RedInk RedInk Blots of a partly amortised accountant - professional comment and monographs on accounting, investment and business issues Articles
Mr. Kip Goes to Town
2007-12-13 02:27:00 Where : Home, Turramurra, NSWWhen : 5pm, Monday, 10 November 2007 Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 Here's Mr. Kip, all dressed up like a pox doctor's clerk, about to hit the town. He doesn't go out very often. Tonight he has rented a monkey suit {I think the Yanks may call this "a tuxedo"} - so he must be meeting somebody special. He's had strict orders on his behaviour ... no fighting; no screaming in the streets; look both ways crossing the road; don't lose your money; don't forget not to dribble; don't bring home any strange women; and wipe your feet when you get home. More About: Town
... and the Dog Sat on the Tuckerbox
2007-12-09 14:01:00 Where : Gundagai, New South WalesWhen : 3-00pm, Thursday, 29th November 2007 Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 I took this photo of Gundagai (pronounced to rhyme with "my eye") main street about 10 days ago. It's a country town in New South Wales, and yes it's raining ! Here's the theatre and the pub, but it's famous for a story about an Australian cattle dog, that er, um ... probably was a disappointment at a time of stress, for a drover, as it seems to have made a mess in the food pack, apart from doing nothing to help in an hour of need. On the right, is the monument that has been built to commemorate the event as a tourist attraction - and, yes it is indeed supposed to be "9 miles from Gundagai" but it's only 8 kilometres ! Here's the poem ... the word "sat" is not in the original. "'T was gettin' dark, the team got bogged, the axle snapped in twoI lost me matches and me pipe, now what was I to...
Chateau d'Encre Rouge
2007-12-08 14:16:00 Where : Turramurra, Ku-ring-gaiWhen : 12-00 Noon, Saturday, 8th December, 2007 Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 I live on the biggest island in the world - and I am unwittingly taking you on a tour of my home ... here's the front of our modest cottage. No, we don't live on an Australian ranch in the desert, we live on the outskirts of suburbia of our biggest city, Sydney. This is one of the largest cities in its land size. It reaches across 1600 square kilometres. This is the same as Greater London and more than double New York's 780 square kilometres. Amsterdam is 167 square kilometres, and Paris is a mere 105 square kilometres. There are 1,426,266 dwellings in Sydney and some 4 million people - that's 20% of the total population of this continent. That's right, there are only 20 million people in all of Australia. Population density of the USA is 29 persons per km2 and Japan's density is 336 persons per km2, the United Kingdom's is 244 per... More About: Chateau , Rouge
View from Kitchen Control
2007-12-08 10:36:00 Where : Home, Ku-ring-gaiWhen : 5-00pm, Saturday, 8th December, 2007 Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 Our "patio" ... outside the kitchen window. Not my work I might add, but the result of the endeavours of SWMBO. Mostly rain forest type plants and hanging baskets, lots of ferns, stag and elk horns, a hoya, a few grape vines, an umbrella tree in a pot and a real miscellany of plants that thrive in a shaded and damp environment. There's a lot you can't see, including a pond, a selection of blue and white plates, and crimson wall, some boat oars, Egyptian style pots .. and like everywhere else in our home, just lots of "stuff". We have our Christmas Dinner out here and entertain friends when it gets really hot. Christmas Dinner by the way, is the full works, even in this weather - often it's 35 degrees (Celsius) or more when we are right into the turkey, say about 3-00pm. More About: Kitchen , View , Control
Playing Trains Debacle
2007-12-06 23:31:00 Where : Wynyard StationWhen : 11-20am, Friday 7th December, 2007 Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 Here in Sydney, we have yet another transport bungle. Listen to this doozie. A new line has been on the plans for yonks, and eventually in 2001 the Government decided to build the Chatswood to Parramatta rail line, to connect two major suburbs and provide a pivotal link in the network. The plan was then "enriched" by shortening the line to run only from Chatswood to Epping. Then it was decided not to put a station at the University of Technology (UTS) university, Ku-ring-gai Campus. Finally, in response to residents lobbying, the politicians decided to cross the Lane Cove River by a 12.5 kilometre tunnel (which required moving the river) rather than a rail bridge over the river. Yes, I did say "moving the river". Accordingly, a great feat of engineering has indeed been completed with a cut and cover methodology under the Lane Cove R... More About: Trains
Bridge Wars
2007-12-06 09:23:00 Where : Bobbin Head, Ku-ring-gai Chase National ParkWhen : 9-20am, Thursday 15th November, 2007 Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 I seem to have missed the current round of bridge photographs. Maybe for the next theme day I need to be subscribed to some notification system ? No matter, here is perhaps a late contribution. It shows a footbridge over the mangroves at Bobbin Head, in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, some 9kms from my home. To put that into context for you, that is about 20kms north of the Sydney Harbour Bridge . This photo is "as is". Although I was tempted to sharpen up the image or invoke PhotoShop (Image, Adjustments, Auto Levels) - this would have removed the mist and mystery, and destroyed the silence, stillness and solitude which is the part of the reality of the scene. I hope you like it. More About: Wars
QVB
2007-12-05 13:15:00 Where : George Street, SydneyWhen : 3-30pm, Wednesday 5th December, 2007 Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 The Queen Victoria Building, known as the QVB, was designed by George McRae and completed in 1898. Here we can see its 4 floors of upmarket boutiques housed within an elaborate Romanesque architecture, originally contrived so that its construction would require the employment of as many out-of-work craftsmen as possible ??? stonemasons, plasterers, and stained window artists - in a worthwhile project. Over many decades, change saw the original concert hall become the city library, offices proliferate and more tenants move in, including piano tuners, palmists and clairvoyants. Drastic remodelling occurred during the austere 1930s - eventually the main occupant became the Sydney City Council. The QVB was restored to its previous decadent glory in the 1990s. It stands now as witness to a vision for the building and the superb craftsmanship of the artis...
