Author: jkirkby8712

Last night, instead of my intended appearance on the radio, I spent quite a few hours cooking a late slow cooking roast, and then a few more hours sorting through old photographs, covering my life and activities, mainly through the 1960s. That little exercise brought back a few memories, and lots of names of people I used to work and/or socialise with, and in a number of cases, I found myself wondering where those people were these days, and whether like myself at this time, they ever thought back over past years, and remembered ‘Bill Kirk’. Probably not, and he was never a very ‘memorable’ character, soon forgotten once life moved on!! Oddly enough, most of them haven’t been forgotten by me, and I have retained most letters, photos, documents, etc, over my lifetime. Not sure to what purpose, but it’s a fact, and last night, I found myself giving much thought to some of those people who came into my life at different periods.

I got up this morning, to find the kind of news headline I’ve always dreaded seeing whenever I used to watch the hot air balloons over the city of Melbourne  – from this morning  in New Zealand  –   Eleven people have died when a hot air balloon was engulfed in flames in New Zealand.  The balloon came down in flames at Clareville, near the Wairarapa township of Carterton, about 7.30am local time (0530 AEDT) on Saturday. Local resident David McKinlay said he was watering the garden of his home on the northern boundary of Carterton at 7.40am (0540 AEDT) when he looked up toward the northeast. “I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” he said.. “There were flames licking up the basket on one side, up towards the guy ropes of the balloon itself and probably just about reaching the fabric of the balloon,” he told AAP. The balloon came down at speed in a paddock on Somerset Road. Mr McKinlay ran inside to alert emergency services.  “When I got back out I could just see the mass of flame where the actual balloon was on fire. It had completely disintegrated and it was just a long – probably 10 or 15 metres long – trail of flame coming in toward the ground at colossal speed,” he said. Wairarapa District Health Board spokeswoman Jill Stringer told AAP that 11 people died.  First reports were received by police at 7.26am. Police say there have been multiple fatalities but they have not confirmed the number killed. The area is a popular hot air ballooning destination and the annual Balloons Over Wairarapa festival is held there.  New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission has opened an inquiry into the accident.  “It is going to be a terrible thing for Carterton,” Mr McKinlay said

Here in Sunbury, a coolish day, mid 20s, with overcast conditions from time to time threatening rain. But apart from a few splashes here and there, it had not come by evening.  It was about mid-afternoon, when I drove over to Sunbury’s Clark Oval, to watch my son’s cricket match. I arrived  about 20 minutes before the opposition’s innings finished – top team in the D Grade Division, Gisborne, all out for 101 runs.  Adam and his team should have been feeling reasonably confident they could beat that score, so long as the rain stayed away!  Adam took two catches during his fielding time, and then he came in to open the innings for Sunbury. He was in for 3 or 4 overs, but unfortunately, after been hit on the body twice in one over, he was then caught behind, for just 3 runs [I thought he’d scored more than that, but apparently there were a few Byes recorded as well]. Four more of his team mates didn’t fare much better, and with all of a sudden, 5 wickets down for 40+ runs, things were starting to look serious. But then we had a match winning partnership, which got to within 2 runs of victory before it was broken, however, it was only a matter of time before those required runs were scored, and Adam’s team had secured a handy victory against the top team in their grade.

The rest of my Saturday, and evening, was spent quietly at home!  Looking back at my diary on this day, in 2005, it seems to have been one long procession of my picking up, driving, or dropping off, one or other of my children from one part of Sunbury to another [the youngest would have been 16 that year, but at least three of them were still dependant on ‘old Dad’ for a ride to their various venues of activity – work, sport, parties, etc!!  I noticed that I was also on call that night for the YRIPP program –  on call to go the local police station and provide a ‘trained’ adult presence should any unaccompanied minors be there for police interviews. I had trained for that in 2004 mainly, but only received a couple of calls in that time [which I was unable to attend] – I would eventually pull out of the program, as I was not keen on the  ‘on call’ nature of the program, I preferred to have my days, and nights determined in advance as far as possible!

My intention was to again fill in a gap on the radio station tonight, with a mixture of jazz and show music.  However, decided after another ‘rough night’ of sleeping, tired, and not feeling as well as I would wish to be, that I’d give tonight a miss  – I was not expected by listeners I don’t think, and simply felt like a brief break until Sunday morning.  I did let one listener know of my intentions [or should we say ‘non-intentions’], and received a rather nice response  –  ‘Thank you Bill, you are over doing things. You must slow down, enjoy your retirement. Give yourself time to adjust to your new routine, your health and well being TOP PRIORITY. I am giving you a PEP talk from my heart. Hope you feel better soon./ Jayne”,  Jayne is one of the station’s most loyal listeners, and actually admits to regarding 3NRG Sunbury as her family out here in Australia, and she doesn’t even live here in the town, but in Melbourne’s south eastern suburbs, about an hour from here by train! She has suffered from immense health problems over the past twelve months or so in addition to the recent loss of a brother [on Christmas Eve] over in Scotland. I do generally try and find at least one piece of music most programs, that has some kind of Scottish connection with it!

Meanwhile, at the newsagent this morning, found myself thinking of a couple of other people myself  –   and purchased a couple of cards for the circumstances involved –  brother Robert, who turns 63 next Wednesday, and long time friend [and former girlfriend of 40 years ago], Shirley, who lost her mother, last Friday. By coincidence, I was sorting through some old photographs last night, and came across a few photos from the late 1960s/early 1970s involving ‘Shirley’ [the old friend] and myself. She looked rather stunning in a ball gown that she was wearing, obviously for one of those ‘old style’ balls we used to go to in those days – although if I remember rightly, something she drank that night, did not ‘treat her very well’, and her night ended up with my ‘date’ feeling a little unwell!!  Memories, not always the way you would like them to be, but nevertheless, all a part of good and bad times in life. Another little verse I found somewhere, comes to mind here:

Life can be brief

In nature’s world,

A season’s but an hour,

And those who take the bad too soon

May never see

The flower –

It only seems a few months ago that we saw the creation of a new nation in Africa, with the arrival of Southern Sudan out of Sudan. But it seems that a new name and new existence does little to change the way things are in that part of the world.  I’m seeing reports of more than 3000 people killed in South Sudan last week in ethnic violence, that forced thousands of others to flee  – although ‘fleeing’ seems to what the people in part of the original Sudan have been doing for decades –  these kind of mass killings or massacres seem able to be perpetuated despite the presence of United Nations personnel, South Sudanese army,. etc   With the report that this is the worst outbreak of ethnic violence in the new nation since it split from Sudan in July, seems to be the indication that such violence is an ongoing activity anyway. Also seems that nothing has changed in terms of conflict and violence between the various ‘tribes’ of much of Africa down the centuries. As I read that, I’m wondering what has happened to a Sudanese friend/refugee who was in Melbourne some years ago – we brought Godfrey out to the Sunbury Church to talk to the congregation about the plight of Sudanese refugees, and in fact, at one stage, undertook a fund raising effort to bring a small group – two adults and two boys –  out here to Melbourne as approved refugees to this country. Presumably they are still here somewhere, the boys would be teenagers by now. But Godfrey went back to the Sudan, where for the past few years he has been working to better the life of many of his fellow countrymen and women, and from memory, he would have been very enthusiastic about the creation of Southern Sudan.  I wonder where he is now  –  his old email and mobile phone illicit no response when one tries to contact him, and the one occasion when he was back in Melbourne briefly for the Christmas of 2010, initial plans to meet up with him, fell through, and contact has been lost since. We even had a Sunday afternoon tea and meeting here at my home a few years ago, when he spoke about the work he was doing in his homeland. An example of a refugee who found his way to Australia, but has returned two or three times to his own country – simply to help the people there, at considerable risk to his own future out here I would imagine. I might come back to Godfrey, and our past associations, in a future contribution, in the meantime, my intention is to renew my efforts to contact him.

As for the cricket, the 2^nd Test ended, once again this Summer, a day early, when Australia eventually bowled out the Indian team late yesterday afternoon, to win the match by an Innings and 68 runs, and take a 2-0 lead in the four test series. Disappointment of the day [and probably not just for Indian supporters] was that Sachin Tendulkar failed again to scored ‘that elusive’ 100th century in international cricket. That ‘expectation’ will follow him now to Perth, for the 3^rd Test, due to start there on the 13^th January. Meanwhile, not surprisingly, after his mammoth batting effort at the weekend, Australian captain, Michael Clarke, was named ‘Man of the Match’. But not all good news for Australia. Successful new fast bowler, James Pattinson, has been ruled out of the rest of the series, due to an injury to his foot. Pattinson has been the player of the Summer, claiming 25 wickets in four tests, but he now joins  Australia’s growing casualty list of injured players.

