Mulubinba Moments

Earth Hour 2008

At 8.00pm we will be turning out our lights for Earth Hour. By doing so we will be joining 35 countries and 370 cities who have commited to doing the same. Write in and let us know if you are going to spend an hour in the dark.
Update - Sunday We discovered a number of candles stored away in various recesses of our house for use during Earth Hour. I also ensured my laptop was charged so that I could run it on battery power for that time. Is that cheating? I was informed today that we should have carefully selected our candles as only the beeswax ones are environmentally friendly! The others give off CO2 emissions. Anyway...to while away the time I watched part of a DVD on the MacBook using battery power. We managed to photograph the screen with actor -this photo is of Richard Armitage as John Thornton in North & South - the other shots we took were out of focus. In retrospect we may have overdone the number of candles. They shed a pleasant ambient light despite giving the appearance of a shrine to my MacBook.

Nobbys redevelopment - to develop it or leave it alone

Nobby's head and lighthouse seen in the sunset photo here are one of Newcastle's best loved landmarks. The walk along Macquarie Pier and then out onto the breakwater is my favourite walk in the city. This is a place to which Novocastrians unashamedly take their visitors in order to admire the ships, the river (AKA harbour), the beach and Stockton Bight. If you are lucky you can spot the local pod of dolphins who enter the harbour regularly. I sometimes feel that Nobby's head can be likened a little to a miniature St Michael's Mount or a Lindisfarne (without the tides and monasteries).

Some years ago we wrote a post on the history of Nobbys which can be seen here. More recently Nobby's Beach shot to fame thanks to the "Pasha Bulker" which ran aground after a severe storm last year. None of us was sure if she would remain a permanent landmark rusting away and polluting the environment.

Walking, as I do, enjoying my solitude, I often imagine this place as a setting for a children's adventure story or that I am taking someone famous for a walk to enjoy the scenery.

Plans for a tourist development (restaurant, viewing platform and B&B) surrounding the lighthouse have been submitted by a developer who has lobbied the Newcastle City Council, and NSW Heritage Office who have given their approval. The development is being opposed by certain sectors of our community and an appeal was sent to the federal Department of Heritage. The Federal Minister for Environment and Heritage has rejected the plans which has caused a stir in the local media. There have been invitations for comment on the proposal on this site . The link provided by Saturday's Herald for public comment does not seem to work.

As a regular walker, I would have to wonder how the business operators would manage traffic and, selfishly, whether we would lose our pedestrian thoroughfare along Macquarie Pier which is the only access up onto Nobbys head. Does the developer propose that visitors to the restaurant walk 1km (some of which is a very steep hill), or are we going to have a situation where cars will be allowed access? There is no parking, so I would assume they may have to provide a shuttle bus for patrons. How will this work for the walkers, their dogs, surfers, fishermen and cyclists who regularly use the pathway?

Early morning

Dawn - the twilight before sunrise also sometimes referred to as the "blue hour" because of the unusual quality of the ambient light. At the moment we still have daylight saving and as the days grow shorter, my morning walk along the beach is at dawn in the "blue" light. There is a full moon which helps to illuminate the path and it is a very peaceful time of day. As it gets lighter there is a dawn chorus of seabirds, crows, and a whip bird. This morning a magpie was sittng on a sign looking towards the beach and warbling almost as if he was encouraging the sun to rise. Soon we will be walking wearing hats and coats - it's hard to imagine the cooler weather coming.

It is now time for me to do some real work - preparation for my water exercise programs with the children tomorrow. I'm attempting to compile individual programs for each child who attends. These programs should cater for their specific rehabilitation needs. That means writing out the exercises....trying to draw stick figures (don't laugh!) scanning and pasting them all into one document. (Thank you Apple MacBook). This will then go into plastic so that they can keep them at the side of the pool and work under supervision. It's actually quite a big job particularly when I have new patients coming into the program on a regular basis.

Thanks to everyone, especially Annette who left a comment on the last two posts addressing my scepticism re authenticity of RA messages. You must have good search engines to stumble across this blog as it usually escapes notice.

Newcastle & Sydney; North & South

Another photo of Newcastle Nobby's Head in the autumn. We have the current weather conditions on the sidebar - warm and sunny. It felt hotter than 24 degrees out on the breakwater this morning. In essence, this blog started as a "place blog" almost four years ago. The motive was to encourage people to look at Newcastle as a place worthy of a visit as opposed to an industrial city. ("Dirty, smokey place" to quote Fanny Thornton, N&S). For visitors to this blog, I should explain that Newcastle has always been the sort of place that is looked down upon by Sydney siders most of whom bypass it when driving to points further north. It was best known for its coal loader, once a manufacturing site for steel (until they shut down BHP) and port. Unions were strong and it is a safe Labor seat politically. We do however also have beaches, vineyards and national parks nearby so we are not totally hemmed in by industry....although industry was, and still is part of Newcastle life. I still remember arriving here as a raw young physiotherapist applying ultrasound to the back of a miner. The aquasonic gel (light blue) used with the ultrasound head became black from the coal dust that had become impregnated into the pores of his skin. The old miner used to call me a "silvertail" because I had come from a leafy part of Sydney with no real experience of the true working class ethos.

