Author: jkirkby8712

Found a couple of little interesting bits and  pieces in the current edition of Limelight magazine, which I shared with my listeners yesterday morning.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the historical significance of the instruments that the four members of the Australian String Quartet currently use in their concerts. Well, obviously, they are not alone in making use of historic string instruments.  For the past four years, the Australian Chamber Orchestra  [ACO] has been enriched by principal violinist Richard Tognetti’s $10 million 1743 Carrodus violin, which is rumoured to have been played by the composer Paganini. Now I’m assuming  that the instrument ‘is on loan’ to the orchestra, as it is inconceivable that the orchestra could pay out that kind of money. On a lower level, but equally significant, is the most recent acquisition by the ACO –  a $1.79 million violin made between 1728 and 1729 by Antonio Stradivari, considered to be music’s most revered instrument maker, of whose craft only 650 specimens survive – the Stradivarius violins. I’m surprised there are that many in existence considering some of the price tags that are attached to them.  In fact, this one is actually owned by the ACO – it was purchased through the ACO’s Instrument Fund, making it the only Australian owned Stradivarius.

The other item I found of interest relates to one of Australia’s modern icons – the Sydney Opera House. Despite it’s glamorous and flashy external appearance, it currently leaves a lot to be desired inside, especially in respect to the performance of opera. Performers have complained that they can’t hear the orchestra properly, while singing their roles  –  because the orchestra pit is ‘underneath’ the stage, which prompts Francis Merson in ‘Limelight’ to ask ‘This raises two questions; firstly what’s the point of putting an orchestra where it can’t be heard on stage? Secondly, if the orchestra can’t be heard where it is, what’s the point of leaving it there?’ The other concern is that operas of the scope and size of Wagner’s ‘Ring cycle’ can’t be staged at the Sydney Opera House because there is not enough room!! It is to be staged in Melbourne in 2013, but many argue that our Sydney ‘icon’ should be the venue. I’ve only been to one ‘performance’ and that was a Gilbert & Sullivan Operetta, though I did get the opportunity through an architect uncle to do a tour of the Opera House when it was under construction back in around 1965. Merson’s cutting point is ‘If the government cares about our national icon, then it must ensure its future as a functional opera house, not just as a backdrop for happy snaps’.

And finally, whilst talking classics, I notice there is a new movie in town – a French film called ‘Mozart’s Sister’, which explores the life W A Mozart’s older sister, Nanneri, who was an accomplished musician  in her own right, but whose talents took a back seat to her boy child brother prodigy.  I’m thinking I must make an effort to have a look at that one!,

Following on from last night’s brief look at the Tour de France, the series of crashes which occurred during yesterday’s Stage were even worsened when a media car collided with two cyclists  injuring them both [though I think at least one of them may have continued to race after being bandaged up a little.  Some angry repercussions were likely to follow that incident. The day’s riding saw the emergence of a new wearer of the ‘Yellow Jersey’, and also saw  Cadel Evans slip back a position in the overall ratings, though he still has a week of mountain riding ahead, Evan’s speciality.  Stage 9 results were:

• 1.Luis-Leon Sanchez, Rabobank Cycling Team, 5h 27′ 09″
• 2. Thomas Voeckler, Team Europcar, at 00:05
• 3. Sandy Casar, Fdj, at 00:13
• 4. Philippe Gilbert, Omega Pharma – Lotto, at 03:59
• 5. Peter Velits, Htc – Highroad, at 03:59
• 6. Cadel Evans, Bmc Racing Team, at 03:59

While the progressive situation sees a change at the top, with Evans now back into 3^rd spot.

• Thomas Voeckler, Team Europcar, 38h 35′ 11″
• 2. Luis-leon Sanchez, Rabobank Cycling Team, at 01:49
• 3. Cadel Evans, Bmc Racing Team, at 02:26
• 4. Frank Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 02:29
• 5. Andy Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 02:37
• 6. Tony Martin, Htc – Highroad, at 02:38

Meanwhile, last night’s British F1 Grand Prix race saw Fernando Alonso win the race ahead of the two Red Bull drivers – Sebastian Vettel and Australia’s Mark Webber, who was ordered by the Team ‘not’ to pass Vettel in the closing stages when he had the opportunity to do so. The reason given – for safety reasons!!

In the meantime, following on from yesterday’s Carbon Tax announcement,  my email inwards box has \being quick to hear from the Liberal Party, keen to let me know what various members of the business community think of it all.

Business Council of Australia  “On a preliminary reading it appears the government’s proposal …will bring a range of additional risks and costs to industry and the economy.”Jennifer Westacott, Chief Executive, 10 July 2011   Minerals Council of Australia  “It will impose the highest carbon price in the world, compromising the competitiveness of Australia’s export and import competing sectors without environmental benefit.”\ “With no other nation implementing an economy-wide carbon tax, this is a dangerous experiment with the Australian economy.” Media Release, 10 July 2011     Australian Food and Grocery Council  “The carbon package – which only provides $150 million over six years in assistance to industry – is not enough to ensure the long-term competitiveness of Australia’s $102 billion food and grocery sector, employing more than 288,000 people.”\  Kate Carnell, Chief Executive, 10 July 2011

Well, I’ve decided to wait and see, rather than adapt the Tony Abbott ongoing opposition to everything – he is really starting to get at this Liberal supporter I think  -when he came on the radio this morning, and immediately starting to talk about lies and trust in respect to the Prime Minister, rather than addressing the issues themselves, I switched him off!!  No more Tony, get off that ‘bandwagon’, you are turning me off through your methods, and approach to this whole question of opposition!  That was how he started last night’s email message, in the same mode of attack and negativity –  it may all be true, but I for one, am sick of hearing this particular message.

“Today’s announcement of the Labor-Green carbon tax sealed Julia Gillard’s betrayal of the Australian people. Six days prior to the last election, she said: “there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead”.  The day before the election she said: “I rule out a carbon tax”.  This toxic tax will drive up prices, threaten jobs and do nothing for the environment……….”

 

I was late to bed last night  – too much international sport on the TV, and I am in for another late one tonight –  but on the radio this time, from 9pm until midnight! Leaving a warm home, to the delights of a Winter’s night in Sunbury. Hopefully the heating system will be working in the studio this time – it wasn’t yesterday morning.

 

 

 

This is a very cold Sunday morning, and the forecasters are telling us that it is going to become more ‘miserable’ as the day goes along. I have just ‘reneged’ on going for a walk – having already being outside today [my 6.30am visit to the radio station[], I do know how cold that wind is, no point tempting fate!! And I’ve just noticed that our Prime Minister is about to speak to the nation with her announcement about the Government’s dreaded Carbon Pricing policy!!!  So I guess as a patriotic Australia, I should tune in and see what the ‘great lady’ has to say!!!!

I actually ended up in front of the TV screen for two hours  -we had the Prime Minister [Julia Gillard], the Treasurer [Wayne Swan] & the Climate Change Minister [Greg Combet] all having something to say  In broad summary, described as a big economic reform for Australia, aimed at creating  a clean environment, leading to a clean emerging future. Basically, the top 500 polluting firms in Australia are going to pay for the pollution they emit into the atmosphere – at a carbon price of $23 per tonne from the 1^st July next year, anticipated to have a 0.7% increase in inflation/CPI . No denial that this will not lead to prices and higher costs being passed onto the rest of the community, eg, some of the estimated costs being $3.30 per week electricity, $1.50 extra for gas, and 80cents per week average increase in costs. The latter tempered to some degree by the decision not to impose fuel tax credits on agriculture, fisheries and the forestry areas,  nor on fuel used by trucking firms – on the latter, would have been a pointless exercise as far as the climate change aims were concerned, would have been simply a revenue raising exercise, as such an imposition would not change the habits of truckies  – they still have to finish their journey!! In fact overall, the pricing scheme will be basically revenue neutral  – in order to compensate households and small businesses, as promised, there will be more money going ‘out’ than coming ‘in’ – the government argues that the aim is to impose the tax on the major polluters, not on the rest of Australia.

So the compensation –  only 10% of households will be worse off, those on household incomes of over $150,0000 [rightly so, in my view].  Of the other 90% of households, the estimate is that the average household compensation will be $10.10 per week, and some of the related provisions will be a 1.7% increase in pensions and family assistance payments, a single income family supplement for households earning up to $150,000 pa,  low income earners will be eligible for a $300 a year payment [not sure what that one was about], the tax free threshold to be increased three times to a level of $18,200, while households and small business will not be required to pay extra for fuel [how the devil will that work?]. On the tax aspect, the government suggests that one million extra people will have no taxation deducted from their salaries, and will therefore not have to submit a tax return annually – as Wayne Swan spelt out, this is major tax reform.  Of course all of these ‘benefits’ are in broad terms – how the individual person or business is actually affected in the long run, may not be as advantageous as this all sounds.

