Beautiful Seasons

Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice in Australia, the shortest day of the year. We are in winter after that, though it's been pretty cold the past couple of weeks, at least in Australian terms. I've woken to frost on my car in the mornings, and we had severe rain last weekend. But I personally like seasons, and wouldn't like to be living in an area without seasonal weather differences. Each season brings it's own beauty to the world, even winter. The rains bring water essential to life, and from death comes regrowth in the natural world. Even in the heart of a city, beauty can be found if you're looking for it.

A fallen leaf hosts drops of rain water on a sunny day.

Glorious March Weather

It's been a while since I posted. So I'm going to slowly get back into it. Melbourne has had an amazing March in terms of weather and I've been fortunate enough to have had some chance to see some of the beauty of Melbourne and its surrounds during this late summer heat. Here are some photo's:

Reflections on the Yarra River at Warrandyte

Ducks are tame at Fairfield Park

Sea life in Port Phillip Bay

Caroline, without whom my travels (and life) would be far less enjoyable

Rock pool close up at Black Rock

An Englishman Abroad?

Iconic Brighton Beach Huts. People already swimming at 8 am as the temperature hits 30 C. Later it will be too hot to be outside!

The question on my mind today is to what extent do expats assimilate to their new countries. Or how much do they keep of their old country with them? This is on my mind as Melbourne hits temperatures that I'd never encountered before leaving the UK. I have been in 40 C temperatures before here in Australia. I moved to Australia in 2005 during the drought years in Victoria, and have lived through the 2009 season which is the worst on record. February 7th 2009 has been dubbed "Black Saturday" in Victoria when a combination of intense heat (47 C) and strong winds which brought down power lines and fanned flames, caused widespread devastation throughout Victoria and resulted in over 170 deaths.

The view from Elwood at 8 am this morning. A hazy 30 C temperature

This week has seen 40+ C temperatures in Melbourne, and it is something that I don't think I'll ever get used to. Today has seen a high of 42 C (108 F), yesterday was 41 C and tomorrow promises to be 44 C (112 F). Friday will also reach 40 C, but there is a cool change promised later in the day. Perhaps even more of a problem for me is the heat accumulation and the fact that is stays unbelievably warm at night. Tonight for instance, the low temp will be 26 C. To me that is a beautiful daytime temperature!

Personally I feel very Australian, I love where I live and fully embrace Australian culture in its multicultural dimensions. There are some things that I think I'll never get used to, but that doesn't deter from the fact that I feel totally at home here. As much as I love travelling to different countries, I always enjoy coming home to Melbourne, a feeling that I didn't really experience in the UK.

So while I might sound English, and have come from England, and still exhibit some English traits (it's difficult to throw off 40 years of social upbringing just like that), I don't consider myself an Englishman abroad. I am living where I want to be, which makes me more Australian than English!

My windswept Aussie look!

How Australian am I? Well, I scored 14/18 for a Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oy, oy, oy. How'd ya do, mate? Performance on this quiz: see if you are more Australian than me? :D

Summer's Here!

While the USA and UK are under severe polar conditions, here in Melbourne we are in for a week of soaring temperatures. Today is a pleasant high of 35 C, but from tomorrow we're due 4 days which are likely to top 40 C. While the daytime temperatures are searing, it is probably the nighttime that is difficult for an expat from the UK to get used to.

Fabulous photo of Niagara almost frozen at night (Donna Brok)

Funny that the heatwave here in Melbourne should coincide with the start of our Australian Open Tennis Championships. I was wondering today how many players would be happy for an early exit rather than having to play in 40 C conditions later in the week. The temperatures are also likely to play havoc with my exercise regime and my eating and drinking habits. I've managed to get up to about 30 km running a week at the moment (3 x 10 km runs), but I'm prone to heat stroke and wary to run much this week. If I do get out it will be very early or very late as it appears as if it may be reaching high 20's C by 7 am, and staying up to 30 C through till midnight.

Of course, hydration is important and so it is vital to get the right diet for this kind of weather. Unfortunately, this means coffee should be drunk sparingly, if at all (and it will be drunk!). It'll be plenty of water, fruit and salad for me this week. I'm thinking of trying some new food stuffs but some things seem to put me off, even just the name...

I'm not sure I could bring myself to eat something called Knackwurst!

