wrought iron

This is some wrought-iron gates on a driveway next to the Barefield Inn near Ennis in Ireland, with the light playing some tricks. It rained a lot in Ireland in June last year - the rain had just stopped before I took this snap...it was absolutely pouring on the day when we tried to vist the famed Dingle Peninsula and drove through "...the Cork and Kerry mountains" - however we didn't mee t with "Cap'n Farrell, an' the money he was countin'..." etc etc. Whisky in The Jar. As I understand it, Metallica covered the old number (?)

Ah, wonderful Irish stuff sung by Patsy Watchorn/Dubliners - and a ripper version by Thin Lizzy is around. Just brilliant.

terraces in Dublin

The Georgian terraces in Dublin were, quite simply, extraordinary in their simple beauty.

It was a wonderful city, but a bit on the dirty side, and the people on the rude&arrogant side, as well.

But the Liffey, the wonderful river. Made me want to sing ballads - on the spot.

Paris tunnel

I have been reading Federal Budget papers, portfolio budget statements and a variety of analyses all night, trying to get a good picture of the appropriation bills and what they mean for all of us...

Urgh. It's done my head in.

My brain feels a bit like this shot from last year's trip to Paris; slightly jumbled-up...perhaps an artistic recreation of the kind of frantic imagery rushing past Henri Paul's eyes as he drove that infamous black Merc way over the limit(s).

1970 in Tasmania

I have just been doing some research into a "snapshot" of the RACT in 1970 - the year the Club moved into the former Dunlop Australia Ltd HQ building on the corner of Murray St and Patrick St (it was 27 February 1970, in fact).

This building has, of course, been recently demolished to make way for a new four storey building that will be completed towards the end of 2010 and will house the RACT's HQ and most of its Hobart operations.

Anyway, I just thought I would post some of this "snapshot of 1970" stuff as I found it relatively amusing here and there:

40 years ago ....

In 1970, RACT Full Club membership was $14.00 with Service Only membership $8.15 for new members.
RACT “Emergency Road Service” patrols were using “mobile radio” in the “Hobart and Launceston Metropolitan areas” only in 1970, with all other areas linked to the service base by telephone only.
The Southern Outlet road linking Hobart and Kingston was opened towards the end of 1969.
A decision to implement a “Demerit Points” system was made in 1970 - having been advocated by the RACT in 1967.
Reflective number plates were introduced with all registrations from April 1970 onwards.
Population of Australia: 12.26 million
Prime Minister of Australia: John Gorton
Premier of Tasmania: Angus Bethune
Pope Paul VI, and Queen Elizabeth together with other members of the Royal Family visited Australia in 1970
Buccaneer took out line honours in the Sydney-Hobart race
Baghdad Note won the Melbourne Cup
Australia was on top in the global tennis world – Margaret Court became only the second woman to win the Grand Slam of tennis and John Newcombe won both the singles and doubles Wimbledon titles.
A big year for airports in Australia – a new International terminal opened in Sydney and Melbourne (Tullamarine) Airport was officially opened.
Germaine Greer published her bestseller The Female Eunuch
Big year for comedians too, with popular contemporary funny guys Adam Hills and Dave Hughes born in 1970.
At North Hobart Oval when Tasmania took on Western Australia. West Australian captain and legend Graham 'Polly' Farmer said before the game: "if we can't beat Tasmania, we might as well give the game away". Before 20,000 fans, Tasmania, thanks to a goal with 30 seconds remaining from former St Kilda Premiership player and then-Clarence coach John Bingley, made Farmer eat his words by winning in a two-point thriller
University of Tasmania enrolments were 3,002 in 1970 (just over 20,000 in 2009)
In 1970, Parliament legislated for permanent daylight savings in Tasmania.
And ... the Taroona Marine research laboratories opened.