Finally!

After waiting 19 years, my long ago ordered copy of John Crowley's Little, Big arrived today. It's HUGE! And heavy, but beautiful. Goodness knows how I will manage it when reading it in bed, but I dare say I'll manage somehow with the judicious use of pillows. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to rereading Little, Big in this gorgeous illustrated edition. After such a long wait for its delivery it's marvellous to finally have the physical object in my hands.

Good Riddance to 2021

Bingo, still missing, on the prowl 2020

After enduring two years of the covid pandemic and its concomitant restrictions, I’m sure I’m not the only one glad that 2021 is almost over.

Not that anything will really go back to normal, but I am feeling cautiously optimistic for an improvement in life in 2022, despite the rampant Omicron variation that is afflicting the world at present.

What a determined little virus it is!.

Just when we thought it was safe to go back into society, being fully vaccinated and boosted, we feel uneasy once more and I for one continue to be vigilant when out and about and wear a mask.

2021, as years go, was pretty awful with very few uplifting experiences; in fact I can’t think of a single one. No wonder I seem to have grown more cynical this year!

The lowlight was of course the disappearance of our beautiful cat Bingo. We still miss him and feel bereft having no companion animal after numerous decades with cats being part of the household.

Perhaps we’ll acquire a new kitten in 2022, as it is very doubtful that we’ll ever see Bingo again. That’s something to look forward to at least.

I did not read any new books that blew me away with their brilliance or originality, but I did enjoy Neal Stephenson’s take on climate change in his latest novel titled Termination Shock, and Amor Towles ( of a Gentleman In Moscow fame) Lincoln Highway, a sort of road novel set in the 1950s with a cast of interesting characters.

Also read and enjoyed were the new Anthony Doerr, Cloud Cuckoo Land, and Panenka by Ronan Hession, author of the wonderful Leonard and Hungry Paul, my favourite recent comfort read.

The computer game discovery of the year was undoubtedly the Monkey Island series; a great time killer with the just the right amount of levity and absurdity to take one’s mind off the dire state of the world, and keep one’s spirits up.

This New Year’s Eve is a hot 38ºC, a sizzling summer day in Melbourne, but the Ivanhoe house being well insulated  is cool inside. As usual we will not be celebrating the New Year in any particular way – staying home and retiring to bed well before midnight.

We went to my brother’s place in Ocean Grove for Christmas lunch – a surfeit of sociability that  left me tired at the end of the day. It was however pleasant to see my niece and nephew again, and note how the great nieces and nephews have grown over the year since I last saw them.

Verry Elleegant winning the 2021 Melbourne Cup

It was disappointing to miss the Melbourne Spring racing carnival, but exciting to watch on my computer. I was suitably thrilled when Verry Elleegant won the Melbourne Cup as I’d had a wager on her of $3.00 each way and she paid generously, winning me $73.50.  I would have loved to have been there and have taken a photo of James McDonald’s extravagant reaction as she crossed the line, but with tickets costing $120.00, I gave it a miss.

Looking forward to 2022 I hope to go back to the track on Australia Day, for the Blue Diamond previews. In the meantime the Magic Millions meetings in Queensland in January are always interesting to watch.

Every year at this time I have expressed a hope that John Crowley’s Little, Big 25th Anniversary edition will finally be published.  This time there is every expectation that the book will be in my hands early next year. I hope I’m not proven wrong again.

Other books I’m looking forward to in 2022 are the new Jennifer Egan novel, The Candy House, a sort of sequel to her wonderful A Visit From the Goon Squad, and a new John Crowley novel called Flint And Mirror, both to be published in April.

I’m also intrigued by the news that G.H. Morris, author of the marvellous Brightside Trilogy that was published way back in the 1980s, has a new novel purportedly called A Brotherhood of the Disarranged being published in 2022.

Though world peace is standing on shaky ground at present with Russia and China rattling sabres, and with the covid pandemic continuing relentlessly to infect mankind, we can only hope that 2022 is an improvement on 2021.

Happy New Year for what it’s worth.

If Wishes Were Horses

Winx after winning the 2017 Turnbull Stakes

It now appears that due to the continued infestation of the Delta variant of Covid 19, public attendance at this year’s Spring Racing Carnival will not be permitted.  This is disappointing news, but I can hope for a normal Autumn carnival next year.

I’m particularly aggrieved  at not being able to attend the Cox Plate. I did purchase an early bird ticket to the Cox Plate in the hope that by the time it was run in late October that Covid  would not be still an issue, but I received a phone call from Moonee Valley Racing Club the other day advising that that public attendance was not allowed and that they will refund my outlay on the ticket.

If I could have attended next Saturday’s Turnbull Stakes meeting at Flemington I would have been somewhat mollified at missing the Cox Plate, as the Turnbull Stakes features several horses that I would have liked to see in the flesh.

It looks a great race with star mare Verry Elleegant, whom I have not seen in action since her three year old days, up against potential new star of the turf and current favourite for the Melbourne Cup  Incentivise and 2020 Cox Plate winner Sir Dragonet. Verry Elleegant won the Turnbull Stakes last year, and will be out to emulate the great Winx who won the race in consecutive years in 2017 and 2018. She has to beat Incentivise who won the Makybe Diva Stakes and six consecutive races in Queensland prior to that.

I also would have liked to see triple Derby winner Explosive Jack and Golden Eagle winner Colette  who I’ve not seen in action before.

On the up side of lockdown at least the distance one is permitted to travel has been extended to 15 kilometres, so I could go to the Victoria Market yesterday. It’s the first time I’ve travelled on public transport since early August.

I’ve almost forgotten what normal is after nearly two years in lockdown. Who knows what the new normal, when everyone’s vaccinated and borders open, will be like. It’ll be different from the old normal I suspect.

My current killing time reading is the wonderful Gods, Graves, and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology by C W Ceram which I have read a couple of times before and reviewed on this blog back in  2009. For light relief, on my Kindle, I’m reading Domestic Bliss and Other Disasters by Jane Ions, a well written witty contemporary novel. It’s been shortlisted for the 2021 Comedy Women in Print Prize.

As for computer gaming, Monkey Island is still keeping me amused at present.

And alas Bingo remains missing, though never far from our thoughts.

Good News At Last

Little, Big – 25th Anniversary Edition Dust Jacket
Check out large version on the Little. Big  site

Way back in February 2005 I subscribed to acquire a numbered copy of the 25th Anniversary edition of Little, Big by John Crowley, from Incunabula, a boutique American publisher.

I wrote about it enthusiastically in September 2006 on this blog but to date have yet to receive the book.

Through all the years since I subscribed I have maintained my faith in the project, despite the set backs experienced by the publisher over the 16 years it has been in production.

The good news is that the book will finally be published by the end of this  year. I almost don’t believe it, but the recent revelation of the dust jacket, and latest update on the Little, Big site, convinced me.

It has certainly perked me up in this endless lockdown, while still missing Bingo the cat.

Judging by the dust jacket the final book will be an object of supreme beauty which I am longing to finally receive.

The illustrations throughout are by noted American artist Peter Milton and are astoundingly apposite to the book. Though John Crowley and Peter Milton did not know of each other whilst they were creating their works, it is almost as if unconsciously they were in collaboration all along.

