Author: jkirkby8712

Only briefly saw daughter Susan today – her return in the early hours of this morning, did not last for long. Spoke briefly today before I went out for a late morning walk, and not long after I returned, Susie was off again, and said she’d not be back until sometime next week!!  Apparently visiting someone today/tonight, and then back up to Bendigo on Sunday. I don’t think she even had the opportunity to visit her Mum or Nan on this ‘quick’ pass through ‘home’!!  I have to admit that when she left again, at around 12.30pm [after I’d organised the payment of her next month’s rent up in Bendigo], I felt rather unhappy about  the brief arrival and departure! Seems to be the way things are at present.

Overall, it would be a quiet weekend for this writer, with a great deal of my time devoted to more work on the family history, while outside, the gardens continued to be somewhat neglected.  With the winter season currently upon us, not a great deal of growth was happening in any case, though some of those weeds did need my attention! All in good time! Left on my own again this weekend, it was a case of housework, shopping and a bit of cooking, though not always as enthusiastic about the latter as I should be, when it is only this writer I am catering for.

Tonight, Australia’s  Bernard Tomic played his third round game at Wimbledon, I didn’t see the game [need some sleep occasionally] but awoke to the news that he had achieved another surprising win, and would next come up against Robin Sodering, who had just knocked Lleyton Hewitt out of the tournament. With the eventual defeat of our remaining lady in the tournament earlier this evening –  as I noted on Face Book during the evening –‘Come on Jarmila, a big effort for your adopted country, as our only girl left in Wimbledon, a tough call against the No. 1 player in the world, but you have all Aussie tennis fans on your side tonight!! If you can take her all the way, not much sleep for me, but who cares!!’  And later on, at the conclusion of the game –  ‘It’s over, Jarmila lost 3/6 2/6, too much class, the World No. 1, taught our girl a lesson in how to win a match without being too fancy. Think I’ll follow Wozniacki from hereon – world no. 1 yet never won the major tournaments, just plays  a lot of tennis very well!  Now, to bed or not – our last remaining man is about to play! Well, if he wins, I can watch his next game, if he loses, glad I didn’t sit up to watch it!  Even Casey Stoner is losing his MotoGP tonight’  –   in fact, he did come in second in tonight’s 6^th race of the season [forgotten where it was], but still remains in front of the 2011 MotoGP Championship, is riding in great form at present.

Sunday morning early, found me up at the radio station as usual, with my usual greeting of rabbits running in all directions as I approached the station entrance!  Apart from a walk later on, my return home soon after 9am would see me stay there. Probably should have made the effort and gone to the football in the city – but Jodie, who would have gone to this game [as boyfriend, Ash, barracks for the opposition] was working all weekend, and while I knew James would be at the game, he had his own group of ‘drinking and partying’ friends to join him these days, and I really preferred to be part of a quieter group!  As things would turn out, I would probably feel rather glad that I decided to remain at home, and watch today’s match on the TV again.

I noted the other night, Carlton coach Brett Ratten’s comment that a similar effort [to last weekend’s match against Sydney]  against West Coast  Eagles today would be a good indication of his team’s improvement this year, as West Coast themselves  have been in really good form.  Well, if today’s game was going to be such an indication, it was a deflated one, because the Blues were defeated for the first time in a number of weeks, and sitting there at home watching that game unfold, was to say the least, rather frustrating and disappointing, a relatively poor display, against a team, which admittedly, played very well, deserved the win, and rather outclassed our Carlton team.  It was an extra disappointment, because it negated Carlton’s chance to consolidate a position in the top three places of the competition, and even challenge for second spot, had they kept winning. Despite that, they have been having a good season, but with a injuries creeping in, and a definite  weakness on the forward line which I have noticed over recent weeks – simply no regularly consistent tall players to be able to rely on to take marks and kick goals on a consistent basis. West Coast really did stand out and dominate in that aspect of the match this afternoon.

For the record, final quarter by quarter scores were:

Carlton Blues:          2.3.15     4.6.30      9.7.61      Final:  10.7.67

West Coast Eagles:  2.6.18      8.10.58   12.11.83   FINAL: 15.13.103

Meanwhile, in the Formula 1 European Grand Prix tonight, Australia’s Mark Webber finished in 3^rd position, behind  teammate, Sebastian Vettel [again] and  Fernando Alonso.  The current Championship ladder sees Vettel well out in front  –  Sebastian Vettel [186 pts],  Jenson Button [109], Mark Webber [109], Lewis Hamilton [97] and Fernando Alonso [87]. I think Vettel would need to stop racing for the rest of the year for Webber, or anyone else to have a hope of taking his position!

And so the weekend has indeed flown away – a bit of a sporty discussion., I realise, but then, that is me, from time to time!!

These days, one doesn’t get a great deal of feedback about the ‘kid’s’ [all adults now] activities, which I guess is fairly natural. So in many ways, I have to depend on the occasional Face Book entry of one or other of them to find out what is going on. So I was pleased overnight to notice a ‘conversation between eldest son & daughter, commenting on their current studies – both are currently undertaking post graduate teaching courses, and James in particular is doing a few ‘school’ placements as part of that course. His descriptions range from ‘up half the night doing lesson planning’ to ‘awesome day at school’ actually presenting those lessons. Overall, sounds as though he is enjoying what he is doing – always thought he would be good with the younger kids [he is training at the Primary level], and it is appearing as though in the long run that feeling will be proved correct. Susan on the other hand is training at the Secondary level, and as she hears of James’ adventures teaching the younger kids, it seems to confirm her personal preference to teach the older students when she has completed the course. I gather that Susie has fallen a little behind in her program for the year, as, in her own words, she got a little distracted [by the boyfriend breakup] – certainly, she has being spending more time on campus over the past couple of weeks, presumably in an attempt to make up that ‘lost ground, which is good to hear.  Also good to know that there is some definite communication with at least one other member of the family.

Certainly, I hope that both continue with these particular courses –  it will really only be distractions that cause problems, and I think it is probably the kind of distractions which the son faces that I worry about more these days – works hard all week, currently both studying and part-time job but tends to ‘party’ just as hard over the weekends, and other periods when the pressure is off!!  Certainly, not as socially conservative as was [and still is] his father!!

On a more national front, Federal Parliament this week was either celebrating, or trying to forget, that today was the 1q2 month anniversary of when [as Tony Abbott puts it] ‘Julia Gillard knifed Kevin Rudd and replaced him as Prime Minister, and much is being made of the claimed existing rift still between the two factions, and suggestions in many circles [especially by the Opposition] that Kevin Rudd wants his ‘old job’ as Prime Minister back, and is discreetly trying to undermine Julia Gillard in the background. True or not, Tony Abbott is obviously going to persist in his pushing of those innuendos, and with the following kind of argument, which appeared in today’s Liberal Party release.

“Twelve months ago today, Julia Gillard knifed Kevin Rudd and replaced him as Prime Minister. Ms Gillard – the very person who had been involved in every key decision of the Labor Government and was the Minister responsible for the waste, rorts and mismanagement of the $16 billion BER program – said Mr Rudd had to go because “a good government had lost its way”. But a good government doesn’t lose its way. A bad government does. And everything this Labor Government does just turns out to be a lemon.  In her first press conference as Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her priority was to fix three problems:

1. Labor’s disastrous mining tax,
2. The flood of illegal boat arrivals and
3. The lack of community consensus on climate change.

One year later and the mining tax remains unresolved.  Instead of leadership, we have witnessed the embarrassment of Julia Gillard’s East Timor ‘solution’. This has been accompanied by a $1.7 billion budget blowout in the cost of building and running detention centres for the more than 11,400 illegal boat arrivals who have taken advantage of Labor’s weak border protection policy. Now we have Julia Gillard’s Malaysia ‘solution’, except that Malaysia has not agreed to any deal!  Julia Gillard’s weak, directionless and incompetent handling of these issues is only exceeded by her blatant breach of trust with the Australian people in reneging on her promise that “there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead”.  Labor’s carbon tax will unnecessarily drive up prices and threatens thousands of Australian jobs and crucial Australian exports.  For Australian families, a carbon tax means only one thing: more pressure on already stretched family budgets as it flows through to higher electricity, gas and petrol prices and more expensive groceries.  For young families planning to build a new home, Labor’s carbon tax will mean higher costs for building materials.  For workers in many of our manufacturing industries Labor’s carbon tax means uncertainty about the future of their jobs.\  The cost of living is skyrocketing and all Labor has to offer is a carbon tax that will make cost of living pressures worse for average Australians and their families.  Julia Gillard has continued Labor’s incompetence, wasteful spending and economic mismanagement:

• The Budget deficit has now soared to almost $50 billion – the second largest since the Second World War.
• Net government debt will climb to a record $107 billion in 2011/12 – equivalent to $4782 per person.
• Labor is now borrowing $135 million every day.

Australia continues to drift under a weak, directionless and increasingly divided government.

Julia Gillard is not up to the job of Prime Minister. Even her colleagues know she isn’t up to the job, and Labor powerbrokers are talking about who will replace her. Meanwhile, Australians are paying a high price as our country continues to drift.  On the first anniversary of Ms Gillard’s leadership, the contrast could not be clearer between an ineffective Labor Government and a Coalition with clear direction, good policies and strong leadership”.

The Liberal Party under Tony Abbott have been repeating these arguments adnausem for months now, and as I think I have noted a few times recently, the negativity and lack of firm alternative approaches to much that is being attacked [as demonstrated through the tone of the above statement], is starting to grate on this Liberal supporter, not enough to change sides, but certainly enough to begin thinking that we have the wrong leader and/or the wrong ‘approach’ to the whole question of opposition and presenting one’s party as an alternative government. It seems to be working in the polls, but I am yet to be convinced that this approach is pleasing the majority of the electorate.

