Sunday 3rd March

Sunday 3^rd March

Last Sunday we had a big lunch party, all very pleasant and cheerful.  Six of our guests suddenly jumped to their feet and left around 4pm, leaving four to chat more quietly.  This was fortuitous -NOT that we wanted to lose our guests, of course – but because Dad and Fleur arrived when things were relatively quiet, and they were able to join in the conversation at the table.  It was great fun for Dad – he was able to leap, with gusto, into a very interesting conversation about some of his favourite topics:

• Gay marriage – he and Pete say, NO, why not just call it a Union or a Commitment; Mary and I say – WHY NOT?
• Religion – 4 out of the 6 of us were Catholics, past or present or both, and Dad does love a good debate about religion, and the soon-to-be-ex Pope from Germany.
• Germany – Barry and Mary’s daughter has just got married in Germany, and is doing a crash-course in the language so she can get a job there

Fleur was able to talk about some of her favourite topics too, and very soon found a common bond with our lovely Anne.  At about six they said they had to go; Dad said, “People in their late eighties can’t stay up as late as the rest of you,” and I think we were all very sorry to see them go.  They had been such good company, and Dad had actually brought the house down with his (ancient, to me but not to them…) joke about the English as a Second Language student asking him, What part of the body is the now?  (The student had been listening to the song I Wonder Who’s Kissing her Now.)

Plane to Haiphong 2008

We had plenty of time to catch a taxi to the airport.  But there was a traffic jam and we went slower and s-l-o-w-e-r… I think we are spoiled in Hobart; our traffic jams are thick and furious but only last ten minutes.  None of us said anything, but we were all very relieved when we were up and away on our Vietnam Air plane.  Haiphong is the port city for Hanoi, and also the place you catch the ferry to Halong Bay.  I am sure you know how beautiful this legendary bay is; it is in fact exquisite, with hundreds of sheer limestone islands thrusting out of the warm green sea.  (When I say hundreds, I am not sure how many.  We had been told 3,000, but the reference books say 1,960.  Or 1,600.  After five days bobbing around on the bay, Pete said he was sure there were many more than 3,000 and that we had seen them all…)