another line of no particular meaning
There are Thoughts which come >>> And Thoughts which go >>>
And so ...
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ARCHIVE 9 1st April 2002 to 26th July 2004 |
Monday 26th July 2004ad
Unexpected cramp struck me at about 6pm. I was just sitting, watching Doctor Who on ABC TV - Episode One of "The Time Monster" - with my legs relaedly stretched horizontally across a small bar stool, my feet hanging over the end. My legs began to feel uncomfortable, so I stood up, and they felt numb, and almost gave way. Then the cramps began to be painful, especially that in my left calf muscle, which was spasming so severely by 6.10pm, that I could not stand up, and had trouble finding a position where the pain was not crippling. After about five minutes it began to ease, but then my right calf spasmed, though not as bad as the left had been; and both thighs also began to spasm. Only by about 6.40pm did all this muscle cramping ease to the point, that I can move relatively freely, albeit slowly.
What happened, I surmise, is that my attempts to improve my diet did this! The limited amount of blood available due to my chronic low blood pressure means that my blood supply is limited, and some areas must be left short. As I had just eaten, my digestive system - which takes some 60% of my blood supply - pulled rank, and the blood was moved to it from the legs, where it had been in quantity because of all the walking I had done in the afternoon. As my legs where resting horizontally at the time, it was an obvious place for the body to recall blood from. Unfortunately, it happened rather precipitately!
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Sunday 25th July 2004ad
A plethora of music, mostly classical, & all with strong backing vocals of the beaks of the three Vegans; a maze of chess analyses of several all but overdue correspondence games; and housework; plus downloading legal MP3s; also, cleanups & tuneups for the old & new PCs; and God knows what more energy I will have to find, to attack what else needs be done.
Left to what my Inner Soul would want: the early morning would see me reading Early Greek Philosophy & Sherman's Memoirs; the late morning, at the Cremorne Orpheum watching "The Triplets Of Belleville"; the early afternoon would find me in coffee shops and bookshops in King Street in Newtown, in Glebe Point Road in Glebe; whilst the early evening would have me at the concert at Government House, or listening to the Grevillea Ensemble in Crows Nest. ... But, it is not a perfect world. And I am one with Copernicus as to complaining of the drudgery & tedium of this world, which wastes so much of one's time!
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Saturday 24th July 2004ad
Listening in bed to the radio - ABC NewsRadio - for an hour and a half after waking up is, perhaps, not the best; but at least I am well informed about the tragedies around the world. Albeit I am hardly happy for knowing what miseries abound in Sudan, & Gaza, & Turkey.
I did get to Cremorne Veterinary Hospital; even ten minutes early. Wolfgang seemed to enjoy the journey, when he could see out the window. The beak trimming was easier this time, as his biting has kept it under better control. Moreover, he recovered more quickly than before.
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Despite the rerouting buses, due to the closure of Bayswater Road at the Darlinghurst Road end, I made it on time for the 7.00pm concert at the City Recital Centre at Angel Place, as I had last thursday. But this time it was the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra performing Mozart mostly, but also a scene from Weber's . The soloist was tenor , who possesses a voice which is both powerful and emotional [in the true and most complete sense], and also has this aura of surety and certainty, such that I could no conceive of him not delivering some magic to the audience.
The Mozart was delivered by the Orchestra under Richard Dwyer's direction, like a cavalry charge: allegros at a gallop; adantes at sure measured step; and those in between at a canter I suppose, if I can keep this somewhat curious metaphor going. What I am trying to say is that the whole was delivered with an emotional energy, which really brought the music alive.
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Friday 23rd July 2004ad
Finally I rang Cremorne Veterinary Hospital and made an appointment tomorrow morning at nine-thirty for Wolfgang. This is to have his undershot beak trimmed, which needs be done periodically. It is not that bad, but it will have to be done in the not too distant future, and next weekend is too busy for this. So at 4.30pm today I decided it must be, and for once I was swift to action. If only I were in all things.
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Thursday 22nd July 2004ad
I stepped on to the kerb as I crossed Crows Nest Road to the units at number two. As I did I glanced down, and caught sight of the corpse of a Rainbow Lorrikeet, which was so new, that the feathers of its back looked the same as if it were alive. The face I could not see. As I have said before in these Thoughts, it is difficult to imagine a Rainbow Lorrikeet dead, since they are so full of life!
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Wednesday 21st July 2004ad
Is it my imagination? Or are the victim & the accused in Norfolk Island's second murder, both "Persons of Interest" in Norfolk Island's first murder?
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Mid-afternoon, I went to Cremorne to purchase my new insulin [5 bottles of Actrapid & 5 bottles of Protophane]. This was rather hit by the Commonwealth Government's price rise on medications, as each bottle counts as one, although all are bought on the same script! Then I took a bus to Cremorne Point, and the ferry back to Sydney Cove. I theorised that this pleasant trip would cheer me up, and it did indeed, as we swept across the calm wetness.
But then, a second unpleasant surprise. My annual red travelpass expires on 21st July 2004 - to wit, today! The expiry date is given by the ferry ticket reader, but not by that for trains & buses. Hence as to why I was ignorant of this pertinent fact; for too long has it been since I went by ferry. There was originally an expiry date on the ticket, but this has worn to be all but illegible. And for some reason I had convinced myself that it expired on 4th August 2004.
The perscription cost me nearly fifty dollars; close to double what it last was. The weekly travelpass will cost me thirty two dollars: an unexpectedly early sixty-four dollars more in costs each fortnight. My economising, which has been more attempted than succeeded, will have to be more consistent & considered from now on!
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Tuesday 20th July 2004ad
One load of clothes washed. Two episodes of Doctor Who* "The Mutants" watched. Three correspondence chess games completed. Four Horses of the Apocalypse came calling.
[* Yesterday's and then today's. We are progressing through whole years of production, by the month.]
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Monday 19th July 2004ad
Sydney people are the most easily surprised. Normal human beings, living in a temperate climate, would not at all be surprised that in winter, it is often cold.
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Sunday 18th July 2004ad
It is very windy. During the day I have heard rather loud thumps & bangs, at not infrequent intervals. Presumably, it is the garden furniture being blown about the roof-top astroturf. The said area being very exposed, this is not at all surprising. But I feel no need to go up there to see this. As I have said: the roof-top is very exposed; the day is very windy; so, in consequence, my curiosity is most definitely at sub-feline levels.
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Saturday 17th July 2004ad
Thursday night's "Catalyst" on ABC TV brought a delayed response at about 7am this morning. I bought, instead of the usual milk: "Hastings Valley Organic Milk", from Wauchope.
This afternoon was mostly Mozart, courtesy of ABC TV. There was "Mozart's Courtly Operas". Then there was Mozart's "Mitridate, Re Di Ponte". And following that, Ralph Vaughan William's "Sinfonia Antarcticus". I did say "mostly".
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Friday 16th July 2004ad
The most curious thing, about the pre-election campaign in Australia, has been John Howard's attempt, in aping George Bush Junior, to make the "Gay Marriage" an election issue here. The Australian Prime Minister seems to be very remote from his own people.