So it has been a long wait, but I feel strangely privileged to have lived through this extensive period – sort of one of a chosen few who subscribed to Little, Big  25 way back when and have followed its progress ever since. And of course, when I finally  have  the book in my hands it will be a rare and precious edition like no other in my possession.

Four Years On

The Ivanhoe residence

Today, 7 September 2021,  is the fourth anniversary of our move to Ivanhoe from Northcote.

In  September 2017, Covid 19 was not around, and little did we know that three years after that move  our world would change to a new grim dystopian reality of lockdowns, curfews and mandatory mask wearing.

Like everyone else I am heartily sick of lockdowns. I have not been anywhere interesting for months and hardly dare book for any event that might relieve the tedium of life under restricting Covid 19 conditions in case it’s cancelled.

Added to the that, the mystery of Bingo’s disappearance just makes life more depressing and sad.

It is now 20 days since Bingo went missing and even though I am coming to accept that we may never see him again, the memories of his droll presence still take one unawares quite often and cause the heart to catch.

In the photo above he is playing with his favourite toy, a ratty old catmint cushion that he loved to retrieve when you hurled it up the hall.

His absence has left a huge vacancy in our lives that can only be filled with a new cat of Bingo’s calibre.

Covid 19 restrictions of course stymie any idea of acquiring a new feline companion, if we could find one that is.

Despite being fully vaccinated I have yet to experience (other than not catching the virus) any benefits for being so.

It was with a slight lift to my spirits that I read that vaccinated people  may be able to go to  public events in the near future. Hopefully that includes getting back to the races for some of the Spring Racing Carnival.

God knows I need a distraction as I find myself unenthused by most of the things I used to enjoy spending time on, such as reading books and playing computer games.

The only books I really enjoyed recently were two rereads of Michael Chabon novels Telegraph Avenue and The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, and entirely due to the quality of Michael Chabon’s dazzling prose.

After Bingo’s disappearance the only computer games I felt like playing were the Monkey Island series, simply because of their humour,  light-heartedness and absurdity.

Even though I have got used to living in Ivanhoe, this fourth anniversary finds me sad and dissatisfied.

No doubt if Bingo was still around I would be feeling more cheerful and optimistic.

Hibernation

Bingo – photographed today

I’ve been awfully slack on the blogging front, but truth to tell, there has not been much to write about.

With Covid 19 still being a big factor in our lives, there is limited opportunity to do something different or go on outings that do not involve shopping for provisions.

It being winter, a surprisingly mild one at that, the horse racing is not that interesting, but there’s not long to wait for the Spring racing season to start. Of  course Covid restrictions may stymie actual attendance, but hopefully I will get to witness the big races of the Spring Carnival.

I’m looking forward to finally being fully vaccinated in 10 days, which will ease some of the anxiety attendant on any kind of outing, as has been the case over the last year and a half.

The photo above is of Bingo who is thankfully in good health this year, after giving us a scare the last two winters by losing his appetite in early July of both years.

There’s nothing wrong with his appetite this year – he is ravenous – so we worry about him becoming overweight instead.

On the time killing front, I’ve not been doing much mostly replaying the Monkey Island games and reading the odd book. I’m mostly uninspired by the new literature available at present, but have recently enjoyed Ronan Hession’s (of Leonard and Hungry Paul fame) new novel Panenka, which I thought quite as good and as heart warming as the earlier novel. Ronan Hession is a brilliant writer that I’m delighted to have discovered.

Once fully vaccinated I intend to go and soak up some culture, by attending the French Impressionists Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria and the Treasures of the Natural World at Melbourne Museum.

In the meantime I will continue my winter hibernation.

The Crazy Days Continue

Bingo  - December 2020

So far 2021 doesn’t look all that promising for a return to normal life, with Covid 19 still limiting  freedom of movement for many people in the world. One bright spot is that Donald Trump will no longer be US President after 20 January. Hooray!

Thankfully in Victoria a third  Covid wave has not eventuated, though certain areas in NSW and Queensland have been in lockdown after the virus escaped quarantine, and borders between various States have been closed. Unlucky if you were a Victorian holidaying in Queensland and NSW and wishing to return home.

Here at the Cat Politics domicile, we’ve been barely affected, life trundling along as normal.

We did however have a health scare with Bingo on Boxing Day, where he returned from patrolling his territory with a painful injury to his front left leg. It was something of a mystery as it didn’t seem to be external - you could squeeze the leg and paw without him reacting negatively. However, it obviously hurt to put weight on the leg and he howled and carried on in such a distressing manner we eventually took him to the 24 hour Vet, CARE in Hoddle Street to get examined. They were also puzzled by the injury and couldn’t find anything physically wrong. They treated him with an anti-inflammatory and gave us a bottle of the stuff to give him over the next three days.

He was quite subdued for a while, but the anti- inflammatory worked and he was back to his old self, walking - with a limp - in a few days. He still has a slight limp every so often even now. Goodness knows how he came by the injury, though I suspect an awkward jump from a height might have caused a muscle strain.

Since Christmas I’ve been amusing myself in the usual way, reading books and playing computer games. The current novel in progress is The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton, a Christmas present from a friend. I’m finding it a moderately engrossing read, though not high literature by any means.

And I’ve just finished a surprisingly amusing game titled A Vampyre Story that was released in 2008 and recently on sale on GOG.

 
A Vampyre Story screenshot – Mona & Froderick

Deep within the walls of a gloomy castle in the equally gloomy land of Draxsylvania, the young, gifted opera singer Mona De Lafitte is held captive by her tormentor, vampire Baron Shrowdy von Kiefer. Ever since she was transformed into a vampire by Shrowdy and whisked off to Draxsylvania, her greatest wish has been to return to Paris, continue her singing career, and one day become a star at the Paris Opera.

The voice acting and dialogue are excellent and Mona is an engaging and likeable heroine as is her bat offsider Froderick. Unfortunately the game ends on a cliff-hanger, the proposed sequel failing to  eventuate. I was however pleased to discover the game and will probably replay it in future.

There aren’t any cultural treats in store thus far in 2021 – such as music concerts and literary events I would pay to see, but at least with the Covid 19 vaccine close to approval in Australia it may soon be safe to go out and about as normal, hopefully before the Autumn horse racing season,  which kicks off in early February.

Next weekend is of interest with the Magic Millions race day on the Gold Coast – always one to watch and take note of the winners of the 2 year old and 3 year old races.

On that note, here’s wishing that  2021 will be an improvement on 2020 in all ways.

Caulfield Cup 2020

Mer De Glace – winner of the 2019 Caulfield Cup

The weather on Caulfield Cup Day last year was intemperate – cold, wet and windy – and it appears that this year’s edition will also be run on a soft track under similar conditions.

Not that it matters to me as the Covid 19 pandemic has prevented public attendance at the races all spring. It’s remarkable that racing has continued all through the pandemic with very little drama in the way of biosecurity breaches.

Caulfield Guineas Day last week was fantastic, as interesting as you’d expect during the pointy end of the Spring Racing Carnival. The highly regarded short priced favourite Russian Camelot was defeated by Western Australian mare Arcadia Queen in the Caulfield Stakes, Black Caviar’s close relation Ole Kirk won the feature race, and in Sydney, star filly Montefilia beat the boys in the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes.