Meanwhile from the GETUP organisation, news of their latest campaign push – on the environment this time.  ‘In the early hours of this morning, the Tasmanian logging industry and environmental groups signed off on a final agreement to protect 570,000 hectares of ancient high conservation value forests, with the majority of it being protected immediately. The conflict between these two groups has been a part of the political landscape for a generation of Australians – but last night’s agreement can end it.  This turning point will mean nothing if the agreement does not have the full commitment and financial support of State and Federal Governments. Environmentalists, unionists and loggers have over a year negotiating this agreement – [and GETUP suggests that now is the time for it’s supporters to come in – by sending an email to our local MP or Senator, asking  them to commit to implementing this agreement by creating Australia’s newest national parks for Australia’s oldest trees] –     Ending the 30 year deadlock hasn’t been easy. Both sides have agreed to significant compromises. Long-held positions were challenged and set aside in order to come to an agreement that can deliver real environmental protection and a sustainable timber industry that is competitive in the 21st century marketplace.   The agreement opens the way for the government to immediately save almost half a million hectares of Tasmania’s ancient native forests. Like the Daintree rainforests and Kakadu, Tasmania’s forests are a key part of our national identity.  Despite the fact that the newly released agreement is a complex one, which addresses some issues up front and leaves others to be resolved through ongoing processes, GETUP needs to show the government that is it not just the representatives of the timber industry and environment groups who support an end to the conflict over Tasmania’s forests, but the ordinary people of Australia’. This kind of debate over forest and water resources in Tasmania has been going on for decades, and obviously, any outcome will have affects on lives, employment, and perhaps the long term future or otherwise of many small towns and communities that have always depended on the timber industries for their survival.  I haven’t  seen the details of the ‘agreement’ but presumably this kind of effect, etc will come into the document in some ways, and not just be all favourable to the environmentalists.  GETUP have provided the reference to the ‘agreement’ details, and maybe I should try and find time to study it to some degree!!

My football team is going into this Sunday’s game against the West Coast Eagles [another team on the rise of success] with a fair degree of confidence [much different to recent years]. But as coach, Brett Ratten said last night  ‘CARLTON still has a way to go before the swagger truly returns to Visy Park’, but he concedes that he is starting to see some parallels between his third-placed Blues and the dominant teams he was part of during his 255-game career less than a decade ago. The coach was at pains to point out that winning finals is the only true measure of a team, but this year’s resurgent defence at least has him confident his current group is on the right path to emulating the successful teams of the club’s past.”When people look at Carlton, they look at the swagger or that type of thing, but I think it’s more about our attitude and our hardness,” Ratten said from Visy Park.
 “I think when you reflect a bit [maybe people] have looked at Carlton as a flair team, but I think our great success at our football club has been [built on] our defence. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been in finals and won them, but reflecting back to 1995 when I was part of that [premiership] team you look at Stephen Silvagni, Peter Dean, Michael Sexton and Andrew McKay; they were just ruthless and hard. That was where our Carlton spirit came from.”  Ratten said the Blues still have a lot of work to do this season, despite recording nine wins from 12 games, and don’t yet deserve to be considered a genuine threat to premiership favourites Collingwood and Geelong, having been beaten by both this campaign.  Carlton’s stocks have risen in the eyes of many after last weekend’s clinical disposal of former bogey team the Sydney Swans and Ratten said a similar effort against West Coast this Sunday would be a good indication of his team’s improvement this year. West Coast have been in really good form,” he said.

On a more personal front again,  I received an email from Robert tonight, from Japan, where he and Evelyn were on a ‘cycling ‘holiday’,  planned I noticed, so that they would be back in time to watch the Tour de France!!  Anyway, in a joint email, sent to his son, Stuart, and myself,  Rob had the following news.  ‘Half way through our Hokkaido cycling trip. Riding is going well but weather not too kind for past 2 days – rain and freezing (top of 10C); riding with 3 layers + rain-jacket + arms + long-fingered gloves! It is summer! Hopefully things will improve tomorrow! Only 2 decent climbs so far (one of 14km and the other of 10km); Evelyn did well on both.  Thursday morning we were on north-east coast when at 7.00 am there was another large earth-quake off Sendai (centre of last disaster) which we felt way up north. Interesting in the coastal town we were in that night, to see tsunami evacuation directions everywhere and sea walls about 2 metres high (the Sendai tsunami in March was 35 metres)!   All meals are pretty much traditional Japanese, so will be desperate for a steak by time I get back. No need to have brought clothes for evening as every night for dinner we wear kimonos and slippers! All hotels we stay have only tiny bathrooms in room (if any), but all have communal hot baths – takes a bit of getting used to but relaxing after a long ride.
Tonight in a nice hotel on edge of A caldera lake (Akan); room actually has beds so a change from sleeping on futons. A beautiful spot (whole country is very scenic); tried walking into town after dinner (not in kimonos) to see some local parade, but freezing so returned to hotel after half hour”.
 

Overnight,  Australia’s young tennis star, Bernard Tomic continued his rain interrupted 2^nd round match at Wimbledon  –  I have to admit, I wanted to watch it, but eventually, thinking he would end up losing anyway, gave it away at around midnight, not long after Susie came home – presumably from Bendigo via somewhere else she had been tonight.  Earlier, Jodie called by briefly again, dropping off some bread from her part time  workplace [Bakers Delight], had a brief spell on Susie’s computer, and in response to a text she sent to Susie, discovered that the latter was returning tonight, but when, she didn’t know.  I hoped, as the night got later, that she was not out on the highway somewhere, but I don’t really get told much about her goings on these days. At least when she and Jimmy were together, I generally had some idea of where Susie was from one day to the next. Currently, I seem to know, or be told, very little about her comings and goings!! Anyway, back to Bernard Tomic, he fought back from two sets to one down overnight against Igor Andreev, and eventually went on to win his 2^nd round game in five sets, a great effort from one who should not really have been expected at this stage to win even the 1^st round at Wimbledon. This followed on from his first round win over the number 29 seed, Nikolay Davydenko.  I wonder how long he can keep up this great form? With Saturday approaching, we have Bernard, and Jarmila both to play in 3^rd round matches – would love to watch both games, but up all night of a Saturday, is not a good option for this writer, with his early Sunday morning radio stints!!

I notice that the National Seniors organisation is sponsoring an Australian film production which deals with taboo subjects faced by ageing males.  Titled ‘Codgers’, it tells the story of five senior Aussie men, four of them mates since war service.  They exercise together, chew the fat about their families together, laugh, tease and sing. They solve the problems of the world, agreeing to disagree.  Subjects raised within the film, include such topics as ageing with dignity, friendships and self-worth, together with questions relating to the existence of adequate incomes in retirement,  and men’s health issues.  It has been adapted for the screen from the award-winning stage comedy, Codgers [which I didn’t see], and  stars Ronald Faulk, Ron Haddrick, Edwin Hodgeman, Jon Lam, Russell Newman and Shane Porteous.  I suppose I should begin to take note of all these kind of issues – well actually, in most instances, I am anyway, but do need a bit of work on the future financial area!!!  Time is getting short, so guess I had better make some positive moods in that direction – I’ve never been one to constantly have money and material needs on my mind, but perhaps it is those who possess the most wealth, who think about such things the most.

This week, there has been a very challenging, and at times emotional TV series [over three nights] on the SBS channel, called ‘Go Back Where You Came From’, it features the ‘adventures’ of  six ordinary Australians who take on the challenge to live like refugees for 25 days, and in the process, undertake amongst other things, a perilous boat journey. Much emphasise was place on our attitudes towards refugees, and in particular the different perceptions of the terms of boat people, refugees and asylum seekers.  Generally, these perceptions, and attitudes such as referring to the boat people as illegal immigrants, criminals, etc are pushed by political persuasion and the kind of aggro that has been built over the past decade or so, by the nature of government policies.  I think a point that myself and couple of friends on Face Book agreed with was that the program would have been better shown on mainstream commercial television where it would reach a wider audience, and generally, that part of the Australian community who have willingly accepted the type of political innuendos about refugees we constantly get from our leaders, who claim compassion in their policies, but seem to have forgotten the true meaning of that word, or extended their ‘compassion’ in the wrong direction. It needed an audience, where people felt ashamed of the way they act, and the way they think and feel about refugees in general, and while doubt many viewers such as myself, were even left with that time of shame, there was a market of potentially millions, who seldom consider tuning into SBS, and missed that opportunity.

The program encouraged comments from viewers, and the one that follows, more or less expressed many of my feelings. The contributor wrote:-    “SBS- I can’t thank and commend you enough for what you have been able to put together. What an amazing concept- one of the best ways to encourage real thought and challenge assumptions than to allow all of us to walk in the shoes of others. The format of this program is outstanding and really effective in pulling out some of the aspects of the refugee experience that we often forget to consider or take for granted (loss of documents, belongings being taken away etc). One really powerful point I found in last nights program was where the congolese lady mentioned that peace in Australia is felt in the absence of gun fire. So often criticism surrounds people seeking refuge in Australia for “our jobs”, “our land”, “our money” or whatever when simple things like this, that should be a universal right, means more than anything else in the world to these people. What a simple thing to share!”   Another comment, put it to the government directly – ‘I really wish the Government, the Opposition, and the Media would overtly recognize and emphasize the small proportion of immigration represented by boat refugees and say openly “This is a tiny problem compared to immigration by air. By and large these are the kind of people with the courage and determination that we need in Australia. We are not ashamed to accept them in the same way that we accepted the refugee boat people from Vietnam. Therefore we will no longer have our policies determined by scaremongering.”

As often with these matters, I was ‘risky’ enough to initiate a ‘conversation’ on Face Book about the subject, and had a few friends joined in. Most of their comments seemed to be in line with mine, with one exception , a family member who came over with the kind of misguided and misunderstood perception of the whole process that I was referring to above – the kind of opinion that needs to actually try and learn something from shows such as this one. Still entitled to her view of course, but unfortunately, I can’t relate here what she had to say  – after receiving one or two responses, including mine, below, that one ‘opposing’ viewpoint pulled her contribution from the discussion [deleted it], so we really only had the one side of things represented as a result, although the responses tend to suggest the other views. Anyway, the following are some of the comments made, and I’ve simply used an initial for the contributors – [B] for Bill, and the others I have left anonymous, for their comfort.

[B] Folks, if you get the chance, SBS tonight/Thurs 8.30 pts 2 & 3 of  ‘Go Back To Where You Come From’ – Ep 1 last night , I was disturbed to think that the racial prejudice & associated ignorance displayed by a couple of the participants is presumably typical of the way many Australians think. Yes, well I liked it, although it disturbed me a little. [A] made a good point on another feed – that it is wasted on SBS, should be shown on mainstream TV [7,9, etc] where it will reach a wider, and probably an audience that needs to see something like that – give them a bit of reality instead of just what is fed by politicians, etc

[S]If it was on Channel 9 it would be shot as an expose’ on wicked people smugglers and no-good queue jumpers ripping off Your Tax Paying Dollars. I think the participants are pretty typical of most Aussies and their attitudes to boat people, Bill.  By ‘most’ I mean ‘the majority’. I’m told that we’re a bit more tolerant in this part of Australia but that Queensland, Western Sydney and Western Australia lap that stuff up. Just ask Alan Jones.