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Thursday 15th July 2004ad
Doctor Who. Yes I am still watching it, as it continues at 6pm each monday to thursday, except for occasional hiatus, mostly due to sport. We are now most of the way throught the Pertwee Era - that is, the Third Doctor.
Tonight was the second episode of "The Mutants". What impresses me most here is the design, with the space installations of the future still looking quite the part, and the design in a pure artistic sense looking very attractive. One gets the impression that more than usual money was spent on it. And the story does seem to roll along in a sensible way.
The previous story shown, which finished on tuesday, was "The Sea Devils". In this case, the sets also showed expense, with the help of the Royal Navy proving an obvious plus. The Sea Devils themselves were impressive, especially the eyes. But the story itself was rather confused, with too often, much toing and froing with little real purpose achieved. Also, the ethical points were not carefully enough considered, leaving what could have been a consistent humane position for the Doctor, looking rather contrived and contradictory.
In between these two stories, there originally occurred two others: "The Planet Of The Daleks" and "The Frontier In Space". Both were not shown as they include the Daleks. Thus they fell victim to the copyright dispute between Terry Nation and the BBC. It is a shabby epitaph for Terry Nation, that he chose to ask his family to continue this beyond his death. It is regretable they were foolish enough to humour his bitterness as he lay dying.
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Wednesday 14th July 2004ad
There is much to be said for living in the past.
It has a natural sureness, quite absent from the present or the future.
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Tuesday 13th July 2004ad
Roundway Down - 13th July 1643.
English Civil War.
[just north of Devizes in Wiltshire]
To Download Calligraphic 421 BT Font - used above - Click Here
A Royalist victory in which the topgraphy played a key part. Firstly, uneven ground enabled the Royalist Light Cavalry under Wilmot to defeat Hesilrige's heavily clad Cuirassiers, even though the latter had twice their numbers. This was followed by an uphill march by Byron's Brigade which dove Waller's remaining parliamentarian Cavalry into retreat. They rode straight over the end of Roundway Down, which has a 100 metre drop. Horse and men fell to their death. Strangely, and to their discredit, neither side knew of this dangerous sheer drop. Apparently no one talked to the local inhabitants.
Always reconnoitre the terrain where you may do battle.
[I am indebted to "British Battles -
The Front Lines Of History In Colour Photographs"
by Ken & Denise Guest. This is a most excellent and
informative coffee table book.]
Monday 12th July 2004ad
1.20pm - I may have saved a bird's life. Behind me, in McHatton Street in Waverton, I heard a bird calling out. It was loud and anguished; with surprise and fear and pain all blended into one voice. I turned, and saw that one Magpie Currawong held another down. It pinned the victim with a foot, and was attacking it with its sharp & dangerous beak. I instinctively called out for it to stop, and this was enough to distract the oppressor, so that the victim was able to struggle free. At this point the mate of the oppressor arrived, as the victim, which I saw quite clearly as a younger and smaller bird, made its getaway. It was hotly pursued by the pair who clearly own this patch.
Half-grown Magpie Currawongs are often pecked to death, when they stray into established pair territories. So I may have saved this youngster's life, for at least this day. But it was hardly a thought out plan; rather just an immediate reaction.
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Sunday 11th July 2004ad
Two correspondence chess games I posted this morning. It was all done yesterday, but I fell asleep before I could post them, which meant I had to open them and alter the date of dispatch. Then there are five correspondence chess games which I completed today and am to post shortly [before falling asleep, hopefully!!]. Also there is the won game; still to be sent off to the DOP. And that, plus housework seems to be most of my weekend. So if I think of it, I become rather depressed!
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Saturday 10th July 2004ad
Joseph Haydn's "The Seasons" is on tonight at the Sydney Opera House, as performed by the Sydney Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra. I would much have liked to go there, and immerse myself. Yet I have this need to save money, or so I perceive. And though the costs would not have been that high - $30.00 for the concert; ~$8.00 for the programme - it yet seemed to me, reluctantly, that I need forgo this pleasure.
It seems the Sydney Piano Competition will also not have my presence, for these same reasons.
Fortunately, my subscriptions, paid in january this year, will keep me in concerts still, at the rate of several a month.
And, with the Vegans* I listened, on ABC Classic FM, to the concert which I attended, on the night of friday before last. I remember seeing the microphones for the recording.
*[By the Vegans, I mean the Three Budgies: Ludwig; Amadeus; Wolfgang]
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Friday 9th July 2004ad
Imitation may be the sincerest form of
flattery,
but flattery is not the sincerest form of imitation.
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Thursday 8th July 2004ad
An anniversary of sorts. On the third thursday of the last month [17th June], I was coming home when I saw, in the section of Bayswater Road, which is just uphill from Ward Avenue, a Common Pigeon busily eating a large piece of bread roll. A Seagull arrived, with hopes of a feed. But when it came near, the Pigeon faced it with a very aggressive demeanour, and gave a small shriek. This utterance had all the menace which a Pigeon is capable of. Well, they do not exactly have the beak of a Raptor; and their rounded torso has, even from the earliest age, a decidedly middle aged appearance. One can easily imagine them driving Volvos. But, to my surprise, the Seagull retreated; only to almost immediately advance again, albeit in a cautious manner. Once more it was faced off with the same vehemence! Outfoxed, the Gull surrendered its hopes and flew away. All this was watched, with intense interest, but at a discrete distance, by an Indian Myna.
The more I learn of Pigeons, the more astonishing they prove to be!
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Wednesday 7th July 2004ad
I am tired of always falling asleep, when I merely lay down to rest.
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Tuesday 6th July 2004ad
Sedgemoor - 6th July 1685.
Monmouth's Rebellion.
[near Westonzoyland, just east of Bridgwater, Somerset]
To Download Calligraphic 421 BT Font - used above - Click Here
Not a battle, but just a bloodbath. The Duke of Monmouth's attempt at revolt was always doomed. His levies were inexperienced. He attempted complex manoeuvres in deep night, which were quite beyond his forces. And at one point a cavalry force galloped off into the night, leaving behind their guide to the ford of the canal.
[I am indebted to "British Battles -
The Front Lines Of History In Colour Photographs"
by Ken & Denise Guest. This is a most excellent and
informative coffee table book.]
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Monday 5th July 2004ad
At the dentist I was, this afternoon. Andre replaced a filling in left side of my upper jaw and the left side of my lower jaw. Teeth are such a problem. I would be better off with a beak.
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Sunday 4th July 2004ad
Today I saw for a second time, "Wondrous Oblivion" at the Roseville Cinema. This time I was on time. At the end of the movie, when the credits were quite finished, I heard a women up the back say: "I could quite easily see that again". My thoughts precisely!
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Saturday 3rd July 2004ad
Sydney Symphony Orchestra - Conductor: Jiri Belohlavek.
Cello soloist: Steven Isserlis.
Piotr Tchaikovsky - "Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture".
Carl Vine - "Cello Concerto'.
