A famous Antipodean dessert

I have been having trouble getting motivated to blog because of my cold which turned into bronchitis - or something similar - so I went to the doctor.

He almost never examines me but while I was in his surgery I barked like a seal and flapped my flippers a few times and this motivated him to produce his stethoscope - brush the moths off it – and apply it to my chest.

He was sufficiently impressed by my wheeziness to write a rezept and I have been taking some drugs which are now making me better.

I said that Cate would not have to go away again this year unless there was a Goat Thing.

Well of course there has been one so it looks like she will be leaving this weekend and will be going away for a week to a very hot place far away.

In the meantime she has invited her Vienna team for dinner at our place  - to be catered for by Chef Badger on 21 December.

I did this last year and I was quite happy with the menu and the outcome in terms of food and wine. Some other issues intruded on the evening but they were nothing to do with my department.

This year Gwenyth will be here – acclimatising for our trip to Norway – so we will be doing the dinner party together. She is planning on making a Pavlova which is a famous Antipodean dessert – which has probably not previously passed the lips of any of our expected guests.

I will be interested to see what they think of this amazing concoction. It will certainly be a challenge for Gwenyth and I to find all the appropriate ingredients.

Perhaps I can stave Lenny off for another year

Helsinki December 2010

My son has Lenny found a new way to humiliate me – this time by long distance.  A week or so ago when I was in Paris I received an invitation from him to play Chess online through Chess.com.

Cool – I thought – I haven’t played Chess for about 35 years – but I am sure I haven’t forgotten how – and what would he know about Chess.  Well – certainly enough to beat me. I have escaped with one draw and the rest of the time he has crushed me.

I asked him where he learned to play Chess and he said that I had taught him – and I just cannot remember doing that because it was so long go.

There is an evolution in the father-son relationship when at one stage the father can beat the son at everything and finally the son can beat the father at everything. I had hoped it would take longer than this.

                  

I remember the last time I played my son at tennis. He was about 13 years old and it was not a matter of me beating him - it was a matter of me trying to escape death from his serves.

I would try to anticipate where he would serve and at the moment the ball hit his racket I would hurl myself in the opposite direction as this yellow rocket fanged past me at about 200 kilometres per hour - taking chunks of the court with it.

Occasionally – if he faulted – I would get a chance at a second serve and then he would run me ragged - but would occasionally let me win a point.

He could not let me win at golf. Even if he had wanted to let me win I was simply too bad and even on his worst days he could still beat me by a wide margin.

But chess – even with my waning mental powers I still should be able to give him a run for his money – but I seem to have lost the basic skills.

I have – in the basement where else – a beautiful chess set – and some chess books – but it would take me years to find them. So I have written to Amazon - and a book and a basic chess set will arrive shortly. I will gird my loins to see if I can stave off Junior for another year or so before he can really beat me at everything. 

Gosh they are people just like the rest of us!

This is one of the best videos on the subject I have seen. It was produced by GetUp in Australia which does a lot of stuff with which I agree – and a few things with which I don’t.

This is particularly brilliant and wonderful - and I happen to be quite passionate about gay rights.

A vote for same-sex marriage will come before the Australian Parliament next year and this will finally give Australia the opportunity to  recognise the fundamental human rights of gays and lesbians.

Gosh they are people just like the rest of us!

And Oh Please let’s stop this bullshit about the bible says that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.

The bible is a collection of ancient texts written by who knows who thousands of years ago and altered and amended and added to and subtracted from and altered and mistranslated and reinterpreted a million different ways and those who read and take notice of it take the bits out of it that they choose to and ignore the rest.

Marriage has nothing to do with religion – it is a civil ceremony recognised by the state.


Let's leave religion out of it.