Interested to note that the whole proposal seems to suggest a massive in public sector employment and costs through the creation of ‘new’ authorities to manage all this – a $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation to set up the renewable sector [referred to by Tony Abbott later in the day as ‘Gillard’s Bank’];  an independent body to administer government renewable energy funding;  a new Bio Diversity Fund worth $946 million to be established; a new Climate Change Authority to recommend pollution caps;  and so on – all increasing the size of government.

From the government’s point of view, in summary – two in three households will be no worse off under the carbon pricing scheme [wonder what happened to the 10% figure?], and that those who are receiving compensation represents the targeting of the most disadvantaged groups from price increases. The impact of the policy is on the polluters who are paying.

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement and response to questions, we saw  press conferences from Bob Brown & Christine Milne from the Greens  – I was a bit annoyed for the manner in which Brown [once again] gave the impression that all credit for this policy happening was due to the Greens, and their now powerful position in both houses of Parliament.  Bob Brown  – ‘a great day for Australia, wouldn’t have happened without the Greens and a Labor Government, and the support of the Independents. Christine Milne [his Deputy] noted that this ‘is the moment when Australia turns it’s back on the fossil fuel age’.  Adam Brandt, the Green House of Representative Member for Melbourne – thanked the people of inner Melbourne for electing him as the first Green member of the Lower House, and so enabling  us to help deliver a clean energy policy.  We even had the two Independents [Tony Windsor and Rob Oakshott] who were responsible for Julia Gillard being able to form the minority Labor Government last August, expressing their support for the package.

Finally, a brief press conference from Opposition leader, Tony Abbott – yes this is a world first for Australia, that we don ‘t need~!  Despite all that has gone before, he will continue to insist that millions of Australians will be worse off, and, he said, on the PM’/s own admission, we are not actually going to cut our emissions! Yes 10% will get nothing – but he doesn’t actually mention that 10o% earn over $150,000 per annum!  Abbott was support by his Shadow Climate Minister, Greg Hunt, and Shadow Treasurer [Joe Hockey].  Joe’s comment – the policy relies on a ‘Trust me’ policy!!  Well, no-one expected any element of  support from the Opposition side, and  I don’t think I will even bother to listen to Abbott’s address to the nation tonight. Like the Carbon Pricing Policy or not, something is being done, and at the moment, negativity in the absence of some firm alternative approach is not really favourable to my way of thinking!!

By mid-afternoon, the weather was going down drastically – a visitor from the Church, called by briefly with some reading material for me. Helen likes a talk, but she was in a hurry to get back home and mow her lawn before it rained, but I fear she was already too late!! By now, my attention had turned from politics to sport, with my football team due to be on the field late this afternoon. At least they would have the benefit of playing under the roof!!  Meanwhile, quite a sporty night ahead of me, with a couple of Australian women’s sporting teams representing the country in major events. More on those later, let’s see how the Blues are progressing first  – I shall return  shortly!!

 

A slow start to the Blues, and not good kicking again, in the opening quarter, to hold a narrow lead!  Off to a great opening in the 2^nd quarter, 4 goals in a row, than allowed the Bulldogs to kick 7 in a row!!! What is wrong with the team?  By three quarter time, I’d pretty well given up  – a chance to consolidate a position near the top, against a team that won’t make the finals, and they have stuffed it up!!!  Disappointing effort, second such performance in three weeks!!  Full time. Western Bulldogs 14.12.96 def Carlton 9.15.69. A tough day at the office. The Dogs dominated after half time, led by their hard running midfield. Walker struggled to find space to run into up front while our defenders were under enormous pressure at all times. Jarrad Waite came off with groin tightness and will be monitored during the week. We take on Collingwood next week at the MCG. Quarter by quarter scores.

Carlton Blues:         2.7.19     6. 9.45      8.11.59    Final:  9.15.69

Western Bulldogs:  2.4.16     6.7.43       11.9.75     FINAL: 14.12.96

Better news in the Netball World Championship Final  – after extra time, Australia got up to defeat New Zealand in the closing seconds of the match 58/57.  Not so promising for the Matildas in the Soccer Quarterfinal, down 2 goals against Sweden in the first 15 minutes, but by halftime had managed to pull back one goal, to be down 2/1 at the interval.

Didn’t realise Susie was returning to Bendigo tonight, until she was virtually walking out the door. Then her car wouldn’t start, battery problems, and a call to the RACV was necessary. They got her car going but I was now doubly unhappy about her driving up the highway tonight. Finally left shortly after 9pm, and I would  be watching most of the soccer, with my mind elsewhere!  It was near 11 pm by the time the football match had finished – Australia losing that one, against the more experienced Swedish team, eventually going down 3-1, and so their tournament came to an end. Interestingly, we had the German team & supporters barracking for us tonight – Germany was knocked out by Japan last night, and apparently, if Sweden defeated Australia, they would take Germany’s place in next year’s Olympic Games!  Well, that’s the way it eventuated!! Meanwhile,. No phone message from Susie tonight to tell me she had arrived safely! Had to assume no news was good news!

I suggested this was a blog of politics and sport!  Still have got the British F1 Grand Prix happening, but it looks as though the telecast been received here is a delayed one, with comments on Face Book from others suggesting the race is half over. While in France, today’s Tour de France stage has accidents everywhere at the moment, I’ve never seen so many crashers in this race in so few days of riding.  Chaos at the fear end of the peloton, injured riders sitting on the side of the road, others down the ditch and into the trees, and ambulances on the scene!!  The result of all this saw another of the favoured riders join Bradley Wiggins out of the race.  While speaking of that, my brother sent me a response about my queries on the scoring mechanisms used in the Tour de France. This is what he had to say.

‘On timing, the basic rule is that any group finishing as a bunch gets the same time, largely designed to ensure the yellow jersey in not disadvantaged in the massive bunch sprint finishes. There has to be a distinct gap between riders for a separate time to be recorded; like last night 1st and 2nd recorded a couple of seconds faster than Cadel finishing 3rd, but Cadel’s 3rd just edged out a group containing the yellow jersey – hence that group got the same time and no change in yellow jersey leader and time gap to Cadel. This was the same situation when Cadel won his stage a few days ago; he just edged out Contador and yellow jersey in a tight finishing group. Which is why the mountain stages are important as the gaps between finishing riders are more obvious. Also, if you crash within the last 3 km but are able to finish, you get the same time as the group were with when you crashed.

Think the number of crashes has been primarily down to strong cross winds over the past few days; yes they ride very close together and have enormous trust in each other, but given the speed they are going this can be brought unstuck by sudden wind gusts. Sad to see Bradley Wiggins go out as he was a real contender.

Good to see Cadel getting the better of Contador across the line again last night; is definitely riding with more aggression and finally has a good team (big George Hincapie is awesome rider – had a chat to him in Adelaide). Contador not looking as invincible as he was in recent Giro (maybe he’s stopped chewing that contaminated meat, or just foxing). Fingers crossed, as the real climbing in Pyrenees and Alps yet to come’. [Robert].

It certainly is an odd system, and another form of  ‘gentlemen’s agreements’ that we seem to get in professional cycling. But as I have just seen on the screen, the accidents continue to happen in this year’s race – this one on a relatively straight stretch of road, but obviously a bit slippery from some rain in the area. Ironically, not long afterwards, the sun was shining!! As for the ‘gentlemen’s agreements’, it seems that the peloton has called a temporary truce, i.e., they have slowed down to wait for all those riders who were delayed by the crashes, have joined back up with the main group.  An interesting sport!!!

 

 

 

Did not rush up this morning, and when I did, found that Susie’s two cats were also not interested in moving from their basket in the laundry. They were still there after I had spent researching some hints that had come through from Ancestry.com.  Certainly, the birds outside the back door were taking advantage of the absence of the cats, finishing off some scraps of food that had been left for the felines yesterday!!  By 11 am, quite pleasant looking morning outside –  sunshine, though no doubt probably not that warm, was encouraging enough to invite one for a late morning walk!!

