There are pleasures and then there are pleasures. Should that come across as being a little obtuse or even inscrutable isn't really meant to be. At the moment we here in OZ are blessed with the presence of Paris Hilton and her sister,why I am at a loss to know. She was paid $100k by someone to swan about the place and just be, well here. Her first stop was Melbourne where she spent the night swanning and the next day, yes you guessed, swanning about the shops. That folk get some degree of pleasure seeing her here is a given, ergo some dolt paid her all that money to come. I give no reasons for maintaining a degree of animosity towards such creatures as Ms. Hilton and ,it would seem, her equally vacuous sister. There are more pressing and deserving people in this world to concern myself with and if I had $100k to splash about there would be I think more positive things to do with that sort of money than the Misses Hilton's.
Pleasure..... a state of gratification, but there are degrees of. Today for instance we went 100 metres down to the end of our road and there is a remnant of the farm that used to be here on this spot 80 years ago. The last bit of the orchard that was here, a massive old Mulberry tree. Each year about this time,even in a dry year, the tree fruits well and we go pick Mulberries. Normally it goes like this, one for the bucket, three for the robbi. But folks it is pleasure, with a capital P, and that don't stand for Paris. No cost involved, just get into some old clothes and enjoy.
So, as we have established there are some differences as to pleasures. There is the Paris Hilton kind where she can do odd things on video, get into trouble that causes her to be locked up. Then gets heavily into the Bible becomes a sort of saint and a role model for impressionable women . Or , one can go out on a nice day in the park, walk the dogs, go pick Mulberries and gross out on fresh healthy juicy fruit. I only have one thing to say about the latter, it didn't and will never earn me $100k but it sure was fun.
Yes indeed Hortense it was rather fun at that. I got really well covered in Mulberry juice as well, oh indeed you have seen the photo.Would you believe Horty old girl I also got some in my hair, and on my jeans shirt face and arms, grub robbi that I am. I should think about more serious things Hortense, like? Oh the poor Hamas folk Horty, it is a terrible shame isn't it. I mean what have Hamas done to deserve that Hortense. Yes I know , all they do is lob a few hundred rockets into Israel Horty, in a sort of indiscriminate fashion , nothing really serious Horty, all done in the hope they just might knock over a few bits of Israel. Just boyish enthusiasm really Hortense, and then they go put their offices and arms dumps in the Palestinians homes and schools Hortense. Funny about all that really, I mean it isn't actually funny, odd more than hilarious. I often wonder how I would feel as it is I live in South Australia, the neighbouring state is Victoria, if all of a sudden the boys in Victoria started lobbing rockets at me and mine , just because I lived there next to them. I mean Horty old girl, all my pleasures in life come from going down the end of the road and picking a few Mulberries, weird little things like that. Yasser Arafat, he ran that place for a few years didn't he, then he upped and died, Hamas sort of rolled in, took over. They didn't get elected or stuff like that, they just rolled in and killed a few folk and took over, just a bit of boyish good fun. Yasser managed to save a bit of money too , some 2 or 3 billion $'s, frugal sort of fellow no doubt. In all of this we could forget the ones in the middle, the normal folk from Palestine ,the Gaza folk.They must be suffering very badly but perhaps the man who runs Hamas might from his hide-out in Syria will want to send some money for food and the necessities of life rather than new rockets and ammo.There is fault on the Israel side of course,one has to acknowledge that, some terrible right wing hardliners espouse all sorts of foul gibberish. In this world no person or group of are perfect and Israel must have some awful hard cases too because that really nice little man from Iran has vowed to wipe them off the face of the Earth, not my words Hortense , his. Of course Hortense what do I know about all this, in the words of that immortal philosopher Sergeant Schultz " Ooooowww, I know noooothing"
But I do know that it is holiday time and already I have had three servings of Cocolat Gelato this week , time for another when we take Princess Chloe to the airport don'tcha just know it.
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Friday, 19 December 2008
ink marks on a blank page Sat 20th December
Actually no, I'm not going to go through the Saturnalia thing, once is enough as I am sure that the folks who get this far into my blogs are smart enough to remember I have done all that before. This time there is something a lot more pressing and I believe aligned , to what a blog is all about.
We have here in Australia, for a small population, an odd system of government.It is democratic and follows the Westminster system and is based on the English model of governance with a federal government at the top then State and territory based elected parliamentarians and a local system of Councils for the various district suburbs /shires. Basically the Federal Gov. makes the laws which brings in taxes etc to run the place and therefore organises the wars and other calamities, they have a house of Representatives, a house of review, the Senate, the whole shebang is presided over by a Governor General (this time a woman) who has no real power but is the Queen's representative in OZ. State govs.are run in much the same tradition excepting Queensland which has no upper house. There are six states and two territories each with a system of Government. The party in power at the moment federally is the Labour party(left wing) and they are also the party in power in all bar one state(Western Australia). State elections are held mostly every four years ,federally each three.The largest state is New South Wales which is also the oldest ,richest and most corrupt. The Labour party machine in that state has so much power it dumped the serving Premier without having to call an election and installed a puppet Premier who is heavily beholden to the union movement.This state was also hugely in debt even before the global fiscal crisis and is at the moment running on empty. The rest of the states are just about in the same position and although the mining boom made Western Australia very rich it too is close to deficit. The conservative ruling party there has just won office in the last few months so has had little time to do anything positive.The position in the two major manufacturing/population and finance states,NSW and Victoria, is akin to the Chicago era of Mayor Richard Daley, especially in NSW.
Life will go on here as it did in the US under Richard Nixon as it should , then does even in dire times. The people muddle through regardless of how inept or corrupt the Government of the day is.
What has started me off on this rant about government ,especially our federal one, is the fact that in 2009 the Minister in charge of Communications (read internet) is going to move in the house that we in Australia will have a mandatory system of federally placed filters on ALL ISP's in the country.Ostensibly this is to combat 'child porn' but according to EVERY provider and technical person the effect will be to almost shut down peer to peer transfers, social networks(facebook etc) music video downloads, blogs,TV shows and ad infinitum. Of course i do not suggest that filters will block everything, the persons who traffic in child porn can already circumnavigate any blocks people put on them, they wont be affected at all. What it will do is SLOW down 'normal' traffic so that it will be useless trying to download a cd or a movie. If for instance family want to send pics of their little kids in the bath to other members of family, or in the family pool, does that constitute something that a filter will block. Who gets to decide how the filters are set? what parameters will be used to define 'unconscionable' images and or conduct? What about the gamers who use the net, games that have rape,car chases /crashes/ death by machine gun or any death that is used gratiously in a video game, to set up a score, will these be filtered?
I have just watched a 2006 version of 'Anne of Greengables' on dvd with my two young g/daughters. This was a heartfelt and warm film but did have scenes in it which might cross the boundaries of a filter. Perhaps it should have been filtered as there were several scenes( also some of child exploitation) that had me misty eyed and caused a catch in my throat. I am against any behaviour that occurs where someone who is not , by the level of intelligence,age or social ability, able to make his/hers mind up on a situation that is presented to them as a fait accompli ,familial, threat or for financial reward asked to perform / take part in or watch an act.
That is MY filter and one that I will defend with all I can to uphold.(Shades of Dreyfuss)
Wow Hortense all that is a trifle heady ,dontcha just know.you agree, goodness are we aligning our planets Horty old girl? Of course you can say something, you would like to say that the labour party federally is bit hypocritical. Why is that Hortense do you think.Oh, because in the State Labour Government of New South Wales they have had one Minister go to jail for possessing and dealing in child porn in 2008?Another one for dealing corruptly with kids, whilst in the Federal labour party they had an MP who was investigated by Police for abusing her position and causing a nuisance whilst drunk in a public place.All this in 2008 Hortense whilst the holier than thou Minister was preparing to stop you and I from doing things on facebook, tut tut Horty. Well if it wasn't all about on the public record and actually in the courts I would never believe it old girl, even down to that bit where the Australian Labour Prime Minister , saying to the world in general about President Bush telling him over the phone he didn't know what day of the week it was. Funny isn't it as well Hortense, our Prime Minister used Facebook in all manner of ways to get himself elected, even down to calling the then Prime Minister a dill, well yes not just like that,we all knew what he meant though.Heck, almost forgot about the ex-labour Senator who has been sending lots of monies into Swiss bank accounts and had an investment burn down where he and other collected 15 times the value of the property through insurance. Tut Tut, but it is all in the court system Hortense.
Sunday tomorrow, gelato at Cocolat !! yea har....
We have here in Australia, for a small population, an odd system of government.It is democratic and follows the Westminster system and is based on the English model of governance with a federal government at the top then State and territory based elected parliamentarians and a local system of Councils for the various district suburbs /shires. Basically the Federal Gov. makes the laws which brings in taxes etc to run the place and therefore organises the wars and other calamities, they have a house of Representatives, a house of review, the Senate, the whole shebang is presided over by a Governor General (this time a woman) who has no real power but is the Queen's representative in OZ. State govs.are run in much the same tradition excepting Queensland which has no upper house. There are six states and two territories each with a system of Government. The party in power at the moment federally is the Labour party(left wing) and they are also the party in power in all bar one state(Western Australia). State elections are held mostly every four years ,federally each three.The largest state is New South Wales which is also the oldest ,richest and most corrupt. The Labour party machine in that state has so much power it dumped the serving Premier without having to call an election and installed a puppet Premier who is heavily beholden to the union movement.This state was also hugely in debt even before the global fiscal crisis and is at the moment running on empty. The rest of the states are just about in the same position and although the mining boom made Western Australia very rich it too is close to deficit. The conservative ruling party there has just won office in the last few months so has had little time to do anything positive.The position in the two major manufacturing/population and finance states,NSW and Victoria, is akin to the Chicago era of Mayor Richard Daley, especially in NSW.
Life will go on here as it did in the US under Richard Nixon as it should , then does even in dire times. The people muddle through regardless of how inept or corrupt the Government of the day is.
What has started me off on this rant about government ,especially our federal one, is the fact that in 2009 the Minister in charge of Communications (read internet) is going to move in the house that we in Australia will have a mandatory system of federally placed filters on ALL ISP's in the country.Ostensibly this is to combat 'child porn' but according to EVERY provider and technical person the effect will be to almost shut down peer to peer transfers, social networks(facebook etc) music video downloads, blogs,TV shows and ad infinitum. Of course i do not suggest that filters will block everything, the persons who traffic in child porn can already circumnavigate any blocks people put on them, they wont be affected at all. What it will do is SLOW down 'normal' traffic so that it will be useless trying to download a cd or a movie. If for instance family want to send pics of their little kids in the bath to other members of family, or in the family pool, does that constitute something that a filter will block. Who gets to decide how the filters are set? what parameters will be used to define 'unconscionable' images and or conduct? What about the gamers who use the net, games that have rape,car chases /crashes/ death by machine gun or any death that is used gratiously in a video game, to set up a score, will these be filtered?
I have just watched a 2006 version of 'Anne of Greengables' on dvd with my two young g/daughters. This was a heartfelt and warm film but did have scenes in it which might cross the boundaries of a filter. Perhaps it should have been filtered as there were several scenes( also some of child exploitation) that had me misty eyed and caused a catch in my throat. I am against any behaviour that occurs where someone who is not , by the level of intelligence,age or social ability, able to make his/hers mind up on a situation that is presented to them as a fait accompli ,familial, threat or for financial reward asked to perform / take part in or watch an act.
That is MY filter and one that I will defend with all I can to uphold.(Shades of Dreyfuss)
Wow Hortense all that is a trifle heady ,dontcha just know.you agree, goodness are we aligning our planets Horty old girl? Of course you can say something, you would like to say that the labour party federally is bit hypocritical. Why is that Hortense do you think.Oh, because in the State Labour Government of New South Wales they have had one Minister go to jail for possessing and dealing in child porn in 2008?Another one for dealing corruptly with kids, whilst in the Federal labour party they had an MP who was investigated by Police for abusing her position and causing a nuisance whilst drunk in a public place.All this in 2008 Hortense whilst the holier than thou Minister was preparing to stop you and I from doing things on facebook, tut tut Horty. Well if it wasn't all about on the public record and actually in the courts I would never believe it old girl, even down to that bit where the Australian Labour Prime Minister , saying to the world in general about President Bush telling him over the phone he didn't know what day of the week it was. Funny isn't it as well Hortense, our Prime Minister used Facebook in all manner of ways to get himself elected, even down to calling the then Prime Minister a dill, well yes not just like that,we all knew what he meant though.Heck, almost forgot about the ex-labour Senator who has been sending lots of monies into Swiss bank accounts and had an investment burn down where he and other collected 15 times the value of the property through insurance. Tut Tut, but it is all in the court system Hortense.
Sunday tomorrow, gelato at Cocolat !! yea har....
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
ink marks on a blank page Wednesday Dec 17th
The name comes from the Middle English Wednes dei, which is from Old English language Wēdnes dæg, meaning the day of the English god Woden (Wodan) who was a god of the Anglo-Saxons in England until about the 7th century. Wēdnes dæg is like the Old Norse Oðinsdagr ("Odin's day"), which is an early translation of the Latin dies Mercurii ("Mercury's day"), and reflects the widespread association of Woden with Mercury going back to Tacitus.
That is a quote from Wiki although I knew that anyway being the clever dick that I am. One of the things that I revere in my life is a set of books that my Father owned. They are a little dated now of course as he died in 1942 but I still read them each and every one at least once a year. These books are amongst some of the first that I ever learned to read,as befits the times when they were published (early 1930's) the print was large ,readable, plus even for scholarly tomes they were simplistic in language. In the main,there are six, they were historical but dealt with myth ,legend and ancient stories of the gods of Egypt,Babylon,the Celts and of course Norse heroes . The picture I am posting of Ishtar is one of my very favourites,as a young boy of six I fantasied about seeing the picture in its reality. The painter was Ernest Wallcousins who was an illustrator of historical books but the painting itself I was never able to see although on subsequent trips to London I have seen several works of his but never that particular one. The cynics amongst some of you that may read this will of course come to the most obvious reason why I used to glorm over this plate, yes she is naked, yes I was attracted to the fact she was naked but also I loved the metaphor within this picture. At the time I did not understand what it was that drew me to it but I had a very fortunate upbringing in that my Grandfather, who we lived with, was a very intelligent man who took the time to explain to a young boy just what it was he should see in this painting.
