Winter storm
A severe storm struck Porepunkah and Bright last night. Winter storms are unusual. The meteorological explanation is probably that we had a strong cold front come through after a spell of warm weather.
The result was strong winds, heavy rain and heavy snow down to about 800 metres. The coldness is the aspect which makes it unusual. I can’t recall a winter storm of this severity in our nine years here.
Many trees were blown down and the electricity was off from about 3am to 6pm. That’s the longest it’s ever been disconnected in my life! We had candles flickering this morning and this afternoon. Fortunately it came back on before we had to consider a family evening without power.
The above picture shows one of many trees across Bakers Gully Road at the Reservoir in Bright.
Fitzroy memory #2
I was born in 1967 and grew up in the 1970s before and after color television became established in Australia. I can remember watching Collingwood play North Melbourne in black and white, and not having a clue which team was which.
Most of my early football memories come from the radio. At Traralgon, where I grew up (100 miles from Melbourne), we could hear the ABC regional station 3GI, which in those days used to broadcast Melbourne races along with the VFL. We could just pick up 3LO (Melbourne), and it came through okay with uninterrupted football on car radios with good antennae.
The local stations, 3TR and 3UL, covered racing or played music. Jack Dwyer on Melbourne’s 3KZ barely faded in and out. Read more
Where else in the world?
The Porepunkah Post Office is also a petrol station, takeaway food outlet, milk bar and mini general store. It’s by virtue of this multi-faceted role that one can drive to the front door when it’s raining, take half a dozen steps under the bowser shelter and collect mail from the post office boxes.
It was bucketing down this afternoon and that’s exactly what I did. I can’t think of too many other places in Australia where that’s possible.
Soccer Dude
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Dude (centre) played his first full game of soccer for Myrtleford today at Albury. He did very well and had lots of fun. |
Mountain bike ride
I went for a mountain bike ride this afternoon. I started on the main Buckland Valley Road and turned off just before the airstrip at Higgins Road. It was all uphill for the next few kilometres, after which it was nearly all downhill.
I returned via Royal George Road and took the above photo from Snake Ridge Road, before returning home via the Winters Hill tracks. The picture of Porepunkah (below) was taken from the top tier.
Fitzroy memories #1
These memories are in no particular order. An obvious highlight of my time following Fitzroy was their last senior premiership, a night flag in 1978.
The picture above comes from the web site Full Points Footy. It shows skipper Ron Alexander, coach Graham Campbell and one of my favorite all-time Lions Garry Wilson.
I wanted to introduce Graham Campbell because I heard him speak at a Fitzroy luncheon in Adelaide before we lost to the Crows in 1994 at Football Park. Juliet and I were living in Port Pirie at the time and Kathleen was about six months old. It was Kathleen’s second AFL game, not that she remembers. Read more
Let’s go nuclear
Four Corners this week ran an interesting report on nuclear energy and whether it should be considered in Australia to reduce greenhouse emissions. Why not?
Even if someone is skeptical about greenhouse, they should acknowledge that nuclear power generation causes less pollution.
Fossil fuels are finite. So is uranium, but there is no immediate shortage threatening, as far as I’m aware. This is backed up here by nuclear engineer James Hopf.
The danger, of course, is a Chernobyl-type disaster. I have confidence in Australian authorities to implement better risk-management procedures than those that existed in Ukraine in 1986.
Working the phone
James likes to play with the telephone each night while having his puffer. Both twins are tech savvy and love phones. They got hold of Kathleen’s mobile one day and rang me at work.
Tasty lunch at Milawa
Juliet and I went with the babies to Milawa for lunch. There’s a cheese factory there that makes some tasty brie, camembert and chevre.
They also have gourmet chutney, pickles, jam, etc. We bought some spicy pickles, apple and ginger jam, trout pate and smoked trout, which was lovely with some crisp fresh bread and coffee from the bakery.
Wood Park winery has a cellar door there too. I can recommend the Verdelho.
Two votes and counting
Juliet has submitted her application to vote in the council election. That’s two votes I should get now; only 698 to go!
Juliet is a South African citizen with permanent residency in Australia. She can’t vote in state or federal elections, but can exercise her right as a ratepayer to vote in council elections.
If I win election, I will be a councillor when Juliet attends her naturalisation ceremony at the Shire Office. The Mayor may even permit me to swear her in.
Juliet has applied to the South African Government for permission to have dual citizenship. That was nearly a year ago, but the approval should come through soon.
She can then apply for Australian citizenship without having to renounce her South African birthright.
The births of all our children have been registered in South Africa and they can claim dual citizenship if they wish.
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