Not funny Huey!

You need to understand where Bali is on this map to get the import of this blog. It is under the great orangey-red splodge above Western Australia.

I bring this to your attention because the medium S Clark (now Mrs Nagy) is in Bali at this present time.

This morning as I drove the youngest S Clark to Music Camp it started to rain. We had been told that SA may get some flash flooding but the weather report assured us it was in the north and east. Places with such exotic names as Moomba and Arkaroola. The rain got heavier and heavier.

As we have all watched devastated what is happening in Qld, I am sure I was not the only one who hoped we weren't about to get a deluge. As I drove through the Goodwood Underpass I said to my passenger.."It's awful when this floods as you have no idea how deep it is" How pathetic am I! Probably 50 cms at most and our compatriots are dealing with metres of water. It is beyond comprehension.

Then, mindful of Mr & Mrs D Nagy on holiday in Bali, I am wondering how they are faring.

It is rainy season and we have remarked when there in the past how awful ti would be if the drains banked up. The weather map and the great red spiral, which we are glibly told is La Niña, swoops down through Thailand over Indonesia, Bali and over continental Australia is what would appear to be the cause of all this.

We can only thank God (as K Rudd did this morning) that it has stopped raining in Qld. And hope Bali is OK, and that we are not too badly affected.

The rain here, in Adelaide, appears to have stopped.

Footnote Incidentally even though the term "Huey" is a colloquial tongue in cheek reference to God...and sometimes referred to as the 'Surf God of the Weather' I wonder whether its origin is much more respectable.

Given that the unpronounceable and unpronounced Hebrew word for the LORD is YHWH (remember that Hebrew script has no vowels)..and in the ancient English texts this was rendered incorrectly as 'Jehovah'...you only have to look at YHWH and realise it could be Huey...particularly when WAW (the letter transliterated W here is sometimes..even often pronounced as U) so it doesn't take much to recognise that YHUH could become some wags Huey. Don't even get me started on Yahoo!

Great admiration

I have only the greatest admiration for the relatives of British victims of the Bali bombers who urge Indonesia to not execute them (here).
I am becoming more and more convinced that as logical as it might seem, those of us who oppose the death penalty should oppose it!
Even for those who like the insanely laughing Amrosi and Imam Samudra seem prime candidates.
The issue about the death penalty should be separated from particular cases. That way madness lies.
If it is wrong (and I believe it is) then it is wrong for Himmler, for Milosovic and for Amrosi.
Surely we can adopt a more moral stand than this.

Grammar (ii)

I asked the question in the last post about how you could teach a language without the grammatical super-structure. The answer of course is ... the same way we teach swimming.... by immersion.
There are plenty of humble folk who have little or no education whose livelihoods depend on speaking a language other than their native tongue. The modestly educated street merchants of an island such as our near neighbour (no, not Tasmania) Bali seem to do quite well. Most ordinary folk in that place have limited education, and many have good command of not just English but also Bahasa Malaysia, and even Japanese.
Not all,but many.
Occupying soldiers pick up working language, though often with awful mispronunciations like danke schön...we have Elvis to thank for Danke Shane! I suspect... which makes every person who has ever learned German shudder (see here) but by and large they don't read novels or poetry!
What you are doomed to experience if your knowledge of grammar is non-existent is the continuing risk of being misunderstood, and the likelihood that you will get stuck at a very elementary level.

Where are we?

The news of Tsunami after earthquake off the coast of Japan today did at least cause S to flutter her ears.
Of course it is miles away from where we are for a few more hours, I figure it is north and at least on the other side of the island. Probably though 2-3000 kms away.
This did not stop us reflecting the other day, when watching the sunset over the Indian Ocean just exactly where we would be if Tsunami like the big one did hit us. We were on the high ground, our beach cottage would at least have been 10 metres underwater!
But, the sun just set and behaved itself nicely nicely!

Panic! Panic!

Today when we checked our bookings to leave Bali on Friday, we actually realised we are not leaving until Saturday.
Fortunately this is not the disaster it might seem and we will not ve sharing accomodation with Ms Corby, but rather good that I am not actually saying the Holy Mysteries on Sunday

Homeward bound

We leave Singapore today, just as Sarah and Denes arrived there on their way back to Adelaide.
It was wonderful to see her, and I think she thought likewise.
We met between two airport terminals and had pizza and ice cream in a cafe before they charged off into Orchard Road. What a time they have had. Stunning views of Budapest from their apartment window...and they heard Santana...free for gratis...makes us old hippies jealous.
I am just (incidentally) waiting to board the plane for Bali...just about to go and buy a bottle of gin!

Ma bella Marguerita

We had a "rite of passage" on Saturday when Sarah -the middle child of two middle children...what hope is there for her sanity...had her 21st. Clearly she has been an "adult" for some time as is represented by this sophisticated juxtaposition of ideas...a Marguerita in one hand, a pool cue in the other, as we wait to be seated at the hot Bali restaurant Kori on our recent holiday.. There are many things that could be said about her, and I said a few. But my major insistence is going to be that if you have both an 18th party and a 21st then after the 21st you are going to have to behave as if you are an adult.
Sarah, who was the family baby for many years, and the youngest grandchild for 9 then had what every middle child had to contend with...a sinking into oblivion as your star status is taken by one and then another and then another.
It creates interesting dynamics and conflicts in your life, some of which she has embraced and others of which have just been plain difficult. One of the key responses has been to revert to type and be a petulant child. Hence my insistent refrain...You became an adult legally when you were 18, you've had 3 years of practice. Now you are 21 and we have thrown the "Sarah - the child" name badge out . You are an adult and only adult behaviour will now be accepted.
God bless you darling!!