There’s a publication called ‘Platform’ which is put out on an occasional basis by one of our University/FAFE colleges – a copy seems to appear every now and then in the studio at the radio station. It’s part of a ‘Youth Strategy project aimed at ensuring that language and literary skills, which are the foundations for learning, employment, and community engagement, are readily available to all students to develop those skills so that they can participate in life long learning. One avenue of doing this is by giving them the opportunity  to have their work published – and ‘Platform’ allows this to happen. As the Editorial in the latest edition I’ve seen says – ‘Platform is one of VU’s finest outlets for community expression. This is who we are, what we are, collectively willing to share with each other about our inner and outer worlds through our own expressive filters. Together, writers recognised or aspirational or sharing, we paint the pastel picture of our time’.   One of the contributions this time came from Lina Musico, A VCE Year 12 student at VU [Victoria University], called ‘Belonging’, and it began as follows.

‘There is a group of very special people in this world and they all come into a room together a few times a week. These people are of different colours, these people are of different creeds, these people are of different ages, but there is something that brings us all together and makes all the differences go away. These people are the ones I call classmates. We all come together over one common goal. This goal is to better ourselves and to be the best we possibly can be, so that at the end of the year we leave the Adult VCE Program with our heads held high and out certificates in hand. Each of these classmates mean something to me; they are like the family I never really had. My teachers are like guiding parents who only want the best for me. My fellow classmates are like siblings should be, always encouraging and willing to help you out if you are struggling, willing to tell you you’re wrong but it’s okay, willing to back you up when you need it most. This group of very special people understand where I’m coming from and don’t judge me for it, they just accept me for who I am’.

Similarly from a composite group of  students, we read that about ‘A class profile’  ‘There are twenty-six people in our class from ten different countries across four continents. There are four males and twenty-two females. The age range in our class is between twenty-four and seventy-one years old. Twenty-three of us have children. Class members have been living in Australia for between two and thirty-seven years. We have come to Australia for many different reasons. Most of us are immigrants, but nine people came to Australia as refugees. All of us are full-time students and some people work part-time. Everyone lives in the western suburbs, in the Brimbank, Maribyrnong, Hume and Melton areas. People have a wide variety of occupational backgrounds. Some people are professionals like lawyers, teachers and accountants, while others are homemakers and factory workers.

What I get out of these pieces is that regardless of cultural and religious backgrounds, so often those things can become positives rather than the perceived negatives, especially through such things as study, training and sport, with their opportunities to meet new and friendly people, and to develop language skills and a knowledge of those other cultures and their peoples.  Just my little thought for the day!

But we must give a brief update on the overnight Stage 8 of the Tour de France:  Aigurande – Super Besse Sancy (192 km):   Portuguese rider Rui Alberto Costa won the eighth stage of the Tour de France after withstanding a late attack from Philippe Gilbert in the final climb Saturday, while Thor Hushovd kept the leader’s yellow jersey. The race entered the mountains for the first time in the 189-kilometer (117-mile) trek from Aigurande to Super-Besse, featuring a sharp category 2 climb up Col de la Croix and a final climb of 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles).  Gilbert of Belgium made up a huge amount of time before crossing 12 seconds adrift, with Australian cyclist Cadel Evans finishing 15 seconds behind Costa in third place. Surprisingly, Norway’s Thor Hushovd is still one second ahead of Evans and has been wearing the yellow jersey since his Garmin-Cervelo team won last Sunday’s time trial. I’m waiting to a response from my brother in respect to the manner in which the progressive placing system is calculated!!

Cadel Evans attacked on the final climb. A great race animator. Photo Fotoreporter Sirotti.

Looking ahead to this weekend’s football match, the Blues are back on the winners list after a massive victory over the Tigers at the MCG last Saturday. It was a great response after the previous weekend’s defeat however it is now in the history books; the focus now is the Western Bulldogs on Sunday at Etihad Stadium, a late game, starting at 4.40 pm. No television coverage for me, and I doubt I will want to travel into the city at that time, looks like a radio description for me this weekend!  The Carlton team will have a final training session tomorrow morning to which members and supporters are invited. I wonder how many they get along to those sessions? I certainly recall back in the days when Carlton were regular Grand Finalists, and going along to the final training session on the Thursday night before the final, where massive crowds would turn up, and that still happens today for the big matches whatever the team!  I recall seeing a report a few days ago from England, talking about a upcoming soccer match between two English teams [perhaps it ewas a few weeks ago, as that season has finished] – anyway, the report was from a similar training session for one of the teams, and the stadium concerned, seemed to be full, just to watch their heroes ‘train’ and basically run around!!! Fanatical supporters in the UK!

In the office, after yesterday’s rather ‘full on’ effort to print, package and despatch the organisation’s latest Newsletter, it was a relief to have a more ‘relaxed’ mood around the work place throughout today. Certainly, inside was the place to be, with the weather extremely cold and unpleasant throughout the day.

Now of course, everyone is familiar with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s [ALW]  ‘Phantom of the Opera’, which is estimated to have been seen by over 100 million people world wide [I saw two different productions here in Melbourne over a decade] – a love story that is widely regarded as the most successful piece of entertainment in history. Well, ALW eventually created his sequel to that story – ‘Love Never Dies’, and together with eldest daughter Susan, and her Mum, Shirley, I went along to Melbourne’s Regent Theatre tonight to see that show.  Before doing so, at Susie’s suggestion, we visited a popular but relatively small Japanese Restaurant at the top end of Bourke Street,  for dinner – quick service, and for me, a tasty dish, although I must admit, I didn’t really attempt a full-on Japanese meal – didn’t really want to try anything tonight ‘too different’ to my normal tastes, before attending a theatre show!! 

Love Never Dies –  not sure if that was the best possible title – love never dies- it did in some respect, though it was ‘resurrected’ in another direction, but you will need to see the show yourself to ascertain the actual ending!!  I don’t want to give it all away!  This apparently is first new Australian production of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in nearly 20 years, and Melbourne is only the 2nd city in the world to host LOVE NEVER DIES. A brief synopsis of the Show: –

The Year is 1907. It is ten years after the Phantom’s disappearance from the Paris Opera House and he has escaped to a new life in New York having found a place amongst the screaming joy rides and freak-shows of Coney Island.   From the Gothic surrounds of the Paris Opera House to the dazzling heights of New York’s Coney Island – the Phantom returns. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s spectacular new musical reunites the masked Phantom with his only true love and musical protégée, the stunning beauty Christine Daaé. Love Never Dies is a roller-coaster ride of intrigue, obsession and romance – where little is as it first appears.  With Madame Giry’s help the Phantom escaped the Paris mobs to build a glittering new empire in the new world. For ten long years the Phantom has hidden himself amongst the freaks and sideshows nursing his broken heart and yearning for his true love to return. The performance opens with the tortured Phantom longing to hear the voice of Christine again through the opening song ‘Til I Hear You Sing’

Meanwhile, back in Europe, blinded by money and the bright lights of Coney – Christine, with Raoul and their son Gustave, is lured to America to perform one final time, but unaware that it is the Phantom who has arranged for her appearance in the popular beach resort.  But Christine soon discovers the true identity of the mysterious impresario who has tempted her across the Atlantic. As old wounds are reopened and forgotten memories unlocked – The Phantom sets out to prove that, indeed, Love Never Dies.  The plot is not based on the story-line in the original book by Gaston Leroux, and Lloyd Webber has stated “I don’t regard this as a sequel – it’s a stand-alone piece” but for all intents and purposes, with some of the former main characters involved, it’s difficult to look at it in any other way!

It was interesting to go to a new show, about which one had little idea of how the storyline was going to go, and the glamorous program available for purchase didn’t clearly provide any detailed synopsis – I found a complete Act by Act summary on the internet, but won’t spoil the mystery of the Show by spelling that out here, readers can search for that at their will. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable evening – Susie’s view was that it surpassed the Phantom of the Opera!!  She was quite impressed with the majesty of the stage settings and scenery changes which seem to get better and better with each new show, certainly some spectacular affects on this occasion,  while the voices of the two or three lead performers in their singing roles were absolutely wonderful – not necessarily household names unless you were a regular theatre enthusiasts  but nevertheless magnificent performances –  Ben Lewis as the Phantom, Anna O’Byrne as Christine, Simon Gleeson as Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny, Maria Mercedes as Madame Giry and Sharon Millerchip as Meg Giry. The role of Christine & Raoul’s son, Gustave was shared by five different boy actors, not sure which one was performing tonight, but Susie didn’t like him!! Guy Simpson was the conductor of the Orchestra, and their music also formed a major aspect of the enjoyment of ‘Love Never Dies’.  Needless to say, I purchased a copy of the 2CD recording of the show, and some of that music will form much of next Tuesday evening’s Showtime program!