Sydney's Concrete Canyons
2007-12-04 12:49:00 Where : George Street, Sydney When : 2-30pm Tuesday, 4th December, 2007 Weapon : Sony Cybershot P72 There's a miscellany of styles here on George Street. This is taken outside the Sydney Town Hall, looking generally southwards ... here we have, moving backwards from the foreground .. On the right, high rise buildings in white masonry (1960s) On the left, black concrete and glass of the Energy Australia Building (1970s) the "Gotham City" - pseudo art deco futuristic style of the Coopers & Lybrand (now the HSBC) building with its blue and pink columns (1970s) that horrible green reflective glass of the 1980's in a smaller building the black reflective glass of another narrower building (early 1990s) and the newer glass and concrete of the World Square and Ernst & Young Buildings in the middle distance (2001 ... yeah, I know - a space odyssey). Amazing how slack our planning controls have become. Looks a real mess to me. What... More About: Concrete
Traffic Joke
2007-12-03 07:54:00 I see the NSW State Government is considering duplicating the Iron Cove Bridge, no doubt using taxpayers' money in part or total. This is the same Government that is about to close one lane of the Epping Road, to force traffic, mostly against its will, to use a toll road operated by the private sector ! I am all in favour of the privatisation of construction, maintenance and operations, but not of the ownership of infrastructure, nor of the deliberate fabrication of contracts that commit the Government to closing roads to force travellers to use other facilities for which they have to pay. This is crazy. It's enough to make you weep. More About: Joke , Traffic
Wahroonga Village Fair
2007-12-02 08:18:00 Where : Railway Parade, Wahroonga, New South WalesWhen : 3-00 pm, Sunday, 2nd December 2007 Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3, 28mm Leica Lens, Aspect 16:9 The Wahroonga Village Fair is held on the first Sunday in December every year. It's quite a nice day out - lots to see and some yummy food from all faraway places - Singapore, Thailand, Iraq, India, Turkey, Spain, Peru ! The event features over 200 stalls including beautiful arts and handicrafts, clothing from all over the world, handbags, jewellery, handmade shoes and of course, Christmas cakes, just to name a few. Local retailers will join in the spirit of the day with Christmas specials. There's always some interesting entertainment too, with the Town Crier, local bands and choirs - of course well represented too are the service clubs like APEX, Rotary and the local community Radio station, 2HHH-FM 101.1 {of which I used to be the Chairman of the Board of Directors}.
Big Night at Tumblong
2007-12-01 03:21:00 Where : Tumblong, New South WalesWhen : 4-00 pm, Friday, 30th November 2007 Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 Not sure what happened here ... just popped in to the Tumblong boozer for a few jars with a couple of mates ... parked the rig outside, shot the breeze, tried to crack on to a few sheilas, unsuccessfully, had a few more shouts and then we thought it was time we went home. Too shot to walk, so we all piled in the rig. Quiet place Tumblong - it's about 100kms west of Canberra and 75 kms or so east of Wagga Wagga. Nothing here apart from a graveyard, a dead church and this top boozer. In fact, we're on top of it right now. Sure it was a dark night, we'd had a couple and there were some problems getting out of the car park, but streuth, it's a nice view from here with the sun coming up over the bush .. can some kind soul give SWMBO a buzz and let her know we might be a bit late ... More About: Night
Sunflowers
2007-11-30 08:01:00 Where : Turramurra, SydneyWhen : 11-00 am, Friday, 30th November 2007 Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 No, not Van Gogh. These fine fellows {helianthus of the asteraceae family} grew from the seeds that SWMBO put out for the parrots, lorikeets, rozellas and cockatoos. They just got scattered on the ground underneath the bird feeding dish that is hanging from the cotoneaster tree. SWMBO is very proud of them - the face of the bigger sunflower is about 10 inches across or 22 centimetres in new money. They have been suffering in the last 24 hours, as yesterday we had 45 millimetres of rain, about 2 inches - that's bags of pluve in one day, huh ? We are all grateful, as we are on water restrictions here, but wish it had fallen further to the East, say 200 miles where the drought is still very hard. More About: Sunflowers
Life's a Beach !
