Augustus

Gen Z don’t read books?

Gen Z: But I’m Gen Z and I read. Books.

Boomer: Glad to hear it. Encouraging. Books are good, they have heft.

Gen Z: Can you suggest a good book?

Boomer: I can suggest one I’m reading at the moment. For me, with my memory, I only recall the book I’m currently on. I can remember the title at least. Augustus.

Gen Z: The Roman emperor? 

Boomer: Exactly. This is a good one. By Allan Massie. Not just a historical account. Gets inside the head of Augustus and interprets his motives and dilemmas. And as the book and his life progress, his losses mount. Like happens to us all.

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Voice-over

Brilliant 1986 account of Augustus’ maneuverings and workarounds to deal with setbacks and blowups, while the spectre and reality of loss close in.

Setting out from Berlin 1796

Family meeting…

Rene: Berlin has limits, but London… it’s buzzing with ships, trade, and opportunity for an underwriter.
Father: Clearly, nothing we can say will dissuade you. And this… Lloyds, you say, will be your base?
Rene: A coffee shop. It’s where all the shipping news is daily shared. 
Mother: I still worry about highwaymen.
Rene: Berlin to Hamburg by carriage, then sail across the North Sea to London. The sea journey is long but safer.
Sarah: And what if soldiers stop you, getting suspicious of travelers amid all the unrest?
Rene: I have proper papers, explaining my journey as a merchant.
Father: And lodging? London isn’t kind to newcomers without a roof over their heads.
Rene: I’ve heard of cheap rooms near the docks where many sailors and traders stay. It’s humble but close to the action.
Genevieve: It’s brave of you to try. Better a life of risks and chances than one of waiting. I wish I were a man.
Father: Just mind your pockets on the road and your wits in the city.
Rene: I’ll keep my pockets tight and my wits sharper.
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Voice-over
The family wishes Rene well and sister Genevieve hopes that London can change his destiny and perhaps hedge the family fortune in these troubled Napoleonic times.

Oatlands

Coffee in a stone café…
Ronald: We nearly drove right past.
Andrew: Historical gem isn’t it. Impressive stone buildings. And many of them built by convict labor.
Ronald: True, but they got built and are here today as a historical reminder and how far we've come. It's important to remember the past, even the difficult parts.
Andrew: Look at this. Oatlands has the largest collection of Georgian sandstone buildings in the Southern Hemisphere. Over 150, with 87 of them along the main street. And the Callington Mill, for example, not only produced flour but also had an illegal distillery on the side.
Ronald: Nice to have pleasant historical spots to drop into on a journey. A chance to learn something new along the way. Reminds me, I must send a donation to Wikipedia.
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Voice-over
A lot of history is packed into this Tasmanian village. The name can be traced back to a village in England founded in the time of Henry VIII.

Callington Mill, Oatlands TAS, Wiki.

Linen

The incredible lightness of linen…

Fred: Avocado smoothies sure cool you inside but I wish I could stay cool outside too.

Sheldon: Maybe ditch those long trousers. Guaranteed to cook your legs in this heat!

Fred: They’re natural, they’re cotton. But yeah, they do get pretty warm. Got any suggestions, Mr. Fashion Guy?

Sheldon: You should try linen trousers. I know a great tailor who makes them.
Fred: Linen, huh? Don’t they crease?

Sheldon: True, they do wrinkle. But think about it; linen is breathable, so you’ll stay cool. And so lightweight.

Fred: Anything else?

Sheldon: Well, it’s absorbent, so no more sweaty legs. And it’s hypoallergenic, so your skin will thank you.

Fred: Environmentally?

Sheldon: Oh, yeah, eco-friendly! Made from flax plants, which need less water and fewer pesticides than cotton. You can look good and feel good.

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Voice-over

Linen is made from European flax, Linum usitatissimum, noted for its high quality fibers and nutritious seeds. Coincidentally perhaps, France, noted for its fashion and cuisine, produces 75% of the world’s retted flax.

Busselton Jetty

Shouting over the wind…
Rachel: A bit wild today, isn’t it?
Mai: But the view is amazing. This jetty is so long! Can we see fish?
Rachel: On calmer days, you can spot dolphins and even the odd seal.
Mai: What’s that at the end of the jetty?
Rachel: It’s an underwater observatory. You go down 8 meters and see the marine life up close. Like being in a giant aquarium.
Mai: Can we go? Is it open today?
Rachel: Not in this weather. But on a calmer day, it’s a must-see.
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Voice-over
At 1.8 kilometers, it’s the longest wooden-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. Originally built in 1865. Park and walk it, you’ll clock up 4 kilometers. Oh, and there are over 300 different marine species if you have time.

Framing a Watercolor

Of display, light and wood…

Stephano: Nice picture. Quite delicate. Any ideas for how you'd like it framed?