[B] Comment 1 – probably true. Comment 2 – I don’t accept the word ‘most’ – a high proportion, yes, but there area lot of individuals, groups and organisations in Australia who work very hard to the welfare of refugees, esp the ‘boat people’

At this point, a point of opposition against the boat people, and some antagonism in general to refugees was expressed, and the following couple of pieces came in response to that viewpoint.

[R] Asylum seekers are people seeking asylum/ refuge who may or may not be refugees – once assessed most people who arrive by boat are found to be refugees- i guess this is due to the extremely dangerous and arduous journey involved- generally only the most desperate attempt it.

[B]  Thank you R, your explanation is why people who don’t watch SBS should do so for 2 hours tonight/tomorrow, they will get a wake up to the reality of both classes of refugees/asylum seekers, as the participants in the program are no doubt going to do when their journey is over. If the option is to ‘hitch’ a ride, or stay where you are and face certain death, as thousands of innocent families have under the Burmese regime, as just one example,, or spend up to 20 years over the border as a stateless refugee in Thailand [as thousands more continue to do], there is no choice to my mind if you want to ‘try’ and protect your loved ones – except for the majority, they don’t even get that choice to ‘hitch’ a ride, as they simply don’t have the resources to sell up what is left of their lives, to the vultures with the boats. There is no ‘last desperate attempt’ to find a better life, most don’t even get that opportunity.

[S]. An asylum seeker is still someone who is a refugee. According to the figures claimed in the program last night, 1% of refugees in the world are resettled in new countries by the UNHCR. Saying that asylum seekers aren’t real refugees is a bit like saying that you aren’t entitled to Government assistance if your house burnt down on Black Saturday, if the CFA never attended to that particular fire. People like to think that there are cut and dried rules about being a refugee and that there are right ways and wrong ways but the system seems pretty broken to me. People are trying to survive anyway they can to find a safe haven. Maybe you should watch the show to get more information about the issue.is a bit like saying that you aren’t entitled to Government assistance if your house burnt down on Black Saturday if the CFA never attended to that particular fire. People like to think that there are cut and dried rules about being a refugee and that there are right ways and wrong ways but the system seems pretty broken to me. People are trying to survive anyway they can to try and find a safe haven. Maybe you should watch the show to get more information about the issue?

[B] Watching the final episode, can’t find the words to describe how it leaves one feeling, perhaps someone else can find that word for me! Highlyconfronting, emotional, a real wake up call to how we think about the rest of the world.

[R] Do you mean that in the sense that there is horror and chaos out there beyond imagining and that if we think that our talk of queues and turn taking, here in margarine ad land has one iota of relevance we are deluded?

[B]  Something along those lines R – I recall the comment made by one of the participants, that we are indeed a lucky country, and peoples – travelling with that group, that would have been an instant realisation. I was ‘almost’ beginning to like that girl named Raquel, I think, towards the end, she was almost starting to suggest that she had a heart that could feel for the misfortunes of others. Perhaps the return to the participants next Tuesday night will reveal how the journey actually changed any of them.  Tonight’s [3^rd] episode, quite heart rending at times.

I had another brief visit from Jodie again this evening, think she stayed for about an hour or so, leaving just before the above program commenced. I guess when she gets her computer fixed, the visits won’t be so frequent. Meanwhile, I think I am expecting Susie back from Bendigo tomorrow. Can never be sure of her movements, but she has been up there since Monday of last week, the longest absence this year. She is tending not to commit to specific times at present [not to her family anyway], so we [me anyway] just wait and see!!

Well, it seems to vary, between yesterday today – generally known as the Winter Solstice here in the Southern Hemisphere.  The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the winter solstice usually occurs on Dec. 21 or 22 each year in the Northern Hemisphere, and June 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere^.  From Wikipedia, I read that   ‘The winter solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet is farthest away from its star, depending on the polar hemisphere of reference. Earth’s maximum axial tilt to our Sun during a solstice is 23° 26′. More evidently from high latitudes, a hemisphere’s winter solstice occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the sun’s daily maximum position in the sky is the lowest.  Since the winter solstice lasts only a moment in time, other terms are often used for the day on which it occurs, such as midwinter, the longest night or the first day of winter’.  It’s actually a comforting thought to realise that from this point onwards, it will ‘slowly’ begin to be light earlier in the morning, as darkness comes a little later each night. O know that when going up the radio station on a Sunday morning, it is always much more pleasant to do so  in the early morning daylight, in preference to the current darkness.

 Now, I was a little annoyed that prior to my brief sports reporting appearance on the radio this morning, that I was unable to obtain from any source,  two of the Australian girl’s results from Tuesday at Wimbledon. All news was about Tomic, Hewitt or Stosur, the other two completely ignored, and I had to wait some time today before discovering the outcome of those two games, which is seems had been deferred until Day 3 [tonight, our time!!]. Annoyed, because I had wanted to provide a ‘full’ overnight results service of all the Australians at Wimbledon!!  Unfortunately, my ‘host’ was not as interested or concerned as I was on that matter!!! Amazing how so often, we are only interested in the big names, unless someone else is winning!

I was reading a few notes from my former University’s alumina online publication the other day, and found the following little story about a former graduate of the university [Melbourne University], and I thought I woul;d like to share it with my many readers!!!!

“At 8.30am on 11 May, BCom/LLB alumnus Paul Hameister was privileged to be the first climber for the 2011 season to stand on top of the world.   At the same time, he became the 68th Australian in history to summit Mt Everest.   Paul attributes his achievement to the support of many others including his guide, well-known New Zealander Dean Staples, their ‘superhuman’ team of sherpas: Lhakpa (7th summit): Tendi (4th summit) and Gelu (2nd summit), the team at Adventure Consultants who provided infrastructure and support for the entire trip, and the core Melbourne support group who cared for his wife and children while he was on the climb.   Paul also acknowledged the support of his mother and his father who, at the age of 69, walked heroically with him to Base Camp at the start of the journey.

‘I will save the detailed stories for another time, suffice to say that aside from now being 10kg lighter, still coughing up blood and some frostbite on my face (kisses from Chomolungma herself), I am in relatively good shape.’  Paul’s account of the summit tells of a journey not without its trials and tragedy, which makes his achievement all the more significant.  ‘There was only one other group on the mountain on the 11th including Apa Sherpa, the world record holder for number of summits (this was his 21st summit). They summitted an hour after us. Apa Sherpa had the good sense to let us break trail for the night.   ‘The following day the weather turned for the worse but, encouraged by our early success, a number of groups had a crack. However, none made the summit and sadly, the veteran Japanese climber Takashi Ozaki lost his life from HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema) on 12th May. He had climbed six of the 8000m peaks including Everest previously.  ‘It has been a very cold season and I have had reports of summit attempts in recent days resulting in bad frostbite injuries that will require amputations. Most groups are still on the mountain at Base Camp waiting for the weather to improve.  ‘The summit itself is the most magical place I have ever been and I will never forget my first sight of those prayer flags fluttering in the wind. 

‘For me though, the 45 days I spent on Everest (and the months of training) will forever be the high watermark in my life of selfishness as a husband and a father and I have an incredibly unique wife to have allowed me this self-indulgence.   ‘Most importantly, I want to thank my wife and kids, without whose strength, support and love, the achievement of this dream would not have been possible.   ‘Now for some rest and some quality family time. The night I left Melbourne for this journey, my nine-year-old daughter Jade made me promise that I would come home safe. I am delighted to still be able to tell my kids that we don’t break promises in our family.’  Making this trip all the more remarkable is the $25,000 that Paul and his group together raised for an educational scholarship program in Nepal. The program supports 70-80 at-risk young kids in Nepal and will now be able to run in 2011 and 2012 and make a real difference to their lives.  The Faculty of Business and Economics wishes to congratulate Paul on his amazing and inspiring achievement and dedication.  Paul graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1991 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1992. He is the Joint Managing Director of Hamton Property Group”.

Contributed  as a part of Bill’s blog  –  I was a part-time student at the University of Melbourne for 7 years in the late 1960s/early 70s – should have been only 6 years part-time, but a lack of concentration one year, meant I ended up having to repeat a couple of subjects. However, we persisted with the course, and eventually came out with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree, no special achievements, or anything, just the basic degree. It was actually my second attempt at that Degree – when I first arrived in Melbourne in the middle of 1966, I commenced the course the following year, but because of the clash with a new found ‘social life’ which I’d rarely experienced before, gave the studies away for a couple of years, started again in 1970, I think! The main study areas were subjects of accounting, economics, legal studies [mainly of a commercial nature], and a few other minor areas. I believe the most favoured subject I studied, which was probably the least of value in terms of future employment, was called ‘Economic History’. I remember that our main lecturer was a man who is today one of Australia’s most renowned authors and historians, Professor Geoffrey Blainey. At that time, the highlight of the year was a field trip with Professor Blainey to an archaeological site somewhere to the east of Ballarat – have often tried to recall just exactly where that was [on somebody’s property I would imagine], but because I didn’t actually drive, but travelled as part of a bus tour, didn’t really take in properly, exactly where we went.  Also, I think my attention might have also been slightly distracted by one my fellow female students, who basically became one of the few friends that I made during the course of those years at the university, only going there usually of an evening for late lectures [I was working full time], and to the Bailleau Library sometimes of a weekend.  Often wondered what happened to that friend – can’t even recall her name, so a little to track someone down under those circumstances!!!

Incidentally, I finally discovered the fortunes or otherwise of our other two Australian girls in the Wimbledon Round 1 competition.  Anastasia Rodionova was unfortunately defeated by her Czech opponent, Andrea Hlavackova  6/1, 6/2, rather convincingly it seems.  However better fortunes for Jarmila Gajdosova [formerly Groth, changed back to her maiden name following a relationship breakup since last year] who had a 2 sets win over Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine, 7/5, 6/3.  So I think she is our only female representative through to the second round.

This is becoming a bad habit, combining more than one day into a blog!!  But sometimes [quite often in fact] other tasks of the day get in the way!! Anyway, we are experiencing a cold and Wintry week in this part of Victoria, and if you are a regular or irregular air passenger, more disruptions from Monday onwards as a consequence of a further ‘bout’ of volcanic ash spreading across the oceans from ‘that’ volcano in Chile a couple of weeks ago – in fact, I believe the volcano is ‘still’ spewing out ash and material etc, so the problem, certainly as it affects air flights may continue spasmodically!  For me, that is one aspect of daily life that generally won’t be of concern to me personally.

