Category Archives: Uncategorized

Yesterday, Saturday, was midwinter’s day here in Canberra. In times past I used to wish everyone a happy Inca new year on this day, really because I felt we ought to make more of mid winter here in the southern … Continue reading →

Last night J and I went to the Canberra Theatre to see Bell Shakespeare’s production of Henry V, and damn good it was too. Henry V is a huge sprawling play, with changes of scene, comedic interludes and the rest, … Continue reading →

Last Sunday was cold, windy and brilliantly clear, so we took ourselves off to look at Cooma cottage, the onetime home of the explorer Hamilton Hume, who, along with Hovell found the route south to Victoria, broadly taking the route … Continue reading →

Well, that’s certainly a title. Long term readers of this blog will know that I’ve been doing a lot reading about the British colonial experience in Asia, including the literature of the time. Inevitably this segues into reading about the … Continue reading →

I’ve written previously about the possible Portuguese landing on the coast of Northern Australia during the age of European discovery. The initial evidence was fairly circumstantial, but at the same time there were reports that a cannon of possibly Portuguese … Continue reading →

A group of scientists have recently analysed some mouse remains on Madeira and shown them to come from (a) some time in the tenth century and (b) the mitochondrial DNA of the mice suggests a Scandanavian origin rather than a … Continue reading →

Back in 2009 we spent the best part of six weeks in Europe. Of course we tried to cram too much in but in the middle of the trip we did spend a relaxing few days in Monpazier doing not … Continue reading →

It’s been cold in Canberra this week, and to cap it all the heating at work has decided to malfunction. Fortunately my office gets the morning sun so it does warm up fairly quickly, but the heating is currently blowing … Continue reading →

I’me about halfway through a book about an attempt to prove what happened to Butch Cassidy and his sidekick after the shootout in Bolivia. If you’ve seen the classic 1969 movie, you’ll know how it ends with the two desperados … Continue reading →

I’ve recently been reading Charlotte Higgins Under another sky1 – an account of her journey around the sites of Roman Britain. I will admit to also being fascinated by the Romans – when we lived in Europe I spent way … Continue reading →