2007-11-29 12:03:00 Where : Nobby's Beach , Newcastle, New South Wales, AustraliaWhen : 1-35 pm, Monday, 25th June 2007 Weapon : Sony Cybershot P72 I am away at the moment, down in Wagga Wagga - to pick up my daughter from Charles Sturt University and bring her home for Christmas. Great - I get 5 hours with her in the Honda - time for a long chat. Dad and Favourite Daughter - I only have one. Wagga is 500 Kilometres from Sydney and this is too far for me to drive there and back in one day. So, I am in my usual motel, where the wireless internet is not too foul, so I have been looking at some older photographs. This one made me smile. SWMBO {She Who Must Be Obeyed}, yes that's her, mother of fave, rave daughter, is wondering why the Captain of the Pasha Bulker ignored the red "NO STOPPING" sign. Very strange, as the Captain seemed to understand the sign on top of the post, "PARK ONLY IN THE BAYS", plonking his vessel in th... More About: Life
LA Galaxy Down Under
2007-11-28 13:50:00 Where : Telstra Stadium, Homebush Olympic Park, SydneyWhen : 10-00 pm, Tuesday, 27th November 2007 Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 Last night, I went with my son and a few of his larrikin pals, to watch Sydney FC play LA Galaxy , the USA football {soccer} team. It was held at the biggest stadium in Sydney, which holds 80,000 people - in fact this was the 2000 Olympics Stadium, which has now been downsized by rearranging seating from >100,000 down to ~80,000. So, great seating, lots of space and view. The star attraction was David Beckham {"Becks"}, ex-Manchester United, Real Madrid and Captain of England - who as most will know, is married to Victoria, "Posh" Spice of "The Spice Girls" fame. "Becks" earns US$1million a week, owns seven cars and wears clothes designed by close friend Giorgio Armani. Don't get me wrong, "Becks" is a nice guy, with a fruity London accent and squeaky voice, a simple but i...
Rip Off !
2007-11-27 04:54:00 Where : Pacific Highway, Turramurra When : 2-20 pm, Tuesday, 27th November 2007 Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 I hate this scam so much. In Sydney, the deal is that if you spend $30 plus at a Woolworths Supermarket, you get 4 cents a litre discount voucher that expires after 30 days. There is another chain of Supermarkets (Coles) that has a the same scam running at Shell service stations. It's a rip off ! What I hate is that those who do not drive as much as others or maybe the people who do not even own a car, subsidise the motorists. I happen to be a motorist too, but this is just not right. Sometimes I end up with the shopper dockets which have expired - therefore, I feel robbed. I avoid these gas stations like the plague, and buy fuel at the garages that just want you to spend $5 in their shop to get the same deal. I buy a newspaper and a bag of sweets, and still get the 4 cents a litre off. Cheaper than spending $30 in the Woolworths supermarket...
Rant - laptops or terminals ?
2007-11-27 03:18:00 I see it only took 24 hours before KRudd broke his promise ... he said I am sure only 4 days ago, that the plan was to give every child a laptop. Now he says that every child will have access to a computer terminal. Ah well, we have replaced one compulsive, lying spinmaster with another twister. I'll be voting him out in 2010 if he lasts that long. More About: Laptops , Rant , Mina
Phily the Possum
2007-11-26 10:23:00 Where : Home, TurramurraWhen : 9-00pm, Monday, 26th November 2007Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 Here's a shot of our unwelcome house guest, Phily the Possum. The trichosurus vulpecula possum is native to Australia, a marsupial. This lady lives in our roof, but pays no rent. Every night, it sounds like a herd of elephants stampeding above our heads at dusk and dawn. Possums are very hard to get rid of from the attic, they seem to be able to lift tiles, squeeze through amazingly small holes and just get in no matter how we try to stop them. I caught one once and took it away into the bush, in a cage in the boot of my car. I couldn't get the stink out of months ! So these days, we just put up with her ... in the knowledge that they are fiercely territorial, and while Phily is at home, other will not move in. She's eating a piece of apple here, noisily.
