Unfinished Woman

Unfinished Woman: A Memoir by Robyn Davidson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Strange and charming book, although difficult to say what it is about.
The solid ground should be autobiographical facts but they are not.
Robyn starts with spelling out doubts about credibility of our memory and memory of people who knew or met her.
Even the bare facts which could be verified, are not quite clear.
Of course I was curious what is her memory of time spent in London with Salman Rushdie. From other sources I know that she was his partner in London, I found a quite clear reference to Robyn in Satanic Verses.
In this case, Robyn in her book, makes a very sensible jink - she just mentions that she fell in love with a wonderful man and they spent 2 years together.
Also Robyn's Wikipedia page is extremely dry.
We have to rely on the book and I found it quite rewarding. Difficult to explain, I just felt charmed.

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Robots at ease

Few days ago unstoppable Google notified me that Agnieszka Pilat visited Melbourne with three robots to demonstrate their painting capabilities.

If painting then National Gallery of Victoria - NGV.
I started Googling: "NGV pilate..." - Google suggested - NGV pilates.

It was enough to distract me, so I followed this lead - results:
- pilates class (gymnastic exercises) on the roof of the gallery,
- Contrology - a sculpture of a board with legs and a fin performing Pilates exercises (note - this was the name used by Joseph Pilates when he invented his exercise technique.)
- Dream of Pilate's wife - engraving from 1874

STOP!
Contrology - time to take control of Google, I enquired "Agnieszka Pilat NGV".
Got her!

Source: Instagram.

Last Sunday, Melbournians could see the robots in action and watch in person an interview with Ms. Agnieszka.

3 o'clock, the very center of the city, what a crowd, traffic, chaos, confusion.
In front of the railway station, a homeless woman is sleeping carelessly on the ground.
A few steps further and I'm right in the middle of this crowd.
I must admit that it was a bit too much for me, I had maybe 150m to go, but after few steps I had had enough.

A calming interlude along the way, a bridge over the Yarra River...

In front of the gallery, a hand with a thumb pointing up encouraged me...

There was also a lot of traffic inside the gallery, free admission, various exhibitions, including those for children.

Only the sculptures of two proletarians brought some peace - only one could fit into the lens...

The interview with Mrs. Agnieszka took place in a huge hall, there were several rows of chairs at the front, then randomly placed chairs, stools, a bar counter, slight confusion.

I sat down in the second row of chairs, a slim blonde was sitting right in front of me, I also noticed yellow shoes, the same ones as in the photo at the beginning of the post...

Czy pani Agnieszka (Ms. Agnieszka)? - I asked in Polish.

Quite a surprise, but Ms. Agnieszka greeted me nicely, we talked for a while in Polish, then switched to English so as not to isolate us from the surroundings.

After a while, a highly titled interviewer approached us, time for the stage...

Unfortunately, this was a disappointment for me.

Firstly, there was a lot of noise in the hall,  secondly - talking through microphones, there was a huge reverberation in the room, it was difficult for me to hear and understand it. The conversation was translated into sign language, I thought deaf people "heard" more.
Thirdly, and most importantly, this conversation did not make much sense to me :(

Here is some approximation of its content - CLICK.

I did not have a chance to talk to Mrs. Agnieszka anymore, so I moved to see the robots in action...

The robots did not paint, they just moved around two rooms connected by a passage with stairs. From this I concluded that they have sight, but I guess they could not hear, I spoke to them in Polish and English and there was no sign of reaction.

So here I will share the questions that bothered me:
- what activities robots are programmed to perform and what activities they perform on their own - if they do anything on their own at all.

Specifically - we turn on the robot and what?
Will it move at all? Why?
On what principle does it change the direction of movement, nod its head, stops, moves from room to room???
Why is it painting?

During the interview, Ms. Agnieszka mentioned that humanity should seriously consider what kind of relationship we want to have with robots, who will be the aristocracy of the future, will technology mature to the stage of creating a religion?

I felt humbled and went to the exit.

A fountain of flames bid me farewell...

Agnieszka Pilat - Wikipedia - CLICK

Strange encounter

 Halfway through my studies, when my enthusiasm for studying had somehow waned, I started taking piano lessons.
I didn't expect any achievements, the main goal was to get acquainted with music more tangibly. I had a lot of time to practice, so I made rapid progress.

During the holidays, I visited my mother in Kielce, where I found a piano at the Provincial Cultural Center so I could also practice.
My hit piece was L. Beethoven's Bagatelle - Für Elise - CLICK.

While playing, I felt someone standing behind me and I stopped playing.
- Nice piece - said the stranger - may I try?
I made room for him.

He looked at the notes and immediately played quite correctly, after a while he started improvising... and that's when I recognised him.
It was probably the 5th grade of primary school. A new student came to our class.
There were only 16 boys in the class, so each addition/departure was a big event.
"New" was not very communicative and rather invisible during lessons and breaks, until one day he noticed an open piano in the general hall, sat down on the edge of a stool and started playing.
I don't remember what it was, probably some popular melody, but he played it completely relaxed, it made an impression.

Step by step, we learned that his parents had transferred him to our private school because he had been expelled from the TPD school (Society of Friends of Children). The reason for the expulsion... we had to wait for an explanation, finally he said - he played Red Poppies at Monte Cassino * on the piano.
Despite our requests, he did not play this melody for us.

One day I invited him and another friend to my house for after-school fun - a game of knucklebones, tin soldiers, coin football.
Demonstration of knucklebones  HERE.

The games were going sluggishly, I don't know what came to my mind, but at some point I boasted that I had a fountain pen with a gold nib in my desk drawer.
It was a gift from my American aunt. My mother immediately sold these types of gifts because these were our priorities.

My friends' visit was coming to an end. Since we washed our hands during the visit (in a bowl because we didn't have a bathroom), I poured water from the bucket into the toilet in the corridor and took them to the street.

When my mother returned from work, I told her about the visit.
My mother immediately looked into the drawer in my table - there was no fountain pen.

Complete consternation - mine - such cool friends, mother's - how to survive until the end of the month.
She wrote a letter to my class teacher asking for clarification.
The teacher was nervous, during a long break she asked the three of us into the staff room and asked me to report the event.
None of my friends confessed.
- When Leszek left with the bucket, you said - "now we can nick something from him" - a "pianist" broke the silence.
- I said it and you nicked - the accused replied.
- I didn't nick anything - was the "pianist's" response
The teacher looked at us helplessly - if no one confesses, I will have to report it to the teachers' council - she commented and ended the meeting.

During the next break, the "pianist" dragged me to a corner - Leszek, I did it, I don't know what came over me, just please don't tell anyone, I will return the pen to you tomorrow.
This confession moved me so much that I wanted to take him in my arms.
At the next opportunity, I approached the teacher and said that the perpetrator had confessed, the case is over, don't tell anyone about it.

The next day - the "pianist" did not come to school. For me it was quite a shock.
The mother wrote another letter to the teacher - the end of the school year was approaching, so she suggested that the perpetrator should not be issued a school certificate.

During the break, the teacher went to the office, and after a while she came back with an uncertain face - his mother was at school yesterday, she said that they were moving somewhere and took her son's school certificate.
Another shock - how to tell my mother about this?

