Friends of the Armchair Traveller

Our Nuclear Submarine Programme  Let's put it  in perspective:   In 2 002 ,  19 YEARS AGO,   our Government signed up for   The F-35a AIRCRAFT PROGRAMME     currently we have received about half the number of the 72 airplanes on order: After 19 years we've got ONLY 37 out of the 72 on order! All 72 aircraft are expected to be fully operational by 2023, with an option to expand the fleet to a maximum of 100 aircraft. Pushed by the US Government and defence heavyweight Lockheed Martin, the F-35s were in the design phase when Australia committed in 2002 to buy up to 100 of them. The cost was originally estimated at  $16 billion . Each airplane individually costs about $78 million ,  But the cost of each plane is only a fraction of the cost of the entire programme including personnel, training, upgrades, maintainance etc.  So if we get 72 of them for $16 Billion or even $20 Billion that's not too bad is it? well, Not bad compare...

  Yesterday this fine piece was sent to us by Ian Gibbins.  The Life We Live Is Not Life Itself from Ian Gibbins on Vimeo . Yesterday was a strange day in my life, as Wheeler Winston Dixon's  film "A NORMAL LIFE" started going viral in terms of hits recorded on the blog stats page. It has just gone over the 1000 mark. I don't understand why it is like this as normally we only get between 30 and 40 hits for the most popular posts. Occasionally 70 or 80. Only one item I have posted has gone above 100 so I hope it's not just a mechanical or robotic thing which has happened with Wheeler's video. On the other hand if it helps to get Ian's fine work 1000 new viewers I would be really chuffed. Thanks for sending your work Ian, it appeals to me very much indeed. I hope these films will encourage other friends to send in creations of their own, or links to work they admire. Many thanks Ian and Wheeler. PT

The other day I received an email from my sister Chris which included some recent watercolours she has been occupying herself with. MUGS These were all “still life” images of plants or objects she has found at home. ORCHID What struck me as most unusual is that Chris had never really explored drawing or painting before, although she may have wanted to do so. In her email she explains how she came to this new phase of her life. Dear Peter, As you know, years ago I met a prospective partner who ran a  restoration/conservation business. This was at a time when I was studying music at a TAFE level and was the  happiest I’ve ever been in my whole life. I was applying to attend the Latrobe  music composition course. The prospective partner was going through a  phase  where she was losing staff but receiving more and more offers  for work.  Tenders for the Princess Theatre, ANZ Gothic bank, in Melbourne,  and  Labassa, the Italianate house house in...

  As a result of some excellent feedback from my post  "The Man From Planet X"    it occurred to me to offer a challenge...  please feel welcome to try it. I've discussed with Richard Leigh and Heather Bertrand why I regard the movie "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" so highly. I'm sure there are many cinephiles who would agree with me that it is a remarkable movie in the field which we would class as "sci-fi". Now this field, sci-fi,  like any other field of human activity, embraces many different styles and qualities. Heather has said she doesn't care for the "cowboys in space" version of sci-fi and I agree with her in that judgment. Sci-fi ranges for me from really dark territory to really light and flippant territory. It is often dytstopean as if "mourning for the future"! It has so many recurring themes such as  time travel, revisiting a past time to prevent an event occurring in our present time. Or the invasion of th...