Veronika Wild

Richmond's famous  convict bridge (1823) I have had not one, but two visits to Richmond   in the last week or two. We've had appalling weather for at least a month, so the first time the sun managed to struggle out from behind the clouds, #1 granddaughter gathered me up and drove me Richmond for afternoon tea. One by-product of the weather we've been having was that everything was lovely and green, something which I have rarely seen in this area.   Richmond was its usual charming self. It's Australia’s oldest intact Georgian village and has quaint cottages and stately homes, a historic bridge, a river with ducks, several vineyards and eateries and its historic goal.   It took me a long time to realise that much of what we admire in Tasmania today would not have been possible without the toil, misery and free labour of convicts.  I had planned to visit one of two Christmas tree farms in this area, but one wasn’t open yet and the other hadn’t yet put up its Chri...

  -Image by Copilot It’s not just Santa’s elves that are busy in the lead up to Christmas. Scammers are also poised and ready to take advantage of the festive season. We are busy, rushed and ready to spend and may not be as careful about whom we send our money or information to.  This is especially true of our young people, who may not be as aware of the resources and remedies available to them. Not that you have to be young to be taken advantage of.   I made a mistake myself this month which I will tell you about shortly.  I have written quite a bit about scammers in 2022, but some things have changed. For example, scammers have learned to game the system, offsetting any negative reviews by flooding the review sites with positive reviews or websites with fake testimonials. They have also used AI to advance their cause, but it is also being used to catch them.  Trust Pilot for example, has been using advanced AI to weed out around out 3.5 million such reviews ...

  Original sandstone exterior of the Blue Magnolia Modernising Heritage Buildings It’s always a bit of a challenge in Tasmania to retain the historic charm of a place, yet still make it user -friendly and adapted to modern living. People are busy. Both men and women work outside the home. We need our washing machines, our dishwashers and indoor bathrooms. When we come home we want to relax with our computers and televisions.  One of the few places I managed to visit during this year’s Architecture Week which ran from late October to mid-November, was the “Blue Magnolia," once part of a conjoined pair of sandstone row houses in an internal block dating from the 1840s. Sadly, not many of their contemporaries have survived because they were knocked down over the years as the city expanded.  Subtraction and Addition  This pair had already undergone an unsympathetic renovation in the 1980s. The buildings had been partially merged into one and many of t...