We won't have much to hunt in the Autumn

We stayed near Maleny in Queensland with Liz and Darryl and Cate’s mother. Will also came for a couple for days as he was visiting Australia for a conference.

This is a terrific part of the world and we had a wonderful house up high with spectacular views to the coast about 20 kilometres away.

Long rides and walks have taken place here. Yesterday Gwenyth led me on a tour of Jugendstil architecture around Vienna and we had lunch at Kahlenberg - which is the highest point around Wien and has spectacular views.

Melissa arrives today so we will focus on cemeteries but tomorrow Cate has the desire to go to Schönbrunn Palace – which we have still not seen despite now being here for nearly one year.

I am really looking forward to this because you know how much I like palaces – and with any sort of luck there will be a church which I can go into to pray for deliverance from having to visit any more churches. I have a feeling this prayer is not going to be answered.

There are still marginal improvements taking place in the Cat Department and Muffin is not quite as cross as she was – although still hisses and Moni and Sissi.

As it’s news day I provide a report from the Austrian Times:

“Violent hail storms in Salzburg’s Flachgau have left thousands of wild animals dead and many more severely injured, local hunters have claimed.They say tours of the areas hit by storms last week have revealed the scale of the damage.They said they had found thousands of dead rabbits, deer and birds.Hunter Harald Holzer from Lamprechtshausen said: "There is nothing enjoyable about it. The stench is almost unbearable, and it is sad to see how many animals the hail killed. It would be better if they were still alive”

Good so far – but then he goes on to say “We won’t have much to hunt in the autumn."

Great – we are sad that they died because now we can’t blow them to pieces later in the year.

It has been a big day in Vienna as the next article demonstrates:

“Police are investigating after a fire ripped through a Vienna tram.The driver of a line 67 tram evacuated the tram at the intersection of Laxenburger Straße and Troststraße at 4:41pm and called firemen after passengers said they could smell smoke.No one was injured but firemen said the blaze which then broke out caused extensive damage to the tram.Police said the fire had probably been caused by an electronic defect”

I could have been a exploding Igel but if I were the police I would stick with the electrical fault hypothesis for the time being until they find the spines.

Merisi has introduced me to a delightful new German word ‘Ferkelgrippe’. (this is of course for the mild version of the complaint).

Cate and Gwenyth go sailing in Denmark on Sunday so Melissa and I will be left you our own devices. There will not be any churches involved but there may be cemeteries, medical museums and autopsies.