How am I going to link this in to may last post? Well, Newcastle has been described as a manufacturing city and represents "200 years of working class heritage". Read more here. I've just been enjoying the BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. I have linked to the BBC website for this drama and also here to the page at the RAonline website which is extremely good. I can't help finding a few albeit vague similarities to Margaret Hale in terms of my own journey of moving from a middle class leafy Sydney suburb to working class smoggy, (in those days), Newcastle. I remember washing the coal dust off the window sills every couple of days when I first arrived. Our roof space had 5 cm of accumulated coal dust in it. You learnt to hide the fact that you came from Sydney's northern suburbs - the divide in wealth between the workers and the business owners was significant. After many years of living here however, the place grows on you and I have certainly found myself defending Newcastle to Sydney people on more than several occasions. I still love to visit Sydney but I don't think I could ever go back to live there. Amazing how watching one BBC drama can make you reflect on your own story. If it hadn't been for visiting the RichardArmitageOnline website I don't think I would ever have seen the production. (NB: That's the actor, not the US politician).

Thanks also to Angela who visited this blog and left a comment about the messages from RA the actor, I mentioned in the last post. I'd love to think he does write those messages to his fans - certainly that earlier posting to the BBC board must have shocked the posters albeit a welcome "shock"...it's not something I would expect to happen however. I'm very happy to be corrected on this and welcome more discussion but how do they (RAOnline and AA) know they are really from him??? Is there a code perhaps?

Easter

Younger daughter's birthday yesterday. My parents, both in their 80s came to stay - trying to keep the events of the past few months from them was tricky especially when they started asking the children difficult questions. I managed to distract my mum who loves Jane Austen and period dramas with my DVD of the BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. This is such a classic and mum was won over in the first few minutes. I have linked to the BBC website for this drama which is now no longer updated. Also here at the RAonline website managed by Annette. She has just finished updating and reorganising much of the site. (Busy Easter for her). I'm intrigued by her messages page which has a paragraph at the bottom (Feb 2005) stating that the actor, Richard Armitage, heard that the BBC North and South drama message board was to be closed down and posted a response on the actual board. I didn't realise actors bothered with their supporters....Fame tends to alter people so I wonder if the messages continue.

Served at Evensong tonight for Easter - a few very amusing comments thrown about by the clergy prior to processing in to the service. I learnt the difference between a chasuble, a dalmatic and a tunicle tonight. We also had a discussion about how we were able to disengage from tragedies of life that often surround us particularly when we are expected to be strong enough to support the people we are close to. This should explain the opening paragraph of this post.

Good Friday - day in the life of the cathedral

I volunteered to "meet and greet" at the midday Good Friday service yesterday. Jane and Jonathan, journalist and photographer from the Herald arrived to do a story so I was able to guide them in terms of the "right" people to speak to regarding numbers/celebrants etc. I notice in her article, Jane finally managed to catch up with the Dean to chat about Good Friday - something I certainly was not qualified to do. I've taken the liberty of adding Jonathan's photos published in the paper - we all thought the red vestments were dramatic against the sandstone walls of the Cathedral - no flowers, banners at present - the building is stripped bare until the Easter Vigil tonight and Easter Day tomorrow when the light is brought back into the Church. Good Friday is always a very long service so had to distribute coloured pencils and paper to the children who had missed the Children's service and been bought to this one. We also had a visit from about 10 sailors who had come from the coal ships berthed in the harbour - all different nationalities and belief systems. All in all another busy couple of hours on the door but time passed quickly given all the distractions.

Water's healing

A current theme of my work with people with disabilities seems to be water. When I was growing up in Canberra, I used to gravitate to water and would invariably end up swimming, often in my clothes. That theme in my life seems to have repeated itself over and over. I now live by the sea, I have trained as a disability swimming instructor and coach, and no matter where I am working as a physiotherapist, I usually find myself conducting some aquatic physiotherapy classes. For two years I thought I would never re- enter the water but my new job has changed all that. Last week I was introduced to a little boy who had sustained a horrendous leg break and had been terrified to put his foot to the ground ever since. When I met him he was still unable to contemplate even putting his toes to the ground. As a last resort, his treating physio applied to me to take him into the water to see if we could overcome his fear of taking weight through his leg... he had hitherto been stuck in his wheelchair, not able to get out despite his fracture having healed totally.

