Christmas and the New year came and went with pleasantly little stress or fanfare. On the 25th, we all debunked to our cousin Nina's house in Roselle for a genuinely lovely lunch. I mean lovely in all respects - there was no pressure, no pretention, loads of great conversation and some fabulous food. It's sad that the house is selling but that is often the price of divorce. Later that day we popped in on the 'other half', Ben, with his new girlfriend and baby. A nice view to Iron Cove bridge and all the convenience of being 'inner city', but I wonder if this is the bargain he was making when he looked beyond the marriage.
A day or so later we were camping in Kangaroo Valley, dodging the poor weather that had set in in the Mountains. The night before we left, torrents fell on the roof and the heavy drops exploded on the back verandah. But the Valley was relatively dry when we arrived later that day and we didn't have any rain at all. Swimming at Geroa and the Upper Kangaroo Valley, strolling in Berry and setting up for camp dinners have an abiding rhythm that often invites reflection. It's hard not to look across at cows grazing or dramatic mountain profiles without thinking about the deeper meaning of things. Well, for me, anyway.
Shortly into the new year we beat a path to our relatives house in Murriverie Rd, North Bondi. It's a nice place to visit, as they say, and we had a pleasant week of ferry boats to the city, swims at Bondi Beach and Nielsen Park(my childhood beach), dog walking (with Tom on one end of the lead!) and good coffee. There was an obligatory visit to Westfields Bondi Junction and we even managed to fly a kite.
One odd occurrence. Two noisy parties burst into life on separate evenings adjacent our place in North Bondi. Lots of people, crescendos of conversation and great gusts of music assaulting the night. Both ended at precisely 10.15pm, without even a fadeout! Strange indeed.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
early musings on south africa 2010
Australia's chances of progressing to the Round of 16 are limited, I suspect. While our grouping of Germany, Serbia and Ghana roughly approximates the strength of Brazil, Croatia and Japan in 2006, I find other areas of concern.
The team, under conservative Dutchman Pim Verbeek, is not playing as well as it did under Guus Hiddink. Admittedly, the latter's reign was very short and did not entail the somewhat tortuous Asian route, but Guus was simply very, very good. And experienced at World Cup campaigns.
The team is older and slower, lacks the kind of front man that Mark Viduka was in Germany, and seems far more defensive tactically. We are not taking the game to our opponents on a regular basis and far too often surrendering the initiative for long periods of play. There is perhaps a little too much of hoiking the ball up front in the hope that something will fall for Tim Cahill. It's unlikely, though not impossible, that these kinds of tactics will not work against the likes of a Germany or a Serbia.
On the bright side, Harry is playing his best football in years, the team now has experience of top flight football and the entailing pressures, Schwarzer is a fabulous goalkeeper, and Pim, at the very least, is good at getting results.
Of course, I was doubtful that we would make the Round of 16 in 2006, so I am very happy to be proven wrong again.
The team, under conservative Dutchman Pim Verbeek, is not playing as well as it did under Guus Hiddink. Admittedly, the latter's reign was very short and did not entail the somewhat tortuous Asian route, but Guus was simply very, very good. And experienced at World Cup campaigns.
The team is older and slower, lacks the kind of front man that Mark Viduka was in Germany, and seems far more defensive tactically. We are not taking the game to our opponents on a regular basis and far too often surrendering the initiative for long periods of play. There is perhaps a little too much of hoiking the ball up front in the hope that something will fall for Tim Cahill. It's unlikely, though not impossible, that these kinds of tactics will not work against the likes of a Germany or a Serbia.
On the bright side, Harry is playing his best football in years, the team now has experience of top flight football and the entailing pressures, Schwarzer is a fabulous goalkeeper, and Pim, at the very least, is good at getting results.
Of course, I was doubtful that we would make the Round of 16 in 2006, so I am very happy to be proven wrong again.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
ring out wild bells
With a new year comes a new decade comes short-lived expectations that things will get better, somehow. Hence the resolutions, so easily broken, the rituals across the globe that represent a desire for things to improve. Or at least, not get worse.
A poll I read at the beginning of the month asking how much store people put in resolutions showed that fully 80% thought they were worthless, at best. The frantic and increasingly spectacular New Year's Eve celebrations substitute visual distraction for meaning, but the hollowness of its repetition cannot be hidden. A lazy and bored mainstream media fails at every opportunity to ask relevant questions about the unfolding circus. Is it any wonder that folks are more cynical?
i am reminded of the season
by the crackle of a christmas beetle
under a drunk's blind heel.
A poll I read at the beginning of the month asking how much store people put in resolutions showed that fully 80% thought they were worthless, at best. The frantic and increasingly spectacular New Year's Eve celebrations substitute visual distraction for meaning, but the hollowness of its repetition cannot be hidden. A lazy and bored mainstream media fails at every opportunity to ask relevant questions about the unfolding circus. Is it any wonder that folks are more cynical?
i am reminded of the season
by the crackle of a christmas beetle
under a drunk's blind heel.
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