Category: Blog Entry

It’s been some time since we have plumbed the depths of the Bogstead septic tank saga so I thought I should give you an update before I moved on to weightier matters of world mission, world peace, etc.

Basically No 1 has been supervising a small army of diggers, suckers-outers, cementers-inners, etc. in the repair and replacement of all the septic tanks. But all of that came to an abrupt halt when No 3’s tank – ‘delivered of the burden of the flesh’, as it were, rose vertically out of the ground, floating on the water table which is at an exceptionally high level.

So we’re taking a comfort break for contemplation of the next move.

My goodness – I’m usually fairly resilient but the homeward trek was really quite something.  I know that we had breakfast three times on Monday morning – or was it Monday morning?  I was reading Amy Tan and then got tired and watched ‘How Green was my Valley’ – which I thought was great – and then Calendar Girls and the Jungle Book.  But I foundered on Muppets Treasure Island with Billy Connolly and Chinese subtitles.

So straight in to leading a Quiet Day on Tuesday .. and I downloaded 474 e mails most of which offered to perk me up in various unmentionable ways .. and all sorts of issues and difficulties have arisen in my absence and they have all been dealt with .. and they all got on just fine without me.  Great!

Andy Pandy time again – and about time too.  Diocesan Synod is next Saturday and I’m beginning to get that dangerous clarity of vision which comes from not dealing with the difficult stuff day in, day out.

Some of the pithy sayings of Australia will have limited application in March in Perthshire.  ‘Slip, slop, slap’ seems to be something about putting on sunblock and covering up.  ‘Sip ‘n cycle’ describes the Melbourne desire to emulate European lifestyles – where – so they think – everyone cycles to work and pauses for a quick Espresso en route. 

As always, the way people say things is just delightful.  I still savour the announcement from the wonderful chef-and-everything-else Jacquie in the midst of a series of crises on our sailing trip that ‘her risotto was not adequately prepped’ [it sounded like ‘pripped’]

See you soon

Welcome to London Bridge on the Great Ocean Road somewhere south and west of Melbourne.  It’s a coastline where erosion of limestone cliffs has left all sorts of dramatic free-standing rock formations.  London Bridge used to be two spans of rock across which tourists could walk.  Until … one day in Jaunary, 1990, when one of the spans suddenly collapsed leaving a couple marooned on what had now become an island.

The Rough Guide adopts an unusually censorious tone ..

‘The couple were eventually rescued from the far limestone cliff by helicopter.  As fate would have it, the couple were conducting an extra-marital affair and fled from the waiting media as soon as the helicopter arrived’

‘Makes you think, Dougal’

‘About what?’ Ted

Surfers look for the perfect wave.  I’ve spent the afternoon looking for the perfect shot of Koalas in the wild.  Unfortunately they tend to be a lump of fur against a bright sky so …    And of course I can’t say where we found them or you would all want to come and look!

This is Australia.  But it is very Scottish.  Dunkeld is just up the road.  And Melbourne has an Edinburgh Gardens.  We find people saying ‘See you later’ and ‘No/Nae worries’ – so it seems very familiar.

The local Anglicans here offer Eucharist at 9.15 and ‘Contemporary Worship’ at 5 pm.  Which seems to raise all those interesting questions about what it is if it is not contemporary – eternal or timeless or anachronistic? – rather like the issues raised by having Family Worship – but I’ll not risk suggesting what the corollary might be.

Temperature yesterday 34C.  Today 18C – what a relief!

G’Day

Easier in captivity, by the way

Continuing to ponder our various experiences .. some of which seemed to involve variations on the ‘Paradise Spoilt’ theme. 

We meet the smiling, slender and apparently contented Thai people .. and met a forthright American lady who said, in a way which brooked no contradiction, that 63% of all tourist visitors to Thailand came for prostitution.  True or not?  I have no idea but it seemed improbably high and induced a sort of ‘Lord is it I?’ feeling.  We saw no sign of the sex industry as such but noted the significant number of my-age-and-older western men with young Thai wives – and no couples the other way round.  Referred to by some as ‘walking ATM’s’, I found it a distressing sight – because of the power and wealth imbalance.  Tho’ some might say that there is a measure of exploitation on both sides?

And we sank into turquoise blue seas on pure white beaches .. but had to wear ungainly ‘stinger suits’ because of the box jellyfish and other hazards – which Bill Bryson delights in listing – which are a danger to swimmers through an increasing amount of the year.

Ah well – more about our Robinson Crusoe experiences another day.

Welcome to Blogstead Downunder – the view from the balcony of Simon and Hannah’s apartment in Melbourne.  We’re here for some R & R after our action-packed sailing trip round the Whitsunday Islands.  More of all of that in due course – it included some dreadful weather and a serious medical emergency for one of the party – now thankfully making a good recovery.  But we saw the beauty of the place and did the snorkelling so that we could see the beautiful fish over the coral and we were looked after by Reggie, Jacquie and the amazing crew.  And in and out of it all, we got to know the remarkable group of people with whom one thrown together  in these moments – a random group of 26 of whom only 5 were Irish!They became therapeutic community and friends – and through the internet will probably remain so!

A new sport this – blogging against time on a slow internet connection.  But the broadcaster in me always relishes the challenge of communication against the clock.

Interested to see that the Australian Government intends to make an apology to the Aboriginal people next week – ex-Prime Minister John Howard isn’t going to turn up to take part.  I have mixed feelings about the whole idea.  The right apology by the right people at the right time can surely shift deep-seated hurts and resentments like nothing else.  But it can easily be glib if overdone.  After all, in the nature of everybody’s tortured history, there are so many things for which apology might be made – the Irish Famine, slavery, etc.  And the apology will always seem somewhat inadequate.  And some things seem of such magnitude that any apology is likely to be inadequate.

On reflection – theological and otherwise – I wonder if the act of forgiveness – unsought and undeserved – is actually more powerful – the ‘Father, forgive them’ act.  After all, to take just one example, Gordon Wilson’s expression of forgiveness of the Provisional IRA after the Enniskillen bombing which claimed the life of his daughter was immensely powerful in demonstrating that their actions were utterly out of proportion to any injustice which they claimed to be setting right.  Without saying so.

4 mins 30 secs.  Since you ask, the weather here is still ‘wit’