When he saw how interested I became in trying to learn he drew a large copy of the picture then marked off sections to explain just what the story (narrative) in the visual related to the actual script on the page. His enthusiasm was so infectious as even I could see at such a young age (eight) that a small colour plate could contain points of a story that took a whole chapter to tell the reader in words. I loved being ABLE to read,followed the comic strips in the Sunday papers avidly to the point that 58 years down the track I am still reading the Phantom each day. The importance of the so-called comic strips in teaching people to read metaphor cannot be over emphasised enough which is just one small reason why the popularity of the Japanese cult Manga comics has grown exponentially into a phenomena worldwide where the market in the US alone was over $500mill in 2007. In OZ as with countries all over the world we are faced with the growth of texting as a form of communication.
Some learned folk within the communication world,educators who have communication doctorates, are telling us dinosaurs that text type spelling is okay and should in fact be encouraged as it is a form of evolved English. Well that it might be that ur is a form of you are, gr8 also a form of great. I would argue that yes, it is a subliminal form of the 'proper' useage but is also a dead end for to know that gr8 means great then you first have to understand just what the word great in the whole form means. So to say that the txt gr8 will become the standard eventually for great is just pandering to the users of text(txt) is also a grave disservice to education . Understanding of how metaphor shapes our life go read some good works on Shakespeare and how he shaped(created) words to create then complete the meaning of what he was trying to convey within his spoken word,the sub text in other words, for many of the folk who witnessed his plays could not read. Gr8,Txt all the other so called txt words are in themselves metaphors for to use them it is imperative that the user knows what the whole word means. The simple word great has many meanings ,the semiotic explanation of such a small word can run into pages which can become meaningless .
Yes Hortense I did get a little carried away.Yes it might have been boring,and no I cannot apologise for that as it is just one of the subjects I do like to get my teeth into. Hortense do you really mean that, I should just stick to stuff I know nothing about?, at least that might be entertaining you think. Perhaps we should talk at great length about that fellow in New York who ripped everyone off to the tune of billions.wasn't that all about trust Horty, all those folk who lost money actually trusted him, the securities people TRUSTED him.Trust is wonderful isn't it Hortense. Who do you trust Horty? I know you don't trust me 'cos I pushed you in the mud that time when I said I wouldn't, but we are still great friends are we not, we are but you still don't trust me.Well Hortense that is the way of it isn't it, you live and learn just what to put your trust in, but you do know I wouldn't push you in the mud again don't you.That isn't just because you walloped me with your handbag after and I'm scared of you, well perhaps. A good walloping might just do some folk a lot of good then Hortense. What about gelato tomorrow my lovely friend
That is a quote from Wiki although I knew that anyway being the clever dick that I am. One of the things that I revere in my life is a set of books that my Father owned. They are a little dated now of course as he died in 1942 but I still read them each and every one at least once a year. These books are amongst some of the first that I ever learned to read,as befits the times when they were published (early 1930's) the print was large ,readable, plus even for scholarly tomes they were simplistic in language. In the main,there are six, they were historical but dealt with myth ,legend and ancient stories of the gods of Egypt,Babylon,the Celts and of course Norse heroes . The picture I am posting of Ishtar is one of my very favourites,as a young boy of six I fantasied about seeing the picture in its reality. The painter was Ernest Wallcousins who was an illustrator of historical books but the painting itself I was never able to see although on subsequent trips to London I have seen several works of his but never that particular one. The cynics amongst some of you that may read this will of course come to the most obvious reason why I used to glorm over this plate, yes she is naked, yes I was attracted to the fact she was naked but also I loved the metaphor within this picture. At the time I did not understand what it was that drew me to it but I had a very fortunate upbringing in that my Grandfather, who we lived with, was a very intelligent man who took the time to explain to a young boy just what it was he should see in this painting.
When he saw how interested I became in trying to learn he drew a large copy of the picture then marked off sections to explain just what the story (narrative) in the visual related to the actual script on the page. His enthusiasm was so infectious as even I could see at such a young age (eight) that a small colour plate could contain points of a story that took a whole chapter to tell the reader in words. I loved being ABLE to read,followed the comic strips in the Sunday papers avidly to the point that 58 years down the track I am still reading the Phantom each day. The importance of the so-called comic strips in teaching people to read metaphor cannot be over emphasised enough which is just one small reason why the popularity of the Japanese cult Manga comics has grown exponentially into a phenomena worldwide where the market in the US alone was over $500mill in 2007. In OZ as with countries all over the world we are faced with the growth of texting as a form of communication.
Some learned folk within the communication world,educators who have communication doctorates, are telling us dinosaurs that text type spelling is okay and should in fact be encouraged as it is a form of evolved English. Well that it might be that ur is a form of you are, gr8 also a form of great. I would argue that yes, it is a subliminal form of the 'proper' useage but is also a dead end for to know that gr8 means great then you first have to understand just what the word great in the whole form means. So to say that the txt gr8 will become the standard eventually for great is just pandering to the users of text(txt) is also a grave disservice to education . Understanding of how metaphor shapes our life go read some good works on Shakespeare and how he shaped(created) words to create then complete the meaning of what he was trying to convey within his spoken word,the sub text in other words, for many of the folk who witnessed his plays could not read. Gr8,Txt all the other so called txt words are in themselves metaphors for to use them it is imperative that the user knows what the whole word means. The simple word great has many meanings ,the semiotic explanation of such a small word can run into pages which can become meaningless .
Yes Hortense I did get a little carried away.Yes it might have been boring,and no I cannot apologise for that as it is just one of the subjects I do like to get my teeth into. Hortense do you really mean that, I should just stick to stuff I know nothing about?, at least that might be entertaining you think. Perhaps we should talk at great length about that fellow in New York who ripped everyone off to the tune of billions.wasn't that all about trust Horty, all those folk who lost money actually trusted him, the securities people TRUSTED him.Trust is wonderful isn't it Hortense. Who do you trust Horty? I know you don't trust me 'cos I pushed you in the mud that time when I said I wouldn't, but we are still great friends are we not, we are but you still don't trust me.Well Hortense that is the way of it isn't it, you live and learn just what to put your trust in, but you do know I wouldn't push you in the mud again don't you.That isn't just because you walloped me with your handbag after and I'm scared of you, well perhaps. A good walloping might just do some folk a lot of good then Hortense. What about gelato tomorrow my lovely friend
Friday, 12 December 2008
ink marks on a blank page Sat Dec 13th
Saturday rolls from the tongue easier than, dies Saturni ("Saturn's Day"), or even as wiki will have us know from the Old English as Sæternesdæg. Imagine saying that after a few hearty ones on a fast Sæternesdæg's night. Not that I do these days, have hearty ones, I mean. Which is a good thing really as I cannot even say it in the fullness of my sobriety. That sort of reels in my grump for the week, hard drinking or as the pollies will call it 'binge drinking'. As a young chap in the fullness of my 'nothing can harm me mode' I was prone to the imbibing of far to much alcohol in a single sitting than was good for me or anyone else. That I eventually saw the error of my ways and now do not partake at all is one of the very best things I have ever done, not just for me, but those closest and dearest to me. If the individual can handle drinking and not have drink handle them, that's fine go right ahead,I'll even step up to the bar and buy you some. Once anyone starts to drink just for the sake of getting out of control, then STOP. End of the don't overdo it lecture, just enjoy yourselves this season.
What I did want to babble on about is the lizard that lives under the flat rock in my front garden. This is a large lizard (Blue tongue) that is native to this area and normally you will see one or two of these in just about every garden. Blue tongues are lovely things and live under rocks and logs in the garden and forage for snails and insects . At home here we are blessed with the one you see pictured (Stumpy) and also one out in the back garden that lives in our garden shed. Stumpy has been here for some years as before this house was built 7+ years ago we owned another house on this block for many years and there was always a blue tongue living under a small shrub, so I guess it is the same lizard as they are quite territorial and prefer the same locale. We hadn't ever lived here before building this place but had seen the lizard whilst visiting.
We call her Stumpy as one day at breakfast I looked out of the window and saw her dragging past sans the best part of her tail.She managed to struggle under her rock to I thought, perhaps die, so rather than just let her pass away we decided to see if she would take food and in doing so she might 'rest and recuperate'. The lizard man at our museum told me that they loved eating strawberries and grapes so I got some grapes and put them in front of her little cave. Wonder of wonders the grapes started to go and one Sunday morn we saw her eating one. That was four years ago and she has had a litter of young each year.This last year though I have been worried about her as she has taken to living in a drain pipe that opens onto the road and several times I have had to fetch her off the road and put her back under her normal rock.I get worried that we might come out to get the letters one am and find that some loony has squashed her . Today she crept out and was sunning herself so I decided to feed her some strawberries and then a few grapes, to my surprise she took the grapes from my fingers and then gobbled up the strawberries before returning to her cave. She looked a little fat around the midriff area so hopefully she will have another litter, this is normally the month they give birth.They are reptiles but birth live young.
Yes I know Hortense, a little mawkish and sentimental but I am a Pisces and we are like that.
That was one time when I did know just what I was talking about Horty, you are right, but I cannot take full credit in the knowing,.That lovely reptile man at the museum told me what to feed it and also that the tail would never grow back to a point, would always be a stump.
I should get back to muttering about things I know ought about, a lot less vomit making and mushy? Well what about this then Hortense, talk about things that live under flat rocks. What about that Mugabe bloke eh? just what rock does he crawl out from under. No Cholera in Zimbabwe ! gee , I really don't know if he actually lives in the real world that chap, and ugh, his name is Robert for goodness sake. Best I get into something else Horty, I can't talk about Sunday gelato now can I? not after all those news pics of the poor little buggers over there.
What I did want to babble on about is the lizard that lives under the flat rock in my front garden. This is a large lizard (Blue tongue) that is native to this area and normally you will see one or two of these in just about every garden. Blue tongues are lovely things and live under rocks and logs in the garden and forage for snails and insects . At home here we are blessed with the one you see pictured (Stumpy) and also one out in the back garden that lives in our garden shed. Stumpy has been here for some years as before this house was built 7+ years ago we owned another house on this block for many years and there was always a blue tongue living under a small shrub, so I guess it is the same lizard as they are quite territorial and prefer the same locale. We hadn't ever lived here before building this place but had seen the lizard whilst visiting.
We call her Stumpy as one day at breakfast I looked out of the window and saw her dragging past sans the best part of her tail.She managed to struggle under her rock to I thought, perhaps die, so rather than just let her pass away we decided to see if she would take food and in doing so she might 'rest and recuperate'. The lizard man at our museum told me that they loved eating strawberries and grapes so I got some grapes and put them in front of her little cave. Wonder of wonders the grapes started to go and one Sunday morn we saw her eating one. That was four years ago and she has had a litter of young each year.This last year though I have been worried about her as she has taken to living in a drain pipe that opens onto the road and several times I have had to fetch her off the road and put her back under her normal rock.I get worried that we might come out to get the letters one am and find that some loony has squashed her . Today she crept out and was sunning herself so I decided to feed her some strawberries and then a few grapes, to my surprise she took the grapes from my fingers and then gobbled up the strawberries before returning to her cave. She looked a little fat around the midriff area so hopefully she will have another litter, this is normally the month they give birth.They are reptiles but birth live young.
Yes I know Hortense, a little mawkish and sentimental but I am a Pisces and we are like that.
That was one time when I did know just what I was talking about Horty, you are right, but I cannot take full credit in the knowing,.That lovely reptile man at the museum told me what to feed it and also that the tail would never grow back to a point, would always be a stump.
I should get back to muttering about things I know ought about, a lot less vomit making and mushy? Well what about this then Hortense, talk about things that live under flat rocks. What about that Mugabe bloke eh? just what rock does he crawl out from under. No Cholera in Zimbabwe ! gee , I really don't know if he actually lives in the real world that chap, and ugh, his name is Robert for goodness sake. Best I get into something else Horty, I can't talk about Sunday gelato now can I? not after all those news pics of the poor little buggers over there.
Friday, 5 December 2008
ink marks on a blank page Sat December 6th.
There is a chorus of voices saying"is it really the 6th of?" 'fraid so kiddies, and I hope you have all been extra good this year 'cos you know just what will happen don't you? The big bad world wide recession is coming to a country near you ,that's what, so if the folks you elected last time haven't done their job right...you had better watch out, no pressies for you lot! All this time you thought it was the bankers and politicians who had made the mistakes that got us in this mess when it was REALLY YOUR fault for electing the pollies who made the regulations so slack that allowed all this to happen, so there!! see it was YOU the voter, such naughty people.
Sometimes i don't know why I say stuff like that, perhaps there is a curly bit in my mind that stores rubbish and at a completely inappropriate time says,righto cretin, write me down real quick without even thinking. Make a complete ass of yourself , I'll deny everything so what, wasn't me, dolly did it. So I do, what do I know about the world anyway.
But what I do know is this: There is a large window in front of the robbi breakfast table, if you are really good and have elected the right one this time I shall take some pictures one day and show y'all the super view there is from my chair.
What happens on a regular basis is this ; we have these native birds in the garden (Manorina melanocephala ) noisy miner to you, and they have a nasty habit of attacking the other native birds who used to fly in and sup from the flowering plants. They also like to gang up on a sweet little bird who fossicks around on the ground like a mad thing. This little bird is an introduced species (Turdus merula) the common English blackbird and is an inoffensive sweet thing with a lovely song.