By Tuesday however, a cloud of volcanic ash had virtually paralysed the Australian east coast operations of most domestic airlines, and basically disrupted the travel plans of up to 60,000 passengers, and costing the tourism industry, an estimated $10 million a day. This is all a repeat of what happened less than two weeks ago.  The comment made by one convention spokesman was ‘We’re now looking at a case of constant shock syndrome in our industry. If it’s not a natural disaster domestically, it’s our two biggest inbound markets hit by tsunamis and earthquakes, and now we have major aviation disruption with more than 500 flights cancelled’.

Meanwhile, over in ‘sunny’ England, Wimbledon was underway on Monday – as far as I can tell, only one Aussie competitor competing on Day 1 [Monday] – another ‘girl’ we always have high hopes for [as do they, I guess] but disappointment usually follows! No exception to that with Jelena Dokic who went down in a hard fought match against the 2010French Open winner, Francesca Schiavone of Italy, 6/4,1/6,6/3.

There is a rather interesting debate going on in Ballarat at present, between the Ballarat Art Gallery, and a newly created Australian Centre for Democracy, at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat. The Gallery has received a request from the Centre that it lend the latter, the Eureka Flag which has been on display in the Ballarat Art Gallery since 1895, when it was first loaned to the Gallery, and has basically been associated with the Gallery displays for over a century.  The current display was a result of restoration work in the 1970s, on the original flag,  as donated to the Gallery by the King family, who had first placed it on loan in 1895. The story of the ‘Eureka Flag’ can best be summarized as follows

“We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties.” Beneath the starry flag of rebellion, that oath was taken by hundreds of gold diggers at Ballarat in 1854. The Eureka rebellion led by Peter Lalor was a short lived revolt against petty officialdom and although a military failure, led to political and personal benefits for many Australians. The original Eureka flag, first raised on Bakery Hill and then flown over the Eureka Stockade and torn down by Trooper King during the bloody battle in the early morning of Sunday December 3rd, 1854, is now proudly displayed at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. Australia’s only rebellion is a highlight of history and inspiration for poets, novelists, journalists and filmmakers.

 The most recent edition of ‘Association’, the oddly named title of the quarterly magazine of the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery [of which organisation, I am a Member] has highlighted the nature of this request, and then allowed space for both sides of the ‘debate’ [on whether the ‘loan’ should take place] to present their view. Those views are quite extensive – I’ve selected just one paragraph in each case, as representative of the gist of arguments being presented. In introducing those opposing views, the Gallery Director noted:-  I imagine that most members would have a position on the issue and some would hold those views very passionately. I think it completely appropriate that two well respected members of Ballarat’s arts community present the opposing sides of the debate’.  Incidentally, my reading of the complete views of the Centre’s argument ‘suggest’ that the new organisation is seeking, in the longterm, more than just a loan of the flag! And again, there is much more material included in both arguments, but in noting the event in this daily contribution, I needed to try and find one major aspect of each argument. A closer reading of the entire document in each case will possibly reveal a number of pertinent points, and I await with interest, the outcome and final decision of the Board of the Gallery, which will be presumably partially based on the two arguments.

So for the argument ‘that the Eureka flag should stay at the Art Gallery’, we note that ‘In December 1973,Prime Minister Gough Whitlam came to Ballarat to unveil the restored Eureka Flag above the staircase and made a landmark speech identifying Eureka  with our quest for national identity. Many other political leaders have come here to pay homage. Such a reverential tradition should not be abandoned for the sake of making the new Eureka Centre more commercially viable’……. A repeated argument is that the flag should be at its ‘home’ – the site where it flew over the stockade. Apart from the fact that we have still not settled the question of where exactly was the stockade, I contend that the most important site associated with the flag is indeed Bakery Hill, in the centre of Ballarat, where an estimated people gathered under it at a public meeting at the end of November 1854 and vowed to fight for their democratic rights as citizens. The Gallery is close to Bakery Hill and it is in the very heart of the historic city of Ballarat, in its most important heritage precinct…’

From the other side of ‘Where should the Eureka flag be?’, the writer begins with ‘The answer is…a no- brainer – it’s logical home is the Australian Centre for Democracy at Eureka. Yes, I know many arguments have been mounted in support of the Eureka Flag staying at the Gallery – its long residency there, the emotional bond Gallery friends and Association members have forged with it, a putative visitor pulling power, the free access to it and so on….[but]  now is the ideal time to re-connect it to its original life, to re-invigorate it as an emblem of resistance…the Eureka Centre will be able to achieve what the Gallery hasn’t been able to, providing the Flag with the essential context, weaving it back into the events of the past so that it takes on enhanced meaning in the present…[and]…as the historical icon of the Eureka Rebellion, belongs at the institution built specifically to celebrate this event’.

Certainly, to my mind, the above subject matter added a rather ‘tasty reading morsel’ to this latest edition of  the magazine referred to. My own view – being conservative by nature, I believe the Gallery is entitled to retain the Flag as an essential part of it’s ‘Eureka’ display which was the original purpose and hope of the King family in initially loaning it to the Gallery, and then donating it permanently. It is well protected environmentally where it is currently, and constant moving and relocating of the fragile material must have a detrimental affect on the item itself. I feel that most of the Board will think that way, but then, they may not be as conservative as this writer.

Onto music, and more specifically,  my new Monday night program –  second edition tonight, and while there was no specific direct feedback during the program [which is of 3 hours duration from 9pm until Midnight], I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed what I was doing, and the variety of music [and comedy] genres that I had programmed into those 3 hours – basically, a mix of folk music, Blues, jazz, some international [world] tracks, a bit of Australian country music [in fact the program is aimed at a high proportion of Australian artistic content, which is also an aim, of the radio station], together with a few selections from past years, and a little comedy segment, which so far, has concentrated on playing some old comedy sketches from many decades ago – tonight a sketch performed in France at the beginning of World War 2 called ‘The Proposal’ by a couple of English comedians  – Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch. This, and last week’s equivalent sketch [Laughing Gas], I had copied from an old vinyl recording which had been in my possession since the 1960s – I must have played that recording times in that decade, because I notice that my transcribed version to CD did admittedly have it’s share of little background noises which I had been unable to get rid of, however the overall sound and copy was quite good, I felt. Over the months ahead, I do hope to build up a reasonable listening base, because apart from other presenters, most of us don’t generally hear from the general public – I guess a natural inclination not to get on the phone and ring the station you are listening to unless it is one of the talkback stations. We have to therefore [most of us] rely on research and surveys to get some idea of a total audience. However, I present my shows on the basis that there are many people listening, and I attempt to sound as though I am speaking to, and playing the music etc, for each of them individually!

Of course, getting home after midnight, is not much fun for someone of my age, but one soon adjusts to things like that, although I will find it very difficult to achieve a great desire to attempt to sleep for some time afterwards. That should not be a problem once I finish work, but at present of course, a relatively early Tuesday morning start remains necessary!

Meanwhile, Tuesday’s results for Australia at Wimbledon [Day 2] were a bit of a mixed ‘bag’ of outcomes. From my point of view, the big disappointment was the vanquishing of Samantha Stosur – bundled out in the 1^st Round two years in a row, after once again, promising so much! She played a girl ranked about 282 [or 262] in the world rankings – and well, quite literally, ought to be ashamed of her performance, it was a very poor effort for someone of her abilities and current world ranking –  defeated by unseeded Hungarian girl, Melinda Czink 6/3, 6/4.  A couple of our men got through to Round 2  –  young Bernard Tomic defeated former world number 3, Nikolay Davydenko 7/5,6/3,7/5 [ a promising result], while the ageing Lleyton Hewitt ‘teased’ us all again win his win against Kei Nishikoro [Japan?] 6/1,7/6,6/3  – in view of the spate of injuries he suffers these days, Hewitt is probably happy to get a win, and we don’t really expect him to progress too much further into the tournament, certainly I doubt he will ever win another Grand Slam tournament to add to his previous Wimbledon and US Open titles! Meanwhile, Australian qualifier Marinko Matosevic lost to the Argentinean, Tuan Ignacio Chela 6/4, 6/4, 6/7,6/2, which seems on paper to have been a pretty good effort. Anastasia Rodionovic and Jarmila Gajdosova [Groth] were scheduled to play Tuesday, but their games must have been deferred until Wednesday.

I notice that the recent ban on livestock exports of cattle, etc, to Indonesia, may have some more unexpected outcomes. Australia’s Agriculture has just visited Indonesia, in an attempt to solve the crisis, but on initial reports, his visit has failed, in the interim at least, to resolve the crisis. A warning was given today that the expiry of the June quarter import licences [next week] could put Australian farmers at ‘real risk of a longer term lockout’ from the Indonesian market, for their cattle sales. The June quarter cattle import licences expire in eight days and exporters have run out of time to ship the 10,000 to 12,000 cattle stranded at northern ports, even if the export suspensions were lifted immediately. Importers of Australian cattle cannot apply for third-quarter licences from July 1^st without clarity on when and how their supply resumes, and apparently the Indonesian Agriculture Minister has the final say on who gets permits and when. So the consequence of the Australian government ban, could see Jakarta ‘lock out’ Australian cattle exporters!!  Unlikely, but the warning has been given! I don’t think I would like my future family livelihood to be too dependent on that industry in northern Australia at the present time!

Tonight, I was back at the radio station, but just for 2 hours tonight, until 8pm – show music night, as usual for Tuesday. Tonight was Program No. 292, and while it would be nice to reach the 300 mark, I have made it clear to the station management, that I will willingly relinquish that spot as soon as a new presenter for that time slot has been found, or a current presenter wishes to move there.  I would like to place my emphasize on the new Monday night show, so at this stage, barring a replacement, plan to finish up Tuesday in late August [if not earlier].

As soon as I returned home this evening, I had Jodie’s company for over 2 hours – well, she was actually doing some work on Susie’s computer, but nevertheless, it was always good to see her.  Must say however, that I did not like the sound of her cough – she has not been 100% well over recent months, and seems to pick up a few viruses. Working late hours also, a couple of hours a week at a western suburbs gymnasium/leisure centre place.