Probably the best thing to do is find a cool place to sit quietly and just read a good book. While it might not be easy to find a cool place, there are no shortage of good books on my to read list, and I'm going to be spending some of time off this week losing myself in a good novel. So what will I be reading? It'll come from these choices:

I've recently read some amazing novels (in my opinion) and am always looking out for more, so if you think there is a novel that I should read, then please tell me. I'm open to any genre. For instance, I've recently read a Lee Child thriller, Isobelle Carmody young adult fantasy, Booker Prize winner Elizabeth Catton's historical mystery The Luminaries, and the cutting English comedy, The Yips by Nicola Barker.

And while I'm sitting around in the heat my thoughts might stray to things which I plan to do in the future. The most immediate of these is a trip to Hong Kong in March. Apart from catching a connection at the airport, I've never been to Hong Kong, but I'll be there in March. I can't wait to experience a new culture, and travel to a place I've never been before. I'm not too sure what Caroline and I will be doing there, but some sightseeing will definitely be on the cards, and especially checking out the cultural heritage of Hong Kong.

Can't wait to experience Hong Kong's cultural heritage

A Typical Wednesday

My work as a chess coach sees me mainly driving from school to school running hour long sessions of coaching and playing for kids. I also do some more advanced coaching, and try to write a little bit as well, and of course try to keep up with chess news and look at some games and ideas. During the week I have some time between lessons to relax, or work, or do whatever I feel like doing. I always have reading material with me ("Life After Life" by Kate Atkinson, "The String Diaries" by Stephen Lloyd Jones, and the latest  New in Chess Magazine), and a laptop with mobile internet access.

So besides my work admin site, and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, I have dropped into a sort of routine about which sites I look at on a regular basis. I follow chess news mainly through TWIC, though I sometimes go to other sites if there looks to be a story of interest. I also seek opinions on chess forums in both Australia and England (I must branch out a bit here, and start looking at some more forum sites). Today, I learned from the Australian Chesschat forum the sad news of the death of Peter Parr. I had never met Peter but his role in Australian chess is legendary, as an arbiter, organiser, mentor, chess shop owner and a player. Memories of Peter Parr, and tributes from chess players who knew him can be found here.

RIP Peter Parr (image from CDS)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It's currently a typical Melbourne winter's day. There is a fairly strong breeze blowing, and rain is coming in showers. Funnily enough, the day started in a completely different manner, with sunshine and what felt to me like a surprisingly early sunrise. Needless to say that Melbourne is famous for it's 4 seasons in a day. My main concern is whether the rain will be coming down when I'm outside or inside. So far I've been pretty lucky this winter, as I have mostly seemed to avoid the rain. That luck has to run out sometime I guess! Talking about 'unlucky', GM Cori of Peru will definitely be feeling aggrieved being eliminated from the World Cup. Cori was involved in a potential big upset against Radjabov after finishing 1-1 in the Rapid games and taking the match to a blitz play off. Cori claims he thought the start time of the next round was 6.50, when in fact it was 6.15. After seeing players taking their seats online, he rushed to the playing hall, arriving 2 minutes late for the start of the game, and was forfeited. This seems incredibly harsh to me, especially as there were no written notices as to when the start time of rounds were to be. While the decision may have followed the letter of the law, it seems that the processes involved were rather sloppy, and this certainly needs tightening up, by organisers and FIDE.

I am somewhat luckier than Mr. Cori, as the rain has stopped just as I walk to head to my next class. Will the weather be as kind to me on the walk back?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Well luck has stayed with me today, and I've been inside when it's been raining, though we're only half way through the day. Driving between jobs can be somewhat monotonous and I often fill the time listening to music, like I guess a lot of drivers do. But sometimes I just like to think either about the lessons that I'm to present, or chess in general, or anything else that comes to mind. Today, 2 subjects have been buzzing round my mind in spare moments. One is what I genuinely feel about the 'zero tolerance' rule that cost GM Cori his game, and the other is coffee!

I actually quite like the fact that a player can be forfeited if he isn't ready to start at the allotted time. If chess wants to be recognised as a professional game/sport then I think setting professional standards of organisation and behaviour is reasonable. Of course, the case involving GM Cori was anything but professional. A minimum expectancy from the organisers should be prior written instructions as to when rounds are to be played. In this case it was a verbal instruction given to players after the stress of having already played in a 2 game rapid match. The more I consider this, the more I personally don't think that this case was handled fairly and I have a definite sympathy with Cori.

