Oreti Village, Pukawa Bay, North Island, New Zeland
On the southern tip of Lake Taupo
Three days after we arrive. Cold. Red Sky.
A warning that the weather is going to change. Will it be rain or snow?
It is as cold and peaceful as the first, but the sun is not yet shining. All we have is this ethereal pinkish tinge to the sky
Before the first clouds appear. The surface of the lake is like a mirror, reflecting the sky, and clouds.
How soon will it be before the boats begin to appear?
A teacher will mark a test in order to give the student a mark out of 100. Yes, to mark a test means to ascertain right and wrong answers and score it accordingly, and getting a mark out of 100 could determine a great many different outcomes at school.
Whereas a mark on your clothes could mean you’ve been playing with fire, rolled in the mud or if much older having a salacious affair with an unexplainable lipstick mark on your collar.
A mark is someone that a con man believes will be easily deceived.
A mark is a catch in certain types of football.
You can have an identifying mark on some item of property.
it’s literally the x marks the spot for someone who cannot write, i.e. make your mark
There can be a mark on a rope that indicates the depth of water.
And many, many more…
But not to be confused with marque, which could be the make or model of a particular type of car
Or marc with is the refuse of grapes after being pressed
It was recently topical because of the Commonwealth Games, but we have been to the Gold Coast on many occasions and nearly always stayed at the Hilton.
Nearly all of the photos here are taken from floor 13 through to 45, some close to the ocean, others facing north, and west, towards the hinterland.
Below is one of the main beaches, where the typical sun, sand, and surf pretty well sums it up. Been ion the water a few times myself, and it is amazing how warm it can be on some days, and how cold it can be on others.
And a surfer’s paradise it sure is!
At the bottom, the start of the shopping centers and eateries. The is more different types of food there that can be counted on the fingers and toes together.
The beach just to the north, and where the market stalls set up at night.
Further north, through the highrises, and far, far into the distance towards Brisbane.
North, again, looking up Cavill Avenue.
South, showing highrises and the Q Tower.
South, taken from the Q Tower, the coastline to Coolangatta dotted with high rise apartment blocks.
The two towers behind the Grand Chancellor, are the twin towers of the Hilton Hotel.
From the Q Tower, looking towards the canal residential precinct.
Yes, we were looking for whales, no we didn’t see any. The ocean, though, was unusually calm.
This is to be willing to do, say, or believe anything that offers even the slightest hope in a desperate situation, even though there is almost no chance for success.
Sound familiar?
We all have a preferred position in any debate, sometimes a pre-conceived notion that we are right and the rest of the world is wrong.
And, just to prove it we will grasp at any straw, no matter how wrong it might be, how big a lie it might be, simply because it fits our narrative.
Politicians are good at it.
Salespeople are too, and they will tell you anything to make a sale.
Seems politicians are little more than salespeople. Especially when you hold up a foot-thick pile of paper and call it a policy. Of course, it is. Look at all this paper! And you can find it on the internet.
I’ve found incontrovertible truth that aliens have landed on earth many times, and walk amongst us, on the internet too.
Add to the straws the notion that if you throw enough mud some it will stick.
Likewise, if you say the same thing over and over, no matter how wrong it is, people will begin to believe it.
You read it, and see it, and read it again, ten, twenty times a day, over and over until you have been brainwashed.
Nobody repeats the truth, have you noticed that?
The truth usually appears at the bottom of page 17 of a newspaper, buried by the Ford, Ram Truck, and Coca Cola advertisements.
But the lies, the narrative that you are supposed to hear, it comes at you from every angle, papers, magazines, all over the internet, cable channels, everywhere. It will be on roadside billboards soon.
The CIA and the KGB came up with that little idea. It’s called brainwashing.
It’s made to sound authentic, that it’s come from ‘experts’, people allegedly with degrees in everything but UFO technology, and because it sounds authoritative, we believe it.
Especially after we’ve been told hundreds of times.
A case in point, I can tell you almost word for word some of the most obnoxious advertisements on television going back 50 years, yes, 50 years, because we were inundated with them, day and night, all the time, for years.
Of course, with fake news and political lies continually being spoken, printed, and hurled at us ad infinitum, no one really knows what the truth is anymore. I tried looking at the bottom of page 17 for it, but it’s not there.
Like I said, no one is willing to tell the truth more than once.
So, whilst being told by one side that I’m in a vulnerable group and COVID 19 will kill me if I get it, the other side is telling me there’s no such thing as COVID 19 and it’s just an elaborate hoax.
Whoever created this elaborate hoax has done a good job, though, managing to enlist 218 countries worldwide, all their medical authorities, and all of the governments. That’s some incredible effort.
