Location: Manning Valley
Date: December 2009

22 December 2009. Yes, I know, I've been terribly slack this month. But today, I received via email a bunch of pics from my young friend Albert in Denmark. He's out on the farm with his mother's horses. The pics were taken after a blizzard and I thought it was such a contrast to Christmas in Oz, where it's all sunshine, beaches and Speedos, that I would post them here just to share them with you.

It's the first time I've seen Albert close up. He looks a bit like a younger version of Chief Sitting Bull hehe. He was born in Columbia, adopted and raised in Denmark. So he's a ridgy didge South American Indian, just like the Incas and Aztecs. I think that's pretty cool, actually. Very cool, in fact. But culturally, Albert is much different from his original ancestors. For one thing, not too many Indians had a grand piano in their tee-pee. Albert has one in his bedroom. What's more, he plays it like a maestro. Click here for the photo album.

15 December 2009. Well, I've been a bit lazy this month in terms of getting out and about with the camera, but at least I have this set of pics to post. A plumber arrived early this morning at our house in Taree to replace our broken toilet with a new one. It even has a twin flush... one for pee and the other for poo. I think it was Prince Charles who once commented on the waste involved in using a gallon of water to flush a pint. Meanwhile, yesterday a bloke with truck and trailer arrived with a porta loo. I expected something pretty basic, a box with a tin can inside. But no, it's pretty sophisticated with a flush mechanism, vanity bench and basin. And even a small mirror on the inside of the door.

As to the plumber, I was amazed that he took only a bit over an hour to remove the old loo and replace it with the new one. I figured it would take at least half a day. The problem is, of course, the cement takes 24 hours to set properly, hence the rented thunderbox in the backyard. Click here for the photo album.