h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was going to write a fully-fledged entry about what I saw and did in Tasmania, but I'm far too tired and I have a souvenir virus so I'm feeling miserable as sin just at the moment. Never mind. A few odd notes will have to do.

My connecting flight from Melbourne to Hobart was very late, but I didn't fancy swimming so I just sat down and did crosswords while waiting for a couple of hours. There were only two loud complainers in the transit lounge; they were both foreigners. I'm not sure if this means us Australians are more tolerant, more patient or more accustomed to lousy airlines.

I think I could happily live in Hobart, population 210 000, if it wasn't for the gradient of the streets and the inadequacy of the public transport system. I like the feel of a maritime city hemmed in by mountains but I'd forgotten how steep Hobart's streets could be. Some of them rise at a 45-degree angle. There was snow on Mt Wellington (1200m) most mornings, but nothing in town. Weather mostly pleasant apart from a bit of horizontal sleet and a splendidly gusty night that shook the house.

Central Hobart was still a bit chaotic after a department store fire just before I arrived. The building's had to be demolished, a street's closed and various small businesses are operating out of hotel rooms until they can get back into their premises.

The markets in Salamanca Place are as good as ever. There are some shockingly twee handicrafts, but also some high-quality ones, mostly involving wood. Plenty of chocolate too. I'm eating some now, in the hope that it has therapeutic qualities.

The second-hand bookshops are a delight. I restrained myself and only came home with a couple of dozen volumes.

There's a restaurant at Peppermint Bay that serves a dessert called Chocolate Nemesis. It comes with stout icecream. I must go back so I can try it.

The landscape outside metropolitan Hobart is somehow cosy and dramatic at the same time. I didn't take many photos because I just couldn't get a handle on how best to present that landscape. Craggy peaks towering over glacial valleys with miniature-village farmhouses and orchards on the valley floors.

J & D have settled in well. They're still in a rented place but they should be in their new house by 10 October. Redecorating plans are being formulated apace. G isn't helping as such, being only 14 months old. She's very good at fencing (with wooden spoons) and various percussive tasks. She understands a spooky amount of adult dialogue, judging by facial expressions, and has a special laugh reserved for times when her mother J does something conspicuously dopey. I heard that one a lot. I'm sure G is going to be very intelligent, even though she can only say 'doodah' at the moment. She actively resents being a baby.

J told me that she's been thinking about what's best for G if anything should happen to her and D. Although she has close relatives, D doesn't. I'm honoured and somewhat disconcerted to find out that J is considering appointing me as G's guardian in her will, bypassing her own family. Gosh.

There's not much more I can say after that...

You didn't take many photos?

Geeesh.. all you had to do was point the camera and click!


Ooohh.. The thought of being a guardian made your brain stop working?

Just remember, G is likely to be the greatest delight of anyone's life!

Yes, I could have just pointed camera and pressed button, but the result wasn't going to capture anything of the atmosphere of the place. I need to get to know it better before I can work out how to deal with the landscape... The shots I did take will land on Fotki sooner or later; they're nothing special.

I hope I never end up as a guardian, but if it does happen I'd rather it was G than any other child I've met. G doesn't like other small children - she appears to be bored by them - I know how she feels.

It is very unlikely to happen, but I think a perfect choice has been made

OOh. Piccy's? I just love 'em!

I'll put the pictures up later today, if I remember how.

*giggles*

It took you long enough last time!

ohhhhhhhhhh sounds like a wonderful holiday Ivan

Yes, that's quite true.

Anyway. I forgot to include a note about placenames. One of these days when I'm in Tasmania I want to go to the Lemonthyme Forest. There's something appealing about the name, which is more than I can say for the Duckhole Rivulet.

There's a township north of Hobart called Dromedary. That's slightly surreal, but there's a place near there called Upper Dromedary. That strikes me as alarmingly specific.

Hi Helly.

oh I eargerly await the pictures

with the loverly weather today, I am going to go to the floriade

http://www.floriadeaustralia.com/

should be a very nice day

I was going to go today but I'm already sneezy. Maybe next weekend...

Aha! A thread specifically designed to help me figure out my next holiday

The markets have a great reputation and I shall definitely have to fit them into my visit to Tassie in Feb/March. Mind you, I'll be finding a secluded coastal cottage, rather than staying in a town. I've had suggestions of east coast and west coast Can't decide!

Sounds like you had a wonderful time
Love those place-names!

Dear Ivan the terrible,

How great to read about Tasmania. I went there nearly thirty years ago and absolutely loved it. We were there when the first yachts started sailing in having completed the Sydney Hobart Race.

Thank you.

Radiantjoiedevivre

Hello radiantjoiedevivre. May I call you Christiane? I think I recognise you from a previous name... Hobart probably hasn't changed much since you were there. The yachts still come into Constitution Dock every December, too.

Fb, I'd suggest the east coast. The east coast is small-town and a bit remote in parts, while the west coast is simply Remote. It all depends just how much isolation you want.

Venus, there are probably better place-names down there, but those ones leapt out at me. Dromedary. Goodness how odd. Come to think of it there's also a town called Penguin.

Thanks Ivan Your break sounds as though it was just what you needed. What an extraordinary privilege it is to be selected as a guardian And heart-warming

There's clearly only a fine line between heart-warming and stomach-churning. It really is a bit alarming, being forced to admit to being an adult.

And Fb, if you should happen to be in Hobart and feel the need for a second-hand bookshop, the good one is right at the back of Imperial Arcade, 138 Collins St.

Dear Ivan the Terriblle,

Of course you can call me Christiane. and yes, I was also ran for years and years, and thankfully lost that name and so was pleased to become this very exciting new name!!

I remember going to that dreadful prison . It still gives me the shivers when I think of it. Apparently it was modelled on a prison which had just been built in London but I cannot remember which one it was.

The older I get the more I realise what is meant by Man's Inhumanity to Man

I have had the most uplifting week. Bcause of my interest in phenomenology and the fact that since 1976 I have adopted the Schutzian phenomenological approach to research I have been asked to submit a list of all my published research which will then be stored in the archives in a University in Tokyo where all the secondary bibliographical works of Alfred Schutz are stored.

I am so chuffed. It has done me and my ego an enormous amount of good.

Go well and nice to hear from you.

Regards

Christiane.

Do give that most beautiful park in Hobart my love!. Do they still fly kites near the harbour. I have never in all my life seen such wonderful extraordinary kites!!.

Dear Ivan the Terriblle,

Of course you can call me Christiane. and yes, I was also ran for years and years, and thankfully lost that name and so was pleased to become this very exciting new name!!

I remember going to that dreadful prison . It still gives me the shivers when I think of it. Apparently it was modelled on a prison which had just been built in London but I cannot remember which one it was.

The older I get the more I realise what is meant by Man's Inhumanity to Man

I have had the most uplifting week. Bcause of my interest in phenomenology and the fact that since 1976 I have adopted the Schutzian phenomenological approach to research I have been asked to submit a list of all my published research which will then be stored in the archives in a University in Tokyo where all the secondary bibliographical works of Alfred Schutz are stored.

I am so chuffed. It has done me and my ego an enormous amount of good.

Go well and nice to hear from you.

Regards

Christiane.

Do give that most beautiful park in Hobart my love!. Do they still fly kites near the harbour. I have never in all my life seen such wonderful extraordinary kites!!.