Apples are on the table – but not peace
I was reflecting the other day that the village I grew up in – and a village is unusual in Australia – is long gone, the chalet at it’s centre burned down and the rest merely a cluster of fishing huts just off the road from Lake St Clair. Those kind of changes are more gradual and accidental than in war-torn regions, even if disappointing, more able to be accommodated and accepted.
Apples are on the table – but not peace.
Rehabilitating casualties of war
It’s ironic that as the Gulf War drags on, we’ve joined the local Kieser gym. The Kieser method seems to be a broader version of Pilates, and I keep reflecting that Pilates was established in Germany after World War 1 to help rehabilitate the enormous numbers of war casualties, repurposing hospital beds to make gym equipment. I am impressed by its scientific, remedial approach, very useful for its ageing and decrepit market.
The physio there told me how physiotherapy itself was invented – for treatment of ballet dancers in Sweden. This impressed me because it wasn’t for football players, as you might expect, and it was a product of the Scandinavians, who have become my favourites after the French. I’m not surprised since dancers’ injuries can be serious ones, even though all we hear about are the football ones.
It’s ironic that as the Gulf War drags on, we’ve joined the local Kieser gym. The Kieser method seems to be a broader version of Pilates, and I keep reflecting that Pilates was established in Germany after World War 1 to help rehabilitate the enormous numbers of war casualties, repurposing hospital beds to make gym equipment. I am impressed by its scientific, remedial approach, very useful for its ageing and decrepit market.
‘I wondered if we could make them an offer they can’t refuse – take on the throne here and have Australia become part of Scandinavia….If we can be part of Eurovision, we should be able to join the European Union!’
The physio there told me how physiotherapy itself was invented – for treatment of ballet dancers in Sweden. This impressed me because it wasn’t for football players, as you might expect, and it was a product of the Scandinavians, who have become my favourites after the French. I’m not surprised since dancers’ injuries can be serious ones, even though all we hear about are the football ones.
Dancing on the couch
I’ve had previous encounters with physios, on and off. Living in Sydney, my knees were so stiff and sore once during winter I thought I was stuck with it for life, until a few physio sessions fixed me up.
I’ve previously mentioned my much earlier knee injury as a result of dancing on a couch to ‘Free Nelson Mandela’, following too many dry martinis. When I explained to the physio at the time how it had happened, she couldn’t stop laughing – she was more familiar with football injuries than damage from dancing.
I’ve had previous encounters with physios, on and off. Living in Sydney, my knees were so stiff and sore once during winter I thought I was stuck with it for life, until a few physio sessions fixed me up.
I’ve previously mentioned my much earlier knee injury as a result of dancing on a couch to ‘Free Nelson Mandela’, following too many dry martinis. When I explained to the physio at the time how it had happened, she couldn’t stop laughing – she was more familiar with football injuries than damage from dancing.
Signs about road work, but not so much work
Driving around regional NSW there are a lot of signs about road work, but not much actual road work. Maybe this is the condition of the modern world we inhabit – signage promising things, marketing and spin rather than real action. The change of name of the US Department of Defence to the Department of War seems along these lines. ‘Things are bad, we must do something.’ ‘Let’s change the name to the Department of War – that’ll show them!’
Perhaps in the future governments might replace real wars with constant changes of name – less wars, more spin. It’s definitely cheaper – there’s the cost of changing the stationery, but that’s small beer in the scheme of things.
Driving around regional NSW there are a lot of signs about road work, but not much actual road work. Maybe this is the condition of the modern world we inhabit – signage promising things, marketing and spin rather than real action. The change of name of the US Department of Defence to the Department of War seems along these lines. ‘Things are bad, we must do something.’ ‘Let’s change the name to the Department of War – that’ll show them!’
‘Maybe this is the condition of the modern world we inhabit – signage promising things, marketing and spin rather than real action.’
Perhaps in the future governments might replace real wars with constant changes of name – less wars, more spin. It’s definitely cheaper – there’s the cost of changing the stationery, but that’s small beer in the scheme of things.
The balloon spectacular dots the horizon with balloons. They used to be a much more consistent presence in the national capital, appearing from ground level as they rose slowly above fences. The whoosh of the burners igniting sounding like strange life forms hanging above in the sky.
As part of the annual Skyfire fireworks celebrations in the national capital, an Australian airforce fighter plane flew over the city. I couldn’t help reflecting that it was possibly the sole line of defence in the event of an invasion by the Americans – pity that all the spare parts probably come from America.
