M&J's 'New' Gaff

Our good friends Meghan and Julian recently had their house extension completed, and it was a great honour to be invited over for the first big meal after it was all done. As ever, there was a bit of heartache along the way, but it seemed to us that it all went very smoothly overall, particularly with the work they'd done before in research and choosing stuff. Here's a few pics to celebrate the new house bit.

The view from the sofa - taken by James, of course...

Upstairs is a new bedroom (there wasn't an upstairs at all, before).


Ingredients. We ate well, as ever at Meghan's, but a happy cook with a new kitchen...

..is a joyous sight. (And one to hang around, because the grub's good too.)

While the girls chat in the kitchen,

The boys do 'boy talk' by the computer.

And dinner was excellent, of course.

Cheers!
James

A wedding you couldn't refuse

As we walked through Fitzroy Gardens (a popular venue for open air weddings) one wedding to be was re-embarking. Probably Italian-Australian, the suits and cars looked rather like someone was made an offer they couldn't refuse.

Welcome to the family, Guido.

The scene: France, 1950s

I thought it was time for an update on my quest to read my way around the world.

In case you're wondering, I'm still in France. I did mention that the Simenon that I was reading is an omnibus, right? So I'm on the second novella of three.

It's still raining, and there's still a lot of booze going down.

Luckily - I suppose, (though that could be debated) - most of the meteorological and spirit-ual activity is on the page. Here in Melbourne, it's been windy and dry, and suddenly hotter than French Algeria (as I believe it to be). On crowded, hot trains -- that is, when they are not cancelled -- I read of the infidelities and petty lives of Parisian characters. (It's almost better when they are cancelled, because then I read on train platforms and can make believe I'm in a nice park somewhere, and that I'm not going to be late for work again.) There is much sleeping around, mentioned in off-hand manner. Murders happen. People get desperate, and depressed. Maigret goes home for lunch. (Madame Maigret is unflappable, as ever. I'm sure her tailoring is immaculate. Black and white; Eau de Nil.)

In Melbourne it's hot; but in Paris it still rains.


I still haven't decided where to go next, and although I wanted it not to be England (too predictable), I'm flirting with a lovely new book just arrived from Margo -- a book of maps and memoires and the countryside of the Cotswold. It's cheeky and cute - just what you want in a flirt. But there's a hint of more intelligence on closer acquaintance.

Will it be -?

We'll see. Maybe the weather will change.

Bev

Last take off to Skies Unlimited

Australian Aviatrix Nancy-Bird Walton AO, OBE died today, aged 93. It is impossible to list her achievements; suffice it to say that she learned to fly at the age of 19, in a culture which discouraged and disparaged women from such things; that she gained a commercial licence, and used it, no easy feat, and again, a thing women of the time weren't supposed to do - they were "biologically unsuited".

And she was rightly proud to have never crashed a 'plane, although flying in an era when accidents were part of a normal day, and in bush flying, a tough environment. She would, I'm sure, be proud to be always remembered in all accounts as 'a lady'.

She founded the Far West Children's Health Scheme, flying where even the Flying Doctors didn't go. In 1950 she founded the Australian Women Pilots' Association, whose motto was 'skies unlimited'.

More here on the Hargraves site, and the ABC obituary.

Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) chief executive Nigel Milan said Ms Walton carried out some of the first medical evacuations in regional NSW.

"Nancy was one of a kind," he said.

Mr Milan said Ms Walton undertook one of the first air ambulance missions when she flew a medical evacuation in 1938 for a premature baby, Jack Stanmore, who had just been born at the Ivanhoe Hospital, in NSW's far west.

"Jack only weighed 1.5 kilograms and was not expected to live and the fledging Ivanhoe Hospital didn't have equipment to treat a delicate premature baby with breathing difficulties," he said.

"In April last year, Jack and his wife Ellie travelled from Dubbo to be reunited with Nancy at her Neutral Bay retirement home, and introduced her to their grandchildren, as part of the (RFDS) 80th anniversary celebrations."

