bucket of Bloggers?

2009-10-16T23:56:29Z

Isn't there an old adage that says not to put all your produce into one basket? They seem to have done that here tho, with the front page of WalesOnline blogs only displaying their own "CaughtintheBay/TomosLivingstone" pair,
while the rest of us are lumped into the "Lifestyle mega Blog" tag. Not even the old contributing bloggers list down the side panel...

I would imagine this may well cause a 'spill', with some of the bloggers trailing off, particularly as they will get less & less response from others. Certainly no new browsers of Walesonline would be able to spot something that may connect them to someone. A very old mate spotted an entry of mine this way during the 'last days' of the old format. That could well be a thing of the past...

I liked being able to avoid those blogs dealing with things I am not interested in, such as soccer. But a few vintage little items on such blogs as "RiceinAsia" were easy to spot. At least I know a few by name, but anyone new is less likely to find the 'champagne' items under this format...
Maybe they're trying to discourage bloggers now. It's likely to become a 'pail' shadow of its former self
Oh well...."bucket!" then.

Smoke & mirrors

2009-10-11T00:53:43Z

We had our latest electricity bill a few days ago. It has a couple of nice little block graphs on it, showing related consumption over previous months/same time last year &c.
One has our "Carbon output" in tonnes. "How do they measure that?" and "Where do we produce them?" were quite reasonable questions my wife came up with.
Of course it's all cobblers. Can we affect this output? Or effect a reduction? Well, not really, let's be honest. Oh yes, I've heard the arguments. If we all "turn a light off" or change the a/c temp by a degree. It's all cobblers, I repeat.
I was rather interested to note that, despite having had solar hot water for some months, there was no noticeable reduction in our carbon output from this time last year.
If this country was completely honest, it would change to nuclear power. I doubt very much that a "carbon tonnage" graph appears on any French consumer's bill. The nearest thing we have in Oz is the Lucas Heights facility, which produces nuclear medicine isotopes. An old friend was despatch manager there.
"No-one" wants Nuclear Power in Australia and the pollies of every party are too faint-hearted to bite the bullet. We produce a considerable amount of the uranium used to fuel reactors elsewhere on the planet. So the answers in reverse order are "we don't produce them here; they come from the power station many kilometers away" and "presumably they measure the emissions output from the stacks and calculate an output tonnage from that".
There are a couple of small generating stations using landfill gas -total: about 22MW...the bulk of Queensland's power comes from burning brown (bituminous) coal - total: about 9000MW
...they haven't yet gotten around to putting anything like such a graph/note on our vehicle rego' renewal notices, funnily enough. At least there it would be valid and the guilty could either drive less, or squirm in their guilt, each time they turned the key!

Water, water.....

2009-09-29T00:31:02Z

...perhaps not everywhere, but certainly no longer "scarce a drop to drink", as it was for the ancient mariner.

I've posted a few entries on this blog regarding our local water supplies & drought conditions. Just before I came over to Wales in June, the average overall levels had crept up from a low of around 25% to over 50, then over 60. I hadn't looked at them
since just after I got back, until last week, when I found this :-

Hinze Dam Full Cap. 161,073 Current 151,398 %Full 94.0

Lake Clarendon 24,276 1,712 7.1

North Pine Dam 214,302 210,040 98.0
Somerset Dam 379,849 348,509 91.8
Wivenhoe Dam 1,165,238 763,647 65.5

The last 3 are the supply for Greater Brisbane. Hinze Dam is the Gold Coast hinterland one, from where our personal supply here at home originates.
This is it, below, being upgraded in Stage 3, recently

