New Adelaidia Web Site

I’m excited about the new web site http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/.

Presented by History SA (of which I’m a Trustee), Adelaidia is an interactive way of finding out about and engaging with our city’s past and present. It tells the stories of the city’s people, places and events, the city streets and the buildings and monuments that line them, and the events that enliven them.

And we want your help to tell the story, to share your stories of the city, your favorite images and your responses.

Warriors SA AGM

Ian addressing the AGM

It was an honour to be re-elected as Vice-President of the Weekend Warriors Music Club (SA) at the club’s AGM today.

Weekend Warriors is a club for recreational musicians and singers to meet like-minded people, form bands and ensembles, find gigs and perform live.

If you’d like to join a band for fun and have opportunities to perform live in a range of gigs and venues, please visit www.sawarriors.org.au.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Rees Photography.

Quiet Night in Birmingham

On this day, 50 years ago, late on a Friday night in downtown Birmingham, UK, my dad and I were coming out of the AGM of our fishing club.

Stepping out into the normally bustling Friday night city streets, we wondered why everything seemed so quiet. There was hardly any traffic and small groups of people were huddled on street corners, talking together quietly but intently. It was very strange.

Dad asked someone, “What’s going on?”

The reply: “Kennedy’s been shot”.

James Nash House Gig

Just returned from an enjoyable gig with Wound Up at James Nash House to help celebrate World Mental Health Day.

What could be more authentic than playing rock and roll in the gym?

Thanks to the patients and staff for making us welcome, feeding us a great lunch and helping us put on a good show through their support, encouragement and, importantly, their dancing.

Tall Ships on Fathers' Day

The Dutch Tall Ships left Port Adelaide on Sunday 1 Sept en route to Kangaroo Island. I was a guest on the racing yacht Alliance which accompanied them on the first part of their journey along the South Australian coast.

Thanks to Skipper Jim for the invitation and to the crew. I took many photos of the magnificent Tall Ships. This one shows the Oosterschelde (left) and the Europa off Glenelg.

Istanbul

Blue Mosque

Our hotel is in the old city, just a few hundred metres from the Blue Mosque. From the terrace of the rooftop restaurant, we looked straight down at the floodlight mosque on a velvet night under a full moon, with the Bosphorus beyond and the lights of the new town in the distance on the other side of the river.

Just after I took this photo, the muzzein started the late evening call to prayer, and the call was taken up by another over to the left. The two voices interwove, complemented and improvised off each other in way that raises the hairs on your arms and back of your neck.

Borrowing an e-book

I just “borrowed” my first e-book from a library.

South Australian recently introduced a “one card” system. That means you belong to a State-wide virtual library comprising every municipal and community library in South Australia. Your one card gives you access to all the resources of all the participating libraries.

My clever wife was instrumental in getting the system established.

But wait, there’s more. It also gives you access to a library of e-books. You can browse or search an on-line catalogue, find an e-book and “borrow” (or reserve) it. It downloads a copy to your computer or handheld device and is accessible for a set loan period.

When you’ve finished, you can “return” it to the library with the click of a mouse (or tap of your finger). That deletes your copy and releases the e-book back to the catalogue for the next borrower. If you don’t return it, then at the end of the loan period, it vanishes from your device. Brilliant.