Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Paper Nautilus


Some years ago my friend Rob Thompson and I were flying my glider from Tasmania to mainland Australia when the weather closed in as we were approaching Flinders Island. We were forced to land on tiny Cape Baren Island (population about 250) at an airstrip which has a very short cross strip in case there are strong winds. By now it was blowing hard, and it was a very difficult landing.

We stayed overnight with the postmaster and his wife. Their son was in the RAAF (The Royal Australian Air Force) so they were very pleased to host a couple of fellow pilots. The postmaster's wife was a Tasmanian aborigine. The history of the Tasmanian aborigines is a very sad one indeed - the race was almost wiped out by the impact of the Europeans.

The postmaster collects paper nautilus shells which are from a type of squid which sometimes wash up on the beaches of the Bass Strait islands in the thousands after storms. Very few of the delicate shells survive as they are pecked and eaten by birds. I brought several of the rare and beautiful shells back to Sydney in the back of the glider, very carefully packed.

I made a present of one of those shells to Emile for his 18th birthday.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Baccalauréat


Riding in the car with Emile we discussed tomorrows' oral examination, his broken English and my extemely fragile franglais. I worked out that it was to be on a literary figure and suggested Molliere as a for instance. As I cannot yet roll my rrrs I had to explain you know, the writer from the 17th (or 18th) century, humorous plays...

The following day he phoned me and opened the conversation by telling me the subject of his exam. Molliere! Later when we met I asked if he was pulling my leg, mais non, he had it in his mind as he walked into the examination room, hoping it might be him as he knew the subject well. And it was.

...................

And in a similar vein

This year I intended to repeat last year's Alpine motorcycle trip with a friend as pillion passenger, but cancelled much to her disappointment. All was not lost, however, as she got a spot pillioning with the tour leader, Cliff Pop of Ozalps. Some sort of family emergency caused her to cancel too. Her son James returned to the UK after a visit with her in Australia, and there got into conversation with chap in a pub and mentioned that his mum was very disappointed to have missed the adventure. Turned out the chap he was chatting with was going on the very same trip.