Just a little bit of trivia to start the day. Some years ago Feng Shui got a bit of a roll on here, and possibly just about anywhere there was enough money to start up and run a Feng Shui business. Not that I am knocking it , not at all, as I have always believed that cultures such as the Chinese can teach us many ways to live a better life. Many years ago my maternal Grandfather had a great deal to to with the Chinese and worked in business partnership with them. He often told me of the degradation that Opium had caused the Chinese and laid the blame squarely at the feet of the East India Company and its practise of paying the Chinese in Opium and conversely enlarging the Opium trade. Australia played a part in this and an Australian diplomat and adventurer ,Morrison, was so incensed by the corruption and double dealing by some of his diplomatic colleagues he tried to stop this trade. He was also a bit of a wheeler dealer and womaniser himself and possibly was not quite the white knight he appeared on the surface. Grandfather painted such a dire picture of Opium dens, the joss houses, that I lived in fear of falling into one on the way past the local Chinese herbalist shop.
Have you ever been into a genuine Chinese herbalist? They are fascinating places and for a small boy with a large and vivid imagination simply worth all the trepidation of falling into an Opium den or Joss house just to visit. The shop we used (Mr Wu) was an Aladdin's cave full of dried shark fins, snakes and things in ceramic pots, stranges twisted roots, powders in large jars all to be weighed out on brass scales and wrapped in brown paper, the bill was totted on an abacus at lightning speed and written in a neat hand on strips of very light paper like a present day cash out strip. Mr. Wu, who appeared to be the apothecary, was a tiny man normally to be seen sitting on a high stool with a rattan back and gazing out of the window into the street as if he could somehow mesmerise customers into coming in. His parcels were always wrapped in brown paper and tied with a dark brown twine whilst his recommendations for taking the medicine were written both in Chinese and English on the left hand side with your name printed in large block letters on the right. Heavens knows why he bothered to write in Mandarin as to my knowledge there wasn't anyone in the family who could read the characters. If by any chance it was me who needed his potions and Grandmother couldn't come with me I would appear at Mr Wu's with a note from her, place it on the wooden counter top and repeat, in my piping little voice, exactly what Nana had told me. "Please Mr Wu my Nana says I am to ask you nicely to read her note and then ask me what is wrong" Whereupon he would leap from his chair ,read the note and then come around the counter and hold my chin in one hand and look intently into my eyes. He then would take my hands one by one and look very carefully at the back first then the palms,each of the fingers/nails. He would speak very slowly in measured very quiet tones "Missy Grace say you feel not well here,(poke) ahhhh so, that is feeling bad?"Sometimes he would look through my hair, take a few strands and disappear into the back of his shop. I could then spend time gazing in wonder at the various odds and sods on the shelves and hanging tied with that brown string all over the shop. What was I looking for, I never asked myself that, but quite possibly it was eye of newt, frogs tongues, bat wings or dried dragon blood, anything that a small boy might think he would find in a Chinese apothecary. Once, after reading a story about Brooke of Sarawak and the Dyak headhunters I ran to Wu's shop looking for dried and smoked human heads,alas none to be found, but it was fun to sneak into the shop when he was busy and look.
Back to Grandfather. Over years he made many Chinese friends and along the way developed a love of Chinese architecture, artifacts, including the Chinese way of doing business. He used to tell me that if you do 'good' business with a Chinese on the shake of a hand then years later you will be able to do the same business with his son and his son and their cousins and their cousins relatives. The Chinese played a big part in the development of early Australia as thousands of Chinese came here in the gold rush days to work the emerging goldfields and create business such as market gardens in the mining settlements. Melbourne, which was at that time the richest city in the world, became a hub for the Chinese immigrants as did the provincal cities of Bendigo and Ballarat. Many Chinese also landed in the port of Darwin and stayed there to make a vibrant and busy culture. Gowdowns became during that early period a feature of the wharves in Darwin and much trade was done in trepang,beach-de-mer,shark and pearl shell to many Asian countries. Grandfather was a part of all this and I have been fortunate in being able to keep some of the artifacts and antiques he collected or was given over his years in dealing with the Chinese traders.
For us who live in the Southern part of OZ sometimes we forget that at the tip of our country (Cape York) it is only 20 nautical miles to a foreign country which is part of Asia. In 2007 I stood right on that very tip and if you look at a map of OZ you will see that Cape York goes to a point. Well I can vouch for that as I stood right on that tip and looked down into the crystal clear water I could see the tip of OZ. The helicopter I had hired landed some 60metres from the actual tip saving us a three hour walk and a massive climb down (and back up)from the normal landing site. That time ,(hour or so) I spent there was in retrospect an extremely cathartic experience, as not many folk actually get to go there for to drive from the nearest settlement is ,if the road is passable, about a four hour trip and then you have at least another three hours of strenuous walking and climbing.
Yes Hortense I do know that our esteemed leader can speak perfect Mandarin and that he is great mates with everyone who is anyone in China. Me?, you also know that I have a few words of Mandarin, don't look like that, I do know that there are some of those phrases I could never use in polite society. Being friends with the Chinse is wonderful stuff Horty but I don't think that our Defence Minister should have had his business trips paid for by that lovely Chinese lady who seems to know every top General in the Peoples Army. He also rents an apartment from her when he is Canberra too, possibly gets a cheap deal I would think. Do you think he asked her what all the echoes and beeps / whistles were in every room whenever he discussed Government business? Oops! best I stick to stuff I know lots about, like the wonderful selection of Gelato at Cocolat we had Saturday morning after the moving picture show. Wasn't such a bad movie either, 'The Boat that Rocked', not Gone with the Wind or anything but it was great fun. Nope,I'm not going to apologise for leaping up from my seat and singing along with the EasyBeats to 'Friday on My Mind'. Oh, and I wont mention that you sang along with the Supremes either.
Great day it was Hortense and I thank you heartily for being the you that you are,"gonna have fun in the city, be with my girl she's so pretty,I'll be right tonight, toniiiiighhhht, for I've got friday on my mind, na nah nuhhnahhh na nah....i've got friday on my mind"
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Thursday, 2 April 2009
ink marks on a blank page Thursday April 2nd
Some of you ,after reading this, will possibly be left with a feeling that I am over critical of my fellow humans. That I must put my hand up for if so labelled, not really the way that I see myself but one really cannot make an arms length judgement of self that is exact and to the point of being as how others view. Goodness that was long winded ,convoluted and pompous was it not, but something that had to be said, clearing the decks . Follows next why I have said the above.
Today marked the first major day of the G20 talks in London. What scenes did we see on our television news? Thousands of people demonstrating in a violent and anti-social manner screaming out slogans such as "Down with money" and the like, folk by the thousands pinning police officers up against a wall and a loon high up on a building trying to set fire to it. I well remember the violent anti Vietnam demonstrations, the Weathermen bombing and others of the same anti establishment ilk all around the globe doing exactly the same thing. As serving Navy during the early part of the time of Vietnam I was apalled at the treatment returning soldiers here in this country got from the general public as they marched through the streets of Sydney. People were right in condemning the Vietnam war and I do uphold the right to protest as all in a democratic society should have that right, all peoples should be able to exercise their right to protest at what they see as unjust and cruel. However I do not see where violent anti-social behaviour can be justified in any protest as in my opinion being violent just plays into the hands of those right wing elements who seek to contain the right to any protest.
