Last day of 2018

Its been quite a bumper year and a lot has happened in our lives and our children's lives. On an individual basis mostly good but the world, oh dear, oh dear, the world seems to be getting more polarised, more uncaring, and battered by wild weather. Many Xmas presents this year were presents allowing us all to make small meaningful changes in the way we live. From Beeswax covers instead of cling film to installing a Beehive in the garden. My wish for 2019 is for change small or large which brings people together and unites all in the care of the planet. Happy New Year everyone. 

Aussies DO IT differently

The celebrations of Christmas are just that little bit different in the Southern Hemisphere. The heat comes from the sun, not the fireside, the lights come from the blaring sun, not the xmas lights, though god knows there are enough of those in the neighbourhood, and the oven mainly gives way to the BBQ on Xmas Day.
So to put you into the picture and perhaps into the mood here are some of the moments I have captured which make Aussie Xmases the funnest EVA.

The Sydney Morning Herald Newspaper announcing the weather for Xmas day!

The Red Hat Society ladies at the bus stop off to their festivities - Women of all ages who wear read and purple usually, but this time just red for Xmas.

My Bus today complete with Charlie the cuddly bear, sitting in the window with his name badge and his sunnies. 

My thong Tree without which you could not have an Aussie Xmas.

And the Xmas shirts complete with surfing Santas and dancing Kangas. 

So a very Merry Xmas to one and all - North or South it is part of this lovely planet which we all share, so lets look after it in 2019 and forever more. 

Gals in Australia

I organised an early Xmas present for the hubby in time for the Xmas party this weekend. Turfing of the lower garden. I found a great outfit called Desire landscaping, http://desirelandscapes.com.au and organised a quote.Quite like the name.  The weather has been wet so it was touch and go whether they could do it but Ivan called and said it could all go ahead. They arrived super early- Ivan - big and strong, and two young women. Momentarily surprised as the job was a big one. Hot day - well into the 30s and humid. The lower back garden can only be accessed by a long walk down. Each bucket of earth was shovelled into buckets and walked down, then spread over the area and then the turf arrived to be laid and rolled.The worked all day with a couple of breaks in between. I was busy tackling the ironing so with an open door I could hear their banter, happy, respectful, giggly and fun with not a swear word escaping their lips. They worked solidly and when Ivan offered to take over a harder task they  politely refused and carried on. By the end of the day this is what they looked like - gorgeous gals, fun loving, hard working, nothing prissy or precious about them. Hats off to the parents who raised them and to these young women above all. Australia, you put your money where your mouth is, and gender equality is alive and well. 

Meeanjin Markets

This weekend I had the pleasure of coming across Meeanjin Markets in the city. I sat crossed legged on the lovely little cushions they provided, with many other onlookers, to watch the beautiful traditional dances of the Aboriginal and Torres Islander Groups. So much to note, Brisbane City Council facilitating and staging this in the heart of the city. The pride of the dancers and the stories connected to the various dances which are always related to the audience. A didgeridoo competition.The inclusion of the young ones who learn to feel connected to their roots and to carry on traditions handed down through the elders over the years. The stalls selling beautiful arts and crafts and the opportunity to try some Bush Tucker, indigenous food. A lovely celebration of Indigenous and Islander culture in Brisbane. 

Little Steps go a Long Way.

Today I want to talk about initiatives I see and experience which are worth sharing with my few but dedicated followers. Why ? Because they give us hope that city councils and people in authority but also ordinary people are actually looking at things the right way round. Let me explain:

Busy Mall in the City. One of the shops was recently vacated.Where high rents can be charged. The next time I went through it this is what I found :

A little haven in the city where anyone can walk in and pick up a book, sit down, read, listen to a podcast and have some down time.

My Library just sent me this notice :

"Do you, or any of your family and friends have outstanding library fees?

Council's libraries are getting into the spirit of Christmas by offering to
waive outstanding library fees and fines between 1-31 December 2018.

Customers who return their overdue books to a library during December 2018 or
have existing overdue fines, processing fees and/or holds fees will have these
fees waived in exchange for a can of food. Please note that perishable food
items cannot be accepted.

This year, Council's library amnesty will donate all food to Foodbank Queensland
 an organisation that distributes food to charities and community organisations
 who assist those in need."

SO next time I am in town I will take canned food to the Library to help those in need. 

And today on my walk along Ithaca Creek this Notice appeared : 

This is the open end of someones back yard, created for everyone to share if they want, along Ithaka Creek. For those perhaps who haven't got a garden or just want somewhere nice to sit. Here it is provided and shared by people in the Community. 

So what examples do you have to share here of how you are pleasantly surprised by collective or individual initiatives ? 

Nature is1st in Xmas decorations

I have been counting down the days. To blog before the 1st would be a bit of a sacrilege and lets face it, we have plenty of time to get into the spirit and enjoy the season.The first of December is the official start of summer. You may think it had shifted to November this year, as the temperatures have been up and the rain has stayed away. But the warmth has also meant that the city is ready for its own very special Xmas decorations, without the need of a single socket, solar panel, plastic bauble or wiring. Here it is all unfolding fabulously before our very eyes. Xmas colours in abundance, trees with their own silver xmas lights up top, candelabras in hues of purple and green, buds so prolific you forget there is a drought, pom-poms of such delicacy, red streamers and coral connections, and a chance to turn our attention to it everywhere we look.   

 I am thrilled also that the State Library decided to forego the usual Xmas decorations and instead put up Christmas beetles all over their wall, to remind people of the fact that these beetles which range from golden, green and purple and are so colourful and bright, were once prolific here. They are associated with Christmas because the larvae hatch and they emerge in early December and stay around for Christmas. It is thought that their numbers are decreasing as the environment is getting drier. So the Sate Library has directed our attention to something entirely natural in the hope that we will spot one ourselves over the season. 