As well as the Caulfield Cup tomorrow, Randwick features the fourth running of The Everest, where a choice field of top sprinters compete for a share in the $15 million prize money.

A full field of 18 runners will be contesting the Caulfield Cup,  and as is the norm these days, comprise a bunch of International challengers along with seasoned imports and local stayers.

The top International is Anthony Van Dyck who has excellent form in Europe having performed meritoriously against top stayers, such as Stradivarious and Gaiyyath.

Of the imports, those with a good chance are Mirage Dancer, Finche and Master of Wine.

Isn’t it about time for a mare to win?

There are three of the fairer sex engaged in the race, most notably Verry Elleegant who has been in great form this spring. She won the Group 1 Winx Stakes, then came to Melbourne and took out the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes at her last start, beating her stablemates Toffee Tongue and Finche.

Toffee Tongue won the South Australian Oaks in the autumn, and ran a close second to Verry Elleegant in the Turnbull Stakes. She’s a great lightweight chance in the Caulfield Cup and is bred to stay the distance. The other mare is True Self whom I witnessed winning the Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Mackinnon Stakes Day last spring.

Verry Elleegant – Caulfield Cup Day 2018

Verry Elleegant is the current favourite for the Caulfield Cup, and she could well win the bikkies, especially if the track is on the heavy side.

The Everest will be run an hour before the Caulfield Cup at 4.15 pm and has a super field that includes Nature Strip, Gytrash, Classique Legend, Behemoth and Bivouac as top chances, along with speedy mare Libertini who thrashed Classique Legend at her last start in the Group 2 Premiere Stakes.  It’s a must watch race.

So that’s what I’ll be doing tomorrow; i.e. watching the races.

On the reading front I must mention a recent read, that being Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession. It’s a brilliantly written, immensely likeable novel about two middle aged guys who lead very low profile lives, introverts uncomfortable with  the noisy world at large.  I loved it and highly recommend it for a sublimely pleasant reading experience. It is laugh out loud in parts as well. It outshone the new Rose Tremain novel Islands of Mercy, and has made my current read, The Midnight Library  by Matt Haig, less than satisfying so far, the quality of writing not being a patch on Ronan Hession.

As for games, nothing much to report other than occasionally engaging with The Shade in The Longing. I’m running out of things to do with The Shade having explored all the caves and have even found the secret places beyond the darkness.

Update Sunday

I’m pleased to see that my preview of the Caulfield Cup was pretty accurate with Verry Elleegant putting in a gutsy performance to win, beating the highly regarded International Anthony Van Dyck, who charged from the back of the field to miss by half a length. Long shot The Chosen One ran third. Interestingly, Zabeel is the grandsire of both Verry Elleegant and The Chosen One, so the old Zabeel factor still rules the staying ranks in Australian horse racing

Classique Legend won The Everest with Bivouac and Gytrash filling the minor placings.

As Time Goes By…

Bingo watching television

Bingo the wonder cat demonstrated the other night that cats actually do notice stuff on television. His taste in TV shows relate to nature programs, especially if there are birds involved.

He was lolling on one or the other of our knees in front of the heater as we desultorily watched  a program on SBS about Russia’s Wild Sea, exploring the Sea of Okhotsk that lies between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Japanese island of Hokkaido, termed the last and greatest unspoiled ocean on Earth, when his attention was captured by the sea eagles flying around on the screen. He sprang to the floor and sat beneath the TV to get a closer view and remained fascinated long enough for me to take a photo.

People on the screen hold no interest for him; it’s only birds and animals that grab his attention.

It’s October already and here in Melbourne we are still in stage 4 lockdown, though hopefully with cases of Covid19 diminishing by the day, we may be able to experience greater freedom soon. Wow, I might even be able to go to the Victoria Market in a couple of weeks!

Unfortunately the easing of restrictions will not include public attendance at the races over the pointy end of the Melbourne Racing Carnival. I’m particularly aggrieved to miss going to the Cox Plate.

However, as usual I have been following the racing action as the season progresses. This weekend for instance has four Group 1 races to watch, the Turnbull Stakes in Melbourne and the Flight Stakes. Epsom Handicap and Metropolitan feature at Randwick in Sydney.

To console myself I have been having the occasional wager with mixed results, my best win being on Kolding in the George Main Stakes, which boosted  the funds in my Sportsbet account, thus giving me plenty of play money for the rest of the season.

On the home front I’ve as usual been killing the time with reading and computer games.

After finishing the Dublin Trilogy, which I enjoyed quite a lot, I read Lanny by Max Porter and the enchanting  new Susanna Clarke novel, Piranesi. I must admit I was not as enraptured by Lanny as I was by Piranesi, which continues to haunt me. I acquired it in an exclusive signed hardcover edition from Waterstones. It is a handsome edition, quite the bibliophile’s delight with ornate boards under the dust jacket.

Piranesi hardcover binding

Piranesi Dust Jacket

The novel has received rave reviews from all and sundry so I’m not going to provide one here.  There’s a summary of the reviews on Literary Hub.

As for games, I’m still playing The Longing and have progressed – at snails pace – in that the Shade has acquired more books, has explored most of the caves and collected various items to enhance his abode. He has expanded his one room into four chambers that include a bathroom and mushroom farm. He’s yet to find enough pieces of wood to make a bed. Most days I set him off on a journey to see if anything has changed and generally close the game when he’s back home reading a book.

I’m also playing a 2018 game called Unforeseen Incidents. Ironically it deals with a viral plague afflicting a town called Yelltown. As a person living in a similar situation in Melbourne, one feels slightly alarmed to see the game characters walking around without PPE and failing to be infected. It’s moderately amusing to play and the story is interesting so far.

So life goes on and one must be thankful that we’re still alive to report on it.

The Longing– A perfect game for Extended Lockdown

The Longing – promo image

With Victoria’s Covid 19 stage 4 restrictions extending for the foreseeable future, it struck me as appropriate to start playing the recently released computer game The Longing.

Classified as slow gaming, it takes 400 days to finish. In fact once you start the game you are not obliged to play, but can wait for the 400 real time days to pass to see the ending.

The time ticks down as you play the lonely Shade, servant to a sleeping king, who must wait out the 400 days so he can wake his master at the preordained time.

Passing time as the The Shade, you can explore the extensive cave structure and keep busy in one way or another by creating a cosy abode in which to pass the time. There are (real)  books to read, music to make and art to create.

I’ve only played briefly over two days so far and have yet to explore the caves in depth. It’s no use being impatient as it’s a slow process and The Shade moves at snail’s pace. In some cases he must wait for a door to open or a stalactite to grow before proceeding further.

It’s an intriguing and very original concept of gaming which I shall enjoy dipping into every so often. I sincerely hope that Covid 19 will be a distant memory by  the time The Longing comes to an end next year.

On the subject of computer games, I’ve played a few engaging escape the room type games recently.

The latest was Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise, where you play the eponymous hero tracking down the wicked Ruby La Rouge, evil agent of MIA’s arch enemy HAVOK.  This clever game was created in Australia by Yak & Co.