That, (the above)was the main thrust of this week blogging on Ink Marks,but as the G20 ended with very much an accord and with a degree of hope for the future I deleted most of my write in favour of just letting the status remain at quo.
The second point about human behaviour I would like to touch on is this; Trends and counter trends. Or: What the heck is happening?
The robbi is unfortunately a slow learner, by that I do not mean that life has to bludgeon itself around my head to push in a few facts. Nope, not at all. One of the terrible shortcomings I have is that I see lots of things as black and white. Take sunglasses for one, they are meant to shade human eyes from the sun , true? Yes I do have a pair, somewhere in the house is a pair of hugely expensive precription sunglasses with special lenses that make everything crystal clear and are ground to my special requirements so that I might drive with them and read, although not at the same time. That they are very rarely worn is not because I don't go out in the sun, I do, but I found that I still needed to carry my normal glasses in case I wanted to go into a building or someones house. That means having to carry two pairs of glasses ,being the robbi that I am carrying two pairs is really asking for one pair to be left on a park bench or summat. Plus of course the cars that we have always have tinted windows anyway so that negates most of the need for sunglasses. The point I am slowly coming to is; as I look about me I appear to be the only human not wearing sunglasses. Whole families wear them from the littlest toddler right through the ages. Sitting in the movies the other day most of the folk coming in to sit down had them on top of their heads,some actually wore them and only took them off to perch said glasses on top of the head as they sat down. needless to say I started to think that I must be missing something and got to worry. Monday this week the answer came in the form of a cartoon strip in the morning Murdoch. Garfield occasionally talks to a ball of wool, this Monday morning the ball of wool said to Garfield "I'm cool" Garfiled to ball of wool" You are a ball of wool, how cool is that" the next panel showed the ball of wool saying "See!", wearing a large pair of shades, Garfield agreeing that said ball was now 'cool'. Ergo, shades =cool. The point I ask myself is,what then is 'cool'? Am I somewhat out of a loop because I don't wear shades, does that make me a non-person?
Many years ago(44actually) I was laying on the lawn in front of the Adelaide Uni waiting for the love of my life and reading 'MAD' magazine. It was the paperback version 'Son of Mad' and I was laughing out loud to the extent folk walking past were looking at me with disdain and clucking ,"possibly drugs Henrietta, you know what these Uni types are" The panels I was laughing at were a 5 or 6 page cartoon of artsy folk going to a party and being fawned over because they were wearing dyed ,hand knitted jackets and trousers that had been made from sea grass. my memory can't extend to anything else about the strip except the couple in question eschewed any knowledge of TV saying it was passe and everyone else nodding sagely whilst rushing to switch of the myriad TV's around the rooms.I also think that some of the really cool guests had dreads as well whilst the two mentioned just kept putting down all those not wearing sea grass. Reading MAD was obligatory for me, they had a way of looking at life that seemed so much how this is what it will be in the future. Was I 'cool' in that I read MAD and therefore 'knew' ? The medium is the message ,everyone will be famous for ten minutes. Looking down a telescope the wrong way seems to be how society is going, life is a microcosm of itself and no longer are we content to let it just unfold it has to happen right in front at breakneck speed.
You see Hortense even you are subject to this creeping malaise that is society. Just now you were badgering me to go to a moving picture. When I looked at the trailers for the films you picked I could see that these were not for me. Yes Horty being the sort of chap that I am I would go to a film not of my choosing just to please you, sometimes. They do have to have a few redeeming qualities Hortense, not just because Viggo whatshisname is a gorgeous hunk, the film has to be summat I can sit through. You are on holidays and there is plenty of time for film,why don't we go for a pleasant bike ride instead? Then tomorrow we can go into Cocolat and peruse the film list whilst snacking on a lovely Gelato, sound a plan Horty. Indeed it are, let's do it!
Today marked the first major day of the G20 talks in London. What scenes did we see on our television news? Thousands of people demonstrating in a violent and anti-social manner screaming out slogans such as "Down with money" and the like, folk by the thousands pinning police officers up against a wall and a loon high up on a building trying to set fire to it. I well remember the violent anti Vietnam demonstrations, the Weathermen bombing and others of the same anti establishment ilk all around the globe doing exactly the same thing. As serving Navy during the early part of the time of Vietnam I was apalled at the treatment returning soldiers here in this country got from the general public as they marched through the streets of Sydney. People were right in condemning the Vietnam war and I do uphold the right to protest as all in a democratic society should have that right, all peoples should be able to exercise their right to protest at what they see as unjust and cruel. However I do not see where violent anti-social behaviour can be justified in any protest as in my opinion being violent just plays into the hands of those right wing elements who seek to contain the right to any protest.
That, (the above)was the main thrust of this week blogging on Ink Marks,but as the G20 ended with very much an accord and with a degree of hope for the future I deleted most of my write in favour of just letting the status remain at quo.
The second point about human behaviour I would like to touch on is this; Trends and counter trends. Or: What the heck is happening?
The robbi is unfortunately a slow learner, by that I do not mean that life has to bludgeon itself around my head to push in a few facts. Nope, not at all. One of the terrible shortcomings I have is that I see lots of things as black and white. Take sunglasses for one, they are meant to shade human eyes from the sun , true? Yes I do have a pair, somewhere in the house is a pair of hugely expensive precription sunglasses with special lenses that make everything crystal clear and are ground to my special requirements so that I might drive with them and read, although not at the same time. That they are very rarely worn is not because I don't go out in the sun, I do, but I found that I still needed to carry my normal glasses in case I wanted to go into a building or someones house. That means having to carry two pairs of glasses ,being the robbi that I am carrying two pairs is really asking for one pair to be left on a park bench or summat. Plus of course the cars that we have always have tinted windows anyway so that negates most of the need for sunglasses. The point I am slowly coming to is; as I look about me I appear to be the only human not wearing sunglasses. Whole families wear them from the littlest toddler right through the ages. Sitting in the movies the other day most of the folk coming in to sit down had them on top of their heads,some actually wore them and only took them off to perch said glasses on top of the head as they sat down. needless to say I started to think that I must be missing something and got to worry. Monday this week the answer came in the form of a cartoon strip in the morning Murdoch. Garfield occasionally talks to a ball of wool, this Monday morning the ball of wool said to Garfield "I'm cool" Garfiled to ball of wool" You are a ball of wool, how cool is that" the next panel showed the ball of wool saying "See!", wearing a large pair of shades, Garfield agreeing that said ball was now 'cool'. Ergo, shades =cool. The point I ask myself is,what then is 'cool'? Am I somewhat out of a loop because I don't wear shades, does that make me a non-person?
Many years ago(44actually) I was laying on the lawn in front of the Adelaide Uni waiting for the love of my life and reading 'MAD' magazine. It was the paperback version 'Son of Mad' and I was laughing out loud to the extent folk walking past were looking at me with disdain and clucking ,"possibly drugs Henrietta, you know what these Uni types are" The panels I was laughing at were a 5 or 6 page cartoon of artsy folk going to a party and being fawned over because they were wearing dyed ,hand knitted jackets and trousers that had been made from sea grass. my memory can't extend to anything else about the strip except the couple in question eschewed any knowledge of TV saying it was passe and everyone else nodding sagely whilst rushing to switch of the myriad TV's around the rooms.I also think that some of the really cool guests had dreads as well whilst the two mentioned just kept putting down all those not wearing sea grass. Reading MAD was obligatory for me, they had a way of looking at life that seemed so much how this is what it will be in the future. Was I 'cool' in that I read MAD and therefore 'knew' ? The medium is the message ,everyone will be famous for ten minutes. Looking down a telescope the wrong way seems to be how society is going, life is a microcosm of itself and no longer are we content to let it just unfold it has to happen right in front at breakneck speed.