The noisy miners have learnt, and very quickly too, that if they see a blackbird in the front garden they can call two or three of their bretheren and make the blackbird fly up in panic. Then by careful sheperding can drive said bird at full speed into the large clear window where it will usually hit same so hard it breaks its neck. One such happening occured just as I drove up from a visit to the shops,the result is pictured. Okay I hear you say, David Attenborough has done that, we saw it on the discovery channel last week. Yes I can quote you on that,but how did the birds learn that, do they watch David too? What my question for the week is kiddies, how is this so. This house has only been here for 7 years, the noisy miners only moved in en masse about two years ago and I never saw them practising rounding up other species etc, and as they only do it to blackbirds what is happening here. Does Alfred Hitchcock's movie 'the birds' have star billing at the noisy miner's roost of a night, or are these the Einstein's of the avian world.
Is that scary or is it not Hortense? and why do I talk about stuff that I know diddly about? 'cos i can Hortense, nope ,read my lips Horty do I care?
Cogitate on this Hortense old fruit, when those gunmen stormed into Mumbai the other day shooting up the train station and a hundred or so innocent civilians,an academic from a Uni here was on TV saying one of the reasons they do stuff like that is because they are POOR and have no money or jobs so should be helped and understood, not shot at. Now then Hortense what I want to know is just how poor are they when a round for an AK47 costs a minimum of 28centsAUD even if you load 'em yourself,a rocket propelled grenade costs $1200 each and stun grenades cost around $340AUD a time. I know this stuff as it is I am a nosy basket so made it my business to find out. Don't even mention the training costs and rubber duckies ,fuel etc and ammo they used in training not to even talk about the mobile phones and comm gear they had.Well that is true Hortense, what the heck would I know, best I stick to knowing what day it is tomorrow,yea Sunday of course and the OZ dollar being what it is we should go spend our last few on some Gelato,a plan?
Sometimes i don't know why I say stuff like that, perhaps there is a curly bit in my mind that stores rubbish and at a completely inappropriate time says,righto cretin, write me down real quick without even thinking. Make a complete ass of yourself , I'll deny everything so what, wasn't me, dolly did it. So I do, what do I know about the world anyway.
But what I do know is this: There is a large window in front of the robbi breakfast table, if you are really good and have elected the right one this time I shall take some pictures one day and show y'all the super view there is from my chair.
What happens on a regular basis is this ; we have these native birds in the garden (Manorina melanocephala ) noisy miner to you, and they have a nasty habit of attacking the other native birds who used to fly in and sup from the flowering plants. They also like to gang up on a sweet little bird who fossicks around on the ground like a mad thing. This little bird is an introduced species (Turdus merula) the common English blackbird and is an inoffensive sweet thing with a lovely song.
The noisy miners have learnt, and very quickly too, that if they see a blackbird in the front garden they can call two or three of their bretheren and make the blackbird fly up in panic. Then by careful sheperding can drive said bird at full speed into the large clear window where it will usually hit same so hard it breaks its neck. One such happening occured just as I drove up from a visit to the shops,the result is pictured. Okay I hear you say, David Attenborough has done that, we saw it on the discovery channel last week. Yes I can quote you on that,but how did the birds learn that, do they watch David too? What my question for the week is kiddies, how is this so. This house has only been here for 7 years, the noisy miners only moved in en masse about two years ago and I never saw them practising rounding up other species etc, and as they only do it to blackbirds what is happening here. Does Alfred Hitchcock's movie 'the birds' have star billing at the noisy miner's roost of a night, or are these the Einstein's of the avian world.
Is that scary or is it not Hortense? and why do I talk about stuff that I know diddly about? 'cos i can Hortense, nope ,read my lips Horty do I care?
Cogitate on this Hortense old fruit, when those gunmen stormed into Mumbai the other day shooting up the train station and a hundred or so innocent civilians,an academic from a Uni here was on TV saying one of the reasons they do stuff like that is because they are POOR and have no money or jobs so should be helped and understood, not shot at. Now then Hortense what I want to know is just how poor are they when a round for an AK47 costs a minimum of 28centsAUD even if you load 'em yourself,a rocket propelled grenade costs $1200 each and stun grenades cost around $340AUD a time. I know this stuff as it is I am a nosy basket so made it my business to find out. Don't even mention the training costs and rubber duckies ,fuel etc and ammo they used in training not to even talk about the mobile phones and comm gear they had.Well that is true Hortense, what the heck would I know, best I stick to knowing what day it is tomorrow,yea Sunday of course and the OZ dollar being what it is we should go spend our last few on some Gelato,a plan?
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Ink marks on a blank page Friday Nov 28th
Much ado about very little methinks.What am I talking about? why the critics response to the film Australia actually. Now I would say that wouldn't I? as an Australian it is my duty to champion what is of this country and who is of the country. The pure fact of the matter, and from one who has actually seen the movie, the critics both here and abroad have missed the point entirely. yes the film is long, no there aren't any deep and meaningful metaphors to ponder over that answer all of life's questions, there are metaphors a plenty but none that are full of unintelligible gabble that film critiques generally consist of. I can speak with some authority on this, unlike my usual protestations , as in doing my last degree I also took a year of film studies.
That doesn't give me carte blanche and sweeping powers of deconstruction I know, but what it does give is a little understanding about how film might work.As a 21st century film 'Australia' does have shortcomings, but as a film that highlights a place ( the Northern Territory) and society of the times in which it's set, the film and the direction does that admirably. My maternal grandfather was the controller of wharves and railways (in Darwin)during this period in history so I have first hand knowledge of just what it was like to be there and the cattle country in that era. For myself I also know just what it was like to be a drover, muster/drive cattle and sheep long distances, as I did just that in the 1950's. Australia at that time(1950's) was still very much a frontier country way up in the bush so what it must have been like in the 40's was more of the same only harder.The film captures that spirit and hardship so well I relived most of the worst times,and there were plenty, the best times(some) and all of the hardships. Like the time we took 5thousand head of sheep to a rail head, only arrived with three thousand and I had a horse die under me . The year it rained after 7 years of no rain at all, was March 14Th 3 days after my 14Th birthday. The first night out mustering I was told to get into my 'swag'(sleeping gear of canvas) early because I was the horse tailer. You might well ponder as I did what that was. The horses are unsaddled after work and let loose but one horse has hobbles and a bell so that it cannot wander far. The horse tailer takes out a bridle at about 4am and listens for the bell, finds the horse then catches it, bridles up and rides bareback around in the dark looking for the un-hobbled horses. When you find the 'mob' and on a big muster there could be fifty you round them up and drive them back to camp.
Australia the film, captures most of the hardships of this life and also the absolute grandeur of the country, so for just that it gets my 100% tick of approval for I know about these things. What I don't know about is kissing Nicole Kidman so on that I cannot speak with any authority. I once acted in a film produced by Twentieth Century Fox so the very sight of those searchlights and that opening music makes me edgy with anticipation. The film was 'Kangaroo' and there are scenes in 'Australia' that are reminiscent of 'my' movie as well so once again I was on similar territory. One of the problems of Australian society is just how parochial they once and possibly still are, conditions in OZ didn't change much for years and what was fashion in clothes/furniture etc(in the late 40's) was still fashion almost up to the 70's. In a previous blog there was mention of the 'laconic' OZ bush manner, and the main male character gets to express that quite often also with the dry sense of humour which is part and parcel of Australia.
This then is a BIG movie,not Werner Fassbinder or even Cohen Bros, but a great look and a good rollicking yarn full of real characters, and the young kid who plays Nulla, a star in the making. If you are searching for metaphor and meaning it is there, in huge dollops because what this film is all about stares you right in the face. The message is there all across the screen. 'AUSTRALIA', the narrative of this film is just that, the country and the land itself. Go see it, if you don't enjoy then come here, look for yourself, and you will see just what the critics missed.
No Hortense I didn't get billing on the credits although everyone else did, and yes I did cry, four separate times. Yes I know I shouted out when I recognised that lady I had met last year. A bit gauche Hortense, I did cringe too but possibly not as much as the Citibank exec who was trying to explain why Citibank were spending lots of that money nice Congress gave them buying up bad debts . They were really bad debts too Horty, and you want to know what is so funny? These were debts that Citibank created in the first place then on-sold to bankers all 'round the world so that eventually it all turned toxic and created the fiscal mess we are now in. Yes Hortense I do know that when all the dust settles Citibank will make oodles of money out of these debts, but first they have to lay off lots of workers over Christmas . Why is that? what would I know Hortense, I do know that Gelato is cheaper today than it will be tomorrow, let's go!!
That doesn't give me carte blanche and sweeping powers of deconstruction I know, but what it does give is a little understanding about how film might work.As a 21st century film 'Australia' does have shortcomings, but as a film that highlights a place ( the Northern Territory) and society of the times in which it's set, the film and the direction does that admirably. My maternal grandfather was the controller of wharves and railways (in Darwin)during this period in history so I have first hand knowledge of just what it was like to be there and the cattle country in that era. For myself I also know just what it was like to be a drover, muster/drive cattle and sheep long distances, as I did just that in the 1950's. Australia at that time(1950's) was still very much a frontier country way up in the bush so what it must have been like in the 40's was more of the same only harder.The film captures that spirit and hardship so well I relived most of the worst times,and there were plenty, the best times(some) and all of the hardships. Like the time we took 5thousand head of sheep to a rail head, only arrived with three thousand and I had a horse die under me . The year it rained after 7 years of no rain at all, was March 14Th 3 days after my 14Th birthday. The first night out mustering I was told to get into my 'swag'(sleeping gear of canvas) early because I was the horse tailer. You might well ponder as I did what that was. The horses are unsaddled after work and let loose but one horse has hobbles and a bell so that it cannot wander far. The horse tailer takes out a bridle at about 4am and listens for the bell, finds the horse then catches it, bridles up and rides bareback around in the dark looking for the un-hobbled horses. When you find the 'mob' and on a big muster there could be fifty you round them up and drive them back to camp.
Australia the film, captures most of the hardships of this life and also the absolute grandeur of the country, so for just that it gets my 100% tick of approval for I know about these things. What I don't know about is kissing Nicole Kidman so on that I cannot speak with any authority. I once acted in a film produced by Twentieth Century Fox so the very sight of those searchlights and that opening music makes me edgy with anticipation. The film was 'Kangaroo' and there are scenes in 'Australia' that are reminiscent of 'my' movie as well so once again I was on similar territory. One of the problems of Australian society is just how parochial they once and possibly still are, conditions in OZ didn't change much for years and what was fashion in clothes/furniture etc(in the late 40's) was still fashion almost up to the 70's. In a previous blog there was mention of the 'laconic' OZ bush manner, and the main male character gets to express that quite often also with the dry sense of humour which is part and parcel of Australia.
This then is a BIG movie,not Werner Fassbinder or even Cohen Bros, but a great look and a good rollicking yarn full of real characters, and the young kid who plays Nulla, a star in the making. If you are searching for metaphor and meaning it is there, in huge dollops because what this film is all about stares you right in the face. The message is there all across the screen. 'AUSTRALIA', the narrative of this film is just that, the country and the land itself. Go see it, if you don't enjoy then come here, look for yourself, and you will see just what the critics missed.
No Hortense I didn't get billing on the credits although everyone else did, and yes I did cry, four separate times. Yes I know I shouted out when I recognised that lady I had met last year. A bit gauche Hortense, I did cringe too but possibly not as much as the Citibank exec who was trying to explain why Citibank were spending lots of that money nice Congress gave them buying up bad debts . They were really bad debts too Horty, and you want to know what is so funny? These were debts that Citibank created in the first place then on-sold to bankers all 'round the world so that eventually it all turned toxic and created the fiscal mess we are now in. Yes Hortense I do know that when all the dust settles Citibank will make oodles of money out of these debts, but first they have to lay off lots of workers over Christmas . Why is that? what would I know Hortense, I do know that Gelato is cheaper today than it will be tomorrow, let's go!!
Saturday, 22 November 2008
ink marks on a blank page Sun Nov 23rd
I am by nature, and perhaps now that I no longer work in the real world a somewhat solitary person.Not to say by the word solitary that I do not like my fellow humans, I do, but years of working odd hours and being at the beck and call of the telephone cut many of my acquaintances loose so to speak. Folk seem not to want to bother with a person if one is not around or sleeping when they wish to be sociable. Then of course was the period in my early 40's when we lived on a farm and that cut us adrift even more so. Farms being of a necessity to be well away from so called 'normal' civilisation. Then during that time I went back to University to do a degree, in the process of that I mixed with humans who were very much younger than I was so tended not to make friends as one could hardly bring someone home who was only afew years older than my son.
Australian rural society is much like rural human gatherings all over the world, the folk who have been born and brought up in that community have an initial distrust of the interlopers and tend to not accept them until they have 'proved ' themselves worthy and then remain in that community for a good settling in period. In the town that I dragged my family to, the normal settling in period before the family finished being called 'blow-ins' was about twenty five years.
Our case was somewhat different as my wife is in the medical field so was quickly snapped up by the local hospital, when I say local, it was in another town about 25kms away which in Australia is really on the doorstep so she became a native almost immediately. For me, being accepted took a little longer as I still had this weird job that no one local could understand and of course I was studying at Uni. At this time in OZ farming types had a great distrust of 'them what went to Universities' after all what couldn't you learn about life by sticking your arm up a cows back passage.The eldest (son) joined the local football/cricket team so he seemed destined to become a local even quicker than his mother and the youngest(girl) was ensconced in the local primary school so she also was a part of the local community. What to do about father, me , robbi. About two to three years after arriving several curious and I believe completely Australian character traits rescued me from oblivion as a person in my own right and not the husband of and or the father of.
