February is of course the shortest month of the year. That is just as well for us here in South Australia. This has been the hottest February on record for us. Average temperature 5 degrees higher. More than a week of 40 degree+ days. Thankfully not all in succession. That would have been too much! It has also been amongst the dryest, which is not a good combination. I said last month that the rains in Queensland meant that Lake Eyre would soon fill. We are still waiting for that. It will happen in next few weeks. The Diamantina and Georgina rivers are flowing and filling at about 10 kilometres a day and are at about 10/15metres in depth. So in mid March the lake will fill. A marvellous sight.

We have had a reasonably busy month, with a bit of travel a bit of social activity and not to leave out sport. Kim and I went to Melbourne for the weekend of the 9th (Kim had won accomodation for 2 at a very nice hotel). We flew over on the Friday evening, settled into our room then headed off to the Vodaphone arena (part of the Rod Laver tennis complex) to see the Scissor Sisters. Unfortunately our seats were not the best, being very high and at the side. The light show was good, acoustics poor and even worse the language and attitude of the band took away from the night. Having heard them on CD and seen them on TV, I expected more. They were quite derogatory to a lady who had been at a previous concert in Sydney and who had written to express her disappointment at the content of the show. She had felt compelled to leave as she had her children with her whom she did not want exposed to the values expressed by them. We felt that this was an almost abuse of power even although the lady of course was not present.

Then we waited an hour for a cab. The MCG is next door and the first cricket final came out at the same time!!!!

The rest of the weekend was very pleasant. On Saturday we spent time on the Southbank (Yarra River shopping/restaurant precinct) and then had dinner in a very nice Indian restaurant that night. Sunday we spent about 6 hours at the Victoria Markets, which is an enormous open air market which attracts 3-4 million visitors each year. Kim of course bought well, of course I carried the packages! Then it was airport and home.

Lauren-Jane spent the weekend at her aunt's with the boy cousins and the horses. It would seem that we were not missed. On arrival back in Adelaide we caught up with one of my cousins' from Edinburgh. He and his wife came over from Perth where they were staying with other family (Dianne's side) to catch up with us. They stayed with my sister and also us and met with other family members. A very nice time had by all. It must be said that a modicum of the local vineyard produce was consumed!

Sportwise it has been a bit of a disaster. Australia lost that first cricket final to England and the next one in Sydney. That meant that they lost the final series! They then lost 3 nil to New Zealand in NZ including their first ever 10 wicket thumping. How the mighty have fallen. I am not sure what that will mean to Scoland who play them (or should that be us?) in the World Cup next month. Divided loyalties for me! Or you could say that whoever wins I win. Not so sure about that. My dream soccer World Cup final result would be Scotland 1-Australia 0 after extra time! Somehow I don't think I'll live to see that!

Adelaide United lost the second leg of their semi-final with Melbourne. That meant that they had to beat Newcastle in the preliminary final to advance to the Grand Final. They did, 4-3 on penalties after extra time. Considering what happened in the Grand final some say they should have lost. The Final was a disaster. The coach banished to the stand because of indiscretions in Prelim. Final. The captain was sent off after 30 minutes. Melbourne's star striker, goalless this year, hits form and 5 goals! result a 6-0 thrashing. The after match demeanour of Adelaides players was disappointing to say the least. The follow up to that? The coach resigned (just before he was pushed) the captain sacked (but retained as a player). Three players fined by the association and one suspended for 3 games! All that and United start their Asian Cup fixtures on the 7th March! Still the footy season has just started. Even there the Crows got dumped from pre season cup by Port Adelaide. Not a good sporting month to say the least!

Last weekend of the month we went down to Carrickalinga with a few friends. This time taking Lauren-Jane with us. We had a lovely time and I had the shocking pink face to show for it! fortunately that has fade into almost a nice tan. We spent time on the beach. Lauren-Jane and Annie (her friend) being almost waterbabies.

This weekend (first in March) I am off to Canberra to take part in a National Deliberation poll. It is to be held in old Parliament House. 350 people from all over Australia are involved including Bob Hawke (former Prime Minister) Iain Sinclair (former Speaker) and Barry Jones (former major quiz show champion, MP and president of the Labour Party). The subject is "Austrlia Deliberates Muslims and Non Muslims in Austrlia". I (foolishly, perhaps) took part in a phone survey on the topic and next stop (well almost) was Canberra. fortunately all expenses are paid by the organisation.

More on that next month

Till then

Eric

(article by Eric Ford, Australia)