Mike's Site

Mike's Site http://mikehobart.multiply.com/ This site should bring together some of my various presences on the Internet -- you can see stuff I've written, photographs I've taken, and favourite pages that I like to visit. I hope you find something of interest here. Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:33:38 -0000 Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:58:00 -0000 Mike's Site http://images.mikehobart.multiply.com/logo http://mikehobart.multiply.com 100 100 There's a roo in the roses <a href="http://mikehobart.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/upload/SLavawoKCBoAACdle941"><img class="alignright" src="http://images.mikehobart.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SLavawoKCBoAACdle941/Roo-at-Rosemarees-2.jpg?et=7incCH61zyitLrADaOnr3w&nmid=0" border="0"></a>I thought the noise of the possums and wallabies would quiet down as the winter went on and feed was easier to find. But they still seem to be lurking around in the suburban gardens when I take the dog out for a late-night walk. Even on a dark night you can tell the difference. If it’s a possum, they wait till you’ve crossed to the other side of the road, then they start making bad-tempered coughing sounds at you. But if you go past somebody’s garden and you hear that characteristic boing-boing sound retreating into the darkness, it’ll be a wallaby. They first started moving into the suburbs last summer when the drought caused a shortage of feed. I knew that wallabies liked flowers -- a friend of a friend has special permission to keep a wallaby in his backyard and it loves a rose as a special treat. But I hadn’t expected them to move into the gardens in my sister’s street. One of her neighbours showed me the whitewashed front wall of his garden and you could plainly see the mar... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/82/Theres_a_roo_in_the_roses Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:58:00 -0000 The Phantom -- Revenge of the Hypnotist Phantom comic-book #1514. It's Bavaria in the winter of 1824 -- and the 14th Phantom discovers there are things more dangerous than wolves in the mountains. The Phantom's ancestor stumbles over a plot by a hypnotist to revenge himself on those he feels ruined his life. Some nice art by Carlos Cruz [but not the cover] and a script by Claes Reimerthi that would have made a good Hammer movie. Just imagine, we could have had Christopher Lee as The Phantom and Peter Cushing as the mesmerist. I sometimes have reservations about the Scandinavian-produced adventures of the Ghost Who Walks, but this one [Egmont 1994] is above average. And watch out in September for the 60th anniversary issue of Frew Publications' Phantom comic http://mikehobart.multiply.com/reviews/item/30 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:05:38 -0000 M R I and me <a href="http://mikehobart.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/upload/SIh@2AoKCBoAABdEgjA1"><img class="alignright" src="http://images.mikehobart.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SIh@2AoKCBoAABdEgjA1/MRI.JPG?et=d88VSlMoSjd4KxHGMuQehA&nmid=0" border="0"></a>We want to study your brain. That's what the official looking letter from the Menzies Research Institute said. A study to contrast the brains of diabetics and non-diabetics. OK, I thought, I'm willing to go along with it. An MRI scan, a blood test and a questionnaire. I could do that. Saturday afternoon I present at Calvary Hospital. I'm not certain how much I have to do before the scan, but it turns out to be not much. Since they're only interested in my head, I don't need to get undressed or even remove my belt. So long as I removed my watch, keys and coins it's fine. They slide me into a long tube and give me ear plugs. Half an hour can be a long time flat on your back listening to a blacksmith in the next room. They started off with a repeated bang-click-click, then after a few zing-zing sounds it settled into a steady clunk-clunk clunk-clunk. I had a panic button in case I became claustrophobic. There was a little window so I could see out, but since they'd taken my gla... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/81/M_R_I_and_me Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:05:00 -0000 World of winter <a href="http://mikehobart.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/upload/SHsXswoKCBoAAAoJ4js1"><img class="alignleft" src="http://images.mikehobart.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SHsXswoKCBoAAAoJ4js1/creek%20close-up%202008-07.jpg?et=wDH75mvfOp0HjkAsF%2B%2C02w&nmid=0" border="0"></a>When we pass the shortest day, the days begin to lengthen but the cold begins to strengthen.  The truth of that old saying is certainly proved by this winter.  Some of the mornings have been breath-takingly cold and chilly. Doses of gingko biloba keep chilblains at bay, but the skin on my fingers is beginning to crack.  