Now the interesting thing is, that altho we had a slightly wetter-than-usual autumn (I nearly said 'fall' there....but our falling leaves occur in spring!) & early winter, it was only what I call "Welsh wet", i.e. just your normal showery, occasional persistent type. NOT the torrential cyclonic downpours we're often subject to during the latter part of our summer. So it's got a lot to do with good steady run-off, plus water management (new pipelining to share water between dams, so no overspill loss occurs) and restrictions. Plus the number of people who now have water tanks installed & the government rebate for such in the bank (or more likely spent).
BUT there has also been a bullshit element at work, it seems. We were at a 50th birthday bash on Sunday arvo. A 'wheeler-dealer' local businessman I was talking to, who does alot of business internationally & has dealing with Qld. state government pollies, told me that they had been quoting per-centage full figures for dams at their NEW, upstaged, levels, prior to he work being completed...and thus way down on what their actually ability to store was at the time of quoting!
As he later said as part of a joke: "How do you know when a polly is lying? - when their mouth is open & sound is coming out!"
*** *** ***
.....oh & I have now lost the 'guilt factor' restricting me from filling my pool to its proper level and I'm now back in it for the exercise. B-)

Gnome from Home

2009-09-28T04:15:59Z

I've spent so much time at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane this past half-dozen years or more, that it's become something of a home-from-home. They have posters up in appreciation of many of the staff. The nurse in the accompanying pic. is one of my regulars from when I was dialysing up there.
I'm now down to clinic every 8 weeks & today was one of them.
In the center of the main building is an open square that was filled with a layer of roughly head-sized granite rocks, within shallow water, upon which small fountains fired from the edges...well they did until we went into a drought situation a few years back, then they were turned off...later the water was drained too. in the center of it was a raised platform with a small tree.
Someone had placed 3 gnomes on it, way back before I started going.

A few years ago management decided they were unsuitable & ordered their removal.
Apparently the 'hue & cry' from regular patients following this caused them to relent & they were put back. Today in passing, I couldn't help noticing the place was full of workmen, building small walls &c. The boulders were piled up into heaps....and the gnomes were missing!!! I asked the volunteer helper lady passing about this -
"Oh no, they're building a new garden area with a smaller water feature...but the gnomes should be back when they've finished!"
I hope so. We don't want the regulars complaining again.

"Copper Coast"

2009-09-23T10:54:01Z

This was the midday sun today....

...and this is a couple of hours later

...my car reminded me of the old days in Cardiff, when Dad & I both worked at the steelworks & regularly had 'orange-topped' cars

YES, we have had a dust storm over quite a fair portion of Oz today. When I first got up, the weather was just a little cloudy. It had been very breezy all night & was still the same then, flapping the verticals about. Sliders & windows were all open, of course, as it was still warm (about 26C then). When I logged on to check my e-mail while I took my tablets, I saw the pic. below of Sydney. Didn't realise it'd be the same here within an hour or two! This evening before getting around to the blog, I saw the foto of the surfer too, so have to add that. Just for today, "Copper Coast City" & "Saffron Paradise" seem more appropriate for the area....

"Beyond the Black Stump"

2009-09-19T10:34:27Z

There's an old Ozzie, more specifically Queensland, expression
"Beyond the black stump",
used for somewhere far,far away. Somewhere remote. Somewhere a long way from civilization. There actually _is_ a black stump. Well it isn't really black, it's fossilized.

And where is this stump, you may ask. Answer: Blackall and this is its main street.

Where the hell is Blackall and why is Bear prattling on about it at this juncture....?

Yes there it is on the map above....put your reading glasses on and look somewhere
around dead-centre!...and my reason for referring to it today, is that my daughter has decided to take up a teaching post there.

Population: 1,160
Postcode: 4472

Location: 965 km (600 mi) NW of Brisbane
688 km (428 mi) W of Rockhampton
215 km (134 mi) SE of Longreach

LGA: Blackall-Tambo Regional Council
State District: Electoral district of Gregory
Federal Division: Flynn
Mean Max Temp Mean Min Temp Annual Rainfall
30.2 °C
86 °F 15.4 °C
60 °F 526.0 mm
20.7 in

......well there'll be NO looking after the littlies while she goes to the gym.!!!!
IN fact we won't even be seeing the littlies for months on end, I'd imagine.
It's a bloody TEN or more hour drive there. Ah well....we can't say much,
'coz if we do, we get "Well you brought me across the planet when I was 2!"
Can't argue with that, can you? But at least we went from one civilized place
to another! B-)

Spring Swelter...with snow!

