MANNERS AND OTHER MATTERS

Bob Percy's funeral December 2006 Cocos (keeling) Islands Today is Anzac Day. ANZAC refers to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, a Commonwealth unit which most famously fought at the Battle of Gallipoli in Turkey during the First World War.   The attitude of the young Australians, and New Zealanders who were, arguably, sent into battle by their British commanders knowing that they were likely to be slaughtered is legendary…the same heroism of young, teenage men, from a young country at that time, far from home was displayed gallantly at Villers-Bretonneux in Northern France in the same war. These young men, and those that preceded them in the Boer War and followed them in the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and latterly the Iraq and Afghan conflicts are honoured on the 25 April every year. I have my friend from Europe with me in Australia at the moment. Today he asked me what does Anzac Day mean to me?    He has been in many fields of conflict as an human

Filming on 25 February 2011  The Can We Help? segment on Courtship...Then and Now...went to air last night on ABC1. We had filmed the segment on 25 February over 7 hours...which resulted in about 7 minutes of footage!  The subject was Courtship rituals between the1950's and the 2000's. It is always confronting to see one's self on TV but for those of you who would like to view it, please click here  .

 An Esperance Beach from Twilight Beach Road 7 April 2011 (Photo Louise Percy) Our exploration of Esperance is complete. From the rugged, secluded beaches of the Cape Arid National Park to the expansive beaches reached by Twilight Beach Road we have swum, walked, romanced and dined along the Southern Ocean coastline. Jo at Tentacles  (Photo: Louise Percy) And the food we have had! Esperance is renowned as a place for wonderful fish and we met Jo at Tentacles of Esperance seafood on our second day of discovery. She is very knowledgeable about the local fish and advised me almost daily about what was fresh and gave suggestions on how I should try to cook it. I love cooking and came to Esperance with the intention of trying many new, particularly Asian recipes. I bought my wok and bamboo steamer…and the tasting sensation of Kylie Kwong’s recipe for line caught bar cod steamed with ginger and shallots was sublime, even if I do say so myself! The bar cod had arrived fresh from the fishi

                                                                 Paperbark Cottage April 2011 In my earliest memories I recall my mother speaking about the holidays her family, who lived in Kalgoorlie, would take in Esperance. A branch of the Heenan family had settled there at the end of the 19th century and rebuilt the Pier Hotel in 1900. The building was constructed from stone brought from Coolgardie apparently. My mother delighted with stores of elegant and fun filled days in the 1930s when they  took the train, The Flyer, from Kalgoorlie to Esperance, a trip of 13 hours - and only 398 kilometres! Three years ago I had my first opportunity to visit Esperance. I was travelling with my companion from Switzerland,  a French speaking writer interested in the “colour and characters” of inland Western Australia. We drove from Perth to Kalgoorlie, following the water pipeline and the railway line, through vast stretches of open road, boardered on either side by intensely red soil and s