Basil: Something classic to match the age of the drawing itself maybe. A simple wooden frame with a subtle design to complement the intricate details of the watercolor.

Stephano: What about the color of the frame? Would you prefer something that blends in with the drawing or stands out to make a statement?

Basil: Blending in. Focus on the artwork itself rather than the frame.

Stephano: Good choice. And where do you plan to hang it? Is it going in a well-lit area or somewhere more subdued?

Basil: I'm thinking of placing it in my study, which gets plenty of natural light during the day but isn't directly exposed to sunlight.

Stephano: Alright, I suggest using UV protective glass then, to prevent any fading.

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Voice-over

A hundred years ago, some architects used their drawings as an artistic exercise. No doubt it also helped secure the contract.

Tomonoura on the Inland Sea

30 minute bus ride from Fukuyama…

Masa: I know this port from a print by Yoshida Hiroshi. There’s the Jōyatō lighthouse, and the merchants’ houses on the waterfront.

Medicine Seller: Yes, Yoshida visited here. Long ago. He made a series called The Inland Sea.

Masa: He knew how to catch the best light.

Medicine Seller: Sunrise and sunset are the best times. Won’t you try a little homeishu?

Masa: What’s in it?

Medicine Seller: It’s a liqueur made from 16 kinds of spices. It began to be brewed 350 years ago. Exclusively in Tomonoura.

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Voice-over

The TomoTerrace is the de facto Tomonoura museum. Instructs visitors in how to preserve a town, its buildings, its culture, its festivals, its food.

Richard King and John King

Seasonal greetings time again…

Chamberlain: Two brothers I was at school with, Richard and John LeRoy sent greetings.

Tania: From that long ago?

Chamberlain: For some reason they wanted to reconnect. They were both successful in their different ways. John stayed close to home, founded a business, chaired a couple of charities and finished his career as director on half a dozen companies.

Tania: And Richard?

Chamberlain: Richard left school and departed the country, studied in the US, returned to become a professor. Started a company. Collected a string of letters after his name: Ph.D., FRS and so on.

Tania: Success can be found both near and far?

Chamberlain: Exactly. Don’t measure yourself against what others achieve. Focus on what you do well.

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Voice-over

Know yourself and polish your potentials, burnish the abilities. Not all Richards were good and Johns were weak. Sometimes they were equal but had different strengths and weaknesses. As were the brothers King Richard (1157-1199) and King John (1166-1216).

Illuminations on Narrations

As the watercolorist said to the writer...

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Sui: Sometimes I look at a painting I’ve done and feel I want to change it. But that’s difficult with watercolor.

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Scrivener: If it’s oil, you can just add more paint.

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Sui: With water color you can correct to some extent, not impossible, but better before it’s dry.

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Scrivener: What happens if you try to change an already finished watercolor?

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Sui: Oh, you can lose transparency, upset the color balance, even tear the paper surface.

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Scrivener: With writing, you can always edit. Unless you were a scribe in the middle ages using a quill on parchment. Back then, writing was akin to painting.

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Sui: Mmm, art and writing have deviated a lot since then.

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Scrivener: But we can admire an artist who can talk and a writer who can draw.

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Voice-over

Pre-Gutenberg, writing was closer to painting. Think scriptoriums of monks laboriously scribing. Occasionally embellishing an initial letter, or illuminating a manuscript through devout illustrations.

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Umbrian Language: Iguvine Tablets

See the little towns... Gubbio

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Leah: What a climb. But we made it. In here.

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Gubbio Civical Museum:
Tablets III to VII

Aria: We came here to see these?

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Leah: Discovered by a farmer in a field in 1444.

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Aria: What’s the writing mean?

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Leah: Part Umbrian, written before Christ, a dead language now, and part in Latin.

Translate that!

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Aria: Another dead one.

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Leah: But these are linguistic and cultural gems. The largest complete Umbrian text in existence. And all about sacrificial customs carried out in Gubbio here, two thousand years ago.

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Aria: Sacrifices? Who did they kill?

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Leah: Not people, but oxen, sheep, goats, pigs, puppies. To protect the mountain, to protect the city. All carried out by a religious brotherhood according to strict protocols. Bird flights determine auspicious timing, some animals are sacrificed outside the city gates, some inside, how the officiator is to be dressed, and how to conduct the ceremony.

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Voice-over

A community which protects itself through sacrificial rites is not so far back in the past. David Wootton writes in “The Invention of Science” that in the 1600s, even educated Englishmen, who might own as many as a dozen books, believed in the power of witches, werewolves, magicians, unicorns, alchemy, astrology and a flat earth. A few still do. Fascinating to see how we thought before reason and science helped us make better sense of the world.

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