I took a closer look at the person who joined me.
I had no doubts - it was HIM.
Did he recognize me?
We had both changed a lot, I wouldn't have recognized him in a crowd, but I was sure he recognized me. It seemed to me that from time to time he gave me an inquisitive look and a smile - I don't know - mocking or controlling.

I felt so helpless.

Today's illustration - a house in the middle of nowhere.

* Red Poppies at Monte Cassino - a Polish patriotic song commemorating a victory in a very important battle in WWII, In Communist Poland participation of Polish Army under British command in WWII was quite inconvenient subject.
Song HERE.

Lech Lecha

 Some time ago I wanted to check something about my first name - LECH - on internet, I entered and clicked, there was a number of entries on the Austrian ski resort of this name and then - something which attracted my attention - LECH LECHA - CLICK.

The first words said by God to Abraham in the book of Genesis: "Go from your country..." - CLICK.

And then: "Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.Then Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offsprings I give this land"".

So Lord gave to Abram the land populated by someone else?

Looks like Abram, who changed his name to Abraham, did not bother too much about this land.
When some hunger came, he hurried to a safer place, the Canaanites stayed on the land of their birth.

I do not like this story, it reverberates with some quite actual events.

However there is another story about Abram - Muslim Story - CLICK.

Abram's father - Azar - was a sculptor who specialised in carvings of Mesopotamian idols and ordered his son to sell them.

Abram believed in one unseen God and made great jokes about the products he sold when selling idols.

According to the Quran, Abram sought to spread belief in one God among the people around him. He found supporters, but the Bible history was written by Israeli priests in the book of Torah and it were them who used my name.

P.S. Wikipedia reports archeological findings in this area which are confirming the Muslim version.

Storrada

 In the wonderful book by Antoni Gołubiew - Bolesław the Brave - Świętosława - the sister of the brave king is mentioned.

The Scandinavians changed her name to Sigrid and added the nickname Storrada, which the English Wikipedia translates as Haughty - CLICK.

The name had to be changed because for Scandinavians Świętosława was too difficult to pronounce. And there was no shortage of opportunities to speak - Sigrid became the heroine of many Scandinavian sagas.

Google translates storrada to - great line. Absolutely right - from the Piast dynasty!

In Gołubiew's book, Świętosława appears in Bolesław's camp when he is fighting the Vikings on the island of Wolin.
Świętosława, the wife of the Swedish king Erik the Victorious, had just been widowed and wanted to find out whether she could count on support of her brother.
The answer was no, Poland is involved in wars on several fronts - cope on your own, sister.

And she did as advised...

The first thing is to find a husband - a Swede.
There were several competitors, no audiovisual message, so Świętosława invited them all to her castle at the same time - show what you are worth.

The presentations must have been very poor because after a short time the queen ordered the building in which the suitors were sleeping to be set on fire at night and all of them burned down.

Here, however, Świętosława played not very fair because she was already in love with Olaf Trygvasson, the king of Norway - CLICK.

Too bad, it happened, the suitors were burned, at least no one can accuse her of not looking for a local product, now Świętosława does not have to hide her feelings.

She sent a messenger to Olaf - come, Viking - take me!

And Olaf sailed with his fleet to Gothenburg.
Here I am Storrada, but don't expect me to come ashore, you come to me.

The Vikings built a bridge and covered it with a red carpet.
Storrad walks proudly - I'm going to my beloved - look at me.

Olaf watchd with a smile, suddenly gives a signal and the Vikings, hidden under the pier, cut the spans. The bridge collapses,  Storrada falls into the water, Olaf laughs out loud - you have learned your lesson, treacherous woman!

This insult demands blood, but what can a single woman do?
Simple - propose marriage to King Sven Forkbeard of Denmark. Of course,  under condition that he hits Norway.
Deal you can not throw away.

In the year 1000, Sven, supported by the Swedish king Olaf Skotkonung (Swietosława's son), attacks Norway. The main sea battle celebrated in numerous Norwegian sagas takes place near Svold - CLICK. Olaf loses most of ships and, to avoid capture, jumps from his ship into the sea.

And they saw him that much, although there are rumours that later someone encountered him in Jerusalem

Having achieved her goal, Świętosława gave birth to two sons to her Danish husband. Harald and Canute the Great were respectively kings of Denmark and Canute was also king of England - CLICK.

After the death of her husband - Sven Forkbeard - Świętosława returned to Poland, but when two years later her son Canute the Great took the English throne for good, he invited his mother to his court.

Old times, old stories, sometimes contradictory.

I have not found anywhere confirmation of the scene of flooding Świętosława described by Gołubiew. All sources mention that Olaf hit her in the face with his glove. The reason was the refusal to accept Christianity. An illustration of the meeting with Olaf below...

Source - Wikipedia

Świętosława, daughter of Dąbrówka, queen of Poland who brought Christianity to the country,  was a pagan?

I think it's very likely.
This is indicated by the pagan name.
Both Olaf Tryggvason (interesting fact - he spent his childhood in Kiev) and Bolesław the Brave (interesting fact - he spent his youth at the imperial court in Aachen and witnessed the opening of Charlemagne's tomb) mercilessly suppressed pagan customs in their countries, but it was great politics - to be or not to be be on the European map.

And what was there in the soul? The woman did not have to publicly flaunt her beliefs.

Some sources say that Storrada burned only two suitors.

Only one source mentions Olaf being spotted in Jerusalem.

The Norwegian sagas attribute Sygrida Storrada's experiences to several women.

I'm not surprised, it's hard to fit it into one life, it's hard to fit it into a Norwegian head.
You have to be from the Piast family.

An example of this confusion can be found here - CLICK. The genealogy website states that Sigrid Storrada was the daughter of the Swedish warrior Tosti, but at the same time it informs that the alternative mother of Storrada's children could have been Sigrid MIEZKODOTTIR, i.e. Mieszko's daughter.

I am reminded of Father Józef Tischner's classification of truths:

- shit not the truth,  some truth and the holy truth.

Personally, I prefer the writer's intuition to the glass and eye of historians or the fantasies of Norwegian storytellers.

In what they say there is some truth, but only Antoni Gołubiew gives the holy truth about Świętosława.