An offer they can’t refuse
I had a quick thought the other day – I saw that the king and queen of Denmark, Frederick and Mary, were in town. I wondered if we could make them an offer they can’t refuse – take on the throne here and have Australia become part of Scandinavia. Mary is already half Australian – from Australian intellectual royalty, no less. If we can be part of Eurovision, we should be able to join the European Union!
Perhaps we could argue that we are in the same situation that recently threatened to engulf Greenland, which is after all a Danish Protectorate. We are already owned and in practice occupied by America, even more than Greenland already is in reality and just as much as was threatened with Greenland.
Some of us can find a silver lining in every cloud (in this case usually one that a warplane is appearing from) – the current war with Iran will highlight our desperate dependence on fossil fuels and help accelerate their demise (and the pollies on the payroll).
I had a quick thought the other day – I saw that the king and queen of Denmark, Frederick and Mary, were in town. I wondered if we could make them an offer they can’t refuse – take on the throne here and have Australia become part of Scandinavia. Mary is already half Australian – from Australian intellectual royalty, no less. If we can be part of Eurovision, we should be able to join the European Union!
Perhaps we could argue that we are in the same situation that recently threatened to engulf Greenland, which is after all a Danish Protectorate. We are already owned and in practice occupied by America, even more than Greenland already is in reality and just as much as was threatened with Greenland.
‘Some of us can find a silver lining in every cloud (in this case usually one that a warplane is appearing from).’
Some of us can find a silver lining in every cloud (in this case usually one that a warplane is appearing from) – the current war with Iran will highlight our desperate dependence on fossil fuels and help accelerate their demise (and the pollies on the payroll).
The cheapest fuel in the national capital is at Costco. It used to be 158 cents per litre, then in early March it jumped to 187 cents per litre, then to 226.7 cents per litre, then 247.7 cents per litre. It would be higher now.
At the same time, I expect we are witnessing the slow, painful winding down of the American Empire and recognising how important are our remaining real friends – like New Zealand, Canada and Europe (and maybe the UK, though that’s less likely, given what’s potentially happening there).
© Stephen Cassidy 2026
See also
Stumbling over ghosts in an art gallery
‘We seem to be creeping towards the colder weather. Still with the daily news full of America revisiting its 1953 coup in Iran who has time to think about the weather? In between catching up with old friends, we’d just driven back from one of my favourite spots in Australia – the Thredbo Valley – and now it was time to return to furnishing our home. Someone once commented that inhabiting a modernist house would be like living in an art gallery and I thought I’d like to live in an art gallery. For many decades I carted around some old silk screen prints from my time in Adelaide. We finally decided to get one of them framed after all those decades and cities’, Stumbling over ghosts in an art gallery.
I'm never leaving home again – well, except to travel
‘I’ve made a couple of big decisions. I’ve decided that it’s better to be a Chardonnay socialist than a Riesling reactionary. I’ve also decided that given the state of the world – despite all the good things going on that we never hear about, it seems to be balancing between mediocrity, incompetence and plain greed and lust for power – I’m never leaving home again…well, except to travel’, I'm never leaving home again – well, except to travel.
‘I’ve made a couple of big decisions. I’ve decided that it’s better to be a Chardonnay socialist than a Riesling reactionary. I’ve also decided that given the state of the world – despite all the good things going on that we never hear about, it seems to be balancing between mediocrity, incompetence and plain greed and lust for power – I’m never leaving home again…well, except to travel’, I'm never leaving home again – well, except to travel.
Guides to a fiery future – it was only a matter of time
'It was only a matter of time. It seems such a long time ago that we moved from bushfires to pandemic and watched as a wave of disease and stupidity swept the world and the country. Now the bushfires are back – the stupidity as well. Did we ever think they wouldn’t be?', Guides to a fiery future – it was only a matter of time.
‘Today I popped out to get coffee and to visit the library, which just reopened after the break. They are the only things that would tempt me out of the apartment in this weather. Instead of the normal sheep graziers alert we get in Canberra, today we have a heat wave alert. Today is 33 degrees, then tomorrow is 35, the next day 37 and then Friday will be 39. Originally there were going to be three days in a row where the temperatures reached 39, so I’m thankful that’s changed. I feel as though I am living in Adelaide again, but it’s probably even hotter there’, Sheep graziers warning replaced by heat wave alert.