Anton Dvorak - "Silent Woods'; 7th Symphony.
As usual:
[1] I was threatening to be late, but
made it with some minutes to spare.
[2] I was very tired and at times, seemed ready to fall asleep.
[3] But I loved the music. Its flow & ebb refreshed my mind.
This was the premiere of Carl Vine's Cello Concerto. It has a Romantic feel, which surprised me for some reason. It was certainly worth the performance. And it is not often that the composer of an orchestral work is there, to take a bow to the audience applause.
Steven Isserlis is both an excellent cellist and a charming man. Two qualities which gel well.
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Friday 2nd July 2004ad
Marston Moor - 2nd July 1644.
English Civil War.
[just to the west of the City of York]
To Download Calligraphic 421 BT Font - used above - Click Here
On the face of it, it seems most unsurprising that a 28,000 allied force of Parliamentarians & Scots, should defeat Royalist forces totalling 18,000 [Prince Rupert's relieving force of 14,000, plus the 4,000 in the York Garrison under the Marquis of Newcastle]. But it well may have been different, had not Prince Rupert offended the Marquis, albeit quite unintentionally. The latter responded by allowing his soldiers to search for shoes in the abandoned Parliamentarian camp at the seige of York, rather than join the Prince for a surprise attack. So the Royalists gained 4,000 pairs of shoes, but lost the battle, and had 6,000 soldiers killed or captured. This loss of troops was critcial, as King Charles Stuart was having increasing problems in recruiting new forces.
In the English Civil War, as in the American Civil War, the fact that one side could more easily replace its losses than the other, was critical.
A curious point of this battle was that Prince Rupert and Oliver Cromwell were leading opposing cavalry forces, but were not on the field at the same time. The Prince was having supper when Cromwell ordered the charge. When the Prince returned and ordered his retreating cavalry into a counter-charge, Cromwell was having a wound dressed!
Alford - 2nd July 1645. English
Civil War.
[In the Grampians, to the west of Aberdeen.]
To Download Calligraphic 421 BT Font - used above - Click Here
Only 2,000 a side fought in this Scottish Battle of the English Civil War, if that is not a contradiction in terms. The Royalists were commanded by Marquis Montrose, while the Covenanteers were commanded by General Baillie. An interesting battle, as the critical move occurred when Lord Gordon saw his family's cattle in the Convenanteers baggage. He was so enraged, that he charged with a single squadron into the enemy force, without asking his commander first. Lord Gordon was killed. But Marquis Montrose was able to win an overwhelming victory, by following up Gordon's impetuous action with a full charge against the surprised enemy.
An excellent example of how a good commander can take control of the unexpected.
[I am indebted to "British Battles -
The Front Lines Of History In Colour Photographs"
by Ken & Denise Guest. This is a most excellent and
informative coffee table book.]
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Thursday 1st July 2004ad
The Battle Of The Boyne - 1st
July 1688.
[At Oldcastle In County Meath, Ireland.]
To Download Calligraphic 421 BT Font - used above - Click Here
For all the forces on both sides, it was a strangely ineffectual battle. Under the cover of their superior cannon-fire, the army of William of Orange crossed the River Boyne, lead by his elite Blue Guards. Intimidated by the enemy's superior artillery, the army of James Stuart retreated in an orderly fashion. So this battle achieved little on the day itself. Yet it did demonstrate that William of Orange had significantly more troops, who were better trained, and critically, he had a far superior firepower.
It was the strange and unique case, of a Dutch army fighting a French army, in Ireland for the throne of England.
Why do the Irish celebrate the anniversary on 12th July? They do since that is the anniversary of the Battle of Anghrim, which ended in the complete defeat of James' army.
History, as a systematic discipline, does not seem to be an Irish forté.
[Information from various encyclopediae of mine, plus several webpages.]
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Wednesday 30th June 2004ad
Adwalton Moor. 30th June 1643.
English Civil War.
[near Bradford in Yorkshire]
To Download Calligraphic 421 BT Font - used above - Click Here
Lord Fairax, with a Parliamentarian force of only 4,000, held in check the Earl of Newcastle's Royalist force of 10,000. This was due to a well chosen position, which was stoutly defended. Then, in an oft repeated error, these emboldened defenders disobeyed orders & attacked beyond their defences. They were soon swept away in a bloody rout.
Discipline is the absolute key to a successful war campaign.
[I am indebted to "British Battles -
The Front Lines Of History In Colour Photographs"
by Ken & Denise Guest. This is a most excellent and
informative coffee table book.]
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Tuesday 29th June 2004ad
A week of English battle anniversaries! Although, of course, in the history of men, wars have been so numerous, there are surely dozens and dozens of battle anniversaries on each and every day of the year. This just shows how reluctant our species is to learn from error.
Cropredy Bridge. 29th June 1644.
English Civil War.
[On the River Cherwell, well to the north of Oxford]
To Download Calligraphic 421 BT Font - used above - Click Here
A typical English Civil War battle. Sizeable armies for that period - 9,000 on each side. Considerable action and noise; including complex manoeuvres by both sides, which were not precisely carried out. Each, at different times, committed that cardinal and obvious sin during an advance: the cavalry left the infantry far behind, which caused both parts of the attacking force to be vulnerable.
The casualties were significant, but there was confusion as to the precise numbers. Many recruits took a retreat as an opportunity to retreat quite out of the army altogether - a common Civil war practice.
And most typically of all, despite all of the energy & ordnance expended - nothing at all was achieved by either side!
[I am indebted to "British Battles -
The Front Lines Of History In Colour Photographs"
by Ken & Denise Guest. This is a most excellent and
informative coffee table book.]
On a more peaceful note, I saw at 1.48pm, several Leaden Flycatchers flying anti-clockwise loops to catch small insects on the wing. Clearly, once more many of them have chosen to winter in Sydney.
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Monday 28th June 2004ad
Salt is the calling card of lost water; on Mars, as it is on Earth.
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Sunday 27th June 2004ad
Finally, today, I saw "Wondrous Oblivion" at the Roseville Cinema, although I was ten minutes late, due to public transport problems. But the movie was good. At the end of the film, I felt I knew its meaning, as it is a clear story, simply told. But hours later, I continued to think about it. Like a William Blake poem, Wondrous Oblivion has many layers.
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Saturday 26th June 2004ad
Mid afternoon, I was in a rush, trying to coax myself into a major housework attack. Sadly, after vacuuming I neglected to put a carpet back properly, and soon afterwards tripped over the cord of the hi-fi left speaker, bringing it off its stand on to the carpet with a mighty thump. A solid wooden effort, it was unharmed. But in its fall it knocked the Stegosaur off my television and broke its tail. It is a very old creature, about twenty years, and this is its first injury. Oh, and it is made of hard plastic.
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Friday 25th June 2004ad
Sydney Symphony Orchestra - Conductor: Alexander Lazarev.
Kancheli - "Styx'. Viola soloist: Yuri Bashmet.
When I booked this concert in january, I had never heard of Kancheli, let alone having heard any of his music. Styx is interesting work, for the most part of which, I enjoyed. There seems, to me at least, a Carl Orff influence in it.