Quite another issue is applying the zero tolerance rule to all events, and this touches on how different levels of events are treated. I'm sure if FIDE could get their way, then all FIDE rated events would have an automatic forfeit rule for players not present at the start of a playing session. But at the amateur level this is really not realistic. Take for instance, the FIDE rated tournament currently being played at the MCC, the Malitis Memorial. Players are travelling to the club after work on a Monday, through traffic which can sometimes be heavy and it cannot be expected that they would get to the venue for the start time of 7.15 pm every week. In fact. some players even let the arbiter know if they will be late in an act of courtesy to the club and their opponent. Thankfully, tournament organisers currently have the discretionary ability to state their own forfeit time for a game, and the MCC uses a 30 minute period of grace for a player to arrive after the start of the playing session. If a player has trouble with this, then postponements, and late starts (with the agreement of an opponent) are possible.

There are definitely 2 tiers to chess competition, and even if we all play under one rating system, FIDE have to understand that local club players have different needs to the top professionals. Getting sponsorship and full recognition at the top level is a different issue to getting a large number of bodies to play chess at lower levels, but both are equally important for their own reasons.

I'm the Expresso (from a meme site)

Coffee is a different subject that I have daily thoughts about. In fact, I may have a mild addiction to coffee, and I usually have 1 or 2 coffee's a day. We're not talking about instant coffee here, but the real thing. My preference is simply black coffee, either in short or long form. I don't take milk or sugar preferring the genuine taste of the coffee. Or at least, I hope to enjoy the taste of the coffee, though they aren't always great. I usually pick up a take away on my way to my first class in the morning. This class will be at 8 am each morning so an early pick me up int he form of a coffee is much needed. I tend to pick my coffee up from the Artful Dodger in Elsternwick which serves a very good coffee, strong and full bodied, but with s slightly sweet flavour. After that I tend to find somewhere to sit and have a coffee at some stage during the day. Today I was in the bayside suburb of Black Rock and had a pretty decent long black in Jacques, along with a tasty almond croissant.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Well, I'm sitting at home in the evening after a miraculous day of missing rain showers and staying dry. I suppose I should really apologise for going on about the weather, but I believe it has something to do with my English upbringing. With rain always around the corner, the English are weather obsessed, and if it's not too wet, then it must be too hot, or too cold, or too dry, or just "not quite right", or "about to deteriorate". Looking back on my day, I can say there were some real highlights. Starting a new book is always a risky thing, but "The String Diaries" has completely gripped me. It has the potential to be one of the best thrillers I've ever read (not that I'm particularly well read in that genre).

(Goodreads)

The other notable moment was when I was showing some of the kids I teach pictures of top chess players from my New in Chess Magazine. Comments included "Wow, he's just a kid" (on Carlsen), "Who's that old guy?" (on Gelfand, depressingly younger than me!) and "He looks weird" (on Ivanchuk). Sometimes it's a challenge working with kids, but there are times when it brings a smile to your face!

By the way, just 33 days before my holiday!!

Getting On With It

There's nothing else to do really, is there? Today was a beautiful autumn day in Melbourne, about 22C high with clear blue skies for most of the day. What a glorious day for me to have a day off...but an awful day for a very sore back. I'm not sure what I've done, but it is quite painful to walk, let alone run so my exercise program is out the window for the moment. Still, I couldn't stay at home all day while the sun basked outside. I headed off for a coffee and the healing power of the sunshine. I have to admit, I'm a creature of habit when it comes down to coffee. I like certain cafes and keep going back to them. Don't get me wrong, I like to try new places once in a while, but they have to have the right feel, the right look, the right name even!

Do you have to be 18 to catch a Dose at this cafe?

I must be getting old, or getting soft. The death of Margaret Thatcher didn't really bring out any emotion in me. I have been vehemently anti-Thatcherite and anti-Conservative throughout my adult life, but rather than jumping on the bandwagon praising her death, the most I can bring myself to do is not think too much about it. Much like anyone that I didn't personally know, I feel nothing regarding her death. The only thought I really have about the legacy of a post Thatcher UK is that I'm glad I now live in Melbourne, Australia!

