Shadows hang long over the Land of the Rising Sun

At the end of March I was due to leave for Japan with several of my Australian Ski Patrol colleagues to attend a biennial international ski patrol conference ("FIPS") at the ski resort of Rusutsu on the island of Hokkaido.

On Friday 11th of March I was attending an anaesthetics seminar at one of Melbourne's leading teaching hospitals when the news came through that north-eastern Japan had been affected by a devastating earthquake and tsunami. It has been heartbreaking to watch this terrible disaster unfold for the people of Japan and to know that it is not over yet. As I have undertaken a considerable amount of training in disaster management and radiological hazard management, I have been deeply concerned at the unfolding humanitarian crisis and the lack of certainty about the outcome of the nuclear containment efforts, and have felt incredibly sad about the loss and suffering of the Japanese people. It will no doubt be a very long and painful recovery process, with global implications.

It is also very sad that the ongoing unstable nuclear situation has led to the cancellation of the conference, and the lost opportunity to meet with our overseas colleagues and share ideas, knowledge and fellowship. I felt it was very important to write to the conference organisers to say thank you very much to all the members of the team for all the time and effort they have put into the organisational process and offering us such a warm welcome. It is hoped it will be possible to reschedule the conference for a later time.

I hope that we can all keep the people of Japan in our thoughts and prayers, and offer whatever tangible support that we can.

"Lá fhéile Pádraig sona!" (Happy St Patrick's Day!)

Irish Bears celebrating St Patrick's Day in Oslo! 

Due to the number of people with Irish ancestry in Australia (which doesn't include me!), St Patrick's Day is always widely celebrated with lots of jollity and green beer! It also seems to be a very popular time of year for birthdays (perhaps having something to do with being nine months after the official start of winter in Australia). Today I took some time out from the recently relentless pace of my volunteer work for Ski Patrol to enjoy a nice lunch with friends at the RACV Club in central Melbourne. The ambience of the Members' Dining Room is airy and functional, with white tablecloths and large comfortable leather chairs. The 'silver service' from the waiting staff was polite and faultless. I enjoyed a tender and tasty rib eye fillet, accompanied by sparse 'nouvelle cuisine' vegetables, a dob of mustard and a skimpy complimentary green salad, so that side of things could have been done better ($34.50). The rich chocolate dessert (individual serves of a melt-in-the-mouth chocolate mousse cake on a crunchy biscuit base and topped with a rich dark chocolate ganache sauce) was suitably decadent and filling ($15.00). Although served a little cold, the quality of the coffee served cappuchino-style in small white cups, was excellent, and accompanied by small and tasty hand-made hazelnut and chocolate pralines. All in all a pleasant dining experience, and no need for dinner tonight! As they say, "everyone is Irish on St Patrick's Day"!