You see Hortense even you are subject to this creeping malaise that is society. Just now you were badgering me to go to a moving picture. When I looked at the trailers for the films you picked I could see that these were not for me. Yes Horty being the sort of chap that I am I would go to a film not of my choosing just to please you, sometimes. They do have to have a few redeeming qualities Hortense, not just because Viggo whatshisname is a gorgeous hunk, the film has to be summat I can sit through. You are on holidays and there is plenty of time for film,why don't we go for a pleasant bike ride instead? Then tomorrow we can go into Cocolat and peruse the film list whilst snacking on a lovely Gelato, sound a plan Horty. Indeed it are, let's do it!
Monday, 23 March 2009
Ink marks on a blank page Monday March 23rd
Could be lots of things to write about this week, much ado about everything happening in OZ. There are some goings on that I think are best left to the judiciary to decide and here I refer to of course the horrendous fracas at Sydney airport, plus the sad demise of Justice Marcus Enfield, a former Justice of the High Court of Australia. Oh no he didn't die, but he did tell a few huge lies to get out of a speeding fine and that has landed him in gaol.
I don't really understand about the Hells Angel situation, we call them 'bikies' here in OZ , sort of lump them all together in an amorphous conglomeration of fat geezers who ride Harleys and deal stuff. So they are not all Hell's Angels, although the one that died I believe was. Of course none of you might know ,or even care, what the heck I am on about but it is my understanding by looking at the online news grabs, the story about this brawl has been picked up all over the world.Poor little Sam the koala has been forgotten for the moment.
The Einfield trial has been done and dusted so unless he appeals and gets let out whilst his appeal is being held then what I will tell you isn't subjudice but fact that has gone on record, so therefore is not in dispute.
Marcus Enfield was a senior Judge, he was speeding in his car, the speed camera snapped his vehicle going 70kph in a 60kph zone , ping , caught, pay the man $77. He swore on oath that he wasn't driving, subsequently was found to be lying went to trial after some nearly 3yrs ,found guilty sentenced to 2yrs in prison. What is disturbing some folk on the bench here and in parliament is that he actually did the same thing three times before, but was never caught. The position the courts must now find themselves in is a rather tricky one. As there is irrefutable evidence that as far back as 1999 this revered Justice had been lying about speeding fines by saying that he was not the driver of his car when snapped by the speed camera, what then is the truth about judgements he made from 1999 to the time he retired from the bench.
If he has lied about such a simple matter as a speeding fine then how can anyone believe the veracity of his judgements? The can of worms that this case will have opened will well ripen in the sun.
What I did set out to write on was a marvellous little film I saw on Sunday...'Dean Spanley'
Jeremy Northam as Fisk, Junior (Henslowe) (also narrator)
Peter O'Toole as Fisk Senior (Horatio)
Sam Neill as the Dean
Bryan Brown as Wrather
Judy Parfitt as Mrs Brimley
Jenna Pollard as the housemaid
Dudley Sutton as Mariott
Charlotte Graham as the woman in the park
Eva Sayer as a girl
Elizabeth Goram-Smith as a young lady of stature
James Lever as the cricketer
Ramon Tikaram as the Nawab of Ranjiput .
Simply a delight to see such a wonderful actor as Peter O'Toole in this role. All in the cast are just right for this film and the set is wonderful as is costuming and music.The screenplay is an adaptation of fantasy author Lord Dunsany's "My Talks with Dean Spanley", a 14-chapter novella published in 1936. After seeing the film I will grab a copy of the book from Borders or
some such and have a read. No car chases or four letter words and not even a bare boob, but a film that had me watching intently every minute. O'Toole's facial expressions and body language conveyed as much meaning as the lines he spoke and at times the acting was so good you didn't need lines to telegraph what was coming next. This isn't a film for a big audience, possibly never set the box office alight but hopefully have a following and the acting will be noticed. We all of us have familial situations that we would rather not had transpire, life is like that and most just move on to eventually get over whatever caused the angst in the first place. Families are a dynamic that is inevitable as the tide, we live within family and that makes a clash impossible to distance ourselves from, live on we must, so we do. All the people learn and live on gracefully in 'Dean Spanley', which seems au naturel for the period in which it is set, a period that on the surface seemed gracious and uncompromising but that of course was very far from the truth. This was the period that saw great changes in Britain, Darwinism had been the focus for years and all sorts of ism's had arisen over time. Phrenology, magentism et al and of course spiritualism which is the backbone of this storyline. Swamis and Gurus were as thick as Autumn leaves and the papers of the day carried advertisements for all the quack cures and latest fads imaginable. For all its so calledVictorian purity the late Edwardian age was full of salacious gossip and flashy newspaper articles about the goings on of the titled and rich.
I must admit to a clinging to the past mentality, yes much wrong with trying to clasp what has gone before to ones chest like a prize from the fairground. But what went has to me anyway great import and a reverence. Of course like most humans I tend to glorify some bits, forget others , but in the main I think that I am true to what actually transpired . Others might see their past that melded with mine in a different light, perhaps that salmon I caught from Brighton pier wasn't as big as it has grown to be, but for a ten year old it was magnificent. Will the children who are ten today have the same treasures to remember when they reach their 3score and? My feeling is that they will, a different set of wonders, but theirs will be a similar grab bag of love,laughs, tears and triumphs that so delighted my generation.
Truly Hortense that little moving picture did enthrall me so, yes Horty I know we only went 'cos you urged me so. It is because of you that I get to these little performances. I well remember the first play that you dragged me off to see,'Camelot', Richard Harris in the lead. We haven't stopped going to the theatre and film since. Yes indeed Hortense I do love to brag about seeing the original 'Phantom of the Opera ' in London too, but that was such a memorable night wasn't it. When that super scene of the Ghost poling that little punt thing along and singing as the mist rose up started, the hairs on the back of my neck rose up , and to think I don't really like much Andrew Lloyd Webber music either. A little like my conversion to Van Gogh after you dragged me off to the museum in Amsterdam, couldn't get me to leave.
Puts me in mind of Cocolat and the Gelato we had Sunday, now that was awesome was it not?
I don't really understand about the Hells Angel situation, we call them 'bikies' here in OZ , sort of lump them all together in an amorphous conglomeration of fat geezers who ride Harleys and deal stuff. So they are not all Hell's Angels, although the one that died I believe was. Of course none of you might know ,or even care, what the heck I am on about but it is my understanding by looking at the online news grabs, the story about this brawl has been picked up all over the world.Poor little Sam the koala has been forgotten for the moment.
The Einfield trial has been done and dusted so unless he appeals and gets let out whilst his appeal is being held then what I will tell you isn't subjudice but fact that has gone on record, so therefore is not in dispute.