Lurching to a halt at the end of the year
‘For some reason Christmas reminds me of a play by Jean-Paul Sartre called ‘Huis Clos’, named after the French equivalent of an in camera trial or closed courtroom. It’s about three people who have died, locked together awaiting judgement in a crowded room for eternity. It’s the origin of Sartre’s famous line ‘hell is other people’. But it’s not the idea of hell that Christmas reminds me of, but the fact that at Christmas, especially on Boxing Day, the world suddenly lurches to a halt’, Lurching to a halt at the end of the year.
A different universe lapped by waves‘For some reason Christmas reminds me of a play by Jean-Paul Sartre called ‘Huis Clos’, named after the French equivalent of an in camera trial or closed courtroom. It’s about three people who have died, locked together awaiting judgement in a crowded room for eternity. It’s the origin of Sartre’s famous line ‘hell is other people’. But it’s not the idea of hell that Christmas reminds me of, but the fact that at Christmas, especially on Boxing Day, the world suddenly lurches to a halt’, Lurching to a halt at the end of the year.
‘The little city that serves Australia as a capital is tucked up in the mountains far from any coastline, even though in a strange historical quirk it actually has a coastline at Jervis Bay. Yet to reach the South Coast of New South Wales, below the swollen city where Australia’s official European history began, takes hardly any time at all. It’s much more drawn out heading down the coast from Sydney, through the great Sydney sprawl past Wollongong and beyond. The South Coast is an entirely different universe to the capital’, A different universe lapped by waves.
Walking with ghosts
‘Increasingly people I have known for a long time seem to be dying. In fact my generation is steadily starting to disappear. Who is replacing them? We shuffle along in a world that is unravelling, a world – that for both good and bad – our generation gave birth to. We are teetering in a strange balance between building on the achievements of the past and desperately trying to dismantle them. In many countries, the current generation is poorer than the previous one, upending generations of dreams by working class parents and migrants for a better life for their children. In this time of upheaval – both welcome and unwelcome – creativity is needed like never before’, Walking with ghosts.
On the rails again – a trip about the past and the future
I'm on the road again – well, on the rails again. On Monday I caught the slow train from Canberra to Sydney, and today I’ve woken up to a third morning in Surry Hills. I’m enjoying the days in Sydney – after all, I did live here for twelve and a half years. I’m mainly here to see the Yolngu Power exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW, which finishes next week, but I’m also using the trip to see to other business’, On the rails again – a trip about the past and the future.
I'm on the road again – well, on the rails again. On Monday I caught the slow train from Canberra to Sydney, and today I’ve woken up to a third morning in Surry Hills. I’m enjoying the days in Sydney – after all, I did live here for twelve and a half years. I’m mainly here to see the Yolngu Power exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW, which finishes next week, but I’m also using the trip to see to other business’, On the rails again – a trip about the past and the future.
Looking down on dire predictions
‘I see the latest report on looming climate change has some pretty dire predictions – like a future of four times the length of heatwaves, up to five times as many deaths due to extreme heat, a massive drag on productivity, 1.5 million Australians at risk of coastal flooding and a potential half trillion dollar hit to property values by 20250 – and that’s just the good news’, Looking down on dire predictions.
‘I see the latest report on looming climate change has some pretty dire predictions – like a future of four times the length of heatwaves, up to five times as many deaths due to extreme heat, a massive drag on productivity, 1.5 million Australians at risk of coastal flooding and a potential half trillion dollar hit to property values by 20250 – and that’s just the good news’, Looking down on dire predictions.
Marching with the Nazis – as un-Australian as it gets
'I’m still shocked by the marches and rallies around the country opposing immigration. Everyone involved says mass immigration, but it’s clear in practice they mean most immigration – and definitely all immigration by people who aren’t white, or as I like to say, ‘pink’. Here I am travelling through my own homeland once again and, at times, it seems like a foreign country – not because of immigrants but because of those who have grown up here. Those taking part in these marches probably have genuine grievances, but they have picked the wrong target to blame and, in the process, have been steered into becoming in effect neo-Nazi fellow travellers. We are (almost) all immigrants here, only just starting to genuinely come to grips with this country', Marching with the Nazis – as un-Australian as it gets.
Self-imposed lockdown – hanging around home
'For all their faults and disadvantages there were some positive sides to the pandemic lockdowns. As I often say, ‘good times’ – maybe my memory isn’t what it was. I realise that I planned and prepared for so long to move to an apartment and now I am here I keep discovering more and more things I like about it. I could stay home and read and write and never leave it, just popping down to the shops when I need supplies – perhaps it’s a case of self-imposed lockdown', Self-imposed lockdown.