Firstly, the local 'pillars of ' owned a very large farm and dairy, then used to deliver their milk in bulk to the surrounding farms. Because I was home during the day a lot I became quite friendly with this terrific fellow who used to be our 'milko'. Now this is where it gets into the OZ country character.As you well know I can talk the leg off a chair but owing to the fact that when he was in my kitchen yarning and drinking coffee I had either been at work half the night or had just got out of bed so was very tired and thus spoke in very short but succinct sentences. We soon became firm buddies and I looked forward to the delivery of milk as much as he looked to the coffee and yarn at my place. One of the character traits in country and rural Australia is that the archetypal OZ male is supposed to be tall,rake thin and laconic to the point of being monosyllabic. I am neither tall or rake thin but because of lack of sleep etc I was a trifle laconic and spoke little but by the standards of the conversation, with great pith. Naturally as he was a milkman he went into many kitchens around the district so spread the word that robbi was 'okay', ergo it wasn't long (about 2years) before I got a little nod with the index finger crooked to the forehead as I went about my business in the town. Three years down the track and the local post office couple started calling me rob and handing me the letters personally so I knew that I was on the way to becoming a local.
The second and most major thing that catapulted me into being part of the local scene came about purely by chance and no it wasn't the time I almost burnt down my hay shed and the local volunteer firemen had to rescue me. My son had arranged to go fox hunting, the skins were valuable and they are regarded here as vermin, but on the night in question when his friend drove in to pick him up he was ill with the flu. This lad was about 18 and tall ,rake thin,laconic etc etc but for some reason turned to me and asked" You ever shot foxes Mr S?" "why don't you go with me" I thought it might be perhaps a test of the family honour so said I would but could I take my own rifle.Their farm was about thirty minutes away through very forested hilly dirt roads and this kid drove like an absolute madman so through the whole journey I just kept my mouth firmly shut in a very silent scream. We drove around the paddocks for what seemed hours and not one fox did we see when he tuned and said, "we should go back I don't think there is any about tonight"By this time I had regained my composure and voice so I agreed but said I would just shine the spotlight over to the left along that bare hill.Fantastic, a very large very healthy fox but really so far up the hill when he turned and sat all we could see were the two coals of its eyes.
"Oh hell" the kid said," he's miles away and normally what we do is shoot so the bullet just goes in between the ears so it doesn't mark the pelt,get more for it that way".me under my breath, Oh YEAH ?"Right between the ears you say" was my reply. Lined up the shot and squeezed the trigger,boom, and foxie loxie went down.
Yes Hortense you are right, the kid ran up the hill and ten minutes later came back with said beast dead as, right between the ears. He never said diddley except a laconic ,"well we best be getting you home, it's late and I think he's the only one out tonight". On the way back Horty he drove ever so slow and careful but not one word about foxy or really anything at all.
Two days later Hortense I went into the town for letters and everyone in the district seemed to be there, the couple in the post office even put a rubber band around my letters, an unheard of courtesy for a newcomer and the garage man actually came out to wipe my windscreen. My boy came home from school and spoke to me for more than two seconds and my little girl caught us all by surprise at dinner with"daddy did well at fox hunting , didn't he"
What is my point Hortense? well I guess Americans are a lot like Australians old girl and that is just how it is going to be for that nice man come the 20th of , best he savour the moment as I did .
Yes I know, it is Sunday the day is blue skies , gelato is there for the eating
Australian rural society is much like rural human gatherings all over the world, the folk who have been born and brought up in that community have an initial distrust of the interlopers and tend to not accept them until they have 'proved ' themselves worthy and then remain in that community for a good settling in period. In the town that I dragged my family to, the normal settling in period before the family finished being called 'blow-ins' was about twenty five years.
Our case was somewhat different as my wife is in the medical field so was quickly snapped up by the local hospital, when I say local, it was in another town about 25kms away which in Australia is really on the doorstep so she became a native almost immediately. For me, being accepted took a little longer as I still had this weird job that no one local could understand and of course I was studying at Uni. At this time in OZ farming types had a great distrust of 'them what went to Universities' after all what couldn't you learn about life by sticking your arm up a cows back passage.The eldest (son) joined the local football/cricket team so he seemed destined to become a local even quicker than his mother and the youngest(girl) was ensconced in the local primary school so she also was a part of the local community. What to do about father, me , robbi. About two to three years after arriving several curious and I believe completely Australian character traits rescued me from oblivion as a person in my own right and not the husband of and or the father of.
Firstly, the local 'pillars of ' owned a very large farm and dairy, then used to deliver their milk in bulk to the surrounding farms. Because I was home during the day a lot I became quite friendly with this terrific fellow who used to be our 'milko'. Now this is where it gets into the OZ country character.As you well know I can talk the leg off a chair but owing to the fact that when he was in my kitchen yarning and drinking coffee I had either been at work half the night or had just got out of bed so was very tired and thus spoke in very short but succinct sentences. We soon became firm buddies and I looked forward to the delivery of milk as much as he looked to the coffee and yarn at my place. One of the character traits in country and rural Australia is that the archetypal OZ male is supposed to be tall,rake thin and laconic to the point of being monosyllabic. I am neither tall or rake thin but because of lack of sleep etc I was a trifle laconic and spoke little but by the standards of the conversation, with great pith. Naturally as he was a milkman he went into many kitchens around the district so spread the word that robbi was 'okay', ergo it wasn't long (about 2years) before I got a little nod with the index finger crooked to the forehead as I went about my business in the town. Three years down the track and the local post office couple started calling me rob and handing me the letters personally so I knew that I was on the way to becoming a local.
The second and most major thing that catapulted me into being part of the local scene came about purely by chance and no it wasn't the time I almost burnt down my hay shed and the local volunteer firemen had to rescue me. My son had arranged to go fox hunting, the skins were valuable and they are regarded here as vermin, but on the night in question when his friend drove in to pick him up he was ill with the flu. This lad was about 18 and tall ,rake thin,laconic etc etc but for some reason turned to me and asked" You ever shot foxes Mr S?" "why don't you go with me" I thought it might be perhaps a test of the family honour so said I would but could I take my own rifle.Their farm was about thirty minutes away through very forested hilly dirt roads and this kid drove like an absolute madman so through the whole journey I just kept my mouth firmly shut in a very silent scream. We drove around the paddocks for what seemed hours and not one fox did we see when he tuned and said, "we should go back I don't think there is any about tonight"By this time I had regained my composure and voice so I agreed but said I would just shine the spotlight over to the left along that bare hill.Fantastic, a very large very healthy fox but really so far up the hill when he turned and sat all we could see were the two coals of its eyes.
"Oh hell" the kid said," he's miles away and normally what we do is shoot so the bullet just goes in between the ears so it doesn't mark the pelt,get more for it that way".me under my breath, Oh YEAH ?"Right between the ears you say" was my reply. Lined up the shot and squeezed the trigger,boom, and foxie loxie went down.
Yes Hortense you are right, the kid ran up the hill and ten minutes later came back with said beast dead as, right between the ears. He never said diddley except a laconic ,"well we best be getting you home, it's late and I think he's the only one out tonight". On the way back Horty he drove ever so slow and careful but not one word about foxy or really anything at all.
Two days later Hortense I went into the town for letters and everyone in the district seemed to be there, the couple in the post office even put a rubber band around my letters, an unheard of courtesy for a newcomer and the garage man actually came out to wipe my windscreen. My boy came home from school and spoke to me for more than two seconds and my little girl caught us all by surprise at dinner with"daddy did well at fox hunting , didn't he"
What is my point Hortense? well I guess Americans are a lot like Australians old girl and that is just how it is going to be for that nice man come the 20th of , best he savour the moment as I did .
Yes I know, it is Sunday the day is blue skies , gelato is there for the eating
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
ink marks on a blank page Wed Nov 19th
What you say, he is blogging on a weekday. Yes, true I am, and it is possible have done so before but only when it was absolutely necessary. You would note that I have a somewhat predilection for cynicism, that is not to say I view everything in this world in shades of 'shock horror', far from it. There are though, items around which in general lend themselves to a healthy dose of tongue firmly in cheek, oh and in that I do not take myself too seriously either.Never let it be said that the robbi is without blame, for I wear blinkers on a lot of subjects and am hidebound and all the other expletives one can conjure up.
We humans tend to age, immutable fact. This process has us at some age ,feel indistructable, then we move on to learning that maybe we aren't but at least we have come to the conclusion that if we stick our hand in the fire it will burn and thus cause pain. The next progress up the path is the realisation that we know everything and those who are older( 35) are past it and have no reason to be on the planet at all, our tutors at Uni are all dills and parents are just there to pay the bills. Somehow, and despite the fact that our professors are jealous of us because we are so bright and young they almost fail us, we get our degree and go out into the real world.
We then enter into a sort of limbo where it can be said that our ideals become compromised. That is because we actually have to work for a living to pay off our student debt so therefore get caught up in the corporate world and try to scrabble up the ladder and grab the big dollars the dills who taught us said we could earn. About this time perhaps we might find a partner with whom to share a life, so a new phase begins. This is a period in our existence where staying out all night and spending as if you had no arms abruptly stops, and our being suffers a reality check.
It is in this phase that folk who wear rings in unlikely places and adorn themselves with beads are refferred to by us as dirty lay-abouts and why don't they get a job. We have left all our uni photos with our parents at this stage along with all the memorabilia from the various music festivals and failed rock bands we played with over the years. That is not to say we decry all this material ,not at all, for at Christmas and or birthdays when we take the grandkids over there we drag out all these things ad nauseum and chortle over said artefacts whilst throwing down copius quantities of dad's best wine. Herein lies the plot though, we are very careful not to let the children actually see this stuff, they have to go outside and play, properly of course, no fighting.
Yes Hortense I know that none of this is actually going to save the world or indeed show the good folk how I actually became the cynic that you say I am. Yes Hortense I know that all that I have been saying was written on the wall of the bath house in Pompey and people all through history know that their generation was perfect. You do miss the point Hortense, and the point is?
The point is old girl, what are we going to do about it and when will we ever learn that in order to grow we all have to change. My point? well I do hope Hortense that this election in the US will eventually be seen for the groundbreaking huge step forward that it is. No, I don't mean just because he is African-American, that is part of the equation, but for me the major bit therein is the fact that the majority wanted to CHANGE the way they thought about a whole range of issues including the democratic right to exercise your vote.
Which reminds me Hortense, we should toddle off to the cinema and go to that new film the nice Baz man has done, see a little of our own country and perhaps repair off afterwards do lunch and Gelato, sound a plan?
We humans tend to age, immutable fact. This process has us at some age ,feel indistructable, then we move on to learning that maybe we aren't but at least we have come to the conclusion that if we stick our hand in the fire it will burn and thus cause pain. The next progress up the path is the realisation that we know everything and those who are older( 35) are past it and have no reason to be on the planet at all, our tutors at Uni are all dills and parents are just there to pay the bills. Somehow, and despite the fact that our professors are jealous of us because we are so bright and young they almost fail us, we get our degree and go out into the real world.
We then enter into a sort of limbo where it can be said that our ideals become compromised. That is because we actually have to work for a living to pay off our student debt so therefore get caught up in the corporate world and try to scrabble up the ladder and grab the big dollars the dills who taught us said we could earn. About this time perhaps we might find a partner with whom to share a life, so a new phase begins. This is a period in our existence where staying out all night and spending as if you had no arms abruptly stops, and our being suffers a reality check.
It is in this phase that folk who wear rings in unlikely places and adorn themselves with beads are refferred to by us as dirty lay-abouts and why don't they get a job. We have left all our uni photos with our parents at this stage along with all the memorabilia from the various music festivals and failed rock bands we played with over the years. That is not to say we decry all this material ,not at all, for at Christmas and or birthdays when we take the grandkids over there we drag out all these things ad nauseum and chortle over said artefacts whilst throwing down copius quantities of dad's best wine. Herein lies the plot though, we are very careful not to let the children actually see this stuff, they have to go outside and play, properly of course, no fighting.
Yes Hortense I know that none of this is actually going to save the world or indeed show the good folk how I actually became the cynic that you say I am. Yes Hortense I know that all that I have been saying was written on the wall of the bath house in Pompey and people all through history know that their generation was perfect. You do miss the point Hortense, and the point is?
The point is old girl, what are we going to do about it and when will we ever learn that in order to grow we all have to change. My point? well I do hope Hortense that this election in the US will eventually be seen for the groundbreaking huge step forward that it is. No, I don't mean just because he is African-American, that is part of the equation, but for me the major bit therein is the fact that the majority wanted to CHANGE the way they thought about a whole range of issues including the democratic right to exercise your vote.
Which reminds me Hortense, we should toddle off to the cinema and go to that new film the nice Baz man has done, see a little of our own country and perhaps repair off afterwards do lunch and Gelato, sound a plan?
Saturday, 15 November 2008
ink marks on a blank page Sat Nov 15th
Just a moment ago I was watching TV and savouring a coffee, well drooling over a coffee to be realistic. One of the things I do well in life is make coffee, that the machine I use does it mainly is not just a moot point but perhaps THE point. This particular machine is the 3rd one I have had, the 3rd different one as I had two of the same brand, not together mind , it just so happened that the first one was a very expensive machine that just fell apart, admittedly after much use, but apart it did fall.
I went back to the store and complained bitterly about said machine, the girl took my details and then sold me a different brand whilst all the time making cooing noises about how sorry she was the first machine was such a dud so she would take it up the the German company that makes them. Naturally of course I took all this with a large grain of salt, just opened my wallet and extracted the cash for a new machine (Italian).
The new coffee maker and I were getting along really well and we had become really simpatico ,making froth that a fancy barista would be proud of, when one Tuesday morn the door bell thing went(it plays reveille). Delivery chappie says "parcel for robbi" quoth I, "yea 'tis me" The German coffee machine making people being German were so upset that I had destroyed their prize thing they had sent me at no charge, a replacement. So that is how I had two of the same brand.
