Goodbye Bendigo, Hello New Opportunities

Well, it has been just over a year.

When I got here, to this little city in the middle of nowhere, with its great architecture and hints of bygone goldrush times I had big hopes. But they haven't really come to fruition for me. It has been a nice enough place to live, but it is a bit far from the hustle and bustle which I have become accustomed to.

Sure, it is only a couple of hours to the big smoke - but actually that is four hours travel on crowded trains in a day with very early starts and late finishes. I did consider moving, but there is that whole chicken and egg thing again - can't get a job without and address and can't get a rental without a job. Oh well. Not even when I was willing to commute in the short term.

I'm going to miss the walkability of Bendigo, the trams and the view from up high in the backyard. I'll miss the rosellas too, coming to visit in the trees outside the window; but I am sure we will find some more feathers friends. The bats too with their little spats in the trees at the park when you would expect them to be asleep and then chattering outside the window at night. I love the style of houses and would have bought one and stayed if the job thing had worked out.

 Chancery Lane

Can't say I'm going to miss anybody, because I haven't actually met anybody to miss. Even my occasional ventures to join in meetings with the family history group did not find a coffee buddy, and fellow students living locally seemed to not be inclined to be social either. I will miss the Farmer's market, and the local coffee and goodies at Hustle.

Vahland Drinking Fountain & Conservatory Gardens

Still, I have been lucky to stay as a house guest mostly while I have studied and it has been great to be able to focus on all of that. I didn't anticipate when I began this journey in August last year that I would be submitting my final assignment in the next couple of weeks.

Wildflowers in the back lawn before the lawnmower man came

So now, it is onward and upwards. This has just been an obstacle in the pursuit of happiness, but nonetheless an obstacle which has allowed me to study and made me more determined that I can make this all work.

Bright yellow canola fields

I am looking forward to being a bit more connected, and being able to walk down streets which are a bit busier and filled with people.

Parsley anyone ? Ours has turned into a jungle

So where to now ? You will have to wait and see.

Spring brings...

...some of my favourite flowers. So I thought I'd share what I saw on a walk to town - and back on the first day of spring.

...and then there was White Night

Kinda like Enlighten which we experienced when we visited Canberra, but just on for one night.

It was the first time it had ever been held in Bendigo, it was in Ballarat last year and in Melbourne earlier this year, plus other places I am sure. The hype was amazing. So we thought we should go, just to see for ourselves.

Some of the displays were pretty cool, others not so much. There were food trucks and lots of restaurants and bars stayed open for the event which ran until 2am. There were a couple of stages with bands and something happening on a tram, but they were all competing with each other and the combo wasn't great. We just went for a look, no food.

I think the best display was on the newly refurbished Soldiers Memorial Institute, and next best probably the old GPO building. You decide what you think.

Gardens in Melbourne - a Day Trip for the Convalescent

Lauren had surgery on her wrist a couple of weeks ago, and it happened at Castlemaine so we needed to rent a car. (I think it might almost be time to buy one.) Anyway, because we had the car and she had leave, and me - well you know "unemployed student" - we decided to go to see some gardens which have been on "the list" for a while.

It was a million miles away, but lovely, peaceful and serene with amazing reflections on the pond - once we got away from the selfie taking group. The sense of calm dissipated when we got back in the car and Flossie (my TomTom) took us on the most unbelievable route complete with gridlock and accidents. Much later home than planned, and a very worn out patient. Oh well - we ticked it off the list.

#52Ancestors, Week 37, Closest to Your Birthday

So, closest to my birthday ? Pretty good timing for this topic, since it IS Birthday week.

Aside from that who shares my birthday on my tree, or celebrated in the days either side ?

Sept 10: 2xGreat Grand Uncle Henry’s birthday

Sept 11: 2^nd cousin Vicky’s wedding anniversary; 1^st cousin twice removed Hilda born and died (88 years apart)

Sept 12: 3^rd cousin once removed Kerry’s wedding anniversary; Great Grandmother Emma’s birthday, 2xGreat Grand Uncle Watty (the goldminer)’s birthday

Then as far as history goes – it is a date which will not be forgotten. Etched into history for time ever more. Although when news broke of the events of September 11, 2001 it was actually already the day AFTER my birthday in my timezone. Now it is the first thing people say (out loud or just on their face) when I state my date of birth. Maybe in a few more decades it won’t be so.

