Like a one-cheek sneak I slipped through the terrible oneway doors and into the no-mans land of the international departure lounge. Almost as surreal as the time travelers' portal in some scifi movie it transports one into the temporary purgatory wherein all manner of lost souls mingle and wander (along with their bruised metaphors), forced into a time dragging limbo, all in the same boat. I'm feeling among them but not of them. There's a universal sameness, not found anywhere else but consistent in all airports. Maybe it's the similar sameness of people going to Maccas all over the world, although their sameness is a shared lack of taste. But sharing the same sense of "just passing through" And time. Everything is based on time, departure time, arrival time, waiting time. Yet it is a curiously ... read more

Just when you thought he had finally gone for good.....well, the house is another story, and I will be back there very soon....but, for those who came in late.....I was just over in Germany to see Kate and Stephan, Hi Kids, thanks for the lovely time.... we went off to Berlin, about which I might write more some day, the whole writing thing has deserted me again, a few notes here and there but largely very litle (?). Anyway, Germany, Aachen is such a lovely little city, so old and cute but now the winter is coming and I'm just as happy not to be there in the snow and ice and stuff, acres of pretty rough cobblestones over which the women totter on their high heels, I reckon if they can get around Aachen on ... read more

Even tho’ some computers invent their own viruses when they see another of my blogs coming…here it is…. Cows, lots of cows, relentlessly shuffling towards the milking shed. And not your old wooden-slat, bendy roof, iconic rural shed but an all-steel, concrete floored, gleaming, stainless steel pipes and tanks…and no-one in sight. It all looks somewhat authentically rural but it’s not. On closer inspection, like rolling down the window, the stench hits you. This is not your rich country smell of cattle and wet hay, of memories of Royal Show livestock sheds, of small farms of my youth, it’s unnatural, almost chemical, it stinks of something really off. This is the smell of 21st century mechanized, industrialized, milk manufacturing. The cows are like robots, cowbots?…the thick mud stinks, The dust was blowing into every crack ... read more

Two big bulls have been moved to the house paddock. They are looking forlorn…actually they’re looking ‘for lawn’ but it’s all frozen over. Maybe they are forlorn, it’s 5 degrees below zero and the ground is white to the horizon. But more depressing for these big guys is the disappearance of 95% of their job satisfaction. Nowadays everyone wants artificial insemination. These bulls are very placid, laid-back (or comatose?) occasionally picking at bits of grass and then just gazing, more gazing than grazing, blissed out or spaced out? They are big, reddy/brown and curiously furry, with low ears and a ragged topknot. Not your sleek, Aberdeen-Angus-Naugahide-look-a-likes, much furrier and no horns, which is always nice when they are up in the house paddock, a few metres from the veranda. Borne on a cold dawn. By 6.30 ... read more

MERRY XMAS ETC. The BIT (back in town) sessions. I had to get a new mobile number 0432 425 842 (don’t ask, it was another unfortunate Optus moment) THE LAMB THAT THYME FORGOT. Having suffered severe lamb withdrawal over the past 6 months I have been absolutely going the pig. Check the first meal back pic. Backing up a bit…..and it is making me shiver to recall just how cold it was but here we go…. THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN TO GEORGIA(?) well, Chicago A WINTER WONDERLAND….I’M WONDERING HOW LONG IS WINTER IN THIS LAND Cincinnati railroad, Grand Union Station, a majestic, fabulous, art-deco structure celebrating 75 years. You can see it for miles, a giant arch dominating the skyline, out where it is, looks like it was the centre of town, about 100 years ago. The ... read more