Jacaranda Wars
2007-11-23 12:17:00 Where : Eastern Road, Turramurra, Ku-ring-gaiWhen : 3-00pm, Friday, 23rd November 2007Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 Over the last few weeks, there have been many photographs of Jacaranda s in flower from the southern latitudes. All of them beautiful. The challenge is on .. here's my shot ! More About: Wars , Aranda
LFB "Australia Star"
2007-11-22 11:24:00 Where : Brooklyn, Hawksbury RiverWhen : 5-10pm, Thursday, 22nd November 2007Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 Here she is LFB 11305. Licensed Fishing Boat 11305 ... "Australia Star ". Isn't she a beauty ! Not quite the "African Queen", but in there with a chance. There are a few prawn trawlers operating on the Hawksbury, fishing for school prawns, broad and bottle squid. Their operations are confined to specific times and a specific area around 50% of the tidal space. The majority of prawn catches are landed at night during the 'dark side of the moon' (between the last and first quarter), on either run out or 'slack' tides. A single net is used, connected to a pair of otter boards to spread the net which is towed behind the boat. At the completion of a shot (i.e. setting, towing and retrieval of the net) the net is pulled back onto the boat by hand or a small winch.
The Magnificent Native Elk Horn
2007-11-21 13:12:00 Where : Bobbin Head, New South WalesWhen : 1-20pm, Wednesday, 21st November 2007Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 This is an elk horn, platycerium bifurcatum. . I found this magnificent specimen at Bobbin Head, in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. To give you some idea, this doozie measures about 3 metres in diameter - say about 11 feet or so in old money. These ferns are epiphytic, which means that they grow on another plant but don't get food, minerals or water from the host. They occur naturally in New Guinea, and along Australian coasts of Queensland and New South Wales. The elkhorn has also now been cultivated in many countries, and spread into the wild in Florida. It's been listed as an environmentally invasive species in Hawaii. Each plant is composed of a mass of plantlets and can be divided. It can also be propagated from its spores. P. bifurcatum plants require a shady but damp area to flourish. Rain forest is ideal. They are not prone to at... More About: Native , Horn
Galston Gorge
2007-11-20 13:38:00 Where : Galston, New South WalesWhen : 10-20am, Tuesday 20th November 2007Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 This bridge is some 112 years old, and located at the bottom of the Galston Gorge and is sometimes referred to as Tunk's or Pearce's Creek Bridge. This is wild and rugged, steep and heavily timbered mountainous country, with the typical local topography featured with challenging vertical bands of Hawksbury Sandstone outcrops. The bridge is as originally designed and constructed, a single lane, all-timber bridge without any steel or iron supports, planking or metal components other than nails and bolts. It's known as a "McDonald timber truss road bridge", used extensively in New South Wales because of the high quality of local hardwoods and the shortage of steel during the early decades of settlement. This crossing over Tunk's (Pearce's) Creek is a rare example of a 65' 19.96m truss span. It was designed and built by John McDonald for ...
How to Open Your Own Bank
2007-11-19 10:46:00 Where : Pacific Highway, TurramurraWhen : 9-35am, Monday 19th November 2007Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 In the 1990s, we had 14 banks in the local suburbs of Turramurra, Wahroonga and Pymble. By 2001, we had just FIVE. Accordingly, I decided that we would not wait until the last bank left; I put together a small team and together we galvanised local people, formed a public company with 350 or so shareholders (local mums, dads, brothers sisters, grandparents, shop owners, clubs and businesses), raised $923,000 and we opened our own bank, the Turramurra Community Bank in October 2003. I was privileged to become (proudly) the #1 Shareholder Director and the first Chairman of the Company. Following incorporation, the conduct of a Pledge Campaign, a Feasibility Study and several Public Meetings, I was pleased to be able to hand the leadership of the project over the David Langdon as I was called overseas to work in Jakarta on a project for the World Bank. Da... More About: Open
Yank Tank in Turramurra
2007-11-17 22:11:00 Where : WahroongaWhat : You might well ask - but it's magnificent in its decadenceWeapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 I dunno what they're using in Iraq, but look what turned up in the next street yesterday, right here in Ku-ring-ai, in a tree filled suburb next to a national park, 20 kms north of Sydney ! Yikes ... which end is the front ? What is this - I dunno, but the guns are well concealed. Anyone over there in the USA lost a car ? Looks like something out of "Back to the Future". More About: Tank
Three Cool Cats
2007-11-17 13:06:00 Where : Turramurra, New South WalesWhat : Three Cool Cats Weapon : Sony Cybershot P72 My brother-in-law in Ely, Cambridgeshire has sent these Meer Cats for our garden. I love them ! They are so cute, about 6 inches tall ... sitting on top of a spring mounted on a metal stick - they sit amongst the lilies, cliveas and wisteria, all of which have just been in flower. These three boys were on their way out, for a night on the town, when I sprung them ... caught in the headlights of my camera, don't they look guilty ! Every time I look at them, I can't help smiling.
