The Long Haul Home

It really is a long way from Australia to Europe. I am writing from Singapore Airport, part way through my 32 hour extravaganza of travel from Canberra to Amsterdam.

Being back in Australia was great, even though the visit was short. I spent last week working in Sydney, with morning training session in the warmth and sunlight. Whether it was running around the Harbour foreshore or an outdoor swim at the salt water Boy Charlton pool, it was really energising to be out and about in warm, sunny weather.

Spent the weekend in Canberra, visiting family and friends. It was a flying visit, but lucky to grab the chance - I certainly couldn't pass up the chance to drop by Canberra after travelling all the way over for work.

I have this sense that I should be sitting here writing something witty about being in transit, amusing airport moments etc, but I suspect even if I tried it wouldn't flow - will just stick with this self potrait of me getting some work done in the airport lounge...

Shane

Walking back to the 80's

Courtesy of this article in the Sydney Morning Herald, I have just come across two re-workings of some serious 80's moments.

Both tracks were done for Comic Relief in the UK, and are numbers one and two in the UK singles chart this week. The Proclaimers are number one with a remake of (I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles - check it out here. To be honest though, I prefer the version of Walk This Way, done by the Sugababes and Girls Aloud. I know nothing at all about either band, but I just liked their version - different enough from the original to be interesting, close enough to be fun. Check it out!



Shane

Big Green Spider

A quick post today with my final photo from our trip to Belgium. It is hard to think of anything but a big green spider when looking at this tree stump in the forest, with the moss growing over it.

Shane

Belgian culinary masterpiece

It is a great disappointment to me that I do not have a photo that goes with this story. You will see why shortly.

Instead the photo is from a different forest area to the last post. I find trees covered in mosses somehow very enchanting. They make me think of fairytales. Coming from such a dry continent, trees covered in mosses were only ever in story books. The tress where I grew up were nothing like this.

This is the only reason I can think of now to explain why I find them so fascinating as an adult. Anyway, because spring has not yet arrived, the trees are still quite barren, the forest floor covered in the litter of brown leaves, so the green trunks providing a striking contrast, a little of which I have cpatured in this image.

I am a bit frustrated by not being able to catch the real richness of colour that I saw, but I am enrolling in a photography course soon, so may learn some new tricks to get what I really want out of my photos.

So to my Belgian culinary experience. The Friday night we reached Haut Fays, we ended up in a nearby pizzeria. There are no restuarants or taverns in Haut Fays, but we found something a few k's down the road. Half way down the menu, I discovered the 'Belgian Pizza'. Nicky and I debated whether I could really even attempt it, but I just couldn't pass it up. This pizza came with the usuals - cheese, tomato, and then it had pieces of beef, and was topped off with chips (of the french fries variety!)

I had to order it to see if it was real. The waiter laughed when I ordered - that should have been a sign. Sure enough, it arrived, perhaps the biggest individual pizza you have ever seen, and then covered in chips as well! The bottom line - I couldn't finish it, didn't even get close, but I certainly had fun trying!

Shane

You have to be kidding me...

Well, this is a bit of a mixed post. I still have some nice photos from our trip to Belgium last weekend, so I am going to keep posting them for a few days with some unrelated stories I want to write about.

Today's photo is from the forest near the village of Haut Fays. I liked this photo because it captures how stark the forest is at this time of year, with the bare trees, and the fallen leaves forming a carpet across the forest floor.

Photos aside, I just have to touch on a story I have just read on the BBC. The UK government is currently debating whether to renew their Trident missile system, which is basically Britain's nuclear bomb arsenal. Greenpeace UK has a whole lot more about it on their website.

The vote takes place in Parliament this week, and today's BBC story was about the split in Labour party ranks about the vote.

A BBC survey of Labour backbenchers found 64 out of 101 who responded opposed renewal. One ministerial aide has said he will resign over the issue.

But Defence Secretary Des Browne said he was "confident we will persuade people to come to our side".

Mr Browne went on to tell the BBC that the UK had an "obligation" to retain a deterrent as part of its membership of Nato.

He said: "It's not nearly as straightforward as people suggest. They sleep soundly in their beds at night because we have nuclear weapons."

Are you kidding me? This has got to be one of the most stupid things I have ever heard a politician say (and we have all heard some pretty stupid things come out thre mouths of some politicians).

Imagine the scenario for Mr Browne's children as he tucks them in to bed at night - "Sleep well son, and don't you worry - I know the planet is being cooked by greenhouse gases, and chemicals we emit make the planet more sick every day, but you can rest easy because if those nasty [Russians/terrorists/Iranians - insert choice of today's bogey man] nukes us while you are asleep, we will just nuke 'em right back..."

Perhaps I am just naive, or a bit of an idealist, but surely we can do better?

Shane

We're Back!

How did it suddenly become two weeks since we last posted a blog piece? It seems life has been busy. Nicky is back from the Middle East and has had the flu.

At least she is trendy - it turns out that the Netherlands is now officially in the grip of a flu epidemic, according to health research group Nivel. Some 86 people per 100,000 are suffering from flu – the definition of an epidemic is 60 in 100,000. Reassuringly, the spokesperson for Nivel says there is no cause for alarm.

I have some new responsibilities at work, so that has upped the workload - certainly no space for making a quick post on the blog during 15 minutes of down time in the office!

And we just took a long weekend in the south of Belgium. We went to a little village called Haut Fays, in the Ardennes. It was a very pretty area with forest, small villages, good walking trails, a boulangerie right around the corner from where we were staying, good cycling, and interesting things and places to see. Will post some photos over the next few days. Today's photo is the town of Bouillon, set deep in a valley on a bend in the river, with the imposing castle set on the hill and the town grown around it. It was a great place to stop for lunch and walk around in.

Shane