2009-08-25T00:08:04Z

"In Queensland, the fire danger remains extreme as record-breaking temperatures sweep across the state.
Although forecasters are not predicting the mercury to go past the record top temperatures seen yesterday, the state will continue swelter under extraordinarily high temperatures.
Brisbane recorded its hottest August on record with the temperature soaring to 35.4 degrees Celsius at about 4.20pm (AEST) yesterday.
Temperatures across the state have been about 10 degrees hotter than average the Bureau of Meteorology says."
NO kidding?....at least we're not Greece (hopefully), as far as bushfires go. It's very windy, but clear-skied. SO fingers crossed. Rest of the week s'posed to be about 12-23C.
.Down south they're getting very windy, stormy weather. The snowfields

are expecting a big dump too, paradoxically, when it's so hot up here.
Ah, climate change, don't you just love it!?

"Blood & Bone"

2009-08-20T23:39:01Z

At one end of our estate, Mount Warren Park, we have a nursery with a cafe, which my wife & daughter frequent for breakfast or '11zees'. I sometimes do the same. Naturally we also buy the odd plant there - well I should say my wife does; I just dig the holes to put them in. After minding the littlies on Thursday morning, while my daughter was at the gym,
I thought I'd call in there to see about getting some wood chip for the front garden.....only to find some of Queensland's Finest (small forensic van, 2 ordinary cars & one Highway Patrol car) parked across the front of a closed gate. Hmmm...O.K., change of plan.
When I was back in the house I rang my daughter. Amongst our extended family, we have her sis-in-law's husband, himself one of Queensland's Finest & a fine upstanding Mormon bloke. He's actually stationed here, altho he lives across on the other side of Brisbane. "INfo required" basically.....but I was about to impart this piece of local gossip to my wife, when she came in from school, only to find the efficient local grapevine had given her the story.
The nursery had changed hands early this year (they'd revamped the cafe for one thing) & the new owner, being separated, had been staying temporarily in a caravan on site & opening up in the morning. His employees fronted up the other day to find the gate still locked, climbed the fence, found the caravan 'covered in blood' & later discovered the owner floating in the duckpond. The actual cause of death is not on the grapevine so far.....
It only seems a matter of weeks ago, that I was reporting on the "police line - do not cross" scenario at the end of our street. I do try to stress to people that years of transportation to the colonies have _not_ resulted in a lawless society (well no more so than anyone else's), but I seem to be on shakey ground lately!!

"Resort style living"

2009-08-14T10:01:22Z

My son has been in his own house now for a couple of months,
moving in justa couple of weeks before I came over there......

If he's relaxing at home (he doesn't go out much anyway,
especially as he is currently studying science, when not at work).....

...you have to call him on the mobile, so he can
open this gate for you...

..and then you drive past the communal pool to get to his place.

The phrase "resort style living" is often used by real estate people
here, to describe homes with the patio/pool/bbq setup that's pretty
common here in S.E.Queensland. But the kind of secure
multi-home-unit complex such as this one my son lives in, really
does fit the description I guess.....especially when the decadent little
so'n'so fits this spa in behind his garage (with the aid of his boatbuilding
bro-in-law), before summer kicks in. He got it for a pittance from a
pensioner couple who were 'downsizing'. I can just see him lazing in
it with a stubby in his hand.....that'll be worth some more fotos then.

Long Time; No See...

2009-08-06T00:07:23Z

Well, I've been home for nearly 2 weeks & it's starting to seem like a long time ago now.
It was great to catch up with people I haven't seen, in some instances not even had contact with, for years on end. Funny how it can seem like no time at all tho, once you are back in their company & having a good laugh. Here's a few of them. Keep well guys, until I hopefully catch up again

Cheers! Hope the beer is a bit better next time.....
Thanx for the music

Thanx again for a great day & thanx to your son for the surf DVD.

Hope your perforated eardrum is better soon & you can get back in the water.