Another restless Saturday night, broken sleep, and an early rising, to get into the radio studio at 6.20 am. I was happy with this morning’s selection of music, which included an instrumental [wind orchestra] version of Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina  Burana’. That is a piece of music which is used in countless commercials and cinematic battle scenes, and for many, one of choral music’s most recognisable choral works. Yet strangely, it’s triumph is befouled by dark secrets. As one writer put it, the metaphor of a composer selling his soul to the devil could easily apply to Carl Orff who found fame and fortune through his support of the Nazi regime.

The question often asked of this work is whether the impact of Carmina Burana is tainted by it’s Nazi seal of approval.  Be that as it may, it remains a powerful piece of music, especially as played this morning, by a wind & brass orchestra, which was entirely instrumental in concept, with the vocal music fully incorporated into the band itself. I was thinking that at some stage, I should play the vocal version, although looking at the description of the composition, and it’s original sub-title ‘Profane songs for singers…etc’, it might not perhaps be an appropriate piece of music to play at 8am on a Sunday morning!! The band music notes describe it in the following manner.   ‘Orff derived the inspiration and texts for his score from the anthology of songs and poems written in medieval Latin, German and French by goliards, vagrant scholars, vagabond poets, and wandering monks of seven hundred years ago. Containing approximately two hundred songs and poems, both sacred and secular, the manuscript ranged in style and content from earthly simplicity to sophisticated symbolism, from religious contemplation to unabashed worldliness. The texts are frank avowals of the earthly pleasures: eating, drinking, gambling, love-making; the beauty of life and glorious springtime. Orff exhilarates us with throbbing rhythms and battering-ram tunes, and moves us with chaste tenderness and heartfelt simplicity’.  Of course, there is substantially more that could be said on this subject, but as with my comments this morning, I think I will leave it at that, simply pointing out that this music has it’s own special story and background attached to it.

I think I spent a part of this Sunday catching up on some neglected writings, and preparing a couple of other musical programs scheduled for the beginning of the week.  I heard from Jodie, late morning, wondering if I was going to the football today – thinking she was going to suggest doing so,  I prepared in my mind a last minute change of plans for the rest of the day, but in fact, she wanted to come over and watch the game on TV with Dad  – well, there was an ulterior motive, and that was to do some work on Susie’s computer, while she was still up in Bendigo! Apparently Jodie’s PC was still out of action!  Anyway, not really in the mood for a sudden drive to the city, I was quite happy with that arrangement. Although ironically, about 30 minutes later, James rang me  – was I interested in getting a lift  to the football, he was driving into the city, although he had other plans after the match, so would not be returning. He was likely to be meeting friends at the stadium, so I didn’t feel too guilty in declining his offer, having already made the commitment to Jodie.

So that was my afternoon/early evening entertainment – had the company of Jodie, who was on the computer until the football started, while soon thereafter, her mother turned up, also wishing to make use of Susie’s computer whilst it’s owner was missing!! All of a sudden my house had become popular! And while  I was generally quite happy to see James’ ‘neglected’ dog [which because of his constant absences from home for work, study & social life, he is now referring to ‘his’ dog as the ‘family’ dog as a means of excusing his initial commitment to the poor animal], one does still not trust as been completely house trained, so a constant watch on the animal needs to be maintained. Named after one of Carlton’s star footballers,  ‘Murphy’ is an extremely friendly dog which craves company and attention, not a pet which can be easily ignored. My only problem with it’s being here today was that it completely stressed out Susie’s two cats during the afternoon, to the point where I could not get them into the house tonight [even though Murphy had gone by then], barely wanted to come in to eat!  Susie would not be impressed!

As for the football match,  it was a slow start by the Blues this afternoon, but once they found their game, the team looked unbeatable for most of the afternoon. It was a pity that a big lead at three quarter time was whittled away to some degree by the combination of a more determined effort by Sydney, and a bit if tiring coming into the Carlton movement around the field. Nevertheless it was a promising display, and might go part of the way to silencing many of the critics who didn’t consider Carlton a worthy challenger for this year’s top couple of teams [Geelong and Collingwood]. Back into 3^rd place after today’s match, and if we keep winning, we will stay in that position, or better! It has been many years since Carlton have had so many wins just after the halfway stage of the season –  9 wins, 2 losses, and a draw!!

Carlton Blues:                 4.2.26            7.4.46           13.8.86          FINAL:   15.10.100

Sydney Swans:                3.1.19            4.3.27             4.4.28           Final:      10.6.66

Brother Robert, and his wife Evelyn flew out today [I thin k] for Japan – heading for Hokkaido, where they have planned a bike trip!  They are not returning to Sydney until the 3^rd July, but I’m not sure if the entire fortnight will be devoted to cycling [knowing Robert, most of it will be!]. Apparently, they are part of a small group of just five cyclists [including the organiser, an Australian who is quite passionate about Japan].  I’m not sure whether Robert was serious [or joking] when he commented that ‘Evelyn is looking forward to the climbs!’ – certainly, he is used to plenty of hill and mountain climbs with his various bike cycling excursions over recent years, but I’m not sure that Evelyn has had the same opportunity to be so trained!!

Anyway, the guy organising the trip wrote a bit of a personal reflection of the after-affects of Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami – he wrote an earlier piece a couple of weeks afterwards, and since then, he provided another report that brings out the personal perspective of the locals on that national tragedy. Robert sent me a copy of that, and I think it is worth including in these pages. The writer is John Morell, and as can be seen, he is indeed quite sincere in his feelings for the country and it’s people.

‘Shichigahama is a small port town near the city of Sendai and like every town and valley on this coast, it was partially destroyed during the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.   I was in Shichigahama to deliver hand written cards with messages from my son and his school friends at Durrumbul school in Mullumbimby, northern NSW. The cards were intended to raise the spirits of local children. I found myself in this particular town due to an introduction from Omura Susumu.

Omura san is an employee of the Miyagi prefectural government, of which Sendai is the capital. I talked to Omura san by phone before coming to Sendai and asked him about what parts of Miyagi were damaged. After a short silence he quietly replied. “Every part of Miyagi was damaged.”   Omura San works in the education division and I met him in his office on the 16^th floor of the government building. He was here when the earthquake struck.  “It was big. We knew it was big as we get a lot of earthquakes. It was like being in a washing machine, you know, the full cycle. It seemed to last as long too! At the end it was like the spin cycle, just getting thrown around with an intensity that is hard to believe even now” he said when I talked to him in his office in May.

Miyagi’s coast is a melange of small coastal inlets and alluvial valleys, backed by steep wooded mountains. If you were going to design a coast for maximum impact from a Tsunami, then this would be it.  I asked Omura San about the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and weather they knew instinctively that there would be a tsunami.   “Of course, yes of course we knew there had to be. Well, we went out to help. No one knew what had happened, yet it seems it is just over the hill, you know towards the coast. We drove along with difficulty because the roads had been badly damaged, and the earthquake had bought down many power lines. Well we came around a corner and it, well, it was total destruction. Just nothing there.” He told me.

“A friend of mine, his wife is from Akita and she was in Ishinomaki, she was trying to leave the town and came to an intersection. She could see the wave coming. She didn’t know the way, you know, because she wasn’t from this town. The wave was coming from behind and a little to her right, but she turned right anyway and just around the corner the road went uphill and she survived. Other people behind her made the other choice and turned left, away from the wave. They did not make it. I asked her why she turned right. She said she didn’t know but felt compelled to go that way. In another town there was a traffic jam and no one could get out. They were all engulfed by the tsunami.”

It was only a little over two months ago that this part of Japan became world famous. On an early spring afternoon, on the 11^th March, at 3:22 pm in the afternoon, the world literally collapsed under their feet. Two of the massive plates that hold us above the heat of the earth’s magma layer gave way just of the coast, resulting in a magnitude 9 earthquake, the fourth  biggest ever recorded. More significantly though, it occurred only about ten kilometres beneath the surface. It was this shallowness that gave rise to this extraordinarily destructive tsunami.  The crunching and grinding of these massive plates, on an unimaginable scale spewed forth a body of water of mighty proportions. Great mountains of black water were sent from this devil’s cauldron to surge over the coastal valleys of northern Honshu.

In the coastal villages, school teachers were finishing off their lessons. In the small towns and valleys the day was coming to an end and people were getting ready to go home, to their dinners, their comfy chairs and their loved ones.   After the earthquake many people immediately tried to flee, even before the town sirens started screaming. In some towns, it was only minutes before they were engulfed by the wave. Many of the nearly 25,000 dead and missing were elderly. According to Omura San, they didn’t have a chance. “Many of them simply sat in their chairs, too old and frail to move. They would have known it was coming, not just because of the earthquake, but because as it approached it was roaring, like a train coming at you. They died in the wave. Some that were mobile, they went back to get, oh, money, you know, silly things that don’t matter in life and death situations. Many people died going back for trivial things.” He said.

At this point I think about the kids, and I asked him about the school children, hoping against hope and better judgement that they all made it. Being a father of two young children, I wanted them all to survive, to be happily walking with smiling faces to their new schools while their towns were rebuilt.  “In one town, 200 students, all the students, in one school died.” Omura San told me.  “Nine teachers also died in that school. One survived and he tried to help the others. But you know, he kept asking himself, why me? Why did I survive” Omura san added and then paused.  “He committed suicide two weeks later.” He finished.  As I drove through the utter devastation on the coastal fringe of Shichigahama the next day, I looked at the nearby ocean through distrustful eyes.  My university studies in coastal geomorphology told me that this was a once in a lifetime event that had, over millions of years, occurred frequently and had shaped the world we live in. Lands rise, lands fall and the restless oceans driven by massive tectonic forces surge and abate.  Now I was experiencing a quiet disconnect between the rational and the emotional, between reassuring scientific knowledge and an ocean that appeared to have a malignant intent as it harmlessly lapped and gurgled on the broken foreshore.

Nakatsugawa san is the head of the Shichigahama town school department. Unlike Australia, school administration devolves from prefectural governments to local town councils.  There are three junior schools in this town and Nakatsugawa san promised to have the cards translated and given out to students in those schools.  “There were one hundred people killed just here in this small town.” He said. “We lost one student.” He added.