From The Age.

It is an honour for Qantas to be allowed to have named their first Airbus A380 after her.

Rightly, she has been (and will continue to be) an inspiration for aviators everywhere, but particularly in her home country.

As is often said, we shan't see her like again.

Pic by 'Cloud Basher' from the Wabirdz forum. Heading photo of a 1930 promotional badge.

Round the world again...

Well folks, I'm off. Round the world again, wandering from country to country and checking out the sights.

'What?' you say, 'So soon?'

Sure! I'm taking up the reading challenge on the Penguin Blog: Round the World in Eighty Books. Sam the Copywriter intends to read from country to country around the world, without leaving home. It's inspired me, and I'm off on my own journey.

Here's a quote from Sam about the rules he's made for himself:

1. I can travel only between countries that share a border, or are either side of a body of water that needs crossing. Thus, I could go England-France-Spain-Portugal-Morocco-USA, but not Japan-Mongolia-Finland. I'm sorry if you could all work that out that without having to refer to a map - geography is unfortunately my Achilleus' heel.

2. The suggested book can be set in the country, set in one city of that country, or even set in space but by a famous author from that country. Translations get bonus points, but not if they are so complex that my eyes start revolting [-or is that 'revolving'? - B]. And I'd prefer fiction, but if pushed will do the odd non-fiction.

3. Hopefully that's it. More rules may appear should I find the current ones make this as much effort as stressful real travel.

Check out the full post on the Penguin Blog for the fabulous first instalment: "The marshes, and London, England".

Are you tempted to play along? I think I will! I may make my own rules, or follow lines of conquest and colonisation, but the idea is great, and I need to break out of a reading rut.

So, last night's book is as good a starting point as any:

First stop: Paris -- with Georges Simenon's Inspector Maigret.

Book: The Sixth Omnibus: Maigret and the Wine Merchant
(My edition is published by Penguin, 1972.)

Ross introduced me to the sheer variety of Maigret novels, and I read several of his copies when we were in Halifax in July. So when I hit the buy-sell-trade bookshop last week, BookTalk Cafe, and I saw a row of Simenon novels on the shelf, I knew that some of them would make up an essential part of my trade for the day.

I picked up two Omnibuses and a single title. They're wonderful light reading, and I'm enjoying Paris.

Conclusions as a traveller:
Invest in a bottle of Cognac and a warm overcoat.

Where am I going next?
I'm not sure! From France, according to the rules, I can go to Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland or Belgium - or I can cross the Channel to the UK, or hop a ship into Northern Africa. I would even let myself visit any of the former French colonies. Suggestions welcome!
Stay tuned for postcards.

Bev

PS. James says he can go all the way around the world reading only Biggles books. Bah.

All the best for 2009

Hope it's a toothsome time.

Time for coffee & cake

It's not every year you can say you've had coffee and cake in seven countries, and while that may not be the most exciting claim for our 2008, it was certainly a satisfying one.

In Urbania, Italy.

With Max in Patisserie Valerie, South Kensington, one of James' favourite haunts:
Where they do cake with a capital K!


Tea in the Lake District, in a Swallows & Amazons house.


Of course when it comes to Kake, you can't beat the Germans...

In the Munich Art Gallery. They talk my language; 'LARGE cup of tea'. (But I had another cappuccino.) And we fought over a Kasetorte mit Sauerkirschen. (It was somewhere between 'Wunderbar' and 'zuper'.)

And then, of course, there's the Monmouth Coffee Co, mentioned in an earlier post...
Breakfast in Denmark.
A decent coffee in Paris (remarkably hard to find; but then we had just left Italy).
Can't go wrong in Melbourne. Bev's café Stax, or Cafe 16 near her old work:


And the café at the art-deco (revived) Balwyn cinema, during the Italian Film Festival. A great place to while away an hour or two when you get the clock-change wrong.

But there's nothing to beat home-made scones, at home.

I'm with Marie A here...

James