Interesting to note the variety of what is worn to the theatre these days! Of particular amusement were the three scantily dressed young women sitting nearby to us – despite the comfortable warmth of the theatre, it was still a basically freezing night in Melbourne [as we would rediscover on our exit just before 11 pm] – that kind of disregard for the weather was accentuated on our walk up to the car park a couple of blocks from the theatre – nearby was one of Melbourne ‘Nightclubs’ were queues of young people standing around in the narrow street waiting for their turn to gain admittance. It was the girls in particular who were waiting in that crowd, who were virtually dressed in skimpy summer dresses, and generally no apparent warmer clothing [jackets, etc] to cover themselves from the extremely chill wind and typical winter’s night freeze!!! Perhaps they only ‘suffer’ after the night’s dancing and drinking is over, but at the beginning ignore what is to come!!

Relaxing drive home to Sunbury, although light rain starting to fall as we headed out on the Calder Highway – brief stop at the service centre out there, the two ladies wanted some McDonald’s chips!!  I gave that a miss! Shirley had left her car at the Sunbury Railway Station, thankfully it was still there, if not looking a little lonely – occasionally, cars left in the car parks which tend to empty fairly quickly as the evening moves along, can be the target of unwanted attention!  Back home, we received some desperate attention from two cats, which Susie had neglected to feed before she left earlier this evening to meet me in the city, where I had., as usual travelled straight from work.

Close to midnight, but not immediately in the mood for bed, so watched a little of the Tour de France – it was Stage 7 today [tonight] – long flat 215 kms from Le Mans to Chateauroux, which saw 193 riders take to the start. The HTC team which has struggled with their team of riders over past days, timed things well this time, enabling Britains’ Mark  Cavendish to sprint to his second stage win of this year’s Tour.  The second peloton finished the stage over 3 minutes later, with some riders not coming in until 12 minutes behind Cavendish. There was no change to the leading two riders – Norway’s Thor Hushovd and Australia’s Cadel Evans following tonight’s stage.

From the GET UP organisation,  following the government’s sudden decision to left the current ban on live exports of  cattle to Indonesia, and the imposition of  new conditions on live animal exports to that country, we learn that, in their view, there is good and bad news associated with that decision [which incidentally, has apparently upset some members of the Labor Party, concerned that the decision was rushed through without a great deal, if any, consultation, with the Party members in general, there being quite a variation in opinions on the subject.  GET UP wants to continue the campaign within the terms of the lifting of the bans. Over the past weeks, over 245,000 Australians have joined together in this campaign to end the cruel treatment of Australian cattle in Indonesian abattoirs. Together we’ve created the biggest petition in Australian history, and a huge storm in Parliament House. Yesterday’s announcement may be disappointing to many of us, but new animal welfare standards are a step forward in our campaign. In the coming months, let’s continue to keep the pressure up, starting today by calling on exporters to ensure their cattle are only sent to facilities that stun animals.

As GET UP advises –  bad news first: sadly, the international standards the Government has announced do not mandate stunning of animals before slaughter.  Now the good news: the Government has also committed to supply chain assurance, which means that each animal exported will be tagged so they can be tracked from the farm to the abattoir. That’s important because it means cattle producers can now choose to send their cattle only to abattoirs that stun animals before killing. That also means we [the GET UP supporters, and other concerned Australians]  have an opportunity. Some major cattle exporters have already flagged that they will only export to abattoirs with stunning facilities. If we can convince all the exporters to do the same, we can ensure that no Australian cattle are exported to facilities that don’t stun animals.  Currently, no Australian producer meets the international standards the Government has set. However some are getting close, and they’re getting up to scratch so they can qualify for a Government permit to resume exports in the coming weeks.
Many exporters have already expressed their shock to see how their animals were being treated in Indonesia, and some have already committed to export their cattle, only to facilities that stun. The question might be asked – why would exporting companies all agree to promise Australians they will only send their cattle to facilities which use stunning?  GET UP suggests it is because of the ‘Australian public’ that they will agree to the request.
The massive outcry from the Australian public has made clear to industry that the community will not accept a cruel trade. If another animal is exported to the kind on horrific cruelty discovered by Animals Australia investigators, live trade may be banned, forever.  Certainly, if some advocates, such as the RSCPA [Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] had their way, the existing ban would have remained forever!
Anyway, the Australian Government and the cattle industry know the community will not tolerate that kind of cruelty and if international standards are not complied with, there won’t be second chances. Personally, I have been in two minds about the whole ban, and were it not for the potential dramatic consequences on the many producers and farmers who were going to be directly affected by the whole process, I would have been happy to see live exports stopped. I imagine that the Government was thinking more about the economic and financial implications of continuing with the ban, rather than direct concern for the individual  farming family [unless of course, it was felt future votes would be lost, although the numbers involved were fairly small in the context of the total electorate].

Meanwhile, an interesting email from my brother, commenting on his recent cycling fortnight in Japan, and some views on the current Tour de France.  I always consider Robert’s ‘correspondence’ [the non-personal side of it] worth sharing, and including as a part of my contribution on these pages! So that is what follows.

Hi Bill

 

We got back from Japan early Sunday morning; was a lovely day in Sydney, so did something different and went for a long bike ride!

 

Thoroughly enjoyed the trip – riding was good (lovely roads to ride on, even in the back blocks of Hokkaido) and a good cultural experience (have only ever been to Tokyo before). On the riding side, the bikes we had were okay but not great; Evelyn had trouble with her gears for the first couple of days and ended up switching to the Guide’s bike (he was mostly driving the support van). Was impressed with Evelyn’s riding, particularly on the climbs where she out-paced the other two guys in our small group (she’s not fast on the flat but has amazing stamina when it comes to climbing).

 

On the cultural side, for 10 days on Hokkaido we saw no other non-Japanese and met only one person who spoke English; hence a bilingual guide is sort of essential to avoid a lot of mucking about trying to make yourself understood. Other aspects of our japanese experience were:

 – Every meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) was some mix of tempura, sashimi, fish in multiple forms, vegetables, miso soup, tea, salad and rice (ate lots to get required carbs) + Japanese beer (which is excellent)

 – Dressing for dinner each night in kimono and slippers or thongs (see attached)

 – naked bathing in communal hot spring baths each afternoon following ride – but usually alone as hotels / inns were mostly empty; became very addictive following a day in the saddle

 – sleeping on futons and sitting on cushions (not chairs) for dinner

 – ritual everywhere about were you can and can’t wear shoes; e.g. at hotels / inns shoes come off at main entry and into slippers; but slippers come off at entry into your room or into the dining room.

 

Eye opener as to the impact the March tsunami has had on Japanese psyche and economy; even up north in Hokkaido the hotels and inns were virtually empty as the Japanese themselves are just not travelling and tourism from off-shore has dried up; hence a number of commercial establishments and restaurants are struggling. As an indication of a shaken psyche, on arrival at one hotel the proprietor (while obviously pleased to see us) said to our guide (in japanese) “aren’t they scared”!

 

Trust that you are following the Tour! Cadel [Evans] looking good and thankfully appears to be showing more aggression than in the past (e.g. in holding off  [Alberto] Contador to the line to win Stage 4). But of course it’s early days. However, the mood is perhaps best summed up by the following quote sent by Dave Olle following Cadel’s win on Stage 4 (Dave is the TopBike guy I did the TdF trip with last year):

 

“Cadel’s first TdF road stage win.  Let’s remember the clichés, take a deep breath and repeat them with me now:  ‘It’s only the first week’, ‘It’s a long way to Paris’, ‘A week is a long time in cycling’ ‘It’s the third week that counts’.  Bugger it, let’s celebrate now.”  