Shostakovic - 7th Symphony [Leningrad].
A very good performance. I noticed in particular, with the "marching" in the First Movement, that Shostokovic uses the brass in a way that strongly suggests conceited pomposity. It is amazing how expressively descriptive music can be.
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Thursday 24th June 2004ad
John Singleton wants to set up a fourth commercial television network in Australia; one which has 100% Australian content. But surely this would breach the proposed Free Trade Agreement with Big Brother, alias the United States Of America!
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Wednesday 23rd June 2004ad
There is no real shortage of water in Sydney, just bad management. Vast quantities of recoverable water in the sewage & other liquid waste is just poured in to the Tasman Sea. That sea itself is a major source of water through desalination.
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Tuesday 22nd June 2004ad
The "Middle East" should be
renamed the "Muddle East"
in honour of American foreign policy errors.
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Monday 21st June 2004ad
Human sinuses seem badly designed.
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Sunday 20th June 2004ad
This afternoon, I witnessed the Australian Chamber Orchestra. First they played Haydn's 1st Symphony, in the Italian style, which I had never heard before. Then Imogen Cooper joined them for Mozart's beautiful 27th Piano Concerto. Whilst after interval, there was Dvorak's Piano Quintet, a second work which I had heretofore not known. It was full of frequent changes of mood, alternating between boisterous joy and slow reflective melancholy.
A most delicious afternoon's entertainment.
After the concert, I purchased "Imogen Cooper And Friends", a triple CD, for forty dollars, which Imogen signed. Attempts at CD purchase frugality, on my part, have met with a decidely limited success.
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Saturday 19th June 2004ad
Finally I bought the triple CD set of the five Beethoven Piano Concertos, as played by Gerard Willems on the Stuart & Sons Piano, supported by Sinfonia Australis as conducted by Antony Walker. It was discounted from fifty to forty dollars at the ABC shop in the QVB, which was all the excuse I needed to purchase something, for which I long craved.
And yet, when I played the CDs, one after another, I was impressed by how good it all was. Why this came as a surprise. is most mysterious to me.
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Friday 18th June 2004ad
So the 7-11 commission in the USA has formally fingered Pakistan, in relation to having once had close involvement with Bin Laden's mob. I first firmly asserted this on the day of the destruction of the World Trade Centre in New York. Nobody really took any notice. That is the trouble with genuis: you are either too far ahead; or too far behind.
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Thursday 17th June 2004ad
Cassini has taken some wonderful pictures of Phoebe, the outermost Saturnian moon. It has a battered look: a mishapened dark globe, flecked with ice streaks. It was always suspected of being a captured asteroid, a conclusion certainly not doubted now.
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Wednesday 16th June 2004ad
Rugby League is not so much brutal, as brutish.
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Tuesday 15th June 2004ad
Yesterday was the 359th anniversary of the Battle of Naseby, in the English Civil War, which was a crushing defeat for the first King Charles Stuart. A rather suitable anniversary for the Queen's Birthday holiday, I think.
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Monday 14th June 2004ad
There is something melancholy about a day devoted to (a) general house ordering & (b) not spending money. Nothing really can raise the spirits much; not even the Piano Sonatas of Mozart & Beethoven; nor the Orchestral Compositions of Vaughan Williams; nor the accompanying cheerful warblings & chirpings of three resident Budgie Birds.
Melancholy is, as melancholy must be.
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Sunday 13th June 2004ad
This afternoon I was at the War Memorial Carillion, at the University of Sydney. A Carillion is a very large musical instrument, with certain limitations, as their is always a degree of "bell vibrato". Today's concert, played by Susan Wilkins, was a mixture of specifc Carillion compositions; plus transcriptions of hymns, folk songs and works in classical tradition. Some were suited better than others. Those that sounded to best effect are those that are based on a simple chord or note pattern. Martin Shaw's "Battle Hymn" worked very well, although it is hardly my favourite musical composition. The folk songs also sounded to good effect. Some of the hymns lost something of their power & subtely due to the nature of the medium. However, the speciifc Carillion compositions were highly inventive in their use of these 54 bells.
It is a pity that I missed the Carillion last sunday, as Grieg's "Solveig's Song" was played, and if any orchestral work is suited for the Carillion, it is perhaps this!
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Saturday 12th June 2004ad
Sydney Symphony Orchestra [conducted by Ola Rudnor]
Mozart - Night Music in C for Wind
Octet.
Beethoven - Third Piano Concerto [Pianist - Andreas Haefliger].
Schubert - "Death And The Maiden" [arranged Mahler].
If I was almost late, the fault was State Rail's & not mine. If the music obscured the pain in my legs; it is to the praise of these Classical composers, and to this "fantastico" Orchestra. If Mahler did not get the emotions right, in the beginning of the First Movement of Schubert's "Death And The Maiden", than that is Mahler's fault! The title of the work is a very clear hint, that a certain initial trauma is involved; indeed quite necessary.
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Friday 11th June 2004ad
Where would Australians be, without a close alliance with the U.S.A.?
Where New Zealanders are now! And they seem no worse off than us.
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Thursday 10th June 2004ad
A blanket of clouds came over, circa noon. The rain started not till night. At which time, the blackness of sky was set with howling winds, & a downwards descent of raging raindrops.
In Sydney these late months, such a storm is a rare experience indeed.
Be that as it may, the Budgies were utterly concerned by this tempest. For them, as far as I can fathom, it was but an interesting soundscape, underlining from a different direction the stereo CD music.
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Wednesday 9th June 2004ad
Tolerance for me is a must.
My home I share with three vegans.
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Tuesday 8th June 2004ad
The Transit of Venus, in places where the Sun did not set mid-transit, lasted some six hours. I witnessed five of them, before I had to leave for a meeting. The other end of "my" telescope, the business end, was in Trondheim in Norway. Thus are the wonders of the World Wide Web! So used to it are we, that its newness, and its miracle quality, are not comprehended.
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Monday 7th June 2004ad
This ongoing American Iraqi Prisoner Scandal, which will be ongoing for years it seems, shows the American Nation at its best & worst. That it happened, displays the short sightedness, ignorance & plain stupidity of the American Defence Establishment. The way that the full consequences of their plans were never thought out, with any intelligent foresight, takes one's breath quite away.
On the other hand, the integrity & determination of both the Media, and the Congressional Enquiries, to get at the truth of the Scandal, is astonishing. It could happen to this degree of zealousness in few countries [and definitely not in my own!]. And of course, this was only possible with those numerous whistleblowers in Defence, who felt so sincerely that the Truth had to be put out there in the public gaze.
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Sunday 6th June 2004ad
I forgot to water the tiny pot, in which a Date Palm and a rainforest Umbrella Tree had planted themselves. It is actually the Umbrella Tree which survives best, with its swollen dwarf trunk and its spray of tiny stunted leaves. The Date Palm, with its four fronds sprung out of the earth, seems permanently wilted.