Now I do love a coffee or three, so do my guests and family, for myself I do short black but everyone else seems to want latte or cappuccino, so the new machine got the same thrashing as the first one. Alas the Italian job sort of fell over after 18 months so I went back up country a bit to the German replacement. That lasted about two years until it made more wheezing noises than I do after a long day.You lovely folk might live in a country where the ability to get things fixed at reasonable cost is thick on the ground, alack and whatever not here he sighed. We seem to have a throw away mentality,oh, broken is it, just put it out for the garbage. Crikey I can't wait to get a bit old and furry around the edges, boom, one robbi on the landfill.So off to the shop again but this time I thought, no more expensive rocket science machines, go for the heaviest and cheapest, so I did. Half the money and heavy as lead to lift about but it makes the very best coffee and has lasted 3years now, and the froth,wow, one could ski on this fluff it is so thick and soft.
Yes Hortense I know that you prefer it weaker than I make,but I also note that your mug is always drained down to the last drop and you do seem to make those smacking sounds that one does when well satisfied.
Oh the landfill Hortense, what would I know about that? Well nothing of course and about on a par with what I know about folk thrashing about in large 4 wheel drive vehicles making doco's on saving the pristine wilderness and stuff. Yes Hortense I do know that the bald fellow who used to front that rock band is full on about the environment, especially now he is the Minister in charge of it in this new federal Government. Landfill is the new black Hortense, he wants to get rid of all landfill sites, and do what? Where is all the garbage going to go, oh we aren't going to have any? How is that so Hortense, oh we will all be far to poor to actually have anything, possibly, but what about the men who run the Government Hortense, they wont be poor, where will their garbage go? Yes I get it, theirs will go into landfill Hortense, but it will be environmentally secure landfill wont it, the bald headed bloke will see to that wont he Hortense.Yes I forgot Hortense he is the one with the power to issue permits for landfill sites, silly of me to forget that wasn't it.
I know, Sunday tomorrow and Gelato isn't going into landfill is it, not while I'm about Horty old girl, not indeed
I went back to the store and complained bitterly about said machine, the girl took my details and then sold me a different brand whilst all the time making cooing noises about how sorry she was the first machine was such a dud so she would take it up the the German company that makes them. Naturally of course I took all this with a large grain of salt, just opened my wallet and extracted the cash for a new machine (Italian).
The new coffee maker and I were getting along really well and we had become really simpatico ,making froth that a fancy barista would be proud of, when one Tuesday morn the door bell thing went(it plays reveille). Delivery chappie says "parcel for robbi" quoth I, "yea 'tis me" The German coffee machine making people being German were so upset that I had destroyed their prize thing they had sent me at no charge, a replacement. So that is how I had two of the same brand.
Now I do love a coffee or three, so do my guests and family, for myself I do short black but everyone else seems to want latte or cappuccino, so the new machine got the same thrashing as the first one. Alas the Italian job sort of fell over after 18 months so I went back up country a bit to the German replacement. That lasted about two years until it made more wheezing noises than I do after a long day.You lovely folk might live in a country where the ability to get things fixed at reasonable cost is thick on the ground, alack and whatever not here he sighed. We seem to have a throw away mentality,oh, broken is it, just put it out for the garbage. Crikey I can't wait to get a bit old and furry around the edges, boom, one robbi on the landfill.So off to the shop again but this time I thought, no more expensive rocket science machines, go for the heaviest and cheapest, so I did. Half the money and heavy as lead to lift about but it makes the very best coffee and has lasted 3years now, and the froth,wow, one could ski on this fluff it is so thick and soft.
Yes Hortense I know that you prefer it weaker than I make,but I also note that your mug is always drained down to the last drop and you do seem to make those smacking sounds that one does when well satisfied.
Oh the landfill Hortense, what would I know about that? Well nothing of course and about on a par with what I know about folk thrashing about in large 4 wheel drive vehicles making doco's on saving the pristine wilderness and stuff. Yes Hortense I do know that the bald fellow who used to front that rock band is full on about the environment, especially now he is the Minister in charge of it in this new federal Government. Landfill is the new black Hortense, he wants to get rid of all landfill sites, and do what? Where is all the garbage going to go, oh we aren't going to have any? How is that so Hortense, oh we will all be far to poor to actually have anything, possibly, but what about the men who run the Government Hortense, they wont be poor, where will their garbage go? Yes I get it, theirs will go into landfill Hortense, but it will be environmentally secure landfill wont it, the bald headed bloke will see to that wont he Hortense.Yes I forgot Hortense he is the one with the power to issue permits for landfill sites, silly of me to forget that wasn't it.
I know, Sunday tomorrow and Gelato isn't going into landfill is it, not while I'm about Horty old girl, not indeed
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Ink marks on a blank page Sun Nov 9th
At it again, cannot help myself really, I mean life is just one long blog isn't it? But there are one or two burning issues that I would like to get off my chest, that is stuff that I waxed on lyrical about over the last weekend up in Sydney town. Y'see the dinner was replete with lots of lovely folk, some from far flung corners of the globe, others were local, and some like me were from what the Sydney-siders like to call the rust bucket states. Pre dinner the talk was who are you and where do you come from? After dinner there was more general conversation loosened up no doubt by the number of times the waiters refreshed the respective glasses and seeing as it was all free largess was paramount. As you know I only drink water so by the time talk was cheap I had consumed most of Sydney Harbour, or so it seemed.
When in a crowd such as this where most are extremely successful and thus by definition rich as, the greater majority are rusted on green, that is they espouse the "let's save the planet NOW " doctrine. Because y'see they can AFFORD to. Personally I have no problem with that, as I have tried to do my bit by putting photovoltaic cells on my roof ,having solar hot water and a very large (24k ltrs) water tank in my back garden.
Hortense I do though have a large problem with the well meaning folk who bang on about this without thinking very much about the real issues behind all the green and good. Call me or label me an old cynic but do they really think of the 'reality' behind just how green all this renewable stuff is. Take the cells on my roof, and apart from the massive amounts of power used to make them they are also made from Nitrogen trifluoride which is 17,000 times more lasting and as damaging than co2 to the atmosphere. This gas is also used to make the chips that power this thing (the pc) along with the lcd screens we all love to use.
The massive wind turbines which we in the state I live in have 58% of ALL the wind turbines in OZ. These things are made of STEEL which comes from blast furnaces and ALUMINIUM which uses enormous amounts of power,plus none of these wind farms will ever produce base load power at any period in history. The cost of producing this so-called GREEN power is three times that from gas fired plant, and the noise pollution from the turbines is soul destroying. Nope I didn't stop there either Hortense, I also went on about the local scientist who has become the darling of our federal government and therefore their spokesperson on climate change. He recently made series of TV programs where he and a partner went all around the pristine wilderness in a very large 4 wheel drive and made many trips in lakes / rivers etc in a two-stroke powered aluminium boat whilst at many times being photographed from above by two different helicopters. Just think on the amount of diesel/kerosene/dust damage/electrical power and a myriad of other things that went into the making of those programs. No Hortense I do not want to shut down the TV industry or stop people making nature programs, I am merely trying to point out that doing anything comes at a cost and what seems all lovely and touchy feely on the first look aint necessarily so and it is about time folk owned up and fessed up.
Hortense old girl that didn't strike me as being very much a way to save the place or protect nature at all or am I really being a nark ? And no Hortense I didn't watch the program just couldn't help seeing the promos for it as I trawled through looking for the programs I really do watch, such as world championship wrestling and the like.Yes Hortense I do know the Gelato is all natural, let's get to it then eh?
When in a crowd such as this where most are extremely successful and thus by definition rich as, the greater majority are rusted on green, that is they espouse the "let's save the planet NOW " doctrine. Because y'see they can AFFORD to. Personally I have no problem with that, as I have tried to do my bit by putting photovoltaic cells on my roof ,having solar hot water and a very large (24k ltrs) water tank in my back garden.
Hortense I do though have a large problem with the well meaning folk who bang on about this without thinking very much about the real issues behind all the green and good. Call me or label me an old cynic but do they really think of the 'reality' behind just how green all this renewable stuff is. Take the cells on my roof, and apart from the massive amounts of power used to make them they are also made from Nitrogen trifluoride which is 17,000 times more lasting and as damaging than co2 to the atmosphere. This gas is also used to make the chips that power this thing (the pc) along with the lcd screens we all love to use.
The massive wind turbines which we in the state I live in have 58% of ALL the wind turbines in OZ. These things are made of STEEL which comes from blast furnaces and ALUMINIUM which uses enormous amounts of power,plus none of these wind farms will ever produce base load power at any period in history. The cost of producing this so-called GREEN power is three times that from gas fired plant, and the noise pollution from the turbines is soul destroying. Nope I didn't stop there either Hortense, I also went on about the local scientist who has become the darling of our federal government and therefore their spokesperson on climate change. He recently made series of TV programs where he and a partner went all around the pristine wilderness in a very large 4 wheel drive and made many trips in lakes / rivers etc in a two-stroke powered aluminium boat whilst at many times being photographed from above by two different helicopters. Just think on the amount of diesel/kerosene/dust damage/electrical power and a myriad of other things that went into the making of those programs. No Hortense I do not want to shut down the TV industry or stop people making nature programs, I am merely trying to point out that doing anything comes at a cost and what seems all lovely and touchy feely on the first look aint necessarily so and it is about time folk owned up and fessed up.
Hortense old girl that didn't strike me as being very much a way to save the place or protect nature at all or am I really being a nark ? And no Hortense I didn't watch the program just couldn't help seeing the promos for it as I trawled through looking for the programs I really do watch, such as world championship wrestling and the like.Yes Hortense I do know the Gelato is all natural, let's get to it then eh?
Ink marks on a blank page sat. 8th Nov.
There I was contemplating nothing in particular in a studious sort of way when i had this sudden compulsion to write up a blog. But what should I pontificate on? We've all done the elections us bloggers, writ up and dissected to the very inch of anything and everything, some have even done pieces on the sort of dog he should buy the girls. Like I mean who really cares, the whole universe is going to heck in a basket and folk are worrying about what brand of doggie poo will be on the White House lawn.
C'mon folks lighten up here, give the man a break let him pick the 7000 folk he needs to run the ship o' state.
I just have to put in an antipodean's two cents worth , and that's about all we would get too, this isn't just about you folk over there y'know, I mean this chap is going to be the leader of the free world as we know it. The Russians will have their noses out of joint too, for some weeks now they have been kicking up the dust of the cold war and over-flying US and Brit ships and making great noises about missile placements. Then along comes that nice young man from America and grabs all the headlines, shame.
Funny about that, and how is Hugo going to cope with Barack?, not at all well I shouldn't wonder.This is something that America does once in a while oh so well, and it isn't just the fact he is African_American, although that in itself is huge, he has only been in Washington since 2005. Granted he is highly intelligent and can really speak well and plainly too, not like our fellow who talks as though we were all MBA's , but he has that great knack of someone who is destined to be really something, he RELATES and without trying hard to, he just does.
Oh yes Hortense how would I know, perhaps it is 'cause about stuff like that, I really do. Or perhaps I just make it up as I go along and say the first trite thing that pops into my skull, could be Hortense but you have known me long and well enough to know that I only make some of it up as I go along, the rest I find on fantail wrappers. Sunday tomorrow Horty, Gelato at Cocolat?, sure why ever not.
C'mon folks lighten up here, give the man a break let him pick the 7000 folk he needs to run the ship o' state.
I just have to put in an antipodean's two cents worth , and that's about all we would get too, this isn't just about you folk over there y'know, I mean this chap is going to be the leader of the free world as we know it. The Russians will have their noses out of joint too, for some weeks now they have been kicking up the dust of the cold war and over-flying US and Brit ships and making great noises about missile placements. Then along comes that nice young man from America and grabs all the headlines, shame.
Funny about that, and how is Hugo going to cope with Barack?, not at all well I shouldn't wonder.This is something that America does once in a while oh so well, and it isn't just the fact he is African_American, although that in itself is huge, he has only been in Washington since 2005. Granted he is highly intelligent and can really speak well and plainly too, not like our fellow who talks as though we were all MBA's , but he has that great knack of someone who is destined to be really something, he RELATES and without trying hard to, he just does.
Oh yes Hortense how would I know, perhaps it is 'cause about stuff like that, I really do. Or perhaps I just make it up as I go along and say the first trite thing that pops into my skull, could be Hortense but you have known me long and well enough to know that I only make some of it up as I go along, the rest I find on fantail wrappers. Sunday tomorrow Horty, Gelato at Cocolat?, sure why ever not.
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Ink Marks on a Blank Page Wed Nov 5th
There I was jetting up to Sydney town like the old rock-n-roller I once was, all frocked up in my Adelaide over the hill finery and stepped off the plane to 35c and muggy.Nothing brings one down to earth with a thump than looking like a full blown twerp. Everyone else is swanning around the terminal in board shorts and loose tops and I'm dressed up like the turkey on for dinner. I always say though if you want to be noticed then you have to stand out, and I did.Enough of that at least when I embarked it was cool to be dressed like a colonial refugee.
The car was climate controlled anyway and by the time we got onto the Pacific Highway I was settling into cool mode.Sydney is really such a beautiful town, just a pity that it is full of Sydney-siders, folk who are basically nice people, just awfully rich and like nothing better to ask where one is from then when you mutter Adelaide they look at their shoes as though there remains the leftovers of some old droppings. I never know what to say either as the car sort of slinks past all these huge piles of brick where even the gate post must cost a months salary.
Oh don't get me wrong I live comfortable, and well within the sort of standard of run down genteel that I favour. Not through design y'know, I have just slid down the slippery slope of fading out quite easily, poverty is well within my grasp now. I should really cut to the chase a little quicker though as the flight sort of gave me that squiggy ear thing again and I feel a trifle off colour. My travel book/ pics went down with the professionals well though, I was well pleased and chuffed too,good stroke of the ego that was. The food at the dinner they put on was just out of this world and at every seat there was a personalised menu with your name on top, snazzy eh? Could I get used to being treated like a member of the human race, dunno about that, bit hard on the nerves trying to be pleasant for hours on end.