The tsunami has drawn a new border that snakes along the east coast of Tohoku. A border determined by nature not man. On one side lies total destruction, on the other, the shattered lives of the survivors and those whose fate has been spared due to dumb luck, timing and geography.  In some small towns, where the tsunami has left villages intact, there is a new menace. Simply put, northern Tohoku has dropped up to a metre in elevation in some places. What this means is that in certain villages, the tide gurgles up through road grates and quietly slips into lounge rooms, garages and street scapes. Twice a day these people can’t use the water taps or toilets. Whole towns who thought they escaped relatively unharmed must be rebuilt on higher ground. The once fertile rice paddies are now soaked in salt, with a mixture of rotting fish and the detritus of human existence strewn about over them. As summer approaches this fetid mixture is starting to make itself known.

As I look down at the harbour in Shichigahama,  I see fishermen and divers scouring the harbour for rubbish and possibly bodies. An overturned boat still drifts just of the wrecked fishing co-op buildings. On a hill overlooking the harbour I meet Watanabe Tetsuyo, 71. He is standing with a carpenter, making repairs to his house.  “See that car” he says, pointing to a crumpled wreck next to us. “It was in my front room.” He then points to the house just metres away, “My neighbours there, they died in the tsunami. They were old, maybe in their seventies.” The house has a huge gash out of the front, as if a back hoe eviserated it.   This hill is only about 100 metres from the water line but it is about 25 metres above sea level, with a steep incline leading down to the harbour. Everything between Watanabe San’s shattered house and the harbour has been destroyed. Only concrete foundations remain to give some silent testimony to what lay before this huge wave. Debris litters the site and at the front of one concrete slab, a collection of cherished soft toys has been lined up, a quiet reminder of the loss of family life that once held sway in this small village.  “It was like, what do you say, ‘kuroi akuma’. It was black, the head of the wave as it came in, this is what we call it. Do you know what kuroi akuma means?” asked Nakastugawa san back at the town office. I didn’t but resolved to look it up.

It is hard to estimate the monetary cost of rebuilding in the devastated area of northern Japan, but recent estimates put it at 285 billion, the costliest disaster ever, and this does not take into account the personal and emotional cost of such a massive dislocation. The event is now officially called the “Higashi Nihon Daishinsai” which translates to the “Great Disaster of Eastern Japan”. It will take at least ten years to rebuild and recover. Already, only three months after the event the world has moved on.  I was nearly finished talking to Nakatsugawa san. The journey of the cards was almost over. I wanted to report back to the Durrumbul community and others on the situation here and asked if it was OK to take pictures. I had a sense of not compromising the dignity of a town and nation in mourning.  “Yes. Yes. yes. Take pictures, lots of pictures, tell everybody tell the world. We still need help.” Replied Nakatsugawa san. He then gave the national symbol for money, the thumb and forefinger rubbing together.  “The cards are great and much appreciated but you know, I have to be frank, we need money as well.”

His parting words to me were “Don’t forget us.” After I left Sendai and the destruction behind me I grabbed my dictionary and looked up the phrase “Kuroi Akuma”. There were a few choices, but the most obvious, is “Black Devil”. This is what the wave, the unimaginable surge of black water was to the people on the coastal fringe of Tohoku.  I vowed to myself that I would not forget’.

Certainly, a story worth telling, worth remembering, and as I noted a few weeks ago, in presenting another observation from an English school teacher working in Japan, it is great to be able to read an eye witness account about such an event, that is not swallowed in journalistic jargon and procedures, but material ‘straight’ from the heart and soul of to ‘story teller’.

Unusually for a weekend, I had a meeting to attend this afternoon – the annual ‘Business Plan’ discussion and consideration by the Radio Station Committee, a planned 4 hour session which was actually over within that time. Our basic  aim was to assess the success or otherwise of the objectives set for the station last year, and establish our set plans and objectives for the coming new financial year. With just one committee member missing, and a brief delay due to the President needing to deal with an unwelcome serial complainant to the premises prior to the start, it proved to be a very fruitful and cooperative session. We all realise that there are so many things that we would like to achieve for the station, but must accept the fact, that as volunteers there are limits to our resources, be that time, abilities or financial contribution. Change is occurring – many people expect change to happen quickly, but more often than not, they are the people, sitting in the background doing little other than complain, while a small nucleus of the organisation, as in all community organisations does most of the work. It was estimated, that of our total membership, less than 10% actually contribute outside of their basic 2 hours a week appearance on air.  It would be helpful to have at least another 10 active members at the station – on the above percentage figure, that means we need to find another 100 members!!  Anyway, despite that, progress is been made in many areas, and our station is a considerably more community orientated station than when I came there 6 years ago. And that is primarily and outcome of the committees of the past couple of years, and the leadership associated with those committees. At present, my volunteer organisation is a promising environment in which to work.

Although I again spent most of the evening, working on my family history tasks,  found the house a little lonely tonight, probably something I need to get used to!

Too many nights out in a row, all of last week, and another three in a row this week, two radio nights and a genealogy meeting – kept this writer away from the keyboard!! So just a quick wrap up of some local happenings to bring us up to date………………

Monday, 13 June   –   this day was a Public holiday in Victoria, ostensibly to celebrate the Queen’s birthday, back in April!! As I do at this time each year, I rather half-heartedly scan the columns of  the Honours listings in the newspaper, to see if my name has somehow appeared there, but once again, no sign of anything!!  [I’m not serious of course!].

On more serious matters,  a great win overnight by Casey Stoner in the British MotoGP, raced in atrocious weather conditions, I really wonder how those guys can possibly stay on their bikes at the speeds they travel – well, a number of them didn’t actually, including the championship leader, which meant that Stoner’s win [his 4^th win in a row from 6 races] took him to the top of the overall leader’s board.  Our Aussie motor cyclists is really in top form at the present stage. Meanwhile, the Australian F1 driver is also having a pretty good season, though obviously not to the degree he would like it. In the Canadian F1 Grand Prix overnight [also completed in rain drenched conditions], or early this morning really, Mark Webber managed to finish in 3^rd position, behind his Red Bull teammate, Sebastian Vettel [2^nd] and the winner, Jenson Button [first win of the season after passing Vettel in the last lap].  Webber is currently 3^rd in the F1 standings on 94 points behind Vettel [161] and Button [101] while Britain’s Lewis Hamilton is in 4^th position on 85 points. For the rest of the season, it is going to take some drastic results for Mark Webber to overtake the leader!

Meanwhile, I began a new radio program tonight – wasn’t really planning on doing a late night show until closer to the end of the year, but when the vacant spot came up, thought the opportunity might not arise again for a while, so did a bit of a swap, left my Sunday afternoons free [relinguishing that time spot], and will finish up the Tuesday evening ‘Showtime’ spot as soon as there is someone else to go in there], but at the moment, I am creating for myself the commitment of four days in a row on air, in various capacities!  My choice of course, no complaints, but I will be glad to eventually finish up the Tuesday show. As for tonight’s new show ‘Bill’s Smorgasbord of Music and Entertainment’, well simply that, a broad mix of folk, jazz, soul, blues, country, world, maybe a bit of show music eventually, and a bit of comedy with some cultural audio at times. It’s a 3 hour shift from 9pm until midnight, so Tuesday mornings are going to be a little difficult for a while! Mind you, that three hours disappears very quickly, especially when you are enjoying what you are doing, as I always do, on air!!

Tuesday, 14 June –  back to the radio tonight for another Showtime segment, but admittedly, looking forward to finishing up been on air during this time slot [6-8pm] – I don’t think it’s a very good listening time of the day, and actually feel occasionally, that the effort and preparation put into those programs is not always worth it, for what I perceive to be a small audience. Hence my desire to move back to the late night time slot [on Monday nights]

I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before,  but this year, my town, Sunbury, is celebrating it’s 175^th anniversary, since the first settlers arrived in this district from Melbourne, 40 kilometres to the southeast.  While there is some doubt in the minds of some, that the local municipal council [City of Hume] of which Sunbury is but a small part, is really putting a great deal of effort into organising events [in response to that, there are various local individuals and organisations ‘doing their own thing’], the Council is at least making some attempt to promote the occasions through it’s publications and publicity machines. Sunbury is home to many unique and historically significant places to visit and explore, such as the oldest homestead in Victoria, the Home of the Ashes [per test cricket between England band Australia], and award-winning wineries. In fact, it’s claimed we can boast being the closest wine region to Melbourne, while the town is one of the oldest ‘villages’ in Victoria. One aspect of the ‘celebrations’ this year is the ‘Faces of Sunbury’ awards.  From early times, communities have rewarded community leaders for excellence, achievement and outstanding service. In recognition of the 175 year anniversary of the founding of Sunbury, the Faces of Sunbury Awards have been established.  These awards will recognise the service of individuals in Sunbury [over that 175 years period] who have made a significant contribution to the community. The nominee may be anyone from a doctor who has spent time treating Sunbury children, a social worker supporting local families, a football star inspiring junior players, a business owner employing local staff, or a whole range of activities undertaking by a person volunteering within the community.  A recognition ceremony will be held in December in Sunbury to announce the 175 Faces of Sunbury and to formally congratulate and applaud the people who make Sunbury great.  It is the people of Sunbury, meanwhile who are invited to nominate those ‘Faces’. I have to admit that it was suggested to me recently that I should be nominated for one of those spots, however hopefully I think I made it clear that I could never consider myself anywhere near the category of some of the contributions that other people have made to this community over the years –  yes, I’ve being involved in a number of areas since coming to the town in 1983, including participation on school councils, church committees, junior sporting organisations, the family history society, and of course the radio station, amongst other things, but I have always adopted a low key approach to those things, preferring to work in the background as much as possible, and not really pushing myself to the forefront. And I would prefer it stayed that way.  Meanwhile, it is going to be interesting to see just which names come ‘out of the bag’ of eventual nominations – there are already many in the community who virtually ‘pick themselves’ on the basis of some enormous to the community and it’ s needs.

Wednesday, 15 June –  another bitterly cold day in Melbourne, which no doubt a few people off travelling to our work organisation’s General Meeting today. Unfortunately, amongst those who did attend, were included the two normal troublemakers which I’m sure the majority of those present would have been quite happy not to have seen [we continue to have a couple of those types at the radio station, so these things are not unique to one or other organisation].  In today’s case, Bob and Janet might have been better off, for their own respect [of others towards them] staying at home!!  But then, that is not their agenda!

Went to another meeting tonight, which never has any of those kind of ‘problems’ –  a general meeting of the Sunbury Family History Society  –  and another interesting night, with a good attendance for a ‘freezing’ June night! I generally don’t enjoy sitting around listening to other people’s stories of their private genealogy research, tires me out very quickly. However tonight was an exception, with a couple of detailed descriptions from members as to how they go about the recording processes of their research – very similar to my own actually, but a few new little interesting insights which I found useful.