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Saturday 5th June 2004ad
Such a frustrating thing is blood sugar levels, for a type one diabetic. Despite all the insulin injected; all the brisk walking to get the blood moving; and attempts at care with eating; my blood sugar levels have still been high all day.
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Friday 4th June 2004ad
Winter is as Winter does.
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Thursday 3rd June 2004ad
There I was at around 9pm, having just boarded the Eastern Suburbs train at Martin Place. As I leaned against a metal pole, which was there for that essential purpose, an Oboist of exceptional ability entered the carriage and walked past me. It occurred to me, to say something of witty intention, such as "Antony Chesterman, I presume". As my mind toyed the idea, amidst the surprise of seeing him, he was soon well past and up the steps to seek a seat. This was perhaps a grace of good fortune. It is hard to be Oscar Wilde at night, when tired & off one's guard.
The encounter was not a complete co-incidence. We were at the same concert in Angel Place. He was on the stage with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, playing Boyce, Mozart, Haydn & Elgar. I was in the audience, in the front row on level three. This is a long way up, and not a seat for anyone with vertigo!
The music was wonderful! - Exactly how good, is difficult for me to say, with any coherence. Superlatives are words that can come so cheaply - as if to some byzantine flatterer - and yet they can never explain the grace, which is given in the lustrous swirls of musical coherence.
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Wednesday 2nd June 2004ad
It is now official. Australia did know about the Coalition abuse of prisoners in Iraq last year. Well, to be quite precise, there were Australian Officers who did know. However, the winnowing effect of the ascent of advice up the chain of command, supposedly made sure that this vital data did not make it to the apex. Surely it is the duty of those who are at the top, to make sure that important information gets to them.
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Tuesday 1st June 2004ad
I went to the Conservatorium Of Music tonight. Lots of problem with low bood sugar, but this did not stop me enjoying Johann Sebastian Bach's "Saint John's Passion". This was performed by the Conservatorium Chamber Choir and the Saint Lawrence Baroque Orchestra.
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Monday 31st May 2004ad
Certain sections of American military
intelligence
seem to believe that USA means
"Unrestrained Sexual Abuse".
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Sunday 30th May 2004ad
This afternoon, I had my first live experience of Karl Orff's "Carmina Burana". This was at the Great Hall at Sydney University, in a production of the Sydney University Musical Society.
Glorious!! Albeit the crescendos were quite deafening enough for my ears to complain.
The first half of the concert was Glinka's Overture & Shostokovic's 12th Symphony.
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Saturday 29th May 2004ad
The hoarded chess games were posted rather late - three of last year's; two of this year's. One of the former is a most precious and joyous thing - a won game! It is so cheering to see it arrive each time. Each move is another inevitable small, but determined push, towards its soon, too soon conclusion. His King has been forced to centre itself, in a lethal web of the lines of force of My Queen, and My Rooks, and My Queen's Pawn.
Perhaps if I won more games, the won game would not seem such a gem diamond.
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Friday 28th May 2004ad
Tonight I witnessed the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gelmetti.
Brahm's Concerto For Violin and Cello. I was quite astonished in a way, for here is a major work of Brahms, which is optimistic, uplifting, even cheerful - the 3rd movement presto, especially so!
Beethoven' 7th Symphony. This was a most beautiful performance. The nuances of what the conductor intended were perfectly enunciated. Just extraordinary!
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Thursday 27th May 2004ad
Moves for seven correspondence chess games completed: 4 this years; 1 last years; 2 overseas. That is something I suppose, although 3 still remain. There is only so much time in an evening!
Before all this I managed to change a light globe, which turned out to be held in place by a bent wire, liable to spring at one with sharpness! And this was all done balancing on the edge of the washing machine, & leaning at a risky angle to one side. But it was done. There is light. And light is what matters above all! Especially, this is, in the kitchen.
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Wednesday 26th May 2004ad
My favourite aphorism: It's not a perfect world.
To the best of my knowledge, I learnt this from none other than myself in isolation. However, it is no doubt the kind of phrase which will be invented quite in isolation, by many people, in many places, at many times.
I say it quite often. But then, it is oft so apt.
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Tuesday 25th May 2004ad
The problem with the real world, is that one may say Winter does not begin, officially, until 1st June 2004. Yet this in no way forbids it being rather cold on a May morning.
[I dwell south of the equator.]
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Monday 24th May 2004ad
No correspondence chess games arrived in the mail today, despite the intervening weekend, supressing the deliverance of mail for two days. Strangely, it felt like a hole had been cut into the fabric of my expectations, and I was quite lost for what to do with myself.
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Sunday 23rd May 2004ad
The Australian Chamber Orchestra, directed by Richard Tognetti, performing "Glorious Beethoven". Glorious indeed. First the full on drama of the Coriolan Overture. Then, the subtle complexities of the Triple Concerto.
Finally, after interval, the splendid Sixth symphony, the famed Pastoral Symphony. This last was just wonderful! Each and every nuance was simply just right.
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Saturday 22nd May 2004ad
Concert eve - Sydney Symphony Orchestra, under Gelmetti. The Violin Concerto of Tchaikovsky, with Arccado as soloist. The Right Of Spring by Stravinsky.
So slow to move to any systematic and useful, clear directional activity.
Eventually, around 7am, I started some music. There was radio 2MBS-FM, for an hour. But my mind was such, that I cannot recall what was broadcast; except, there were instruments played and voices used, in the "classical tradition".
Then I played a CD of Concerti, composed by Evaristo Felice Dall'abaco, and performed by Concerto Köln. This consists of selected numbers from Op. 2, 5 & 6. Dall'abaco is one of those very able Baroque composers who lacks the recognition he deserves. Concerto Köln do not have a conductor, nor a musical director. It seems to make no difference to them.
After this ended, I put on a CD of "The Coffee Cantata" & "The Peasant Cantata" by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is played by the Linde-Consort, under the direction of Hans-Martin Linde. Voice is ably provided by Rosemarie Hofman, Gregory Reinhardt & Guy De Mey. It is one of the first "classical" CDs I bought; is a most delightful & uplifting rendering of two Baroque Cantatas; one which I should play more often. The Three Budgies, from their "backing vocals", seem to be enjoying it thoroughly as well.
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I did make it to the concert, just in time. It was well worth the rush to get there.
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Friday 21st May 2004ad
An American soldier was photographed next to the corpse of an Iraqi prisoner. She smiles broadly & gives the thumbs up signal. To state the obvious: If a prisoner dies under interrogation, it is most unlikely, indeed, that the Geneva Convention was adhered to.
The thing that amazes me, is that the senior American Military Intelligence Officers, who dreamed up the systematic torture of Iraqi prisoners, seemed never to give thought to the fact that all of their victims, except the few who died, would then be released back into the Iraqi population. It surely should have occurred to these officers, that not all of these prisoners would remain completely silent as to their treatment.
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Thursday 20th May 2004ad
Another three of this year's correpondence chess games arrived today.
Same three posted. One straight forward. One middling. One difficult.