Agent A – promo image

There are five chapters in the game, so it’s gratifyingly  long  with a plethora of intriguing puzzles to solve.

Another, very beautiful, escape the room game is the exquisite Luna: The Shadow Dust. 

Luna – promo image

In this game a boy falls from the sky in a bubble of light. It is your task to guide him up a tall tower to solve the mystery of his fall and recover his lost memories, solving puzzles as you move higher, often with the assistance of the  pet.

It’s a charming, albeit short game, and the puzzles are unusual, beautiful and a pleasure to solve.

On the reading front, after finishing David Mitchell’s new novel Utopia Avenue which I loved to bits, I’ve been reading my way through the Dublin Trilogy, a series of four detective novels by Caimh McDonnell featuring the extraordinary Bunny McGarry . They are page turners,  very funny, but also quite violent.  They were an eBook  gift for my birthday from a friend. At first I was in two minds as to whether I was going to like the books, but I have become quite addicted as I progress through the trilogy. You can get a free eBook of short stories  if you sign up for Caimh McDonnell’s monthly email list.

At this time of the year I would normally be heading off to the racetrack for the Spring Racing Carnival, but alas it doesn’t appear as if the public will be admitted at all this season.

This weekend at Flemington features the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes. I wish I could be there to watch it live, as I would have liked to get a look at the highly regarded Russian Camelot who won the South Australian Derby in spectacular fashion and is an early favourite for the Melbourne Cup. But then again, with heavy rain forecast for tomorrow, I won’t regret not being there so much and will be content to watch the action on my computer.

And with such things, like the Shade in The Longing, I pass the time during lockdown.

Give me somewhere to go…Lockdown Blues

The first part of the Post title comes from the James Reyne song Motor Too Fast, contained in the chorus that goes:

Give me somewhere to go
Don't give me train rides
When the shops are all closed
Don't give me train rides

I must admit that stage 4 restrictions here in Melbourne are getting a tad tedious, so I find the above lyrics running through my head every so often, as I certainly can’t go anywhere beyond 5 kilometres from home, and have not caught a bus, train or tram since the restrictions came in, coincidently on my birthday.

However time flits past and I fill the it with trivial pursuits such as playing computer games and reading.

The current game is a moderately amusing point and click adventure titled Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town, and the current book is the new David Mitchell novel Utopia Avenue, which, set as it is in 1967, I am finding quite enjoyable. I’ve also downloaded a heap of books onto my Kindle, redeeming Amazon gift vouchers I received for my birthday. So for a change I have eight new novels in my TBR pile (albeit electronic).

But what I’m pining for is an afternoon at the races, which of course is out of the question at the moment and probably for the rest of spring.

The Memsie Stakes, the first Group 1 race of Melbourne’s Spring Racing Season is at Caulfield next Saturday and I’m sorry to miss it having attended the meeting since 2013.

Of the several notable deaths this week, Justin Townes Earle for instance, the announcement of Atlantic Jewel’s death giving birth to a foal by Justify, was particularly sad for the racing fraternity.

A coodabeen champion of the likes of Black Caviar and Winx, Atlantic Jewel  won 10 races out of 11 starts, her only loss being the 2013 Underwood Stakes where she was beaten by a whisker by It’s A Dundeel , her second last start before retirement. It’s pity she was so injury prone, otherwise she could have won many more races, including the 2013 Cox Plate.

I saw her in action several times in 2013, including the Memsie Stakes. Unfortunately my camera at the time was not as good as the current Nikon, so the photos are less than perfect.

Atlantic Jewel on her way to winning the 2013 Memsie Stakes

Atlantic Jewel returning to scale

This year’s edition of the Memsie Stakes has attracted a field of 15 contenders that include star mares Mystic Journey and Arcadia Queen, as well as All Star Mile winner Regal Power, dual Australian Cup winner Harlem, and other familiar gallopers such as Mr Quickie, Begood Toya Mother, So Si Bon and Gatting.

Many in the Memsie Stakes field contested the cursed P B Lawrence Stakes a fortnight ago, which was won by Godolphin mare Savatiano, who is also part of this year’s Memsie field . It will be interesting to see if she wins again this spring or is cursed like recent P B Lawrence Stakes winners who have failed to win again in the season, for example Mystic Journey last year.

Mystic Journey

Who knows what the race outcome will be this year. I’m hoping that either Mystic Journey or Arcadia Queen are in the finish somewhere. They disappointed in the P B Lawrence, but second up on a firmer track might show their true colours.

Last week the first Group 1 of the spring, the Winx Stakes, was run at Randwick. Verry Elleegant demonstrated that she was well and truly  heading for a good spring by winning the race impressively.

On the home front Bingo has continued to eat well, in fact his appetite is voracious. We now worry that he’ll become overweight. Fortunately he still eats zucchini and other vegetables which we give him to fill him up between meal times and go easy on the dried food. He loves his home comforts of warmth and affection and even still remembers how to fetch.

Killing Time in Covid Times

Our blue eyed boy Bingo

It’s Winter already, though we’ve had plenty of time to get used to it with late May being quite chilly.

That’s not to say I’m looking forward to the next few months of cold weather in this icebox of a house, and being obliged to stay home with the pandemic still limiting movement.

I must admit that even I am getting a bit stir crazy, having not gone anywhere interesting for months; my weekly shopping trips to Victoria Market being the only outdoor diversion I’ve undertaken.

However, I have been keeping occupied with computer games and books, and tinkering with a new design for the Nu Country website.

After finishing the final book in Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy, an extraordinary literary masterpiece, I’ve been binge reading a series of detective novels by Alan Bradley, which feature 11 year old Flavia De Luce.

I am grateful to the friend who introduced me to the Flavia books, as I certainly would not have stumbled on them by myself.  He gave me the first book in the series as a present and I  enjoyed it enormously.

There are  eleven Flavia De Luce novels, I was pleased to note after reading The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, so I’ve stocked up my Kindle with several to keep me tided over with entertaining reading matter, and have become addicted to Flavia’s small village world of the 1950s.

Described as a cross between Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle and the Addams Family, the novels are set in the fictional English village of Bishop’s Lacey where Flavia and her family inhabit  the large manor house Buckshaw.

Flavia is the youngest of three sisters, the others being Ophelia and Daphne, her arch enemies, against whom she tests her knowledge of poisonous chemicals.  For Flavia, as well as being an unusual detective, is also a master chemist having inherited her Great Uncle Tarquin’s fully equipped laboratory in the east wing of Buckshaw.

Full of eccentric characters that include family retainers Dogger and Mrs Mullet, the Flavia de Luce novels are tremendous fun and a great escape from the real world which only seems to be getting worse.

Curiously, one of the computer games I’ve recently played also features a feisty schoolgirl detective called Jenny Le Clue, a fictional creation of successful (fictional) author Arthur Finkelstein.

This is a charming game with wonderful graphics, great characters and a long involved story. Jenny and her friends and family live in the fictional town of Arthurton and Jenny is the heroine of a series of soft boiled detective novels by Arthur J Finkelstein, solving cases such as missing eyeglasses and test papers. Jenny longs for a real case to solve and soon enough in the game the Dean of Arthurton’s Gumbold University  dies mysteriously and Jenny’s mother is framed for his murder.