The Music Maker of Auschwitz IV

The Music Maker of Auschwitz IV by Jaci Byrne
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

For me it was a strange book.
Firstly I found the title very confusing because of word Auschwitz in it.
Auschwitz- the name of notorious German concentration/extermination camp where millions of people have been cruelly murdered.
Although the full name in the title is Auschwitz IV, but reading other reviews I got impression that nobody bothered to find a difference, and there is, and a big one.
Auschwitz IV - look here - LINK
Author of the diary, Harry Jackson, was moved there in April 1942, that's his relation - ".. we march then to Blechhammer which is a sub-camp of a place called Auschwitz.."
It refers to Blechhammer, a chemical plant located over 65 km from Auschwitz. See here ==> LINK.
At that point I felt quite upset, I felt that using name of Auschwitz in relation to P.O.W. camp which happened to be in a place quite loosely related to dreadful concentration camp is not fair.
I looked for some information about the author of the book - Jaci Byrne - and found something shocking.
In 2018 Jaci Byrne published a book - The Music Maker. One POW provided hope for thousands. I looked into it, it is basically the same text as in The Music Maker of Auschwitz published in 2021.
There is however one significant difference - book without Auschwitz in the title got only 9 ratings, Adding Auschwitz in the title attracted 124 ratings.
I compared text of both books, the only difference I found is that in a copy published in 2021 name Auschwitz appears some dozen times more than in 2018.
No comments.
Now, the actual diary - I found it very honest and touching, but on the other hand the author of the diary had a very limited perspective so the diary is quite repetitive and becomes boring.
The final part of the diary covers time spent with family ater the end of the war and return to England. I found it quite different from the relation from POW camp and very touching, but then - Jaci Byrne, the author of the book, admitted that she added some warm accents to this part of the story ==> LINK.
I loved the final outcome, but it also undermined credibility of the book.

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The Girl from Berlin

The Girl from Berlin by Ronald H. Balson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An old lady living in Italy is to be evicted from her property which she owned since she remembers.
An US lawyer - Catherine and her husband - Liam, are asked to help her.
They are given a old handwritten memoir of Ada, a German girl with Jewish roots which should help is solving all mysteries surrounding this case.
The book gives an equal share of space to those two yarns - entries from the diary alternate with the actual events.
My first objection - why Catherine did not read the diary much faster? She got lots of time during travel from USA to Tuscany and she could easily skip most of the story to read the decisive last pages which connect to the current problems.
The answer is obvious, it would kill the book.
Unfortunately for me it is not a good answer. From the very beginning I felt manipulated by the author.
Secondly, the story of legal efforts of Catherine and Liam was for me terribly repetitive and boring, I continued reading only to learn the Ada story.
The Ada story - for me it got an additional attraction - classical music scene in 193o-ties.
I found some parts of this story unbelievable, but I was still touched by heroism and sacrifices of main characters and it was the only reason I continued the book and rated it so high.
I still consider it as a foul play of the author.
P.S. One of main characters of Ada story is a famous conductor of Berlin Philharmonics - Gustav Furtwängler. After a war he has been investigated by an US denazification commission. I recommend a very good movie about it - Taking Sides - CLICK.


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Gold Mountain

On Saturday I went downtown to a concert at the Scots Church. The program - Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach - performance on harpsichord- CLICK.

Goldberg variations, so many associations, where to start?

Maybe from the beginning...
It started with Augustus III Saxon becoming the king of Poland.
As a Saxon Elector, he was also the king of Johann Sebastian Bach, who lived in Saxony.
J.S. Bach saw already during the times of Augustus II "the Strong" Saxon, what was going on and approached the royal court in Warsaw with an application for the position of court composer.
He wrote a special Catholic mass for this occasion (Mass in B minor).
After a considerable delay, the application was approved and Bach realised what was squeaking at the royal court.

Squealed the Russian ambassador - Herman Klaus von Keyserling, who suffered from insomnia and hired a young, very talented composer and harpsichordist, born in Gdańsk, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (Gold Mountain) to play for him to help him fall asleep.

During Keyserling's visit to Dresden, J.G. Goldberg met the Bach family, and J.S. Bach commemorated this acquaintance with a composition

I encountered the Goldberg Variations many years ago, thanks to Glenn Gould's famous recording - CLICK.

This recording was so popular that I did not look around for anything else, so something else came to me in the promotion from Australian Chamber Choir.

Scots Church, just in the centre of Melbourne...

Nearby there are many churches - Baptists, Methodists, the Catholic Cathedral of St. Peter, the Anglican Cathedral of St. Paul - these were the times of gold rush in nearby Ballarat, and since gold attracts a sin then there was a search for salvation.

There are banks squeezed between the churches - this red sign on the glass skyscraper is the symbol of the Westpac bank.
Complete harmony.

The disadvantage was the location of the church - right in the middle of Melbourne, there is no way to get there by car, for my wife taking a tram, including transfers, was too troublesome, she stayed home.

Inside the church...

This is what I expected - the spring school holidays just starting, the Australian Football and Rugby League finals are next week, and it's a beautiful, sunny day with crowds pouring through the streets of Melbourne.

Mountains of gold are difficult to reach, but at our fingertips we have the sweets of this world available - the Mountain of Sugar (Zuckerberg).

The overall impression of the concert - definitely positive - I am not a fan of the harpsichord, but in many cases the harpsichord provided effects unavailable to the piano.

Time to return, I'm going to the tram stop, on the way I'm stopped by a demonstration commemorating the death of Mahsa Amini in an Iranian prison...

The last look on the city...

Again, a church brings harmony and a peace of spirit.

Armageddon soon

Few days ago I was stirred by a news that our neighbour Papua New Guinea decided to open an Embassy in Jerusalem  -  CLICK .
It reminded me that city of Jerusalem got a bit strange status - UN and EU consider it a "corpus separatum" sort of a state within a state - CLICK.

Most of countries placed their capitals in Tel Aviv, exceptions are: USA, Guatemala, Honduras and Kosovo.

Why Papua New Guinea is so keen to have an Embassy in Jerusalem?
News under the first link clarifies it - decision was taken under pressure of local Christians, who strogly believe in St John's Apocalypse - Jerusalem will be a place of Final Judgement, from there will be a straight road to Heaven.

PS. In England there are the last days of a wonderful music feast - BBC Proms, a permanent position of a final concert is song Jerusalem which mentions that Jerusalem could be in England - CLICK. 

I suggest to Christians in PNG to do the same.

P.P.S. Facts - city of Jerusalem was built by Canaanites, ancestors of Palestinians. God of Israel gave their territory to Israelites with instruction to eliminate the original inhabitants.
King Davis conquered Jerusalem many years later, ruled there some 40 years, his son king Solomon built there a Temple, few years later the Kingdom of Israel disintegrated and was swallowed by neighbouring countries.
State of Israel reemerged almost 2500 years later, in 1948 - CLICK.

Fury

Fury by Salman Rushdie
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

First 2 pages impressed me very much, specifically author's eloquence.
I gained trust that the author can carry me everywhere.
Then I realised that it is not so promising - yes, he can carry me everywhere, but he is just running in circles.
I recommend review by BlackOxford, he/she put it so nicely and clearly that I cannot add nor subtract anything from it.
P.S. Due to my Polish background I appreciated author's mentions of few names of popular Polish artists, but again - what for?

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Wordle

 I discovered Wordle some 7 months ago.

Explanation: simple word's game - find a 5-letter word in 6 tries.
After each try you receive confirmation - which letters you guessed in correct position  (green) and which in wrong position (yellow), it looks like that:

After 1 month I implemented a simple strategy: enter 3 words, each using different letters.
In these 3 tries I use all 6 vowels and 9 most common consonants.
In above example it was sufficient to make a guess.
Since I implemented this strategy I think my success rate is some 98%.
Failed cases were words I did not know and some obvious omissions on my side.