Between completing the moves & sealing the envelopes, but before posting, I lay down to rest awhile. I know almost to the minute when I fell asleep, as it was during Henry Purcell's "Chacony in G Minor", by the Richard Hickox Orchestra, on the Eloquence "Best Of The Baroque" CD. I awoke at 10.03pm, about half an hour later, beneath bright house lights, under the enquiring gaze of three Budgies. They wished to know when the music would restart.
It did shortly later, with the same CD once more, which from their attention & happy warbling was much to their pleasure. While both their eyesight & hearing are far more keen, than that of we mere Humans, they seem to be much more aurally inspired, than visually. Their pleasure in sound is clearly quite exceptional.
And through all this I struggled, through the night air to post the said chess moves; my head still drugged with the realms of morpheus; drowsy with the need for a stilling of overt thinking - such a tiring thing in itself - albeit my head is supposedly swollen with the telltale Human design for it. - I know how sweet Hamlet felt with its fatigue!
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Wednesday 19th May 2004ad
Six correspondence chess games I completed tonight. There were four from this year's tourney, and two endgames from last year's tourney. In each game, I feel I played as good a move, as the position allowed. I hope to last a night of sleep, to wake in the morning.
Tuesday last week, Ralph Seberry had the North Sydney Chess Championship won, with a round to spare. He went home. He went to sleep. He never woke up. Dead at 37 years old.
His death bothers me, more than all the deaths in recent weeks in Iraq & Gaza. There is a small, but critical difference for me. I knew Ralph Seberry. Over the years, we have exchanged, perhaps several hundred words. Not exactly a friendship. But my thoughts of Ralph, on occasions when they came to mind, were always fond, always positive.
He was a person, of whom I can truly say: I never ever thought badly of him, of anything he did, or anything he said. It is well worth regretting the loss of such a one.
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Tuesday 18th May 2004ad
Nigh on noon, a Noisy Miner precision flew, close by my head. It bothered me not. The bird was simply bluffing. It has not the equipment with beak nor claw, to do me any harm. It knew this well. And I knew that it knew. So, there was no need for me to flinch.
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Monday 17th May 2004ad
Today I learned why photographs were taken of the naked & abused Iraqi prisoners. Lynndie England [as quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald] explained: "We thought it looked funny, so pictures were taken."
It was one of the few, truly genuine statements to come out of the American Military, in regard to this matter.
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Sunday 16th May 2004ad
Last night I was at Angel Place, for the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Music composed by Bertali, von Biber, Buxtehude, J.S. Bach, Vivaldi & Händel. The guest soloist was Wolf Matthias Friedrich, a Baritone-Bass. Too long it has been, since I was at a Concert.
There is an ćtherial essence, both immediate & magical, which comes out in live performance, but can never be captured in recordings, however fine.
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Saturday 15th May 2004ad
Death is but a lack of breath away.
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Friday 12th May 2004ad
India - The BJP Governmant offered money to the rich; but to the poor, only dogma.
To the credit of the poor of that country, they considered this a poor offer.
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Thursday 13th May 2004ad
This is the day of the postal strike in the eastern Australian States.
It is both important and necessary. Up till this action, the Australia Post senior management could delude themselves, saying "the workforce is happy with what we are doing". After the high proportion of workers on strike today, they should quite be in the light, as to their unpopularity.
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Wednesday 12th May 2004ad
"The Fog Of War" ends its Sydney season today in Paddington, and tonight in Cremorne. Except, however, that it still continues at the Avalon Cinema. This last, being almost at the Point of Baranjoey, is at the utmost north of the Northern Beaches. It is over an hour and a half by Express Bus from the Sydney CBD. So, it is hardly in Sydney at all.
It is rare for me, having seen a movie twice, as with "The Fog Of War", to be so wishing to see yet again. And perhaps more than that.
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Tuesday 11th May 2004ad
Surprising it is, that Sydneysiders are surprised that it is currently cold in the mornings.
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Monday 10th May 2004ad
The trouble with Winter here, in Rushcutters Bay, is the northerly drift of the Sun. The Herbs on my balconies are left too much in the gloom. However, the Ferns remain happy.
A Weed's misery may be the Understorey's delight!
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Sunday 9th May 2004ad
Seven Correspondence Chess games I completed; plus perhaps an eighth tonight. Also I did lots of housework; & further renovated this endlessly problematic PC.
All the while, the wild winter wind whistled round this building, where I live. The Budgies warbled along with the wind. Being in-door birds, they may not connect this sound with a real phenomenon.
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Saturday 8th May 2004ad
The trouble with buying newspapers this week? They are full of Holiday Snaps from Iraq. No longer do I wish to see this depressing evidence of human folly & vindictiveness. What on earth did they think they were doing? Did it never occur to them, that the increasing trail of evidence would bring them down, inevitably?
As for Lynndie "Venus In Furs" England! She was not just "in the wrong place at the wrong time". The word "responsibility" seems absent from her vocabulary.
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Friday 7th May 2004ad
This obsession with Royalty is curious. Perhaps time does heal the arrant bastardry, which the forebears of today's Royalty used to gain power, in the first place.
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Thursday 6th May 2004ad
Israel. Iraq. Iran. Indonesia. Even Italy.
Is their something inherently
unstable,
about the capital letter "I"?
Could it be the Ego, enshrined in that "I"?
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Wednesday 5th May 2004ad
Much Mozart tonight. Hard it is to overdose on it.
Missed the Lunar Eclipse this morning, circa late pre-dawn. The NASA newsletter had said "Asia", and I realised not, this included Australasia. But anyway, there was a double eclipse in Saint Leonards. Those who work the night shift, and who looked for it, said that as the Moon began to disappear into the Earth's shadow, it also disappeared behind a large building. So much for the natural world.
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Tuesday 4th May 2004ad
Quite a stunning Moon Halo there is tonight.
The green, especially, is unsually intense.
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Monday 3rd May 2004ad
It all seems so safe, as I walk these quiet streets of Sydney.
Yet the World is far the more fragile, this year.
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Sunday 2nd May 2004ad
Today, I was trying to help on Helen's PC, with limited success. But at least I did get my Thumbdrive's drivers copied, from it to a Floppy, via Helen's PC. By use of this method, I transferred them to my New PC, which means my Thumbdrive can now move files from my Old PC to my New PC. Thus the former may soon be restarted from the beginning, via its Startup CD-ROM.
The whole point is an attempt to stop my Old PC from destroying Floppies; a newly acquired & very annoying habit of its.
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Even I felt the cold of Sydney this afternoon.
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Saturday 1st May 2004ad
The Battle of Killiecrankie. On "Two Men And a Trench" - ABC TV.
It was entertaining & informative, though they glossed over what was inglorious to the Highland force. The clansmen abandoned on the battlefield, their seriously injured commander, Viscount Dundee. In the end, this immobilised man was killed by a looter. By all accounts, the tartans "won the battle". Yet the close of play left the Government troops, under the command of Mackay, in control of the battleground. And the Highlander's cause, the first Jacobite uprising, soon afterwards collapsed.
Surely a Pyrrhic Victory, if ever there was one.