The game follows Jenny’s adventures in pursuing the investigation into the Dean’s death to clear her mother and unearthing in the process the many secrets hidden in Arthurton.  It is one of the best and cleverest computer games I’ve played of late.

I also played two rather interesting and creepy supernatural mysteries set in Cornwall – Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle and Barrow Hill: The Dark Path.

On the home front nothing much has changed, with only Bingo the cat recently giving us some worry with his behaviour.  Earlier this week he would disappear for hours and efforts to find his whereabouts were in vain. He also was suffering from a  sore back foot with a wound around the claw area. Heaven knows how he came by it, but it didn’t seem like a cat fight injury.  Happily he has returned to normal over the last few days and his foot is on the mend. Perhaps he was avoiding us in fear of being taken to the Vet, but really who knows what goes through the feline mind.

As public venues slowly open up again I’ve been itching for a change of scene, so have booked to go to the Zoo later this month to see the new Snow Leopard cubs.  My reasoning was that with a limit of 2000 people a day, the Zoo will be sparsely populated, occupying as it does a wide expanse of real estate, so it will be ideal for photography practice and of course viewing the wildlife.

Speaking of photography practice it will be some time before the general public will be admitted to the horse racing - the only sport that continued over the course of the lockdown. Naturally I’m looking forward to the Spring Racing Carnival in whatever format it takes, but hope to be there in person for some meetings.

Surviving In the New World

Bingo at the window gazing at the world outside

So far, so good in living in the new reality of the covid19 pandemic. The photo above of Bingo strikes me as appropriate for the lockdown across Victoria – watching the world go by from isolation.

I’ve hardly stirred from the house all week, but on Thursday took a death defying trip to the city to do some shopping at Victoria Market via public transport.

The Ivanhoe Station was deserted – in fact I think I was the only person waiting for the 11.44 am train to the city.

Deserted station

Likewise with the train – empty!

Empty train carriage

There was one other person in the carriage I travelled in and at every stop there were virtually no people, so the carriage remained empty all the way to Flinders Street.

With the city  pretty well depopulated as well, it was easy to maintain social distance as I walked from Latrobe Street to the Victoria Market. Even so I was not complacent and took care not to touch anything and sanitised my hands frequently.

At Victoria Market there were a few more souls shopping, but numbers were certainly down from a normal Thursday, so I whizzed through the deli, meat, and fruit and vegetables sections and just managed to catch the 1.06 pm Hurstbridge train  home from Melbourne Central.

This train was pretty empty too, so there was no trouble keeping a wide social distance from other like minded commuters.

I’ve been spending most of  the last week playing a new (for me) computer game, an odd Cyberpunk futurist adventure called State of Mind, which has kept me bemused and engaged with its story of transhumanism. I like the off hand references to William Gibson’s Neuromancer and the weird but effective graphics.

Though racing is barred for public attendance, it still continues in Melbourne and Sydney, with the latter forging ahead with The Championships.

This Saturday at Randwick features four excellent Group 1 events, including the great Doncaster Mile and TJ Smith Stakes.

I was going to preview the Doncaster/Derby Day meeting, but time has slipped away and I have neither the time or inclination to write it now.

With the weather turned wintry for the weekend, I am glad to stay inside and watch the racing action on my computer today.

Bingo is thriving and his usual pestiferous self, driving us to distraction with his demands for affection, warmth and food.

We learned recently that he has a remarkable memory, when he was due for his annual booster vaccinations.

He was asleep on my lap on the bed, when B, as quietly as possible, took out the cat carrying cage from a cupboard, preparatory to taking him to the vet.

Bingo heard the faint squeak of Brent lifting the cage lid, freaked, and hid under the bed. He knew what was in store, even though it had been almost a year since his last vet appointment. He totally loathes travelling in the cage, and also knows that he’ll be taken to the vet, where he turns into a different cat – a scaredy puss.

Stayin’ Alive

Bingo keeping watch on the front veranda

As years go, 2020 has turned into an annus horribilius. We’ve had drought, fires, floods and now pestilence- apocalypse now!

It’s hard to believe that we are now living through a Science Fiction dystopia, though I can’t recall that in any of the SF dystopic novels I’ve read, toilet paper (the lack thereof)  becoming such a big issue as it is in these crazy days.

Being retired there’s no problem maintaining a social distance as I’m not obliged to get up every morning and go to work and mingle with the general populace. I’ve hardly stirred from home for weeks, my only outings have been to the Victoria Market on Thursdays and going to the Super Market every so often for supplies.

Two concerts I was to attend in March have been postponed or cancelled, and forget heading off to the Museum and National Gallery for an art or cultural fix, they’re closed. That also goes for Saturday afternoons at the track.

I was disappointed that fans were banned from attending  the All Star Mile meeting at Caulfield last weekend, but would have felt apprehensive about attending anyway. Alligator Blood ended up unplaced and Western Australian gallopers Regal Power and Superstorm ran the quinella. Melody Belle ran third.

Being in the age group most vulnerable to infection by Covid19, I feel paranoid travelling on public transport, and have become hyper alert about keeping my distance from other commuters and avoiding contact with surfaces likely to be infected.

By chance I happened to be in Chemist Warehouse earlier this week when some hand sanitiser was put on the shelf. It didn't last long, but I managed to grab two containers, which eased my anxiety when travelling to the market yesterday as I could sanitise my hands on the go.

This time last year I travelled to Sydney to see Winx in her penultimate appearance at the track.  I returned with a nasty cold, so I had no desire to attend the Golden Slipper meeting at Rosehill this year. Even if I did I wouldn’t have got into the racecourse; the ATC has banned public attendance.

Who knows how long the racing industry will be able to keep the races going. Sydney’s big Autumn carnival is just starting, Golden Slipper Day kicking it off tomorrow in fine fashion with five Group 1 races on the program.

2019 Golden Slipper Trophy

The first of these is the Ranvet Stakes, run over 2000 metres. It was won by Avilius last year and he will be aiming to win it again this year. So far this season he has been disappointing, failing to run a place in three starts. Irish horse AddeyBB having his first start in Australia looks a very classy horse considering the quality of opposition he has raced against in the UK and may blitz the local mob.  Verry Elleegant ran a narrow second to Te Akau Shark in the Chipping Norton Stakes recently and is highly fancied to win.

Winx won the past four George Ryder Stakes, so another galloper has an opportunity to win it this year. Top chances are Te Akau Shark, The Bostonian, Alizee and Super Seth.

Shadow Hero, winner of the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes and more recently the Randwick Guineas, is understandably the favourite for the Rosehill Guineas. His main threats are New Zealander Sherwood Forest, Victorian Derby winner Warning, Prince Fawaz, Chenier and Castelvecchio who was disappointing last start.

The Golden Slipper is always a fascinating race. I was fortunate to witness the last two editions in person. Fillies Estijaab (2018) and Kiamichi (2019) won those. So who will win the richest two year old race this year?