See I was right about those elections Hortense, and why didn't I win huge on the outcome? you know me Horty, I never back the favourite. The woman in the red leather jacket looked a little green around the gills though, she might just have to give it all back now don' you think. My guess is that she could just stick her hand up in four years, and then whattya think would happen? yeah, she'd lose it up to her armpits Horty old thing. What would I know anyway, but I do know this Hortense, that old man who can't raise his arms up higher than this gave a mighty gracious speech in defeat. Well he might too, he got thumped, but not his fault, you do have to sheet it home to Dubya. Got to tell you Hortnese that Gelato never tasted so good as it did today ,YUMMO
Well life moves and grooves always to the beat, and 'lo, the drum beat for the MAN.
The car was climate controlled anyway and by the time we got onto the Pacific Highway I was settling into cool mode.Sydney is really such a beautiful town, just a pity that it is full of Sydney-siders, folk who are basically nice people, just awfully rich and like nothing better to ask where one is from then when you mutter Adelaide they look at their shoes as though there remains the leftovers of some old droppings. I never know what to say either as the car sort of slinks past all these huge piles of brick where even the gate post must cost a months salary.
Oh don't get me wrong I live comfortable, and well within the sort of standard of run down genteel that I favour. Not through design y'know, I have just slid down the slippery slope of fading out quite easily, poverty is well within my grasp now. I should really cut to the chase a little quicker though as the flight sort of gave me that squiggy ear thing again and I feel a trifle off colour. My travel book/ pics went down with the professionals well though, I was well pleased and chuffed too,good stroke of the ego that was. The food at the dinner they put on was just out of this world and at every seat there was a personalised menu with your name on top, snazzy eh? Could I get used to being treated like a member of the human race, dunno about that, bit hard on the nerves trying to be pleasant for hours on end.
See I was right about those elections Hortense, and why didn't I win huge on the outcome? you know me Horty, I never back the favourite. The woman in the red leather jacket looked a little green around the gills though, she might just have to give it all back now don' you think. My guess is that she could just stick her hand up in four years, and then whattya think would happen? yeah, she'd lose it up to her armpits Horty old thing. What would I know anyway, but I do know this Hortense, that old man who can't raise his arms up higher than this gave a mighty gracious speech in defeat. Well he might too, he got thumped, but not his fault, you do have to sheet it home to Dubya. Got to tell you Hortnese that Gelato never tasted so good as it did today ,YUMMO
Well life moves and grooves always to the beat, and 'lo, the drum beat for the MAN.
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Ink marks on a blank page .Thursday Oct 30th
Been a while since I have sullied these hallowed pages. Not for want of trying or even lack of subject matter, it is just that I have had a pressing and torrid time doing a project for a loved someone.though 'tis never hard to find something to wax lyrical on in these odd times is it not? There have been folk who do say I could talk underwater with a mouth full of marbles, true, not that I have but let's say at times I am want to maybe just give it a shot.
Been packing for a quick trip to Sydney on the weekend, sort of part business and a really swish dinner to go for and as luck would have it I don't have to pay so that part is all good.The rest will be too, I just know it will be. Life is odd like that, things do work themselves out don't they.There you are frothing at the mouth, can't find that nice tie or a shirt that goes with the new coat and all of a sudden you are all packed and actually ready to go, wonders will never cease.
Don't know how many of you have been to Sydney but it really isn't my kind of place, funny too as it is one of THE beautiful cities of the world and I am one of these blokes what does like a bit o' beauty. Odd too that I feel more at home in London than I do in Sydney, perhaps that's the wannabe in me, bragging about the exotic places I have been to and lived in. But to me London has that homey feel, whereas Sydney is such a roaring fast place and the folk there are just at it all day every day.The harbour buzzes night and day, cars and trucks fly around and no-one seems to worry about the speed limit.Just seems like a don't care sort of place to me ,brash and in the face with high flyers doing the loop de loop buying and selling and the ladies all out seeing who can pay the most for a cup of coffee.
Don't get me wrong having a place like Sydney only two hours away by jet is an okay thing to have, but hey, nice to contemplate a visit but it is nice to know that Sydney is 'up there' and an affordable cup of coffee and a nice lunch that doesn't cost a weeks salary is here.
Yes Hortense I do know that the world doesn't revolve around gelato at Cocolat, and yes this is a sort of backwater, but gee it is a pleasant little backwater at that.
I should stop waxing on and talk about other stuff?.Hortense I am a wimpy old bloke with absolutely no status what so ever, what would I know.But I do know that woman in the US has a big mouth, and yes Horty the grand ole party did splash out a lot on clothes for her too. Yes I know she is just your everyday hockey mom, and yes I still haven't quite worked out what the heck that is supposed to connote.I think it means she is just very average, and yes Horty she is that and all in spades.I should stick to eating Gelati? lead me there Horty , lead me there.
Been packing for a quick trip to Sydney on the weekend, sort of part business and a really swish dinner to go for and as luck would have it I don't have to pay so that part is all good.The rest will be too, I just know it will be. Life is odd like that, things do work themselves out don't they.There you are frothing at the mouth, can't find that nice tie or a shirt that goes with the new coat and all of a sudden you are all packed and actually ready to go, wonders will never cease.
Don't know how many of you have been to Sydney but it really isn't my kind of place, funny too as it is one of THE beautiful cities of the world and I am one of these blokes what does like a bit o' beauty. Odd too that I feel more at home in London than I do in Sydney, perhaps that's the wannabe in me, bragging about the exotic places I have been to and lived in. But to me London has that homey feel, whereas Sydney is such a roaring fast place and the folk there are just at it all day every day.The harbour buzzes night and day, cars and trucks fly around and no-one seems to worry about the speed limit.Just seems like a don't care sort of place to me ,brash and in the face with high flyers doing the loop de loop buying and selling and the ladies all out seeing who can pay the most for a cup of coffee.
Don't get me wrong having a place like Sydney only two hours away by jet is an okay thing to have, but hey, nice to contemplate a visit but it is nice to know that Sydney is 'up there' and an affordable cup of coffee and a nice lunch that doesn't cost a weeks salary is here.
Yes Hortense I do know that the world doesn't revolve around gelato at Cocolat, and yes this is a sort of backwater, but gee it is a pleasant little backwater at that.
I should stop waxing on and talk about other stuff?.Hortense I am a wimpy old bloke with absolutely no status what so ever, what would I know.But I do know that woman in the US has a big mouth, and yes Horty the grand ole party did splash out a lot on clothes for her too. Yes I know she is just your everyday hockey mom, and yes I still haven't quite worked out what the heck that is supposed to connote.I think it means she is just very average, and yes Horty she is that and all in spades.I should stick to eating Gelati? lead me there Horty , lead me there.
Saturday, 18 October 2008
ink marks on a blank page sunday Oct 19th
Beautiful sort of warm cloudless spring day today but we did want to see the new Cohen Bros film, (burn after reading)what better way to spend a lazy couple of hours.The Cohen's have a unique way of filming, all their work bears very large question marks and one is left asking why this, why that.All good and they seem to work well with actors like Clooney, Malkovich et al. This was violent and seemingly there didn't seem much point to the extreme violence except in the final scene you understood why the violence was there. Robert Altman used similar techniques in that he tied in narrative and characters that at first glance seemed un-related but all made sense as a whole story and related to the main thread.
Good film is a wonderful device for painting a kaleidoscope that creates a frame so that us poor mortals can put into visuals the dreams and ideology of more talented folk. Even 'B' movies have a message, in the main good always triumphs over evil and the hero rides off into the sunset with the catch of the day.
Today being sunny and bright we did a circuit of the street market ,bought some hand made shower caps for our grand-daughters, then made our way to one of my favourite stores on Rundle St.East, Cocolat. This is a place that sells, Gelato(hand made) good espresso, snacks and the staff are pleasant .The reason it is called Cocolat. ALL the snacks and lunches have a chocolate base or theme. Nope, I don't usually snack there but the Gelati is the best I have ever tasted anywhere, and then some. They also do a large range of fat free sorbet which really are to die for.The deal is for $6-50 you get a large , and it is, tub of four flavours of gelati or sorbet and they don't use a scoop either. The stuff is ladled out with a large flat shovel so you get HEAPS, yummo!!!
Okay Hortense I know I could get fat but I did go for a 5km bike ride after dinner.Oh of course I could fit dinner in, the Gelato was lunch. Film? you mean that the Cohen's should make a film about Lehman bros and the fellow who has a name like a four letter word, oh, it is a four letter word. Just your little joke Hortense I know, but it was topical. So the team at Lehman's are all heading to a Grand Jury Horty? will it make a difference to those poor suckers that have lost a house and or their jobs? I don't think so but hey, what would I know. Best I stick with Gelati.
Good film is a wonderful device for painting a kaleidoscope that creates a frame so that us poor mortals can put into visuals the dreams and ideology of more talented folk. Even 'B' movies have a message, in the main good always triumphs over evil and the hero rides off into the sunset with the catch of the day.
Today being sunny and bright we did a circuit of the street market ,bought some hand made shower caps for our grand-daughters, then made our way to one of my favourite stores on Rundle St.East, Cocolat. This is a place that sells, Gelato(hand made) good espresso, snacks and the staff are pleasant .The reason it is called Cocolat. ALL the snacks and lunches have a chocolate base or theme. Nope, I don't usually snack there but the Gelati is the best I have ever tasted anywhere, and then some. They also do a large range of fat free sorbet which really are to die for.The deal is for $6-50 you get a large , and it is, tub of four flavours of gelati or sorbet and they don't use a scoop either. The stuff is ladled out with a large flat shovel so you get HEAPS, yummo!!!
Okay Hortense I know I could get fat but I did go for a 5km bike ride after dinner.Oh of course I could fit dinner in, the Gelato was lunch. Film? you mean that the Cohen's should make a film about Lehman bros and the fellow who has a name like a four letter word, oh, it is a four letter word. Just your little joke Hortense I know, but it was topical. So the team at Lehman's are all heading to a Grand Jury Horty? will it make a difference to those poor suckers that have lost a house and or their jobs? I don't think so but hey, what would I know. Best I stick with Gelati.
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
ink marks on a blank page -Tues Oct 14th
We all live in a....you could say that, but in retrospect I never knew what they meant, nor really was I supposed to perhaps. It was the best of times and then some wasn't it, for those of you who were there, as I was . And really I was there, actually staring at them and standing crushed in a crowd of about 200 thousand people, or so it seemed. 'They', the Beatles, had landed at our airport in then very provincial Adelaide and from the air terminal to the city is about 6kms, the crowd was five deep all the way into the city so there cannot have been more than three teenagers at school across the entire city.
At the time I worked for the daily broadsheet (Adelaide Advertiser) and I told my boss that I really should be at the Town Hall to see what the fuss was all about as the mayor was holding a civic reception for them (sans Ringo)."Robbi,what a load of crap, if you think that these idjits are going to be anything and you go to write them up, consider yourself sacked!"
Needless to say ,I went,saw and was conquered but not sacked.All that started or really re-started the revolution I think,the Beatles and their music just had that impetus that motivated a country (England) to get out there and just do their collective thing. People from all walks of life started doing anything that seemed 'out there' and new.The whole country got working in all sorts of weird little ways, craft ,art,fashion and once again that little sceptered isle was the centre of the universe.
The folks on the other side of the pond did get a little jealous of the olde (ups)tart suddenly coming alive , and tried all fair and sometimes foul means to quash the Brit invasion. here in OZ we had our own little mini thing going on with groups like the easybeats (friday on my mind), and do yourself a favour ,go dig that track out, still worth a listen. Then our film industry had a revival as well,running off the coat tails of the English thing no doubt. For me just out of Uni by then married and at that time and right in the middle of 'that war' I started working for Big Blue(IBM).
I had been reading Sci-Fi for years and thought that computing was going to be the new 'black', the next REALLY big thing. Australia was sooooo slow in taking up the challenge though, people here just did not want to know about computing and as a result IBM Australia had a mind set that was locked into the basement when it came down to getting their users to accept new technology. IBM at that time as well had a corporate structure that was heavily immersed in what can the firm do for me and how best can one achieve stardom by doing nothing. If a manager stuffed up he/she was moved sideways into 'special projects' there to be forgotten until senility or death, whatever came first.
Sour grapes you say, possibly, but I resigned before the juice turned to vinegar anyway. In chasing my dream to work for a company like IBM I had learnt a very valuable lesson early on in life, that it isn't really what one does but how you do it that counts. I had joined that company because to me it was the pinnacle of success in what it did and stood for, paid jolly well too ,about twice what anyone else did and the pension scheme was awesome. I digress,but had I researched the company first before accepting the position then perhaps I would not have been so eager.
My experience with 'Big Blue' must have stood me in good stead because the next two positions that I took lasted most of my working life and in those places there was not one day when I had to force myself to go to work.There was a time towards the end of my career at the first (real) job when things started to get tough. We had been taken over some ten years prior and all of a sudden a much larger company decided to include us in their balance sheet. I was at the time reasonably senior and there was such a jockeying for positions I thought that with my finances okay it would be prudent of me to take my sanity and I could retire.
Yes Hortense I'm finally talking about something I know lots about, oh it's boring? Darn, well Horty old girl you have heard it all before, oh yes Horty many times.Why don't I talk about the things I know nothing about as I always do? Right then I will, and here in the local Murdoch is a prime example. The sage folk all over the western world are falling over themselves to prop up their banking systems, all a bit late Hortense dont ya know. The bankers will never let Goverments take over the running of banks,what would some guru in Government who has years of running a Government finance department and has several degrees in economics and who has successfully kept a Government and a country afloat for years know. Surely a 25year old with an MBA from some obscure mid-west American college could do it better, especially if he/she were paid obscene bonuses to take massive risks with other folks money so that their 55yr old bosses would get even bigger bonuses ? Yes Hortense I really do not know a thing about high finance ,best I get back to something I really know about, life.
At the time I worked for the daily broadsheet (Adelaide Advertiser) and I told my boss that I really should be at the Town Hall to see what the fuss was all about as the mayor was holding a civic reception for them (sans Ringo)."Robbi,what a load of crap, if you think that these idjits are going to be anything and you go to write them up, consider yourself sacked!"