And another little story from Dave about why there are so few French riding in the TdF (Benard Hinault mentioned was the greatest ever French rider; won about 5 TdF’s):

 

“The lack of good French GC riders in the last 25 years’ report:  Our hostess in Hede, Virginie, told us a little story this morning, that was quite revealing.  About how as a child she was taken to the TdF every year, made to sit road side on every stage and watch Benard Hinault fight for the yellow jersey.  Many kids of her era were forced to do the same by, usually, their fathers.  Apparently deaf to their children’s pleas, begging for a normal family holiday, by the beach.  Herein lies the answer as to why no Frenchmen have managed to succeed him.  They all hated it.  
The ‘Badger’s’ successes and his fans dedication, effectively killed the enthusiasm of the next generation.  C’est la vie Frenchies!  (Suffer in ya chamois’)” 

 Meanwhile, an update on last night’s [tonight’s] Tour de France – Stage 6 Dinan to Lisieux , 226.5km – Stage 6 Results     1. Edvald Boasson Hagen Sky Procycling – 5:13:37  2. Matthew Harley Goss HTC-Highroad  3. Thor Hushovd Team Garmin-Cervelo.  The overall situation after six stages remains relatively unchanged – the odd thing about the Tour de France which mystifies this fan, how the relative scores of competitors remain unchanged through many days of cycling. Must get my brother to try and explain it all to me one day!  General classification after Stage 6   –  1. Thor Hushovd Team Garmin-Cervelo – 22:50:34;  2. Cadel Evans BMC Racing Team – 0:00:01;   3. Fränk Schleck Leopard Trek – 0:00:04;  4. David Millar Team Garmin-Cervelo – 0:00:08;   5. Andreas Klöden Team RadioShack – 0:00:10;  6. Bradley Wiggins Sky Procycling;   7. Geraint Thomas Sky Procycling – 0:00:12;   8. Edvald Boasson Hagen Sky Procycling;  9. Jakob Fuglsang Leopard Trek;/  10. Andy Schleck Leopard Trek

Radio Committee meeting tonight – a mighty cold night to be out and about, but things warmed up quickly enough once we got underway. As usual, a very cooperative but usual session, and it is a pleasure to work with such a group this year, hopefully the make up of personnel will remain much the same after this year’s AGM in August.  This ‘Treasurer’ was able to hand over the ‘accounts’ to the President for him to pass onto the auditor tomorrow, hopefully that work will all be completed well in time for the AGM. A bit of [in fact, considerable] discussion about a couple of ‘trouble makers’ in the organisation, and how best to deal with such situations, formed a small segment of the meeting.

Extremely interesting special program of Q & A was on the TV just after I returned home tonight – it followed the screening of a documentary [another one] on Australia’s refugee problems, which unfortunately I didn’t get to see before the panel discussion [but did re4member to tape it].  I was a bit surprised that  there were no Face Book comments from friends about the program[s], but perhaps they wait for yours truly to generate those kind of ‘discussions’!! 

 

 

 

A couple of days ago, I asked friends in Thailand about the weekend’s election, and received an interesting response [dated 5 July]
 
“We have just seen a “democratic thai election”.  The outed former PM – Taksin –  has brought  & schemed
his younger sister to the role of The Prime minister of Thailand.  His motives should have been obvious…but the Thai rice-farmers  of the North-East prefer Taksin’s “vote-buying money”   (to anything we may assume ) to  be a DEMOCRACY  for money hungry Thais.  The Educated in Bangkok preferred the status quo to remain.
Taksin’s plan is, obvious, to now be white-washed clean of all  the corruption charges already proven against him.  His 46 billion baht – of ill-gotten gains, that’s frozen by the Court, to be returned to him.  He will expect the same as his former wife received… with interest.  For him to now return back to Thailand – from his exile, a FREE MAN and so wrongly convicted. In his and his red-shirt employees’ minds. The going price for your vote up here –  in the N.E was 250 baht from the party that eventually won.  I’m crying “poor” as the “man with the money” failed to turn-up at ‘the family’ home by 9.30 p.m. on Saturday night. So we left.
This is only a part of the disillusionment of DEMONCRACY – THAI  STYLE. We had to travel to ‘my wife’s’ village for her to vote. (As with everyone in Thailand) We did the trip on our 110cc Honda. Twenty km along the highway we were hit by a tropical storm that soaked us both for the 25 mins.  Then 10km up the road people are wondering why we are in our plastic raincoats. Her sister waited 5 hours in Bangkok in an attempt to get on a bus.  There would have only been “standing room” on the bus for the 260km trip”. 

[The writer, an Australian married to a Thai lady] who has a lot of respect and admiration for the King of Thailand, who is much revered in the country, however his respect obviously doesn’t extend to the newly elected government & their representatives. I saw Taksins’ sister  being interviewed on the ABC this morning, and she came over as quite genuine and sincere, but I obviously wasn’t aware in much detail of the background to her political family].

The State of Origin rugby league was played tonight  – Game 3 [the decider between Queensland and New South Wales [NSW] – ‘the Blues’ – I decided to watch this game tonight, before switching over to the cycling for a while – barracking for the ‘Blues’ despite getting a bit of ‘ribbing’ from my sister up in Queensland. However, things didn’t go that way for NSW, and Queensland, in front of a very parochial home crowd of over 50,000, went on to win their 6^th State of Origin title in a row!!

Meanwhile, it was Stage 5 of the Tour de France tonight – Carhaix Cap to Frehel, a distance of 164.5 kms. I watched the first hour or so,  and saw a replay of the finish later on – Britain’s Mark Cavendish came from the ‘pack’ to snatch victory for the day’s ride, from a Belgian and Spanish rider. I noticed that there were a number of accidents in tonight’s ride, don’t think weather conditions were that good, and apparently the roads that the competitors ride over in this section of the Tour are quite narrow [certainly the opposite of what we are used to here in Australia].  Cadel Evans [Australia’s hope] came in 11^th position for this stage, and he remains in 2^nd position overall, behind the Norway rider, Thor Hushovd.

I would have liked to have watched the Matildas’ game tonight –  Women’s World Cup soccer game against Norway, in which the Aussies came away with a 2-0 win, and thereby qualified for the quarterfinals  –  next match, against Sweden!!  Unfortunately, with the game on at 2am our time, it was not ‘convenient to be up watching TV in the middle of a working week, at that time!!  At least that match [against Sweden] might be on at a more reasonable for us here in Eastern Australia – 9pm on Sunday night!!  Excellent!

 

 

Highly unlikely, but apparently at 11.32am this morning, a quake measuring 4.0 was felt in parts of Melbourne today, shaking the ground  for about 10 to 15 seconds, with Adam Pascale, from the ES & S Seismology Research Centre said the quake’s epicentre was Korumburra in country Victoria south-east of Melbourne. Mr Pascale said there was also a couple of magnitude 2.8 aftershocks. Twitter users reported feeling the shakes in suburbs across the city.  Mr Pascale said Korumburra had been the epicentre for a number of 4.5 magnitude quakes in recent years, including one in March 2009.  Here in Northcote, a few kilometres north of the CBD, I didn’t notice anything!!

Meanwhile, a news report came through from Afghanistan this morning, of yet another Australian soldier being killed in that ‘conflict’. The newly appointed defence chief didn’t get long in his role, before he had to come out this morning and advice that an Australian commando had been shot in the head while leading his team into a gunfight in Afghanistan.  I believe that now means 28 deaths over there, with the majority of those seeming to have occurred over the past 12 months or so. No doubt, this will result in renewed calls for Australia to get it’s troops out of that country – a difficult call for many reason, however, both the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader continue to insist that we will see the ‘campaign’ through!!!

Speaking of Tony Abbott, he was in my ‘email ear’ again today  –  more on his ‘almost obsessive’ campaign against anything to do with the carbon tax, the details of which will be announced this weekend.

Dear Bill,   Julia Gillard’s carbon tax is a recipe for massive economic self-harm. It will reduce the living standards of average Australians, cost thousands of jobs and destroy the very industries that make Australia a competitive exporter – and all for no environmental benefit.  The Prime Minister assured the Australian people before the last election that there would be no carbon tax under the government she led. Julia Gillard is now determined to foist this unnecessary tax on our country without giving people a say on it.  The Prime Minister’s latest attempt to quell growing community anger about the carbon tax was her announcement last weekend that petrol would be excluded from the carbon tax for some sections of the community. But Labor’s proposal will do little to ease the cost of living hit on Australian families and businesses. And what the Prime Minister did not mention is her deal with the Greens for a Productivity Commission inquiry that leaves open the possibility of more taxes on petrol in 2015.  In my address to the 2011 Economic and Social Outlook Conference in Melbourne last week, I set out the economic case against a carbon tax. In debunking the assertion by Julia Gillard and others that Australia risks being left behind if we do not have a carbon tax, I made the point that:  “…the unilateral imposition of a carbon price will put Australia at a competitive disadvantage compared to countries which are taking no such action. Contrary to the government‘s repeated assertions, there are no countries – none – that are planning to impose an economy wide carbon price, as the Productivity Commission has just confirmed. In the absence of comparable international action, an Australian carbon tax will damage our economy without helping the environment which is why it can‘t be fixed; it just has to be fought.”

Of course, with two sides arguing so vehemently, and both quoting various experts from scientific, environmental and economic circles, it makes it very difficult for the average member of the electorate to know which way to turn, and certainly, Abbott’s ‘scare tactics’ [which even I have to admit is simply what they are – ‘cost thousands of jobs’, etc, etc] are becoming more and more mundane and repetitive – will that tactic eventually backfire on him,  and turn people from his side of the debate? Of course, once the relevant legislation gets through parliament, which eventually it will, particularly with the Green’s support now, the Abbott tactics will perhaps become less relevant as time goes on  – it all depends upon how successful the government is in implementing the relevant policies, they certainly need a reversal of the ‘implementation of major policy attempts since 2007!!