Meanwhile, in the national soccer competition, the so far unsuccessful season for the Melbourne Victory team [after a number of top seasons] has had the inevitable outcome for the man at the top –  the Club sacked successful coach, Ernie Merrick in January 2011, and later in June, appointed Mehmet Durakovic as the new Coach. However, just 3 wins from 14 games, and now he is gone –  the club’s view being that ‘the club is in a position which isn’t acceptable and change is required’!! Durakovic was sacked this morning! Thankfully, for Victorian soccer fans, the other team down here – Melbourne Heart in it’s second season, is currently close to the top of the ladder and continuing to perform very well.

My contributions over recent weeks have given a lot of time to cricket. As a loyal Test cricket fan, I make no apologies for that. This is a one-off  entry, in order to share a front page article in this morning’s Age newspaper, concerning Michael Clarke’s contribution as captain of the Australian cricket team. The journalist was Greg Baum.

“MICHAEL Clarke walked out to bat at 4.43pm on Tuesday, in a crisis. Day and night came and went, and came and went. The SCG emptied, filled, emptied, was repackaged in Glenn McGrath pink and filled again. Several prime ministers happened by.  Two elders and betters joined him for about a day each, making mere and competent centuries. Two Big Bash League matches were played and instantly lost to memory. Clarke repeatedly changed bats and gloves, and exchanged helmet for cap, cap for helmet. India switched bowlers, balls and fieldsmen in their positions, unavailingly.  Crisis was averted, supremacy stamped in its place. History beckoned. By the first over after lunch yesterday, normally unhurried patrons were pouring down the aisles towards their seats, realising they now were witnesses as well as fans.

At 2.11pm yesterday, after nearly 10½ batting hours, Clarke was 329 not out, king of the SCG and within a couple more of those lacerating cover drives of surpassing Don Bradman, among others, on the honour roll of highest individual Test innings. Then he declared.  Doubtlessly, he figured that Australia’s gargantuan 468-run lead was ample, that victory was the only objective, and that Australia would need the second half of the match to bowl out India again. As it transpired, it took Australia the rest of the day and all its bowling wherewithal to take two wickets.  Yet to some minds, Clarke’s declaration was tactically hasty and had another motivation. Implicit in that thinking is that by affecting ultimate selflessness, he was seeking unreserved acceptance. Here is the last vestige of the mysterious phenomenon by which 2004’s debut centurion and boy wonder so totally lost favour with Australian cricket fans that, at the end of last summer, he was summarily booed by them

Many theories have been advanced. The most persistent is that for a boy from Sydney’s west he was too consumed by lifestyle – the car, clothes, THAT girl – and not enough by cricket. In the land of the aspirational, his sin was to aspire. But in cricket terms he had shunned easy Indian money and, when made captain, quickly showed himself to be an intuitive and astute one. More probably, his unforgivable – though hardly exclusive – latter-day failing was to not make enough runs. But be it approval or scores, building them necessarily are long-term projects. Here is yesterday’s moral.  An innings such as this is by definition larger than life, yet consists of a repetition of life-sized acts: those glorious cover drives, that effortless easing to leg, the feather-light footwork against the off-spinner. Any one ball might have halted it. Ask Shaun Marsh, who faced only one, or Rahul Dravid, who last night was bowled by an exceptional one by Ben Hilfenhaus, or Sachin Tendulkar, who so nearly was. Yet Clarke outlived all of the game’s happenstance, leaving for the record an innings that will far outlive him.  At first, Australia’s pinched circumstances weighed, and Clarke was providently flighty. But once into his innings, it was notable for its even temper and tempo. He became neither bogged down nor carried away. He was rarely tempted, by fast bowlers or slow, but nor was he deceived. Past 300, he still let go balls that posed no threat and would gain him nothing. Clarke knew there was plenty more hay to make.  When India was bedraggled on Wednesday evening, he sped from 150 to 250 in 108 balls. When India regrouped yesterday morning, he was content to face 91 more to get to 300. Truthfully, India had long since stopped trying to get him out, settling instead for attrition. The seamers bowled wide to off-side fields as crowded as Kolkata, the spinner bowled with a leg slip. There was little subtlety.  Ishant Sharma, the most persevering of the Indian bowlers, troubled him, but only every other hour or so. Three hundred posted, he swung airily at Sharma once or twice, not so much liberties as flickers in concentration.

 
His celebrations were variations on a theme, each hug tighter than the last. For the two to reach 200, he ran with his hands in the air and rounded the non-striker’s wicket as if it were a base. At 300, he gave it the works: a kiss of the helmet, a squeeze for and from Michael Hussey, an acknowledgement of the McGrath Foundation.  The ovation was like the innings, rousing, resonant and sustained. In its echo, an era might have begun”.

I was interested to read in yesterday’s media, that Victorian Premier, Ted Bailleau’s Coalition State Government has recorded it’s biggest slump in support since winning government in November 2010, losing four percentage points of it’s primary vote to Labor, in a rare sign of trouble for the conservative side of politics in the Julia Gillard era. It is the first time in a decade state government has finished its first year in a weaker position than when it was elected.  While Bailleau’s personal standing is still strong as comparted with his Opposition leader, and he is still well liked,  the personal ratings don’t compensate for what opinion makers claim is a troubling poll for the Victorian government.  My view is that they seem to be ‘stumbling’ along with government without creating too much excitement most of the time, while in comparison, with Labor under its new leader, one barely seems to be aware that they exist, unless you were a Labor supporter. Perhaps it is simply because it is state politics and doesn’t get the same media coverage between elections, than at the Federal level  –  certainly, the volatile negative attacking nature of the Federal Opposition, appears on the surface to be much lacking at the State opposition level. Nevertheless, it appears obvious that Mr Bailleau’s government will need become more pro-active in 2012, and let the voting public become more aware that things are taking place, and that changes for the better are occurring in this state. Those things are not so apparent at the present time, we just seem to be gliding along!!

A bit of reading early this morning, of ‘Tobruk’ by Peter Fitzsimons  –  a cable from British PM Winston Churchill, dated  10 January 1941 to the Australian forces in North Africa at the time “Nothing must hamper the capture of Tobruk, but thereafter all operations in Libya are subordinated to aiding Greece. We expect and require prompt and active compliance with our decisions, for which we bear full responsibility” [p.122].  This was related to that fact that while the Italians had not really been successful in their ‘invasion/attack’ ob Greece, it was anticipated that the Germans would soon invade Greece themselves. A long standing agreement between Britain and Greece that the countries would come to the aid of each other in such circumstances, meant an obligation on the Britain to do just that for Greece. But Britain at the time was running short of troop resources to commit to such a venture  –  the Australians in North Africa were their best option to meet that aid commitment……….I’m finding this book extremely interesting, but at Chapter 6 of 17 lengthy and detailed chapters [after two weeks occasional reading] I have a way to go!!

Weather a little cooler today, felt I must make the effort to get out in the garden later. Yesterday, I had my first walk for the year, and while the left ankle does not yet feel 100%, it held up fairly well during that walk.  Will go out again, early  this evening after the heat of the day has passed.  Susie was away overnight again, and this morning, the house was quiet, something I’m well used to at present. The TV would only go on during the day for something like the cricket, which was of course continuing this morning, as the Australians, and Michael Clarke in particular, continued with their big innings.  More on that later, no doubt!

{i had a brief look back at my Diary for 2006, written prior to commencing this blog later that year  –  just one sentence on a foolscap page for Thursday 5 January 2006 –  it said ‘Joined David and Raquel at lunchtime, they were walking Jodie’s dog’  – they were three co-workers at my workplace of the time, at the Alternative Technology Association, and we were all obviously out walking in the Fitzroy Gardens, which were conveniently across the road from our offices. Jodie, who was not with us, had obviously brought her large dog into the office for the day!!!!]

Not sure where I found the words below, just a little collection I have of unsourced quotations, it sounded just right for this morning – it’s such a pity, that in so many parts of today’s world, that kind of philosophy doesn’t or won’t apply to the way many peoples lives and think!

If each of us fights

cruelty, injustice and greed

in our own little worlds,

perhaps there will be no need

for the next generation

to go to war –

And similarly, this verse could follow on from that thought  – wouldn’t it be great to have the goodwill and generosity of crowd support that was taking place at the Sydney Cricket Ground today, at what was described as the McGrath Foundation ‘pink’ day of cricket [see below]

There are some causes

for which I would die –

cruelty, injustice and greed

but I cannot think of one

for which I would kill

Today, at the  Sydney Cricket ground, we had Pink Stumps day 2012, as part of Day 3 of the second Test match between India and Australia, in support of the battle against breast cancer. The ground was covered in a pink tinge with pink signage, stumps and Australian players sporting pink batting grips, and the fans also joined in on the act and turned the grandstands pink as well.  The trademark Pink Stumps day intended to raise more than 1 million dollars for the Jane McGrath Foundation, was initiated by former fast bowler Glenn McGrath’s then wife, Jane, who died of breast cancer in 2008. McGrath was also present at the ground during the match, where he also helped host the annual Jane McGrath High Tea. Since the inaugural pink Test at the SCG in 2009, the funds raised have been utilized by the Foundation to place specialist breast cancer nurses in communities right across Australia and to augment breast cancer awareness among young women. The Channel 9 cricket commentary team also fully joined in the occasion with their large floppy pink, one of them even daring to wear a pink suit, which personally I thought looked terrible!!  However it was all part of a wonderful spirit of support for the ideals of the foundation, and which has become an annual event on Day 3 of the Sydney Test match..

It was also a day of records at the cricket, as far as Australia was concerned. The Aussies resumed this morning at 4 wickets fore 482, with Michael Clarke not out 251 and Michael Hussey not out 55.  The following reports tell the story of the day as far as the cricket was concerned.

Well Michael Clarke, the Australian captain,  thinks anyone who believes a victory will come quickly in the 2^nd Test, despite the Australian cricket team being well on top, are kidding themselves, and insists that team must be prepared to work hard to ensure a win..  The captain made a mammoth 329 not out in Australia’s 4(dec)-659 in reply to India’s first innings of 191, meaning the tourists needed 468 in their second innings just to make the hosts bat again.  Looking at the Nine network report of the game, we read the following.   Australia still have their worries at the top of the order, but their colossal first innings in the second Test against India at the SCG was a triumphant return to dominance with the bat. .  The hosts are just eight wickets from taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-Test series going into Friday’s fourth day but Clarke thinks anyone who believes a victory will come quickly are kidding themselves.  The captain made a mammoth 329 not out in Australia’s 4(dec)-659 in reply to India’s first innings of 191, meaning the tourists needed 468 in their second innings just to make the hosts bat again.   Australia declared at 4-659 with Michael Clarke 329 not out and Michael Hussey unbeaten on 150, and with nearly two and a half days left in the Test, they really could have kept on going The 163-over effort at the crease was the equal second highest team total amassed at the SCG.  It was Australia’s biggest innings total since an Ashes Test against England in Cardiff back in 2009.  They scored 6-674 declared that day, but in more recent times Australia have found it a battle just to even get past 150.  To break the shackles will give the batting line-up a timely boost of confidence at a time when the bowling attack seems to have finally found the right balance and plan.  The two-day massacre of India at the SCG was also the first time since that same Ashes Test at Cardiff that three or more Australian batsmen have scored centuries in an innings.  Back in July 2009 it was Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting, Marcus North and Brad Haddin..  This time it was Clarke, Hussey and Ricky Ponting’s meaningful 1  On day one and two, captains past and present, Ponting and Clarke, racked up a 288-run partnership.  It was a record partnership by Australian pairings against India, but it lasted less than 24 hours.  On day three Clarke and Hussey made short work of the 288 and turned it into a monstrous 334 not out – the fourth biggest ever compiled at the SCG in its landmark 100th Test. Clarke’s 329 not out was the fourth highest innings by an Australian, fifth highest ever by a captain and the biggest score and first triple hundred seen at the SCG.  In contrast, back in  November, 2011,  against South Africa in Cape Town, historians were struggling to keep up with the horrific second day which saw Australia lose 9-21 and be all out for a 102-year-low of 47.  That record highs and not record lows were being brought up at a rate of knots in Sydney just a month and a half later, can only be a good thing for Australia as they fight to reclaim the No.1 spot in the world Test rankings.  Incidentally, had Michael Clarke kept batting, he would have surpassed the previous highest Australian Test scorers of the late Donald Bradman, and Nine commentator and former Australian captain, Mark Taylor scores of 334 [when Taylor made that score in 1998, he declared, rather than exceeding the Bradman score. Subsequent to that match, Matthew Hayden scored a mammoth 380 runs in 2003 in a Test match over in Perth.

Here is Michael Clarke with the ‘pink’ environment clear in the background –

For cricket lovers in Australia, the 5^th January, 2012,. Particularly if you were at the Sydney Cricket Ground would be a ‘pink’ day to remember. Incidentally, chasing Australia’s big lead,. with two days to play, the Indians were 2 wickets down for 116 runs at Stumps tonight.

The major purpose for which I began to write these contributions, back in September 2006 was to share with those who cared to read them, events of interest to myself, both within Australia, and internationally,  sharing both my views and those of journalists and other media commentators, etc  – bit of an emphasise on politics, sport, music & the arts, and social issues generally. Some examples of what I’m referring to, appear later in this contribution.  Over the last year or so, my writings have broadened to encompass more personal day to day events, and I generally try and submit a contribution on each day. Occasionally we go missing for a few days, and suddenly you might find a consolidated approach which incorporates a number of days.  The things that are of particular importance to your ‘personal essayist’ [a title I modestly apply to myself] are  my community radio involvement, music, books, films, concerts, sport,  and commentaries on social and political issues, and admittedly, these often tend to dominate my contributions. While in ‘modern’ terms, most people would describe my writings as a form of ‘blog diary’, I don’t really like the word ‘blog’, hence you will generally find that I use the term ‘contribution’!

This is how I started on the 11 September, 2006  –  ‘My philosophy is that ‘Life wasn’t meant to be easy’  but you make what you can of it, and treat everyone else as if that was the way you would like them to treat you.   The essence of life is friendship, and while a true and good friend may not always be easy to find [or to retain], once you have that special element of a real friend, you will remain so for life, I sincerely believe that.  This writer is a quiet natured guy, but who always remains loyal to his friends, and their interests, and enjoys the opportunity to share those interests, concerns, desires, whatever –    he has many interests and ‘hobbies’ [if that’s the right word] of his own which he will share at the appropriate time with any with a genuine interest in doing so.  Try me, I’d love to hear from ‘YOU’……………………………  whilst this initial  blog was on Yahoo360, I came into contact with a number of interesting people, but since that avenue disappeared, and I’ve transferred my contributions to other blog sites, that interaction has dried up, and it has become a little like many of my radio programs – I feel so often, as though I’m talking to myself. And yet there is, like the radio, always someone out there, listening [or reading], one simply doesn’t hear from them however.

My life is not really one of ‘adventure’, so if that is what is being searched for in the physical sense, you will probably be bored and/or disinterested. In fact, having just retired from full time employment, and subsequently not as young as I once was, that aspect of my daily activities will probably lessen further as time passes. I do live a ‘quiet’ life, despite many interests and a lifelong involvement in community organisations and work.  So with the beginning of a new year, I guess my future aims and prospects, in respect to both what I want to do with my life from hereon, and how I would like to continue with this ‘blog’ [if you like], are both up for reconsideration. As indicated previously, there is much I would like to achieve in the years ahead, but generally those ‘things’ don’t include world shattering experiences like international travel, late in life sporting achievements, or any kind of fame  – if  ambitions such as completing the writing of a family history, improving the look and quality of my garden, making headway through the reading of my large and varied book collection, or consolidating my involvement in community organisations such as the local radio society, and the family history society, together with other  like involvements, or a pride in activities of family or friends,  or simply seeing more of Australia – if those kind of things don’t sound exciting enough reading  –   well, I’m sorry, but I’m not really going to change a great deal because those things ‘represent’ the writer and his persona. But I’m always open to suggestions as to how I can attract more readers – happy to always consider those things, just so long as it doesn’t essentially force me to change my interests [which are admittedly wide and varied] because that means changing the person I am.  People who visit my home, for eg,  may express surprise at a lounge-room dominated by bookshelves and books [rather than, for example,  thousands of dollars worth of entertainment systems, etc] but then,  they have to accept ‘that is Bill’, his ‘thing’, and while another material items or activities on display may be another person’s ‘treasure’, books are my ‘gold and treasure’.  Of course there is a downside to that ‘love’  –  books take up a lot of space, and time [if moving], and I constantly worry about what will really happen to my book collections, when something happens to me!!

Anyway, over the days and weeks ahead, I shall return to those thoughts from time to time.  In the meantime, this morning, whilst I was referring to some of the day’s news headlines, on our local radio station, I was a little disturbed at one story –  The U-S led war in Iraq killed about 162,000 people, of which 79% [or 128,000] were civilians, including about 9,000 Iraqi police officers. The US military death toll in the period was 4,484 with roadside bombs the most common cause of casualties. These statistics related to the period 2003 until last month, and were compiled by a British non-government organisation called ‘Iraq Body Count’, one of the few organisations to keep a meticulous record of fatalities. Reporting in The Times, James Hider noted that ‘The worst scene of violence was Baghdad, hit by suicide bombings, stalked by death squads – many of them in the uniforms of the security forces –   and reshaped by a sectarian ethnic cleansing that has permanently changed the demographics of the city. Residents were 2 ½ times more likely to be killed than in other areas of the country………………….The violence peaked in 2006, when Baghdad felt the full brunt of sunni-versus-sh’ite violence fuelled by a ruthless al-Qa’ida bombing campaign that triggered a full-scale sectarian civil war’  The closing comment in that article illustrates the fear that many of us had, as to what would occur once the Americans left Iraq [irrespective of whether one believed they should have invaded in the first place]  – one Iraqi leader recently warned that Iraq risks sliding back into dictatorship and war ‘The prize, for which so many American soldiers believed they were fighting, was a functioning democratic and non-sectarian state…But Iraq is now moving in the opposite direction towards a sectarian autocracy that carries with it the threat of devastating civil war’. That seems to me to be a worse situation, than the state of the country, and at what cost – 182,000 lives, so far!!