Bates' Hotel or House of Usher ?
2007-11-16 12:47:00 Where : Eastern Road, TurramurraWhen : 7-35am, Friday 16th November 2007Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3 This old house stands on a large block of land, that is about to be developed into a new estate of homes. I guess it has a heritage order on it and is to be cleaned up and used as the icon magnet for the new development. To save Santa from having to go down into the house using the normal method of entry and egress ... a thoughtful, whimsical builder has stuffed the old post box in the chimney pot ! Down there for gardenin' ... up there for postin'. More About: House , Usher , Hotel
He's a Stinker
2007-11-15 12:27:00 Where : Kalkari, New South WalesWhen : 9-15am, Thursday 15th November 2007Weapon : Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 Ku-ring-gai National Park is just 5 minutes away from home - so I popped into the Park this morning, and was bailed up by this bloke ... yes he's a kangaroo - well, not really, actually he is a swamp wallaby (wallabia bicolor). They are called ‘stinkers’, because of a very strong musky type odour, particularly around the base of the ears, and their cloaca. Their habitat is not "swampy", rather they live in thickets, rocky outcrops, rain and dry forests, browsing on a wide range of plants, including poisonous plants such as bracken and hemlock.The swamp wallaby is the only solitary macropod (big foot), living alone - it's a furtive and elusive marsupial. Swampies have a distinctive black mask across their eyes like a bank robber, rufus cheek stripes, beady eyes, black ears trimmed in a golden-orange, black feet, hands and tail. A com...
Prison That Rocks A Nation
2007-11-14 12:17:00 Where : The Rocks , SydneyWhen : 7-40am, Wednesday 14th November 2007Weapon : Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 Here's a view of the old part of Sydney, known as The Rocks. Yes, this is a genuine photo - I have not contrived it nor have I put two photographs together. This is a real shot, just as anyone can see if they stand in the same place. It looks right plumb down the straight fence-line along one of the ridges, showing the old terrace houses with their corrugated iron and tin roofs on the left and a new development, epitomised in glass, aluminium and smooth lines on the right. A peculiar sight from this angle, with maybe 150 years manifested in a fence, a modern lane on one side, and a back entry to the terraces with their small bricks, wooden windows and worn steps on the other. The Rocks, in the heart of this cosmopolitan city, still reeks of the nation's inauspicious and shameful past, going back to to 1788, and the arrival of Australia’s first Eur... More About: Nation , Prison
Jacarandas !
2007-11-13 13:32:00 Where : Wahroonga, Ku-ring-gaiWhen : 7-40am, Tuesday 13th November 2007Weapon : Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 Not much to add here ... our jacarandas are in full bloom. They are indeed a beautiful sight, particularly when there are several trees together. This lovely tree is just behind the railway station in Wahroonga, in fact it's in the car park. More About: Aranda
SWMBO
2007-11-13 09:09:00 Let me introduce SWMBO. This is SWMBO's work. SWMBO ... She Who Must Be Obeyed. Here we have a birthday card for our niece, Sara F------- who lives 12,000 miles away in Kingston-on-Thames, London. My wife is into all this arty crafty stuff, and I think she is very talented. This is what she calls a "Jumblage" ... her mixed media. I asked her whether I could explain what the materials were, and how it is constructed - what it means ... but I was told "No" in no uncertain terms. I seem to be missing a pair of Levi's.
Eucalyptus Haemostoma
More articles from this author:2007-11-12 12:51:00 Where : Ku-ring-gai Chase National ParkWhat : The Scribbly GumWeapon : Sony Cybershot P72 The scribbly gum tree is a eucalyptus tree with a very smooth, pale trunk. The distinctive brownish 'scribbles' are made by the larvae of the tiny scribbly moth. These larvae are harmless to the tree and, though found on many eucalypts, it's only in a few varieties - such as that in my photograph eucalyptus haemostoma, and eucalyptus racemosa or eucalyptus sclerophylla - where the signatures become the most pronounced feature of the tree. 1, 2, 3 |
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