Update on the Tour de France: –  the following report summarises an exciting finish in the early hours of  Wednesday morning [my time – Stage 4 of the Tour de France, Tuesday 5 July].  The three-time winner of the Tour de France,  who is desperate to make up lost time, as well as lost face, was unable to chase down the gutsy thrust for the line by 34-year-old hard-nut Australian, Cadel Evans, losing out in a photo-finish after a 172.5km race through rain and wind from Lorient. \Evans’ performance gave him the lead in the battle for the climbers’ jersey.  In a bare-knuckle scrap, Contador, who attacked initially at 1.3km, could not quite deliver the knockout blow.   Yet he is back in the fight, up off the canvas after taking damaging blows earlier in the tour. He is not going to go quietly, subdued by scandal or adversaries. He may have been beaten on the day but his tour is alive again.  Principal results were:\           Stage four, Lorient to Mûr de Bretagne, 172.5 kms: 1. Cadel Evans (Australia / BMC Racing) 4hrs 11mins 39secs, 2. Alberto Contador (Spa / Saxo Bank) at same time, 3. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz / Astana) s.t., 4. Rigoberto Uran (Col / Team Sky) s.t. , 5. Philippe Gilbert (Bel / Omega Pharma – Lotto) s.t., 6. Thor Hushovd (Nor / Garmin) s.t. , 7. Fraenk Schleck (Lux / Leopard) s.t. , 8. Samuel Sanchez (Spa / Euskaltel) s.t., 9. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel / Omega Pharma – Lotto) s.t., 10. Andreas Kloeden (Ger / RadioShack) s.t.

Meanwhile, the overall classifications after 4 stages showed us that: –  Overall general classification: 1. Thor Hushovd (Nor, Garmin-Cervelo) 13 hours, 58 minutes, 25 seconds, 2. Cadel Evans (Australia – BMC) 1sec, 3. Frank Schleck (Lux, Leopard-Trek) 4secs, 4. David Millar (GB – Garmin-Cervelo) 8secs, 5. Andreas Kloeden (Ger, RadioShack) 10secs, 6. Bradley Wiggins (GB – Team Sky) s.t., 7. Geraint Thomas (GB – Team Sky) 12secs, 8. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor, Team Sky) s.t., 9. Andy Schleck (Lux, Leopard-Trek) s.t., 10. Jakob Fuglsang (Den, Leopard-Trek) s.t.

Arrived home briefly late this afternoon, before heading back up to the radio station to find Susie had returned from Bendigo – must have just basically travelled up there  yesterday to celebrate her birthday with ‘new friends’ – in any case, it seems she was back for the rest of the week, and although of course, I probably wouldn’t see much of her, it was good to have my ‘girl’ back home!!   In the meantime, another pleasant two hours on the radio, but came out at 8pm to a freezing winter’s night in Sunbury, and the promise of a similar day tomorrow!!  While friends in England [of all places] are boasting on line of the lovely sunny weather they are enjoying [in Cornwall, anyway!!].

 

Ahh yes, it’s such fun going back to work, after enjoying a couple of days of not having to bother!!  And yes, today is Susie’s actual 25^th birthday, but she is already back up in Bendigo [though only for a couple of days, I would eventually discover].  Anyway, sent her a greeting about halfway through the day, and even got a response!  I must say, I liked her little entry on Face Book today [note, she spells her own name with a ‘z’, which was not really our intention originally, we prefer Susie/Susan]:

Suzie Kirk [on her Facebook site]

‎’Today you are you! That is truer than true!
There is no one alive who is you-er than you!
Shout loud, “I am lucky to be what I am!
Thank goodness I’m not just a clam or a ham
Or a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam!
I am what I am! That’s a great thing to be!

If I say so myself, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!’

Meanwhile, some interesting news on the ‘employment scene’ with reports of the Director of our Government Department [from which we get our funding] being ‘moved aside’ –   and is a reminder that while all the attention is on Julia Gillard’s Labor Government Federal carbon tax,   things at the Victorian parliamentary level, are perhaps not running as smoothly as new State Liberal leader, Ted Bailleau might have been hoping by now. As the report read, in a ‘Crikey.com article, this incident is one of a few which has been troubling the Liberals at the State level over recent weeks.-

‘Respected Victoria Office of Housing Director Margaret Crawford has been forced from her position in the wake of extreme pressure to fix a series of gaffes by Liberal housing minister Wendy Lovell.  Crikey can reveal that Crawford, appointed to statutory position by an independent body under the former Brumby government in February 2008, will move to the Department of Transport as Deputy Secretary, Strategic Transport Planning on a secondment following a rancorous six months inside the Department of Human Services’ 50 Lonsdale Street HQ. A New Zealander, Doug Craig, will temporarily take Crawford’s role while she is at Transport, and then later when she is on leave.  Housing insiders are in uproar over the move, set to take effect on Monday week, believing their boss to have been the target of a deliberate destabilisation campaign. Crawford’s departure takes to three the number of statutory office holders deposed amid murky political circumstances in Victoria this year, alongside Director of Public Prosecutions Jeremy Rapke and Victoria Police Commissioner Simon Overland. She is one of the Victorian Public Service’s most senior bureaucrats, with an annual salary of more than $300,000 and is charged with overseeing the state’s 65,000 strong public housing stock and managing politically sensitive waiting lists of close to 40,000 people.  Senior housing sector insiders say rumours of Crawford’s fate had been percolating for months inside the Office. They told Crikey that she had copped extreme heat from Lovell following a botched response she gave to a question on set-top boxes for pensioners in state parliament last month for which she was later forced to issue an apology. At a fiery Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearing in May — attended by Crawford — the Minister was unable to recall the Office of Housing’s rental operating deficit and stumbled over other questions on the proportion of state funding to be allocated to new public housing. In the lead-up to PAEC, Ministers are usually provided with detailed briefing notes and Crikeyunderstands that Lovell was aggrieved that she was unable to recall basic facts provided to her in good faith. A war of words also erupted following the release of March quarter public housing waiting list data and Lovell’s disappointing performance in parliament in May when Labor claimed the minister couldn’t explain key clauses in the Residential Tenancies Act. Her departure was shrouded by a disinformation barrage overseen by the department’s spin doctors. A DHS spokesperson, Brendan Ryan, denied point blank last Friday that Crawford had left the Housing role and then bizarrely refused to respond to a follow-up question inquiring into the new gig. A spokesperson for Wendy Lovell referred queries back to Ryan.Crawford’s exit will add to long-held fears that the Baillieu government could be about to embark on a clean-out of prominent Labor-era public service posts, despite denying the existence of a sacking black list in the weeks following November’s state election.  Late last year, Lovell claimed she had “inherited a crisis” across the housing portfolio and that 41,000 people were on public housing waiting lists. In May she reported that public housing waiting list had declined to 37,430 under her watch. Shadow housing minister Dick Wynne slammed the sequence of events this afternoon. “This is another Baillieu government statutory office holder — this time the Director of Housing — who has been undermined by the government and forced to move to another position. Wendy Lovell at every opportunity has sought to undermine the Director to every not for profit agency and housing service provider in the state,” he said.  “How gutless to have this decision announced, at the close of a Parliamentary session and before a 7 week break in a shameless attempt to avoid scrutiny.” Mind you, the comment above about ‘gutless decisions, could equally be applied to Julia Gillard’s decision this week to reveal all of the details about the Government’s proposed carbon tax ‘next’ Sunday  –  after the Parliament has adjourned at the end of this week for the ‘Winter recess’!!!  Thereby, not allowing any further parliamentary debate and/or official discussion about those details until Parliament resumes in mid August!!  She’s clever, if nothing else!  Though needless to say, both Julia Gillard [as Prime Minister] and opposition leader, Tony Abbott will both be on the ‘campaign’ trail around Australia over the next few weeks pushing their respective agendas on this issue – Julia’s words would be ‘wearing the leather off her shoes’!

Update on the Tour de France – Stage 3 result overnight  – this saw the American Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Cervelo upstaged the hopes of British sprint rival Mark Cavendish on his way to a maiden Tour de France victory on the third stage on Monday. World champion teammate Thor Hushovd of Norway kept possession of the race leader’s yellow jersey as Garmin celebrated their second win on the trot, having won the 23km team time trial at Les Essarts on Sunday. Cadel Evans was in the peloton to maintain his position one second behind Hushovd, at third place, in the overall standings.  The Norwegian’s teammate, David Millar, remained second with the same time as the leader. I saw the end of tonight’s race, finished about 1.30 am I think, didn’t look at the clock when I switched off@!