Essen, trinken, tanzen – aber nicht rauchen
‘From time to time my posts on ‘travelling light’ include references to restaurants we have eaten at or enjoyable places we have stayed. However, most of my regular writing about food, produce, restaurants and places we have stayed is on one of my blogs, tableland, which I describe as: ‘Food and cooking land to table – the daily routine of living in the high country, on the edge of the vast Pacific, just up from Sydney, just down from Mount Kosciuszko’, Essen, trinken, tanzen – aber nicht rauchen.
‘From time to time my posts on ‘travelling light’ include references to restaurants we have eaten at or enjoyable places we have stayed. However, most of my regular writing about food, produce, restaurants and places we have stayed is on one of my blogs, tableland, which I describe as: ‘Food and cooking land to table – the daily routine of living in the high country, on the edge of the vast Pacific, just up from Sydney, just down from Mount Kosciuszko’, Essen, trinken, tanzen – aber nicht rauchen.
Cooking minestrone in an art gallery – pineapple fruit cake, hot soup and art on a cold day
‘In winter my mind turns to food, but since it is never turned away from art, cooking and looking manage to fill in the cooler months – or maybe that’s all months. I haven’t made hand-made pasta for a while but I have made sushi and sashimi – though only once in recent memory – as I resurrect all my food traditions. Cooking, eating and cruising around art exhibitions – that’s winter for me’, Cooking minestrone in an art gallery - pineapple fruit cake, hot soup and art on a cold day
‘In winter my mind turns to food, but since it is never turned away from art, cooking and looking manage to fill in the cooler months – or maybe that’s all months. I haven’t made hand-made pasta for a while but I have made sushi and sashimi – though only once in recent memory – as I resurrect all my food traditions. Cooking, eating and cruising around art exhibitions – that’s winter for me’, Cooking minestrone in an art gallery - pineapple fruit cake, hot soup and art on a cold day
Winter markets in a creative city
'The winter we had to have (and could have hoped for) finally arrived on the Southern Tablelands. We have gone back to going to the Farmers Market every week. To add to the winter sun good news arrived. For over ten years we worked to have Canberra listed as a UNESCO Creative City of Design, part of a global network of creative cities. Finally the ACT Government announced that it intended to take the bid forward – and that it had allocated funding for it, the true sign of a government being serious. It’s always a pleasure to help initiate a worthwhile endeavour, but even more of a pleasure to look back ten years later and see that it has been a roaring success in more ways than one', Winter markets in a creative city.
Speaking in tongues
‘Where I live a statue of French maritime hero, La Pérouse, looks out over the suburb as though to say: this, too, could have been France. For a period it seemed everyone who went to school in Australia studied French. Perhaps it was a belated attempt to acknowledge how much better everything would have been if the French had got here first. As I like to say whenever I’m in France, ‘j’ai étudié le Français pendant six ans à l’école’ and I would like to have had more opportunity to use that knowledge', Speaking in tongues.Looking down on birds
'While the world unravels and some gleefully repeat the mistakes of the past, life goes on in gardens everywhere. I remember that in the Roman Empire, if a change of regime occurred, soldiers, recognising that they were also farmers, would often retire for a time to their farm - until circumstances and duty called them back. Some wit commented that what is happening now is like the fall of the Roman Empire, but with wi-fi', Looking down on birds.
Back in the days when we travelled
'Back in the days when we travelled, I used to post news of my trips to Facebook, so my friends could follow my exploits overseas. For a long time it has been apparent that Facebook has issues, so back in 2019 I set up this blog 'Travelling light' to replace my Facebook posts. However, in the end I decided to stay with Facebook, so this blog was never used', Back in the days when we travelled.
Travelling light by being still
'As I've said repeatedly, I don't have any problem with flying, it's landing and taking off I don't like – and all the logistics in-between. I have few problems with lounging around for hours and on a flight, you get to sit still while people bring you food and drink. How much better does it get?', Travelling light by being still.
Abandoning the world of work
'When I left full-time work over ten years ago, I was asked what I intended to do. Once I no longer had distractions, like work – fun though it was at the time – it was clear that I would definitely have some time on my hands. I replied that I planned to keep up with my friends and to travel – when I wasn't gardening, cooking, reading or writing. It sounded like a fine plan at the time and as things panned out, it was a fine plan', Abandoning the world of work.