It was a cold and miserable one out there today, with reports coming through of hail in other parts of Canberra. I did try my best to get a walk in, but the wind and bursts of rain got the better of me. Instead, I found myself sorting through the abyss of digits files, folders, photos, bookmarked websites, drafts and various notes across my digital devices. It’s amazing what one digs up, apparently: on this day five years ago I was just arriving in Portland, Oregon as part of an eight week trip abroad; for a naming contest (only within the last few weeks) with the criteria of names starting with Q, I submitted Quilldor, Quonmere, Quainton, Queon (kew-on), Quillene and Quondeen - I also had Quonder and Quallace marked down; British Georgian and Regency Architecture (1714-1830) is exemplified by 10 Dowling St.; there were four passenger ships that entered Sydney, New South Wales on 1 April 1897: Taraera, Ville de la ciotat, Fiona and Ophir; once overheard at the pub: “he’s like an energiser bunny” (in reference to Alex De Minuar); an attempt at a haiku - hang-over is steep / and unstable as rocky / paths: up a mountain; many, many lists, the most interesting comprising of music, Sergei Rachmaninov ‘Variations on a theme of Corelli Op. 42’ [18'38], Franz Berwald ‘Wettlauf, etude for orchestra’ [9'01], Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ‘Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K. 467’ [27'17] William Walton ‘Sonata for strings: IV. Allegro molto’ [04'30] and Erik Satie ‘Gnossienne No. 3: Lento’ [02'29]; four different recipes on hot buttered rum batter (I forget which one was my favourite, suppose I’ll need to keep them all and trial again), two variations of hot water crust pastry, my starred osso buco, miso-glazed eggplants and various sauces and dressings; receipts; research notes on a trip to Malta that never eventuated; and, a running tally of fry released in the Badja, 1937 - 62,000 total, Badja 8000 (Sydney Morning Herald, 30.9.1937), 1938 - 11cans brown trout to Badja (The Bombala Times, 16/09/1938), 1940 - 220,000 total, Badja 12,000 (Delegate Argue, 7.11.1940), 1941 - 194,000 total, Badja 10,000 (Delegate Argue, 20.11.1941), just to name a few.
