THE TOWN OF THUN (TOON)

Thun is a town in Switzerland in the canton (state) of Bern. It has been described as the prettiest town in Europe and the most untouched historic town. It sits on the Aare River as it leaves the Lake of Thun (Thunersee). It is dominated by the Castle and Church and has the amazing backdrop of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau Mountains in the Swiss Alps.

In 1967, Bill (Wilhelm) and his friend Ben left Thun for Australia so that they could learn English. They were in their twenties and keen for adventure. They intended returning to Thun after the compulsory stay of two years when you migrate for 10 pounds. Both married and stayed in Australia. As the river leaves the lake it splits into two creating an island. It is called, The Balliz and it is where Bill lived. After we were married we lived there for six months. But Bill decided he preferred Australia so we returned in 1971. We went back often to visit his parents and I fell in love with Thun.

The ancient castle presides over the town. It is a Romansque square tower with four corner turrets in Norman Style. It was built in 1186 by Berchtold V of Zäringen. Today it houses a museum including tapestries from the 1300's, armour, weapons, pottery, uniforms and costumes. It also has a restaurant in the courtyard. We climbed up into the turrets, we could see all over Thun, where people have been recorded as living here since 1130.

Part of the view from the castle.

The church which stands on a hill overlooking Thun is not far from the Castle. It is the City Church. It is the Reformed Protestant Church. It has old paintings but it is remarkably modern inside. When Bill was young, he and his friend Roland used to ring the bells by pulling on the ropes. It is automatic now. 

 

Bill often played in band concerts in the church.

If you really want to see how beautiful this town is go to You Tube and type in Thun, Switzerland.

SUMMER STORMS BEFORE SUMMER

This month we have been having summer temperatures and wild storms with damaging winds and hail. We  have been lucky not to have had any damage or big hail. One or two trees have been hit by lightening but they are still standing. Other people in other suburbs have had awful damage and no power.  

Storm clouds gather over our village. Photo by my neighbour Gay.

from our front door.

storm over Brisbane photo from web.

Another  storm over Brisbane photo by Ross Langdon

Some people got big hail stones. Lots of cars were damaged. One of my walking buddy's son repairs hail damaged cars. He has a lot of work lately. 

Lightening was furious with loud thunder afterwards.

A tree in the village got ripped by lightening.

The sun is shining at the moment and the temperature is 33°C but a storm is predicted for this afternoon. This weather reminds me of when we lived in PNG where we had tropical storms every afternoon in the wet season.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A VILLAGER.

 I get up at 6:00am and dress for a morning walk with my buddies. We walk through the Priest Gully Park and back. It is just over 4 km and takes us an hour. Here are some of the things we see on the way.

A Golden Orb spider the web is a golden colour.

Dancing Lady orchid.

Weird Cactus flower in the village.

Then it was time to take Bill to the doctors. He hasn't been well for a week. His right wrist and hand is very swollen and painful. The doctor is not sure if it is Gout or an infection so he wanted a blood test to find out. Unfortunately, the pathology lab blood collectors could not get blood from his aged weak veins. So the doctor's nurse had a go and wasn't successful but she said to come back in two days after he has drunk litres of water. So we did but she could only get one vial full before the vein collapsed. She wanted two. In the process Bill's arms have become a mess of bruises. Poor guy is not well. He has slept all day.

Trying to stop the bleeding. He is on Eloquis blood anticoagulant drugs.

MEMORIES FROM 1988

1988 was a big year for us. We sold our little house and had a bigger one built. Unfortunately, the builder went broke. Fortunately, our Building Society Bank pulled us through the mess. We ended up with a new house but it took 18 months instead of 18 weeks to build. In the same year the World Expo was held in Brisbane and our girls were performing there nearly everyday in their school marching band. Australian schools had very few marching bands but the girls' school brought out American and Canadian Marching Bands to teach our kids. 

This little house was getting too small for two teenage girls and only one bathroom so we bought a block of land and engaged a builder.

Every weekend we visited the block to see the progress. Sonya and Bill.

We built on the corner of a cul-de-sac.

At first progress was good but when it reached this stage it slowed down and took ages to finish.

Because of the delay we had to rent a house because we had sold the little one. The girls were both at John Paul College.

They both joined the JPC Marching Band, they both played the trumpet (like their father). They practiced on the school oval.

EXPO 88 was held at South Bank, which had been a run down wharf area and transformed into a fabulous entertainment area.

The girls marched in the daily parade.

They often played in the Piazza, marching in complicated routines.   Sonya is on the end.

Loads of people came to watch everyday. Carol in the middle.

Carol third from left  and Sonya fifth from left with hat blown off. The JPC Marching Band was invited to play at the Calgary Stampede where they won the competition. The Canadians taught them so well that they took out the top prize. We were very proud of them.

THE RACE THAT STOPS A NATION.

 On the first Tuesday in November there is a horse race called "The Melbourne Cup" which is very famous in our country and overseas in the racing world. Melbourne is the capital of Victoria and the whole state has a holiday on that day and at 2:00pm the whole nation stops work and watches or listens to the race unless they work in emergency occupations.

Those who attend the race or race parties all dress up. Some in beautiful clothes and a fascinator or crazy hat, some dress in carnival clothes. We had a Melbourne Cup lunch in the community centre put on by the staff. We had delicious prawns, chicken and salads with bread rolls. many dressed in their best with a fascinator or hat. One of our residents, Annie, makes the hats and rents them out for $10:00 and she donates the money to a dog shelter.

We buy the names of horses for either $1, $2, $5, or $10 it is a sweep where you blindly pick a paper with a horses name, like a lottery.

The ladies looked cute.

Our table

Us

After lunch we watch the race.

Bill won $60

Annie pretends to take his winnings.

THE DANGEROUS TREE HAS GONE

Our neighbours, Gay, Sue and us have been concerned about a very tall top heavy eucalyptus tree opposite our units. The first gardener we had cut the lower branches off to provide more sun for our neighbour Gay, which I thought was silly. He should have cut the top branches off. Anyway he left the village and we have had a series of no good gardeners since, but now we have a good crew run by a female. During storms and windy days the tree would sway dangerously about and we were scared that it would fall on our units. So we asked the manager could it be removed. Well, to cut a tree down is so complicated these days. We have to apply to the local council for permission to remove a tree. So our manager did that months ago. Then council arborists had to inspect the tree to make sure it needs to go. Luckily, they were convinced that it was a danger to our units during storms. And we are getting more and more storms especially now and through the summer. Finally, the day arrived for the tree to be cut down. As it is just across the road from our unit we had front row entertainment for the morning. These guys are so clever and noisy. They had a mulching machine on site and chewed up the branches as they came down. I hope the photos show how tall the tree was and how good these guys were.

Bill has found a good viewing spot.

This is the tree causing the problem. It has already lost a big branch in the last storm. The tree lopper is climbing up to put ropes up.

Now the trunk.

That is all that is left. 

Safe at last

View from our balcony sans dangerous tree