There are quite a variety of historic events across September:

Sept 1, 1159		Death of the only English Pope Adrian IV (Nicholas Breakspeare).
Sept 1, 1715		Death of King Louis XIV of France ("The Sun King").
Sept 1, 1875		Birth of Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950), author of Tarzan of the Apes.
Sept 1, 1939		Hitler invaded Poland; thus began World War II in Europe.
Sept 2, 1666		Great Fire of London.
Sept 2, 1945		President Truman proclaims V-J Day upon the surrender of the Japanese.
Sept 3, 1783		Treaty of Paris signed that ended the American Revolutionary War.
Sept 4, 1781		City of Los Angeles founded by Spanish Governor Felipe de Neve.
Sept 4, 1962		The Beatles start their first recording session at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios, London.
Sept 5-6, 1972		Eleven members of the Israeli Olympic Team were killed during an attack on the Olympic Village in Munich by members of the Black September faction of the Palestinian Liberation Army.
Sept 5, 1800		The end of the Siege of Malta, as Napoleon’s forces surrender to the British following a two year long naval blockade.
Sept 5, 1997		Death of Nobel Peace Prize winner and advocate for the poor, Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Sept 6, 1620		The Mayflower ship departed from Plymouth, England, bound for America with 102 passengers and a small crew.
Sept 7, 1533		Birth of Queen Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.
Sept 8, 1900		The worst weather disaster in U.S. history: a hurricane with winds of 120 mph struck Galveston, Texas, killing over 8,000 persons.
Sept 8, 1944		The first V2 flying bombs kill 3 people in London.
Sept 9, 1776		The U.S.A. came into existence as the Continental Congress changed the name of the new American nation from the United Colonies to the United States.
Sept 9, 1976		Leader of Communist China, Chairman Mao Zedong died.
Sept 11, 1863		Bushranger Captain Thunderbolt escapes from “escape-proof” Cockatoo Island gaol in Sydney Harbour by swimming to the mainland.
Sept 11, 1915		Britain’s first Womens Institute opens in Wales.
Sept 11, 1928		Charles Kingsford-Smith lands the first trans Tasman flight at Wigram, Christchurch.
Sept 11, 19xx		MY BIRTHDAY
Sept 11, 2001		The worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.
Sept 12, 1908		Marriage of Winston Churchill to Clementine Hozier.
Sept 12, 1990		Treaty was signed to reunite East and West Germany.
Sept 13, 1902		Henry Jackson becomes the first person in Britain to be convicted on fingerprint evidence.
Sept 14, 1752		The first day of the Gregorian calendar in Britain.
Sept 14, 1982		Former actress, American born Princess Grace of Monaco died following a car accident.
Sept 15, 1830		MP William Huskisson becomes the first rail fatality at the opening of the Liverpool Manchester Railway.
Sept 15, 1890		Birth of prolific English mystery writer Agatha Christie (1890-1976)
Sept 16, 1400		Owain Glyndwr proclaimed Prince of Wales.
Sept 16, 1810		Mexican Independence (from Spain) Day.
Sept 17, 1701		King James II of England dies whilst in exile in France.
Sept 18, 1709		Birth of Samuel Johnson, compiler of the first English dictionary.
Sept 19, 1893		New Zealand became the first country to grant women the right to vote.
Sept 20, 1258		Consecration of Salisbury Cathedral.
Sept 22, 1735		Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole moves in to 10 Downing Street.
Sept 23, 1848		Chewing gum is produced commercially for the first time.
Sept 24, 1776		The first St Leger horserace is run at Doncaster, Yorkshire.
Sept 25, 1513		Balboa first sighted the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Isthmus of Panama.
Sept 25, 1818		The first transfusion of human blood is performed at Guy’s Hospital, London.
Sept 26, 1580		The Golden Hind arrives in Plymouth harbour having sailed round the world under the captaincy of Sir Frances Drake.
Sept 27, 1888		First use of the name “Jack the Ripper” in an anonymous letter to the central news agency.
Sept 28, 1066		The Norman conquest of England began.
Sept 28, 1542		Spanish discovery of California by Cabrillo.
Sept 28, 1745		“God Save the King” is sung for the first time at London’s Drury Lane Theatre.
Sept 29, 1758		Birth of Horatio Nelson.
Sept 30, 1928		Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin while working at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London.