Whole Notes

Whole Notes by Eddie Ayres
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My remote contact with Emma and Ed Ayres started many years ago.
For many years it was listening to smooth voice of Emma presenting classical music on ABC/Classic - Morning.
At that time I had and opportunity to see her in action - ABC/Classic was broadcasted live from Percy Grainger museum.
I saw Emma and I realised that she is not quite comfortable in her role.
Then she disappeared from radio ABC and I met her on a book shelves - Danger Music - a relation from Emma's work in a music school in Afghanistan.
She explained that she could not cope with serene climate of her job and surrounding as she was tormented with a war inside, she needed to be surrounded by danger to keep some balance.
Then came another book - Cadence - relation from a solo bike travel from England to Hong Kong.
It was good to have such an introduction so I could read Whole Notes in relaxed mode.
Basically the book covers whole life of Ed, all experiences intertwined with music.
Experiences are many -daily life issues, experience of a student, performer, teacher, mature age student.
Separate stream are instruments - Ed writes about them with expertise and with love.
I have to admit, that at that point I often felt lost. Still I believed Ed and the list of suggested music added me some confidence.
My rating reflects this experience of being lost.


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The living Sea of waking Dreams

The Living Sea of Waking Dreams by Richard Flanagan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Strange book.
After some 3 pages I got feeling of fulfilment, on one hand I felt that the author opens for me a window to strange world, on the other - I did not want to enter it, I found these 3 paged I read as sufficient.
After few days of hesitation I made a step forward.
I was enchanted by the author's language and writing style, I appreciated parallels between vanishing body parts and burnt out forests and animals, but I did not accept the story, it's cruelty and lack of common sense.
After about half of the book I got enough.

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Various ways of Scouting

A few days ago I found out that a Jamboree, a gathering of scouts and girl scouts from all over the world, is taking place in South Korea - CLICK .
These events take place every 4 years, but I don't remember them ever being reported in the media.

This time, however, they have a reason - a weather disaster - CLICK.

England, the country that started scouting, was so concerned about the fate of its scouts that it moved them from a tent city to hotels.

Scouts living in air-conditioned hotels?
Extra teams of cleaners to remove rubbish?
It looks that my idea of scouting is totally obsolete.

And at the same time...

  - International Youth Day, which began week ago in Portugal.

It's also very hot there, for this occasion came not some 45,000 people, but one and a half million believers, many of them on foot, and what?
The media reports that "young pilgrims braved intense heat" - CLICK.
Simple like that.

So,  let me ask - who is a better scout?

And in Poland...
August is a month of pilgrimages to the Shrine of Our Lady in Jasna Góra - CLICK.
It culminates with a celebration of The Assumption of Our Lady on 15th of August.
So currently there are over 200 pilgrimages in Poland walking from 200 to 700 kilometres, braving rain, wind and all aspects of capricious weather.

Have a look - I selected just a few, my suggestion - watch just few seconds to get idea of the climate.
- Folk Pilgrimage of mountain People - CLICK.
- and another one - CLICK.
- and more - CLICK.
- and the last one - CLICK.

Amen.

8 minutes 37 seconds

8'37" - that was a working title of a musical piece composed by K. Penderecki in 1960. 

The title of the piece was not innovative. Eight years earlier, John Cage "composed" a piece called 4'33'' (4 minutes 33 seconds). I wrote the word composed in quotation marks because this piece is absolute silence.

So this is a musical version of the fairy tale The King's New Clothes. However, so far no one has cried during the performance of the song - the king is naked!
Perhaps music soothes manners.

You can watch it HERE.

Krzysztof Penderecki had great appreciation for John Cage and probably agreed with his statement: music is pointless fun, an affirmation of life. It is not an attempt to bring order to chaos or to repair creation. It is simply a way of awakening to the life we live.

In practice, this meant musical experiments, including sonorism - a musical direction invented by Polish composers, in which sound is the essence. There is no rhythm, no melody, only sound, like colourful spots on an abstract painting. 

The piece 8'37'' was supposed to be just such an experiment. Krzysztof Penderecki composed it in a laboratory, on electronic equipment.
Fortunately, in those days (Communist Poland), creative activity was not limited by finances, so Penderecki had the opportunity to listen to his work performed by a symphony orchestra - 52 string instruments.

He listened and was shocked.
He changed the title of the song to Threnody in memory of the victims of Hiroshima.

My Sunday Reflection:
I found Penderecki's experience quite significant. I thought maybe that's what's happening in the universe.
God is experimenting in his heavenly laboratory, and on Earth, an orchestra of over 7 billion artists performs this piece.

The effect is truly shocking.

Let's go back to K. Penderecki.
Threnody in memory of the victims of Hiroshima was first performed in 1960 and marked the beginning of the composer's brilliant career.

I listened to this piece in 1962.
It was my first encounter with avant-garde music and on the one hand it was a shock - is this music?
On the other hand, it touched familiar strings - the bomb alarm, the patter of feet heading for the shelter, the distant sound of an approaching plane. I vaguely remembered the nights spent in the shelter during last months of WWII, I vividly remembered my mother's stories about the bombings.

Why did I choose this topic for Sunday?
Today - August 6 - is the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima - CLICK.

One more thing...
I mentioned that in sonoric music there is no rhythm, no melody. Music notation resembles technical charts.

That's why I'm including the Threnody animation here.
For me, it is not so much associated with the atomic bomb, but with the attack of viruses.
Listen and Watch - CLICK.

Too many men

Too Many Men by Lily Brett
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The title is completely confusing.
These words are repeated few times in the book - by a Gipsy clairvoyant, by a voice of Rudolf Höss a commandant of German Concentration and Death Camp - Auschwitz, by herself, but I do not see any relation to the story.
Similarly the voice of Rudolf Höss - my explanation is that has been used as a way to present some details on the background of Nazi idea of Jews extermination. As for me it brought more confusion than knowledge.
The story - an American business woman - Ruth - organises for her, living in Melbourne , 81 years old father, a tour of Poland, a place of his youth, a country where his family lived and where all of them were moved by Germans into the Auschwitz Death Camp.
Father - Edek - firstly does not see much sense in such a visit. Secondly, as should be expected - visiting familiar places brings back sad reflections. Thirdly - there are some positives - he immensely enjoys Polish food, although quantities of ham, eggs and cakes eaten by him as specified in the book are rather superhuman.
More importantly he finds a woman, who seems as an ideal partner for his remaining years.
It is quite different story for Ruth.
She leads very satisfying life in New York - own flourishing business, great care of health, diet, exercises, clothes, cosmetics.
There is a mention of 2 failed marriages, but she does not feel any lack of family.
Visit to Poland relives in her many traumas. It looks these are much stronger than traumas of some survivors, who, like Ruth's father, managed to erase them from day-today life.
Separate issue is her absolute disgust of life in Poland and behaviour of Polish people.
I found it very biased and exaggerated, but it is rather intimate, personal issue.