Marcus Enfield was a senior Judge, he was speeding in his car, the speed camera snapped his vehicle going 70kph in a 60kph zone , ping , caught, pay the man $77. He swore on oath that he wasn't driving, subsequently was found to be lying went to trial after some nearly 3yrs ,found guilty sentenced to 2yrs in prison. What is disturbing some folk on the bench here and in parliament is that he actually did the same thing three times before, but was never caught. The position the courts must now find themselves in is a rather tricky one. As there is irrefutable evidence that as far back as 1999 this revered Justice had been lying about speeding fines by saying that he was not the driver of his car when snapped by the speed camera, what then is the truth about judgements he made from 1999 to the time he retired from the bench.
If he has lied about such a simple matter as a speeding fine then how can anyone believe the veracity of his judgements? The can of worms that this case will have opened will well ripen in the sun.
What I did set out to write on was a marvellous little film I saw on Sunday...'Dean Spanley'
Jeremy Northam as Fisk, Junior (Henslowe) (also narrator)
Peter O'Toole as Fisk Senior (Horatio)
Sam Neill as the Dean
Bryan Brown as Wrather
Judy Parfitt as Mrs Brimley
Jenna Pollard as the housemaid
Dudley Sutton as Mariott
Charlotte Graham as the woman in the park
Eva Sayer as a girl
Elizabeth Goram-Smith as a young lady of stature
James Lever as the cricketer
Ramon Tikaram as the Nawab of Ranjiput .
Simply a delight to see such a wonderful actor as Peter O'Toole in this role. All in the cast are just right for this film and the set is wonderful as is costuming and music.The screenplay is an adaptation of fantasy author Lord Dunsany's "My Talks with Dean Spanley", a 14-chapter novella published in 1936. After seeing the film I will grab a copy of the book from Borders or
some such and have a read. No car chases or four letter words and not even a bare boob, but a film that had me watching intently every minute. O'Toole's facial expressions and body language conveyed as much meaning as the lines he spoke and at times the acting was so good you didn't need lines to telegraph what was coming next. This isn't a film for a big audience, possibly never set the box office alight but hopefully have a following and the acting will be noticed. We all of us have familial situations that we would rather not had transpire, life is like that and most just move on to eventually get over whatever caused the angst in the first place. Families are a dynamic that is inevitable as the tide, we live within family and that makes a clash impossible to distance ourselves from, live on we must, so we do. All the people learn and live on gracefully in 'Dean Spanley', which seems au naturel for the period in which it is set, a period that on the surface seemed gracious and uncompromising but that of course was very far from the truth. This was the period that saw great changes in Britain, Darwinism had been the focus for years and all sorts of ism's had arisen over time. Phrenology, magentism et al and of course spiritualism which is the backbone of this storyline. Swamis and Gurus were as thick as Autumn leaves and the papers of the day carried advertisements for all the quack cures and latest fads imaginable. For all its so calledVictorian purity the late Edwardian age was full of salacious gossip and flashy newspaper articles about the goings on of the titled and rich.
I must admit to a clinging to the past mentality, yes much wrong with trying to clasp what has gone before to ones chest like a prize from the fairground. But what went has to me anyway great import and a reverence. Of course like most humans I tend to glorify some bits, forget others , but in the main I think that I am true to what actually transpired . Others might see their past that melded with mine in a different light, perhaps that salmon I caught from Brighton pier wasn't as big as it has grown to be, but for a ten year old it was magnificent. Will the children who are ten today have the same treasures to remember when they reach their 3score and? My feeling is that they will, a different set of wonders, but theirs will be a similar grab bag of love,laughs, tears and triumphs that so delighted my generation.
Truly Hortense that little moving picture did enthrall me so, yes Horty I know we only went 'cos you urged me so. It is because of you that I get to these little performances. I well remember the first play that you dragged me off to see,'Camelot', Richard Harris in the lead. We haven't stopped going to the theatre and film since. Yes indeed Hortense I do love to brag about seeing the original 'Phantom of the Opera ' in London too, but that was such a memorable night wasn't it. When that super scene of the Ghost poling that little punt thing along and singing as the mist rose up started, the hairs on the back of my neck rose up , and to think I don't really like much Andrew Lloyd Webber music either. A little like my conversion to Van Gogh after you dragged me off to the museum in Amsterdam, couldn't get me to leave.
Puts me in mind of Cocolat and the Gelato we had Sunday, now that was awesome was it not?
Sunday, 15 March 2009
ink marks on a blank page Monday 16th March
Driving back to chez robbi after a swift sojourn to the shops I was pulled up at a traffic light when I idly looked across and spied a gentleman sitting at a bus shelter. Nothing outstanding about that you might say, true, and normally you would be right,but. This gentleman looked exactly like Kenny Rogers. large in body , thick white flowing hair and a beard exactly as Kenny wore. Actually this fellow looked more like Kenny Rogers than Kenny himself does. As the gentlemen on the late night TV ads keep telling us "but wait there's more", there is more. He was also dressed, down to the smallest detail ,exactly like the MAN in Black....folks it's Mr Johnny Cash (We're doing mighty fine I do suppose/In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes/But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back/Up front there ought to be a man in black.") Right there bus stop 27 ( a go zone) Johhny Cash incarnate, and Kenny Rogers, though I didn't look to see if he was wearing a SuperMan T shirt or had his undies on back to front as the light changed and I had to move off.
I know what you are all thinking, robbi has such a sad life, really I don't mind that at all, happy in my quest to unravel the bizarre in our so-called normality and in fact I write this as the Kenny/Man in Black thing has a bearing on what I was going to write about (also is a picture)
Yesterday at breakfast I looked out the window and there perched on the verandah fascia was a large Praying Mantis( Hierodula majuscula ). We all know these insects, they use camouflage as a means of blending in to the scene so that predators cannot see them , thus not becoming a meal for an owl,bat etc.Mantids have hollow bodies so that they can 'hear' a bat sonar squeak as it flies through the night., and then duck for cover. The particular Mantid I observed looked just like a twig from the garden in front of the window,even down to the stripe in the middle of its back. Why was it on the fascia? well the rain pelted down some hours later so I guess it was sheltering from the coming rain as it was gone this breakfast time. Who (or what) was the man sheltering from at the bus stop? we will never know as I moved on, his bus would eventually arrive ( go zones run every ten minutes) leaving us none the wiser. Whatever he is seeking in life I hope that it crosses his path, he does have a 50/50 chance as he was being two things at once, whereas a Mantis only has one go at a time, your'e either a twig or a green leaf,Mantids cannot be both at the same time..
If the above sounds as though I am having a cheap shot at the way some folk like to wear their particular skins then not so, who am I to judge, a fashonista is something that I most definitely am not. That how we appear to folk in general is to define in a small way who we are is a social issue, one that I am not qualified to rule on . Needless to say if a chap wishes to dress like Kenny, then he should be able to providing he isn't up to nefarious acts .
I know Hortense 'fings aint wot they is 'sposed. Got a little ahead and also behind myself with this blog. As always though I was full of good intent, oh please don't say that Horty. I also know that many times I am 'full of it', you do not have to rub salt into the wound. Events of the week dear Hortense, made one a little busy don't y'know. That meeting I went to Monday night started the rot, I then had to write a very long email to that lovely Dr who is chair of the committee and tell him that as long as his bum points downwards then he has no hope of forcing this State government to do anything. His committee have to get the sweaty mass of the public onside, they can do that easily enough and mobilise public opinion. Talk about mobilising Hortense, you got that way this AM did you not ! Wow, I haven't seen you move that fast for ages.
