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What can I say about Cuba? 

In the late ‘70s I lived on the boundary of Paddington in Sydney and walked to and from work in the city.  Between my home and work there was an area of terrace housing in Darlinghurst that had been resumed by the State for the construction of a road tunnel and traffic interchanges.  Squatters had moved into some of the ‘DMR affected’ houses.  Most of these were young people, students, rock bands and radically unemployed alternative culture advocates; hippies. 

Those houses in this socially vibrant area that were not condemned by the road building were rented to people who were happy with these neighbours: artists; writers; musicians; even some younger professionals; and a number were brothels.  

Graffiti was a local art form.  ‘Disarm Rapists’ competed with ‘Lesbianism Sucks’.  A finely finished sandstone wall bore the inscription in copperplate style: ‘Eradicate Gratuitous Vandalism.  The 'red light' area was frequented, in addition to the girls, by incognito men and 'flashers'.  A sign high on the local church warned these sinners ‘Jesus is Coming’.  Below it someone had written ‘button up your raincoats’.  

This experience unwittingly prepared me for Cuba.

In 1959 Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista the corrupt dictator of Cuba and installed a strict Marxist-Leninist political and economic system.  While not as radical as that of Pol Pot in Cambodia the immediate impact was the eradication of private property and the peasantry was invited to move into the homes and hotels of the rich. Thus the cities became giant squats.

 

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Many of those original squatters are now very elderly or dead but their children and grandchildren live in what has become a family tradition.

Back in Australia, the Darlinghurst squatters mostly grew-up and moved on.  Some to fame as artists; musicians or writers; some overdosed and some contracted AIDS.  Most got regular jobs and moved to better homes; their children in turn enjoying a personal bedroom, modern kitchens and bathrooms; many are now travelling the world. 

But Cuban children came to think of temporary wires as electricity services; hose pipes as plumbing; and a packing case as a table or chair.  It sort of works but it is essentially squalid.  Now the older buildings themselves are falling down and no one seems to be prepared to make major repairs or renovations to property they do not own. 

Where ownership or at least a long term lease has been allowed there are wonderful exceptions.  Tourist hotels are an example.  The restored up-market hotels are world-class, some brilliantly renovated.   There are also a few excellent restaurants. 

 

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The dining room at the Telegraph Hotel

 

But these exceptions stand out against a background of very sub-standard accommodation and food.  Cuba is not a place to back-pack or ‘do it on the cheap’; unless you like living in a squat and eating beans from a can. 

 

 

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Travel

Europe 2022 - Part 1

 

 

In July and August 2022 Wendy and I travelled to Europe and to the United Kingdom (no longer in Europe - at least politically).

This, our first European trip since the Covid-19 pandemic, began in Berlin to visit my daughter Emily, her Partner Guido, and their children, Leander and Tilda, our grandchildren there.

Part 1 of this report touches on places in Germany then on a Baltic Cruise, landing in: Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Sweden and the Netherlands. Part 2 takes place in northern France; and Part 3, to come later, in England and Scotland.

Read more: Europe 2022 - Part 1

Fiction, Recollections & News

His life in a can

A Short Story

 

 

"She’s put out a beer for me!   That’s so thoughtful!" 

He feels shamed, just when he was thinking she takes him for granted.

He’s been slaving away out here all morning in the sweltering heat, cutting-back this enormous bloody bougainvillea that she keeps nagging him about.  It’s the Council's green waste pick-up tomorrow and he’s taken the day off, from the monotony of his daily commute, to a job that he has long since mastered, to get this done.  

He’s bleeding where the thorns have torn at his shirtless torso.  His sweat makes pink runnels in the grey dust that is thick on his office-pale skin.  The scratches sting, as the salty rivulets reach them, and he’s not sure that he hasn’t had too much sun.  He knows he’ll be sore in the office tomorrow.

Read more: His life in a can

Opinions and Philosophy

Carbon Capture and Storage

 

 

(Carbon Sequestration)

 

 

The following abbreviated paper is extracted from a longer, wider-ranging, paper with reference to energy policy in New South Wales and Australia, that was written in 2008. 
This extract relates solely to CCS.
The original paper that is critical of some 2008 policy initiatives intended to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions can still be read in full on this website:
Read here...

 

 

 


Carbon Sequestration Source: Wikimedia Commons

 

This illustration shows the two principal categories of Carbon Capture and Storage (Carbon Sequestration) - methods of disposing of carbon dioxide (CO2) so that it doesn't enter the atmosphere.  Sequestering it underground is known as Geosequestration while artificially accelerating natural biological absorption is Biosequestration.

There is a third alternative of deep ocean sequestration but this is highly problematic as one of the adverse impacts of rising CO2 is ocean acidification - already impacting fisheries. 

This paper examines both Geosequestration and Biosequestration and concludes that while Biosequestration has longer term potential Geosequestration on sufficient scale to make a difference is impractical.

Read more: Carbon Capture and Storage

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