Salute to New York City

Covid-19 has hit New York City as hard as anywhere else on the planet, The daily death toll currently averages 450 and over 16000 have died so far. It is an unprecedented catastrophe for the city.
This awful situation makes me so sad. I love New York. It's a city I have visited many times and which I have always found to be exciting. It's difficult to envisage NYC in lockdown with empty streets and empty subway trains because I can only think of the city as a massive human ant hill teeming with life and activity. It is the city which never sleeps-arguably the capital of the world.
My chances of ever visiting NYC again are slim. Who knows when the travel restrictions will end and when they do will international airtravel be accessible?
In my travels to NYC over the years I have taken a few photos. Below are some of the more recent ones hopefully conveying some of the flavour of NYC and its people.
Here's to you New York. May you overcome your sadness and bounce back soon-better and even more lively than ever.

Hot dog vendor

Dog walking, Broadway

Time out for cooks at Grand Central Station, Oyster Bar

NYC skyline

Lunch time, Chelsea Market

From the High Line

Strawberry Fields. John Lennon Memorial, Central Park

Staten Island Ferry

Morning cyclists, Central Park

Girls on the avenue-Madison Avenue

NYC Gentleman

Columbus Circle subway station

From the hotel window

Farmer's market 1

Farmer's Market-2

Farmer's Market 3

Farmer's market 4

Reflected kitchen

Central Park taxi

Light and shade

Nambucca Heads, NSW,

As we all know only too well a lockdown just is not fun. We are all suffering. I can manage to take a few photos on my early morning walks but I have been digging into my archives for material. Amazing what I am finding. Some interesting photos I had previously overlooked and plenty of photos to stir great memories of road trips. Here are three from the archives and one I took yesterday-the RAM-all with the theme "Light and Shade".

Rest stop, Pacific Highway N of Taree,NSW

North of Bellingen,NSW.

Terrigal, NSW early morning

No tricks

I used to take a camera with me on my early morning walk every day for the first ten years I lived in Terrigal. However in the past two years I have let the practice lapse and my camera has only accompanied very occasionally.
However since we changed from Summer Time three weeks ago it is becoming light at 6.00 am and also there have been some spectacular sunrises so I have been prompted to take a camera with me from time to time.
Today-20th April- the sunrise was doubly colourful as there was a perfect positioning of cloud. I saw that it was spectacular from the house as i was getting up so I dressed quickly grabbed my X1 and headed down to Terrigal and upto the Coastal Walk at the Haven. The smartphone photographers were out in force and the figure in the photo is a woman with a smartphone.
This spot is the closest you can get to falling over the cliff on the Coastal Walk and I am sure that soon there will be a sturdy fence there. A few weeks ago a large warning sign was erected just behind where I took the photo. It warns that there is a steep drop. Statement of the bleeding obvious me thinks.
I take my Leica X1 with me because it is easy to carry. After all the early morning walk is about exercise. The photo was a DNG file processed in Lightroom and there have been no adjustments at all to the colour. What you see is how it was-no tricks.

American portrait

It's mid April and the realisation that I most defintely won't be going to Spain in early May, nor Myanmar in September, has really sunk home. Also the trip at Christmas to Queenstown, New Zealand is looking decidedly shaky . But worse still is the lurking thought that my international travelling days may actually be over, or if not totally over, very limited, Going forward as the impact of covid-19 may well linger for years decimating economies and international travel and tourism.

I count my good fortune that I have done so much leisure travel particularly in the past 12 years. I really feel for all those retirees who have been eagerly anticipating their long planned retirement trips only to have their plans totally stymied. Particularly distressed must be the cruising enthusiasts. It's difficult to see the cruising industry ever fully recovering after what has happened in the last two months. Going forward many Australians may well be nervous about getting onboard a Sydney Harbour ferry yet alone a cruise liner.

Many will argue that it will be a good thing that the cruising industry will be decimated because cruising has a serious environmental impact and is the major contributor to massive overtourism in many places such as Venice.

Forced into more time than I enjoy on my computer I have been looking through photos from my travels of the past ten years and have found some thought provoking photos including the one above which I have titled, due to a failure of imagination, American Portrait.
It was taken in Port Townsend in Washington County USA-a pretty little town very dependant on tourism which I visited in 2015. The guitar man was playing for himself on a seat in a small park outside a cafe where we had lunch. I find myself wondering what will happen to Port Townsend and the hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of similar towns and villages across the world which are very dependant on visitors. Even in the most optimistic scenario international travel will be seriously disrupted for years.

It would be wonderful to believe that the covid-19 shock will result in a more compassionate and equal society with most of the excesses of the past few years relegated to the garbage bin. Sadly we all know this will not happen. The little businesses-the cafes-bars-souvenir shops-restaurants- bed and breakfasts-tour operators and similar will be left decimated and the big boys-and girls- with their mulitimillion dollar salaries will be out there asap screwing the last dollar out of us. Indeed, some have not stopped screwing the dollar out of us even with the pandemic raging and others are desperate to end the lockdowns -even if there is still a serious risk to health-so that they can continue to make a buck for themselves.

There is no better example of this than the Australian company, Transurban. The extract below is from the Australian Financial Review of 17th April 2020. For overseas readers I should explain that the AFR is the Aussie equivalent of the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal- it is staid and business orientated. For the AFR to use f***in a story is very unusual and perhaps even unprecedented.
I am still recovering from reading that the CEO gets a salary of A$7.2m (US$4.3m). What does he have to do? Surely toll roads and toll tunnels run themselves? This is the sort of disgusting greed the world does not need going forward. Good on the AFR for calling it out so eloquently.

We don't need sports stars earning hundreds of million dollars per annum and actors earning $20m for a film and CEO's earning obscene salaries. Let's cut the crap. We are all going to suffer and so should they.

Dawn 100

Dawn 100. A very golden oldie. Made in Australia. Dawn Tools are still mainly made in Melbourne, Australia. See DAWN TOOLS
This vice is in use at the marina at Hardys Bay, NSW. Wonderful patina.

Another golden oldie undergoing restoration at the Hardys Bay Marina this morning in glorious sunshine.

Leica X1 photos

Vale Stirling Moss

Stirling Moss, the absolute epitome of a racing driver, and surely the greatest racing driver ever died on Easter Sunday at the age of 90 after a long illness.
I first saw Stirling Moss when I was seven years old. My grandfather took me to London's wonderful Crystal Palace racing circuit on 25th May 1953. We arrived after the racing had started mid morning and the first racing car I ever saw was a formula 3 Cooper-Norton and it was a long way ahead of the rest of the field. It was Stirling Moss and he went on to win.
I was immediately a Stirling Moss fan.
I closely followed motor racing and Stirling's career through the 50s and into the 60s through the pages of Motor Sport magazine- to which I am still a subscriber. I was totally enthralled by the account of Stirling's incredible drive in a Mercedes to win the 1955 Mille Miglia written by his navigator, Motor Sport magazine's continental correspondent, Denis Jenkinson.

 I followed Stirling's drives in the wonderful Vanwall F1 cars and for me the highlight was travelling with a school friend  to Goodwood to see Stirling win the Tourist Trophy sports car race in a Ferrari 250GT. My friend and I travelled to Goodwood by public transport -it was a long journey -and we arrived at the back gate of the track by Fordwater Corner after the race had started. There was no public entry at that back gate and in fact there were no people around at all. So we did what any self respecting fourteen year old boys would do -we climbed up and over the wire mesh back fence into the circuit and we enjoyed a spectacular view of the track. In those days there were no safety barriers so we were really close to the action. Stirling came through Fordwater well in the lead and we enthusiasticlly waved to him. Next lap he came through in a superb sweep with one hand controlling the car on the steering wheel and the other waving to the two schoolboys on the fence. Pure magic. I can still see that scene in my memory.

At Easter1962 I was back at Goodwood with the same friend but this time we went with his father by car and we paid the admission and were watching close to the chicane on the front straight when Stirling had his F1 career ending crash at St Mary's corner. It was a very sad day.

With Stirling out of top level motor sport participation I switched my allegiances to Jim Clark but I crossed paths with Stirling again in 1984 at Amaroo Park in Australia when he came out for a 'Tribute to Jaguar' historic race meeting.  By this time Stirling had developed his career as professional motor racing icon driving historic cars and generally being a motor racing ambassador.
The photo below shows Stirling being push started in a Lotus at that Amaroo event. The small boy is my son,Toby.

Stirling was back in Australia in 1986 for a series of Jaguar customer events at race circuits around Australia and I got to know him personally at these . He gave me some very valuable driving tuition at a few of the events as he arrived at the tracks before theevents started and he took an XJ6 round for a few quick familiarisation laps. He was extraordinary. He just swept the XJ6 round so rapidly and so smoothly and without a trace of drama. Masterly.  At Calder, Waneroo and Warwick Farm circuits there was enough spare time for me to do some laps behind the wheel with him as instructor. It was a wonderful learning experience. My Stirling Moss most valuble driving tip. "Concentration, dear boy, concentration." Something I have very much taken to heart in my driving over the years since.

Photo below shows a much younger me-right -and Stirling and another outside the Hilton Hotel In Adelaide during the Australian F1 Grand Prix weekend in1986.
Over the years I saw Stirling and his wife at various events around the world including the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Australian F1 Grand Prix in both Adelaide and Melbourne.

My final interaction with Stirling was at my favourite race circuit, Le Mans. Now Le Mans was definitely not Stirling's favourite circuit. He raced there but never won and I was very surprised to find him racing in his own Porsche at the historic legends support race for the 2011 24 hour race. Stirling wife had purchased the Porsche 718 RS a year previously as a 30th wedding anniversary present for Stirling. He had the intention of competing in historic events in Europe and the USA. He was 81 years old by that time and at that Le Mans race he decided, very wisely, that his racing days were over. The photo below, taken by me, shows Stirling in the passenger's seat as the Porsche is driven back behind the pits at the end of his Brilliant Career.The lady on the right is his wife, Suzie.
So I was there almost at the start of his racing career, on the day it was derailed and at the very day it ended.

All photos by me except Adelaide Hotel photo.

California dreaming

In May 2016 I went to the west coast of the USA. It was almost a spur of the moment decision. A few weeks earlier Virgin Australia had emailed out a tempting offer on flights to LA. A few quick discusssions and bookings were made. Fly into Los Angeles, pick up a rental car at the airport, spend a few days in Santa Monica and then drive up the coast road to San Francisco. Spend a few days in Sausalito and then drive back on the inland road to LA and then home. Easy.
 It was a great trip and my thoughts turned to it this morning when reading of the desperate situation in the US on Covid-19. I have visited the US many times-for both work and pleasure. It is a fascinating country and I have always found most Americans friendly and welcoming but I have also found the country and the people perplexing.The American response to Covid-19 has only made me more perplexed and some of the questions I ask myself are in the captions below..

As I type this I find myself wondering whether I will ever visit the US again and if I do what will I find? I can't answer that question so all I can do for now is to look back at the journeys I have made in the US and reflect how fascinating they were. Some, but not all, of these photos have been on the blog before.

The photos below were all taken in Santa Monica and Venice Beach on that 2016 visit. They were all taken with my Leica X1. If I look back over the years every time I take my Leica X1 away in preference to other more advanced cameras I return with what I consider to be interesting photos. Last year I took it with me to Stockholm, Copenhagen and Berlin and again it delivered for me. There is something magical about it-a combination of the superb lens, its compact form, the simple controls and menus and maybe the fact that it does not look intimidating. The fact that it is small and light also means that I am more likely to carry it with me than other cameras.

Homeless person on steps above Santa Monica Beach. How are the hundreds of thousands of homeless faring in the Covid-19 crisis? How do they get access to care in a country where 19% of GDP is spent on healthcare and yet there is no universal healthcare system? Note the equivalent figure for Australia, the UK and major European countries is approx 9-11%% of GDP and they all have universal healthcare systems..

Study in red

Santa Monica Beach scene 2. A place to rest his head and watch the world pedal by.

Riding into the sunset. Santa Monica Beach

I really don't know what to make of this scene on Santa Monica Pier at sunset. Do they know each other or is it harassment? Perhaps they had a premonition and were practicing social distancing.We'll never know.

A homeless man on the street in Santa Monica with his best friend-a giant cat. So sad. You can see the sadness in the man's eyes. He asked me for some money so he could buy batteries for his little transistor radio. I gave him $10.How can such an affluent country have such massive wealth inequality?  How can 1% of the US population own 80% of the wealth? Why did practically everyone walk past and probably not even see this homeless man? Will things change after Covid-19? Will the "celebrities", hedge fund managers, social media "influencers" and grossly overpaid sports stars carry on as before? Sadly the answer is almost certainly yes. And most sadly of all there will be so many more homeless people on the streets.

Sunset on Santa Monica Pier. A strange stall selling things I cannot see anyone wanting to buy.

Are they still smiling? I very much doubt it

This builder of this display at Venice Beach must be very disappointed. Full credit to him for trying. In the face of all that has happened before and now with a monumental mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis why do so many Americans still support Donald Trump? And in a country with so many talented people can the Democrats only find a 78year old man as their Presidential candidate? I am totally perplexed.

 Venice Beach. The public facilities were rundown four years ago. How will they look with no money to spend after the crisis?

Fashion photography. Santa Monica. Weird but each to their own. Is she a social media influencer today?

Local colour

It's a grey day today-literally and figuratively-except in my garden. The frequent rain, interspersed with sunshine and a good dose of Seasol has all the plants in bloom and the hibiscuses in particular are spectacular. These three are just a small section of one plant.

The solitary walker

A solitary senior taking his daily exercise walking at The Haven,Terrigal, with another wonderful sunrise to brighten the start of another bleak lockdown day.
Young gym junkies denied their daily gym fixes were pounding the walking paths whilst trying to stay clear of others.
One couple had bought their exercise bike and weights in the back of their ute and were exercising away in the car park whilst watching the sunrise. Unfortunately there was too little light to photograph them. Indeed, we live in strange times.

Calm down police minister..

I've put this photo up for the benefit of the New South Wales Police and Emergency Services Minister, David Elliott. The Emergency Services Minister was on holiday in Paris when the horrendous bushfires were at their peak back in December. He later admitted that his behaviour was unforgivable but he managed to forgive himself. Now he berates and lectures the citizens of New South Wales nearly every day on social distancing. He does this whilst rapidly going red in the face. The word hypocrite comes easily to mind.
Fortunately for the minister's blood presure the photo was taken at 6.15am in September 2013 on the Esplanade at Terrigal -a typical morning. Happy days.