Of the boys, the top picks are Tagaloa (Blue Diamond Stakes winner) Hanseatic (Blue Diamond Stakes runner up) Farnan (Todman Stakes winner) and Prague. Fancied fillies are Away Game, Dame Giselle, Hungry Heart and Minhaaj.

The final Group 1 of the afternoon is the Galaxy, a sprint over 1100 metres, won by Nature Strip last year.  Pierata narrow runner up to Nature Strip last year appears the top chance in this year’s edition. Others worthy of consideration are In Her Time with a great first up record, the in form Savatiano, and Kementari , who was a failure at stud and is back racing after a year’s absence, and gelded to boot.

Tonight at Moonee Valley the final Group 1 of Melbourne’s Autumn racing season, the William Reid Stakes, is scheduled to run at 8.30pm. Mystic Journey, whose Autumn season was stymied by a leg infection. makes her first appearance since the Cox Plate in this race. It’s a bit short for her, but it will be interesting to see how she runs in it.

Newmarket Handicap winner Bivouac is the favourite, but he faces a classy field that includes along with Mystic Journey, Loving Gaby, Gytrash, Exceedance and Pippie.

Even though I will be maintaining a social distance at home (pretty normal for me) there are still things to enjoy, such as the racing on TV.

There are  also books to read – I’m currently rereading Hilary Mantel’s first two Cromwell books, preparatory to reading the last book, The Mirror and the Light which I have acquired in a lovely signed hardcover first edition.

Also I have a backlog of purchased computer games I mean to get through over the next few months, waiting for Covid19 to pass. Above all I hope to still be alive at the end of it.

So Long to the 2010s

Bingo early December

I really can’t complain about the 2010s as I have been retired from work for  9/10ths of the decade, but globally the world is a different place to what it was in 2009.

Actually, in my humble opinion, the world changed for good on 11 September 2001 with the fall of the two towers and has been going downhill ever since.

Anyway, to see out the old year here are some of my highlights for this year.

Books

Though as usual I reread several old favourites, a number of new titles impressed me this year, notably two books by previously unknown authors – Diane Setterfield and Sarah Tolmie.

An engaging ghost story set on the river Thames, Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield gripped me from the beginning. It’s a sort of old fashioned tale that you comfortably settle into and follow delightedly to its satisfying conclusion.

The Little Animals by Canadian writer, Sarah Tolmie, is the book I loved the most this year; an unremarked gem of a novel about Dutch scientist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, known as the Father of Microbiology. He was a contemporary of the famous artist Johannes Vermeer who is also a character in the book. Another main character, who haunts the book and lends an otherworldly vibe to it, is the goose girl, transported from a Grimm fairy story to 17th century Delft to become a strange collaborator in van Leeuwenhoek’s scientific investigations into animacules (Little Animals). 

If like me you are weary of books banging on about modern social issues, The Little Animals is a welcome escape from these troubled times and a pleasure to read.

I also enjoyed new books by favourite authors – The Testaments by Margaret Atwood, The Secret Commonwealth by Phillip Pullman and two new books by the wonderful American writer John Crowley, And Go Like This, a book of short stories, and Reading Backwards an illuminating, exquisitely written collection of essays and reviews covering an astonishingly wide range of topics.

Alas John Crowley’s 25th Anniversary edition of Little, Big was not published this year – no surprise really. Hopefully I get to finally hold it in my hands next year after a 15 year wait.

Next year I’m pleasantly anticipating Agency by William Gibson in January,  The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel in March, a new David Mitchell novel, Utopia Avenue, in June and after a 16 year hiatus Susanna Clarke (author of the magical Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel) has a new novel titled Piranisi coming in September.

We’re not doing anything special this New Year’s Eve and will be asleep by midnight, possibly awakened by fireworks, but more likely the cat Bingo.

He’s now three years old and just as mischievous as ever, not to mention noisily vocal. But he is a beautiful looking animal and a dear little fellow most of the time.

Let’s hope summer is not too trying. A few 40C+ degree days is normal in Melbourne, and luckily the few we’ve had so far  have only lasted 24 hours with a cool change following in a timely manner and lingering for days.

The hot weather has affected the horse racing industry. Several recent race meetings have been abandoned due to the heat, which is to be commended. Hopefully when the Group 1 racing resumes in early February the weather will be kind, though that’s unlikely. We wait and see.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the new racing season as I enjoy my Saturday afternoon outings to the track. It’s also pleasurable to speculate on the emergence of new stars of the turf in the Magic Millions two year old competitions in early January at the Gold Coast.

Whilst awaiting the new racing season I’ve been playing computer games, the current one on the go being Blade Runner, a 1997 game recently rejigged for modern computers by GOG.

Despite it’s 80s retro visuals, I recently  enjoyed a very well made game called Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders.  The game is based on a real life ancient Chinese judge and investigator Di Renjie, who was also the hero of a series of novels by Robert van Gulick, quite few of which I have in my personal library.

As support for Windows 7 expires mid January, I’ll be obliged to either update my current computer to the dreaded Windows 10 or purchase a new one.  Despite this Windows 7 computer still going smoothly, I’m favouring getting a new computer for Windows 10 for several reasons. Firstly the SSD C: drive on this computer is running out of space, and secondly it being close to  five years old, the bios is pretty ancient and is probably not up to date or updateable.

I intend to buy another desktop with all the bells and whistles, ie a good graphics card, a fast CPU with lots of RAM. Hopefully my favourite old software will still work on a new machine and in Windows 10.

Windows 7 in my opinion has been the best version of Windows I’ve ever used. It’s stable, fast and problem free in the main and runs all my old beloved software programs.

This is turning into a marathon post, so I’ll end here, wishing my readers, whoever you are, a Happy 2020 and a more enlightened world.

Pictures & Pages–Elise Hurst Signing in Coburg

Pictures & Pages Bookshop in Sydney Road Coburg

I would not normally venture out to the north western suburb of Coburg - in fact I can’t remember the last time I was there - but the special occasion of local artist  Elise Hurst signing copies of her recent collaboration with famed writer Neil Gaiman, an illustrated edition of his novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane, drew me thence.

 
Illustrated edition of The Ocean at the End of the Lane

It was actually quite easy to get to Coburg from Ivanhoe via public transport, the convenient 510 (Ivanhoe to Essendon) Bus allowed me to alight at the corner of  Sydney Road and Moreland Road and take a short tram trip north that got me to the venue, a specialist Children’s Bookshop called Pictures & Pages, in a little over 30 minutes.

Elise Hurst is a remarkably talented Melbourne artist whom I first discovered in December 2017 when a friend gifted me with her 2018 Calendar for Christmas.  I’ve been a great fan since and have met Elise several times at the Brunswick Sisters Market and purchased her cards, books and prints.

As well as being dazzingly talented, Elise Hurst is a lovely person, sweet, unaffected, friendly and easy to talk to.

Elise Hurst signing books at Pictures & Pages

Naturally I bought a copy of The Ocean at the End of the Lane and got Elise to sign it. She also had prints of illustrations from the book for sale, but I resisted the temptation to buy the perfectly composed skulking  Fox  print. I may yet cave in and buy a copy before they sell out.

The Fox – an illustration from The Ocean at the End of the Lane

As I haven’t previously read The Ocean at the End of the Lane, I’m looking forward to reading this beautiful edition, a handsome hard covered book that is highly collectable if you’re a bibliophile who appreciates beautiful books.