Wandering off into a completely different direction – the other day, in the monthly Accounting magazine ‘In The Black’, I noticed the heading ‘What’s a carbon credit?’, and while such an explanation has probably being spelt out on numerous occasions, I don’t think I have ever really got my head around it, generally not been technically or scientifically minded! So I read this explanation, to try and see if the whole subject was a bit clearer! Part of a larger article in the June edition titled ‘Africa shares the credit’ by Jocelyn Newmarch.

“A carbon credit represents one tonne of carbon dioxide. Industrial processes which rely on fossil fuels emit large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The idea of the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism is that these emissions can be offset elsewhere in the world by sponsoring projects which remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere [carbon sinks] or by pioneering new technology which emits less greenhouse gas than the regular technology. The difference between the emissions from these two technologies is awarded to the cleaner project in the form of carbon credits. In the case of carbon sinks [e.g. tree planting projects for airline passengers – ?], the amount of carbon sequestered is used to calculate the number of carbon credits which are awarded to the project.

The carbon credits are awarded every year that the project is operational and they can be kept by the project developer or trader, or they can be traded. Because they have a monetary value, determined by the markets, they represent an additional revenue stream which creates the incentive to develop cleaner technology. It is a way of financing sustainable development. Credits are freely tradeable and will continue to be so after 2012, so new customers will still be able to buy them. What is being dismantled is the international treaty [Kyoto Protocol] which governs the registration of the credits, not the trade itself. While some companies only buy carbon credits to offset their own emissions, as a spot trade, other companies prefer to take some of the investment risk in developing a project in order to receive some of the carbon credits once the project is up and running.  Carbon credits reward clean design and use, and the credits awarded to a project ….can be sold without detracting from the project”.

So do I now understand all about carbon credits?  Perhaps it’s a bit like the infinity of space – one can understand the broad concepts, but the comprehension of such enormity [in this case, measuring the carbon credit] is not always that easy to achieve!!

Thursday, 16 June – I was glad of an evening when I didn’t have to go ‘anywhere’, didn’t even stop at a shop, just straight home, locked the doors, prepared myself a meal, and spent 4/5 hours working on a family history chart [at the expense of catching up on this week’s ‘blogs’!!].

I notice that one of the GETUP’s organisations latest projects relates to the question of same sex marriage and associated issues. I’m afraid they won’t really encourage me as an active campaigner in that area. While I have no concerns about same sex relationships,  I feel I must draw the line as such a partnership being called a marriage!  Conservative and perhaps pro-religious background influencing that view most likely, but I don’t step back from that idea. The following is the general gist of the GETUP message, from the viewpoint of one proponent of the cause, obviously with a vested interest in getting changes.  As this person suggests, the changes will come – I can see that, even if I don’t agree with the need in some circumstances – but the one phrase below, that really irritated me was ‘Mummies are you going to be engaged for ever?’  –  not mum and dad but ‘mummies’.  That is not the interpretation of marriage I’ve been brought up to believe in, and accept, with all it’s faults and bad examples. However, read on, for that half of this ‘mummy’ partnership’s views:-

“We know our politicians have been hearing from those who oppose equality, so it’s important we get in their ear and remind them that the majority of Australians do support removing discrimination from our laws. In fact, just last week I read a poll saying 75% of Australians believe marriage equality will happen. But it won’t happen by itself – we have to fight for it.  Whether it’s in my church community, at work or among friends, people often change their minds on this issue. And over time, the nation’s mind is changing, with the majority of Australians now supporting marriage equality.
I’m frequently asked why marriage is important to me. Here’s why: my youngest son Dylan often asks us “Mummies are you going to be engaged forever? Why don’t you get married?” It has been hard trying to explain that our government won’t let us get married; he doesn’t understand why everyone else can become a family legally and we can’t.  People will continue to say we are different, who we love and how we live is wrong and we are not a family. But I believe that until the government legally recognises that same-sex couples are no different to heterosexual couples and should have the same and equal rights in every area in life including marriage, this discrimination will never end.   Our son Matthew puts it best: “The government are like teachers, they need to set a good example for everyone else. If they don’t accept us as a family then other people won’t either.”   Please join me in contacting our local politicians and asking them to support marriage equality, using GetUp’s website” – yes, I’ll support some aspects of that call, the equal financial and social service provisions, but will oppose it been called a marriage!

Friday, 17 June –  this week’s online edition of the ‘National Seniors’’ magazine had an interesting poser of a question for readers. With the current high Australian dollar value, and the fact that consumers are becoming more dollar- savvy, we have seen online purchases soar over the past few years. Consumers report they can save hundreds of dollars per purchase by simply buying online at Australian or international companies’ websites, but businesses say they are reeling from lost income and may have to close their doors. Whilst some seniors are open to using the internet to buy online, others are cautious. The question asked was:- Do you support online shopping so that consumers get to keep more money in their pocket?  Or, do you think it’s destroying Australian businesses?

  My only real response to that was that there certainly appears to be savings through the online purchases, although my only experience has been in respect to books, and that is something my daughter does quite regularly, I’ve just followed suit on a couple of occasions, or at her behest. My reservations tend to be the security aspect of disclosing credit card details etc online, and on the odd occasions that I have thought of placing such an order, that concern has generally stopped me from doing so. As to the concept of  ‘destroying Australian business’, well I think that the answer to that question can only be determined over an extensive time period, and the general view of many respondees to the question, was that those businesses concerned about the issue should ‘go with the times’ and join in, expanding their operations to provide for that avenue of sales. I guess that’s not easy or even practical in some cases, but it is certainly one way in which retailers for eg, can respond.

Meanwhile, my football team, Carlton, comes up against the Sydney Swans again this Sunday afternoon, this time, at Edihad Stadium, here in Melbourne. Up until about today, it had been my intention to go, but in the absence of any similar suggestions by family members that they were going this week [apart from James, who seems to have found a new bunch of supporter friends to go with],  I will probably have changed my mind by the weekend, and with a TV coverage available this weekend, think I might vegetate at home on Sunday@!! I see we have three players added to the squad, including one of my long term favoured players, Ryan Houlahan whom I don’t think has been in the senior team since last year.  In this week’s online ‘Blues Report’, Carlton captain, Chris Judd had a few words of advice and inspiration to team and supporters.  He wrote:-
“Earning the right to play finals two years in a row provides a real platform for Carlton going forward. In 2010 we finished in a similar position to 2009, however we did it with a much younger team and I genuinely believe there are some exciting times ahead. The whole group is now getting a real hunger for achieving something together. We want to be the best possible players we can be so we’re the best possible team we can be. We want Carlton supporters to have a similar attitude, the desire to achieve to be the best possible supporters you can be. We want a huge membership team supporting the club as we strive to achieve something special together, 50,000 members and beyond.   For my career to be fulfilled I need a premiership at Carlton. That’s what we’re all working towards and we want you to be involved.   The Carlton Football Club is at a stage where we’re ready to achieve again and I know the players are really hungry for that. It will take a lot of hard work. [As Members]  together we can achieve, on and off the ground. However to succeed we must have no passengers.  Chris Judd, Captain  Member #1824383”.  I suppose, that after many years [almost thirty] as a Member, I am probably now in the category he calls a ‘passenger’ –  however, I won’t let that concern me. I’ve given five decades of support to the team since I came down to Melbourne – these days, I only get to a game a few times a year  due to time, other commitments,  travel and expense, after being a weekly member and attendee for 6 months a year, every year. I’m rather pleased, that eldest son James, has taken over with the kind of enthusiastic support I once displayed and still have in spirit, and even Jodie gets along to a game on those occasions that work and other social commitments allow her to do so! Anyway, looking forward to Sunday’s game, whether witnessed in person or via the TV!

On a different aspect of personal passion, my regular monthly copy of ‘Limelight Magazine’ is promoting a super edition for July –  “No genuine opera buff should be without it!” says soprano Emma Matthews of Limelight‘s annual Opera Issue, now on newsstands. Limelight is proud to present 130 pages of unadulterated operatic bliss.   Inside, soprano Renee Fleming reveals her greatest role; conductor Simone Young pens a diary about her complete Ring Cycle in Hamburg; and director Bruce Beresford tells how Peter Grimes made him an opera nut. To celebrate this special bumper issue, Limelight has assembled an online-exclusive tour of the Great Opera Houses of the World: the history, the architecture, the music and the tickets we  all wish we had for upcoming productions. Other than The Big Four – Covent Garden, La Scala, The Met and Vienna Staatsoper – who else made the cut?  Opera critic Sarah Noble revisits her definitive list of Ten Great Operas (you probably haven’t heard) with some new insights. In the July magazine, Sarah selects the must-have new opera recordings.  Well after that promotion, and thinking this was a special edition, I actually a copy this evening, where I discovered that it was in fact the July edition, just put out a week or so earlier than usual! Hopefully, if I can make the time, some interesting reading ahead of yours truly this coming few weeks!

In the meantime, with all the political talk about climate change, attention to the environment, etc, I note that my professional body, CPA Australia [Certified Public Accountants] are ensuring their industry is not seen to be dragging their heels on that subject.  From CPA, we learn that   ‘The changes in sustainability and environmental accounting in 2011 mean accounting firms must develop knowledge of legislative changes to counsel clients about the potential business impact. There are two ways an accounting firm can improve its environmental services: by developing internal skills and by partnering with external suppliers.  Video interviews on the subject are available free to members, and for a small charge to non-members, on the CPA Australia website. A complimentary excerpt of the ‘Role of the accounting profession’ is available to everybody’.  .  In some ways, I’m a little glad that I’m getting out of the accounting profession – I guess one should be excited about new accounting procedures and the need to meet the challenges of things like environmental concerns, but I don’t really mind leaving those ‘challenges’ to the new generations of accountants coming through, in fact after this year, I don’t really want a great deal to do with the accounting profession!  However, that option may not be completely obliterated, time will tell.

As with last night, I spent the bulk of this evening at home, and working on the family history. While at present, the early years  consists of names only with very little other information and/or confirmation, we have managed to trace the family line back to 1475, or if you like, 19 generations! Unfortunately, that is beyond the normal limit of possibilities  – you need to be a direct descendant of royalty, etc, of a famous character in history in order to discover anything about one’s earlier ancestral history. Or have the privilege of your ‘research’ being funded through such TV programs as ‘Who Do You Think You Are’!!  Needless to say, I continue to find it a fascinating ‘spare time’ occupation!