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Friday 30th April 2004ad
Today I learnt on "Gardening Australia" - ABC TV - that there are certain varieties of Basil, which are at best inedible, and at worst toxic. Camphor Basil is one of these fiends. It almost seems sacrilegious to me, that Basil could be so.
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Earlier, on the way home from work, I dropped in to Hernandez Café. It has the immense virtue of being always open. The Coffee Maker, then resident, was saying to a taxi driver as I arrived, words to the effect: "I mean real football. Like the effect of Norwich and Leeds".
I immediately answered, quite unwaiting for an invitation: "Norwich are going up & Leeds are going down."
The Coffee Maker immediately pointed at me and with enthusiasm said: "Exactly!" He was indeed, a Sparrows supporter.
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Thursday 29th April 2004ad
I wish the Spectre of Death would leave alone my computers.
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Wednesday 28th April 2004ad
Coriander has arisen from the soil in quantity. Likewise Cos Lettuce did on the weekend; almost before they were planted, it seems.
Sadly, of all the out-of-date seeds, I have but one little shoot, which should be a Lemon Balm. Only time will tell.
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Tuesday 27th April 2004ad
Tiw must be happy with Iraq &
Afghanistan.
He is a War God, after all.
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Monday 26th April 2004ad
The Greek Cypriots were right to say no, to the botched UN brokered agreement. If the Turkish Government is really sincere, why do they not withdraw all their troops now, as a act of good faith?
Bullying the victims of a brutal & illegal Turkish invasion is not the way to go.
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Sunday 25th April 2004ad
Anzac Day is the anniversary of that fateful day, when the Australian & New Zealand troops left Gallipoli. It was the sensible thing to do. They should have done it sooner. Indeed, they should have never been there, as Winston Churchill's plan was a poorly considered idea.
Strange that we should celebrate a defeat. Albeit, we did flee the battlefield in a highly ordered and efficient fashion. There were no casualties. The Turkish forces only realised that the Anzacs were gone, some hours later.
But still, as Australian Prime Minister, John Howard may well put it, in his borrowed jargon from an American book: The Australians cut and ran.
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In Abbey's Bookshop in Town, I spent the late morning browsing in many areas - Classics; Physics; Mathematics; History. Then at the end, I returned to Classics, and to my surprise, spotted a book which I had not searched for - William Tecumsah Sherman's "Memoirs". It was a Penguin paperback, priced at twenty dollars [minus five cents]. I had to have it. Sherman was rare in the American Civil War, in being a Commander who understood the nature of conflict. He also was possessed of an acerbic wit, which is usually a good quality for a writer.
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Tonight, I saw "The Fog Of War" again. To hear Robert Strange McNamara, but one time, is not enough for me. Once more I was held in awe by his presence. Although as a pacifist, I am not supposed to behave this way. And, as I suspected, I had missed a few minutes last time, due to my tiredness.
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Saturday 24th April 2004ad
This morning I played both the new CDs, which I bought yesterday. The Basset Mozart Clarinet Concerto & Soprano Arias CD was excellent. The Wesley Symphonies CD was likewise excellent. Curous it is that a composer of such ability as Samuel Wesley, should be so little known today. - I am playing the Wesley CD again now [~3.50pm].
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Friday 23rd April 2004ad
Weakness came upon me, such that I bought at Fish Fine Music, in George Street in Town, two CDs I have long coverted: [1] The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, performing Mozart's Clarinet Concerto with Craig Hill on Basset Clarinet, & various Mozart Soprano Arias with Cyndia Seiden; [2] The London Mozart Players performing Samuel Wesley' Symphonies.
Earlier, before the purchase, I had been in Chandos Street in Saint Leonards, renewing my 2MBS-FM annual subscription. Before that, my work day had not been short nor easy. So I arrived home with all motivation having transposed into pain in my legs. Mostly I just lay down and rested, not playing the CDs, as I wished to hear them for the first time with a clear & fresh mind.
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Mordecai Vanunu must be one of the toughest and bravest people on Earth.
Not many could spend twelve years in jail, under the eye of those masters of psychological torture, to come out sane & well balanced, not even with any much bitterness. Honesty may craft the most resilient resolve.
They even released his address to the media, clearly hoping that some extremist would go there & kill Vanunu. His death is something they wish for dearly. But they lack the courage to do it themselves.
So the released man spent his first night of freedom in the Anglican Cathedral. Where else would a Saint stay?
[ p.s. - In case you may have wondered, I am
not a Christian. Nor am I a Muslim.
My personal animosity to Jews in general is zero. They are great
producers of brilliant minds.]
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Thursday 22nd April 2004ad
Tonight, on ABC TV's Catalyst, there was a report on Mars, especially regarding those Rovers, "Spirit" & "Opportunity". Where the programme erred, is in stating that the rock analyses proved the existence of water on Mars. Rather, they merely added yet another confirmation to what had already been proved, by all that data from Global Surveyor.
To have a separate rule for the proof of water on Mars, which is much stricter than the rule for the proof of any other substance, is both irrational & patently unscientific.
As for Life? It has already been proved that Life once existed on Mars. The only question is whether or not it is still there.
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Wednesday 21st April 2004ad
Wish to feel depressed?
Just push your thoughts around the current state of Iraq.
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Tuesday 20th April 2004ad
No Chess games arrived in the post today. Disappointment is supreme! Currently I wish to live & breathe my Chess games; well at least the friendly ones. Often I muse in my head, the delightful won position I have against Beardmore.
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Monday 19th April 2004ad
Five Corrspondence Chess games arrived today, and despite a long day at work, I determined to do them all, before I committed my mind to sleep. This was, of course, as long as I could be happy that the move, in each game, is as best as could be hoped in the position. This was fulfilled, even though a couple of the games are rather complex.
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Easter Sunday Week 18th April 2004ad
Planting things - Telegraph Peas; Thyme; Lemon Balm; Garlic; Coriander; Lettuce.
Most of these, rather hopefully. For apart from the Garlic & Lettuce; I planted seeds which are out of date. Story of my life, I suppose.
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Easter Saturday Week 17th April 2004ad
"Two Men In A Trench" was at "The Battle Of Edgehill" tonight. Quite wrongly, they said it was the first Battle of the English Civil War. Edgehill was on the 23rd October 1642, while "The Battle Of Powick Bridge" was a month earlier, on 23rd September 1642. It is true that Edgehill was a much bigger Battle, and of far more potential consequence - with better leadership & discipline on the part of the Royalists, the War may well have been stillborn. Yet Powick Bridge was a one thousand Cavalry men each side, and left 150 Parliamentarian Horsemen dead on the field. So it was no mean matter.
Sadly, the "Two Men In A Trench" did not mention the changing of sides, from Parliament to King, right as the The Battle Of Edgehill commenced, of the ironically named Sir Faithful Fortescue. Perhaps, although the incident is well documented historically, they thought their audience may not have believed its verity.
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Good Friday Week 16th April 2004ad
Mozart. Mozart. Martin. Mendelssohn.