But of course, it was well after midnight, when I returned home from a great 3 hours on the radio  – as usual, a real mix of folk, blues, country, world, and of course jazz, amongst other genres. Even found an old recording by American singer of years past, Kate Smith, singing ‘Far Away Places’, while Leroy Gomez entertained us with ‘You’re My Everything’.  Former workplace associate here, Liz, sang a beautiful Vietnamese love song/ballad. Of course, those few selections were just scratching the surface of tonight’s show, which while going for 3 hours, I usually feel like continuing beyond the midnight hour, only the early rise for work in the morning. Tonight, even a 1956 recording of one of the Goon Show episodes got a run. Damm good program tonight, though no phone calls, not even for my ‘not so mysterious’ Aussie singer, former Seeker’s member, Judith Durham!

Received an overnight email from old friend Bev, who was wondering about my imminent retirement & whether I was managing to do some walking.  She was also imagining that by now, I was thoroughly sick of work & the travelling as the  time draws near to the end in October.  I was able to assure her that her assumptions and thoughts were all on course, for the way I was feeling, and that I was still counting the days down!  And was I going to go for a bit of a holiday as soon as I retire?  Well, nice idea, but I wonder if radio commitments, etc, would get in the way of that idea!!

 

It’s just after 10am when I begin writing this piece, and since 6am this morning, at which time I’d left home for the radio station, the weather has deteriorated considerably – decided that a walk was ‘not’ on the agenda this morning, icy wind, equivalent rain showers, and a very overcast morning, after being quite mild a few hours ago.

After last night’s concert, I decided to have a ‘concert within a concert’ on my program this morning – from a recording of selections from earlier concerts of the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra, a played a few tracks of music by Sibelius, Faure, Tchaikovsky & Grieg, and later in the show, played another orchestra’s version of the beautiful second movement of Dvorak’s ‘New World Symphony’ [featured by the Heidelberg team last night – refer to Saturday’s comments].  Today, I even played a listener request, well another presenter actually – wanted to hear Rimsky-Korsakoff’s ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’.  Unfortunately, the only version on hand that I was able to find was from a fairly old vinyl recording, and it had a certain amount of ‘background noise’ from the vinyl copy – however, we apologised to our listeners in advance for the poor quality of the recording, and as the track only lasted 1 minute 25 seconds, I figured people could cope with that!! I hope!  – 

I sent a birthday greeting, via Face Book, to classical music composer and arranger, Peter Breiner this morning  –  Slovak born, I think he generally resides in Canada these days, and is very active in the world of music, and very generous in sharing his love of music, and other things [such as soccer] through the social network mediums.   His reply came through almost immediately, indicative of the man’s character I think  – ‘Thank you so much –  it’s so great to get a birthday wish from someone whom, I’ve never met!! And who knows, maybe one day we will…’

Interesting, that today over in Thailand, national elections are taking place, and some are predicting a rare change of government in that region. Must get onto Jack Harris, who is currently over there for 6 months with his Thai wife, and get a gauge on how the day is going.

Update: Tour de France: Stage 1: [Sat 2^nd July]: Passage du Gois to Mont des Alouettes, 191.5 kms – this annual event commenced in France yesterday – we have a daily coverage here on SBS television between 10pm and 2 am each night. I doubt I will see very much of the coverage! The results of Day 1, Stage 2, with 198 riders finishing the stage, were:

1. Philippe Gilbert, Belgium [Omega Pharma-Lotto teram]………………4 hrs 31 secs
2. Cadel Evans [Australia] [BMC Racing Team]……………….+ 0.03 seconds
3. Thor Hushoyd, Norway [Team Garmin –Cervelo]……………………….+ 0.06 secs

Belgian Philippe Gilbert of the Omega Pharma team won an incident-filled first stage of the Tour de France here on Saturday and took the race leader’s yellow jersey. “It’s the most important race of the world, and it’s very special to win the first stage because I receive all the jerseys, except of course I’m too old for the white jersey,” Gilbert said. Meanwhile, from the Tour Diary of  Cadel Evans –   “A hectic way to start the Tour; crashes, narrow roads, lots round- and an unpredictable final. Looking back at the TV highlights, it was a messy day for many. We managed to avoid any major mishaps, thanks to the good work and expertise of ‘Giorgio’, ‘Burgie’ and Micky. Easier said than done; riding at the front in the wind all day is hard both mentally and physically.  In the final, Big George got caught in a crash at 2k to go. I was alright but got a bit closed in on the right as the winning move went on the right with 1k to go. Second is not a bad start!”

After the family dinner tonight, and Susie and I returned home, it would be close to 10 o’clock before she left for the return to Bendigo. I was certainly not happy about her driving back up at the highway at that time of night, but there was little I could say or do, just hope & pray for another safe and uneventful trip. \Certainly no intention of  going to bed for a while. In  fact spent the next few hours working on one of the family trees [the Jenkins line] and keeping an eye on the various international sporting events happening tonight.

 First completed event was a very exciting finish to the Italian MotoGP race – Australia’s Casey Stoner, well clear in the championship at present, looked like extending that lead with 5 laps top go, but a brilliant come from behind effort by Jorge Lorenzo on the Yamaha, took over the race, and with obviously struggling with some kind of tyre problem, even his teammate, with a couple of laps to go, knocked Casey out of 2^nd position, at the cost of some more championship points. 1. Lorenzo. 2, Dovizoso, 3. Casey Stoner.  Watching these races, as a non-motor cyclist, I am amazed, or bewildered as to how those guys stay on their motor bikes!!!  Meanwhile in the Women’s World Cup Soccer tournament, Australia was in it’s second game of the tournament tonight, in a match, which following their 1-0 loss to Brazil last week, they had to win to be assured of moving onto the next stage of the tournament. Match was against the small African nation of  Equatorial Guinea. The other Group D game was Brazil vs Norway, the latter being Australia’s next opponent. The halftime, the score was 1-1, which was really,, not good enough for the Matildas [the name of the Aussie team]. Early in the second half, a couple of great goals by the Australian strikers, to give the girls a 3-1 lead. They went on to eventually win the game 3-2 – that last goal by the opposition was a pity, as they really needed to build the score in the opposite direction.

Wimbledon  Men’s Final tonight [our time] – didn’t really watch much of it, as I find Rafal Nadal ‘boring’ to sit and watch for hours, too predictable I think, the normal outcome, anyway.  Despite having said that, interestingly, when I switched over to the tennis, just before midnight, Djokovic has just won the first set over Nadal, 6-4. Eventually, Novak Djokovic celebrated his elevation to world number one by beating incumbent Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-3 to win his first Wimbledon title.   Results of the weekend finals are listed below.   Wimbledon finals took place this weekend, and despite no Australians featuring in the ‘big league’, there was some Aussie success at the ‘junior’ levels, as indicated below

• Women’s Singles Final [Saturday]:  first time Grand Slam winner – Petra Kvitova [Czech] defeated Maria Sharapova [Russia] in a shock upset –   6/3, 6/4 – won the Title with an Ace!!
• Men’s Singles Final [Sunday]: Novak Djokovic [Serbia] defeated Rafal Nadal [Spain] infour sets – 6/4,6/1,1/6, 6/3
• Men’s Doubles Final [Saturday]: not surprisingly, Bob & Mike Bryan [USA] defeated Robert Lindstedt [Sweden] and Horia Recau [Roum]  6/3, 6/4, 7/6
• Women’s Doubles Final [Saturday]:  Kyeta Peschke [Czech] & Katarina Srebotnik [Slovenia] defeated Samantha Stosur [Australia] & Sabine Lisicki [Germany] –  6/3, 6/1
• Mixed Doubles Final [Sunday]: Jurgen Melzer [Austria] & Iveta Benesova [Czech] defeated Mahesh Bhupathi [India] & Elena Vesnina [Russia] 6/3, 6/2.    [TheAustralian Paul Hanley, with partner Su-Wei Hsieh [Taipei] lost their Mixed Doubles semi final on Saturday against Mahesh Bhupathi [India] & Elena Vesnina [Russia]  2/6, 6/3, 5/7]

and the two big Aussie results:-

• Boy’s Singles Final [Saturday]:  Luke Saville [Australia] defeated Liam Broady [GBR]  2/6, 6/4, 6/2
  • Girl’s Singles Final [Sunday]: Ashleigh Barty [Australia] defeated Irina Khromacheva [Russia] 7/5, 7/6 sealing an Australian junior double titles for the first time.