Nostalgia 101

2009-08-03T11:02:20Z

After talking about lost surf fotos & the old crew the other day, I decided to go thru my old stuff & retrieved a box of old fotos from my daughter's house this arvo....a couple of scans later and here are a few 'blasts from the past'

I spent a fair bit of time in this vehicle going to & from early surfs, before Al Williams (late of Williams Longboard Co.) opened the shop (often a bit late) at the address on the side of it - a 'broom cupboard' of place next to Victoria Park

This is some of the gang on a trip to Newquay in '70

And this is taken behind Coney in '72. It's all a very long time ago now...

Home is where the Hearth is.

2009-07-31T11:18:36Z

It's good to be back home. I'm already looking forward to the possibility of coming over again to Wales, provided my health holds up. But I really do feel that I belong here now.
Not that I didn't before the trip. it just got re-inforced. And this is what I came back to :-

A pretty flat day at Burleigh Heads, 1/2 way down between "Sufferer's Parasites" and Coolangatta, at hte NSW border. But clear skies; typical winter weather. This is my 6th day back and it's still the same:= 7-22C min/max temp every day, so far. So we're still using the wood heater.
Blue skies. No rain/ Good job the dams are now at 77%...it could be a while before they get any more.
I saw a good bunch of the old surf crew over there...this is one of the ones over here:

...I like the sunbeams shafted across his face. I took this from the car, after we'd lunched over-looking the above vista, a few days ago. My Cardiff accent is fading nicely....too right!Jeez mate, she'll be right. B-)

Wave of Nostalgia

2009-07-30T09:18:23Z

While I was over there, meeting up with so many of the old surf crew, one of my good mates the brothers "Orville & Wilbur" gave me this pic., which is probably now the only 'documentary evidence' in existence that I did in fact ever get a wave anywhere.

It was taken at Llantwit Major in '77 & he tells me it has been up on his office wall with a bunch of other pix, for "donkey's years". When I came over last time, I asked an old mate, who I was in high school with & who had at one time a very large & definitive collection of transparencies representing Porthcawl/ S.E.Wales surfing in the 70s, if he could let me have some to scan in.....only to find he'd lost/wrecked them. Such a waste.
I saw there was an item in the Echo (after I'd left to come home) about the launch of a
new book "The Surfing Tribe"....someone sent me a link to the BBC story & lo & behold, here he is, in an old foto by another of our old crew Pete Bounds. Maybe I should see Pete about some fotos....ah well, next time, maybe..

"Miner Disappointments"

2009-07-28T10:43:40Z

I was under strict orders from the "better half" to get whatever books I could on the Industrial Revolution, for her grade 4 History. Australian History kicks off with 3 revolutions:- Agrticultural, Industrial & American. The first creates the unemployment in the country; the second sucks them into the city....and for those who do not get work, crime gets them transported; the third means they cannot be sent to Virginia, eh voila! - they end up here a few years later.
So I was quite disappointed, visiting the Welsh Cultural Heritage sites of St.Fagan's, the Museum in Cardiff and the little one at Trehafod, to find absolutely NO books on coal, steel or even farming. Plenty of fiction; Welsh poetry & prose et al. But these 'higher' cultural thingies come on the back of all the grit & grime & hard graft experienced by the bulk of my ancestors.

So, thank God for Blaenavon! I didn't realise the whole town was a heritage site. It's also very disappointing to find out how few people even knew where it was. The phrase "Big Pit" brought a glimmer of recognition...but when I asked how to get there, everyone went incredibly vague. Anyway, I _did_ get there. And did the Ironworks and the cage ride into the depths. It may be 18months since my transplant, but I'm still not exactly spritely. In fact I felt toward the end of the underground hike that Blaenavon was going to do to me what Mt.Ash did to my maternal grandfather (i.e. kill him). Nevertheless, I made it back to the surface & recovered somewhat in the cafe.

A great place to visit & everyone with the majority of their Welsh ancestry locked into Iron/Steel/Coal, like myself, should do so.