So, my two cents worth, if every country in the world can partake in a hoax, why can’t they band together in world peace, free trade, and no wars.
Is it a pie in the sky moment?
Or just a little bit idealistic?
A fine day, on this trip a rarity, we decided to take the train to Windsor and see the castle.
This is a real castle, and still in one piece, unlike a lot of castles.
Were we hoping to see the Queen, no, it was highly unlikely.
But there were a lot of planes flying overhead into Heathrow. The wind must have been blowing the wrong day, and I’m sure, with one passing over every few minutes, it must annoy the Queen if she was looking for peace and quiet.
Good thing then, when it was built, it was an ideal spot, and not under the landing path. I guess it was hard to predict what would happen 500 years in the future!
I’m not sure if this was the front gate or back gate, but I was wary of any stray arrows coming out of those slits either side of the entrance.
You just never know!
An excellent lawn for croquet. This, I think, is the doorway, on the left, where dignitaries arrive by car. The private apartments are across the back.
The visitor’s apartments. Not sure who that is on the horse.
St George’s Chapel. It’s a magnificent church for a private castle. It’s been very busy the last few months with Royal weddings.
The Round Tower, or the Keep. It is the castle’s centerpiece. Below it is the gardens.
Those stairs are not for the faint-hearted, nor the Queen I suspect. But I think quite a few royal children and their friends have been up and down them a few times.
And well worth the effort to reach the bottom.
Any faces peering out through the windows?
And, of course, the description.
Probably one of the hardest things for a first-time author is not so much the writing but what is needed after the book is written.
You need a good description. Short, sharp, incisive!
There’s a ream of advice out there, and I have read it all.
And, still, I got it wrong.
Then there is the cover.
I wanted simplistic, a short description to give the reader a taste of what’s in store, and let the story speak for itself.
No.
Apparently, a good cover will attract the reader to the book.
When I tendered my books on various sites to advertise them, sites such as Goodreads, and ThirdScribe, all was well with what I had done.
Then I submitted my books to a third site and they rejected the covers as too simplistic and the descriptions mundane, and wouldn’t post them.
Wow.
There’s a huge blow to the ego. And just the sort of advice that would make a writer think twice about even bothering to continue.
But…
Perhaps the person who wrote that critique was being cruel to be kind.
But while I thought my covers were quite good, I made a mock up of them and then put the books n the shelf as they would in a book store, along with a few other books that I have bought, and I could see why they might not have the impact I was looking for.
So, with my graphic designer, both an app, and a person, namely my daughter, we started looking at the plot of the story and of weaving that into the cover, for at least three of my books.
Whilst I am far more impressed with the new covers, I wonder if they’re just too busy. Certainly, after you’ve read the book, you will understand the nuances and layers.
Will it be a case of ‘what a difference a cover makes’?
The Bund
The architecture along the Bund or Waitan is a living museum of the colonial history of the 1800s. The area centers on a section of Zhongshan Road within the former Shanghai International Settlement.
The word bund means an embankment or an embanked quay. It was initially a British settlement; later the British and American settlements were combined in the International Settlement.
The Bund is a mile-long stretch of waterfront promenade along the Huangpu River. There are 52 buildings of various architectural styles, including Gothic, baroque, and neoclassical styles. The area is often referred to as “the museum of buildings”.
Building styles include Romanesque Revival, Gothic Revival, Renaissance Revival, Baroque Revival, Neo-Classical or Beaux-Arts, as well as a number in Art Deco style.
Having seen these buildings initially the night before, mostly lit up, our viewing this morning was from the land side, and particularly interesting in that the colonial architecture was really fascinating considering their location, but not surprising given Shanghai’s history. A lot of these buildings would be more at home in London, that out in the far east.
The Bund waterfront is about two kilometers long and impossible to cover in the time allowed for this part of the tour.
There was just enough time to get photos of the waterfront and the old buildings.
Some of these buildings had odd shapes, like one on the far right that looks like a bottle opener.
And, for some odd reason, a bull.
On the other side of the water, the sights that had been quite colorful the night before, were equally impressive though somewhat diminished by the haze.
We have stayed in two different types of accommodation in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia, as a timeshare owner who can trade their week for a week anywhere in the world.
Both are resorts, but different sorts of resorts. The first was a typical RCI resort, where everything is laid back and relaxing, with all the amenities one can expect from a resort.
The other, this one, the Wyndham in Coffs Harbour, is very different, and you notice it when you walk in the front door. You are virtually assaulted by hard-nosed timeshare sales staff who really don’t take no for an answer, and then when you finally escape, ring you every day to make an appointment.
I left the phone off the hook.