Magic Flute Overture. 2nd Flute Concerto. Ballade. Scottish Symphony.
Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Jacques Zoon - Flute Soloist. Christopher Franklin - Conductor.
Once more, I left home almost too late. Once more, my blood sugar went low during the first half, with me threatening to fall asleep, although I was able to concentrate throughout on the music. Once more, my legs became very sore; with the muscle at the back of my right thigh, this was to the point of significant painfulness. Once more, I was entranced by the music. And that makes it all worthwhile. It is superb palliative care.
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Maundy Thursday Week 15th April 2004ad
The Bush Administration, in its continuing policy in both Israel-Palestine, and Iraq matters, seems utterly devoid of any international political logic at all. Everything seems determined by short term local political objectives, and that in the very much shallow end of the children's wading pool. George has no concept of statesmanship.
The Queen, damn her failing memory, has still failed to give me those silver pennies.
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Wednesday 14th April 2004ad
My Frangipani has the appearance of vigour, in its leaves on the remaining one side.
It seems to have compensated for the Easter Monday accident, by rapidly growing the remaining three leaves to an Increasingly impressive size.
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Easter Tuesday 13th April 2004ad
Monday night, English time: Aylesbury United 0 v St Albans City 2.
This leaves Aylesbury United relegated, as they are ten points clear in last place in the Isthmian Division One, with only three games left. They lost won on 16th December 2003.
There must be all sorts of dramas which are quite irrelevant on the world scene, but are seemingly critical to many people, in that small slice of southern England. A Drama of Real People in Real Time, which can never be elucidated by mere statistics.
However, I can firmly presume that large quantities of alcoholic bevereages, mostly of the ale-like kind, were consumed after the game; by both players & supporters; by both Aylesbury & Saint Albans.
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Easter Monday 12th April 2004ad
Masses of soil existed in the thirty litres of potting mix, which I bought today in Bondi Junction. The pots, which were empty, are now full. It is the beginning of a planting, inspired by the recent sprouting of my Potatoes.
However, there was one incident close to disaster. As I repotted my Frangipani, it came out of its old pot, at an unexpected speed, and was speared into the ground. It lost all its leaves on one side, but I expect it to survive. The Geranium, potted with it, suffered no apparent mishap in the same incident.
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Easter Sunday 11th April 2004ad
This evening I was too jaded to push the short burst of useful re-ordering, which had carried the late afternoon. So I wandered across Darlinghurst, to the Verona Cinema in Paddington. There I saw "The Fog Of War". Curious as it may seem, while I was familiar, indeed, with the career of Robert McNamara, I had never actually formed an opinion of the man.
At the end of the film, I was left with a deep & sincere regard for Robert McNamara. He is highly intelligent. His thought shows a clear & precise logical character; having those twin virtues of being easy to follow, yet also highly profound. Further, he is a deeply ethical individual. At times, he had found himself in an essentially unethical occupation. But if such critical jobs exist, then an ethical person is the best suited for them, as they will limit the destruction to what seems necessary, rather than glorying in it.
For example, an ethical swordsman is best for a beheading. For he will see that his duty is to severe the neck with one clean blow, thereby carrying out the judicial order, but with the minimum pain to the condemned.
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Easter Saturday 10th April 2004ad
Today I bought a new scanner. My old one ceased to function last weekend.
It cost forty dollars, including half a gigbyte of software. Forty dollars! No longer do I understand the modern economy.
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Good Friday 9th April 2004ad
"Good" - An English word of Saxon origin. It means "Good".
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On an impulse, I went to Town Hall in the evening, for "Song" - which is a rendering of the "Stations Of The Cross". It is essentially secular, with each Station demonstrated by an installation and music. For me, it was mixed. Some to my taste. Some definitely not.
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Maundy Thursday 8th April 2004ad
The Queen is supposed to hand out today, specially minted Silver Pennies & other coins. Very much I looked forward to my share, but I am still waiting for it.
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Wednesday 7th April 2004ad
My Cardinal Mint has Aphids, under-leaf. They are everywhere, so I pruned the plants back to the ground in the pot. As it is essentially a weed, a plant of disturbed environments, it will respond to this by growing back, hopefully sans Aphids. An unexpected effect was a very strong, overwheming smell of Mint, which permeated the air of my home. It persisted for the whole evening.
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Tuesday 6th April 2004ad
Ludwig Van Budgie-Bird has a straight forward way to happiness.
[1]
Seed & water, plus occasional lettuce.
[2] The company of his own kind - Amadeus Bat-Budgie especially.
[3] Music - preferably of the Baroque-Classical-Romantic
tradition.
Tonight, it was dominated by the soul searching inspiration of Beethoven, & the sheer joy of Vivaldi.
I know, since he tells me. The pleasure of a Budgie is easily read. After all, we know when a hen is happy, and Budgies are much higher up the intellectual tree.
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Monday 4th April 2004ad
Indonesia is having an election. However, this mere veneer of democracy is hardly the real thing. Only thinly veiled, is the corrupt & venal carcass of the military dictatorship of the Javanese empire.
It amazes me, that so many otherwise intelligent people, insist on the need of a strong Indonesian state, for the benefit of Australia. What nonsense! A series of free independent nations across this chain of islands would suit us fine, as do the sweeps of small states across the Pacific. But we have no need to undermine that bogus state to our north. Indonesia, with its endemic contradictions and stresses, is perfectly capable of doing this itself.
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Sunday 4th April 2004ad
John Howard* closely
allies himself
with the Coal Conglomerates.
After all, he is a Fossil.
[* This is the Australian Prime Minister of
no presence,
not the Australian Actor of considerable talent.]
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Saturday 3rd April 2004ad
Correspondence chess games spent much of my time today. Most were 2004 games & in the very early stages. But one of last year's is most cheering. I had played f4. When he failed to respond with f5, I pushed this pawn again, with f5.
Today I set it forward yet once more, with f6 check. Whether black takes the pawn en pris, or retreats further within his bunker, my analysis says that his king is quite lost. His fighting pieces are simply not in position to help their beleaguered sovereign!
another line of no particular meaning
Friday 2nd April 2004ad
The Hubble Space Telescope seems unaware of its NASA decreed fate. It just keeps on expanding our knowledge of the Early Universe.
another line of no particular meaning
Thursday 1st April 2004ad
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wind Serenade in E Flat [K375].
Concerto For Two Pianos in E Flat [K365].
Symphony Number 25 [K183].
Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Chamber
Mode.
Michael Dauth - Leader.
This was at Angel Place, in a short performance, which began just after 7.00pm, and ended ~8.40pm, with no interval. It was difficult to be at the venue in time, but I managed this, and was rewarded by the quieting chords of Mozart. This concert travelled backwards in time, as per the composer's age. A key point was the inspired work, that Mozart demanded of the two Oboists, in all three pieces.
Budgie panic occurred whilst I was out, as clearly indicated by objects awry. Yet, they explained not, what it was which frightened them.
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THE END IS NEAR
INDEED, IT IS HERE !!
©TONY SIMS, 2004ad - Text, Formatting & Ego.
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