My remedy for this is to apply a cream for dry skin before retiring and put on a pair of white cotton gloves. This seemed a bit strange at first, but you get used to it.  In fact it's an advantage, helping to keep your hands warm on these near-zero nights.   There has been snow on the mountain for about a month now.   Every year this sparks a debate about the merits of the mountain road.  Whenever it snows, lots of people want to drive up Mount Wellington to see it, but they can't get there because.... well, because the mountain road is covered in snow and ice.   It seems to me that this is something to do with the modern atti... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/80/World_of_winter Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:04:00 -0000 Hollow Men ABC TV's The Hollowmen: Fat Chance - Ep 1 Of 6 THEY'RE UNAFRAID, UNCOMPROMISING, UNELECTED... A new six-part series, The Hollowmen is a comedy-drama set in the offices of the Central Policy Unit, a think tank set up by the Prime Minister to help him in the most important job of all - getting re-elected. Their brief is "long term vision"; i.e. to stop worrying about tomorrow's headlines, and focus on next week's. Created and produced by Working Dog, the group responsible for Frontline, the series features an ensemble cast including Lachy Hulme (The Matrix Reloaded), David James (All Saints), Neil Melville (Underbelly), Rob Sitch (Frontline) and introducing radio host Merrick Watts with Jacquie Brennan (City Homicide), Rob Carlton (Chandon Pictures), Santo Cilauro (Frontline), Stephen Hall (The King) and Nicola Parry (Thank God You're Here) and special guest Graeme Blundell. In the first episode, the Prime Minister (often mentioned but never seen) is caught out on ta... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/reviews/item/29 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:44:11 -0000 It's a new car! (Well, newer...) <a href="http://mikehobart.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/upload/SHIp9goKCBoAADTGufM1"><img class="alignright" src="http://images.mikehobart.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SHIp9goKCBoAADTGufM1/new%20car.jpg?et=uqdUwWabelRV0bZ%2BL1J8UQ&nmid=0" border="0"></a>"Now into its tenth generation, it's the world's biggest selling badge, with 32 million owners to its credit in its 40 year history. And, somewhere in the world, in one of the 140 countries where it's sold, someone buys a Toyota Corolla every 23 seconds." When I started looking around for a new car, I thought I'd end up with something cheap and boring. I am still a little surprised that I ended up with a flame-red Corolla with mag wheels. Hardly the sort of car most of my friends would expect me to turn up in. I saw Robin Johnson at the theatre the other night and I mentioned I was getting a new car. "I'm not surprised," he said drily. Cheek!   When you've driven the same car for decades, it becomes almost part of you. You know without thinking how much pressure to apply to the controls or how close you can come to another car. Then you get a new car and suddenly everything is different! It's actually quite scary. The first few times you go out, you're concentrating fiercel... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/79/Its_a_new_car_Well_newer... Mon, 7 Jul 2008 14:35:00 -0000 What next? <img class="alignright" src="http://images.mikehobart.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SGJMSAoKCBoAAHVqUmg1/Heart.sick%20of%20being%20me.jpg?et=Mv4zUIOl9wnZSC4ETRIxjg&nmid=0" border="0">It was like an allegory. Those winds that blew in the bad weather felt like a reflection of the currents that seemed to be stirring up the stagnant pond that my life had become. Remember those bio-rhythm tables we used to consult back in the 1970s? All the different areas of my life seemed to be moving to a crisis point simultaneously. The car had deteriorated till it can only drive on flat roads. My sister's dog died. Problems at the office made me consider my job might have a limited life span. I was chronically short of sleep and the cat keeps waking me up at dawn to feed him. My diabetes flared up, just as it had last winter. The house needed repairs but my bank account was sinking fast. I couldn't even change the light bulbs in my house as they burned out, due to my vertigo that kept me from climbing ladders. I was slowly being consigned to the dark. Symbolism anyone? Was I approaching some sort of turning point, I wondered. Since my mother died, maybe I'd just been mark... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/78/What_next Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:45:00 -0000 Wheels (or not) <a href="http://mikehobart.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/upload/SFJ1vQoKCBoAAHf6Eac1"><img class="alignright" src="http://images.mikehobart.