It was an interesting excursion to Coburg,  a mini adventure of sorts for a Sunday afternoon.

Fifty Days of Grey

Gumnuts against a grey sky

It’s probably an exaggeration to say that since the start of winter the sky has been grey all the time, as the occasional sunny day has brightened what has been a mostly dreary winter.

However, Spring is coming and warmer weather will ensue along with the start of the Spring Racing season.

I have been slack on the blogging front with nothing much to write home about, amusing myself with computer games and books to take my mind off the cold and keep the brain ticking over.

As I’ve mentioned before this Ivanhoe house is a refrigerator in winter, often chillier inside than outside, though the upside is that it’s the reverse in summer.

The problems with Open Live Writer and the Google photo application have purportedly been fixed, so I can again compose a post in OLW with photos and publish directly to Blogger.  I had practically given up hope that the issue would be resolved, but a clever programmer on GitHub by the name of Nick Vella worked out a solution a month or so ago.

So I intend to place several photos in this post to check that it actually works.

The above photo is of an ornamental weeping gum tree down the street from our place, one of quite a few in the neighbourhood. They are very attractive trees, begging to be photographed.

Weeping gum blossoms

On the cat front, Bingo gave us a very worrying week recently when he went off his food for several days. For a cat who is normally ravenous it was most unusual for him to show no interest in food. We took him to the vet who checked him out and thought he had a gastric problem, but advised a blood test to ascertain that there was not a problem his internal organs.  The blood results found no issues with his kidneys, liver, pancreas etc.

Waiting for the blood results we suffered from a melancholy deja vu recalling Willy’s decline three years ago. At the end of the week, after Bingo had not eaten anything substantial for several days, we arranged with the vet that he be put on a drip for the weekend. Fortunately that didn’t happen as Bingo suddenly recovered his appetite on the Saturday morning, has eaten well since, and is back to his usual rambunctious annoying self.

Bingo sitting on the kitchen bench where he can supervise the cooking

Bingo on kitchen bench from a different angle

He is the drollest creature, taking an interest in everything we do, following me round when I’m mopping the floor and swiping at the sponge when I’m cleaning up the kitchen sink.

Though only a small cat, he doesn’t lack courage, picking fights with other cats, one of whom he chased up a tree in the street.  These encounters are not without wounds as he had to endure another trip to the vet to get a nasty bite under his chin flushed out recently and undergo a course of antibiotics. 

As for reading, two of the books I was looking forward to this year have been published – Big Sky by Kate Atkinson and Fall; or, Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson. I was in the process of rereading a sort of prequel to Fall, the 1000+ page techno thriller,  Reamde, when the Kate Atkinson book came out, so I put Reamde on hold until I finished this latest Jackson Brodie novel from the masterful pen of Kate Atkinson. It was a very enjoyable read and a pleasure to reacquaint myself with Jackson Brodie, champion of lost girls.

I’m currently reading Fall and finding it wonderfully entertaining, Neal Stephenson delivering his take on the modern world, with extrapolations on future technological advances, such as uploading brains to the cloud.

As today is the 20th July, the 50th day since the start of winter, and also the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11’s mission to the moon,  it’s significant in more ways than one.

I checked out my old diary entries for July 1969 and I did indeed note the Apollo Mission, though missed seeing the event as I didn’t have a TV at the time. I appear to have spent most of July 1969, breaking in my first pair of contact lenses.

At that time, students at Melbourne University could get discounted contact lenses through the Optometry College in Carlton.  These were the old hard lenses which took some getting used to. I wore them for several years before switching to Gas Permeable Lenses which I have been using ever since.

So July 2019 is also my 50th Anniversary of wearing these visual aids.  I have no desire to revert to spectacles, despite several optometrists telling me I’d get tired of wearing the lenses in time.

I haven’t been to the races since the end of April, but will probably attend the Bletchingly Stakes meeting at Caulfield next Saturday. Star Tassie filly Mystic Journey may kick off her Spring campaign in the race, providing the track is not too soft.

Mystic Journey winning the Australian Guineas

Anyway, must publish this post before the day is over. Cross fingers it goes through OK.

Welcome 2019

Bingo

Might as well start off the new year with a cat photo, in point of fact, Bingo, now the sole feline in the Cat Politics domicile.

He’s now two years of age and fully grown and the most talkative creature I’ve ever come across - he keeps up a running commentary on everything.  A  typical Siamese in other words, and a bundle of mischief even now. In the above photo he is pretending to be good, when actually he is looking for a chance, when my back is turned, to rock the picture above him to express his desire to be fed NOW.

Overall 2018 was personally non stressful. Other than the tragic demise of Talya, life was pretty good and mostly interesting.

The highlight of the year was witnessing the great mare Winx win her 4th Cox Plate.

I find it surprising, when watching the television news on the ABC or SBS, that this momentous historical event is not mentioned as a great sporting achievemant of 2019.

Winx will be racing on in the Autumn, though is likely to be retired at the end of the season.  I doubt we will see her in Melbourne again, but god willing I can get to Sydney for her farewell, whatever race that may be.

The Melbourne autumn racing season kicks off later this month, but before that there is the Magic Millions festival where the two year old classic is always worth watching, as winners of that race often go on to win Group races. Sunlight won the Two Year Old Classic last year, and Houtzen, the year before and both of them have proved to be winners since, Sunlight in particular winning the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes from the colts in Spring.

As for reading during 2018, there were no new books that blew me away, but I did enjoy Kate Atkinson’s latest novel Transcription and Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver recently.  I did a lot rereading of old favourites rather than buying new books; comfort reading in fact. 

In 2019 I’m looking forward to several new novels by favourite writers – Agency by William Gibson, Fall; or, Dodge In Hell by Neal Stephenson,  The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale and a new Jackson Brodie book by Kate Atkinson, titled Big Sky.

I’m also still waiting – it’s 13 years now – for the 25th Anniversary Edition of John Crowley’s Little, Big, which with any luck will finally make it into print this year.  It was dismaying to learn last year that the publisher was homeless and broke at one stage, but apparently he’s back on his feet again and hopefully working hard to bring Little, Big to press. We wait and see.

To while away the time until the racing season starts, as usual I’m playing computer games, the current game being Forgotton Anne, a charming animated adventure that is like an interactive Studio Ghibli  movie.

Forgotton Anne press image

It has been several decades since I last played a platform game, so it took a while to get accustomed to the platform aspects of Forgotton Anne, especially as the keyboard controls are rather clunky.  The game is really meant to be played on a console, but as the version I have is for PC I am obliged to use the keyboard. Pressing control, shift, a directional key (WASD) and the space bar all at once can be challenging, so I’m rather pleased I’ve gotten a fair way into the game without too much difficulty.

Forgotton Anne, as previously mentioned, is like a Studio Ghibli movie, where lost socks and other mislaid objects, called Forgotlings, inhabit a world called the Forgotten Lands. Anne is an enforcer, who armed with something called an Arca (a source of power or anima), keeps order.  At the start of the game a Forgotling rebel group has created havoc, blowing up several landmarks and threatening Anne and her master Bonku’s plans to return to the human world. The action revolves around Anne’s investigation of the crimes and pursuit of the ring leader.

