Come on Summer!

Christmas Day in Canada! Today. Whats happening in the Test?

7.00pm - Christmas night...

jingle bells

Merry Christmas everyone from party central at the Stuart Roffs in Raymond Terrace. The house is even better than the photos indicate and Julia and myself and comfortably ensconced in the west wing. We arrived late on Sunday night and spent most of yesterday shopping.
Ash, Cathie and Rowan are in Newcastle for Christmas to spend some time with Cathie's father who has declining health. They came up last night (Christmas eve) and will be joining us again on Boxing Day. We picked up Nick and Dom from the airport this morning and Adam and Amanda are in Newcastle as well so, with luck, we'll all end up in the same place at the same time.
Everyone is looking forward to Turoff Heads but we'll need the rest between events.
Keep Aunty Betty in your thoughts as her health is declining as well. Julia and I plan to visit on our way back to Melbourne and if you're passing through Sydney on your way to Turoff Heads, now is the right time to pay your respects.

Enjoy the attached pictures of last night. They are Daniel's actual real eyes...

It’s more fun in the Philippines! Nature and Adventure!

After four months of “field testing”, I can confirm the validity of these official tourism slogans. There sure is a lot a fun to be had here in the Philippines, and nature is a constant adventure – although not always a pleasant one.

Four typhoons passed through the country in my first two month here, two small earthquakes, historically unprecedented monsoonal flooding, and a tsunami threat that was fortunately a non-event. After a welcome month or two of respite from Mother Nature’s wrath, the devastating super typhoon Pablo struck two weeks ago with tragic outcomes for the people of Mindanao. Just when we thought we were in the clear, Pablo decided that it really was more fun in the Philippines, did a u-turn, and came right on back – but thankfully, with less force second time around. Nature and adventure indeed!

I’m now a quarter of the way through my 12 month volunteer assignment, working with coastal communities on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. There is absolutely no argument about climate change here – the locals live with constant reminders. Speaking selfishly, it’s a welcome change to move from armchair debates on the reality of climate change in Australia. Over the past 10-20 years, the Philippines has crept up the rankings and is now considered the most natural disaster prone country in the world. Working in this environment is a real challenge, but professionally stimulating and very rewarding. I’m learning so much from my colleagues, all passionate social advocates, and I am humbled by the spirit of the communities we work with, where people are always smiling and full of life despite the serious hardships and constant natural calamities they face.

Although I’m working in coastal areas, I’m living up in the mountains. My new home town, Baguio City, is about six hours north of Manila, and frankly, it’s pretty awful - overpopulated, congested and filthy, with the worst air pollution in the country. I’ve had a respiratory tract infection since I got here that shows no sign of abating. Fortunately the surrounding mountains are spectacular and you don’t have to travel far out of the city to find yourself in the fresh air and wilderness. I’m also lucky to be only two hours away from one of the better surf beaches in the country and have been spending as many weekends as possible avoiding the traffic and pollution of the city in favour of fresh sea air and delicious pineapple and banana smoothies!

Away from the major cities, the Philippines is a stunningly beautiful place. I have an ambitious list of holiday destinations to get through before I head home next August. If anyone is planning an overseas adventure in 2013, put the Philippines on your agenda. I have a spare bed or two in my apartment and have tapped into the volunteer network and gained access to a couch in every corner of the country. You’ll be well looked after!

Last weekend I was in the Bicol region, home to two of the largest volcanoes in the country and a location for the “Survivor” reality TV series. I joined a wild bunch of Australian and American volunteers to assist with a community education project that one of the Youth Ambassadors has been running. Accompanied by the military (fully armed for their day out planting trees with a bunch of kids) we drove to the base of the Mt Isarog volcano and planted 200 trees with school children from the district, built a community garden and ran games and activities. During the Welcome Ceremony, we were asked to “perform something” on the spot (this happens a lot). Thank god for the heel and toe polka! It was the only thing we all knew, and went down a treat!

For lunch we had a “Boodle Fight”, which is a long table piled high with rice and meat. There’s a countdown then everyone digs in with their hands in a messy free-for-all. Lots of fun! It says something about the demographic that all of the volunteers were down the vegetarian end of the table. After a big lunch and a hot day of planting, we cooled off in a nearby waterfall before heading to the farewell party of one of the Australian volunteers in Legazpi City.

