I arranged to meet this morning with a firend who was up from Melbourne for the weekend. She wanted to see this exhibition about ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation), and we were both curious to see if there was anybody we knew, so I went there at the appointed hour. My friend didn't turn up - she left several messages that I didn't ( Read more... )

Despite the heat, I was very determined to complete a full circuit of the lake (total distance about 3.5 km). The official name of this lake is Ho Hoan Kiem, which I think means Lake of the Returned Sword (see previous post). The popular name is Ho Guom, which means just Sword Lake. Guom is probably a less sinicized word for sword than Kiem - ( Read more... )

From Hang Buom (which I discovered by looking at the dictionary is Sail Street), I headed south towards the lake. This lake plays a hugely important role in the lives of Hanoians, not only because it provides a bit of green space in the city centre, but because it is the home of the turtle. The turtle is linked to a legend (rather similar to that ( Read more... )

On Saturday all the offices I needed were closed or else the people I needed were occupied with other things. So in the morning I went for a longish walk. First of all I walked around the old city ( Read more... )

On the way from Elizabeth Farm to Hambledon Cottage, you pass by the rear of Our Lady of Lebaonon.

( Read more... )

There wasn't a lot left by way of distance, so I combined this walk with visits to three heritage properties in the Harris Park area just east of Parramatta. The first one was Elizabeth Farm which was built in 1793 and therefore must be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, extant European building in the country. It belonged to Elizabeth and John ( Read more... )

Continued from earlier today ( Read more... )

Today began really, really well. Arsenal 3 - Abramovitch-Moneylaundering-Outfit 1 ( Read more... )

Gladesville Hospital was opened in 1838 as the Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum and closed in 1997 as Gladesville Hospital. In between it was known as Gladesville Hospital for the Insane. The site is heritage listed and suffers from the usual difficulties - what was designed for mentally ill patients according to mid-19th century conceptions is not ( Read more... )

I made a small mistake today. The forecast was for 29 and I thought that if I went out walking after 4, it would be starting to cool down. I've lost quite a lot of fitness due to the intense last 3 months at work and didn't plan on a long walk, but even so when I parked the car under Gladesville Bridge at 4.40 it was 31 (88F) and the sun was ( Read more... )