Park Run

Very first park run. Rhodes Sydney. 

Standing around before with Marcus and James and I asked about starting order. Indeed the fast start first but they explain there are people who walk and others that push prams. There's a smattering of kids. You know those very fit 10 year olds. Identifiable because they are wearing tee shirts with a 10 on the back. 

A young lady gathers an audience of newbies including me and explains the course which is a 1k loop followed by a 2k out and 2k back. 

I make my way towards the prams. 

And we are off. The croud stretching away in front of me. I'm working on a race plan here. Keep it smooth. 

The 1k loop is over and I've not needed the defib. 

Not long after as I'm on the 2k outbound stretch and through the rain I hear my name called and it's Marcus on his way back. A few minutes later and my name again. I look wildly round and manage to focus momentarily to see James also almost home. I plod on. 

I realise there's two girls in bright gear proclaiming some running club walking but I'm not getting any closer. I try to get out of the plod snd get a bit of spring. That improves things a bit and the gap starts to close. The path divides and I assume we are nearing the turn around. Alas no. It's just a corner. Finally pass the girls. And more finally the turnaround. Lucklily I notice most of the fit 10yearolds are teathered to old blokes.  Unfortunately exhausted and the plod returns. I Walk a bit and jog some more a couple of times. Then I see some figures running toward me. It dawns this is Marcus and James. They escort me home. Gone are any further thoughts of walking. 

Now as I walk the legs are wobbly.

Frank 229th in 38:08
Marcus 12th in 20:15
James 56th in 23:59

 

 

 

 

 

Friday Sydney - Walk to James and Sophies

 Friday morning woke early, packed and checked out.  Google advised Marcus's place was only 20minutes walk and the previous night I had decided to walk it.

In the distance I saw the old mortuary (I thnk it was called).  It's a part of Central Station where in days of old, they would load coffins on and off trains.  The other half was carfully demolished and rebuild in Canberra as All Saints? Church.  James was Christened there.

I have no idea who this is but reminded me that an election is in the air.

Cantral station

Covid-19 fear.

 

Booking to Fly

 Just booked a few days in Sydney.

Virgin $127 + $32 for a big seat = $179
Qantas $179

RETURN
Virgin $119 + $29 for a big seat
Qantas?

I was unsure when in the process one can bid on business class upgrades and eventually figured I would go for the extra leg room seats and forgo the business class idea.

The answer to the when to upgrade comes after the purchase process is completed.

PARKING

parking.bne.com.au  Airpark (outdoor bus every 25 minutes) $39
Essential (At the international terminal.  Bus every 10 minutes 5 min ride) $75
ParkLong (At domestic) $115
guaranteeds space in P2 $140

Andrews   Undercover $87  Outdoor $65

2022 ANZAC Dawn Service - City

I originally planned to rise at 3 but later decidd on 2:45.

The eventual schedule was:

2:45 rise and dress

3:00 arr Corinda station.  No one here. Concern?  Added value to go card.

3:16 train due. Waiting but no one else on platform?

3:45 walking from Central station. I walked out the SE exit and down Edward then left into Adelaide and left into the square. 

4:00 I'm in Anzac square

Initially Down on pre pandemic numbers. Packed by the time the service started.

I think this is the first dawn service for 2 years.

Quite a lot of young people. 

There's a bunch of churchie boys identifiable by their hats and some girl guides. 

4:25 and the square is packed

4:28 Service starts

ANZAC Dawn service is a reminder of the sacrifice service people have made through wars past. The agony of loss to their families and friends, unimaginable. 

 

I mused that though the thought of war is abhorrent, Putins invasion of Ukraine reminds us we need a strong self sufficient military to ensure we can remain free.

 

Near the end, we stumbled our way through the national anthem. The second verse, which is rarely sung, struck a chord. If our soldiers have sacrificed so much to keep us free. To give us the luxury of being able to sit and consider. Then an issue of great concern to me is the continued detention of the refugees at Banyo and that Biloela family still stuck on Christmas Island. To me the time in detention is immoral.

 

V2 if the national anthem:

"who've come across the sea,

Boundless Plains to share"

 

Sounds a lot like an ode to boat people. 

 

Now I totally believe that we need to be in control of our own borders but we need to have a moral compass that considers the human effects. Years of detention is just plane wrong.

Walking out from Central.  Big army trucks to stop a ram raid.

The crowd grew until the Anzac square was packed.

Second verse of the national anthem....

It's a new thing all these barriers.  A capitulation to fear in my view.

I think we should ditch the barriers.

After the service I strolled around the city on my own.  A reflection of my life atm.  A empty loneliness.  I remember walking through here as a kid at school.  A lot different then.

Sunday church

Most Sunday mornings I coach rowing. Today is school holidays and no rowing so I decided to go to church.

Decided an opportunity to catch up with Derek so I texted him to find out which church he'll be at. 

So church at Weller's Hill Taragindi Uniting. Now known as "Southside Uniting Church"

Caught up before the service with Derek in his OB van. He is doing the livestream. 

Minister was a fellow called "Jock".

All in all a pleasant experience. 

Interesting to reflect that I was less triggered by it being a UC. 

Stanthorpe Easter Church

17 April 2022

Driving to church in Stanthorpe. 

Anger toward the uc pulsing in my heart and stomach. 

Spotify playing Fleetwood mac don't stop thinking about tomorrow helping my mind overcome the anger toward the uc. 

In my mind I'm churning "Just go with the local uc. Forget the old local. These guys had nothing to do with Sherwood" 

I'd seen the church to be a part of life. Like the cement that holds the bricks of life together. A part of the social contract. A contract spells out the roles and responsibilities of the various parties committed to that contract. 

I recognised that people come into the church with varying needs, wants, attitudes. 

