Earth Hour tomorrow as the lights go out for Labor in NSW

Tomorrow we have Earth Hour. Pffft! Please remember, Earth Hour is an eco-fascist political movement, not some warm and fuzzy CWA meeting. Don't be sucked in by all the feel-good ads! For me, it is a happy coincidence that Earth Hour occurs on the same day as NSW goes to the polls. I will use the EH time (8.30pm - although I will have started long before this) to celebrate the dawning of a new era in state politics - with my lights on, the TV blaring, and champagne flying.

***

Brief Happiness

Japan has been through a hellish couple of weeks, and the trouble is a long way from over. To cheer myself up, I dig in to my eclectic playlist, and give this one a spin. I hope you like it, too.



There aren´t any stars in the Tokyo sky 

Well that´s what was written in the letter you sent 

Everything´s the same as always here nothing´s changed 

During this time of year we´re preparing for the festival 


The bamboo shoot decors in the store by the station 

You´re familiar with this scenery too 

With all the children happily running around 
Nothing´s changed since then 


I remember walking along with you 
on nights when the Tanabata Festival neared 

I wonder if you still remember 

Come and see that full starry sky 
we once looked up at together 


The frogs croaked as we walked along the wheel tracks 

We headed off to pick the bamboo grass 
Do you remember that? 

You always chose the blue strip of paper 
I remember that 


I remember walking along with you 
on nights when the Tanabata Festival neared 

I wonder if you still remember 

Come and see that full starry sky 
we once looked up at together 


You´re the one who works too hard 

Why don´t you try and give it a rest sometimes? 


Let´s recall the wish you wrote 
on that old strip of paper 


I remember walking along with you 
on nights when the Tanabata Festival neared 

I wonder if you still remember 

Come and see that full starry sky 
we once looked up at together 


Lalala... 


Meet me under that full starry sky 

Meet me under that full starry sky

***

How to Lose Your Audience 101

I am unimpressed with Channel Nine over the appearance of Professor Richard Broinowski on National Nine News last night. Although, to be fair to Nine, I am not sure if they knew that one of their so-called subject-matter experts was going to drop a clanger on air.

Broinowski was interviewed in studio by Peter Overton on the nuclear crisis in Japan. I do not have the transcript, but in answering one of Overton’s questions, the professor gratuitously added: “there’s Australian uranium in those reactors.”

Well, colour me stunned, thanks for enlightening us! Interesting, but as irrelevant as gathering figures as to how much of the clothing of world dictators contains Australian wool.

Australian uranium has kept Japan warm and prosperous and running like clockwork for many years. What a shame we don't use more of the stuff in our vast (and seismically stable) country. The professor would likely disagree.

Perhaps - from what I have heard of Richard Broinowski's comments on Fukushima - the former General Manager of Radio Australia would be better-suited interviewee material for his old stomping ground.

***

Safe and Sound - Back from Japan

Thank you to those who have enquired as to my safety. I have honestly never had so many people concerned over my well-being! This evening my travel agent called me (from her home) to see if I got home OK. DFAT rang mum this morning to check (I registered with SmartTraveller.gov.au), and I returned home to 23 unread emails on my Yahoo account, many of which were of the 'are you ok' variety.

I am back in Australia after a very enjoyable 9 days in Japan. I mean that. I had a ball. I was not caught up in the earthquake drama - except for the final night at the hotel near the airport, which shaked, rattled and rolled about half a dozen times through the night from the aftershocks.

My travel schedule fortuitously had me leaving the country on the day I planned to leave, and on the flight I was booked on. I did not need to change any travel plans.

I was in Nara - about 6 hours by car, south of Tokyo - with a tour group when the quake and tsunami happened, and I never felt a thing. The first I heard of something was when I received a text message from mum.

I got back to the hotel in Kyoto that night to saturation coverage of what unfolded on 12 of the 13 channels.

In Kyoto, Shinkansen trains stopped running from the time of the quake until about 7.30pm that evening. I was due to get the Shinkansen back to Tokyo the next day, and my train duly left on time - to the minute - and arrived - to the minute. Of course, no one bats an eyelid when trains run to schedule, but when they run to schedule not even 24 hours after the biggest earthquake the country has ever seen, is just astonishing.

Once in Tokyo the drama started when I tried to get to my hotel at Narita - something which should, on public transport, take me about 1 hour. It ended up taking me four and-a-half hours - which I thought was appalling, until I mentioned this to an English guy checking in at the same hotel who said it took him eight hours! Trains were not running on all lines from Tokyo and many people walked for two and three hours just to get to public transport. Fortunately for me, I just waited (and waited) for the trains I needed..

On the way back to Australia, in the lounge in Singapore Airport, I read in the Weekend Australian words to the effect that the quake had caused destruction all over Japan. This is just heifer dust. In Kyoto, everything was perfectly normal. Trains and buses were running and people were going about their business in their usual happy, determined manner. You would not know anything was wrong.

Of course, many things are horribly devastated in northern Japan, and, in many cases, probably permanently so. It will take many years for things to return to normal.

This episode has not deterred me from returning to this amazing country.

***

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant Hapus i chi!

Here is a very beautiful tune from Wales (you certainly won't hear this at the rugby!)




Huna blentyn yn fy mynwes
Clyd a chynnes ydyw hon;
Breichiau mam sy'n dynn amdanat,
Cariad mam sy dan fy mron;
Ni cha' dim amharu'th gyntun,
Ni wna undyn â thi gam;
Huna'n dawel, annwyl blentyn,
Huna'n fwyn ar fron dy fam.

Huna'n dawel, heno, huna,
Huna'n fwyn, y tlws ei lun;
Pam yr wyt yn awr yn gwenu,
Gwenu'n dirion yn dy hun?
Ai angylion fry sy'n gwenu,
Arnat ti yn gwenu'n llon,
Tithau'n gwenu'n ôl dan huno,
Huno'n dawel ar fy mron?

Paid ag ofni, dim ond deilen
Gura, gura ar y ddôr;
Paid ag ofni, ton fach unig
Sua, sua ar lan y môr;
Huna blentyn, nid oes yma
Ddim i roddi iti fraw;
Gwena'n dawel yn fy mynwes
Ar yr engyl gwynion draw.

Sleep my baby, at my breast,
’Tis a mother’s arms round you.
Make yourself a snug, warm nest.
Feel my love forever new.
Harm will not meet you in sleep,
Hurt will always pass you by.
Child beloved, always you’ll keep,
In sleep gentle, mother’s breast nigh.

Sleep in peace tonight, sleep,
O sleep gently, what a sight.
A smile I see in slumber deep,
What visions make your face bright?
Are the angels above smiling,
At you in your peaceful rest?
Are you beaming back while in
Peaceful slumber on mother’s breast?

Do not fear the sound, it’s a breeze
Brushing leaves against the door.
Do not dread the murmuring seas,
Lonely waves washing the shore.
Sleep child mine, there’s nothing here,
While in slumber at my breast,
Angels smiling, have no fear,
Holy angels guard your rest.