People's Climate march today.  People were heading from the four corners towards the Sydney Domain where the predominate message was for political action to combat climate change aimed especially at the meetings in Paris.

 riveting photos from Ballast point

Some readers of The Sydney Herald agree that certain published material is too insulting. So, I am not alone in my questioning. I think we have laws against such as that and at the same time freedom is upheld by the prime minister et al.

Are our protection services and their big costs and their priority justified?  Problems are not anticipated or averted - it is an impossible task.

The final standoff.  It involves death and enough weapons and deadly devices to overcome a hugh battalion.  Where is the art and science in that?

Ballast Point.  Former industrial site becomes a harbour

side park

 From Ballast Point


Je suis Charlie

Ballast Point. Has gabions as ballast all round.

This is where Captain Cook came ashore at Botany Bay during his voyage of discovery in the seventeen hundreds.

For Australia DAY 2014 and the birthplace of European settlement: Botany Bay.  Two runways of Sydney Airport extend into the bay and a succession of early flights touch down after the longest of hauls. 'Straya Day

Arrivals.  The indicator keeps repeating 'flight delayed'.  No, it won't be the travellers emerging in winter clothes and coats nor the warm designer outdoor gear. Activity stops. Next a crowd from an Asian country and cabin crew women extremely slender and in delightful long outfits.     What's next?. A crowd totting trailer sized snow boards.  Then some with Muslim scarfs

Welcome to Straya.

- now that's getting closer. Yes, several people in crumpled summer gear with vast luggage and Straya lookalikes - its hopeful. Then no one emerges. Next, a few sturdy Anglo cabin crew possibly Jetstar or Qantas related - good sign. Even a few of post-Bali appearance emerge. It can't take much longer.  A newborn with very long black hair and from Jakarta is greeted by the relatives beside me. Next, I believe is a large group of Vietnamese, many with cartons of cargo piled high. No, a return to lots of rugged up travellers, and an Ashkenazian look a like and an overthetop fun pretend celeb.   Another gap.  What's the delay? Is there a drug bust inside? Wait, a pilot and side kick in SHORT sleeve shirts - is that a give-away?  Followed by a long gap. Some stragglers then the object of our long wait roll into view.  Relief and joy. 

If you were lucky you spied marine life on the harbour.

The fleet was in town.....somewhere there...a spectre fleet

Around here, we hardly know what crowds are like.

Tour of state parliament in Sydney. A place of ritual and theatre and two visitors were about to go on stage outside for celebrations.
Does the calendar remain set on the date proceedings were shut down?  Reference books sit idle 'on the floor' of parliament. Aids to understanding hot air: The Australian Concise Oxford and The Macquarie Dictionaries.
State elections. I'd shamefully put aside right and wrong and prefer to see a youthful frocked-up, yes frocked-up, woman as state premier.

Photos taken some time ago in Sydney. Computer problems led to old photos coming to light. Anyway, IMAX looks different right now due to construction work.
Only this year have I been to see a show at Imax. Well, the prospects sounded simply glorious: outer space through the eyes of Hubble as well as ultimate surfing in Tahiti, all on the largest screen in the world in 3D. Well, the vision was technically awesome, the content: very average.
Spelling and Macquarie Dictionary. Thanks goodness a big dictionary provides all the inflections. How is it that an adult like me is too lazy to get to know the rules about plurals and so on - is it 'es' or  's' 'ly' 'ely'. Why not use spell check? Simply writing a label on a blog site photo is a minefield!  What about brackets and full stops, the correct dash, direct and indirect speech?  What's worse, I went to school in the days of reading, 'riting and 'rifmatic.

Dance Studio or events, it's all done with mirrors, beside Sydney Harbour.
Late afternoons ABC TV shows Dance Academy looking very good in this same locality and starring interesting role models for high schoolers etc and diversion for this conservative blogger.

Markets in Sydney

At the Picture Show the crowd, on the wharf, was watching every flicker on the screen and the screen was on a floating pontoon - where else? (Is the word floating redundant? Floating is used to be descriptive.)

The store, Miss Kansai, is into niche marketing with imports from Japan.

The Japanese language uses modified Chinese characters or Kanji and two syllabic scrips Hiragana and Katakana. Almost 2000 written characters are required from the school student.

A fantastic musical ship almost sails through the city streets and has a lively nautical crew who play on improvised gear which is derived from influences far and wide.

Audience, stray albatross and bats were simply 'blown away'.

South Africa won the test and their warrior captain (Man of the Series) took to the pitch in the last overs despite the sports injuries he had sustained.

A Band from the Tongan Community in Sydney visited families to bring greetings for the New Year. In their back garden, the elders listened to the music and the singing and refreshments were offered. Tonga is a Pacific Island kingdom.