As for another dictatorial leader, I see that the daughter of  Muammar Gaddafi [who was killed after being dragged from a drainage ditch in his home town of Sirte in August] is taking legal action to basically have the nature of her father’s death investigated, as a war crime.  While it seems rather hypocritical and ironic, in view of some of crimes against his people that Gaddafi has been accused of,  she is demanding, through her lawyer, why the International Criminal Court in The Hague is not investigating a ‘possible war crime’. Gaddafi was paraded, bloodied, but standing and talking, in front of rebels wielding guns. He was, apparently, sodomised with a bayonet, almost all of it caught on film. Then suddenly, he and his son Mutassim, who was also filmed alive in custody, were dead!  I have no sympathy for Gaddafi, but I have wondered at the manner in which he was killed under the circumstances described, and tend to agree with the view of the lawyer who has stated that ‘No matter what you might have thought of Muammar Gaddafi, this was a truly horrific act and in order to preserve the crime scene an immediate investigation should have been initiated’ [by NATO and/or other forces involved].

I mentioned above, the radio show I did this morning.  While it was rather difficult to want to get up at 5am this morning, once I was out and on my way, it was into a beautiful fresh morning  – overnight, a coolish change had moved into the area, and while during my time up at the station, Sunbury was hit by a severe thunderstorm and heavy rain [which at one point had me feeling that the power was about to go off in the studio], it was quite pleasant, though overcast outside, and any earlier reservations I might have had about going in this morning, quickly disappeared.  I was relieving for the regular Wednesday morning presenter [and still had a couple more weeks to do so], which meant 3 hours, of news, weather, music, etc from 6am to 9am. I enjoyed doing that program, and partway through it received one of those rare messages, that make this particular voluntary role worthwhile. That little message read as follows  –  ‘Great program Bill, got the sound up over the thunder; you have made my morning shine, thank you’!! 

For Australian cricket fans, today was a great day at the cricket. In Sydney it was Day 2 of the 2^nd Test between Australia and India. I wasn’t really going to watch a great deal of cricket today, but with a wonderful Australian partnership, and some big scores in the offering, it was difficult not to resist!! Let’s have a look at the day, point by point.

• At beginning of Day 2 play: Australia 3 for 116 [Ponting -44, Clarke -47]  in reply to India 191
• At lunch break:  Australia  3 for 236  [Ponting – n.o. 97; Clarke – n.o. 103]
• Ricky Ponting eventually out during the afternoon session for 134 Runs [faced 225 balls]  – his 40^th Test match Century [69 scores of 50 plus]. Partnership between he and Michael Clarke was 288 runs [score was now 4 for 325]. Records of Ponting for Australia –  40 Test centuries; 22 of them in Australia; 6 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
• Note:   Ricky Ponting – played 160 Test matches [273 Innings], now played 108 more Test matches than Don Bradman.
• At the Tea break, the score was 4 for 349  –  Michael Clarke no 170 and Michael Hussey no 8.
• During the Tea-Stumps session, no more wickets, but a further 133 runs were scored.
• At Stumps, Day 2  –  Australia  4 wickets for 482 runs [291 runs in front of India] with Michael Clarke no 251 runs, Michael Hussey no 54 runs.  Clarke’s score is the highest Test score at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Cricket Australia described the day in this fashion.       ‘A career-high double century from Skipper Michael Clarke and a drought-breaking Ton to Ricky Ponting have left Australia in complete control against India on Stumps on Day Two of the Second Test at the SCG.  It was a day of total dominance for the hosts who piled on 366 runs for the loss of just one wicket to be 4-482 at stumps, leading by 291 runs with three days still to play.  Clarke (251 not out) and Ponting (134) set the tone with a breathtaking 288-run stand before Michael Hussey (55 not out) joined his captain in an unbeaten century partnership to complete a miserable day for the tourists.  While Ponting’s first Test century in 721 days kept the 30,077 crowd on the edge of their seats, the day belonged to his successor who pummelled a listless Indian attack to all parts of the SCG.  The captain smashed 31 boundaries and a six in his unbeaten 438-minute, 342-ball knock to post the highest ever Test score by an Australian at the SCG.  He surpassed Doug Walters’ 242 against the West Indies in 1968/69 with a blistering cover drive off Zaheer Kahn to cap a memorable day on his home ground’.

On the tennis front, there are a number of tournaments happen in Australia over the next couple of weeks as a lead-in to the Australian Open, but I notice that none of the free to air channels seem to be telecasting them this year. I did find one tournament was on a non-regular channel, so I let my wife’s mother know, that if she was able to get this particular channel on the TV set she had been given in the last year or so, there was tennis to be watched. She is a very enthusiastic tennis fan [at 91 years], and I knew that it was possible for her to get the matches, she would be watching!!  Meanwhile, about 45 minutes north of Sunbury, at a small place called Hanging Rock  [made famous by the novel ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’], they have two major horse race meetings each year at the small race track in the area – one on New Years Day, and one on Australia Day [26 January]. Last year, the Australia Day meeting had to be cancelled because the track was invaded by a mob of kangaroos, and for some reason, officials couldn’t get rid of them – a big disappointment to the crowd of up to 10,000 who normally attend what is a great family picnic day at the Hanging Rock races.  On Sunday last, in the midst of the heatwave conditions, a crowd of around 6,000 were on the course.  At the end of the first race on Sunday, after a horse stumbled about 150 metres from the finishing line, officials inspected the track, and found a large hole on the track, and because of the danger it posed to horses and riders, the meeting was cancelled after that first race!! Whilst similar instances have occurred at other country race tracks, it is a real disaster\ for this small club that depends on just two meetings per year. At this stage it’s uncertain whether the Australia Day meeting will be able to proceed or not!!

Just a brief comment or two on issues or events of the day that came to my notice >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I shall return!

Yesterday’s heatwave continued through the night, and into today – with authorities warning that this is just a sampled of what we can expect over the next 2-3 months. ‘Get used to it’ they say!!  The other warning, which I find particularly disturbing, are the cases of people leaving children in locked cars during such extreme conditions  – apparently there were at least four instances yesterday, although thankfully, the children in each case were ‘released’ fairly speedily.  Very true that ‘we need to look after each other during these periods of heat’, especially the elderly and the very young.  As one ambulance paramedic pointed out yesterday, in respect to children being left in cars –   [there were 1500 reported cases of children being ‘rescued’ from cars in Victoria over the past 12 months – unbelievable]  –  ‘Cracking the window or having it open marginally makes no difference – in a car on a 29C day…..in 10 minutes it can climb to in excess of 40 degrees. Leave it a few more minutes and it’s in excess of 60. And that is an immediate life threat”.  And yet people continue to do, thinking they will just be a few minutes!!  Criminal!

During my radio shows, I advertise and promote various concerts, performances, etc that are happening both locally, and in the city area. There is one particular performance which occurs every summer in Melbourne’s Botanic Gardens. This year, the Australian Shakespeare Company is celebrating it’s 25^th year performing the classic story of ‘Wind In The Willows’ in the Royal Botanic Gardens. The show is kept fresh each year, as the Director adds new scenes to his adaptation  of the 1908 Kenneth Grahame children’s book, although of course, the basic storyline and characters are retained. The outdoor production remains a favourite it seems because of the specific character traits of Badger, Mole, Toad, Rat, etc because the audience is able to identify those traits with real people, eg, Toad blames everybody else and is such a brat – we all know someone like that, yet we love them but they are a pain in the bum!! Badger is very stern, like a grandfather, which kids can so often recognise and absorb, and so on.  No, I’ve not been to see the production – perhaps if anyone ever presents me with some grandchildren, that might be my excuse to go and have a look!!

The 2^nd Cricket Test between Australia and India commenced in Sydney today – the 100^th Test match to be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Certainly most fans [including Australian fans] were hoping to see India’s Sachin Tendulkar score his 100^th first class century.  Well, it was another day when the bowling sides dominated proceedings with 13 wickets falling on Day 1.  India won the Toss, and decided to bat. By lunchtime, India were 4 for 72 [Tendulkar still there on 21]. Two hours later with the Tea break, their score was 8 for 178, and at great disappointment to the crowd, Tendulkar went out for 41 runs. Eventually, India were all after the tea break for just 191 runs. The Australians didn’t begin in much better fashion, losing three quick wickets before Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke consolidated the situation, so that at the close of play on Day 1, Australia had lost 3 wickets for 116 runs – Ponting not out, 44, and Clarke not out 47. Let’s hope they can continue the partnership in the morning!!  As Fox-Sport put it  ‘The domination of ball over bat during the Australia-India Test series has continued at the SCG as both teams struggled to make runs on day one of the second Test’.