 And perhaps to cap it off or start it up good neighbours who come with delightful and delicious  offerings in Xmas colours to start the Xmas Cheer.

So come on everyone, take a Xmas stroll in your neighbourhood and find your Xmas colours. 

Today's Treasure

Dougall hurtled me to it and I picked it up gingerly and then admired it the whole way home.

Exquisite would you not agree?
The pod comes from Flindersia Australis, aka Crow's Ash and this is a rainforest tree well known for its hard wood which is the equivalent of Australian teak.
When I look at this pod I think
Smooth and silky
Rough and tough
Serrated and symmetrical
Enticing and encapsulating
Strong and formidable
Forbidding and yet floating
Fabulous in every way
What can you say about it ...

The Cyprus Problem is SNAFU

Saving Cyprus by Marian Kamensky

SNAFU is a word I came across for the first time in The India Times when I lived there.The acronym originated in the US Marine Corps during WWII.  It means : SITUATION NORMAL ALL FUCKED UP- and there could be no better word to describe the current chaos of political turmoil, government planning, or lack of it and progress, or lack of it, in Cyprus by the President and his merry men. His Television appearance, last week, designed to shed light on his plans and thoughts about a loose federation, indicated that he barely knew what he was talking about, let alone explaining it to people on the ground, who rely on them for leadership. Lawyers, politicians in both communities have come out asking understandably, what is this all about, but more worryingly, why now, why this change of heart, why the lack of preparation and the aforethought? People are rightly fed up, have switched off and are despairing of the lack of political will to get anything done. That is why the momentum must now move to the people and their need to get a result where the politicians have failed, spectacularly time and time again.The opening of the two crossing points is a good example of that.

Brexit, Trump, Putin, Saudi Arabia, what is the world coming to? I think I want to join a caravan to URANUS or ride this donkey, made from  driftwood, placed purposefully at the Green Line to a land that can see beyond the opportunism of short term goals.

Monochrome Monday

Not the mood decider that you might think, but my favourite colour which is popping up not only above me but below. Purples and hues of blue in nature are a rare colour, and suddenly they are everywhere. Definitely one to share. Dougall was happy too. 

What will YOU do to Unite the Island ?

The question I ask myself over and over again is when will this door to lasting peace unlock and enable the two communities to live side by side on the island which is blessed in so many ways. Is it the hubris of the gods who look down on our comfortable lives and give us  a continual set of self serving politicians who as soon as they accede to power seem to need to cling on to it, however corruptly, and these days unashamedly?  Because that it is what it is looking like for the island at the moment. No tangible progress, no attempts to explain to people the meaning of the proposed "bi-zonal, bi-communal federal system being proposed or the more recent flavour of the month, the so called "loose federation". 

Meantime the island and its people are slowly and inevitably being transformed as the older generations disappear. Those who remember independence, lives lived together, struggles, the divisions and the occupation of the north of the island by Turkey. Its nearly 45 years since I left the coastal town of Famagusta and we all yearn to go back, yet the politicians seem unable, after all this length of time to find a solution which would enable this. The town remains ghostly but lights are slowly being lit along its coastline which means it wont be long before it is taken from us completely. So its return to its inhabitants is a bit like a mirage which recedes as you approach. 

In Nicosia, the capital, I walk towards the Green Line,  and look at the changing landscape. The roads that were once lined with commercial shops have slowly been taken over by coffee shops and bars, restaurants and live music venues. I pass the ice-cream shop my father would take us to, and further down see the little narrow shop which once used to be a bookshop (a favourite place for a Saturday morning visit with him) now selling Indian artefacts and things that can only be described as tat. Just nearby a small patisserie which has survived the changing times, producing the best cheese pies called Hurricane. My friend Pambos would always treat me one, and going back there was an acknowledgment that while he has gone, my thoughts honour his memory. 

On the same road my eye spies a familiar figure from the back. An Armenian friend who I used to exchange some friendly and flirty greetings in my youth. He owned one of the many material and shoe shops there. He has been there day in day out since as far back as I can remember. Except that this time he turns round and faces me with a toothless grin. I am shocked and mercifully he doesn't recognise me. Perhaps we both look ancient to one another and best to allow memories to stay in the past.  I leave the main commercial Ledra St and head up to the car. In these backstreets the artisans had their shops. Mr Yiannis, the shoemaker, Mr Stelios and Mrs Koula the dressmakers. Now a handful, if that, of them are there. Using their old traditional methods of cutting the cloth, marking it with chalk, stretching the leather and hammering on the heels. 

The whole of the centre of the city is being subsumed by a layer of concrete, courtesy of the now deceased Architect Hadid whose tortuous plan is unfolding like a nightmare over many years and untold inflated budgets. It is a joke now about how and when the whole project will be finished but even this seems to stand a better chance then what we call CYPROB. 

And yet and yet, the neighbourhoods where I live when I come back, are full of houses which bask in the sunshine, the pomegranates hanging from the trees, the lemons glistening green, the flowers cascading over the fences which can no longer contain them.

The Kyrenia mountain range is bluish purple and perfectly visible in all the days I am visiting. The dreaded sand from the Sahara forecast for the weekend has not quite arrived to shroud their view. A fading view of them and all the history that they hold. But even as they fade every family and every person can recount stories of village life and families that the mountains cradled in their gullies and valleys over so many decades. I leave once more, happy to see the family well, but heartbroken that this place, with so much to offer has boundaries and walls, Green lines and defence posts that should have no place in this world anymore. 

Maybe it is time Cypriots took it upon themselves to decide their future before it is decided for them. 

Time to UNITE CYPRUS NOW.