Needless to say ,I went,saw and was conquered but not sacked.All that started or really re-started the revolution I think,the Beatles and their music just had that impetus that motivated a country (England) to get out there and just do their collective thing. People from all walks of life started doing anything that seemed 'out there' and new.The whole country got working in all sorts of weird little ways, craft ,art,fashion and once again that little sceptered isle was the centre of the universe.
The folks on the other side of the pond did get a little jealous of the olde (ups)tart suddenly coming alive , and tried all fair and sometimes foul means to quash the Brit invasion. here in OZ we had our own little mini thing going on with groups like the easybeats (friday on my mind), and do yourself a favour ,go dig that track out, still worth a listen. Then our film industry had a revival as well,running off the coat tails of the English thing no doubt. For me just out of Uni by then married and at that time and right in the middle of 'that war' I started working for Big Blue(IBM).
I had been reading Sci-Fi for years and thought that computing was going to be the new 'black', the next REALLY big thing. Australia was sooooo slow in taking up the challenge though, people here just did not want to know about computing and as a result IBM Australia had a mind set that was locked into the basement when it came down to getting their users to accept new technology. IBM at that time as well had a corporate structure that was heavily immersed in what can the firm do for me and how best can one achieve stardom by doing nothing. If a manager stuffed up he/she was moved sideways into 'special projects' there to be forgotten until senility or death, whatever came first.
Sour grapes you say, possibly, but I resigned before the juice turned to vinegar anyway. In chasing my dream to work for a company like IBM I had learnt a very valuable lesson early on in life, that it isn't really what one does but how you do it that counts. I had joined that company because to me it was the pinnacle of success in what it did and stood for, paid jolly well too ,about twice what anyone else did and the pension scheme was awesome. I digress,but had I researched the company first before accepting the position then perhaps I would not have been so eager.
My experience with 'Big Blue' must have stood me in good stead because the next two positions that I took lasted most of my working life and in those places there was not one day when I had to force myself to go to work.There was a time towards the end of my career at the first (real) job when things started to get tough. We had been taken over some ten years prior and all of a sudden a much larger company decided to include us in their balance sheet. I was at the time reasonably senior and there was such a jockeying for positions I thought that with my finances okay it would be prudent of me to take my sanity and I could retire.
Yes Hortense I'm finally talking about something I know lots about, oh it's boring? Darn, well Horty old girl you have heard it all before, oh yes Horty many times.Why don't I talk about the things I know nothing about as I always do? Right then I will, and here in the local Murdoch is a prime example. The sage folk all over the western world are falling over themselves to prop up their banking systems, all a bit late Hortense dont ya know. The bankers will never let Goverments take over the running of banks,what would some guru in Government who has years of running a Government finance department and has several degrees in economics and who has successfully kept a Government and a country afloat for years know. Surely a 25year old with an MBA from some obscure mid-west American college could do it better, especially if he/she were paid obscene bonuses to take massive risks with other folks money so that their 55yr old bosses would get even bigger bonuses ? Yes Hortense I really do not know a thing about high finance ,best I get back to something I really know about, life.
Friday, 10 October 2008
ink marks on a blank page - Friday Oct 10
Here in OZ there is a saying-TGIF - which I think is also in other western countries similar to mine.Translated of course it means Thank God It's Friday. As I am no longer working in a paid capacity and have not done so for I think three years, so sue me for not counting, then I should no longer use that acronym. However, it remains more firmly entrenched in my mindset than it ever did. Whilst at my daily work I was never an adherent to that TGIF culture as my job required me to be available at the ring of a phone and also I actually loved what I did. Not that I hated leaving each day or was first out of the unit, nope none of the above, but I was just very glad to actually like what I did and who I worked with and for.
Getting back to TGIF, and it is a mindset that has crept into the OZ workplace over years where I think people feel obligated to say and live by that credo whether or not they actually believe it. Here we have the very best of working conditions anywhere. For instance, long service leave and very generous sick leave (which accrues) , also 5 weeks paid annual holidays and on top of that 17.5% loading on the holiday pay. Pay rates are pretty good by international standards and as are conditions of employment.As well this is a great country to live in. But I would say that wouldn't I?
We do suffer from the tyranny of distance from where the centre of the universe is but that also keeps us out of a bit of trouble both political and on the rabble rousing front, although we have some homegrown idjits for that. Yes we do also import some of the worst excesses of US (culture?) product as well , hopefully some good sense and quiet heads prevail to keep us more aligned with our British heritage and I try my very best to do that by visiting the old dart frequently.
Life changes so very rapidly now, all good too I might add, change mostly for the better most times as well. Just this little exercise is a case in point and long I have been an advocate for the 'peoplising' of the web. Even this monetary crisis that has grabbed the world so quickly I think has some positives. That it gets world leaders together and working in concert might just be a good thing, perhaps a little more positive than Bono being on the short list for a Nobel Peace prize.
Yes Hortense, just what would I know. Oh but that is a moot point as although I am not Methuselah I have been around for a while and been there and done a bit, just like you Hortense.
Not quite as lucratively as that fellow from Lehman bros. but I dare say with a little more care for my fellow man. Obscene is possibly a word one could use, not as eloquent in the matter as some four letter ones I dare say but printable on the pages of a family blog. Something about Karma did I hear you mutter? And okay Hortense I will get back to talking about things I really do know, like the price of a Lehman brother perhaps?
Getting back to TGIF, and it is a mindset that has crept into the OZ workplace over years where I think people feel obligated to say and live by that credo whether or not they actually believe it. Here we have the very best of working conditions anywhere. For instance, long service leave and very generous sick leave (which accrues) , also 5 weeks paid annual holidays and on top of that 17.5% loading on the holiday pay. Pay rates are pretty good by international standards and as are conditions of employment.As well this is a great country to live in. But I would say that wouldn't I?
We do suffer from the tyranny of distance from where the centre of the universe is but that also keeps us out of a bit of trouble both political and on the rabble rousing front, although we have some homegrown idjits for that. Yes we do also import some of the worst excesses of US (culture?) product as well , hopefully some good sense and quiet heads prevail to keep us more aligned with our British heritage and I try my very best to do that by visiting the old dart frequently.
Life changes so very rapidly now, all good too I might add, change mostly for the better most times as well. Just this little exercise is a case in point and long I have been an advocate for the 'peoplising' of the web. Even this monetary crisis that has grabbed the world so quickly I think has some positives. That it gets world leaders together and working in concert might just be a good thing, perhaps a little more positive than Bono being on the short list for a Nobel Peace prize.
Yes Hortense, just what would I know. Oh but that is a moot point as although I am not Methuselah I have been around for a while and been there and done a bit, just like you Hortense.
Not quite as lucratively as that fellow from Lehman bros. but I dare say with a little more care for my fellow man. Obscene is possibly a word one could use, not as eloquent in the matter as some four letter ones I dare say but printable on the pages of a family blog. Something about Karma did I hear you mutter? And okay Hortense I will get back to talking about things I really do know, like the price of a Lehman brother perhaps?
Monday, 6 October 2008
ink marks on a blank page - Tuesday Oct 7
Some days I'm not really sure about life. Obtuse? yes I know but that word describes my being at this very moment. Quandries are at every footfall and I know wild beasts lurk in every hedge, fraught is a miasma that pervades my all.
Could this be love? I know that feeling an observer might proffer,well may you ask, and nay I shall say for a deep and true love conquered me many years ago.Oh yes of course I have loved since, I am one of those unfortunates born under the sign of Pisces, we love madly all the time and at the drop of a hat. But no this is a malaise of a different kind and one that the curing of eludes me for the time.
This awkward sort of in-between and half out place I am in at this very moment has to do with understanding human behaviour and the reasons why happenings happen. What have I done you say? That is the root problem, I have not really much of an idea, the problem just arose out of nothing and I have no idea how to right what obviously is a wrong.
That really is underlined by the fact that I am male, we males do not know how to communicate to each other and obviously then onwards to the other side. Women have an easier path in that regard than us poor chaps, they have some radar and an innate knowledge of how to ferret and winkle out subtle bits of information from each other to then go on and 'know'.
Life here will go on, I shall be none the wiser but this condition is not life threatening. A trifle odd to worry about something that is in actual fact not in my real physical world, but there again y'see I am Piscean, that is a thing we do.
Yes Hortense perhaps I am on shaky ground, but the alternative is to talk about things I really know even less about. What things are those? Well for instance that woman striding up to the microphone at the airport where all those well meaning folk were holding up McCain placards. She leapt into condemning that lovely fellow and told everyone he had been best buddies with that dreadful Ayers chappie who bombed like the fourth July but on a weekly basis. Really Hortense what was she saying, he was only 8 yrs old for heavens sake,better she should concentrate on who sacked what State trooper in Alaska . You know the fellow that divorced the Governor's sister.
Yes Hortense what would I know, I leave you with this delightful cartoon from our weekend Murdoch, that tells a great story,what do you think?
Could this be love? I know that feeling an observer might proffer,well may you ask, and nay I shall say for a deep and true love conquered me many years ago.Oh yes of course I have loved since, I am one of those unfortunates born under the sign of Pisces, we love madly all the time and at the drop of a hat. But no this is a malaise of a different kind and one that the curing of eludes me for the time.
This awkward sort of in-between and half out place I am in at this very moment has to do with understanding human behaviour and the reasons why happenings happen. What have I done you say? That is the root problem, I have not really much of an idea, the problem just arose out of nothing and I have no idea how to right what obviously is a wrong.
That really is underlined by the fact that I am male, we males do not know how to communicate to each other and obviously then onwards to the other side. Women have an easier path in that regard than us poor chaps, they have some radar and an innate knowledge of how to ferret and winkle out subtle bits of information from each other to then go on and 'know'.
Life here will go on, I shall be none the wiser but this condition is not life threatening. A trifle odd to worry about something that is in actual fact not in my real physical world, but there again y'see I am Piscean, that is a thing we do.
Yes Hortense perhaps I am on shaky ground, but the alternative is to talk about things I really know even less about. What things are those? Well for instance that woman striding up to the microphone at the airport where all those well meaning folk were holding up McCain placards. She leapt into condemning that lovely fellow and told everyone he had been best buddies with that dreadful Ayers chappie who bombed like the fourth July but on a weekly basis. Really Hortense what was she saying, he was only 8 yrs old for heavens sake,better she should concentrate on who sacked what State trooper in Alaska . You know the fellow that divorced the Governor's sister.
Yes Hortense what would I know, I leave you with this delightful cartoon from our weekend Murdoch, that tells a great story,what do you think?
Friday, 3 October 2008
ink marks on a blank page Friday October 3
Hasn't the week just sped by, talk about the week that was ,or wasn't in my case.Who knows what a week will bring, well I guess those that make a living reading the future would do. That could be a touch boring though ,I mean to know what was going to happen. if I did ,know that is, then why would I even bother to say hello when I saw you. The reponse would be the same, you'd sort of stop, look at me with a quizzical look.
"Who is this fellow, do I know him", you would be asking, to yourself of course. You would hardly ask me, well I mean you don't know me do you, yet. But then because I knew what the future(ours) is going to be I would answer you back, before you got to the question actually 'cos that is how pre-cognition works,because I have seen the future, so therefore know what you are going to say before you say it. So anyway to save you any further embarrassment I have decide to spend the next few days in bed as I did not want to confuse you by having you greet me as if you didn't know me, which of course you do, because I have seen it all unfolding with my third eye.
No Hortense i am not confused, and yes I do understand that some might think the men in white coats are coming, not true. No, you can't ask me just how I know, suffice to say that I do.
I should have used my gift to make money on the stock market by short selling? Don't be daft, that might cause a panic sell off and people would lose their shirts. But then I would be able to buy back the stocks that were sold short and make heaps when they went back up again and I could do it all on borrowed money and not use a cent of my own. How and where would I do that Hortense ?, On Wall St..Isn't that how they got in such a mess in the first place? it is isn't it. I'm not sure that doing something like that would be ethical Hortense, oh it is and all the bankers at the brokerage houses did it, well good luck to them I say but I want to sleep at night.
No Hortense I know they don't, THEY are up all night short selling the stocks to make more money.
Yes indeed Hortense I do know that I wasn't going to talk about things that I know nothing about but you will forgive me this once , pretty please?
That woman was on TV with the Biden chappie. Rivetting TV it was as well Hortense, you remember that relative of hers , the one used to be a Monty Python, Michael Palin. He had a lovely little song he sang, I think he wrote it about her, reminds me very much of her it does. Remember, " I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok, I sleep all night and chop wood all day" Goodness gracious I can see her now all done up in a red check shirt, she do look the part do she not?
I will leave you Hortense with a sweet view or three of the pizza's I made this week. Next time Hortense , I promise.
"Who is this fellow, do I know him", you would be asking, to yourself of course. You would hardly ask me, well I mean you don't know me do you, yet. But then because I knew what the future(ours) is going to be I would answer you back, before you got to the question actually 'cos that is how pre-cognition works,because I have seen the future, so therefore know what you are going to say before you say it. So anyway to save you any further embarrassment I have decide to spend the next few days in bed as I did not want to confuse you by having you greet me as if you didn't know me, which of course you do, because I have seen it all unfolding with my third eye.
No Hortense i am not confused, and yes I do understand that some might think the men in white coats are coming, not true. No, you can't ask me just how I know, suffice to say that I do.
I should have used my gift to make money on the stock market by short selling? Don't be daft, that might cause a panic sell off and people would lose their shirts. But then I would be able to buy back the stocks that were sold short and make heaps when they went back up again and I could do it all on borrowed money and not use a cent of my own. How and where would I do that Hortense ?, On Wall St..Isn't that how they got in such a mess in the first place? it is isn't it. I'm not sure that doing something like that would be ethical Hortense, oh it is and all the bankers at the brokerage houses did it, well good luck to them I say but I want to sleep at night.