The temperature in Melbourne reached 40 degrees this afternoon, and would have been the same out here. While Susie had to work, it was actually a public holiday  – I certainly had one anyway – barely ventured outside today unless necessary, until I got into the car shortly after 8pm and drove up to the radio station for my Monday night show.  It would be still very warm when I left there after midnight,  with Tuesday expected to be back up in the mid 30s!!  The predictions are that we are in for a very warm period through until March!!  I had intended to spend a few days at the Australian Open Tennis later this month  – might have to give that some thought!!

When I describe the weather here as a ‘mini heatwave’, I can do that –  Melbourne & district has a great climate, because whatever the weather conditions, you can always count on the fact that after a day or two, the weather ‘will’ change  – and on this occasion, that change is expected to come through tomorrow. So despite the occasional complaints about extreme heat, or some other weather phenomena,  this is a terrific climate I live in, and many people claim Melbourne as one of the best cities in Australia to live in, for that reason.  Meanwhile, the long-range forecast showed a high likelihood of continued above-average temperatures through January. A number of small grass fires kept crews busy in Victoria yesterday, with the most serious at Koroit, 270km southeast of Melbourne, where about 4ha of grassland burnt before the fire was contained. Today is set to be another scorcher, with 37C forecast for Melbourne and about 40C in the state’s west. Victorian Country Fire Authority deputy chief officer Steve Warrington said this summer’s main danger came from grass fires which could travel quickly and trap people in their cars. He compared conditions to those during the 1969 Lara grass fire, which killed 17 people near Geelong, many as they tried to escape on the Princes Highway. “If you’re driving from Adelaide to Melbourne, we’d be concerned for those people,” he said.  “I would prefer people weren’t on those roads on a day like today, but I understand that’s not practical.”  Mr Warrington said it had been at least 10 years since an abundance of long, dry grass created such fire conditions.  Some relief should arrive later today with predicted thunderstorms and showers.

I wrote somewhere else today that I arose this morning feeling very unenergetic, tired, almost low spirited  – a new year, a first year, with no real plans or commitments of a formal nature, yet so many things I need and want to do, but finding it difficult to know where to start. And today was not a good way to begin!!!  Made it worse later with one of those little unavoidable mistakes you make occasionally   – sent a New Year text greeting to a friend of many decades, and asked her how her mother was getting on [someone who has always sent me a Christmas card over the years, but I’d not heard from her this time]  –  the response which eventually came back from my friend was that she had not thought much about the new year this time, as her Mum had passed away on Friday last!  [She probably would have let me know in a day or so, but unfortunately, I got in first with my ‘wrong’ question!!] .  My frame of mind didn’t really improve after that bit of news.  Anyway, I did let my youngest brother and sister know about that news, as they had spent some time at the family farm when they were children, and would remember the dear old lady that she was.

While there were other things I should or could have been doing, I actually got through a bit of reading today – at least managed to have the house reasonably cool, so in all honesty, I didn’t really experience the full impact of the 40 degree heat until  I went out this evening. It was relatively comfortable up at the radio station  – well, so long as you were in the main studio, the rest of that building was generally much like a sauna!! I think I played a little bit more jazz than I normally do on a Monday night, easy on the ears, and quite relaxing music particularly in the last 30 minutes or so up until midnight – it nearly put the presenter, so by the time I finished, I probably had no listeners still awake!!!

Here’s a little bit of nonsense to ‘liven ‘ up this uninspiring contribution today – from Life Choices magazine………………Relationship expert Jo Lamble answers many prickly questions in her book, Answers to Everyday Questions about Relationships. This week we publish the answer to whether or not it’s always necessary to tell the truth?  

Q: When my partner asks me if her bum looks big in a particular outfit, should I tell her the truth?

A: It might surprise you to know that I don’t believe that honesty is always the best policy. There are numerous times when telling the truth will only cause pain. Obviously, if your five-year-old asks what you think of their drawing (and you can’t even tell what’s in the picture), the answer should be, ‘Magnificent!’. We protect our children’s feelings because we love them. Why shouldn’t our partners’ feelings be protected as well?   If your partner asks what you thought of the speech she just made at a friend’s 40^th, you reply, ‘Fantastic?’ Because what is the point of telling her that no one in the room could actually hear her? If you are running late for a night out with friends and your partner appears looking far from her best, why tell her that she doesn’t look as good as she could? There’s no time to change and telling her would just deflate her confidence.  Now to the classic ‘Does my bum look big in this?’ question. Your answer should depend on the context. If you are shopping together, then your opinion may well count. So, if she tries on an unflattering pair of jeans, you can help her by suggesting she tries on another pair. But if she is wearing something from her wardrobe and wants some reassurance that she is looking okay, tell her that she’s gorgeous, no matter what she’s wearing.   [Extract from the book Answers to Everyday Questions about Relationships by Jo Lamble  Published by Penguin  RRP: $19.95]/

With that, I think I will adjourn for the day!!!!

There’s a beautiful mother on Face Book, whom I first met through my Yahoo Blogs a few years ago – she lives up on the coast of New South Wales, and has three very loving daughters, the eldest just turned 18. The following generic message appeared on her site on New Year’s Eve, and I felt it was a perfect way of looking at things.   Brief,  and I don’t know who the author was, but thank you for sharing it, Raquel.   ..”Each moment in a day has its own value. Morning brings HOPE, Afternoon brings FAITH, Evening brings LOVE, Night brings REST”.  It’s a thought like that with which I would like to start sharing my 2012 blog contributions with whoever cares to read them.

Someone else who had a message for 2012 was Tony Abbott, leader of the Liberal Party, and the Federal Opposition in Australia. I don’t agree with al;l that Tony says, nor in particular with the manner in which he approaches his role leads the Opposition. However, in general I support his Party and what they believe in, and was satisfied with their first message for the new year. Quite often, I’ve not been satisfied, with the negativity that has been indicative of much that comes out of the Liberal Party over the past 18 months or so. This one was precise, indicate the needs of 2012, and left the bitter rhetoric of negativity behind on this occasion.

“Dear Bill

On behalf of the Liberal and National Parties, I wish all Australians a happy New Year.  The New Year is a time to reflect, a time to be optimistic and a time to set goals. Many of us did it tough in 2011. The challenges of nature, economic uncertainty and cost of living all tested us but Australians are a strong, resourceful and resilient people. We came through last year. The challenge is to make 2012 a year of hope, reward and opportunity.

We need to build a stronger economy because that will make our nation stronger and the best way to do this is for government to live within its means. Ending the waste and repaying the debt means that we can take the pressure off inflation and interest rates. That means we can get taxes down – that will help small business to grow and create jobs and to make our country more prosperous. As well, government needs to get the fundamentals right, of keeping commitments, protecting our borders and building a more productive society.

I hope that in 2012 all of us will be nearer to our best selves and I pledge the Coalition to help in this great task.

Yours truly,

Tony Abbott, Liberal Party Leader

While I suppose most people remain asleep for quite a while on New Years Day, not so your personal essayist – in particular because it was a Sunday morning, and time for me to present my 289^th  Sunday morning ‘Classical Music’ program on the local community radio station. I began the show [7-9am, now start at 6.30am] in February 2006, so this is my 7^th calendar year. In that time, the only reasons I’ve not been on air of a morning, was due to illness or because I was away from Sunbury on a holiday or trip somewhere. Ohh yes, one morning, my daughter parked her car in front of mine – I didn’t want to wake her to borrow the key [she’s not a ‘morning person’] so I sacrificed that show that morning, and I consider that the only ‘unjustified’ absence!!

 With a new year, I’ve also changed the format of the Sunday program  a little,  and with my feature composer and/or music of the week, have decided to draw upon the ABC’s Classic FM Radio Station’s  ‘2011 – 20^th Century Listeners’ Choices as the top 100 pieces of classical music preferred. Decided to begin at the top – most popular choice for a classical piece of music composed since 1900 was the Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E Minor. This was written in 1917, while Elgar & his wife were staying in an 15^th century cottage just outside the village of Fittleworth in the Sussex countryside where they had gone to sample the peace and quiet. It’s a piece of music that remains one of Elgar’s most popular works, and for many [particularly those of English background] that is largely due to the effect of the creation of nostalgia and heart-ache of English romantic music from the time. This morning, I had an English orchestra performing – the London Philharmonic conducted by Sir Adrian Boult.  This morning, I also got into the ‘festival season’ mood by playing a number of waltzes and polkas by the Strauss composers, performed in vocal fashion by the Vienna Boys Choir. That music reminded me to mention to listeners that the annual Vienna News Years Day concert was due to be televised tonight  – a concert which principally features the waltz music of composers such as Strauss I and II.  That was the music part of my day!!  [And by coincidence, the Vienna Boys Choir were guest performers on tonight’s New Years Day Concert from Vienna, and a couple of the songs they sung, were of tracks I played this morning].