The first two sessions in the water were moderately successful.... but he was still too afraid to put his leg down onto the pool floor despite the fact that the buoyancy effect would take most of his weight off his leg. Today, however we scored a breakthrough for this frightened little boy came in to the pool using a walking frame with toe touching the ground. Once in the water he realised he could kick and was no longer in pain. A hint of a smile and dimple started to appear and soon this young man began to walk across the pool...no longer hopping but taking a few tentative steps. We have a long way to go as disuse weakness has taken its toll but he is now on his way to recovery. Yay!!!

Eucharist of the oils/renewal of ordination vows

Last night the Cathedral hosted a large number of priests from the diocese for the Eucharist of oils. The diocese prides itself on inclusiveness which often uncurs the wrath of our Sydney diocese counterparts. Last night we had a good mix of ordained men and women attend......I was altar serving as usual - this is one of the services of the year I don't miss. There were a number of priests who could have passed for Geraldine Graingers...unfortunately no Harry Kennedy's or look alikes! Shame!!

You will note that I am playing around with photos in this post - it may take me a while to get it right. The effect I want is to give you an idea of the position of our magnificent building in the city.

A lot of the Eucharist is sung and it is therefore important for the organist to play an occasional note in order for the priests to start their liturgy (a lot is plainsong). Consider my amusement when right on cue
a ship sounded its horn in the harbour just as the organist sounded the required note. Needless to say the ship was not quite in tune! I digress.....

The mass is rather full of mysticsm which is why I think I like it. The priests of the diocese all surround the altar and renew their vows. The oils are brought up to the altar to be "converted" from olive oil
to Holy oils by being mixed on the altar and blessed by the Bishop. Each parish priest will then take a small jar of the oil of Catechumens, Chrism (which contains balsam) and the Oil of the Sick back to their churches. My role is to wash the celebrants' hands before they celebrate and again after they have finished...quite a good job as it is a bit like being backstage in a play. Invariably I will get a comment from the priest or bishop on how hot it is in their robes....they don't mind splashing the water about either....and the congregation has no idea this goes on behind the scenes unless they are looking carefully (....when they should be sitting piously with eyes averted.....).

Postlude last night was some great organ music - William Walton's Crown Imperial. It may sound pompous but try leading a procession of choir, priests, bishops, down the aisle of a large Cathedral without getting just a tiny twinge of excitement. Widor's toccata is a good processional also. Great when you have a fabulous organist and organ!!

if you like a few moments of solitude, here is the place to be in the early morning jusr as the sun is coming up over the horizon.The sand hills go a very slight shade of pink and the dawn chorus of birds begins. Nature's mystical qualities

Sunday musings/distractions

Blogging allows a glimpse into the writer's life but is often a facade. For two years we have been attempting to come to terms with having and helping a close relative with a mental illness. At the moment it seems to be one step forwards and three steps backwards - living each day as it comes. Over the past three months there have been two attempts at suicide and three admissions to hospital all of which have meant that we have had to become stronger and rely on one another for support. I'm not sure how much more we mere ordinary people can take but I guess at times you do learn to switch out of what is going on around you. It is always a debate as to whether to write about these experiences on a blog however.

After our visit to the hospital yesterday I decided some real chill out time was needed. Our local newsagent has bought an ABC Shop franchise and I managed to get hold of a copy of BBC's North and South. I'd heard a lot about this production of Elizabeth Gaskell's novel. The accolades on various websites had piqued my interest enough to make me want to see it. It did not disappoint. The music, sets, acting were wonderful. A very haunting and moving experience. Well worth watching! Good to see Daniela Denby-Ashe (Janey in My Family) and Richard Armitage (Sir Guy in Robin Hood) being given the chance to show off their acting abilities (and they can both act superbly) in this first rate series. Supporting cast members were fabulous also.

Palm sunday today- had to take some antihistamines to stop sneezing as the cathedral is decorated with palm fronds. The music will be very solemn this week although tomorrow is the Eucharist of the oils which is quite an interesting service and I will be altar serving at that. I may even blog about it as there is a lot of ceremony and mysticism involved.

First Editions

I began collecting old editions of children's books after coming across a series I had from my own childhood. They were hardbacks with and without dust jackets published in the late 1960's. They were some of the only books written in English I owned when I was living in Germany (snowed in a lot of the time). Checking on ebay I discovered that the earlier editions of these books attracted a fair bit of attention so I started to gradually pick up earlier editions. Venturing onto UK ebay I found a few first editions that were affordable but the books published prior to 1950 were beyond my price range. These books can fetch anything up to $1000 in mint condition. One in particular has a mistake in the illustration on the dust jacket which makes it more collectable than most. Last weekend I found one of these books on ebay - a 1st/1st - with dust jacket complete with mistake by the illustrator. I decided to place a maximum bid thinking that there was no way I had any chance but surprisingly no one was either watching that day or it is a dud. It should be in the post now so i will know in a few weeks what condition it is in. I know have over 40 books - some published in the late 1940s and early 1950's with four first editions. There are one two more I would like to collect before my set is complete.

My next challenge will be to work out how to store the old books appropriately.