You know, I expected Susan home tonight, although by the time it became quite dark and late, I was becoming a little concerned about her being out on the highway in the current poor weather.  However, my ‘innocent’ message to her eventually, as to whether I could expect her home tonight, was greeted with the reminder that she told me on this occasion she would not be back until next week!!!  Ohh well, I was sure she said Friday, but I was not going to argue the point, was mainly relieved she was not out on the roads!!!  Presumably, there is a bit of social life developing up in Bendigo to warrant a weekend stopover! That left your writer with the weekend to himself, although in reality, it’s not much different when Susie is in Sunbury, as I don’t see that much of her.  At least the accommodation up in Bendigo is getting some value out of the cost of rental.

A good walk late this morning, took advantage of the weather while it was fine, with showers predicted later on!

Didn’t realise anyone in the family was going to the football today, then too late, realised James was there!  An early afternoon start to the game caught  me out, so now, with no free to air TV coverage, I have to depend on the radio broadcast again!  Interesting ‘message’ from James to his ‘team’  –  “Dear blueboys, please do not lose to a shit team today, coz I will be there watching and I want to see a good performance. Kind regards James”.

Away from the football briefly –  the regular Friday ‘Liberal Fact’ that came through the other day – well, there was nothing new in the facts being presented –  ‘Since Labor came to office in 2007 –  electricity costs have risen by 51%; gas is up by 30%; water is up by 46%; health costs have increased by 20%; education costs have increased by 24%; and rents are up by 20%. If Labor introduces a carbon tax, living costs will just get tougher for Australian families, with power bills up by 25%, price of petrol up by 6 ½ cents per litre, and the average price of a trolley of groceries will increase by 5%.  Now, I don’t doubt all those predicted or actual increases, though I query the extent of increases in some cases, as stated by the Liberals. Be that as it may, it’s obvious in the normal course of time, inflationary costs, etc, that we would have expected increases over the past four years in most of those items, regardless of who was in charge of the economy.  But I suppose the Liberals will continue under Tony Abbott with this ‘attack mode, and negative approach’ such as the introduction to the above little fact finding report   –  ‘Julia Gillard and Bob Brown may have the support of celebrities and noisy interest groups [eg, GETUP] for their proposed carbon tax. But they have forgotten the ordinary Australian families struggling with rising living costs’. I must say I’m looking for a new direction from the Liberals, but alas, while Mr Abbott stays in charge, I can’t see that happening!

Carlton Blues [4^th on the ladder] versus Brisbane Lions [15^th on the ladder] – the result should not be in doubt!!!  It was 1.10pm, when the game began, and Bill settled to listen to the radio broadcast, not really interested in visiting the local pub to watch the Foxtel telecast on my lonesome!!  Let’s have a look at the quarter by quarter scores, as we go along:-  which, thankfully, indicate the correct difference between the current standard of the two teams. It would have been nice to have been at the ground to see a result like that!!

Carlton Blues:      4.4.28     8.8.56    14.9.93    FINAL:   19.10.124

Brisbane Lions:    2.3.15     3.5.23      4.8.32     Final:        9.9.63

I shall return>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Tonight, I watched the final episode of the mini series that has been screened on the ABC here, over the past month –  ‘The Kennedys’, which has generally being described as the ‘controversial US television miniseries. I gather it was given that tag because it faced criticism in the US because of supposed historical inaccuracies, which without knowing any more detail, I imagine related to the ‘personal’ side of the Kennedy rather than political aspects. I understand that the original broadcaster in the US, the History Channel,  dumped  the mini series,  perhaps due to family pressure, though at what point of the Series,  I don’t know.

Originally, I’d not intended to watch it myself, though not for any of those reasons, but I sat down the first week, and when Susie, who was going out that night, suggested she would like to see it, I decided to start taping the show. And kept doing so  – Susie hasn’t watched any of the Series yet, so now she can look at it in one sitting [no doubt in the early hours of the morning, one night!!].

I actually quite enjoyed the Series – it certainly brought back some memories, limited as they are, of that era in American politics. And like many at the time, I can clearly recall where I was when John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated –   it was a Saturday morning, I think, and I was just about to go down from my bedroom for some breakfast. At that point, I was in Year 11 at the local high school, my second last year of secondary education. As usual, I had my radio on, and the first reports came through from the US that JFK had been shot. I imagine Dad was at work, I can’t recall, but Mum was home. In America, it was the afternoon of the 22 November, while in Ballarat [Australia] it was the morning of the 23^rd.  The news would have had some extra poignancy about it for my mother – less than 48 hours beforehand, her father [my Grandfather Knuckey] had died suddenly from a heart attack, suffered on his beloved bowling green, the date, the 21^st November. So I really had two reasons to recall that month and year in particular. Twelve months, in my final months at high school, I was part of a public speaking contest [in which I think I was placed 3^rd or 4^th] –  my speech was based on the ‘Inaugural Speech’ of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, when he assumed the role of  President on his initial election.

Anyway, this mini-series, be it controversial or not,  starred Greg Kinnear as John F Kennedy, Katie Holmes as Jackie Kennedy, Tom Wilkinson as patriarch Joe Kennedy Jnr and Barry Pepper as Bobby Kennedy, and it basically related the epic story of an epic family that lived and loved what was always a very public life through a series of personal triumphs and tragedies.  It clearly showed the very dominant role that Joe Sen. played in the life of his family, and the loyalty displayed towards him by sons Jack and Bobby. I’m not sure where Edward was in all of this, I didn’t really notice much reference to him in the series, and I suppose that was because his political influence became more relevant after his two brothers had been killed. Not sure on that point.. 

I found the production particularly interested in the way it traced the major international political events of the time, such as Kennedy’s handling as a statesman and world  leader, through crises like the Bay of Pigs, civil rights, the Berlin wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Other viewers were probably more interested in the more personal issues, such as the relationships between the two brothers and their wives, or the affairs with women like Marilyn Monroe, etc, that are generally attributed to JFK. Certainly, some interesting ‘aspects’ were placed on things like that, such as the depiction of Monroe’s total obsession with the President to the degree that she believed he had agreed to marry her!! That’s in the film  – I obviously have no idea of the accuracy or otherwise of those type of storylines that occurred in the series. As the New York Times, at the time of the controversery put it  –  “In chronicling the presidency of John F. Kennedy, it compresses time, consolidates characters and invents dialogue for moments never recorded by history’s pen.” Which has  resulted in more press and interest in the series, , and on a  personal level for myself, fits in with my love of a good historical novel, with a mix of fiction and fact.  Nevertheless,  I certainly enjoyed the acting, in particular of Kennedy’s father, Joe Sen., and the two brothers, and Katie Holmes as Jackie Kennedy, one could so often imagine she was the woman herself, as far as looks were concerned.

I finished off tonight, watching Australia’s Casey Stoner try and win his 4th MotoGP of the season out of six races.

Another very pleasant concert last night, although for the main act – the Ron Carter Trio –  I felt extremely sleepy throughout the performance, at times almost battling to remain awake despite enjoying the music. I guess the culmination of 5 nights out in a row, and the fact that tonight’s jazz was of a different style to Monday night – more moody, contemplative, with just the bass, guitar and piano playing a series of late night style jazz. Earlier, it had been great to hear Katie Noonan singing some songs from her next album, due out in August. She was accompanied by guitar & saxophone, again, fairly low key music – her style on stage is so natural and relaxed, she obviously feels comfortable and is not worried putting on airs or sophistication, just comers over the way she is  –   that began right from the beginning when Katie walks on stage and addresses the packed Melbourne Recital Centre [MRC] audience with a simple ‘Goodaye’  [Slim Dusty style!!]. Gotta love her!

Meanwhile my seat – probably the best I’ve had in that place, front row level, up in the balcony area, where the beauty of the decor of this building really becomes more obvious from up top. Whilst there last night, I felt that I really had to find a show on here that the ‘girls’ would be interested in coming to, so that I could show-off my MRC to them!!  Incidentally, the Ron Carter Trio – all American Blacks – were quite a conservative looking trio, dressed in black suits and ties, and very little conversation between them [that was obvious] and with the audience. Ron Carter himself [as he told us this was ‘his band’] spoke every now & then to the audience – he was obviously suffering from a very heavy cold, which he mentioned on a few occasions [as an apology for his voice I guess], and the night was probably as bit more of an ordeal for him than usual, and may have meant the concert was a little shorter than normal – I’m not sure, but it did finish a little earlier than I’d anticipated, although I still reached home at the predicted 11.30 pm.. I liked the comment Ron Carter made on a couple of occasions  –  thank you for allowing us to share your living room’.

Now my tiredness must have been for real! Went to bed shortly after midnight, just before Susie returned home from ‘somewhere’, and next woke at 9.20 am this morning!!  Nine hours sleep, that is close to a record uninterrupted sleep for this writer, don’t recall that happening for a long time! With no commitments, I should have stayed there, but usually once I’m awake, I prefer to get up and about, feel as though I am wasting the day otherwise.  It is a long weekend in Victoria over the next few days  – officially, the Monday holiday is for the Queen’s Birthday, which I think is actually back in April! Oddly enough, I recall seeing on the news today, reference to Prince Phillip celebrating his 90^th birthday in the past day or so!

A brisk walk this morning – of the shortage variety, but I felt better for having made the effort, and done it. The rest of the day at home, not so active, a bit of cooking, program planning, etc, especially for my new show next Monday evening.  Strangely, on the basis of the last couple of weeks, Susie was home most of the day, and this evening – in ways, I prefer her to go out on Saturday nights, the night that I traditionally would love a good sleep but never get one – when Susie is home, that seems to be worsened, because every door that is opened or shut, until she goes to bed at 3am, wakes me up, and I find it very difficult to get back to sleep. This night would be no different, and I don’t think I got much sleep in the last couple of hours before the 5.30 am alarm

Despite the likelihood of a poor sleep afterwards, tonight, I simply felt too tired to be bothered even reading –sat and watched a close AFL game. Geelong vs Hawthorn, which saw a narrow win to the AFL’s undefeated team [Geelong]. That loss to the Hawks gave Carlton the opportunity to grab and retain 3^rd spot on the ladder – if we keep winning!!! I notice we don’t play Hawthorn until August!