Bob Hope making wisdom funny

"No one party can fool all of the people all of the time; that's why we have two parties" - Bob Hope

I don't often review books on this blog, (and never chess books) and I don't intend to start now, but I have to say that I've read some amazing novels recently. I'm currently reading Cloud Atlas which I've only just started, but it is absolutely intriguing. I have absolutely no idea where this book is going! I love that in a novel. Predictability is so tedious.

Perks of Being a Wallflower - a great film

I have always enjoyed reading Booker Man nominated literature. At least I enjoy reading them in between the vast quantites of fantasy, crime fiction and chess literature that I get through. Actually, someone once asked me why I read so much banal fiction and hardly any non-fiction. I told them that I usually read a number of books and articles about history regularly, and chess is hardly non-fiction in most of it's presentations. I read, like most people, to escape. I watch very little TV or film (although The Perks of Being A Wallflower, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel are both beautiful films) so I lose myself in written fiction. Anyway, going back to the Man Booker nominees, my favourite novel is probably "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro. I have to say that "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" was certainly a close call for me. In fact Rachel Joyce's novel was in my opinion so good that I decided to read the novel that beat it to the Booker Prize, Hilary Mantel's "Bring Up The Bodies".

My current reading

I'm also trying to downsize my library. I don't think that I need to keep more than 20 books, so they will be my absolute favourites, books that I could read again and again. It's pretty tricky picking your favourite novels, and it should be something totally personal to you. So far, my shelf has the following:

Remains of the Day - Ishiguro

Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Joyce

Captain Corelli's Mandolin - de Bernieres

The Alchemist - Coelho

Birdsong -Faulks

The Magus - Fowles

The Bonfire of the Vanities - Wolfe

Lord of the Rings - Tolkien

So there's room for some more, but I will only keep 20. Thankfully I own a Kindle now!

One last thing today. This is for both chess and non chess friends. There is an excellent remembrance of an English chess player, Adrian Hollis, at chesscafe. Tim Harding's article is among his best (and I've been reading his column for I can't remember how long), including at the end some information about Hollis's father who was accused of espionage during the 1970's and 1980's, when the spycatcher furore was at its peak.

Travel Tips for those getting home from extreme Weather Affected Regions

The first and most important tip is don't expect anything to go your way. If you expect the worst, then you probably won't be disappointed and will manage difficult situations better.

The second tip is don't let your frustrations get the better of you. Getting angry only really wears you down more, and people are more likely to be responsive and helpful if you are calm and polite.

The third tip is try to laugh and keep your spirits high. It is easy to get stressed and upset, though the situation is really out of your control so not your fault. High stress levels are a serious health hazard and will also affect one's judgement, thought processes and energy levels, all of which will be needed in good supply during these types of extreme situations.

Extreme Queensland Floods: This is already becoming an iconic image of this year's disaster, courtesy of 7news

Case Study:

Travelling Virgin Australia from Gold Coast, Queensland to Melbourne, Victoria while Tropical Cyclone Oswald makes its way down the length of Queensland.

I was due to fly back from Gold Coast, Coolangatta Airport on Sunday 27th January, but a major cyclone blew into the region in the south east of Queensland sometime on Friday and by Sunday there was plenty of rain affecting the whole area. We'd seen and heard on the news of flooding to the north, where the cyclone was coming from and were on edge as to whether we would be able to fly home that day. However, it was still a bit disappointing when the call finally came to us from Virgin Australia that our flight had been cancelled (when I say we, there were a lot of families in the group I was with and many worked together to try and help each other out).

At this point contingency plans start to be looked at. So, was it possible to transfer to the bigger neighbouring airport at Brisbane, or was it possible to hire a car and drive, or would it be necessary to sit tight in a hotel and wait for the storm to pass? As the drive home involved 2 full days of driving, and no one wanted to stay any longer than necessary, the plan was to transfer the booking to Brisbane. A phone call from one of our group to her son in Melbourne had him waiting on the line to the Virgin call centre (no doubt everybody else affected had the same idea, as he was on hold for the best part of an hour) and eventually he managed to get a big group of us booked on to a flight leaving Brisbane on the 27th at 7pm. We were told we would have to make our own way to Brisbane, though in fact we later found out that buses were shuttling passengers from Coolangatta to Brisbane and we could have done this. Instead we all jumped on train and paid out for the 1 hour 45 minute journey to Brisbane Airport.