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Elizabeth Finch

Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Rather disappointing.
The narrator - an adult with a family ( in a bit of the mess) and with established (very weekly) professional career, enrols to the course "Culture and civilisation".
From the first lecture he is under a spell of the lecturer - Elizabeth Finch.
She runs her lectures in quite inspiring way - presents shortly some story and encourages students to absolutely free discussion.
We got a very short list of discussed issues, the main concerns of the lecturer are love, happiness, some rarely known facts from the medieval times.
The main point is the fascination of the narrator with the lecturer.
It seems that he is not the only person fascinated by her, but it might be just his impression.
The course ends, after few years he learns that Elisabeth died, in her will she bequeathed him with copies of her once published books and with all her notes.
It gives him some inspiration to publish some sort of biography or selection of her thoughts and idea. At the same time he tries to find some details of her private life, specifically of her intimate life.
No practical result.
As for issues of Culture and Civilisation, the main points are some stoic opinions on happiness and sense of life and the reign of caesar Julian the Apostate and a vague deliberations what would have happened if Christianity did not affect the European culture.
I found it rather messy, specifically that it repeated twice in the book and did not add anything to the Wikipedia entry.
Summarising - I did not like this book at all, I gave it 2 stars only because of my sentiment to the author.

P.S. Coincidence - Elisabeth Finch - a coauthor of serial Gray's Anatomy stormed last year to the headlines of media gossip - HERE
I wonder if Julian Barnes got any knowledge of it when choosing the name of the main character of his book. 

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Apeirogon - life

Apeirogon - a book by the Irish writer Colum McCain.

Apeirogon - definition - a geometric figure with an infinite but countable number of sides.

The result - the book is very complicated, contains a lot of inserts that have nothing to do with the main topic. As a result, while reading, I used the Internet many times and ... hit the table, the scissors will ring - says a Polish proverb.

It turned out that the two heroes of this very dramatic story are in Australia - CLICK

Their history in a nutshell:

Rami Elhanan - an Israelite, his father - a Jew who immigrated to Israel from Hungary in 1947.

Wife - Nurit Peled - daughter of a prominent Israeli general (6-day war 1967).

Rami served as a member of tank team during the Yom Kippur War in 1974.

In 1997, his 14-year-old daughter, Smadar, was killed in a Palestinian suicide bombing on the streets of Jerusalem.

A few years later, he joined Combatants for Peace - CLICK - an organisation of Israeli and Palestinian activists fighting non-violently to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Bassam Aramin - Palestinian.

He has witnessed Israeli violence in his immediate neighbourhood since he was a child.

When he was 17 years old, he and his friends placed found by chance grenades  under Israeli vehicles, an explosion took place, no one was killed.

Soon Bassam was captured and sentenced to 7 years in prison.

In prison, he was brutally beaten by Israeli soldiers, for whom it was a regular training. The beatings continued in the prison hospital.

Also in prison, he watched the film Schindler's List - CLICK - from which he learned about the fate of Jews during the Holocaust.

His first reaction was joy - YES! YES! - even more!

After a few years, still in prison, came a completely opposite reflection.

He became aware of the suffering of the Jewish people. What struck him was the impression that the victims of the Holocaust seemed to accept their fate without violent protest.

He began to study the subject, learned the Hebrew language.

In 2005, Bassam joined Combatants for Peace and met Rami there.

Two years later, his daughter Abir was shot with a rubber bullet by an Israeli patrol.

The nearest hospital was unable to help her, so it was decided to transfer her to a hospital in Jerusalem.

The Palestinian ambulance took more than 2 hours to cover several kilometres due to the long wait at the Israeli checkpoint.

Two days later Abir died in the hospital.

Abir and Smadar...

Since then, Bassam and Rami have traveled to many places spreading the idea of reconciliation.

They were in Melbourne a few days ago.

I learned about their visit on Friday (5/26/23) evening.

The event organizer's website reported that tickets were sold out, but you can sign up for a waiting list.

I signed up.

On Monday at 5pm I got a notification that they had some tickets.

For me they had, start 6:30.

Getting to the center of Melbourne at this time is not very easy - by car to the city train station, by train to the city center, a few tram stops - I AM THERE!

A snapshot of a tram ride.

Crowded, mostly young people, students.

An older lady is standing in the middle of this crowd, there is nothing to grab onto and the tram brakes quite hard.

"You can hold on to me," - offers the young girl next to her.

- Can I? Really? - the old lady catches the girl in her arms, hugs her, puts her head on her shoulder and closes her eyes with a blissful smile.

The Wheelers Center adjacent to our State Library turned out to be very modest...

It was only then that I realized how hard it was to practically grasp the idea Rami and Bassam were fighting for.

I knew that Rami and his family in particular were heavily attacked by the Israeli right-wing media.

I am not surprised that in such a situation it is difficult to gain popularity in other countries.

Bassam and Rami mentioned that they visited Israeli and Palestinian schools in Australia.

They met a rather cold understanding, on the margins they noticed signs of hostility.

My personal impression.

First of all, I realized that I was unlikely to learn anything new, but I had a feeling that something important was happening just around the corner and I wanted to at least get a glimpse of it.

Unfortunately, I did not have the courage of the older lady from the tram.

Secondly - Bassam and Rami - seemed a bit tired of these many performances, especially Rami.

Bassam still had a good sense of humor.

When asked by the host of the meeting whether Rami is his friend, he replied - Rami - a friend?

Rami is my enemy - he's Israeli, doesn't speak Arabic and doesn't smoke!

To the question - why are you doing this? - Rami replied - every morning when I wake up I see Smadar above me. She looks at me reproachfully - it's so late and you haven't done anything to end it yet. And so on until the end of the day.

Bassam nodded wordlessly.

Third, specifics.

The government of Israel - they both had no doubt - if we reject violence, it's all in the hands of the Israeli government.

Rami - it is a right wing fascist government. The opposition is practically non-existent. The only Israeli government that offered any hope of normalizing relations between Israel and Palestine was that of Yitzhak Rabin in 1974-77.

Let me remind you that in later years Y. Rabin was the leader of the left-wing parliamentary opposition. In 1995, he was murdered by a right-wing extremist.

The government of occupied Palestine - Rami waved his hand resignedly - if the Palestinian president wants to visit his old home in another occupation zone, he has to ask the Israeli administration for a pass.

And also Rami - our youth, when they reach 16, they go for trips to Auschwitz, there they march shouting - Never again!

Upon their return to Israel, their mandatory military service awaits them, and there they are trained to carry out checks on the Palestinian population.

After sorting out my impressions, I went back to reading.

Apeirogon - infinite but countable.

In the case of a book, it is 1001 chapters.

The first 500 chapters are numbered from 1 to 500, the next 500 - vice versa, the last chapter - no number - a picture of rippling water

My main objection to the author - the book lacks a smooth narrative that would reflect the atmosphere of life in Israel and Palestine, instead, it is random short reports, as if copied from the Internet.

I've adapted to it. Below are some such relations.

As a result of the terrorist attack in which Smadar was killed, 3 more people and three bombers died.

The attackers were disguised as women.

The day after the attack, the families of the terrorists had to leave their homes, which were concreted.

There are rumors that they have taken up residence in new homes purchased for them by the Iranian government.

The parents of the girl, who also died in the attack, sued in the US the Iranian government  for organizing the attack.

The court upheld their complaint and awarded $1.7 million in damages.

The Iranian government did not pay.