When you opened that little diary you keep next to the phone and saw the huge Tarantula inside I thought the worst. But then the robbi saved the day and put the little fellow outside, swiftly ,calmly and without any fuss or girly like screams. Then you really freaked when you went down the passage to the bedroom and saw that huge Daddy long legs spider devouring his breakfast of an earwig. I thought that justice for the earwig so I just left the spider to it.
Note that I continually refer to these spiders as 'He/Him' when we both know Hortense that the really big agressive ones are the female of the specie, are they not. Just being a gentleman there Hortense and like all of my kind simply shouldering the blame and responsibility. Just like the Chairman of AIG insurance et al.
There is a small confession that I make Horty old girl. It is thus: On walking to the Hospital to attend that meeting I found myself trotting past Cocolat, not being one to pass a golden moment up I did slip in for a quick one, only a small one mind with two flavours only (vanilla/berry yoghurt). There, I have that slight aberration of character behind me and can face the world almost without a blemish.
We will go to the moving pictures Saturday and WE will have a Gelato, happy, sweet Hotrtense ?
I know what you are all thinking, robbi has such a sad life, really I don't mind that at all, happy in my quest to unravel the bizarre in our so-called normality and in fact I write this as the Kenny/Man in Black thing has a bearing on what I was going to write about (also is a picture)
Yesterday at breakfast I looked out the window and there perched on the verandah fascia was a large Praying Mantis( Hierodula majuscula ). We all know these insects, they use camouflage as a means of blending in to the scene so that predators cannot see them , thus not becoming a meal for an owl,bat etc.Mantids have hollow bodies so that they can 'hear' a bat sonar squeak as it flies through the night., and then duck for cover. The particular Mantid I observed looked just like a twig from the garden in front of the window,even down to the stripe in the middle of its back. Why was it on the fascia? well the rain pelted down some hours later so I guess it was sheltering from the coming rain as it was gone this breakfast time. Who (or what) was the man sheltering from at the bus stop? we will never know as I moved on, his bus would eventually arrive ( go zones run every ten minutes) leaving us none the wiser. Whatever he is seeking in life I hope that it crosses his path, he does have a 50/50 chance as he was being two things at once, whereas a Mantis only has one go at a time, your'e either a twig or a green leaf,Mantids cannot be both at the same time..
If the above sounds as though I am having a cheap shot at the way some folk like to wear their particular skins then not so, who am I to judge, a fashonista is something that I most definitely am not. That how we appear to folk in general is to define in a small way who we are is a social issue, one that I am not qualified to rule on . Needless to say if a chap wishes to dress like Kenny, then he should be able to providing he isn't up to nefarious acts .
I know Hortense 'fings aint wot they is 'sposed. Got a little ahead and also behind myself with this blog. As always though I was full of good intent, oh please don't say that Horty. I also know that many times I am 'full of it', you do not have to rub salt into the wound. Events of the week dear Hortense, made one a little busy don't y'know. That meeting I went to Monday night started the rot, I then had to write a very long email to that lovely Dr who is chair of the committee and tell him that as long as his bum points downwards then he has no hope of forcing this State government to do anything. His committee have to get the sweaty mass of the public onside, they can do that easily enough and mobilise public opinion. Talk about mobilising Hortense, you got that way this AM did you not ! Wow, I haven't seen you move that fast for ages.
When you opened that little diary you keep next to the phone and saw the huge Tarantula inside I thought the worst. But then the robbi saved the day and put the little fellow outside, swiftly ,calmly and without any fuss or girly like screams. Then you really freaked when you went down the passage to the bedroom and saw that huge Daddy long legs spider devouring his breakfast of an earwig. I thought that justice for the earwig so I just left the spider to it.
Note that I continually refer to these spiders as 'He/Him' when we both know Hortense that the really big agressive ones are the female of the specie, are they not. Just being a gentleman there Hortense and like all of my kind simply shouldering the blame and responsibility. Just like the Chairman of AIG insurance et al.
There is a small confession that I make Horty old girl. It is thus: On walking to the Hospital to attend that meeting I found myself trotting past Cocolat, not being one to pass a golden moment up I did slip in for a quick one, only a small one mind with two flavours only (vanilla/berry yoghurt). There, I have that slight aberration of character behind me and can face the world almost without a blemish.
We will go to the moving pictures Saturday and WE will have a Gelato, happy, sweet Hotrtense ?
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
ink marks on a blank page 11th march
Simple is as simple does, that be life really . Days go, replaced by others, each one different but similar and it is the simple ones that I love best. None of us enjoys angst or drama, happens in the best of regulated lives but 'tis never the high point of the day. Excitement is fine, but I for one would not want to go through my life in a high state of frisson each and every minute. James Bond I'm not, think of all those endorphins rushing around colliding with each other. Makes me want to lay down with the energy of it all, not that I am a sloth, indeed not so, but having said that I do enjoy moments of torpor. Mostly in the afternoon around 1430 or thereabouts, just a nice laze in my favourite chair and now seeing as it is Autumn sat in front of the large windows that look out onto the park in front of the house. Said park is looking a litle raggy though, the drought took its toll months ago and what grass there was has just up and left not to be seen until the winter rains. That there will be rains I have no doubt as the rainbow lorikeets have started to fly into the next doors claret ash on our boundary. These lovely birds just adore that tree and come into it in numbers at the beginning of Autumn through to mid-winter and then again in Spring. How do I know that there will be rain aplenty? simple. When I had the 'simple' life on the farm it was in a district that always had 'good' rains, that is they came , they held, they watered well and long. Some seasons were better than others and we noted that the year before those 'better' seasons the parrots ,lorikeets et al all had very bright plumage that carried into the next year, the good year. As the season progressed sometimes Rainbow bee -eaters would appear and then the next rains for that season would be heavy indeed. The years when the Bee -eaters didn't come then that next season although it always rained enough, the hay cutting would be earlier and not quite as heavy. We do not get the Bee-eaters here but the rainbow lorikeets and the parrots have excellent bright plumage this year and as well the Sulphur crested cockatoos are a glossy white too.
Climate change is big news here in OZ and the terrible wild-fires in Victoria have been blamed on climate change by our conservationists groups and some political folk. They carefully forget that the massive dry understory and build-up of bark etc that they will not allow the volunteer fire service to burn off in the winter helped fuel and in some instances increased the fire risk. These groups lobbied councils in the areas that were severely affected by the fires to stop locals from collecting the dead timber that falls from trees along the roadside, the result? In those council where this practise was disallowed the roadside verges became firestorms in themselves as the years of deadwood that had piled up fuelled the fires.
I am not a climate change denyer as we humans have despoiled the planet with many years of pollution but we seem to be rushing in headlong without seriously cosidering the evidence from the past. Antartica did not exist as it is now 4ok years ago, sharks swam where Alice Springs exists in a semi desert today and the Himalaya were in a different place . I will post an excerpt from a geology of the Himalaya to show what is happening as I type this and will continue to happen always regardless of what some rabid conservationists say. This is not to refute climate change, it is merely to point out that the Earth is in a continual state of evolution and will continue to do so as IT(Gaia) is want to do : I quote;
"Over periods of 5-10 million years, the (tectonic)plates will probably continue to move at the same rate. In 10 million years India will plow into Tibet a further 180 km. This is about the width of Nepal. Because Nepal's boundaries are marks on the Himalayan peaks and on the plains of India whose convergence we are measuring, Nepal will technically cease to exist. But the mountain range we know as the Himalaya will not go away.
This is because the Himalaya will probably look much the same in profile then as it does now. There will be tall mountains in the north, smaller ones in the south, and the north/south width of the Himalaya will be about the same. What will happen is that the Himalaya will have advanced across the Indian plate and the Tibetan plateau will have grown by accretion. One of the few clues about the rate of collision between India and Tibet before the GPS measurements were made was the rate of advance of Himalayan sediments across the Ganges plain. There is an orderly progression of sediments in front of the foothills. Larger boulders appear first, followed by pebbles, and further south, sand-grains, silts, and finally very fine muds. This is what you see when you drive from the last hills of the Himalaya southward 100 km. The present is obvious, but the historical record cannot be seen on the surface because the sediments bury all former traces of earlier sediments. However, in drill holes in the Ganges plain, the coarser rocks are always on the top and the finer pebbles and muds are on the bottom, showing that the Himalaya is relentlessly advancing on India" end quote.
We have to change the way in which we as makers and growers of products do things in order to live on our blue ball, however, I do believe that we also must look into the past in greater depth to see what has gone on before so that we can understand how to effect our future. All very well for folk like Al Gore to make $140million on a massive scare campaign using exaggerated filmic techniques to sell 'his' message but let us have rational and scientific informed debate from both sides of the issue and then create a consensus to address this on a global scale.
Here in OZ the federal government is pressing ahead with its version of a Emission trading scheme whether or not our fragile ecomomy will be able to withstand the impost or not. As an observer in this I cannot understand just what emissions a trading scheme will stop. The way the scheme works is that a heavy polluter(steel mill) will always emit on a daily basis more than their permit limit so they buy credits from a small emitter(fairy dust maker) who emits far less on a daily basis than their permit allows. What I do not understand is that the steel maker will still put their daily pollution into the atmosphere and all that will happen is the the fairy dust maker will get money which will in part be passed onto the Government in the form of taxes. The steel maker will in due course have to bring in new technology that will limit its emissions, this is just a natural progression that industry will always do anyway to remain competitive. All that the Emissions trading scheme is going to do is increase the tax revenue and in the short term reduce the steel makers workforce . Hortense my little wonder woman this is making my poor little brain ache with the complexity of it all. You blame Al Gore, yes indeed, but you are a clever wonder woman at that and you do not even have a glass plane. Al is a cheeky little sod are he not? we all wonder just what he has done with that $140mill net he pulled from the movie,dogs home! I think maybe that will not be his first choice. Oh Horty old girl 'tis a good thing we are off to cocolat and a show tonight, we shall have a good laugh and put the Emissions trading scheme just where it belongs.
Climate change is big news here in OZ and the terrible wild-fires in Victoria have been blamed on climate change by our conservationists groups and some political folk. They carefully forget that the massive dry understory and build-up of bark etc that they will not allow the volunteer fire service to burn off in the winter helped fuel and in some instances increased the fire risk. These groups lobbied councils in the areas that were severely affected by the fires to stop locals from collecting the dead timber that falls from trees along the roadside, the result? In those council where this practise was disallowed the roadside verges became firestorms in themselves as the years of deadwood that had piled up fuelled the fires.
I am not a climate change denyer as we humans have despoiled the planet with many years of pollution but we seem to be rushing in headlong without seriously cosidering the evidence from the past. Antartica did not exist as it is now 4ok years ago, sharks swam where Alice Springs exists in a semi desert today and the Himalaya were in a different place . I will post an excerpt from a geology of the Himalaya to show what is happening as I type this and will continue to happen always regardless of what some rabid conservationists say. This is not to refute climate change, it is merely to point out that the Earth is in a continual state of evolution and will continue to do so as IT(Gaia) is want to do : I quote;
"Over periods of 5-10 million years, the (tectonic)plates will probably continue to move at the same rate. In 10 million years India will plow into Tibet a further 180 km. This is about the width of Nepal. Because Nepal's boundaries are marks on the Himalayan peaks and on the plains of India whose convergence we are measuring, Nepal will technically cease to exist. But the mountain range we know as the Himalaya will not go away.
This is because the Himalaya will probably look much the same in profile then as it does now. There will be tall mountains in the north, smaller ones in the south, and the north/south width of the Himalaya will be about the same. What will happen is that the Himalaya will have advanced across the Indian plate and the Tibetan plateau will have grown by accretion. One of the few clues about the rate of collision between India and Tibet before the GPS measurements were made was the rate of advance of Himalayan sediments across the Ganges plain. There is an orderly progression of sediments in front of the foothills. Larger boulders appear first, followed by pebbles, and further south, sand-grains, silts, and finally very fine muds. This is what you see when you drive from the last hills of the Himalaya southward 100 km. The present is obvious, but the historical record cannot be seen on the surface because the sediments bury all former traces of earlier sediments. However, in drill holes in the Ganges plain, the coarser rocks are always on the top and the finer pebbles and muds are on the bottom, showing that the Himalaya is relentlessly advancing on India" end quote.
We have to change the way in which we as makers and growers of products do things in order to live on our blue ball, however, I do believe that we also must look into the past in greater depth to see what has gone on before so that we can understand how to effect our future. All very well for folk like Al Gore to make $140million on a massive scare campaign using exaggerated filmic techniques to sell 'his' message but let us have rational and scientific informed debate from both sides of the issue and then create a consensus to address this on a global scale.
Here in OZ the federal government is pressing ahead with its version of a Emission trading scheme whether or not our fragile ecomomy will be able to withstand the impost or not. As an observer in this I cannot understand just what emissions a trading scheme will stop. The way the scheme works is that a heavy polluter(steel mill) will always emit on a daily basis more than their permit limit so they buy credits from a small emitter(fairy dust maker) who emits far less on a daily basis than their permit allows. What I do not understand is that the steel maker will still put their daily pollution into the atmosphere and all that will happen is the the fairy dust maker will get money which will in part be passed onto the Government in the form of taxes. The steel maker will in due course have to bring in new technology that will limit its emissions, this is just a natural progression that industry will always do anyway to remain competitive. All that the Emissions trading scheme is going to do is increase the tax revenue and in the short term reduce the steel makers workforce . Hortense my little wonder woman this is making my poor little brain ache with the complexity of it all. You blame Al Gore, yes indeed, but you are a clever wonder woman at that and you do not even have a glass plane. Al is a cheeky little sod are he not? we all wonder just what he has done with that $140mill net he pulled from the movie,dogs home! I think maybe that will not be his first choice. Oh Horty old girl 'tis a good thing we are off to cocolat and a show tonight, we shall have a good laugh and put the Emissions trading scheme just where it belongs.
Thursday, 5 March 2009
ink marks on a blank page 6th March
As a bloke there are many of lifes mysteries that are denied me, one major one is the ability to understand women speak. I refer to the oblique way women have of conveying multiple messages in a short sentence like " I am going into the city for a few things" At chez robbi that can mean,'when I'm gone you will have time to vacuum the house' or "I wont be long so you could wash the windows", "And seeing I shall be exhausted from traipsing around the shops looking at stuff we don't need , I shall want you to cook dinner"
There are other little quirks of life that elude me as well. I travel a little and when flying normally cannot open those little butter /jam/condiment doohickies, why? Could this be a bloke thing or am I just one of the poor unfortunates who bumble through life spearing themselves with the tin-opener or splashing sauce all over self.
We had some budget type airlines come here and they don't serve a meal so I thought to save myself embarrassment I would fly with them. Flew back from my destination on a regular ,we serve you a meal you can't eat airline ,as the budget one had seats so close together I couldn't move. This am I read the encoded message well , so prepared to clean the charcoal grill but one little device tricked me.As she left to swan off to the city the last remark was " I left a new packet of barbque wipes on the sink to clean off the residue, a brand new pack so use as many as you want" Folks, do you think I could find just how to open the darn thing, took me all of ten minutes to figure just how it was done. Oh sorry me for when I did finally open the blessed little pack, I almost wept with the frustration of it all.
Then there is me saying" Just where is that set of things?" "In the cupboard" floats back. Yes I know that the'things' will be in the cupboard, but which one for goodnes sake. Yes I admit it, I lose my car keys and my glasses ALL the time , but surely that isn't just a man thing.
Got you there though, I CAN read maps, and when in foreign climes once you take me to a spot then I can always find my way back. Of course that is a fantastic party trick if one wants to walk around in ever decreasing circles, but nobody is perfect.
Never ever been good with working out dates either, some folk can say just from the top of their pointy head. "Oh the 25th, that's a Friday isn't it, not a problem just switch the meeting date to Tuesday which is the 29th" I would have to have a calendar in front of me and a pencil to mark in the date. Also I have a problem or three when typing, for some reason that just rattles past my cage in a flurry I tend not to space between words a's that I write, that is I hang ana on the back of words, then continually have to stop and respace the a in a sentence, already done it 9 times this para. At least if I write to you but forget to sign my name, as at times do, you will then know for certain that the letter comes from me. Should have said a missive contain begging requests for large sums of money then it most definitely would have eminated from this keyboard, money orders are better than cash so run on down to the nearest Western Union and fire some off, you have the address.
Another 'thing' falls to mind about one, can be a trifle absent minded at times. Once someone said that my brain reacts faster than I can think, perhaps that isn't quite correct as I do forget exactly what he said but that sounds almost right. He was testing me for a resume that I was to write in application for a job. Can't quite remember what his job description was but he wrote some very nice things about me that was in part one of the prime reasons I got the position. No, I do not think that his rather large fee that I paid in cash was any reason he wrote glowingly about my prospects, and I could show you my test results to back that up if I could only find them.
Sorry Hortense, feeling a little left out are we? Yes I have sort of rattled on about self, it was all me me me. Perhaps my introspection comes from that birthday I have looming, although my age is not something that figures largely in my daily ruminations.
Age must figure in the machinations in our esteemed Federal Education Minister's mind though. The largess that she is handing out a la those cash grants to schools has to be accompanied by a suitable plaque on the wall of the building that it has funded, extolling the virtues in part of the Education Minister come par excellence Julia Gillard. There is no nepotism in this Federal Government as well, although the hairdresser fellow who lives with , and is the boyfriend of, our Education Minister got a paid gong on a Government board. Yes Hortense I take your point, he would be good at sharpening scissors, they would come in very handy for stabbing ones opponents in the back wouldn't they, wonder if Julia knows that?
Well what I do know Hortense old love is that it be YOUR birthday Saturday and we shall sup well on cocolat...yea har!!
There are other little quirks of life that elude me as well. I travel a little and when flying normally cannot open those little butter /jam/condiment doohickies, why? Could this be a bloke thing or am I just one of the poor unfortunates who bumble through life spearing themselves with the tin-opener or splashing sauce all over self.
We had some budget type airlines come here and they don't serve a meal so I thought to save myself embarrassment I would fly with them. Flew back from my destination on a regular ,we serve you a meal you can't eat airline ,as the budget one had seats so close together I couldn't move. This am I read the encoded message well , so prepared to clean the charcoal grill but one little device tricked me.As she left to swan off to the city the last remark was " I left a new packet of barbque wipes on the sink to clean off the residue, a brand new pack so use as many as you want" Folks, do you think I could find just how to open the darn thing, took me all of ten minutes to figure just how it was done. Oh sorry me for when I did finally open the blessed little pack, I almost wept with the frustration of it all.
Then there is me saying" Just where is that set of things?" "In the cupboard" floats back. Yes I know that the'things' will be in the cupboard, but which one for goodnes sake. Yes I admit it, I lose my car keys and my glasses ALL the time , but surely that isn't just a man thing.
Got you there though, I CAN read maps, and when in foreign climes once you take me to a spot then I can always find my way back. Of course that is a fantastic party trick if one wants to walk around in ever decreasing circles, but nobody is perfect.
Never ever been good with working out dates either, some folk can say just from the top of their pointy head. "Oh the 25th, that's a Friday isn't it, not a problem just switch the meeting date to Tuesday which is the 29th" I would have to have a calendar in front of me and a pencil to mark in the date. Also I have a problem or three when typing, for some reason that just rattles past my cage in a flurry I tend not to space between words a's that I write, that is I hang ana on the back of words, then continually have to stop and respace the a in a sentence, already done it 9 times this para. At least if I write to you but forget to sign my name, as at times do, you will then know for certain that the letter comes from me. Should have said a missive contain begging requests for large sums of money then it most definitely would have eminated from this keyboard, money orders are better than cash so run on down to the nearest Western Union and fire some off, you have the address.
Another 'thing' falls to mind about one, can be a trifle absent minded at times. Once someone said that my brain reacts faster than I can think, perhaps that isn't quite correct as I do forget exactly what he said but that sounds almost right. He was testing me for a resume that I was to write in application for a job. Can't quite remember what his job description was but he wrote some very nice things about me that was in part one of the prime reasons I got the position. No, I do not think that his rather large fee that I paid in cash was any reason he wrote glowingly about my prospects, and I could show you my test results to back that up if I could only find them.
Sorry Hortense, feeling a little left out are we? Yes I have sort of rattled on about self, it was all me me me. Perhaps my introspection comes from that birthday I have looming, although my age is not something that figures largely in my daily ruminations.
Age must figure in the machinations in our esteemed Federal Education Minister's mind though. The largess that she is handing out a la those cash grants to schools has to be accompanied by a suitable plaque on the wall of the building that it has funded, extolling the virtues in part of the Education Minister come par excellence Julia Gillard. There is no nepotism in this Federal Government as well, although the hairdresser fellow who lives with , and is the boyfriend of, our Education Minister got a paid gong on a Government board. Yes Hortense I take your point, he would be good at sharpening scissors, they would come in very handy for stabbing ones opponents in the back wouldn't they, wonder if Julia knows that?
Well what I do know Hortense old love is that it be YOUR birthday Saturday and we shall sup well on cocolat...yea har!!
Sunday, 1 March 2009
ink marks on a blank page Sun 1st March
This was supposed to be all about Holly Hill Nature walk in Southampton England,weeeell, I can sort of alter the pitch a little can I not? Will explain, then you can make up your collective mind(s) whether or no I should proceed with this, or stick to the original game plan and tell you all about Holly Hill. Okay, thanks for that so that's fixed then I shall tell you all about my afternoon here at chez robbi.
Y'all know that we had Lance Armstrong here riding in a Pro Cycle race we run yearly called the 'Tour Down Under'.You did, and just love bike racing but can't figure it out, but adore those really fit young fellows in lycra jumping up and down on the pedals, you do don't you.