I mentioned yesterday [last year!!] that I had two major books on the go at present, two very different books  – one for serious reading [which is going to take me a while to get through], and one for a bit of more light hearted pleasure, that won’t take so long to work the way through. Will just remind readers of the titles here – will no doubt refer to them in more detail as time passes!! In a lighter mode, we have ‘Treasury’ by Maeve Binchly, a selection of over 40 short stories [I’ve already decided that most of them are in fact too short as I read through them – I generally want the storyline to continue!], while for the more serious reading moments,  we have ‘Tobruk’ by Peter Fitzsimons, the story of the Battle of Tobruk in Northern Africa [Libya] from World War II in 1941. I am only a fraction of the way through that book, and am already finding it quite fascinating and educational – realising how many aspects of the Second World War, I’ve not being familiar with [and I’ve barely begun the book]. For example, was this perhaps one of the crucial’ mistakes in judgement made before the war?  From p. 37, Fitzsimons writes:

“Yet, while the rest of Europe was not nearly so compelled by the same argument, the bottom line was that they were not prepared to fight to stop Hitler achieving his aims. That, at least, was the purpose with what became known as the Munich Agreement, a treaty signed in Munich on 29^th September 1938 by Hitler of Germany, Bernito Mussolini of Italy, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Britain and Premier Edouard Daladier of France, whereby the latter two nations agreed that Hitler could march his troops into the Sudetenland and in return Hitler would make no further claims on any other territory in Europe”.  Need we say any more! …………………….. Fitzsimons has set the scene for  Tobruk, taking us from the closing stages of World War I through the rise of Hitler, fascism and the Nazi Party up to the respective allied declarations of war against Germany and Italy, basically when Hitler his ‘no further claims’ promise. It will be slow going, but I have some interesting, if not disturbing reading ahead!

It was hot outside, so I decided to watch an Australian movie that is personally important to me – ‘We Of The Never Never’ – based on the book by Jeannie Gunn, a true story of her own experiences  –   special to me because one of the stockmen who is a part of the story, was actually an uncle to my great grandmother, on the Suttie side of the family.

We of the Never Never is an autobiographical novel by Jeannie Gunn. Although published as a novel, it is an account of the author’s experiences in 1902 at Elsey Station near Mataranka, Northern Territory in which she changed the names of people to obscure their identities. She published this book under her married name of Mrs Aeneas Gunn. Over the years newspapers and magazine articles chronicled the fortunes of the Elsey characters; Jeannie outlived all but Bett-Bett [the little Aboriginal that she befriends in the story].  Mrs Gunn was the first white woman to settle in the Mataranka area. Her husband was a partner in Elsey cattle station on the Roper River, some 300 miles (483 km) south of Darwin. On 2 January 1902 the couple sailed for Port Darwin so that he could take up his role as the station’s new manager. In Palmerston (Darwin), Mrs Gunn was discouraged from accompanying her husband to the station on the basis that as a woman she would be “out of place” on a station such as the Elsey. However, she travelled south and her book describes the journey and settling in. However on 16 March 1903 Aeneas died of malarial dysentery and Jeannie returned to Melbourne shortly afterwards 

Wikipedia tells me that the book is regarded as being significant as a precursor of the 1930s landscape writers [such as Ion Iddriess whom I’ve referred to in past contributions]. Already in 1908 Australia was a significantly urbanised country and the book was seen to provide symbols of things that made Australia different from anywhere else, underwriting an Australian legend of life and achievement in the outback, where “men and a few women still lived heroic lives in rhythm with the gallop of a horse” in “forbidding faraway places”  In 1988 the book was referred to as a “minor masterpiece of Australian letters” by Penguin’s New Literary History of Austral   The book was made into a film also called We of the Never Never in 1982 and shot on location in the Northern Territory – the setting of the novel.  This was the movie version I watched this afternoon – have of course seen it before, but the emotion of some of the storylines still gets to the viewer [this one anyway!!].  Leading actors were Angela Punch-McGregor as Jeannie Gunn, Arthur Dignam as Aeneas Gunn, and Tony Barry as MacLennon, while Martin Vaughan played the part of Dan, the Head Stockman – he was in reality, my great grandmother’s uncle, Dave Suttie. He would later die, alone on the side of the road to Wyndham near the Ivanhoe Station in northwest of Western Australia in 1912.  There is supposed to be a gravesite marker at the relevant spot  – I guess my dream would  be to find it one day, but the likelihood of that is dim!

 I have in my possession, the original of a 6 page letter written by Jeannie Gunn to my grandfather, in November of 1939, in which she mentions that  ‘My dear old Dave died in February 1912, and beyond the fact that he had been brought up at Swan Hill, & sundry tales of his boyish years, I knew little of any folk belonging to him. He had spoken once in a general way of a sister and some nephews and nieces I think but beyond that, I knew nothing …….the date of his death was Feb’y 5^th or 6^th, 1912. He died quietly in his midday camp on the road on his way out to the Ord River from Wyndham, as he passed through Ivanhoe Station, and is buried just where he died, on the roadside there’. Later, she writes further about Dave where she says:-  “He was just the dearest, most loyal old Bushman and as right and true in every most intimate way. There was never anything in that dear old man’s life that could not have the most searching light upon it…..He only drifted out of your knowledge I know, because he could neither read nor write – as the natural outcome of those early years of his before education in those far outbacks dreamed of books or such things. It was one of his big regrets and we had a fine plan in which he was to learn from me, just as the younger quiet stockman was doing then, when all ended for us all [with the death of her husband from fever]……’

I had dinner over at the family home at Goonawarra this evening – another regular thing for New Years Day, although not all the family there this time, and I notice that the ‘younger’ ones, James, Jodie [and her boyfriend] were obviously all still ‘recovering’ from their New Years Eve ‘activities!!! Us ‘oldies’ were much fitter tonight!! Although, after eating another of my former mother-in-law’s wonderful means [still a great cook at near 91 years], I obviously ate too well  –  the dreaded scouge of the diabetes complaint hitting me again, so returned home feeling a lot tireder than I had arrived a few hours earlier!!!  I finished my 1^st of  January watching the New Years Day Concert from Vienna in Austria as performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Wonderful night of music, mainly from the Strauss family, as always.

That in a few paragraphs was ‘my’ first day of 2012  – yes there were a few vague resolutions and things I would like to achieve this coming twelve months, but as usual, I generally keep those ideas to myself, and just see where life takes me >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

For this writer, it was a slow start to the last day of 2011, despite waking at 6am after less than 5 hours sleep. No sign that Susie had returned home – I’d not see her until mid afternoon.  Have to admit to not going anywhere today, not even to the local milk bar. Spent an hour clearing weeds from around the rear side of the house, and continue to be annoyed that my garden bag, due to have been collected before Christmas, was still waiting for that collection. Running out of receptacles in which to place garden refuse in!  Partially for that reason, and the fact that by late morning, the temperature was already in the 30s, that my outside efforts only lasted an hour this morning!! In fact, the maximum temperature today would get to 34 degrees [was still at that level at 7.30pm – typical of New Years Eve over the past few years], and was expected to get quite a deal hotter over the next 2-3 days.

I think this is the first NYE that I have not been on air in one way or another at the radio station. One of our newer presenters, who does a pretty good job at long programs, got in before me this year, and obviously, been keen to encourage others to take extra roles at the station, I was quite content to allow that arrangement to proceed. Which was the reason I was on air last night  – 3 hours and 38 minutes of jazz!!  Hopefully appreciated by jazz fans out there as there are no other specific regular jazz programs on this station. During the course of the evening, exchanged a couple of text messages with old school friend, Heather from Ballarat, who was expressing disappointment that she could not hear my program –  the reception doesn’t get through the hills to Ballarat, about 100kms + to the west. Anyway, it was around 11.45pm when I left the station last night – perhaps a reason why I was feeling rather weary throughout the day.

At the cost of other things, I’m doing a bit of extra reading at the moment, although stopped that for a couple of hours tonight, in order to have a look at the 2011 Edinburg Military Tattoo from Edinburgh Castle, Scotland. Usually enjoy watching that each year when I get the opportunity. I guess it occurred a few months ago – must check with a Scottish friend as to what time of year that actually takes place!  I asked the question, and she replied tonight!!   Lesley wrote: “Its usually August. I havent been for years. Its a great event though…just sometimes hard to get tickets ! x x Hope you have a wonderful New Year and good health, cuz ♥”

Reading through two ‘Christmas gift’ books at present  –  the more serious edition [much slower reading] is Peter Fitzsimons’s ‘TOBRUK’ [a present from Adam] – this going to take some reading, but I’m finding it quite interesting. Tobruk is described as one of the seminal moments in Australian history – the Battle of Tobruk [in north eastern Libya] in 1941, in which more than 15,000 Australian troops, backed by British artillery, fought in excruciating desert heat through eight long months against Adolf Hitler’s formidable Afrika Korps.  While it is a significant part of Australia’s military history, I must admit to not having read a great deal about the campaign. Things like ANZAC and Kokoda tend to ‘get the limelight’ more so than other aspects of such involvement.  Anyway, as indicated, this book will take me a while to read, and no doubt, as I go along, other less demanding volumes will be consumed.