No Hortense I know they don't, THEY are up all night short selling the stocks to make more money.
Yes indeed Hortense I do know that I wasn't going to talk about things that I know nothing about but you will forgive me this once , pretty please?
That woman was on TV with the Biden chappie. Rivetting TV it was as well Hortense, you remember that relative of hers , the one used to be a Monty Python, Michael Palin. He had a lovely little song he sang, I think he wrote it about her, reminds me very much of her it does. Remember, " I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok, I sleep all night and chop wood all day" Goodness gracious I can see her now all done up in a red check shirt, she do look the part do she not?
I will leave you Hortense with a sweet view or three of the pizza's I made this week. Next time Hortense , I promise.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
ink marks on a blank page -Thursday October 2
Deary me,dreary me? well a tad late for this one.Blame the son, his birthday and I had to cook.Did okay though they all ate up big and even took a whole pizza away with them for dinner Friday. Not that I cook very much or have an extended repertoire like new wave men are supposed to have. Really though I'm not in that new wave time frame, sort of receded or tide gone out wave,being the age I am. Don't feel or even look like my grandfather did at his age or should say the age I am now(66). Those chaps (and women) had lived through two world wars and all that goes with the times following on.
Just think on this . Most folk (UK) during the second war had rationing to cope with and bombs falling down around them and the threat of invasion for years. Where we lived there was intermittent electricity and not much water from the taps. At age three months I was of course oblivious to all of that but our mother wasn't. She had to leave her secretarial work and trundle off to a munitions factory to make ordinance. Grandfather /Grandmother coped remarkably well with us until I was out in the snow once and contracted pneumonia which then turned into diphtheria. Eventually we had to pack up and shift off to a warmer climate and that is how I finished up in a small Australian country town that was as dry and dusty as our old village was wet and snowy.
Indeed Hortense they were trying times as you well know, oh yes I well remember ration books too. Hortense i have been meaning to ask you for such along time, but during the war you never seemed to run out of stockings or chocolates did you ? Oh dear Hortense no I was not referring to the close proximity of that air base at all, now would I?
Some managed better than others ,that's all.
Just like now dear, you know what with the credit thing in Wall street. Tush,I wasn't going to talk about things I know nothing about,would I now? Only seems a little odd to me that the sales of Ferrai haven't slowed down at all there and so many folk in the US have lost their homes. Goes to show though, in the land of the free and plenty, some have some don't.
Just think on this . Most folk (UK) during the second war had rationing to cope with and bombs falling down around them and the threat of invasion for years. Where we lived there was intermittent electricity and not much water from the taps. At age three months I was of course oblivious to all of that but our mother wasn't. She had to leave her secretarial work and trundle off to a munitions factory to make ordinance. Grandfather /Grandmother coped remarkably well with us until I was out in the snow once and contracted pneumonia which then turned into diphtheria. Eventually we had to pack up and shift off to a warmer climate and that is how I finished up in a small Australian country town that was as dry and dusty as our old village was wet and snowy.
Indeed Hortense they were trying times as you well know, oh yes I well remember ration books too. Hortense i have been meaning to ask you for such along time, but during the war you never seemed to run out of stockings or chocolates did you ? Oh dear Hortense no I was not referring to the close proximity of that air base at all, now would I?
Some managed better than others ,that's all.
Just like now dear, you know what with the credit thing in Wall street. Tush,I wasn't going to talk about things I know nothing about,would I now? Only seems a little odd to me that the sales of Ferrai haven't slowed down at all there and so many folk in the US have lost their homes. Goes to show though, in the land of the free and plenty, some have some don't.
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
ink marks on a blank page -Wedneday 1st of October
Another month just trundled by, did you hear it? Guess I must have been asleep as last time I looked up it was still July and the airbus 380 was just touching down. Nice plane but we sat on the tarmac at Heathrow for a couple of hours whilst the techs fixed summat that had come loose.
Never a great start to a long haul flight, but once in the air the darn thing just oozes class and is so quiet and smooth.
Flying isn't my love, travel is yes , just love it but the getting there at times takes the fun out of the first few days wherever you land I think.My big hate is jet lag as I tend to act even stranger than I am normally.Not a drinker these days as I haven't touched a drop for 34 years, and yes Hortense I am counting, it's what us alcoholics do, we brag about when was the last drink.
Jet lag brings back that out of control thing that is really hard to stop, you know you shouldn't but you do anyway.Does for me anyway, and no Hortense that isn't why the lady shouted at me,I certainly didn't touch her at all, you know how crowded it is on the Metro.
Do you like the way I snuck the word Metro in? That's to let you know I have been to Paris, subtle sort of point scoring thing that I do sometimes.
Yes Hortense I know it was way back in '97, yes yes, but we had left for Barcelona when SHE had that accident the poor love. See I did it again, now you all know I have been to Barcelona. Just sort of slipped out that did, I wasn't going to mention that at all, well not yet anyway.
But Paris really is the BIG thing y'know, and talk about innocents abroad, we walked from the Opera to where we had the apartment in Monmartre on a hot Paris day , was a Wednesday as I recall. Perhaps that's why I'm writing about Paris now, a deja vu thing, y'know sort of Wednesday "Heck I must be in Paris, it was Wednesday when we got there wasn't it"
There were lots and lots of people roaming the streets and every lane / alley/street we down seemed to have hordes of folk all going the other way. Finally we staggered up to the apartment block, flopped/ went into the vestibule. The concierge leapt up asked names and the normal things then looked about,"Pardon m'sieu, your taxi? and the rest of your luggage? I explained that we had walked, that seemed to render him speechless for a few seconds,"Oh m'sieu, mmmmm, Australie?"
From then on we were always introduced to the residents as the Australians who "Walked from l'opera", but with a slight inclination of his head and a sort of pointed finger at the ear as well.
Yes Hortense I do know that means he thought we were crackers.
Talking about crackers, what about Congress eh? Didn't folk use to say that if a butterfly flapped its wings in the jungles of Brazil the rain would tip down in London, or summat like that. Gee, just think of what the flap is like on Wall st. and what the ramifications of that will be.
Yes Hortense I did promise to only talk about things I know about,sorrrreeee,maybe next time then.
Never a great start to a long haul flight, but once in the air the darn thing just oozes class and is so quiet and smooth.
Flying isn't my love, travel is yes , just love it but the getting there at times takes the fun out of the first few days wherever you land I think.My big hate is jet lag as I tend to act even stranger than I am normally.Not a drinker these days as I haven't touched a drop for 34 years, and yes Hortense I am counting, it's what us alcoholics do, we brag about when was the last drink.
Jet lag brings back that out of control thing that is really hard to stop, you know you shouldn't but you do anyway.Does for me anyway, and no Hortense that isn't why the lady shouted at me,I certainly didn't touch her at all, you know how crowded it is on the Metro.
Do you like the way I snuck the word Metro in? That's to let you know I have been to Paris, subtle sort of point scoring thing that I do sometimes.
Yes Hortense I know it was way back in '97, yes yes, but we had left for Barcelona when SHE had that accident the poor love. See I did it again, now you all know I have been to Barcelona. Just sort of slipped out that did, I wasn't going to mention that at all, well not yet anyway.
But Paris really is the BIG thing y'know, and talk about innocents abroad, we walked from the Opera to where we had the apartment in Monmartre on a hot Paris day , was a Wednesday as I recall. Perhaps that's why I'm writing about Paris now, a deja vu thing, y'know sort of Wednesday "Heck I must be in Paris, it was Wednesday when we got there wasn't it"
There were lots and lots of people roaming the streets and every lane / alley/street we down seemed to have hordes of folk all going the other way. Finally we staggered up to the apartment block, flopped/ went into the vestibule. The concierge leapt up asked names and the normal things then looked about,"Pardon m'sieu, your taxi? and the rest of your luggage? I explained that we had walked, that seemed to render him speechless for a few seconds,"Oh m'sieu, mmmmm, Australie?"
From then on we were always introduced to the residents as the Australians who "Walked from l'opera", but with a slight inclination of his head and a sort of pointed finger at the ear as well.
Yes Hortense I do know that means he thought we were crackers.
Talking about crackers, what about Congress eh? Didn't folk use to say that if a butterfly flapped its wings in the jungles of Brazil the rain would tip down in London, or summat like that. Gee, just think of what the flap is like on Wall st. and what the ramifications of that will be.
Yes Hortense I did promise to only talk about things I know about,sorrrreeee,maybe next time then.
Monday, 29 September 2008
ink marks on a blank page-tuesday
As if there wasn't enough turmoil with the American elections and McCain v Obama with some folks saying Obama must be Muslim because of his name, others repeating the mantra that McCain is too old. Old for what? being Pres . is a hard job but the incumbent has gone along in it for about 8years and hasn't woken up yet, so what has age got to do with it.See, gone and done it again haven't I, just as you thought I would only talk about what I know I go and spoil the dream.
Getting back to the real world takes a lot out of one, a revelation next you ponder , perhaps.
I am actually not just a follower of all things American but in real life I am a closet Anglophile.
Yeah, creepy aint it.
No Hortense, that doesn't mean looking at old postcards from the souk, just means the poor fellow is a little dippy about England.Hortense, now don't be silly,it isn't the same at all, really woman you are wicked.
That I should like to live there about five months of the year is neither here nor there, and being that I am here and not there I should really explain why it is I would like to live there. Whoops !Best I stop, and just get on with showing why, for I am getting a tad confused with all the here and there, and you dear reader must be as well.
The English cities flux and change rapidly,the immense surge in migration from EU countries has seen massive change, but the English villages and countryside seem to be timeless and to me as someone travelling there on a regular basis, have a permanence which gives off a feeling of solidarity and home.
The English also do pomp and circmstance well , changing of the guard, royal weddings,divorces even and garden shows.
This year we got to see the Chelsea Flower show again, simply magic and the sort of thing the Brits do really well.
Getting back to the real world takes a lot out of one, a revelation next you ponder , perhaps.
I am actually not just a follower of all things American but in real life I am a closet Anglophile.
Yeah, creepy aint it.
No Hortense, that doesn't mean looking at old postcards from the souk, just means the poor fellow is a little dippy about England.Hortense, now don't be silly,it isn't the same at all, really woman you are wicked.
That I should like to live there about five months of the year is neither here nor there, and being that I am here and not there I should really explain why it is I would like to live there. Whoops !Best I stop, and just get on with showing why, for I am getting a tad confused with all the here and there, and you dear reader must be as well.
The English cities flux and change rapidly,the immense surge in migration from EU countries has seen massive change, but the English villages and countryside seem to be timeless and to me as someone travelling there on a regular basis, have a permanence which gives off a feeling of solidarity and home.
The English also do pomp and circmstance well , changing of the guard, royal weddings,divorces even and garden shows.
This year we got to see the Chelsea Flower show again, simply magic and the sort of thing the Brits do really well.
ink marks on a blank page-monday
Bit banal to start off by saying, 'where do I start'? That is the burning and leading question though and there is never really a cogent or clear direction.Start what ,how, is there an intent? does the writer want to inform / rage /vent /satirise or just let all and sundry know what his/ her opinion is on whatever the main topic of the day is. I live in Australia so I can't talk with authority on the American elections or the money crisis they have created which is having an effect world wide with any great authority.
Australia,as I have noted when I have travelled the world, does not receive much press about anything of consequence that happens here apart from when we wanted to cull some koalas that were eating themselves out of house and home on Kangaroo Island. Animals I might add that had been introduced to that place and have bred up out of control and are subsequently starving, but they are cuddly little critters aren't they, and they do feature on our national icon list.
I shall leave that as I know it is controversial, and for their first blog who wants to inflame without notice? Instead I shall post a poem I wrote, adding that most of my poetry is autobiographical.
Thanks for getting this far, robbi (29-09-08)
oh Shirley
pirouette of my childhood
redgold autumn hair glinting in dusty sun,
you laughed and teased
spun dreams with indelible lies,
and bade me love you
for I did.
warm memories of forever summers
and hidden fumbles
etched your heart on my soul,
as the days spread open
you blithely danced your schemes whilst I segued my way
through each tangled web ,
then waited in weary eagerness for
night and sleep, just another passage to the doorway
of your history becoming my dreams
we watched the autumn dragonflies as they flew joined
in loves grace together , kissing still green water
then once , you said we could do that
as all innocents have and will, we did
perhaps it was then
when the taste of your saltiness awakened lust
I knew that this was where life began
the child had left ,
we had lost the icon of youth,
summer magic became just a fleeting season
the days were simply numbered hours ,
sleep reclaimed the night
age overcame the reason
Australia,as I have noted when I have travelled the world, does not receive much press about anything of consequence that happens here apart from when we wanted to cull some koalas that were eating themselves out of house and home on Kangaroo Island. Animals I might add that had been introduced to that place and have bred up out of control and are subsequently starving, but they are cuddly little critters aren't they, and they do feature on our national icon list.
I shall leave that as I know it is controversial, and for their first blog who wants to inflame without notice? Instead I shall post a poem I wrote, adding that most of my poetry is autobiographical.
Thanks for getting this far, robbi (29-09-08)
oh Shirley
pirouette of my childhood
redgold autumn hair glinting in dusty sun,
you laughed and teased
spun dreams with indelible lies,
and bade me love you
for I did.
warm memories of forever summers
and hidden fumbles
etched your heart on my soul,
as the days spread open
you blithely danced your schemes whilst I segued my way
through each tangled web ,
then waited in weary eagerness for
night and sleep, just another passage to the doorway
of your history becoming my dreams
we watched the autumn dragonflies as they flew joined
in loves grace together , kissing still green water
then once , you said we could do that
as all innocents have and will, we did
perhaps it was then
when the taste of your saltiness awakened lust
I knew that this was where life began
the child had left ,
we had lost the icon of youth,
summer magic became just a fleeting season
the days were simply numbered hours ,
sleep reclaimed the night
age overcame the reason
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