Long weekend snaps

Sunday was a beautiful day. Lots of people were out and about enjoying the sunshine. I had a walk over to Claisebrook Cove (7 kms round trip) and even treated myself to a take-away coffee. I wasn’t alone:

People waited patiently for their name to be called and then took their coffee away to a shady spot:

This family, sitting on the grass in front of me, were considering what to have for dinner as Mum read out various tempting options from a foodie site on her phone. They eventually decided on BBQ’d spare ribs.

This austere building is home to the Chinese Embassy.

Many boats on the river as I crossed the Windan Bridge on my way home.

Schools re-open here tomorrow. In the light of the flattened curve, gatherings of up to 10 are now permitted. There are potential threats from 4 incoming flights to Perth this week, returning Aussies from India, S.Africa, Malaysia and France. Fingers crossed!

Lest We Forget

Yesterday was arguably the most important date on the Australian calendar. Every year on Anzac Day, dawn services are held at war memorials all over the country. This year people stood on their driveways to hear the last post. Young and old held candles. Anzac Day commemorates the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915 when there was a huge loss of life on the beaches of Turkey.

Today is another anniversary: the destruction of Guernica in the Basque country of Northern Spain in 1937. The Luftwaffe systematically bombed the civilian population for several hours, deliberately selecting market day in the small town to maximise the number of casualties. Picasso’s enormous black and white painting is a moving reminder of the event. I’ve seen the painting in Madrid, where it covers an entire wall of the art gallery. 

I can also recommend the book by Dave Boling. Fiction illuminates history:

This year I was planning to visit Guernica on the Camino del Norte till Covid19 put paid to all my travel plans.

In other news, it’s exactly 5 weeks since I ordered some wool from Loveknitting in the UK. Australia Post cannot cope with the increased volume of parcels as a result of online shopping. My wool is on its way, but where is it?

6,500 steps and a crate of beer

Our liquor restrictions mean I can order a crate of beer but only 3 bottles of wine for home delivery. So I took that option. I’ve now got 24 bottles of Peroni Leggera and 3 of Lobster Reef Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a long weekend for Anzac Day; let’s hope not too many people get tempted to break out of isolation after staying in over Easter.

My 6,500 steps represent a longish walk for me as I did a circuit of the Chevron Parklands on the far side of the stadium. This area has been beautifully landscaped over what was once a rubbish dump and landfill site. There are lots of creative play spaces, many making use of old logs from timber that was felled to make way for the stadium construction.

This represents a dry creek bed into which hundreds of  pebbles have been deposited.

These pipes are tunnels for kids to creep along. The porthole windows have designs done by an Aboriginal artist.

This display features an Aboriginal story with a warning about over-indulgence:

Meanwhile, this is what was served in a NZ quarantine hotel:

Over Indulgence NZ

That's MY title!

I've been blogging with the title Camino Confidential since 2013.  I was quite proud of the idea when I first thought of it.  Now I've just discovered that someone has been using MY title on YouTube. In September 2019, two American couples set off from St Jean Pied de Port to walk the Camino Frances. There are about 45 episodes. It's actually an offshoot of their vlog Campfire Confidential, which describes their other long-distance trails. So, I don't think they deliberately stole my idea: it was just coincidence.

They use a mixture of videos and still photos, all of a very high standard, though I'm not keen on their "daily roundup" in the evenings.  These seem a bit contrived and mechanical.  This is a screenshot of their vlog:

Food

Some UK bloggers have reported problems with food deliveries from supermarkets: not being able to get a slot or substandard items in the boxes. Prepacked boxes contained too much fattening food and damaged tins.

I’ve been fortunate with Woolworths deliveries which I get once a week on Wednesday evenings. I can always get a slot because they have a priority ordering system for seniors. I’ve been an online customer of theirs since I had my hip replacement, when I wasn’t allowed to drive for 6 weeks. Lately there have been more substitutions when items were not available. They always send things of greater value. For example, a whole chicken when I’d ordered thighs, two packs of frozen organic blueberries when the normal ones had run out, a 1.5 litre bottle of orange juice instead of a 600 ml one. Their veggies are always a bit tired, but oranges and bananas are fine. We get top-ups from C who visits a local greengrocer near her office which even sells fresh figs. She also brings us essentials like Aldi’s chocs and wine boxes. We only really lack stuff if I forget to order it.

Last night we enjoyed red meat for a change, in the form of BBQ’d lamb chops - a great favourite of mine. I used to consume 4 at a time, but have to make do with only 2 now! I served them with mushrooms, carrots, beans and rice. We drank a precious bottle of Proximo from the Marqués de Riscal vineyard in the Rioja (a place which I visited a couple of years ago whilst on a deviation from the Camino). It’s not expensive and sold here by Dan Murphy’s.

I’ve just come across the frenetic Gordon Ramsay cooking a similar dish on YouTube at his self-isolation home in Cornwall. Mine was much less chaotic in the preparation.

Tales from the Vasco

Some of the passengers from the Vasco da Gama are still waiting to go home. I see quite a few of them from the hotels next door taking their morning exercise. Today I had a chat with a lady from Cairns, who came out of lockdown on Good Friday and is hopeful of onward transport news today. She told me the hotel food had been quite OK, but no alcohol was allowed. Being a Christian, she had given it up anyway for Lent, along with chocolate and ice cream!

She said she had boarded the Vasco in Singapore and the pandemic was called just as they were leaving harbour heading for Phuket. All ports were closed to them after that, so they were at sea for 3 weeks, but looked after very well by the crew. It had in no way put her off cruising. She was quite cheerful about it all, but said there were a few “agitators” in the hotel.

I gleaned all this information whilst sitting on a park bench, looking at the Swan Fountain:

What day is it?

Every day is the same in our self-imposed lockdown. We could go out but we don’t, except for a daily walk. A man has been jailed in Perth for breaking out of his hotel quarantine by jamming open a fire door, coming and going several times. He went on public transport to visit his girlfriend! Now he has another month’s free accommodation, without any fire doors.

I accessed our building’s fire doors in order to get to our herb garden. When I accidentally let it stay open a crack, the alarm sounded. I wanted to check on the new plantings, because the area had been closed off for  the installation of a new concrete path with a waterproof membrane. (The underground carpark is below). When I got outside I found some of the others celebrating with a pre-dinner drink.

The two boys have the ground floor apartment directly behind and have been doing the watering for the past two weeks.

The tomatoes have been replaced by kale and bok choy: looking good.

I made a mini quiche for two...

... and helped myself to a few roses from Crown to brighten the place up: