Our guest speaker this last week was our own Dr. Phil Harding AM, who gave a presentation on his recent trip to the USA with his daughter Cathy. 

 

“It was a hastily arranged last minute trip direct to Vail Eagle to join a group of friends and colleagues gathering for the annual AMGFE meeting.  The organisation had been very helpful in getting us accommodation at very short notice and we were expecting the "studio apartment" to be garret-like but it turned out to be as big as a small house.

 

First thing next morning the "ski butler" came to our room and organised and fitted boots and skis - never had service like that before! So all ready to go.

 

The meeting sessions were excellent.  Of course the fun part was the skiing which with all the fresh powder was awesome.  An anticipated highlight was Australia Day because I knew I was to be awarded an AM - as, I emphasise, did Rosemary - half the reason for our coming here being that Mem (Rosemary) had planned a celebration for the day but of course that became impossible, so we thought why not be amongst friends here?”[1]

 

Phil commented that when he looked at the extended weather forecast it said it would be sunny on their first day, then some snow through the week and sunny again on the last ski, and that was exactly how it turned out.

 

“With the long time difference the 26th became the 25th in Vail and I thought I might have to discreetly point the situation out to someone, but by the time we came to breakfast the news was well and truly out. So was Australia Day in general, with Aussie flags here and there and free beer at mid-Vail up the mountain for anyone with appropriate ID. So I broke my "no alcohol when skiing" rule for the first time that I can recall, anyway - again, see pic. At the evening session that night I was formally "dubbed" with a ski stock by the Right Honourable Michael Henningsen.

 

A great week, and after the last sunny ski day time to pack up and head for the next stop, Park City Utah. ”

 

So,  "Onwards to Park City " which is what we did, starting with catching the County bus back out to Eagle airport to pick up a rental car to start the 370 mile (592 km) drive over to Utah which was quite spectacular as the snowfalls had been the heaviest for at least 10 years (no photos of the trip as I was driving and Cathy was taking all the pictures!). We arrived late afternoon at Alan and Beverly Robinson's house, my first visit since Rosemary and I stayed with them a few days 5 years ago and it seemed as if no time had gone past. The following day (Sunday 29th) we had arranged to ski at Park City Mountain Resort with some of the Adelaide crowd who had come over from Vail by train and that was a good day as the pictures show. We had a nice evening out with the Robinsons and generally enjoyed their wonderful hospitality. On Monday it was time for Cathy to return home so I drove her down to Salt Lake City airport, quite an exciting drive through the freeway ‘spaghetti junctions" and as it turned out good practice for a few days later. Tuesday and Wednesday was spent skiing at the superbly turned out Deer Valley resort where Alan always skis and this was a great pleasure as on previous occasions although a bit spoilt by us both developing a respiratory infection. Nevertheless as usual it was a relief to have finished all the skiing on Wednesday evening without injury and be packed up and ready to head for the East Coast in the morning.

 

The next stop being Pittsburgh to catch up with our old friends Ralph and Sheila Schmeltz. I had an early flight out of Salt Lake City to Philadelphia in the first place so had to drive down the same route as referred to previously but this time in pitch darkness leaving at 5:30 AM which I thought would be a quiet time but there was heavy very fast traffic in both directions. The lane markings on the interstate were very indistinct, e.g. no reflective markers at all, and the trip was to say the least challenging but I managed to arrive at the Hertz drop-off without taking a wrong turn which was a great relief and the rest was easy. As today's pictures show, there were some spectacular views out of the window particularly on approach into Pittsburgh when we flew right over the "Golden Triangle" at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers to form the Ohio which is the centrepiece of the city. Ralph was there to meet me - it was 10 years and (if I ever really knew) I had forgotten that it was his birthday. So, we had more than the usual reason to go out for a lobster dinner which is our usual practice whenever we see each other. This has been an international scientific study of such dinners which has been going on now for some 40 years gathering data in various parts of the continental United States, Hawaii and Australia. I don't think the results will ever be published because whenever we conduct one of the experiments we conclude that further data is necessary. Today's particular study was very successful and it was concluded that is rated highly amongst the data collected so far. It also made it very easy to collapse into bed at the end of what had been a long day.”

 

The next day “was a clear but intensely cold day of the sort we would have experienced here in the1972-3 winter but which I had forgotten - brrr!  We went off in Ralph's car for a "memory lane" tour. Our house was a little difficult to find because the bridge to the area I used to take via Schenley Park has been temporarily interrupted, but I got pretty close. The house now looks distinctly old to the point of slightly spooky. Down the hill was St Rosalia's Church where we were occasional parishioners and I believe Michael made his First Communion.

 

It was great to revisit Presby where I worked for a year although of course it's undergone enormous change - but at least it's in the same place! Even robots like those planned for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital have been implemented without needing to move the hospital.  The day wound up with a splendid meal at the Schmeltz's favourite Japanese restaurant.”

 

The Club acknowledged Phil’s well deserved receipt of his AM, and our pride in having him as a member of our Club.

 

Thought for the week “Happiness is not something ready-made.  It comes form your own actions.”  Dalai Lama

 

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