Press coverage after Abir's death.

The victim's father works for Combatants for Peace...

The victim's father spent several years in prison for terrorist activities.

The army has released an official declaration that it has nothing to do with this case...

Palestinian protests took place in the vicinity of the event...

The victim of the incident was seen holding a stone in her hand...

She was killed by a stone thrown by a protesting crowd...

She was shot by Palestinian police...

She had an epileptic seizure and hit her head on the cobblestones...

Stones were found in her pockets...

She died as a result of the explosion of a grenade she was holding in her hand...

Staff at a Palestinian hospital dropped her from a wheelchair and smashed her head...

Her Muslim parents refused to be treated by an Israeli doctor...

Four years later, during a trial in civil court, a female judge questioned the report that Abir had been killed with a stone fired from a slingshot by Palestinian boys hiding in a nearby cemetery. She pointed out that the cemetery was 100m away and was hidden by a 4-story building.
An additional argument - rubber bullets were found on the ground, a few steps from the accident site.

The result of the trial - Bassam received compensation - 1 million shekels (approx. $ 270,000).

Bassam always carried in his pocket a candy bracelet that Abir had bought on a trip to the store.

Maybe such...

When he left work, he would put his hand in his pocket and run his fingers over the candy.

One day he was driving home from work.

Moving checkpoint...

- Show me your hands! Show your hands!!

Israeli soldier, elderly woman, gray strands of hair. Bassam thought she spoke with a Russian accent. Suddenly she aimed a gun at him...

- What the fuck is this?

Bassam twisted his hands, noticed that they were slightly tinted pink, smelled sweet.

- On your knees, on your fucking knees!

Bassam knelt by the road. He turned his face to the east so that when the time came he could pray.

The thought of licking his hand crossed his mind, but he remembered that it was Ramadan, the time of fasting.

- Pull up your shirt, pull up your shirt, I repeat!

For a moment he felt no shame, even in front of a woman, anger smothering decency.

The butt of the rifle hit him near the kidneys, pushed him forward, he felt dust on his face, the woman put self-locking handcuffs on his wrists. She grabbed him by the hair and pushed him into an army car.

Five hours later, still at the station, the woman relented, she was sorry, but Sentex, the explosive used to make the bombs, was staining hands pin.

Zones in Palestinian territories:

A - administered by the Palestinian Authority, unrestricted access for Israeli military patrols, Israeli law prohibits entry to Israeli citizens.

B - administered by the Palestinian Authority, both sides responsible for security, open to Israelis and Palestinians.

C - areas inhabited by Israeli settlers (the UN considers it illegal) and Palestinians (mainly farmers). Israeli-administered zone.

In addition, there are 4 smaller zones H1, H2, E1. Seam Zone - see footnotes.

Apeirogon - a geometric figure with an infinite but countable number of sides.

The counter is still ticking - 5/6/2023 - a 3-year-old Palestinian boy shot by an Israeli patrol has died - CLICK.

P.S. You can watch a video of the meeting with Rami and Bassam HERE. 
Note: actual interview starts at about 4 minutes of the video.

Sources:
Rami Elhanan - Wikipedia.
Basssam and Rami - The Guardian.
Israeli Checkpoints - CLICK.
Seam Zone - CLICK.

Apeirogon - book

 

Apeirogon by Colum McCann
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Started reading this book knowing what it is about.
After first few chapters I hated it.
The topic is a very human and noble initiative which is still developing in a very difficult and rather hostile environment.
I expected to get a honest and based on solid knowledge story.
What I got?
Story fragmented into few hundred pieced, mixed with another few hundred more or less relevant (or irrelevant) pieces.
After some 250 chapters (out of 1001) I got enough, the rest I could find on Internet.
Luckily I found also an information, that two main characters of the story - Bassam and Rami - were actually in Melbourne and there is a public meeting.
Luckily I managed to get a ticket!!!

Basically I did not learn anything new, but I was touched by humility and characters of both men.
Important point was that the meeting was an extremely modest event. It reinforced my conscience that they are surrounded by an indifferent, sometimes hostile environment.
I thought, that I should not abandon them and I completed the book.
I did not learn much new, but I found that last 500 chapters were written more smoothly.
Unfortunately I also realised, that some vital information is missing, I hope it is not intentional.

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In Spider Web

California, St Petersburg, Warsaw, Dresden, Munich...

Where to start?
Preferably close to home, at the gold-producing fields of Ballarat - 120 km from Melbourne.

We visited this place many times, looking for gold or listening to great music and this important fact did not escape my attention - in February 1858, the famous scandalist Lola Montez visited Ballarat and presented her famous Spider Dance ==> CLICK.

During this dance, she fluttered her dress, revealing her legs higher and higher until... opinions are divided - some viewers saw her panties, others saw that they did not see any panties.

However, there was a brave journalist, Henry Seekamp, who reported in his writing that the panties were a secondary matter, the primary thing was the fact that Mrs. Montez did not perform any dancing.

This insult requires blood. The next day, Mrs. Montez found the journalist in a local bar and attacked him with a riding crop...

Details  HERE.

In both linked reports I noticed surprising information: "After fleeing from the coup in Bavaria, Montez..."

A coup in Bavaria?
Wait a minute, let's start from the beginning.

Who is behind this Spanish name?
Some sources say that it was a Spanish princess, but I remember who emigrated en masse to Australia in the mid-19th century - the Irish!

That's right - Lola Montez was born in Limerick as Maria Dolores Elisa Rosanna Gilbert, the daughter of Edward Gilbert, a low-ranking British naval officer, and señorita Oliverres de Montalva.
When she was 3 years old, her father was sent on business to India, where he died of cholera a few years later. Senorita Oliverres soon found a husband, and a little later she found a husband for her daughter - an 80-year-old judge.
Maria Dolores ran away from home and married a much younger officer. After a few months of marriage, her husband ran away from Maria Dolores and she probably decided that marriage was a slippery slope, changed her name to Lola Montez and set out to conquer the world.

Paris - here she charmed both Alexandre Dumas - father and son.

Dresden - Franz Liszt.

Warsaw - I will stay here longer...
Encyclopedia of Polish Theater (Sources 1) reports:
"...At that time, Lola Montez, the daughter of a former Spanish general, came to Warsaw. As a dancer, she made a contract with the management for five performances, PLN 3,000 each. Being beautiful, she found protection in Prince Radziville, Count Zamoyski, Turculle, Minister, Franciszek Potocki etc. etc.
During the first performance, the screams and applause of patrons and young chairs replaced the lack of talent, because, to be honest, it was a disgrace to Mrs. Turczynowicz and Miss Wendt, the first soloists of the Warsaw ballet; they would dance this song more skillfully.
(...)
The next day, the management sent a message informing her that she was free from further performances. But here the protectors invaded Abramovich in order to fulfill the agreement; that when he returns to the country, he will talk badly about Poles; and they made many other remarks, and they did not leave him until he promised them that he would appear again in three days.
The cunning Spanish understood that the audience was dissatisfied and assured herself that her protectors would support her. Moreover, when she attended dinners with the banker Piotr Steinkeller, she asked him for protection.
As a result, Steinkeller handed out a hundred tickets to blacksmiths (up to 200 of whom worked in his factory in Solec), with instructions to watch out for him: as soon as he starts clapping, they should all clap their hands as hard as they can.
Lola started dancing. They started hissing. But Steinkeller's blacksmiths, if there was a thunderclap, would drown out the hissers, who, out of patience, whistling shrilly with the help of whistles, gained the field.
Lola stopped dancing, the orchestra fell silent, and she, coming to the front of the stage, said in French that this whistling came from this box - and pointed to Abramovich's box.
The curtain was lowered and everyone dispersed.