The highlight of the weekend was “top-loading” on the roof of a jeepney, breaching several of the rules in our security policy and code of conduct, for a two hour drive down the local equivalent of the Great Ocean Road, past the perfectly shaped Mt Mayon volcano. The karaoke machine was ready to go when we arrived, and we belted out a few hits that have proven to be solid group numbers – Hey Jude, California Dreamin’ and, surprisingly, Kiss by a Rose – to rapturous applause. I had drunk quite a bit of rum at this stage ($1.50 a litre), but I think we nailed it. At one point someone altered the turning on the karaoke machine and proceeded to sing Christmas carols at a painfully slow tempo, in the lowest possible key. A morose rendition of “I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams” was a bit too close to home for most of us! I’m devastated to be missing Turoff Heads and will be thinking of you all over Christmas, hopefully from a tropical beach somewhere. Life is tough…

Grandma Roff

Uncle Rock dropped me a note to blog that we have just seen the anniversary of her passing on the 16th of December, 1998. That was 14 years ago. She is much loved and missed and her sons and grandchildren have great memories of her. Thanks Uncle.

Nick's Birthday

Happy Birthday Nick! Sorry I am a day late (2 days late for you). You share a birthday with Ted Nugent! I hope you got some good presents. Found a nice pic of Nick in full flight. To celebrate Nick's birthday, a picture of Agnetha is presented here. Go Agnetha and go Nick!

Here are the missing postcards from the blog below.

Just three of many. According to my limited research, postcards of transport (particularly ships) are worth more than postcards of monuments. I already know more about postcard collecting than I ever wanted to...

What to do...

Somewhere around 1911, Mardi (Mona) Green, mother of Neil and Betty Roff, and her family, embarked on a grand tour of Europe. Mardi collected postcards on the journey and, when she returned, put them in an album.
Here's the route she took: Sydney, Tasmaina, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Sri Lanka (Columbo), Suez Canal, Port Said, Italy, Gibralta, Paris, England, Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man (she beat me to it!), England again, Belguim, Paris again, Holand and then back to Sydney.
There are around 720 postcards in the album, all from the 1911 period. The album itself is falling apart from age and some water damage but most of the postcards are in good condition.
Most of the postcards have no writing on them but some do.
Here are the issues:
1. Some people collect postcards and postcards have a small financial value.
2. If you want to see what London looked like in 1911, you can get images on google.
3. Does keeping or restoring this album have any value in terms of family history.
I think Mardi also had a diary of the trip but I have a vague memory of Aunty Betty telling me it was just a list of who they dined with on the ship and was very short on social analysis. Do the Seages know anything more on this?
Here are some possibilities regarding the album's future:
1. Someone in the family takes it on as a restoration project.
2. I sell it on eBay to postcard collectors. (I've done a little research on this. The collection might fetch somewhere between two and three hundred dollars. The original joke was I'd give this money to charities involved in detention centres as Mardi was a great supporter of multiculturalism but only Uncle Ken and Aunty Betty would get the joke - Mardi, typical of her generation, was suspicious of non-Anglo Saxons. Our ancestoral home, Carrington Hall, was split up into units and Mardi was shocked to find she ended up living with middle-eastern neighbours.)
I'm inclined toward option two as whatever money is raised will go to what I'm sure we all agree is a good cause. I will defer immediately to anyone interested in option one, of course. When you look at the collection, you can imagine Mardi "doing Europe" and it must have been an amazing adventure in the early years of the 1900s.
The pictures attached are just three from the collection. There's the Otway, the liner on which the Green's travelled; there's a postcard from Tasmaina and there's a hand-signed postcard from Frank Richardson who was a women's rights campaigner in England in 1911. Frank has defeated Google in that I can't find any trace of him but he clearly thought that dressing as a woman would support the cause. The Mardi collection has two signed postcards of him indicating she directly engaged with him. Imagine that - Mona Roff at the forefront of women's liberation.
Okay, what should I do with the album? 
PS: Can't upload the postcards - will sort out how to do it shortly.

Christmas concert

I just discovered this on YouTube. Posted in September this year. I hope everyone else has the dedication to practise their act 4 months out from Turoff..