Such as Maeve Binchy’s ‘Treasure’, a collection of over 40 short stories – I’ve never read anything by her before, probably not my normal style of writing, but she is described as one of the world’s best loved story tellers.  Certainly, this collection is easy to read, although I am finding as I did with the Rachel Treasure short stories, that I am searching for more from each of the stories – they are too short for my liking, would like to see most of the tales extended a little, keep going!!  I guess that is the nature of a short story!  Nevertheless, her book makes for some entertaining light reading in conjunction or contrast with Tobruk.

Being New Years Eve, and being home alone, and seeking some kind of entertainment, I ended up watching a ‘performance’ by the  hilarious, insightful and irreverent  English actor Stephen Fry, in a 90 minute ‘Talk-fest’ live at the Sydney Opera House [recorded on the 3^rd October], where he was discussing travel, language and the three W’s – Wilde, Waugh and Wodehouse, and everything in between. He was actually quite entertaining, and I enjoyed the program. It ended with a Q & A session between himself and presenter Jennifer Bryne [esteemed journalist and presenter of ABC TV’s First Tuesday Book Club].plus some audience questions..  A writer, actor, comedian, journalist and television presenter, Stephen Fry is perhaps best known for his starring role in the film Wilde and for his popular TV comedy, including A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Blackadder, Absolute Power and QI. In more recent years, Fry has presented the successful television series Stephen Fry in America, which saw him visit every one of America’s 50 states, and, on a more personal note, the Emmy Award winning documentary The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, in which he not only discussed his own experience with bipolar disorder, but also spoke to other celebrities and sufferers about their own highs and lows. Most of these topics were referred to in tonight’s ‘Talkfest’.  Finally, in my search for entertainment, I also watched the ‘final’ episode of ‘Spicks and Specks’ – the iconic music quiz show – which I had never watched before!! Some interesting guests but a bit too noisily fast moving for me!!

·         Earlier this evening, sent off a Face Book message to all and sundry – Happy New Year, etc  – included  a special note for my ‘four kids’ who were all out somewhere tonight celebrating the new year  –  a father’s concern ‘and to ‘my four’ and their friends, enjoy your NYE celebrations, but don’t overdo it, take care!! I’m at home tonight, early start at the radio on New Year’s Day’………………………….and as the end of 2011 fast approaches, I sign off this contribution, rather tamely I guess!! And quietly, although I imagine I am about to hear some local fireworks going off in a few minutes – officially banned of course without a licence, but that kind of thing never stops some people. Hasn’t stopped the official fireworks displays in the city, or if you are in Sydney, on the Harbour and Sydney Harbour Bridge!!

One of the many ‘betting’ organisations floating around Australia these days, with which I occasionally do a small amount of ‘investing’ have come up with their list of the top 10 Sporting Moments from 2011, and the Top 10 [Horse] Racing Moments for 2011.  ‘Betchoice’ listed their choices in reverse order [10 down to 1], but I’m going to place them in order from first choice down.  Incidentally, I agree totally with 1 & 2 in both categories.   Now admittedly, ‘most’ of these choices are from an Australian perspective [particularly the horse racing section] and one could no doubt find many examples around the world that might outplace these events. Also a bit too much emphasise, to my mind, on football codes, but then for a betting organisation, that is a part of their ‘bread and butter’ from an earnings point of view.  But that’s okay, recognition is still credible, and I guess if this was an American organisation, we would have ten selections of baseball, basketball and gridiron dominating the scene.  From the Australian perspective, I can immediately see a couple of glaring omissions, which deserve to be up in the No. 3 & 4 positions of sporting achievements –  Samantha Stoser winning the US Open Tennis Championship, and Australia’s Women’s Soccer team, winning the Asian Cup Final, and going down to Sweden in the Womens’ World Cup [eventually won by Japan for the first time, which is probably a significant on it’s own]…….and so the list could go on.

The first name mentioned below – Cadel Evans, winner of the 2011 Tour de France – was the subject of a book given to me for Christmas by daughter, Susan – ‘Cadel Evans: The Long Road To Paris’. More or less a ‘coffee table’ book, it was more in the form of an ‘illustrated’ history of his cycling career, from 1994 until this year. So in pictures mainly, with selections of prose throughout the book, it was an easy read accompanied by some inspiring pictures, some of which revealed the magnificent scenery that the road cyclist travels through on his races, but seldom actually appreciates at the time. As described, the book provided ‘A rare and revealing look at the way a top rider races both mentally and physically’. A couple of the quotations from Cadel Evans, I’ve noted, and repeat below.

• “I like to promote our sport, and sport in general. It’s great that because of my results, people in Australia who had never watched cycling saw every night of the Tour and loved every minute of it. People are discovering cycling and I’m excited about that”.
• “When you have success it breeds motivation, confidence, everything. I just rode more and more because I could, for a start, but also because I liked it. I got better and better so I rode more and more. As much time as I had, I rode. Any spare time was spent on the bike. That’s all my training was. I didn’t mean to be a bike rider; it was like, ‘Oh, this is good; I like this. You can make a profession out of this?!’ And from that point onwards, I wanted to be a bike rider”.
• “A major part of Lance Armstrong’s success in the Tour de France was his strong team. Our success was thanks to a strong team bond…………………………….  Every day the team delivered me to where I really needed to be, and that left me fresh and ready to finish off the job”.

10 Top Sporting Moments [according to ‘Betchoice]  in 2011.

No. 1 – Cadel rides into History.   Cadel Evans became the first Australian ever to win the Tour de France. To put this victory in perspective, it is widely regarded as being the best achievement by an Australian sportsperson in history. Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck were expected to fight out this year’s event, with Evans being posted as a $15 chance prior to the start. Right up to the last race at Champs Elysees the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank, along with Evans, remained as possible winners of the Tour.

No. 2 – Sally Pearson winning the 100m Hurdles at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Sally Pearson became a national heroine when she took home World Championship gold in Daegu. Her time of 12.28 seconds was the fastest in 19 years and was not only quite possibly the most dazzling display at this year’s world championships – outshining even the great Usain Bolt – but it stamped her as the best 100m hurdler of her generation. This saw her named Female International Association of Athletics Federation Athlete of the Year.

No. 3 – Warriors v Storm NRL Preliminary Final.   The Warriors went to Melbourne as big outsiders to qualify for the 2011 NRL Grand Final, despite having an enviable winning record over the Storm in games played in the southern capital. After giving up a soft early try to Sika Manu, one of the more physical confrontations of the finals series ensued and the Warriors were able to contain the attacking triumvirate of Smith, Cronk and Slater. They were looking like the better side in the first 40 minutes and going to the break 14-12 ahead. The second half was an arm wrestle with both teams having chances to blow the game open and, despite their apparent dominance, the Warriors’ two point lead felt like it was never going to be enough – enter Shaun Johnson. The rookie half came up with the signature play of the finals to finally put the Warriors over the top as he turned Kevin Proctor inside out and made Cooper Cronk a spectator in sending Lewis Brown to the line. James Maloney’s sideline conversion pushed the margin to eight with two minutes to play and the Warriors were through to their second Grand Final.

No. 4 – First 0-0 blockbuster, excites the A league fans The A-League Grand Final for season 2010/11 will go down as one of the most exciting games of soccer ever in held in Australia. The game ended in a 0-0 draw in regular time. extra time, the Central Coast scored twice and appeared to be certain victors; however three minutes from time, the Roar scored twice and forced a penalty shootout. Brisbane won the game 4-2 on penalties to take out the title and, in doing so, extended their unbeaten run to 27 games.