The next morning the order came from Fr. Viceroy to ask Lola Montez to leave Warsaw within 12 hours.
The war governor sent for her, but she did not want to go to him, only to the prince. The policeman standing outside the door did not let her go, so she hit him with a dagger, which slid down the lacquered bandolier. The policeman was immediately replaced by two gendarmes..."

The next stage was St. Petersburg.
Lola was received by Tsar Nicholas I in a private audience.
Lola's biography (source 4) gives a rather extraordinary account of this audience...
It was interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the commander of the front in the Caucasus.
The Tsar hid Lola in a closet so that he could fully concentrate on the situation at the front. The matter was serious, the tsar and the commander had to meet with the army commanders, they left the room, the tsar slammed the door.
Only after a few hours did he remember about Lola, send an aide to free her and apologize. He then apologised personally and gave her 1,000 rubles in compensation.

It's time to conquer Bavaria...
The year 1846 - the king of Bavaria was Ludwig I (grandfather of Ludwig II, who invented the castle for Disneyland).
Sources (2) report that Ludwig I was also an oddity - he did not use a carriage, walked the streets, wrote poems, built the Valhalla temple (sources 3) in honor of outstanding figures of "broadly understood German culture" - wide enough to fit M. Copernicus in it.

No wonder that when he saw Lola Montez on stage in Munich, he was charmed by her.
In 5 days he invited her as an official guest to the royal court.
After a month, he gave her the title of Princess of Landsdorf, built a house for her and set her a salary of 20,000 florins.

It was already 1847 - Europe was getting ready for the Spring of Nations - Lola Montez was ruling Munich like she was in her backyard, she was arrogant towards the queen.
Things took a turn for the worse when Lola began to interfere with the composition of the university council. Students organised mass protests, the king issued a decree closing the university for a year, the protests spread to the entire city - the council of lords issued a decree expelling Lola from Bavaria, the mob burned her house. Ludwig I was forced to abdicate.
Lola moved to Switzerland, she hoped that Ludwig I would join her, but when this did not happen, she went to England where she married for the second time. Unfortunately, it turned out that her separation from her first husband was not entirely formal, she was accused of bigamy, so she fled to the USA.

There was a gold rush in California and Lola's performances were very popular. I guess she was once again harmed by men's excessive fascination with her - another wedding, formal ambiguities - it was better to move overseas.

In Australia, Lola was very popular among gold miners, but the media was rather critical.
I started the entry with an account of such a critical reception, which resulted in a duel with riding crops. This event was immortalised by the Australian composer - Albert Denning - in the song Lola Montez Polka, riding crops shoot thickly - CLICK.

In May 1856, Lola began her journey back to California.
Attempts to return to the stage were not successful - Lola spent the last years of her life giving moralising talks.

She died on January 17, 1861 at the age of 40.

Sources:
1. Encyclopedia of Polish Theatre (in Polish) - KLIK.
2. Lola Montez and the King of Bavaria- KLIK.
3. Walhalla - KLIK.
4 - Scandalous life of Lola Montez - KLIK.
5. Biography published in year 1909, author Edward B. d'Auvergne - KLIK.
6. Wikipedia - KLIK .

40 years in Australia

 40 years ago, on 8th February 1983 we landed in Australia...

Visa issued in Kuwait?

Yes, in 1981 I commenced a 2 years work contract in Kuwait University Computer Centre.

 My wife and children joined me soon.

We felt quite comfortable living in Poland and my plan was to work 2 years, maybe a bit more in Kuwait to earn some "hard currency" and get some experience with modern computer technology and then return to Poland to our spacious 66 m2 flat, safe jobs etc.

The history changed our plans, in December 1981 a martial law was introduced in Poland as a response to social unrest under Solidarity banner.
Officials in Polish Consulate in Kuwait advised - do not go back to Poland. There is total paralysis of economy, social life, everything. Stay in Kuwait as long as you can.
On the other hand - staying in Kuwait did not look like a safe option, just across the border there was a war between Iraq and Iran, we could hear bomb explosions quite frequently.

So where to go?
There were 3 main migration destinations - USA, Canada, Australia.
First two looked as easiest options - not so far from Poland, similar climate, we had some friends or relatives there.
I visited US Consulate and asked about migration procedure.
The official in the Consulate was very frank - you realise that getting permanent residency in US is the greatest privilege in the world. No wonder the process will be long, you may feel humiliated sometimes, but remember - you must be honest and humble because at the end there is the greatest reward.
I felt to small to apply.

Canadian Consulate.
The official was quite friendly, he introduced Canada as most open, multicultural country, encouraged me to apply for permanent residency visa...then whispered - may I ask you few unofficial questions?
- Go on.
- How old are you?
- 40.
- How much money will you bring to Canada?
- Few thousand dollars (my salary in Kuwait was heavily taxed by Polish government).
- Do you have any close family in Canada?
- No.
- Well, as I said before, we are extremely open country and you are most welcome here, but privately... if you are so old, so poor and so lonely... better stay where you are.
I thanked him heartfully for such honest advice.

Australian Consulate.
First question was - what is your profession?
- Computer analyst programmer.
The official grabbed me by arm - you are position one on our country demands list, I will not let you leave unless you give me you details and contact information.
I filled application forms.

To get some idea what can we expect in new place, I looked around to find some Australian professional in Kuwait. It took quite some time before I found one.
I considered it a good sign.
There were many professionals from USA, Great Britain, from European countries. So employment conditions in Australia must be so good, they do not need to look for better options.
We invited the special one for dinner and explained him our curiosity.
- What a pity my wife is not here, she would have told you everything you need. One thing is certain - Australia is extremely friendly country with the best medical and education systems in the world.
Your kids will love Australian school, it is so multicultural. Take the languages, there are 3 terms in a school year. In term 1 kids learn French, in term 2 - Italian, in term 3 they have swimming.
- How old are your kids? - I asked.
- Boy is 8, our daughter is... I think she is 6. If my wife was here...

After the dinner I drove our guest to his hotel.
There was a long line of cars on the traffic lights. We moved slowly forward. someone was pressing on the horn.
- What happened? - asked my passenger - a police?
- No, just someone overslept the green light.
- Missed green light and such a noise? In Australia they may honk on you, but not earlier then after you missed 3 green lights. 
I returned home in good spirit.
- I think we will manage there - I announced.
- And it looks like women enjoy high respect there - added Sylvia

An official in Australian Consulate reinforced my positive look.
- On what day of the week will you arrive in Australia?
- Tuesday, 8 February.
- Excellent, just on Tuesday, The Age - the main Melbourne paper, publishes a list of vacant computer jobs. If you ring them from the airport you may start working same day after lunch.
Impressive.