Meanwhile, must make mention of the efforts of some of Australia’s former champions – Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde are no strangers to Wimbledon finals’ days, having won six Wimbledon doubles titles. They made another appearance in a final, only this time they were playing with different partners and in different events. Woodforde teamed up with Australian compatriot Pat Cash and they successfully defended their Gentleman’s Senior Invitation Doubles title with a 6-3, 5-7, 10-5 victory over Britain’s Jeremy Bates and Sweden’s Anders Jarryd. But his former partner in crime, Woodbridge, had to make do with the runner’s up position in the Gentleman’s Invitation Doubles. The Australian, who joined forces with Swede Jonas Bjorkman, comfortably took the first set against Paul Haarhuis and Jacco Eltingh 6-3, before their opponents fought back to claim the second by the same score line and force a champions tiebreak.  Bjorkman and Woodbridge, who have won three men’s Wimbledon doubles titles. looked to be on course to add another trophy to their collection when they raced to a 7-5 lead, but the Dutch team clawed their way back clinch the match 3-6, 6-3, 13-11 on their second match point’.

And of course, there was the second day of the Tour de France. Update: Tour de France: Stage 2: Time Trial  [Sun 3^nd July]:  Les essarts [Team Time Trial, 23 kms –  result saw 1^st: Team Garmin-Cervelo [24.48]. 2^nd: BMC Racing Team [+0.04], 3^rd: Sky Procycling [+0.04]. More importantly, the overall standings after 2 stages of the race see Australia’s Cadel Evans just 1 second be3hind, in 3^rd spot  –   1. Thor Hushovd [Norway]: 5.06.25; David Millar [GBR]: 5.06.25 [both from Team Garmin-Cervalo, and 3. Cadel Evans [Australia] with the BMC Racing team on 5.06.26.

My night ended on one comforting note – a text message from Susan at around 11.25pm to let me know she had arrived in Bendigo!!

I spent the bulk of today at home, with the thought of a drive across the top of the city tonight, despite the attraction of a concert at the other end, left this writer feeling a little distracted throughout the day. Received my first bit of  contact from the family for almost a week – Jodie reminding me of dinner for Susie’s birthday, on Sunday evening.  Went for another late morning walk – with threatening weather predicted, I thought I had better get that out of the way before the conditions changed my mind about going!!!

Another big football game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground [MCG] this afternoon – Carlton versus the Richmond Tigers. Over the years have attended some classic finals matches between these two teams, but these days I tend to avoid games at the MCG, and despite the delayed TV coverage this afternoon, was quite content to watch from the lounge chair. Don’t think anyone from the family went today. The quarter by quarter scores below, tend to tell the story of the match. After Carlton’s unexpected loss last weekend to the West Coast Eagles, and because of the traditional rivalry between today’s two combatants, it was a bit of a danger game for the Blues. I needn’t have worried – Carlton dominated from the start, and eventually went on to create their biggest ever score against the Tigers, exceeding the score of 29 goals 9 behinds in the 1972 Grand Final – a match that I watched the first three quarters of, dressed in a suit in preparation for a wedding I was to attend later that particular afternoon [not the wedding party’s fault – they planned their wedding for the first Saturday in October, a week after the football was supposed to have been finished, but a drawn match in one of the early September finals, saw the Grand Final moved into October, as it was last year – in those days, ‘nothing’ would stop this fan from going to see Carlton play, and especially in a Final!!]. Anyway, today, Carlton thrashed Richmond in every position by every measure!  Say no more, the scores tell it!

Carlton Blues:              5.2.32                    11.7.73       20.13.133         FINAL:   28.16.184

Richmond Tigers:        1.4.10                      4.6.30         6.8.44              Final:      12.9.81

From the ‘culture’ of football to the ‘culture of music’, and more precisely tonight, classical music!  It was Concert No. 2 for the 2011 season by the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra, performed in the acoustically perfect environment of the Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School Performing Arts Centre. I have no doubt discussed this orchestra on previous occasions – widely recognised as one of Melbourne’s most acclaimed non-professional orchestras, which manages to attract many elite musicians to perform with it, as with tonight’s performance. They have toured through much of Europe at different times. Their annual concert series [four per year] features a wide repertoire from the most demanding symphonies, challenging guest artist concerto performances, to much loved theatre and orchestral classics. I was sitting there tonight, and wishing and wondering how we could get a symphony orchestra to be formed in Sunbury – something the calibre of Heidelberg would be  magnificent, and for me, would save this long Saturday night drive four times a year!!

I mentioned the acoustics of the Grammar School Centre above – there was a ‘presumably’ almost totally blind elderly gentleman sitting near me, and he commented to me that the organisers had on previous occasions always given him a seat down at the front of the audience area [basically the bottom on a level with the orchestra, whereas we were sitting up near ‘the roof’ at the top of that section. He asked to be moved, and the fact that because of his poor eye sight, the organisers had assumed he would be able to see more from the front seat, this gentleman in fact, preferred to sacrifice that, because the sound at that level was far inferior to the acoustics we were enjoying up the top. I think he might have been a bit of an extreme case, as I’m not sure all concert goers would be quite as aware of the difference!! Can’t say myself, I’ve say down the front!

Tonight’s program was titled ‘Czech-Mate’ and accordingly presented music by Janacek and Dvorak, both Czech composers, the latter, the better known of the two of them. Program began with Janacek’s composition named ‘Zarlivost’, of 6 minutes duration, and principally based on a song called Zarlivec or ‘The Jealous Man’, apparently originally written as the overture to his opera ‘Jenufa’, but later discarded for that purpose, becoming a separate concert piece. I was actually not familiar with it, but is was a vigorous and bright start to the night’s program.

Then followed Dvorak’s ‘Cello Concerto’ of which I was more familiar. This featured one of those ‘elite’ guests – cello player, an Australian, Thomas Rann [actually playing a violincello’, slightly smaller than a regular cello. Performed in three movements, the guest was no doubt excellent at his craft, and received sustained applause at the end. Personally, he didn’t impress me a great deal in respect to his ‘on stage persona’ – he didn’t look comfortable in his seated position, and had an air about him, when he was not playing with the orchestra, that almost displayed disinterest in what the other musicians were doing! That is no doubt a totally unfair suggestion, but it was certainly the impression he left me with, little things like constantly rubbing his hand on his trouser leg [perspiration perhaps], and other little mannerisms which annoyed this listener/viewer. When he was playing, he virtually hugged the instrument into his body as he crouched into it! And yet, he has performed internationally in front of kings, queens and prime ministers, so who am I to judge him!!! I just won’t be rushing out to see him perform again!! Meanwhile, in respect to the concerto itself, Dvorak is reported to have said ‘The cello is a beautiful instrument, but its place is in the orchestra, as a solo instrument it is not much good. I have written a cello concerto, but am sorry to this day that I did so, and I never intend to write another’.  Critics consider that an odd quotation from a man who wrote what is considered to be one of the most beautiful cello concertos every written. Certainly, when attending the concerts by the Australian String Quartet, I get particular enjoyment from the occasional solo pieces by Rachel Johnston on her cello in that qwuartet.

After interval, minus the guest, we had the full orchestra present a wonderful interpretation of Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 [subtitled ‘From the New World]. Again, of 40 minutes duration [as with the Cello Concerto], this was beautifully performed, and presumably as Dvorak intended [or perhaps not], makes use of the American spiritual genre in the creation of the memorable melodies – as Dvorak himself is quoted as saying ‘In the negro melodies of America, I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music’. Some of ‘those’ melodies which upon a carefully listening can be gleaned from the performance include ‘Swing low sweet chariot’, ‘Goin’ Home’, parts of some Longfellow’s ‘Hiawatha’, and even a theme in part of the 4^th movement reminiscent of ‘Three Blind Mice’ [quite distinctive in fact]. I particularly loved the 2wnd movement [the ‘Largo’] and was so taken by it tonight, that I immediately determined to re-arrange my Sunday morning program in order to include a playing of that movement.

A short encore at the end of the program [by an American composer, whose name temporarily slips me, though I have played him myself   –   ahhh yes, it was Leroy Anderson!!], was a bright finish to an entertaining night!! Outside, I expected cold and miserable weather conditions – in fact, it was quite mild, and I subsequently had a pleasant drive home, about an hour away. At home, surprised to find that Susie was there – not expected un til tomorrow,  It was her birthday on Monday, and it seems she had really only returned from Bendigo for her family dinner tomorrow night – she was intending to drive back north afterwards [which as usual worried me, particularly with the weather due to deteriorate on Sunday!!]. Nevertheless, it was good to see her, even if only briefly, and to find her at home, upon my return!!