We're in Los Angeles

After a long flight, we are in L.A. staying with Sonya and Bernie and the two boys. We have a lot to catch up on, but it's fun.

Fox and his little brother Banjo

We caught the Travel Bug Again

I know I said I wouldn't travel overseas again, but the thought of seeing my two little grandsons, Sonya and Bernie again persuaded me to once again sit in a hollow tube hurtling through the air for hours on end. Plus Kathy and Rob, a couple of our neighbours have asked us to join them on a Mississippi cruse from Memphis to New Orleans, hence the reason we're once again at Brisbane International airport, boarding a Virgin flight to Los Angeles.

Another reason we're travelling, is Brisbane will experience major disruptions between the 15th and 16th November with the hosting of the G20 Summit in town. The bigwigs of the top twenty economic countries descend on Brisbane with a lot of them bringing their own security forces with them. Naturally that also attracts the rat-bags from all around the world coming to demonstrate against Obama, Putin, Cameron, Abbott and the others. Then there are the ones who want to save the whales, the forests, the planet. gay rights, women's rights and poverty. Not that I personally have anything against any of those things.  A lot of these protesters will battle it out with the police forces in the streets. There'll be water canons, tear gas, you name it.

So, we're off to miss it all.

Travelling on a 777-300ER to L.A.

My First Car in Australia

Diane recently posted on her blog Adventure Before Dementia, how we met back in the late 60s. In it she mentioned that my car got flooded. This evoked a few comments and questions from her readers. I thought I'd explain.

I shared a flat in Boroko, Papua New Guinea with a few work mates. On the day, Diane left for Sydney, we all took her to the airport in Port Moresby to see here off. We then all went to the Gateway Hotel for a few drinks and lunch, which extended to mid afternoon, when I decided to go back to the flat for a snooze.

I awoke shortly before dinner by a tremendous thunderstorm which must have been raging for some time. I got up to investigate. Our flat was about a meter off the ground and when I opened to front door I discovered the water was almost up to the floor of the flat. Another inch and it would have come in through the door.

To my horror, I saw that my car was deep in submerged water outside the fence. My mate Willy's car was already gone.

I swam out to the fence but by the time I got to the car, it was floating away. I couldn't hang on to it. 

An hour later, the storm had gone and the water was receding. I eventually found my car in the nearby creek balanced on top of Willy's ute (Pick-Up truck).

 To make matters worse, I was due to fly to Rabaul on Monday morning very early and couldn't do anything about my car either on the weekend or the following weeks. I phoned my boss and asked him to organise both cars to be towed to local car dealer's workshop, tell them to strip the engines, clean them and put them together again. Of course he forgot to tell them that.

When I returned to Port Moresby a few weeks later. Our cars were at the back of their garage, just as they had picked them up. No need to tell you, they were both ruined. Such was life in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.

Finding Vivian Maier

Next week a movie about an incredible amateur photographer comes to theatres in Australia entitled Finding Vivian Maier. Vivian Maier was a nanny, who took thousands of shots in her free time, without ever showing any of them to anyone. She was an extremely private person, who used to lock herself in her room where she developed some of her films unbeknownst to her charges and employers.

After she died in her 80s, boxes and boxes of negatives an undeveloped rolls of films were found in a storage place, which led to exhibitions around the world of her images.

It also led to the movie 'Finding Vivian Maier' which is coming to a theatre near you. as they say.

Here is the movie Trailer:


For more information about the secret life of Vivian Maier, check out Eric Kim's blog.

For some of her amazing pictures, here are some samples:

Going the Bee Gees Way

We went to Morgans yesterday for a seafood smorgasbord on the Redcliffe Peninsula with the Birthday Bear Group. We stayed overnight in an apartment with George and Ann rather than drive home late at night. So, after breakfast we stopped at the recently opened Bee Gees Way which was built by the Moreton Bay Regional Council in honour of the famous brothers who started their musical career at Redcliffe in the late 1950s, when the three young brothers gathered around a microphone and for the first time performed using a name now famous around the world. The Bee Gees sold more that 220 million records worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists.

The Bee Gees Way is located off Redcliffe Parade, Redcliffe and includes a life-size statue, 60 photographs, 13 album covers, a mural of the band as well as songs and captions provided by Barry Gibb.

It was in the in the early 1950s when the three brothers and their family moved to Redcliffe.

In 1958 the Gibb brothers played their first gig at the Redcliffe speedway.

Barry Gibb and mother Barbara Gibb went on to sign the band's first music contract with soeedway 

promoter Bill Goode and radio announcer Bill Gates - on the family's kitchen table in Redcliffe. 

The Bee Gees were formed and went on to receive their first airplay on Brisbane radio 4BH.

