Rugby World Cup 2011

Last night I watched the NZ vs France Rugby World Cup final in a small local NSW pub, one of a group of four NZ supporters organised by an English woman whose partner was in New Zealand for the game. Apart from our group and two other New Zealand women, the whole audience cheered France and jeered New Zealand.
The French played a great game but the Aussie cheers weren't for good French play but against New Zealand; they even cheered when nasty injuries to NZ players were shown close up. I suppose their reaction was exacerbated because their own team was beaten by their little New Zealand cousins the weekend before but I was not prepared for the extent of the hostility.

New Zealander Piri Weepu in action (picture from the official RWC website)

Oh well, I suppose this is one of the reasons I have never been a great fan of football. I never heard one vioinist jeer another, regardless of the passion involved.

Perhaps we were just on the wrong side of the Tasman. In New Zealand the mood seems to have been a bit like that in Sydney during the Sydney Olympics. A party atmosphere and lots of visitors from as far away as  Ireland and Georgia.

Addendum: a NZ-based Englishman wrote a piece for the Telegraph about who to jeer/cheer for, he drew all sorts of crabs from the woodwork. You gotta laugh.

Life Drawing

Classes have finished for the year and I am  looking forward to some down-time. My last class was life drawing:

One minute sketches drawn while trying not to look at the paper

A bit of the more sustained drawing.

I am not sure whether I can show a life drawing on this site. Probably if I uploaded a violent movie no one would object. We live in an odd society.

Android

In 2006 just before I left to study in NZ I bought a mobile phone, a Nokia, the simplest I could find at the time. It has just carked it ... the screen blacked out intermittantly.

As a result I am now the proud owner of an Android smartphone. It is very similar to a prototype I tried a couple of years ago ... but much smarter. Its also a good deal heavier than my wee Nokia, even without all the apps loaded.

Ski fields are disappearing

Back in Australia the  newspapers are predicting the melting of Australia's snow fields if climate change progresses as predicted but...

politicians are still playing to climate change deniers.
Someone wrote a song about them:

Train to Sydney

Back to reality ...

... and back on a on the early morning train to Sydney. If you close your eyes it feels as if you are whipping along just like German trains. When you open your eyes you realise sounds can be deceiving and in fact you are trundling along... probably as fast as the tracks will allow.

Tulips on the wall

After several trips to the hardware store and lots of reading of the backs of packets of screws I have my first picture rail up and my first paintings hung.

Putting up picture rails taught me that it is a job for a more muscular person than I am who owns a more powerful drill than mine. I plan to have someone else put the other rails up but in the meantime I am pleased to have pictures on at least one wall.

Stud finder blues

I bought a stud finder yesterday and planned to put up my gallery system today but it is not as simple as one might imagine. In the dining room the stud finder found so many electric wires running along the tops of the walls I decided I had better not to touch it. The bedroom had more regular studs and no electric wires so I decided I could install picture rails there myself.
I went off to the building materials shop to get a drill bit (to drill holes in the metal picture rail) and appropriate screws. I asked a couple of blokes at the shop about building methods in the 1960s and whether the wiring was pulled along the top of the walls.
'Oh an old house could be built any way at all,” I was told.
“So what type of tradesman would hang gallery picture rails?”
"Oh just a handyman!".
I remembered the handyman who had cleaned out the gutters for me and said "Oh but he might not know much more than me!"
Both gentlemen looked appalled at the thought.
"Oh yes he would!" one of them said.
"Oh be careful" cautioned the boss, "are you saying she is stupid?"
We joked about that but I could tell I had hurt their feelings.
I explained that I was worried about the electrical wires and the boss gave me the name and number of a local builder. He looked very put out though, like a doctor whose patients who come in with information or misinformation off the Internet.
Its a new world they have to get used to, patients who think they know more than the doctors and women who think they might know as much as a handyman.
I left the shop without the drill bit or the information about whether to use dry wall or wood screws. (I think the latter.) Tomorrow I will go to the friendly little hardware shop in Umina and get the drill bit and I am sure I can find information about screws on the Internet!

Beer in the garden

How nice to be home ...

... and (finally) recovered from jetlag.

Maribor musician paintings

My Maribor Musician paintings, or most of them, are now online at artsmitten.com.

Time shift

This morning when I woke my watch said 6am - 11 hours sleep. I got up, showered, ate breakfast, answered some email then looked at my watch again. It was 2am. I must have looked at it upside down earlier and when I thought it was 6am it was actually half past midnight. Jetlag does funny things to your system.

Jetlag

It is 5:18 on the day after a long haul flight. I am struggling to keep my eyes open even though I slept 11 hours last night.

Wide awake on a long haul flight

Note to self:  If you have a late night long haul flight:
#1 don't drink a strong coffee the afternoon before and
#2 don't drink a beer in the airport before take off to help you sleep.

#1 + #2 = "shattered in Singapore"

Orchids in Singapore Airport

Dilsberg and Neckargemuend

Neckargemuend is an old and picturesque village on the Neckar River. From there you can see Bergfeste Dilsberg on the hill further along the river.

Dilsberg castle has a rampart at the top with a wonderful view ...

... right up the valley to Neckargemuend.

Nature's browns

Imagine trying to make these yourself!

Rissen Reetdachhaus

The Tchibo coffee shop in Hamburg-Rissen looks out over one of the prettiest buildings in the village, this thatched roof house.

Today I sat having a coffee and admiring the building across the street; tomorrow I take the train south.

Coffee pots at Gino's

I have an exhibition of work at Gino's Cafe in Rissen. This is one of the watercolours I have on the wall.

A Cafe in Uetersen

This cafe in Uetersen is one of the prettiest I have seen and

...when they bring your tea, they include a small wooden timer, so you know how long to let it draw.

Sketches made along the River Elbe

The Herrenhäuser (mansions) along the Elbe are like a set of large white beads set in green satin.

On the other side of the river the landscape is dominated by huge cranes with windmills in the distance.

In the Hafenstadt (harbour city) the buildings that are not built of red bricks are grey. It sounds boring but the different grey/white/black contours are varied and interesting.

 

This quick sketch was made while waiting for Ferry #62 at the Hafenstadt and the ones above while sitting on the deck avoiding spray as the ferry ploughed its way through the water.

Hamburg Harbour on the River Elbe

The heart of the city of Hamburg is its huge working harbour. The old warehouse buildings are restored and the whole precinct is a vibrant and visually interesting place to visit.

Container ships are loaded and unloaded in the high tech container harbour across the water, but the original old warehouses are being rennovated have new life as offices and apartments.

New buildings complement the old and look out over the rows of tug boats lined up ready to guide ships along the harbour.

Yesterday I took a trip along the Elbe with ferry line 62. Ferry line 62 is free if you have a day card for city rail and travels almost exactly the same line as the tourist boats.

The most eastern stop is at the new Elbphilharmonie.

Elbphilharmonie

Hamburg harbour has undergone a transformation in recent years as the old warehouses are rennovated. The most spectacular building of all is the new Elbphilharmonie which is being built on top of a warehouse that used to store cocoa. From the harbour it looks like as huge ship coming towards you along the river Elbe .

When you get closer you can see the wave shaped roof (middle section is still to be built).

The windows are all indivudually formed and glisten in the sun. It is spectacular and complements the other buildings in the harbour perfectly. The building was started in 2007 and when I saw it in 2009 when it was still just cranes on the horizon. There has been a recent hitch when it was discovered the hooks enabling window cleaners  to clean all those windows were left out. A bit like the Sydney Opera House, costs keep on inflating.