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SFJ1vQoKCBoAAHf6Eac1/Toyota%20T-18.jpg?et=M1qSVrSU2yI7fuMnhbHezA&nmid=0" border="0"></a>What would you say counts as an "old car"? Some people who trade in theirs every two years may think that five years is old. Until about a decade ago, I was still driving a 1963 Toyota Tiara -- I only stopped using it because it began refusing to turn left. Since then I've been driving a 1980 Toyota T-18 and it's been pretty reliable. But this year it's been developing a few problems and I've been meaning to get it looked at. This week I finally took it in. The mechanic phoned me up a couple of hours later and said "Well, it's not good news." He gave me a run-down of all the things that were wrong and said it would cost $1200 to fix... and that this was more than the car was worth in his opinion. So it looks like I won't be driving myself into the city again until I can find another car. I can get around the northern suburbs all right because it's mostly flat, but it can't handle the hills going in and out of Hobart. In fact that's why I was finally motivated to get the car chec... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/77/Wheels_or_not Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:24:00 -0000 Fuel prices This ABC report interested me because I can never work out how much it costs to fill up the car in other countries -- but this has all the prices spelled out in Australian dollars. <h4 class="infoline"> </h4><h4 class="infoline"> </h4><h4 class="infoline">AM - Wednesday, 11 June , 2008  08:05:00</h4> <h4 class="infoline">Reporter: David Mark</h4> TONY EASTLEY: Americans are complaining because their fuel has reached around one dollar a litre. Australian motorists believe they're doing it tough at $1.50 a litre or thereabouts but petrol pain is acute in Europe where the prices are much higher. There, people have taken to the streets and highways in protest. David Mark reports. DAVID MARK: Around the world petrol prices are rising. Motorists and truck drivers on the street are on the street. In Spain where the price of fuel is the equivalent of $AU 1.89 a litre, around 90,000 truck drivers have blocked the country's motorways with their lorries in protest. VOX POP (translated): This is like a tug-of-war we mustn't give up at the beginning. This is the last bullet in our gun, if this d... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/76/Fuel_prices Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:54:00 -0000 Balchin radio drama Haven't been keeping up with my radio drama lately, but I did hear a few such as Saturday Play 2008-04-26 BBC Radio 4 "The Small Back Room" Good adaptation of Nigel Balchin's novel about a bomb-disposal expert who has to battle both Nazi booby-traps and the British bureaucracy. Maybe hearing it will inspire people to dig out more of Balchin's novels from their library or second-hand shop. Archie Andrews 46-07-06 "masked marvel" I haven't read an Archie comic book for about forty years, but this sounds like a reasonably faithful adaptation. Can't say I'm motivated to chase down more of them though. Charlie McCarthy 45-05-02 Guest, surprisingly, is astronomer Dr Max Mason who drops in to trade gags with Charlie and talk about the new telescope at Mount Palomar. The Clock 48-04-25 "Bad dreams" It's well enough performed but I don't think many people will be surprised by the ending of this melodrama about a man tormented by his dreams. Gunsmoke 58... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/reviews/item/28 Mon, 9 Jun 2008 14:02:48 -0000 Winter draws on Cold and dark these mornings as we get deeper into Autumn.  My vision is not the best under dimly-lit conditions and one morning I found that I'd left my bedroom wearing not odd socks but odd shoes. I thought my gait was a bit funny. * The monthly pub quiz run by the Irish Association was Monday night.  Five of us formed a team under the usual name of The Amnesiacs but we failed to triumph this time round.    We came second in our category (of course there were only three teams in that section!).    The categories this time were "Who am I?", Australian trivia, movies, music, books, "Yesterday's News" and a table quiz where we had to identify celebrities whose faces had been morphed onto other bodies (surprisingly difficult). Sometimes you find that even things you thought you knew refuse to come to mind.   Quick, what year did Roy Orbison die?   [It was 1988.] And at times the entire audience disagrees with the quizmaster. Only 16 coun... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/75/Winter_draws_on Mon, 2 Jun 2008 13:51:00 -0000 Theatre Organ Showcase Friday afternoons you'll nearly always find me at home listening to Alan Rider's show on Community Radio. He has some great old tunes played on a variety of Wurlitzer, Hammond and Compton organs. This week he had a particularly enjoyable range of music, in my humble opinion. <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?wxrcm3fzmix#">http://www.mediafire.com/?wxrcm3fzmix#</a> http://mikehobart.multiply.com/reviews/item/27 Fri, 30 May 2008 16:22:42 -0000 Sally Lockhart Mysteries #1: Ruby in the Smoke Billie Piper stars as Sally Lockhart in this adaptation of award-winning author Philip Pullman's (His Dark Materials trilogy) The Ruby In The Smoke. (That gave me pause - Pullman's reputation as an atheist is a bit off-putting.) In this story, aired as a Sunday night feature on ABC-TV tonight, an orphaned teenager seeks the truth about her father's death in the dark and dangerous world of Victorian London. If you nodded off and woke up after the opening credits, you might think you were in an episode of Charles Dickens' "Bleak House" that you'd somehow missed. The evocation of 19th century London is very well done and the cast fit into their parts well. Julie Walters in particular is so submerged in her role it's almost impossible to recognize her. Some plot elements seem a little implausible - the freedom enjoyed by young women and black people doesn't ring quite true. What's a bit startling is the fact this is based on a novel for children. There are several fatal stabbin... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/reviews/item/26 Sun, 18 May 2008 12:59:19 -0000 The Phantom #1501 "Slave Ship" Reprinted from the recent Scandinavian comic book that harks back to the 1952 Lee Falk story about the 19th century female Phantom. Here the Phantom's sister Julie again comes to his aid when he's injured fighting a band of slave traders. The Felmang art is nice and there's a lovely colour cover by Antonio. I sometimes get a bit tired of the Scandinavian scripts which all-too-often follow the Phantom's forebears who always seem to be present at key moments of European history, but this one is http://mikehobart.multiply.com/reviews/item/25 Tue, 13 May 2008 12:22:38 -0000 Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon I've seen this 1942 B-movie so many times that its faults no longer bother me. I just sit back and enjoy watching 70 minutes of Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce and Lionel Atwill in glorious black-and-white. The plot is some nonsense about Nazi spies and the plans for a bombsight, but the interplay between Holmes and Moriarty is great and I always enjoy Rathbone's Holmes disguising himself. We also get the Dancing Men code (one of the few things in the movie that Conan Doyle would have recognized!). Even poor Dennis Hoey's buffoon-like Inspector Lestrade has ceased to annoy me. I just sit back and let it wash over me and enjoy it. I ran this last week for my older sister Pauline, who happened to mention that she hadn't seen a Basil Rathbone movie for decades. "I think I can remedy that," I said. So after our usual roast dinner at her place on Wednesday night we fired up the DVD player and had a great time watching the antics at 221-B Baker Street. http://mikehobart.multiply.com/reviews/item/24 Sun, 4 May 2008 10:25:14 -0000 Doc Savage: The Awful Egg "From the frozen heart of the American continent comes a nameless prehistoric terror of unspeakable savagery, leaving a broken trail of mangled victims that shocks and baffles the world. Only the superhuman Man of Bronze can meet this horrifying menace on its own bloody ground -- and uncover the even greater evil that spawned it." Here's a thriller that appeared in the pulp magazines in 1940. By then the novelty had worn off even the great heroes like Doc Savage and The Shadow, but some of the later stories are still fun to read. The most interesting part of this one is actually the middle, where one of Doc's aides goes undercover as a guide to shadow a criminal who's on a fossil-hunting trip in the Badlands of South Dakota. The plot itself is formula stuff -- has one of the villains really hatched out a dinosaur from a frozen egg and used it to decimate his rivals? And spotting the mole in the good guys' ranks isn't difficult. There is an interesting period element i... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/reviews/item/23 Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:33:42 -0000 Anzac Day <a href="/photos/hi-res/upload/SBKW2woKCBoAABE8ehs1"><img class="alignleft" src="http://images.mikehobart.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SBKW2woKCBoAABE8ehs1/slouch%20hat.jpg?et=aMIj7bcJQ7qFUb4fOyPeAQ&nmid=" border="0"></a>Anzac Day, my 58th birthday and the day that celebrates Australia's history at war.   It made for a thoughtful morning.  Not only did I reflect on what I had and hadn't accomplished over the last twelve months, but it brought to mind thoughts of all the members of my family who'd served in the armed forces.  My cousin who went to Vietnam.   My uncles who were in North Africa.   Even my mother served in an anti-aircraft unit when Radar was a deep dark secret.  I took down from the shelf a battered little notebook that had been handed down to us from previous generations.   It tells the story of my father's oldest brother, from the day he left home with his unit in 1915 till he sent it home from England a year later just before he left for France.  