Exempt

There is a news story on the Fairfax websites about a woman who was told by a security guard to refrain from breastfeeding at the National Gallery. The Gallery has since apologised.

It did get me wondering though. Food and drink are generally prohibited in public gallery spaces – and for good reason. Should breastfeeding mothers be exempt? And what about other spaces where food and drinks are not allowed?

Gong xi fa chai

Rooster

Tomorrow marks the year of the rooster in the Chinese lunar calendar.

It was interesting to read that the period around chinese new year also marks the largest human movement on Earth as hundreds of thousands of people make their way home to celebrate with their families.

I'm staying in Melbourne this year, having only just gone back to Canberra for Christmas and (Western) new year.

There are a lot of weird traditions and superstitions surrounding the lunar new year. For example, one is not suppose to cut their hair for a month.

You should also refrain from doing any house work on new year's day to avoid sweeping away all your luck and good fortune.

Another tradition is to consume copious amounts of things with auspicious sounding chinese names that are totally lost in translation. I'm talking about things like pig trotters, dried cyanobacteria, dried oysters, sticky cakes and whole fish. Yum.

Every kid's favourite tradition is, of course, to receive red envelopes of money from adults. For a long time, chinese new year was my one and only source of pocket money for the year!

As time has gone by, it seems that Australia has really embraced the chinese new year festivities. For me, I've become increasingly 'meh' about the whole thing.

In pictures

Well, how bloody disorganised am I? It's taken a week but here is a selection of pictures from our recent vacation in Hong Kong.

Of course, for a fish fanatic, no trip to Hong Kong would be complete without a visit to the goldfish market. I don't approve of the way the fish are sold though. Poor things.

 We caught the cable car to Lantau Island to see the big buddha. It worked out quite well because the cable car was shut the following day for 5 months for maintenance so it was a fortuitous decision to go the day that we did.

 I visited Macau for the first time. It was interesting to see the Portuguese influence.

 Also took a ride on the mid level escalator, just for fun.

Naturally, as a tourist, we went on the peak tram up to Victoria Peak. The crowds were horrendous...

...but the view was worth the wait.

Hong kong

Nathan and I just got back from a one week holiday in Hong Kong. We had a great time. If Hong Kong was a person, I reckon he (or she) would be the teenager that sleeps in but comes alive at night and stays out late.

Cantonese is the worst of the three Chinese dialects that I speak but it was sufficient to get us around. I'll post more details about the trip (with photos) when I have access to my laptop (which I actually left in the office, so determined was I about leaving work at work during my holiday).

Deserted

The University is deserted. Students are on Summer break. Most of my colleagues are still on leave.

I'm currently Acting Head of Department, which is why I'm going to be working for the next three days. Then I've asked a colleague to fill in for me for a week (as Acting Acting Head of Department?) when Nathan and I are jet off to Hong Kong for a holiday.

The vase

We went to Gippsland to visit Nathan's folks. We stopped in at his mum's place first.

Truffles knocked over a giant vase and it smashed.

Nathan's mum was very good about it but we felt bad nonetheless and offered to find a replacement. In truth, it was a hideous looking vase that looked like something from a $2 shop but evidently it was worth a lot of money. It had accidentally been damaged previously and had been repaired so Nathan's mum was very pragmatic about it. In any case, it was beyond repair this time around.

New Year greetings

Happy New Year!

I spent last night on a roof top balcony watching the fireworks with some of Nathan's extended family.

Best socks ever...

I spent Christmas in Canberra. Aside from spending time with my family, a notable highlight was picking up this pair of hungry caterpillar socks.