No. 5 – Last Day of the MLB Regular Season considered the best ever day in baseball.   After a 162 game regular season, you would be surprised that a marathon could finish by a nose and a nose. But that’s exactly what happened this year, which baseball fans are calling the best single day ever. Let’s start with the Tampa Bay Rays who were down 8 games at the start of the month, and down 7-0 in this game (they would have been about 80-1 just to win the game at this stage, as the NY Yankees still had Riveria to play, who is easily considered the best closer in history). The Rays had to win to force a one-game playoff with the Boston Red Sox. So, after scoring six runs in the 8th and another run in the 9th, it was Evan Longaria’s homer in the 12th which saw them make the playoffs with the final at bat for the season. Whilst this was being played out, over in Baltimore, the Red Sox were leading 3-2 going into the 9th innings and trying to save their season, as they were in the midsts of an all-time historic collapse. Unfortunately for the Red Sox coach and General Manager, the Orioles scored two in the 9th and both ended up getting sacked in the off season. 96 secs saw jobs lost and tears of joy in Tampa. If that’s not enough, the National League had their own historic collapse in the form of the Atlanta Braves! The Cardinals who were 10½ games behind the Wild Card spot on August the 25th, and trading at well over 150-1 to win the World Series, went 23 from 31 games and were sitting pretty, winning 8-0 over Houston and expecting to play the Atlanta Braves for a one-game playoff. Yet Atlanta who lead 3-1 going to the 7th innings, allowed the Phillies to score in the 7th, 9th and then the 13th innings which saw Atlanta not make the playoffs and St Louis, who ended up being eventual World Series winners, make one of the greatest season comebacks, on simply the most exciting days baseball has ever seen.

No. 6 – Brisbane bites all Aussie Football codes and roars to longest unbeaten streak.   Ange Postecoglou’s chargers created history when they broke the all-time longest unbeaten streak in any Australian football code, which had stood for 74 years. Their 4-nil win over Perth Glory in November was their 36th consecutive game without a loss, an outstanding achievement on the back of their Grand Final win earlier in the year. The win saw them surpass the mighty Eastern Suburbs Roosters team of the 1930s.

No. 7 – Paul Gallen State of Origin 2.   Paul Gallen’s effort in State of Origin 2 will go down as one of the best individual performances of all time. Playing with injury and out of position in the front row, Gallen’s heroics gained the Blues an 18-8 win and kept them alive in the series. The Blues opening price in Origin 2 went up to $2.30 and was crunched by the punters, eventually starting at $2.10 by kick off.

No. 8 – Queensland Reds Super 15 Victory.   In a sport which cops its fair share of criticism for dull, boring play, the Queensland Reds were a breath of fresh air in the 2011 Super 15 season. The Reds running rugby style, led by their halves Quade Cooper and Will Genia, paved the way to victory in the Final against the Crusaders. The result could have gone either way right up to the end but the Reds held on 18-13. This game was played at break-neck speed throughout and the skills shown confirmed that both of these teams were deserving finalists. Despite the home ground advantage, the Reds were $2.45 outsiders.

No. 9 – Darren Clarke wins British Open. Without doubt, the most inspirational story of the year was Darren Clarke winning the claret jug at Royal St George’s, giving the 23 year tour veteran his first major championship. The win was made even more special following the loss of his wife, Heather, in 2006 to breast cancer. Clarke led the tournament from go to woe, fending off challenges from Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson. The courage the Northern Irelander showed on and off the course made him the most popular winner of the Open championship.

No. 10 – Tiger ‘out of the’ Woods.  After a 749 day drought, Eldrick won his own tournament – the Chevron World Challenge in California. Having had to endure the public humiliation of his break up with the Mrs, and being called a black a*hole by his former caddie, Tiger Woods finally won a tournament. Most in the golfing world hope this will bring back the fans and the money that follows Tiger Woods.

10 Top Horse Racing Moments [according to ‘Betchoice]  in 2011.

No. 1 – Black Caviar bringing people to the races to witness her brilliance, she has captivated the nation It has been quite amazing this year seeing this once in a lifetime racehorse captivate the attention of not only horse racing fans, punters and sports lovers but the general public and people right around the world. Black Caviar and her connections; who have been so willing to share this wonderful journey with everyone are racing in Australia’s greatest asset at the moment. In terms of talent, the fact that she has been raced in different states and at the top level there is no horse anywhere near her and, in 2012, we get to see her take on the world. People turning up to the track in masks, queuing up for interviews, autographs, pictures and free to air media coverage is something only this horse and very few have done before; they are Champions of the Australian Turf.

No. 2 – Black Caviar winning the T.J Smith stakes at Royal Randwick.   We regard this as her best win in 2011. She had to run down a horse that was absolutely flying at the time in Hay List and Black Caviar was out of her comfort zone. It was the first time she had raced the clockwise direction and met Hay List when he was fully fit. When they turned for home, Hay List looked off and gone with the Group One; however, Black Caviar not only picked him up but ended up winning in style. The margin to the rest of the field put in perspective how good these horses were and further emphasised the quality of Black Caviar. It is no surprise that she has gone on to equal and break so many records after this win and there is no doubt more will come.

No. 3 – Dunaden winning the Melbourne Cup.   Much has been made this year of the imports and international raiders coming to Australia for ‘The race that stops a nation’ but we have to take check and realise these horses are better stayers and, if we want to start to develop quality distance horses, changes in scheduling, breeding and prize money will need to be addressed in Australia. The Cup was as close as you will get to a dead heat, it brought back memories of Viewed and Bauer only a few years ago and the theatre on the track post race with both excitement and disappointment there for everyone to see shows how great this race is.

No. 4 – Sepoy winning the Golden Slipper.   This colt dominated the 2yo races in 2011 and, along with his trainer, Peter Snowden, they put the icing on the cake in the world’s richest juvenile event, the Golden Slipper. He destroyed his rivals in emphatic style in the Slipper and then to come back as a 3yo later in the year and continue his brilliance by beating the older horses in the Manikato Stakes stamped him as one of our best horses. It will be a shame to see him head to Dubai but at least Snowden has the opportunity to train him for further Group One glory along with his son Paul, who has been a major factor in the horse’s success.

No. 5 – Helmet winning the Caulfield Guineas.   A war is the best way to describe this time honoured race in 2011. Helmet, owned by the all powerful Darley operation, fought out a great struggle with Manawanui, owned by a group of mates from Warwick Farm that kept knocking back big offers for their horse. The race was run flat out and was a great spectacle. Helmet had been the medium of a massive betting plunge in the 24 hours leading up to the race and Kerrin McEvoy took no prisoners from the outset. Manawanui never shirked the task and kept coming to only just be defeated in a race that revived memories of past Caulfield Guineas when Redoute’s Choice and Testa Rossa fought out an epic battle. Helmet’s win in the Guineas was one to remember.

No. 6 – Craig Williams winning the Caulfield Cup and WS Cox Plate with ground saving 10/10 rides Group One races are hard to win at the best of times and plenty must go your way in the race to get the result – the jockey plays a very big part and this Spring we saw some unbelievably good rides that definitely won their horse the big race. In the Caulfield Cup, Craig Williams rode Southern Speed along the fence saving ground the whole way and from the 800m mark you pretty much knew this horse would be winning the Cup. Who would have thought that seven days later Williams could produce an even better ride in the W.S Cox Plate aboard Pinker Pinker around the tight Moonee Valley track to win another of the big Spring features? Whilst unlucky to get suspended and miss the ride aboard Dunaden in the Melbourne Cup, Williams was lucky enough to win aboard the French galloper in Hong Kong in December to cap off a career best year for the hoop.

No. 7 – Manawanui winning the Golden Rose.   This race had it all with the star colts trained by high profile stables dominating the betting and headlines all week yet come race day the great story of Ron Leemon and his faithful owners out at Warwick Farm got their biggest thrill when Manawanui took out the Golden Rose. Helmet and Smart Missile got caught up at the back of field trying to beat each other with interference and hard luck stories the order of the day but it was Glyn Schofield who was off and gone with the prize, his celebration showed the emotion of what the win meant to him.

No. 8 – Atlantic Jewel emerging as a potential superstar.   Plenty has been stated about how good Black Caviar is and it is very premature and a touch reckless to suggest that we could be seeing another horse as good as her, but Atlantic Jewel sure does look a special galloper. Her incredible turn of foot is something special and the Thousand Guineas win amongst others just showed how far superior she was to any of the 3yo fillies running around in Australia. It will be great to see her in 2012 take on her own age but if she can step up and maybe challenge a More Joyous in the Coolmore or Queen of The Turf that would be a sight to see. Let’s hope the Atlantic Jewel star continues to rise.

No. 9 – Cup week at Flemington again showing how good racing can be both on and off the track.   It is extremely hard to be negative towards the Melbourne Spring Carnival, in particular Cup Week at Flemington that continues to get big crowds, great horses and good betting year in and year out. Why is it that this Carnival seems so much better than anything else around Australia? We might not have the answers but those in charge particularly in NSW need to probably work out why. The coverage between free to air and Pay TV providers could be done better but, overall, the massive attendances, great racing and big betting turnover are a highlight each year on the racing calendar.

No. 10 – Karuta Queen wining the Magic Millions.   This horse has developed some sort of cult following in 2011. After winning the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast as a 2yo, many race goers loved the story of old bush Trainer Neville Layt’s flying filly from Queanbeyan and young jockey Tommy Berry. One of the great stories was when she took on Black Caviar at Caulfield during the Spring in the Schillaci Stakes, whilst not winning her connections were that excited about running second behind the champion they were going to get a photo for their wall showing how close they came to the great mare.