He never returned.  In one of the many Australian graveyards in France, he lies to this day.  We often think of him at this time of the year.  My father's family mourned him... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/74/Anzac_Day Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:42:00 -0000 in the trees out and about in the back yard with a http://mikehobart.multiply.com/photos/album/10/in_the_trees_ Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:01:57 -0000 RITZ TV show about the 13th child of a modest family from rural Switzerland, Cesar Ritz who migrated to Paris at the age of 17 after failing his education in his home country. There, he started to work as a waiter and within three years worked his way up to the post of manager in the midst of the major social and political upheavals of the Paris of the late 1860s and early 1870s. His modern outlook, and his association with the then unknown chef Escoffier, soon made him the most fashionable hotelier in Europe, with all the rich and famous among his guests, including the future king Edward 7th. This French documentary (shown on SBS on Friday night) takes the usual historical path, with archive photographs, visits to the relevant places as they are today, and interviews with experts and writers. The problem is that there isn't a lot of personal material to give us an insight into the man himself, and all the eye-witnesses are dead. Nevertheless, if you're like me, you knew absol... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/reviews/item/22 Sat, 12 Apr 2008 01:36:05 -0000 Garage Sale <A href="http://mikehobart.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/upload/R-7yBAoKCBoAAGcwBZU1"><IMG class=alignright src="http://images.mikehobart.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/R-7yBAoKCBoAAGcwBZU1/garage-sale-signs.jpg?et=UzShaZJ9ZqrgBeGM6w6Hjw&nmid=" border=0></A>Darkness. That's what I saw when I opened my eyes, but I couldn't go back to sleep. Today was Garage Sale Day in my street. One of the women in the street had rounded up half a dozen households to participate in a joint Garage Sale (what they call a yard sale in some places). We split the cost of the advertising and benefited from being able to avoid the sunrise wolf-pack. If you've ever had a garage sale, you'll know that there's usually someone banging on your door at 5 a.m. wanting to get a preview of what you're selling. This way, we just announced that there would be a garage sale in my street commencing at 8 o'clock. Right on that time, everyone who was participating opened their doors and put out balloons on their front fence. That didn't stop a couple of cars driving up and down the street early looking for any signs of life. Dealers and bargain hunters hoping for a chance to get in early. I felt like a vampire who'd been dragged out of the crypt by Dr Van Helsing, but... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/73/Garage_Sale Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:04:00 -0000 Sci-Fi Dinner Party On their way back to Kentucky, science fiction fans Steve & Sue Francis (pictured on left of photo) stopped off for dinner with local fans in Hobart, Tasmania. Present are Cary & Marjorie Lenehan, me, my sister Julie and Robin Johnson at the 1815 restaurant in Battery http://mikehobart.multiply.com/photos/album/9/Sci-Fi_Dinner_Party Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:22:32 -0000 Is your Stuff "shot from guns"? <A href="http://mikehobart.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/upload/R@syrgoKCBoAAHHHBk41"><IMG class=alignright src="http://images.mikehobart.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/R@syrgoKCBoAAHHHBk41/library%20julie.jpg?et=dJmaCPYlc3%2CgPkWBhNZsug&nmid=" border=0></A><IMG class=alignmiddleb src="http://images.mikehobart.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/R@nShwoKCBoAAFicUVw1/stuff.gif?et=5yq7%2B1CUP4vSf3BOVHnO%2Bg&nmid=" border=0>How much stuff have you got? That's the question being asked by a new Australian television series titled simply Stuff. Its creator Wendy Harmer says in the show's outline: Stuff examines – from the cradle to the grave – the abiding passion all of us have for stuff – the stuff we buy, the stuff we treasure, the stuff we desire and the stuff that’s most important to us. “In making this series I wanted to present a view about consumption that was beyond basic academic theory. I wanted to present a human view of consumption. I found myself increasingly dissatisfied with the many books, newspaper columns and documentaries that finger-wag about the way we consume. We consume, they say, because we’re “greedy”, “unthinking”, to “show off” to “have power over others.” We are told that consuming is a habit we have to quickly unlearn, as if, somehow, we had only recently learned it. In fact, we humans have been consuming forever. The desire to acquire goods is as much a part of our lives as... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/72/Is_your_Stuff_shot_from_guns Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:32:00 -0000 how 'bout dem Shift keys?? I didn't write this, but it will probably amuse any computer user....   The Shift Key FAQ - Version 0.001 by Alan Meiss, <A href="mailto:ameiss@indiana.edu">ameiss@indiana.edu</A> Unleash the Power of Shift! Q. What happens if I press both shift keys? A. Even bigger letters may show up on your screen. You should not use this feature, however, because these letters are also brighter, and may cause Screen Burn-In, which would be particularly embarrassing if you were typing something naughty at the time. You might consider obtaining the author's Shift Key Burn-In Protector program for only $139.95. Or you might not, it's your computer, but don't say I didn't warn you. Q. My shift keys have little arrows on them. Does that mean the *real* shift keys are located above them, and these keys are just little signs to point them out? A. Nope, they're the Real McCoy. The little arrows mean "up", as in "look up at the screen". Your keyboard is telling you to learn to touch type and quit staring at your fingers. q. my religion prohibits th... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/71/how_bout_dem_Shift_keys Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:58:00 -0000 Present Laughter by Noel Coward Name a Noel Coward play. Chances are you wouldn't say "Present Laughter" but that was Hobart Rep's opening production for 2008. First staged in 1942, this comedy has been revived around the world many times with varying degrees of faithfulness. Here we have Nick Falk in the demanding role of theatrical superstar Garry Essendine -- Garry is seldom off-stage and never stops talking when he is on stage. His dialogue is like a Gatling gun, firing witty remarks, sarcasm and barbed comments at maximum speed. The story takes place in Garry's London flat, where he is plagued by a never-ending series of visitors including his manager, his ex-wife, a star-struck admirer and even (a modern touch) a creepy stalker, all played by veteran members of Hobart Rep. The Playhouse was full of enthusiastic theatregoers for this farce. It bodes well for Rep's 2008 season, though I notice they're only doing five plays this year. Most years they've been doing six. There's a list here ... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/reviews/item/21 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:25:33 -0000 in dreams I was so tired one afternoon that before lunch I lay down and slept for an hour.   It was not easy falling asleep in the middle of the day, but when I did I had one of those incredibly realistic and vivid dreams. I could have drawn you a map of the place I visited and picked out the photographs of the people I met from any rogue's gallery you showed me.  Everything was as bright and real as watching it on a cinema screen. The building I visited was a rambling old structure that seemed to be owned by the nearby Roman Catholic cathedral, because there were priests and nuns going in and out of one of the offices on the ground floor.   The rest of the building was leased to a very eclectic collection of businesses and groups.   You went up the sweeping stone staircase from a lobby that would have done justice to Grand Central station.     There was a theater where a school group was rehearsing an elaborate and remarkably risque musical Eins... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/70/in_dreams Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:32:00 -0000 farewell to the queen <IMG class=alignright src="http://images.mikehobart.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/R9EJMgoKCBoAAHkJO@w1/QE%202%20final%20visit.jpg?et=4lwV1X1oeehnnnZfUBAEYQ&nmid=" border=0>The queen of the seas. That's how I'll always think of her. The QE2 made her final visit to Tasmania this year and I drove down to the waterfront to take a last look at her. Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) was named after the earlier Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth. She was the flagship of the line until 2004. When she was built in Clydebank, Scotland, in 1969 it looked as though she would be the last of the great transatlantic ocean liners. Who could have guessed that liners would not only survive but would become bigger and bigger until they now look like floating cities. But the QE2 still has the old-world styling of the traditional ocean liner, a little like a wedding cake in appearance. And the discreetly lettered name Cunard on the side of the vessel still has gives one a little thrill. On her many visits to my home town, the ship brought back a welcome whiff of the old days of ocean travel. Two of my uncles travelled on the original Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary during the war... http://mikehobart.multiply.com/journal/item/68/farewell_to_the_queen Fri, 7 Mar 2008 09:12:00 -0000