It's good to be home again after a trip to even colder Canberra yesterday. I had my bandages and stitches removed at the hospital, ate a huge lunch of Wiener Schnitzel with 'Gurkensalat' at the Austrian Club, and then rummaged through the opportunity shops for some books.
Found some interesting titles: "The Hunting Hypothesis" by Robert Ardrey (all about man's evolution); a story of Schopenhauer's life and influence woven through a fictional narrative entitled "The Schopenhauer Cure" by Irvin D. Yalom (who also wrote "When Nietzsche Wept); "Greater Nowheres - A Journey through the Australian Bush" by Dave Finkelstein and Jack London (no, not THAT Jack London); "Desparate Voyage", a story by John Caldwell which lacks any literary pretensions and instead is a straightforward first-person account of his tremendous (mis)adventure of sailing single-handedly across the Pacific in a 20-foot boat -- the kind of voyage no sane person would (or could) make today! You can't help but root for him and wonder how things will turn out.
And I picked up several tried-and-tested videos ('what are videos?', I hear you ask): "The Secret Garden", "Licence to Kill" (James Bond Collection); "The Longest Day"; and "Alice in Wonderland".
We drove back to the coast in mid-afternoon as I really didn't want to spend any more time in Canberra. As I headed down the Clyde Mountain, I idly reflected on the fact that I had lived in Canberra longer - from 1965 to 1967 and again from 1985 to 2000 - than in any other place, including my own hometown in Germany. Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans!