What kills me is that when my marriage disintegrated, I received zero support from my local church. The social contract shown up as an illusion. 

As has been a tradition, we sang the song chosen by Rosemary. 

Hard to enjoy the service. 

Hard to smile at the jokes and throw away levity. 

When weighed down by grief - > anger, one's world shrinks. 

Interesting to reflect that a way to fight depression is to focus in the moment. Here though "the moment" is a reminder of the end of my life and world view as I'd known it. 

Of course, my thought processes are very selfish. At this very instant there's putans invasion of Ukraine. 

We've refugees incarcerated at Banyo festering now for 9+ years. 

Had to laugh, as I left to drive to Brisbane, Spotify played

Blown it all sky high

Followed by

Second hand news. 

Ha. 

Balancing Heart

Staying at Paul & Cybele's place at Stanthorpe.

Earlyish I got up and walked up to the rock. Sun was just up. The sky blue and the world looked big.

Afternoon and we've driven to Balancing Heart winery. Saw Chris Austin and his wife are here with friends. 

Ordered a lamb pizza. Food is taking ages. Well over an hour. 

 

I feel sorry for these guys.  Feels like lousy management.  Not prepping pizza ingredients and not having decent systems in place.  It feels like one of those owner managed places that just needs to get in an external manager and give him the authority and budget to sort it out.

 

After I gout up, I walked up to the balancing rock.  The sun was just up. 

It opens and relaxes the mind when one sees a view like this

Stanthorpe Thursday & Good Friday

 THURSDAY
Finally managed to leave work and drove home.  At home packed clothes and food and by 5:15 I was on my way.  An hour late but not the end of the world.  

The traffic was OK.  A bit slow on parts of Ipswich Rd. 
7:15 arrived at Lewis & Clare's place in Warwick.

Had a lovely roast lamb dinner with Lewis, Clare, James, Sally & Tristan.

After dinner conversation and then I continued on to Stanthorpe.  On the way I was feeling tired so, given I was not up against a deadline, pulled over and had a 10 minute power nap.

Arrived Stanthorpe and everyone was up and playing boardgames.

FRIDAY

Was a chill day.
Various people arrived during the day.  

We noticed the engine had ripped it's self off the top engine mount.  After some discussion betwen Phil, Paul and myself, it was decided that the most practical approach was to add some gusset plates.

We encouraged Sam and Asher to do most of the work.  Paul took the lead with the angle grinder though and Phil was the architect marking where to cut and drill.
 

In the late afternoon we traipsed down to Rosemary's place to rehearse the song we are going to sing on Sunday.

Paul enthused us all into a game of volleyball.

We celebrated Mel's birthday.  There was some fun that Rachael pretended that she had forgotten to pick up the cake and had had to buy a $3 Aldi special.  :)

 

Later we traipsed down to Rosemary's to rehearse the song we will sing on Sunday morning.

 

 

 

Chocolate Self Sacing Pudding

 MAIN

1 cup SR flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 table spoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoon melted butter
pinch salt
1/2 cup chopped wallnuts
1/2 cup milk

Sift dry ingredients.
Add milk, Vanilla and melted butter.
Mix till smooth.
add nuts.
Mix well.

TOPPING
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon (or less?) cocoa
1 3/4 cups hot water.

Mix brown sugar, cocoa,
Sprinkle over the top of the pudding.
Pour hot water over the pudding completely covering it.

Bake 375-400 for 50-55 minutes
I don't know if this is F or C?

This came from Megan.
Alternatives

https://ozpig.com.au/pages/self-saucing-chocolate-pudding

https://clancyscampfire.com/portfolio/chocolate-self-saucing-pudding/

https://www.caravancampingnsw.com/self-saucing-fudge-pudding-chocolate-or-caramel/

Cake Ingredients:

• 3 cups self-raising flour
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 200 ml milk

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups boiled hot water
• 2 tbsp golden syrup

Equipment:

• medium mixing bowl
• small mixing bowl
• spatula
• baking paper
• camp oven (if using campfire)
• non-stick pot (if using portable gas stove)

Method:

For the cake

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the self-raising flour, sugar and cocoa powder. Add butter and rub together using your hands until fine crumbs form.
2. Pour milk into the medium mixing bowl, stir the mixture with a spatula until a damper is formed.
   NOTE: Add a bit of flour if mixture is too wet. Add a bit of milk if mixture is too dry.

For the sauce

1. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cocoa powder.
2. In another small bowl, dissolve golden syrup in boiled hot water.

The cooking starts…

1. In a preheated camp oven OR non-stick pot lined with baking paper, add the cake damper and push it down to the edges of the pot to form the shape of a cake.
2. Over the top, sprinkle your ‘sugar and cocoa powder’ mix then gently pour your ‘golden syrup and water’ mix (spread evenly in circular motion).
3. Place lid on and cook for 30 minutes. If using portable gas stove, cook on medium-high temperature.

Recipe source: Ozpig Pty Ltd

First post flood rowing at Centenary. Others have built a beach. Unfortunately I've been busy with other stuff so not really helped. 

A problem to be addressed was how to launch tinnies. Called 

Peter Hayes. He advised the Chris cottrel trolley had been brought to the shed. As an alternative w, I went and bought some wood and made a slipway. In the end the trolley worked.

Close or not Covid

Chris has tested positive on a RAT.

The qld government Web site indicates you are not deemed to be a close contact if you've had covid in the last 12 weeks.

I had covid positive test on Tuesday 12 Jan. Isolated for a week and did a negative on Tuesday 18 Jan.

Today is Fri 1 April.

Jan 2 weeks

Feb 4 weeks

Mar 5 weeks

Total 11 weeks.

So I'm within 12 weeks. 

So not a close contact. 

https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/stay-informed/exposed-to-covid/close-contacts/first-steps-as-a-close-contact