The train journey took us through flood ravaged areas, and didn't inspire hope of getting away. At Brisbane Airport, we were greeted with high winds, lashing rains and long queues. We waited for about 2 and a half hours for a flight which was delayed from 7pm to 8pm. We were boarded sometime near 9pm though it still seemed unbelievable that we would take off. The plane was rocking in the high winds while stationary so I personally was somewhat worried about how the plane would fare during take off. Then came some particularly poor customer service actions by Virgin Australia staff.

1. Pilot informs us that he has flown too many hours and will need to be replaced. This causes us to wait another half hour on the plane.
2. New pilot introduces himself and complains that he was dragged away from the TV where he was watching the Australian Open Tennis Final. He also informs us that the cabin supervisor changed flights and we have to wait for another cabin supervisor.
3. Another 20 minutes passes before we're told that the flight we're sat on has been cancelled as no more staff can be found. No apology offered, but we are told to pick up our bags, go home and call the Virgin helpline to get a new flight!
4. Staff back in the airport just repeat the message already told to us, and offer no further advice.

So we have no choice but to stay another night in Queensland, though we are told that Virgin will recompense us for our hotel bills (we will see!). Thank heavens for 21st Century technology, as smart phones, tablets and laptops were all immediately put to use to find a place to stay and we all managed to get in the same hotel (14 of us). By this time we were tired and despondent and it didn't really help the nerves when the hotel's electricity cut out soon after we arrived. I think it was a difficult night's sleep for many in the group who were worrying about how the following day would go, but I managed to sleep ok for maybe 6 hours. The next morning it was back to the phones, though my plan was to go straight to Brisbane Airport to try to sort things out at the Virgin service desk. This is eventually what I did, though others in the group had managed to reschedule flights, though they decided to leave Brisbane early and fly home via Sydney. En route to the airport, more signs of devastation became apparent with trees blown down and major flooding. At this point I think most of us had to admit our frustration the night before at being stranded in Brisbane had been wrong, and perhaps we were lucky that the plane hadn't tried to take off in the terrible conditions.

The scene outside my hotel after a night stranded in Brisbane

Back at Brisbane Airport, at the service desk I was able to smile and act friendly and I was soon placed on a flight direct to Melbourne at 4.55pm. I dropped off my bag, got my boarding pass and went through the security to the departure lounge for the long wait for my flight. At this point all of the group were splitting up. Half were off to Sydney, while half of us were going on later flights direct to Melbourne. We started to laugh about our situation and likened things to the TV show, The Amazing Race. (Today, I received an email looking at our situation from exactly this perspective. It's pretty funny, but especially for those who were there). All our flights were delayed, as were most of the flights that day, but we all managed to get off and all of us got back to Melbourne that evening.There were some doubts going through my mind until the plane was actually speeding down the runway and I'm sure that the others had the same doubts.

Due to the chaos of the day, my bag had been left in Brisbane, while another family had their luggage left in Sydney but they were all luckily returned to us today. It has been a nightmare travel experience for all of us but the worst we had to endure was some discomfort, some stress and disappointment and an extra night away from home. The real sufferers are those who are having to live through the floods in areas of Queensland and New South Wales and my heart goes out to those people affected by it. The images shown on the news have been truly frightening, and even that which I witnessed personally were pretty scary.

I'll leave you with a before and during image. Last Tuesday, I'd been walking around the Gold Coast having a beautiful day out. Just a few days later the storm came in, completely changing the surroundings.

Burleigh Heads beach on a typical summer's day (22nd January 2013)

The same beach on 28th January 2013, as reported on 7news

Last day of the Australian Juniors

This post has been cancelled due to bad weather!

So far, due to high winds and torrential rains caused by Tropical Cyclone Oswald, I have had the most weird of days. First I discovered my flight from Gold Coast Airport back to Melbourne had been cancelled. Then I discovered that I had been rescheduled on to a plane at Brisbane, except there was no idea given on how to get there, so with some other parents and kids in the same condition I jumped a train to Brisbane Airport. I then stood in a queue for about 3 hours before being checked in and am now sitting at the gate, waiting to board my flight which is already 35 minutes late. So I will not be back in Melbourne before about 11pm local time.

Therefore, thanks to the Queensland weather this blog post in cancelled due to bad weather conditions. I'll be writing it in full tomorrow.

Surf up on the Gold Coast

Torrential rain and heavy winds at Brisbane Airport

A very wet Varsity Lakes train station on the Gold Coast