So we here at chez robbi ride bikes around our park most days, I do every day but she has to go to work in order to keep me in the style to which I am accustomed, ie. eating each day, so only rides when there is no work. As befitting a bicycle rider she got all keen to read Lance Armstrong's book 'It's not just about the bike' and duly passed same on to me to read. I got into about 40 pages and to be quite frank thought if I could watch grass grow that might get me going more. Until today.
Off she went at 1430 to earn the daily crust when I spied 'the' book on the kitchen table, what to lose I thought, not much going on here and the drought is so bad even the weeds have stopped growing. I might as well read a few pages and then check that little weed out there to see if it has put on an inch or three.1828 came just as I read the last page,wow, this Lance man is different!
What a great weed he would make, I mean those little buggers even spring up through concrete, Lance is the Texas weed to end all weeds. This fellow is THE survivor and growth specialist is he not? In my job I saw many many Lance's and in their own quiet way lots of recovered cancer patients ,who by the very nature of their recovery beat all odds , going on to lead lives of hope and fulfilment.
Back to Holly Hill.
The very first time that I went to the UK as an adult gave me a tremendous culture shock. One forgets childhood memories and more the pity, relatives and places, they become faint cobwebs of what was and like cobwebs are easily brushed aside. So there we were at Heathrow(1990-1) being met by a charming couple in their early sixties who had been great friends of the family and on hearing we were to be in the UK would not hear of us staying anywhere but in their home. Driving from Heathrow to Putney was then not so bad, traffic wasn't as dense as it is now so there was plenty of time to 'see' bits of London.Also, there were only a few of the ghastly high rise apartment blocks that now dot the landscape as frequently as rabbit poop on a field.The next ten days were a revelation as each day we saw more parks/gardens per square foot than in OZ. The suburb of Putney seemed to have green space everywhere and the house gardens were just bursting with colour. Sure they knock down one large house and build two or even three where there was once one, some public buildings are just plain damn awful monstrosities, but lots of councils seem to really care about how their constituents live and where they live. Here in OZ we went through an awful phase were it became almost a public duty to knock over anything that was more than twenty years old, in the UK there is more pride in retaining as much heritage as they can. Green space is at a premium given the physical size and population density of England but it is still surprising to see just how much green is available to wander in.
Holly Hill Nature walk in Southampton is one such place, 35hectares of planted exotic species and retained native woodland with 11 lakes and many rock pools all connected by meandering paths that are all maintained and nurtured lovingly. At one point one of the walks takes you down to a viewing platform that overlooks the tidal reaches of the river Hamble, we counted 15 species of bird feeding in the marshy area. Holly Hill, another part of the green and sceptered Isle.
Indeed Hortense, perhaps I should make supper, extra housework more often. Yes I do make the bed each day and do a portion of the housework, could do more though .Nope aint a tear Horty,but you know I does love the place so . Best I get to the nub of it too, start actually talking about real day to day things of more import than self. Meant to say earlier Horty, did you read in the daily Murdoch about our wonderful federal Labor Government going to spend $45 million on trying to fix the problem of Australian livestock ejecting METHANE into the atmosphere. Does appear Hortense old bean that 12% of the OZ greenhouse gases are the farts of our livestock, so our Gov is going to fix the problem by spending $45mill . Corks anyone? Woohoo, does that make the mind wobble a bit old girl, just how are they going to stop the 12mill head of beef and 24mill sheep from farting? Plus all the koalas/kangaroos/emus/lizards /spiders/snakes/fish/etc etc etc, oh and us too Hortense, I forgot, ladies don't, do they.
Cocolat a night on the town and a show Saturday Hortense, you betcha old girl.
Y'all know that we had Lance Armstrong here riding in a Pro Cycle race we run yearly called the 'Tour Down Under'.You did, and just love bike racing but can't figure it out, but adore those really fit young fellows in lycra jumping up and down on the pedals, you do don't you.
So we here at chez robbi ride bikes around our park most days, I do every day but she has to go to work in order to keep me in the style to which I am accustomed, ie. eating each day, so only rides when there is no work. As befitting a bicycle rider she got all keen to read Lance Armstrong's book 'It's not just about the bike' and duly passed same on to me to read. I got into about 40 pages and to be quite frank thought if I could watch grass grow that might get me going more. Until today.
Off she went at 1430 to earn the daily crust when I spied 'the' book on the kitchen table, what to lose I thought, not much going on here and the drought is so bad even the weeds have stopped growing. I might as well read a few pages and then check that little weed out there to see if it has put on an inch or three.1828 came just as I read the last page,wow, this Lance man is different!
What a great weed he would make, I mean those little buggers even spring up through concrete, Lance is the Texas weed to end all weeds. This fellow is THE survivor and growth specialist is he not? In my job I saw many many Lance's and in their own quiet way lots of recovered cancer patients ,who by the very nature of their recovery beat all odds , going on to lead lives of hope and fulfilment.
Back to Holly Hill.
The very first time that I went to the UK as an adult gave me a tremendous culture shock. One forgets childhood memories and more the pity, relatives and places, they become faint cobwebs of what was and like cobwebs are easily brushed aside. So there we were at Heathrow(1990-1) being met by a charming couple in their early sixties who had been great friends of the family and on hearing we were to be in the UK would not hear of us staying anywhere but in their home. Driving from Heathrow to Putney was then not so bad, traffic wasn't as dense as it is now so there was plenty of time to 'see' bits of London.Also, there were only a few of the ghastly high rise apartment blocks that now dot the landscape as frequently as rabbit poop on a field.The next ten days were a revelation as each day we saw more parks/gardens per square foot than in OZ. The suburb of Putney seemed to have green space everywhere and the house gardens were just bursting with colour. Sure they knock down one large house and build two or even three where there was once one, some public buildings are just plain damn awful monstrosities, but lots of councils seem to really care about how their constituents live and where they live. Here in OZ we went through an awful phase were it became almost a public duty to knock over anything that was more than twenty years old, in the UK there is more pride in retaining as much heritage as they can. Green space is at a premium given the physical size and population density of England but it is still surprising to see just how much green is available to wander in.
Holly Hill Nature walk in Southampton is one such place, 35hectares of planted exotic species and retained native woodland with 11 lakes and many rock pools all connected by meandering paths that are all maintained and nurtured lovingly. At one point one of the walks takes you down to a viewing platform that overlooks the tidal reaches of the river Hamble, we counted 15 species of bird feeding in the marshy area. Holly Hill, another part of the green and sceptered Isle.
Indeed Hortense, perhaps I should make supper, extra housework more often. Yes I do make the bed each day and do a portion of the housework, could do more though .Nope aint a tear Horty,but you know I does love the place so . Best I get to the nub of it too, start actually talking about real day to day things of more import than self. Meant to say earlier Horty, did you read in the daily Murdoch about our wonderful federal Labor Government going to spend $45 million on trying to fix the problem of Australian livestock ejecting METHANE into the atmosphere. Does appear Hortense old bean that 12% of the OZ greenhouse gases are the farts of our livestock, so our Gov is going to fix the problem by spending $45mill . Corks anyone? Woohoo, does that make the mind wobble a bit old girl, just how are they going to stop the 12mill head of beef and 24mill sheep from farting? Plus all the koalas/kangaroos/emus/lizards /spiders/snakes/fish/etc etc etc, oh and us too Hortense, I forgot, ladies don't, do they.
Cocolat a night on the town and a show Saturday Hortense, you betcha old girl.
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