Aside from that, the place is excellent, the accommodation very good, and the situation one of the best with what could be called a private beach. There are also a number of bushwalks that cater to old people like me.
As you can see, lakes and greenery, and even a putting green.
And in places, they try very hard to hide the ugly multi-story buildings in amongst the trees
It is only a short walk to the ‘private beach’ and it is sufficiently long enough for a morning walk before breakfast. You could even try to catch some fish for breakfast, though I’m not sure if anyone actually caught anything
Or you can just stare out to sea
And, back in the room, this is the view we had from our verandah
Have you seen one? I haven’t. Yet.
I’ve stayed in a few places where ghosts were purported to be roaming the passages at night, but apparently not the night I was staying.
And that’s something else that I have a problem with, why is it ghosts only come out at night, or is that just the perception I have hot from reading up on the subject.
Maybe my view of ghosts is somewhat stilted, after all, I think my first introduction to ghosts was watching The Centerville Ghost, a movie I saw on t.v. when I was very young.
You have to admit Hollywood’s perception of ghosts is quite interesting.
But…
Do you think they are real? Do I think they are real?
I think I would have to be presented with some fairly solid evidence they exist, but perhaps not to the point of meeting one.
There are, it seems countless examples of ethereal forces, you know, wind blowing where there’s no wind or draught outside, room temperatures dropping for no apparent reason, knocking, rattling of chains, strange noises like low moaning.
And yet…
There are hotels you can stay in such as the Chelsea Hotel in New York, where it’s possible to run into Sid Vicious.
Sorry, not staying there any time soon.
Then there’s the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles where it’s possible to run into Marylin Monroe, who lived in room 229.
That could be an interesting encounter.
Another is the Westin St Francis in San Francisco where the actress Virginia Rappe died while attending a party held in Fatty Arbuckle’s room, Arbuckle’s room, who was later accused of assaulting and murdering her, and whose career tanked after the incident.
Her ghost is seen moving about the hotel tearing her hair out. It seems all of the spectral activity occurs on the 12th floor.
Good to know if I decide to stay there. I wonder if they have a 13th floor?
Perhaps in too old to be running the gamut of paranormal experiences, the old heart is not as strong as it used to be.
Tiananmen Square
Some interesting facts before we get out of the bus…
Tiananmen Square or Tian’anmen Square is in the centre of Beijing name after the Gate of Heavenly Peace, a gate that one separated the square from the Forbidden City.
The Square contains,
the Monument to the People’s Heroes
the Great Hall of the People
the National Museum of China
the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong.
The square is about 109 acres and was designed and built in 1651, and since then been enlarged four times since, the most recent upgrade in the 1950s.
The Monument to the People’s Heroes
This is a ten-story obelisk built to commemorate the matters of the revolutions. It was built between August 1952 and May 1958. On the pedestal are reliefs depicting the eight major revolutionary episodes.
The Great Hall of the People
This was opened in September 1959, and covers 171809 square meters. The Great Hall is the largest auditorium in China and can seat up to 10,000 people. The State Banquet Hall can seat up to 5,000 diners.
The National Museum of China
This is one of the largest museums in the world and the second most visited museum in the world after the Louvre in Paris. It was completed in 1959, and sits on 65 hectares, and rises four floors. It has a permanent collection of over 1,000,000 items.
The Mauseloum of Mao Zedong
This was built shortly after his death, and completed on May 24th, 1977. The embalmed body of the Chairman is preserved and on display in the center hall.
My own observations
This is huge; one of the largest public squares in the world, and if you’re going to walk it, like we did, make sure you’ve been exercising before you go. It covers 44 hectares, borders on the Forbidden City, and has a memorial to Chairman Mao in the center of it. But you cannot go near it, it’s fenced off, and it is guarded.
That’s both the statue and the square as there are random guards marching in random directions all the while watching us to see that we don’t misbehave.No one wants to find out what would happen if you jumped the fence around the statue, but I’m guessing you’ll have a few years to contemplate the stupidity of your actions with some very unhappy government officials.
Around the edges of the square are huge buildings, on one side is the museum
and on the other is the Chinese equivalent of parliament.
Around the sides are also large gardens
At one end, where the Forbidden City borders on the square, there’s a huge flag pole flying the Chinese flag, and this too like the monument is fenced off, and guarded by members of all of their armed services. No tanks rolled out during our visit much to our disappointment. There is no entrance to the Forbidden City from the square
At the other end is the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, which was closed the day we were there, as was the museum.
There are four sculptural groups installed outside the mausoleum.
Other than that, it’s just another square, albeit probably one of the largest in the world. It can, we were told, hold about a million people.
Thrills, Spills, and just a dash of Romance 