Diane and Ann, the newest members of the Bee Gees,

In the early 1960s the Bee Gees began booking gigs and appearing on local television shows, performing songs written by Barry Gibb.

In 1966, the Bee Gees released their first big single, Spicks and Specks.

Following a succession of top ten Australian singles, the Bee Gees returned to England to pursue their musical dreams.

Like many other young bands emerging from Britain - including the Beatles, the animals, The Moody Blues, their music was very much influenced by country, R&B and blues recordings that were coming

out of America. 

Some of the hit singles released by the Bee Gees in the 1960s were:

- To Love Somebody in 1967

- Words in 1968

- I've got a message to You in 1968

- I Started a Joke in 1968

- Don't Forget to Remember in 1969

So we strolled along the Bee Gees Way admiring their achievements.

George, Ann and the Blogger admire the Bee Gees achievements

The Bee Gees way is about 50 m long

The 1970s are renowned for the creation of some of our history’s most influential pop culture.

In 1975 the Bee Gees decided to move to Miami, Florida to work with super-producer Arif Mardin and take their career to the next level.

The Bee Gees were on top of the world as disco fever started to take hold in the late 70s. This is when the band would achieve mega-success.

So sad to know that Barry Gibb, the oldest of the three talented brothers is now the only one alive. Robin and Maurice having passed away.

On the Trams Again

When we visited the Sydney Tramway Museum last month, I bought a book on the Brisbane Tram Systems I used to ride on every day from and to work in the 60s. In 1969, the then Lord Mayor Clem Jones made the worst decision he ever did. He stopped the trams that used to carry hundreds of people around the city day in and day out. He stopped them in the idiotic belief that they 'didn't fit the image' anymore and converted the public transport system to buses.

Upon flying back to Brisbane, I put a visit to the Brisbane Tram Museum onto my Bucket List. Well, yesterday, we drove out to Ferny Grove to visit the Brisbane Museum which is only open on Sundays between 12.30 and 4 PM.

The first two cars are 65 and 47, built in 1901 and 1907 and were on the Edward Street to Botanical Garden line.

65 and 47 are the oldest cars in the museum

The Blogger at the Tram Stop

99 was rebuilt in 1945 on the frame of a previously withdrawn car. It was specially built for the steep climb up Edward Street to Gregory Terrace

94 and 99 were single truck centre aisle cars

The people running and operating the trains are all volunteers. They also maintain the tracks and carriages.

Our 'Motorman' who was operating the trams yesterday

During operation of the museum, the trams are constantly running and are swapped throughout the day.

47 arrives at the tram depot

47 was often operated at night lit with a kerosene lamp

554 and 429 were the last trams built in Brisbane. 554 was one of eight, built to replace the 65 trams that were destroyed in the Paddington Depot fire in 1962. It incorporates parts that have been salvaged from the fire.

554 and 429 in the tram shed

341 is one of the largest trams that was built in Brisbane in 1936 and is known as a 'drop centre' car. They were known as THE TRAM.

341 at the Tramway Museum

In the late 60, when I lived in Brisbane, I used to catch the tram from the Treasury Building in town to Mater Hill on the south side. I was a smoker then.

If the trams were still running today, you wouldn't see this sign.

I added a little video I shot yesterday:

Power Cut

We had a notice in the letterbox a few days ago

DEAR HOUSEHOLDER,

WE ARE WORKING ON THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

ON TUESDAY, THIS IS TO ADVISE YOU THAT

THE ELECTRICAL SUPPLY TO YOUR HOUSE

WILL BE SHUT ON TUESDAY BETWEEN

8.00 AM AND 3 PM.

WE APOLOGISE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE.

YOUR POWER SUPPLY COMPANY

So we boiled the jug before 8 AM and filled up a large thermos flask to make the occasional cup of tea. The Blogger had a medical appointment and I turned off all my computers and got stuck into my book until the utility vehicles arrived around 9 o'Clock.

Four vehicles arrived including a couple of very large cherry pickers acompanied by 5 Energex workers and a couple of traffic coordinators. 

 The first thing they did, remove the large fuses to the high voltage side of the transformer. This is done with isolating poles.

We have a transformer at the edge of our property that transforms the power from 16,000 Volt down to 340/415 Volt, our household currency.

I went downstairs and asked one of the linesmen what they were doing. He told me that they were installing remote censoring equipment, so that the transformer can be monitored from their control room.

One of the men was working, standing on the crossbar which didn't look all that safe from where I was standing on my deck.

A second man then climbed a ladder and installed the sensor box below the transformer.

From an earlier post, you may remember that we frequently had possums walking over the transformer at night, which tripped the electricity supply and ended their cute little lives. After complaining, they came and fitted those PVC caps over the connections and we haven't had any problems with possums since.

 Around lunch time, they reinserted the fuses again and our power was restored again. We were once again able to brew a proper cup of tea.