As is my custom I have purchased a new calandar for 2019. This year I have A History of Women’s Costume by Mac Harshberger, a stylish collection of costumed ladies in an Art Deco style.

Mac Harshberger Calendar

On a final note we connected to the NBN in mid December, and apart from a minor glitch on the first day, it has been problem free since and is much faster than my old ADSL connection. May it continue to be so.

Let’s hope that in 2019 sanity will prevail and that no major disasters occur, though that is unlikely with climate change already wreaking havoc across the planet.

Happy New Year to all!

Always Look on the Bright Side–Eric Idle at the Athenaeum Theatre

Eric Idle at Athenaeum Theatre – 30/11/18

I could do with a good laugh, I thought, as I made my way to the Athenaeum Theatre on Friday evening to see the famous Monty Python member Eric Idle in conversation with Wheeler Centre Director, Michael Williams.

Eric Idle was in Australia promoting his recent “sortabiography” Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, and naturally the book was the focus of the conversation, with Eric Idle expanding apon his remarkable life story with many amusing reminiscenses. He was laugh out loud funny from the start,  early on singing a wonderfully scathing song about Selfies which set the tone for the evening.

Along with many of my baby boomer contemporaries,  I still fondly remember the original Monty Python shows on TV back in the 1960s, and the films that followed in the 1970s. I have a 1st edition copy of Monty Python’s Big Red Book  (published 1971) in my book collection.

Monty Python, much to the surprise of the group, was a great success not only in Britain, but in America and Canada;  particularly in Canada where fans would come to their live performances in crazy costumes, none more absurd, Eric said, than seeing the front row dressed as a giant caterpillar.

The conversation ranged from Eric’s early life where he spent 12 years in a boarding school/orphanage, through his years at Cambridge where the origins of Monty Python were conceived in the company of fellow comedians, several of whom ending up as members of the famous group, then on to his acting career in  Monty Python films.

He made no big deal about his famous friends such as George Harrison and David Bowie, recalling  his friendship with them affectionately, declaring that his two main passions in life were writing and playing the guitar.

It was a highly entertaining event which closed with Eric Idle singing  Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,  purportedly Britain’s favourite song to be sung at funerals.

Winter in Ivanhoe

Yellow Rhodedendron – spot of colour to spite the cold

I am not looking forward to this first winter in Ivanhoe, not that I welcomed it in the old house in Northcote either.

This current residence is a cold house, due to the insulation which makes it cool in summer, but in winter it’s a different matter.  A giant gum tree in the next door neighbour’s garden effectively  prevents sunlight from reaching our back yard, and a distinct chill invades the house.

The house has three different warming systems, only one of which we use. B  has objections to the ducted heating system, arguing that it is wasted energy in that it heats the entire house and we both prefer a cool bedroom at night. 

When we first moved here back in September there was a gas flame fire, but it turned out to be purely decorative and was useless as a heater. Thankfully it has been replaced with a real gas flame fire, which works, and is the sole means of heating we use. 

Bingo the cat loves it and toasts himself in front of it when it’ s operating – later in the day when the chill really sets in. The rest of the time we rug up and endure the cold.

Speaking of the cats, Bingo is now fully grown, a small but perfectly formed cat with a big attitude, and is still as naughty as ever.

Bingo shredding the door mat

He has however learned better table manners and now responds (with vocal objections) to NO when told to get off the table when we’re eating.

These days he has been spending a lot of time under the house growling at another cat, an oldish long haired tabby who lives a couple of houses up and visits every morning. According to its owner, Bingo visits their house too and the two cats engage in the same growling and howling activity there as well, though it doesn’t escalate into anything more serious.

There are other cats around – a young rag doll called Theo and other moggies of varied colours.

Talya understandably loathes Bingo, but has learnt some of his bad habits, such as climbing all over the benchtops and licking out saucepans in the sink, something she would not dream of doing before. 

She has also become incontinent, pissing inappropriately on the floor, and shitting on the rugs, which we’ve been forced to take up and put out of her reach and close doors to rooms we don’t use regularly. Her behaviour is stress related I think and we can’t think of any way to break her of the habit, other than forcing her to go outside last thing at night and early morning,  the usual times these “accidents” are likely to occur.

Bingo is merciless as far as Talya is concerned, constantly teasing her and disrupting her peace by jumping on her when she’s sound asleep.  Both cats get fractious when they’re hungry and are terribly distracting until they are fed.

That’s one of the reasons I haven’t been writing any posts of late, but truth to tell I haven’t been feeling all that inspired to add words to a screen and nothing much has happened to excite my interest in writing anything.

I did attend the Eilen Jewell concert back in May and it was as good as always. I took along the Canon G16 camera, but found to my dismay that the battery was almost flat as was the spare, so I couldn’t take many photos.

Eilen Jewell and her ace band at Thornbury Theatre – 23 May 2018

I  couldn’t resist purchasing the below poster that was on sale at the merchandise table and get it signed.

Eilen Jewell poster produced by Moon Rabbit Press

As usual I’ve been passing the time reading and playing computer games…

Back in April I downloaded to my Kindle six Joan Aiken novels that had just been issued as eBooks, having been out of print as physical books for many years.  As they were only $6.00 each it was an irresistable temptation.

Joan Aiken is one of my favourite writers who I have been following since the 1960s, when I first discovered her “Wolves” series of alternate history children’s novels, which encompass 12 books in all, the last published after Joan Aiken’s death (in 2004) in 2005.

She was a prolific writer, producing over a hundred books, for both children and adults.

The six novels I downloaded were her delightfully wicked Regency and Gothic romances, and I binge read them one after the other over the past month or so, and thoroughly enjoyed indulging in their guilty pleasures.

Most of the computer games I’ve been playing were ones I had played before, except for Keepsake a game I actually have on DVD, but was unable to play it when I got it in 2006, due to various issues.

It was recently released on Steam, so I purchased it and played it and found it to be a quite engaging game with an interesting plot and unusual puzzles, some of them very hard to crack.

 

It was also a lengthy game with many locations to explore and is set in school for magic ala Harry Potter. The heroine is Lydia who arrives at the school to begin a course in magic, only to discover that the academy is deserted, with no sign of pupils or teaching staff.  Lydia is particularly distressed by the non appearance of her childhood friend Celeste whom she has been looking forward to seeing again after many years.

The game basically centres around Lydia’s search for answers to the mystery of the deserted academy, in which she is assisted by Zac, a shapeshifted wolf who claims he is really a dragon, whom Lydia releases from a cupboard where he had been locked up before everyone went missing.

I’m of course hanging out for the beginning of the spring racing season, still a month or so away, but promising to be a bit more interesting than last year, with a few new potential stars of the turf emerging recently over the Sydney and Brisbane carnivals. And Winx will be back in action soon, quite possibly on 18 August in the newly promoted to Group 1, Winx Stakes  - formerly the Warwick Stakes, now renamed in her honour. 

I’ve already purchased a ticket to the Cox Plate;  Winx’s main target this spring, where she will be aiming to become the first horse to win it four times.