January 1983 meant packing and clearing up all issues in Kuwait.
I visited Bank of Kuwait and enquired about exchange of my savings to Australian dollars.
- Sorry, we do not keep Australian dollars.
So I exchanged all my savings yo US dollars.
My boss organised a farewell party..

My contract provided for a free return flight to my home country or any flight with Kuwait Airways.
We chose Manila, Philippines.

Almost a week in a paradise...

... and we boarded a Qantas plane.

Morning sun woke us up, I looked down thru the window - unending slightly undulated terrain covered by sand or dried out grass.
We are back in Kuwait - was the first thought.
Few hours later we landed in Melbourne, pilot announced a hot day.
Some strange figures in white overalls sprayed passengers with some fluid and we touched Australian soil.

Sylvia had some relatives living in Melbourne and they (Barbara and John) offered us an accommodation for the first weeks, Barbara was also to pick us up from the airport but we had to wait a bit, until the morning traffic will ease.
I bought The Age - the Consulate official was right, there was a special section with advertisements of computer jobs. I decided to try them next day.
I visited currency exchange.
The price of 1 AU$ was close to 1.18 US$.
That was a big surprize, on the other hand it probably meant that the economy was very strong. For the beginning I exchanged some 200 US$.

Soon Sylvia's cousin arrived and drove us to their home.
Surroundings of Tullamarine airport did not look too encouraging, small industry area, poor road surface, lots of small workshops or warehouses. 
- Like in Kuwait - I thought.
Sylvia's cousin must have noticed our disappointment.
- Do not worry, it is just an industrial area, Melbourne is a beautiful city and our home is in a very nice, green suburb with many parks and trees.
Finally we got to Hawthorn East - looked very nice, lots of nice homes and residences, but lawns and trees... they looked like drying out.
- Oh, I did not warn you, We are in a long period of drought. Our council forbade watering plants and gardens.

Eventually we reached the home.
Very spacious, with nice garden, swimming pool and tennis court.
This was Australia of our dreams.

In the late afternoon we felt in the air some smoke, the sky darkened, there was a strong wind.

Next day we could see in newspapers this photo...

Details HERE.

My plan for this day was to look for a job.
I looked at list of job offers in yesterday's The Age and rang. Got an interview in the afternoon.

People in the agency were very friendly and nice, they looked quite impressed with variety of my job experiences.
Then came a question:
- Do you have any Australian job experience?
- But I think I told you - we arrived in Australia yesterday.
- Oh, yes, of course, of course. It does not matter at all.
The agent looked quite worried, he flipped over my job certificates without much enthusiasm.
- We are sure we find something for you soon. We will ring you. Bye.

The Australian experience started!

USA - 1982 - New York

 Direction New York.

Soon we could see the skyscrapers at the horizon, less that 2 hours drive and we are on the city entrance road.

The sign read: Harlem.

I got paralysed.
I do not exactly know why, there was not so much negative much propaganda in Communist Poland showing USA in a bad light.
Of course there were reports about homelessness, poverty, crime, racism etc, but it was so remote.

And here, out of sudden, we are at the gate to Harlem - panic, panic.

Lock the door - I commanded - and avoid looking at anybody.
In few minutes time we got stuck in a traffic jam. In the distance I could see young Afro-American men washing front screens of the coming cars.

Prepare some change for me - I commanded to Sylwia - and do not look anybody into eyes.

After next few minutes we were in the front line. Young, massively built man, smiled friendly to me

- Screen wash, sir?
I nodded approvingly.
In few seconds the windscreen was clean, I lower the window glass slightly
- How much do we owe you?
- It is up to you, sir. Welcome to New York!
I handed him probably $2, he waved friendly to my passengers and we moved on.
I felt relaxed and rather embarrassed with my previous precautions.

Our American friend from Kuwait, Joe K. booked for us room in hotel in 88th Street. It was very close to the main attraction in the city centre.

The first attraction was an open air concert in the Central Park.
It was something new for us. We were lovers of classical music, but we experienced it only in official concert halls.
And here it was - free for all and in beautiful surrounding.
Of course there were some conversations around us, some cracking of serviettes or food containers, clink of wine glasses, but this was a part of the parcel.
After the concert we went for a shot walk in alleys around the big lawn and there was a mounted police, some loud commands, noises.
- Do not walk this way - warned us some passerby, there was attempted robbery there.

Next day, maybe even two, were filled with visiting many popular New York attractions.

We also rang Wanda, who we met at the camping camp few days earlier.
She told us that she will be in the city next day and will be very happy to visit some not so well known attraction.

It was a small castle brought from Europe to New York.

Wanda also told us about her current occupation.
We remembered that her husband was employed by Mr Potamkin, as a manager of cars depo and occasionally as a limo driver, to pick up from the airport most important quests of his boss.
One of them was a director of Canadian Railways.
He was so enchanted with Stan's small talk that he made a proposal:
My wife has a luxurious apartment in New York and once a year, at the beginning of art season, she organises a series of events for her friends.
She needs a manager for this apartment - all year it stays empty, but for these 2 weeks of high season it comes to life - sumptuous parties everyday, visits of distinguished guests etc.
Of course all services, catering of the best quality are paid.
A very reliable manager is needed to order, control and coordinate all these activities.
And this is her job for the last few years.

Same day in the evening, we met Joe K American of Polish origin and his girlfriend and visited Lincoln Centre.
There was a performance of Dvorak's Cello concerto.

There was one more point in our program for New York - to visit my aunt who lived in an old-age care home in Long Island.
I rang a car hire.
- What credit card should we charge?
- I do not have a credit card, I will pay in cash.
A moment of silence and then - you must be joking, you will pay us few dollars and we will not see neither you nor our car.
They hang up.

Now I understood dilemmas of car hire in Washington.
Stan and Wanda were the only chance.
I rang them suggesting that they will hire a car and pay with their credit card and we will return them all in cash. Stan burst in laughter - don't you remember that I am running a car depo?
Come there and you will get a car of your choice for free.
Next morning we packed and went there by taxi.
Soon we passed poor residential suburbs and found ourselves in some industrial desert.
Miles and miles of empty streets filled with neglected stores and used cars depos.
Finally we got there. A smart minibus was waiting for us.
- We hope it will serve you well.
It did.

Meeting with my aunt was very touching and memorable.

Our arrangement for car return was, that we bring it to Stan and Wanda home in the morning, spend all day there and in the evening they will drop us to the airport.
They lived in Greenpoint, the area dominated by Polish community.
We felt like in Poland, not the one we remembered, it was Poland of previous generation.

Evening, we sat at the meal and then phone rang, and then again and again.

Stan turned to us with radiant face.
President Reagan declared that due to martial law in Poland, no Polish visitor can be expelled from United States.
Bring your luggage inside, you are not going anywhere.
You can stay with us a month or two, we will enroll your children to a school nearby.
You will find jobs and settle down for good!

Somehow he did not convince us.
We noticed disappointment in their faces

We boarded Kuwait Airways flight.

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